What is this "day job" you ask?  I am a theatre technician and have been now for just about 10 years.  (holy crap!) 

For those who don't know,  that means I run the technical stuff backstage.  This could be anything from moving props, furniture, walls, floors, costumes... depending on what job title I happen to be holding at the time.  Lately, that job title has been deck carpenter and automation.  That means I take care of the set in general (fix things when they break on set) and that I control all mechanical moving parts (that's the automation part). 

The show I am working on right now has a gigantic see-saw on stage.  It doesn't actually look like a see-saw, it looks like a regular old floor (or sidewalk) that's raised above the actual stage floor.  Sometime in the middle of the play, I press the button and this platform acts and moves like a see-saw.  It's a metaphor in this case, the floor being the city and the city reacting to people and/or pushing people together. 

So, what I do during the techncial phase (setting light and sound design, coordinating scene changes, setting automation cues, etc) is basically wait around until I'm needed. In this particular show, I am needed less than normal.  There aren't that many "see-saw" cues so I am doing alot of sitting on my butt.  Oh, and our days are usually 14 hours long during this phase... at the least. 

I'm slowly getting over my aggravation with waiting and trying to utilize my time there as much as possible.  I doodle, play on flickr, work on this blog and drink lots of coffee.  Remembering that I am surrounded by office buildings filled with unhappy,  bored people who have to wear suits and ties to work and get zero personal time helps a lot.  But in the end, i'm still just a stubborn twit and would rather be spending my free time here at home.  I really need to get over myself.