Life Is Full Of Meetings And Partings

A cinema can be a strange place to work if you aren't used to long days and nocturnal ways of life.
I started working in one in 2008, and I guess I loved it so much I joined two more after that one. Everybody has somewhere that they go to visit and unwind- mine has always been the cinema. I suppose I thought it'd be a good idea to work there because I loved it so much.
And y'know, it was. I came back from England in 2010 completely penniless and got a call from a certain company offering me an interview. I turned it down, thinking, "I've done cinema twice before, better not". My sister overheard me, and instructed me to get them back on the phone immediately.
I met a series of wonderful people and went through quite a bit with them. I remember doing a sixteen hour shift and coming out beaming. Then I got promoted, and it was a different kettle of fish- with responsibility comes the obligation to be vaguely sensible. I got to put some 35mm films together under the guard of the projectionists (who will always be projectionists) and I still have the mistakes I made! Along with some celluloid scraps that I rummaged out of the dry film bin, under the illusion that it'll make me money someday. I reckon I'll keep it though.
I had my last shift today. I've known it was coming for a week or two, and I have dreaded it. I teared up at the thought, and cried like a little girl when it finally came around. The sadness that came with leaving is so great because it's been my world for a very long time.. Because of those anti-social hours, and bizarre experiences only gained from such a place, the people you work with become a kind of family.
There were wonderful times, for example when someone came in with a toddler and said "This is her first cinema trip!" And there were slightly more dramatic times, like when you watch security guards sit on a drunk before the police can arrive, or when four people get sick all at once because of the same scene.
But the magic has not been lost- it has been marred by The Future coming in and making everything digital, but I am a fan of stories, and film is one of the most enjoyable story-telling forms around. When you put it on a giant screen, turn out the lights, see the beam of light coming through a tiny window... There's nothing like it. I have enjoyed being a very small part of that in my naive, romantic head.

And I will miss it, very very much.