reminds me of camping

Sometimes load-in reminds me of camping. First you crawl out of your bunk which for most people is slightly roomier than a sleeping bag. Then you stumble out of the bus and try and remember where you are. When you get into the theatre, there's the initial scoping out of the bathroom location and finding the power hookup. Then there's the excess of people standing around when they actually have a job to do. But are they doing it? Nope. They're just standing around saying how they would do it this way or that way, occasionally getting in the way, and then wondering if it's time for food yet. Also, there tend to be some people who could have used a shower before now. And if there is a tv anywhere in the vicinity, you can bet that there will be at least one or two people hiding out and watching it.

Then there's the prospect of taking a shower in a new and scary location. Again, like camping, there is a definite knowledge that there is probably not a regular cleaning schedule for the bathroom in question. Suspicion of such is confirmed by the variety and size of the bugs lurking in the drains. Dead usually, but you have to be careful. Roadie legend tells of the roadie that got soap in his eyes and, stumbling about, managed to kick off the hazmat flipflops (that are strongly recommended), and accidentally stepped onto a pair of cockroaches that were big enough to carry him down the hall. Yee ha!