Holiday Stuff

Today I ran around getting some last minute errands done and meeting with friends. Susan and I opened the gifts that our families mailed us and enjoyed some really good hot cocoa that I picked up for $1.50 at Ocean State Job Lot. (I couldn't believe that they had "Green & Black" organic chocolate products that cheap.) I received a really cool wreath---made out of jingle bells---from Aunt Nancy, Uncle Robert, and my cousins Aaron and David. Susan gave me a rock that reads "remember" and I gave her some of the cookies I made. Now, I've got a green bean casserole in the oven and a pecan pie will be going in there once that's done.

Tomorrow, Susan is heading to North Carolina for a week and Steve and I are going to drive to the eastern part of the state. We're going to stop in at Mark and Carol's open house and then go to Steve's mom's. We'll put up her tree and stay overnight to spend Christmas with her and Steve's sister, Nancy. We will return home on Tuesday night. We don't plan on getting back too late because I have to get up for work at 5:30 AM on Wednesday. I have dinner plans with friends Wed. & Thurs. I'm saying all this now because I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to do this week. It will probably be New Year's Eve before I post again, but who knows?

I love you all and hope you have a really happy holiday season.

Ok, I take back some of what I've said about Hugh Grant

I ranted about his performance in "Sense and Sensibility", and wasn't impressed by him in "About a Boy", but I really liked "Notting Hill". I watched it last night and thought it was a sweet movie. Moreover, I thought Hugh Grant was sweet in it. I'm still not convinced that he isn't a bad, dumb (as in taking a lot of parts that are beyond his capabilities or otherwise not right for him), or lazy actor but this was the perfect movie for him. The cute and bewildered look that he does most of the time was exactly what this role called for. He also didn't overact, it was nice not seeing his ego on the screen.

Today I finished shopping for Christmas gifts for Steve's family and Steve and I had a sushi dinner afterwards. I also had a decaf eggnog latte for the first time and it was yummy! Now I'm watching "The Incredibles". I thought it was funny the first time I saw it and I still like it.

Wow, lots going on!

Thursday night was fabulous! After getting a lot of stuff done around the house during the day, I was a camera operator at a local city council meeting. In addition, I ended up helping my fellow camera operators and acting as a production assistant for part of the shoot. I helped with mic check, counted the meeting down into the live shoot, and did some troubleshooting. I talked to Dad when I got home from the meeting.

He and Jan received the gifts I sent and they liked them. Aunt Donna got the cookies I sent her and she really loved the tin I sent them in. It was blue with cute snowmen. I'm glad they all liked their presents. I enjoyed choosing, making, and sending them. Unfortunately, Dad and I had a bad connection so we got off the phone before he was able to tell me he'd gotten into a car accident that morning. He told me about it tonight when we talked. His front end blew out and he ended up in the median. He was really lucky, and he's okay, but he had to get about $1,000 worth of work done on his car this morning.

Today I got up at 5:30 AM! (Yes, I know it's hard to believe but I really did.) I worked my first day as a temp at a local wallet making company. I was only supposed to be there for four hours of training but I ended up getting trained in about 40 minutes and was then asked to stay for the rest of the day. I'll be filling in for their receptionist/switchboard operator while she's on vacation. I was originally scheduled to be there Wed., Thur., and Friday of next week but they've now also asked me to work the following Monday. Yeah! Everyone there was really nice and I was able to help them with a big mailing project in addition to the regular work assigned to me. I was also invited to join in their potluck lunch. A lot of the employees had made great food. There was an amazing chocolate and cream cheese brownie cake that I had two pieces of.

Storms, class, job, and gadgets

Wow, lots to report tonight.

Sunday the Northeast was hit with a big snow and ice storm. Susan and I were happily ensconced here at home with the dogs. We recorded the raw footage of the interview that I'll need for my editing class. I interviewed Susan about the rock creatures her kids at school make. The samples she brought home were great! Some of them were really cute.

