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LiveJournal Idol XX Week 2 - Vampire Load
Oct. 6th, 2026 12:19 amThis is my entry for Week #2 of Season 20ish of ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
therealljidol.
Transcript of Video
So there's two different ways a Theatre lighting instrument can be haunted.
The first way is deliberately - since navigating through dark Theatres can be dangerous, there's often one light deliberately left on at all times. This is called a ghost light.
The other way is annoying. Sometimes, there will be one instrument that stays on when it shouldn't. Like you try to create a perfect blackout and one instrument stays at full illuminating the body of Julius Caesar as the actor stands and heads off stage. A light that does this is said to be “ghosting.”
I've always assumed that ghost lights got that name because they're on when nobody living is in the theatre - hence, a light for ghosts. I could be wrong about this but I don't want reality to dispel my theory so I'm not going to look it up.
Lights that are “ghosting” are labeled that because we Theatre people always assume something that isn't working the way we want it to is possessed by evil spirits.
We Theatre people have a ton of superstitions. The most famous is that you must never say the title of the play “Macbeth” or you'll summon bad luck. I directed Macbeth, so I'll say it as much as I damn well want to.
Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth…
This superstition is because - according to tradition - the local witches in Shakespeare’s time didn't like their portrayal in Macbeth and thus cursed the play.
Double double boil and bubble
Say Macbeth and there will be trouble
Point of order - as I was filming this is realized I needed to trim my nose hair and discovered that I had my first pure white nose hair. THE CURSE IS REAL
Ok so the Brute force way to deal with a light that is ghosting is to unplug it. Most Theatre instruments are plugged in ALL THE TIME when a show is going - like an army of vampire loads.
But yeah unplugging an instrument and plugging it in somewhere else will often solve the problem. So maybe it's not just the instrument that is haunted, but the outlet.
By the way for those of you familiar with The Police album Ghost in the Machine, that title is a reference to the soul in the human body, not possessed flood lights.
But sometimes especially with more modern digital instruments, there's just some dumb bullshit going on that will make your lighting designer and board op tear out chunks of their hair. Honestly an actual ghost would be preferable.
By the way, I've had two ghost encounters in theatres. The first time, I was sitting up in the lighting booth of our large University Theatre at 2am because the computer up there was the only one I knew of that could run Syd Meiers civilization. The building was otherwise empty. From the booth, I could see the whole large empty main stage lit by a ghost light. Frm. the stage, i heard footsteps crossing. There was nobody there. I decided to get the hell out of there. But I was, as I said, playing civilization and thought “one more turn…” you can guess the rest.
The other time, my Theatre classroom was probably haunted by a 19th century looking lady in a black muumuu. Short version: the school pastor led a prayer circle there and it was gone. No ghost lights involved.
Generally we don't use anything as naively superstitious as prayer circles or exorcisms to deal with ghost or curse intrusions in Theatre. We take the very sensible and practical step of running around the Theatre three times and spitting. Everyone knows poltergeists hate spit.
Now those of you not in Theatre who learned what this week's prompt meant may be thinking “most plays I've seen have dozens of lighting instruments! If they're plugged in constantly the vampire load must be astronomical. Why don't you just unplug them when there's not a show on?”
Uh, because that would mean staying in the Theatre late and those places are crawling with ghosts.
All the witches in the house say yeah
therealljidol.Transcript of Video
So there's two different ways a Theatre lighting instrument can be haunted.
The first way is deliberately - since navigating through dark Theatres can be dangerous, there's often one light deliberately left on at all times. This is called a ghost light.
The other way is annoying. Sometimes, there will be one instrument that stays on when it shouldn't. Like you try to create a perfect blackout and one instrument stays at full illuminating the body of Julius Caesar as the actor stands and heads off stage. A light that does this is said to be “ghosting.”
I've always assumed that ghost lights got that name because they're on when nobody living is in the theatre - hence, a light for ghosts. I could be wrong about this but I don't want reality to dispel my theory so I'm not going to look it up.
