Life - Game Jam
I remember my first concert call pretty well. It was 18 hours long, it was the first time I'd been doing a job (and being paid!) where I was surrounded by a lot of similar people and skillsets. You know up until that point I had pushed buttons on a register, delivered boxes, hung lights or wired cables among two or three other people, but your first concert call, that's a pretty crazy day. You show up and sit at a plastic table 20 minutes early, surrounded by 100+ people, everyone is checking gear, tying up laces, strapping themselves into harnesses. I was nervously adjusting the tightness on my hardhat, hoping that it wasn't too shiny so that people would know I'd only worn it once before.
12, grueling, box-pushing, steel lifting and bolting hours later, my arms were worn down, I could barely feel my shoulders, my feet hurt to stand on and I was bleary eyed. The call-steward came over to me and said "Hey, we're trimming down to about a dozen guys for another 4 hours, we saw you work pretty hard, do you want to do the extra call?" My chest swelled with pride, someone noticed! Of course I wanted to work that extra 4 hours. It turned out to be an extra 6 hours, but they flew by. Six and a half hours later, I was catching the morning train home, curled up on a seat while dawn broke across the horizon. You have that moment when your body is bone weary, exhausted. Where every thought hurts to consider, your motions are on autopilot, your feet drag and your head bobs just a little too much. Your eyes are never more than half open. But somehow, in your chest is this feeling of pride. You were part of a huge team, you accomplished something, you got to see in immediacy this kind of interesting creation and know that you were one of the people that made it happen.
