Phantom of the Opera, a measuring tape, and high heels

…that basically describes my second day on the job at the UNT Facilities Department. Today I got to experience my first day of site verification. Basically what it comes down to is that I have to make sure that the dimensions in the archived drawings are right and to check and see if the professor cut holes in his door and painted the ceiling lime green….just for fun.

But today, I wasn’t measuring an office, a lecture hall, or a reception desk…. Today me and a fellow Design Assistant were assigned to site check the mezzanine stage right in the auditorium. The renovation consists of updates…. As well as installing an organ and the organ pipes on the wings of the stage.  We gear up with a tape measure, camera, laser measurer, a variety of pens, 7 printed floor plans, and coffee…. But then we’re told, “And oh, bring a flashlight…and how do you feel about climbing ladders…” I look down and observe my dress and heels- in which I wore to impress people- but now it just comes across as unprepared- great!

We arrive at the auditorium to find it pitch black except for a light coming from a music stand and organ music filling the air…..something straight out of Phantom of the Opera. As we locate the wing we need to measure, we do everything we can from the ground floor, but eventually we had to relocate. A delicate black iron ladder ascended into the abyss, leaving the heels behind I went up first barefoot, flashlight in hand. As I got closer and closer to the top I was praying that it wasn’t going to look like the first scene of an NCIS episode where an obscure dead body was going to be waiting for me upstairs….of course a live body wouldn’t be good either. Instead I found…mostly darkness and dust….oh and a stack of organ pipes ready to be installed. Measuring this space was a challenge…especially barefoot. Stepping over the organ pipes, and hanging on to the rail, we snapped a ton of pictures, sketched and measured what we could…. Descended the ladder and called it a day. A little dirt under the fingernails never hurt anybody….but I will be stashing flats and jeans in my desk from now on.