Lights that are “ghosting” are labeled that because we Theatre people always assume something that isn't working the way we want it to is possessed by evil spirits.
We Theatre people have a ton of superstitions. The most famous is that you must never say the title of the play “Macbeth” or you'll summon bad luck. I directed Macbeth, so I'll say it as much as I damn well want to.
Macbeth Macbeth Macbeth…
This superstition is because - according to tradition - the local witches in Shakespeare’s time didn't like their portrayal in Macbeth and thus cursed the play.
Double double boil and bubble
Say Macbeth and there will be trouble
Point of order - as I was filming this is realized I needed to trim my nose hair and discovered that I had my first pure white nose hair. THE CURSE IS REAL
Ok so the Brute force way to deal with a light that is ghosting is to unplug it. Most Theatre instruments are plugged in ALL THE TIME when a show is going - like an army of vampire loads.
But yeah unplugging an instrument and plugging it in somewhere else will often solve the problem. So maybe it's not just the instrument that is haunted, but the outlet.
By the way for those of you familiar with The Police album Ghost in the Machine, that title is a reference to the soul in the human body, not possessed flood lights.
But sometimes especially with more modern digital instruments, there's just some dumb bullshit going on that will make your lighting designer and board op tear out chunks of their hair. Honestly an actual ghost would be preferable.
By the way, I've had two ghost encounters in theatres. The first time, I was sitting up in the lighting booth of our large University Theatre at 2am because the computer up there was the only one I knew of that could run Syd Meiers civilization. The building was otherwise empty. From the booth, I could see the whole large empty main stage lit by a ghost light. Frm. the stage, i heard footsteps crossing. There was nobody there. I decided to get the hell out of there. But I was, as I said, playing civilization and thought “one more turn…” you can guess the rest.
The other time, my Theatre classroom was probably haunted by a 19th century looking lady in a black muumuu. Short version: the school pastor led a prayer circle there and it was gone. No ghost lights involved.
Generally we don't use anything as naively superstitious as prayer circles or exorcisms to deal with ghost or curse intrusions in Theatre. We take the very sensible and practical step of running around the Theatre three times and spitting. Everyone knows poltergeists hate spit.
Now those of you not in Theatre who learned what this week's prompt meant may be thinking “most plays I've seen have dozens of lighting instruments! If they're plugged in constantly the vampire load must be astronomical. Why don't you just unplug them when there's not a show on?”
Uh, because that would mean staying in the Theatre late and those places are crawling with ghosts.
All the witches in the house say yeah
Live Journal Idol XX Week 0 - Cats
Sep. 8th, 2026 11:34 amI think the main thing you need to know about me is i have five cats. In order of size:
Dr. Mister Levi Kawalski:
Levi is our large primary cat supported by four emergency back up cats. He's the oldest of our clowder and is roughly the size of a Moose.
Princess Alea Lilbeach:
Alea will bite you. She's the second oldest and what she lacks in height she makes up for in girth. She's had allergy issues her whole life but that hasn't stopped her from ruling the bed. Her hobbies include biting my wife when she wants food, scratching my wife when she wants food and sitting so that her butt is directly on my face when she wants food.
Jack, Son of Jack, First of His Name:
Jack is the largest of three brothers. We inherited (?) them when a relative died. I have extensive scratch scarring on my arms mostly from him. I'm his favorite human but also his favorite thing to parkour off of when he needs to reach higher levels. Jack has two modes: passed out like he fell off a tall building and skittish like the whole world is on fire.
The Wu:
The Wu - originally Wolverine, then Wu Wu - is Levi's nemesis. He will only drink water from a running faucet which means we have a timer permanently set to three minutes so we remember when to turn the water off. He is a sweetheart but his mode of showing love includes biting your hand and then pulling. "I love you so much I will eat your hands."
