I had just finished one of my most ambitious installations yet -- 4 shows in 3 cities in 3 days.

It all began at my shop early Thursday morning, where I carefully packed 250 pounds of gear into 5 containers and headed off to San Francisco to pick up even more gear before crossing the bridge to the Epic Arts Gala Benefit and Art Car Fest opening party at the Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley.

I had 2 hours to set everything up; 1 hour to take it all down; and no idea where I would be sleeping that night. The most important thing was to repack the containers according to weight, and board the first flight out of Oakland the next morning. The job was tough, and the winds kept me busy throughout the party, but I got to see some old friends and a chance to ride a big fat unicycle.

I made the plane with time to spare, after sleeping on a friendly sofa in a house just down the street from my old family home. I didn’t get much sleep, but I did get a head start on the traffic.

The flight to Ontario was uneventful. The installation was challenging. The Convention Center was greedy. I got to use my new whiffle golf ball & slingshot line caster, and it worked like a charm.

Everything went up on time, and it all came down on time, but there was nothing easy about it. It was one of my greater rigging challenges. I had to hang everything from a 28’ beam, but I could not use any kind of mechanical lift and I had only one electrical outlet available.

After the party, I had less than an hour to get everything down, disassembled, and repacked into its original container. At 12:30 am, I said good-night to the security guard and dragged all 250 pounds down the street to my hotel, where I drank a beer and went to bed. After a few hours of sleep, I caught the first flight out, loaded up the car and crossed the bridge back to San Francisco where I transferred everything to a bigger van, loaded up more stuff, and headed for the Civic Center to meet the riggers that were waiting for me. Problem was, the van was out of gas. The person who had left it for me hadn’t checked the gauge before leaving me the keys. I drove my car to a gas station and bought a gas can and gas, but the van still would not start, so I reloaded everything back into my car and drove everything over in 2 trips, through crazy Saturday morning festival nightmare traffic.

I Still had two jobs to do, about a block apart, and the timing was tight, but we got it done. City Hall goes up. Civic Center goes up. City Hall comes down while Civic Center is still going up. We get everything done on time, and waited for the house lights to go down so I could take some photos.

I’m on the road home by 9:30, drinking a beer by 10:30, and in bed by Midnight, knowing that I’ll finally be getting some sleep, in my own bed, for a full eight hours. Well done, I think.

An hour later, I wake up with a cramp in my abdomen. 10 minutes later, I’m in the worst pain of my life and Debi’s calling 911. Minutes later, I’m riding a gurney across my rocky yard. The Paramedic tries to insert an IV, but the damn speed bumps keep bouncing the needle around my veins. But that doesn’t matter. It’s nothing next to the pain in my abdomen.

Now in the hospital, I get three doses of morphine, but the pain doesn’t leave. Can’t get anything stronger until the blood tests come back. CT scan shows what I suspected: kidney stones. Three, in fact. One big one blocking the Ureter, and two smaller ones hanging out in the kidney. Blood tests come back OK, and I’m dosed with something that works. My body stops writhing and my abdomen finally relaxes. Ahhh.

All I can do now is wait. The big one will continue to hurt while it makes its way down the Ureter, and I am told the smaller ones may or may not ever come out. That’s reassuring. By 5:30 am, Debi & I are off to the pharmacist, and by 6, I’m riding the narco train to sleepy town.

Coming off morphine is never pleasant, but by Monday, I was eating food, and by Tuesday morning, I was picking the offending little bugger out of a pee-strainer. My kidney still aches, but I’m off the meds and pretty much back to normal.

Here are some photos from the Berkeley show: Epic Arts

Here are some photos from the Ontario show: Podcast New Media Expo

Here are some photos from the San Francisco shows: Love Fest 2007

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