tirsdag 21. juni 2011

Amazing

The human mind is pretty extraordinary. It can perform complex calculations. It recognizes human faces and can distinguish them from one another, thousands of them stored in the memory banks. It can convey both emotion and reason to the user, and it has this fun way of letting you know you are being unreasonable, but still act on that impulse.

The brain itself is not very attractive: weighs around 1.5kgs, consisting of a somewhat grey, gooey matter. It is hard to fathom the capabilities, the possibilities and the power stored within such an unimposing physical attribute. But it is one of the most impressive creations of this world, be it man-made or purely evolutionary.

torsdag 16. juni 2011

Sta-Geco

The two things that really make me enjoy this job are the feeling of achievement and the elitism that comes with such a small profession.

Achievement: the work is demanding both physically and mentally. It is heavy, you have to maneuver around in cramped spaces and use all parts of your body to lift, stabilize and secure both yourself and the item your are hanging. You have to maintain focus. If you fuck up, best case scenario it's a dropped bolt and a lot of yelling. Worst case scenario you ruin equipment for thousands of dollars, kill someone and will never get hired again.

The elitism might be more personal, but it's as if this fraternity (there are a few girls as well) of riggers tend to be very exclusive, very good at what they do (I'm not saying I'm the best, but I know what I'm doing), very protective...and also very hostile. Not hostile in a violent way but, hostile in the sense that once you don that harness, you are free from any other duties than rigging. No one can ask you to go push a case of MAC 2000s off stage. No one will ask you. It's as if that one profession, that small part of a crew is on it's own shelf, not mingling with the humps.

I try not to brag about anything in my life. But when people do ask me what I do, I feel a sense of pride in conveying the fact that I work as a rigger. It's a dangerous job, PPE and all that. It's complicated in that you have to think of so many things at the same time. It's not for everyone. And for that, I'm glad.