Miklo:
There are secrets in this universe. Miklo knows them. All of them. He wants to share them with you but he's limited in his vocabulary. This vexes him.
Me:
I'm 58. I am an imaginary rock star. No really. I'm also a teacher. I won a mini-season of LJI under the name Prog-shlock. Let's do this.
Dr. Mister Levi Kawalski:
Levi is our large primary cat supported by four emergency back up cats. He's the oldest of our clowder and is roughly the size of a Moose.
Princess Alea Lilbeach:
Alea will bite you. She's the second oldest and what she lacks in height she makes up for in girth. She's had allergy issues her whole life but that hasn't stopped her from ruling the bed. Her hobbies include biting my wife when she wants food, scratching my wife when she wants food and sitting so that her butt is directly on my face when she wants food.
Jack, Son of Jack, First of His Name:
Jack is the largest of three brothers. We inherited (?) them when a relative died. I have extensive scratch scarring on my arms mostly from him. I'm his favorite human but also his favorite thing to parkour off of when he needs to reach higher levels. Jack has two modes: passed out like he fell off a tall building and skittish like the whole world is on fire.
The Wu:
The Wu - originally Wolverine, then Wu Wu - is Levi's nemesis. He will only drink water from a running faucet which means we have a timer permanently set to three minutes so we remember when to turn the water off. He is a sweetheart but his mode of showing love includes biting your hand and then pulling. "I love you so much I will eat your hands."
Miklo:
There are secrets in this universe. Miklo knows them. All of them. He wants to share them with you but he's limited in his vocabulary. This vexes him.
Me:
I'm 58. I am an imaginary rock star. No really. I'm also a teacher. I won a mini-season of LJI under the name Prog-shlock. Let's do this.
Live Journal Idol XX Statement of Intent
Aug. 27th, 2026 06:50 pmIt has been over nine years since I updated here at Dreamwidth, which is nearly a decade. A decade is closer to a century than it is to an eon. So I'm sorry i haven't been around here in basically 100 years.
A lot has happened in those years. New jobs. New cats. New therapist. But one thing remains the same. Typos. Endless, hopeless typos. The sort that you want to blame on autocorrect but know in your heart were some combination of dyslexia and laziness.
This is just to say (cold plums) that I am stating my intent to support Gary in his efforts to torment all of his friends and followers in season 20 oftherealljidol. See you in the trenches droogies.
A lot has happened in those years. New jobs. New cats. New therapist. But one thing remains the same. Typos. Endless, hopeless typos. The sort that you want to blame on autocorrect but know in your heart were some combination of dyslexia and laziness.
This is just to say (cold plums) that I am stating my intent to support Gary in his efforts to torment all of his friends and followers in season 20 of
therealljidol. See you in the trenches droogies.
ComplaintJournal
Mar. 15th, 2017 01:12 amHonest to dog, can't the people in my local theatre community just act like adults every now and again?
The answer to this is, of course, no they cannot.
The answer to this is, of course, no they cannot.
I May Not Live To See Our Glory
Jan. 19th, 2017 10:44 pmSo, yeah, I'm 49 and it sort of bums me out that I'll probably spend the test of my life fighting to get the country back into as good a shape as it is right now.
Well, cry havoc friends!
Well, cry havoc friends!
Play LJ Idol Season 10 Whydontcha
Oct. 31st, 2016 10:21 amSeason 10 Sign Up Sheet is live. I've had a great time playing LJI (during the three seasons I played it) - I met some great people and wrote a bunch of things I'm really mildly proud of. I encourage you to consider joining. I think you'll have a blast.
Yes, I mean you.
Yes, I mean you.
Ten Year Olds, Dude
Oct. 14th, 2016 01:19 pm “I’ll be dating her in 10 years. Can you believe it?”
