FIRST PERFORMANCE IS THIS EVENING!!!
Yesterday I scouted the first site (Plummer Park) at the hour we are set to perform this evening. Here are some Sun Shad maps with UV index for our time. Sun protection won't be as big of an issue as I imagined. More concerned with mosquitoes at sunset! We've been getting bitten.
It's a big day with last minute things. Tonight is a bit of an experiment, we'll work out the kinks for the other two locations.
I found a great place to rent a helium tank. It's large! Worried it will upset the cart (literally, tip it over). May need a counterweight of some kind. It's also a bit expensive. But so happy I found a business in the area that is black and gay owned. I'd love to get the tank this morning but I don't want to drive there and back to where I'm staying, so I think I'll get it in the early afternoon and figure it out right beforehand (scary!). Here's the place (they've been great!).
Of course there are a ton of small things. I want to put together a kit of things we may need during the 3 hour performance: Sunscreen, bug spray, water, external battery (charging devices), scissors, small tools, tape etc.
I want to pick up a few things yet - especially some containers to hold the materials (silver rings, red ribbon, condoms, scissors), along with the 'kit' items listed above. I'll try a second hand shop first before going to a commercial chain store. I'm always disappointed at how much I lean on big box stores and amazon for art work. I try other places but they really have a corner on the market. All I can do is try to avoid it as much as possible and use them as last resorts.
I'm nervous, yes, but also trying to see this evening as a test run, a dress rehearsal. I'm not slacking, but I don't wanna set myself up for disappointment so I'm keeping my expectations low. I know a lot of folx will be there this evening who are influential so I do indeed want to make a good impression...but if I worry about failure it'll all go to shit. So I'm trying to keep the stakes low and keep my head on straight to do the best job we can under the circumstances. I'm confident it will go well.
OH! one of my BIGGEST CONCERNS is that in my tests the condoms didn't stay inflated very long. I've done this work before and the condoms lasted a few hours - three at least - but in our tests they faded after 90 minutes. So we may be dealing with sinking condoms...but determined to embrace that, as well. Heat, humidity, wind...all can impact the duration of the inflation. But the objects themselves, even deflated, are interesting. I must trust in myself, in my work, and in my collaborators, a difficult thing to do.