Some of you might remember my formula for calculating appropriate ages a person can date without meeting societal disapproval. Basically, take your own age,divided it in half and add 7. For example, I'm 48 so the youngest person I can date without ooging people out is 31. I think that's reasonable. Yeah Yeah age is just a number, but age difference can suggest power difference and a big power difference isn't always healthy in a romantic relationship.
Anyhow, so Trump is 70. Were he to be single again, I'd expect him to stuck to women 42 years and up.
When I first started teaching high school, I was 27 (lowest age range: 21). I had some male friends who said gross things like "oh you get to hand around wuth all those hot teenage girls." I was all like "what the fuck?"
The first year I was teaching, I had to chaperone the prom. One of the 18 year old women (lowest age for date: 16; highest age: 22) arrived with her 30 year old boyfriend (low: 22, high 46). He was older than me and wanted to sit with the chaperones, not his girlfriend's friends. Sorry, dude, you date a teenager, you have to hang out with teenagers.
I get being attracted to youth especially as I get older but i don't get why you'd want to date somebody that had almost no shared life experiences - and almost no experience at life. This if what that formula is partially about - the range of people you can date expands as you get older and theta greater odds of shared life experience and shared power levels.
I know every relationship is different and maybe there's some March/December romances out there that work perfectly well. The thought of a 50+ year old man bragging about dating a ten year old when she ages up to 20, however, squicks me out.
Some of you might remember my formula for calculating appropriate ages a person can date without meeting societal disapproval. Basically, take your own age,divided it in half and add 7. For example, I'm 48 so the youngest person I can date without ooging people out is 31. I think that's reasonable. Yeah Yeah age is just a number, but age difference can suggest power difference and a big power difference isn't always healthy in a romantic relationship.
Anyhow, so Trump is 70. Were he to be single again, I'd expect him to stuck to women 42 years and up.
When I first started teaching high school, I was 27 (lowest age range: 21). I had some male friends who said gross things like "oh you get to hand around wuth all those hot teenage girls." I was all like "what the fuck?"
The first year I was teaching, I had to chaperone the prom. One of the 18 year old women (lowest age for date: 16; highest age: 22) arrived with her 30 year old boyfriend (low: 22, high 46). He was older than me and wanted to sit with the chaperones, not his girlfriend's friends. Sorry, dude, you date a teenager, you have to hang out with teenagers.
I get being attracted to youth especially as I get older but i don't get why you'd want to date somebody that had almost no shared life experiences - and almost no experience at life. This if what that formula is partially about - the range of people you can date expands as you get older and theta greater odds of shared life experience and shared power levels.
I know every relationship is different and maybe there's some March/December romances out there that work perfectly well. The thought of a 50+ year old man bragging about dating a ten year old when she ages up to 20, however, squicks me out.
Keeping Up With The Joneses My Preciouses
Oct. 3rd, 2016 02:23 pmI've not been keeping up my end of the Livejournal bargain. Sorry about that all y'all.
Things have been going fairly well in Joey-land this last year. I've lost 50 pounds (Wut?) and seem to be doing better managing my diet and exercise. Sometimes I feel less depressed and sometimes I don't know if I actually feel less depressed or if I just feel less out of shape. Hard to judge.
I have like three ideas.
One - There's this book I've wanted to write for like two years but I can't get myself started on it.
Two - I have this idea for a theatre production based on the music of The Decemberists. I recently shared this idea elsewhere. I don't think I need to be the one to make it happen, but somebody should.
Three - I have this tremendous idea for a time travel story, but I need an excuse to write it. GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE.
That is all.
Things have been going fairly well in Joey-land this last year. I've lost 50 pounds (Wut?) and seem to be doing better managing my diet and exercise. Sometimes I feel less depressed and sometimes I don't know if I actually feel less depressed or if I just feel less out of shape. Hard to judge.
I have like three ideas.
One - There's this book I've wanted to write for like two years but I can't get myself started on it.
Two - I have this idea for a theatre production based on the music of The Decemberists. I recently shared this idea elsewhere. I don't think I need to be the one to make it happen, but somebody should.
Three - I have this tremendous idea for a time travel story, but I need an excuse to write it. GIVE ME THAT EXCUSE.
That is all.
Attention!
Jun. 18th, 2016 01:17 pm
The Moose is enjoying the cat sitter! This is photographic evidence of him being friendly and engaged with a non-Michaels human.
That is all.
And We're Back...
Jun. 17th, 2016 03:48 pmMy adventure participating in the last mini-season of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
therealljidol as ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
prog_schlock has drawn to a conclusion. I'm now returning here to write about cats and to swear occasionally. How are you all doing?
therealljidol as prog_schlock has drawn to a conclusion. I'm now returning here to write about cats and to swear occasionally. How are you all doing?Check This Shit Out, Dudes
Jun. 2nd, 2016 09:46 pmThis week at therealljidol, there's just five of us left - and one person had a bye, so only four of us wrote. And one of toast four has immunity so the vote comes down to three of us. And all four entries are really good so i don't know how you'd even choose which to vote for.
Anyhow, go here and follow the links at the poll to read this week's entries. I'm competing asprog_schlock but seriously all the entries are yup notch.
therealljidol, there's just five of us left - and one person had a bye, so only four of us wrote. And one of toast four has immunity so the vote comes down to three of us. And all four entries are really good so i don't know how you'd even choose which to vote for. Anyhow, go here and follow the links at the poll to read this week's entries. I'm competing as
prog_schlock but seriously all the entries are yup notch.Plug for This Week's therealljidol Poll
May. 9th, 2016 11:55 amHey, yo, you can go vote for this week's entries here, but I want to suggest you do yourself a favor and read this great entry by kickthehobbit whether you vote or not. Its a great piece of science fiction and worth reading.
kickthehobbit whether you vote or not. Its a great piece of science fiction and worth reading.This Week is Alternate ID Land
Apr. 29th, 2016 01:17 pmCheck out my entries for therealljidol this week.
This one is about Hair Metal and how getting stuck in one period of your life is a sad thing.
This one features tons of photos of my cats.
I'll post the link to the poll as soon as the poll happens so you can read the other entries this week.
therealljidol this week.This one is about Hair Metal and how getting stuck in one period of your life is a sad thing.
This one features tons of photos of my cats.
I'll post the link to the poll as soon as the poll happens so you can read the other entries this week.
Read Some Stuff
Apr. 25th, 2016 10:38 amHey, so, I'm competing in Mini-Season 9 of therealljidol under the name prog_schlock. There's only 15 people left and there's some great stuff to read. I wrote about the impact Prince's music has had on my life.
If you have some time, please check out the entries this week and vote for the ones you like! And if you leave a comment for the entries you enjoy, all the better.
Just FYI - Voting is a little different this week - all of the members of the team with the highest average move on to Week #20.
Thank you for still using LiveJournal and for checking out this weeks entries!
therealljidol under the name prog_schlock. There's only 15 people left and there's some great stuff to read. I wrote about the impact Prince's music has had on my life.If you have some time, please check out the entries this week and vote for the ones you like! And if you leave a comment for the entries you enjoy, all the better.
Just FYI - Voting is a little different this week - all of the members of the team with the highest average move on to Week #20.
Thank you for still using LiveJournal and for checking out this weeks entries!
So, I just announced this in the therealljidol's work room, but I've been competing this whole season under the name prog_schlock.
This has been a terrific mini-season and there are 14 really talented writers (and also me) still left in the game. We're just starting a new week and I'll post here when the next set of entries are up so you can read them if you wish. This last week was stellar.
therealljidol's work room, but I've been competing this whole season under the name prog_schlock.This has been a terrific mini-season and there are 14 really talented writers (and also me) still left in the game. We're just starting a new week and I'll post here when the next set of entries are up so you can read them if you wish. This last week was stellar.