Unfortunately, on Monday afternoon, it took me an hour and a half to get my car dug out and unstuck. I finally had to put some "Ice Melt" under the wheels. I was able to meet a friend for dinner but I couldn't return the field camera to the TV station until today. They were really nice about it, though.

Today, I called the temp agency and they had a job for me. It was good timing, really. I called their main office looking for Tami, the woman who had done my intake. I was going to tell her that I really needed to make some money and see if they had a job available this week. Laurie, the woman I had worked with when I was at the Symphony, answered the phone and told me that Tami was in their satellite office. As I was about to hang-up the phone to call Tami, Laurie asked if I was available to work. I will be working as a switchboard operator at a local wallet making company. I will be there for training on Friday morning and then be answering their phones next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It will be good to get that money coming in.

At our final basic production class tonight we took a written test about television production. I think I did really well. I also got to watch the raw footage of my interview project. The editing class will be two weeks in January. In the meantime I'll be a camera operator on Thursday night at a city council meeting and then again at the mayor's inauguration and two city council meetings in January.

One last thing, I finally own a (fake) leatherman! For $5 I bought a generic, 15 in 1, multi-tool. It's compact and has two kinds of pliers, a saw, wire cutter, and lots of screwdrivers. It also came packaged with a 12 in 1 pocket knife and a combination flashlight and carrabiner.

Video Production has started.

Yesterday afternoon I picked up a field camera from the TV station so I could start my homework. I, willingly, was a guinea pig because this was the first time they were checking out equipment to someone. After eating dinner and sending off an email (see below) I began shooting. I have recorded all the images for my countdown and two cutaways for the interview. Susan and I will be taping the interview itself and reaction shots tomorrow. I'd like to come up with one more cutaway but I'm having trouble finding something that won't be problematic to shoot.

The email I sent last night was a piece to be included in a memory book for a former college professor of mine who is retiring. She was my advisor in the Theatre department and she really helped me to grow as a person. Those of you familiar with my sense of humor will not be surprised that this is what I sent:

ODE TO JOYCE (To the tune of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy”)

By Alicia Van Beethoven

Joyce, Joyce you advised me
Through the years at MHC.
My life unfolded there before you
Leading to my degree.

You always asked me questions
Probing my drive and skills.
You trusted me with Stage Managing
Even when I was a pill.

Joyce, Joyce you helped me
Create some great memories.
Now I’m returning the favor
I hope you think this is funny.

“I think this would be good for you”,
About classes and jobs I heard you say.
“I’m so glad you dumped that guy”,
Was what you said reunion day.

Joyce, Joyce you inspired me
When you talked about your bass lessons.
And you also employed me
In house- and dog-sitting sessions.

You were a great advisor!
Thank you so much for continuing
To do that even after
My graduating.

Joyce,
Congratulations on retiring and thanks for all you did for me.

In other news: Today I sent off my annual holiday treat packages to my family. Rick, who works at the post office, commented how early I am this year. As London Tipton says, "Yay me!" (insert clapping here). {See "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody" on Disney Channel for the reference.}

Making cookies on a snowy day.

I made sure to get my outside errands and chores done yesterday so that today I could concentrate on making holiday cookies while the snow fell. We are expected to receive somewhere between 8 and 12 inches. Susan and I had to do a little outside work earlier in order to get our cars out of the way of the snow plow. Now, however, we are camped out inside the house with the dogs. The dogs are being very good about the fact that I have chocolate all over the kitchen. :)

Squirrels and Birds, Part 2

For some reason, blogger is bogging down and I couldn't put all four of these pics in the same post. Here are two shots of the birds being cute. They let me get pretty close to them. It was amazing standing out there on the porch listening to them chirp, hearing the beating of their wings, and hearing the wind chimes. I especially love the one of the chickadee peeking out from around the green feeder.

Squirrels and Birds, Part 1

Susan hung several bird feeders and wind chimes on her porch and they've had many visitors.
The squirrels have made me laugh out loud with their antics. They just keep trying to get to the feeders. This one decided to come investigate me instead.I hope to get a picture of them in action soon. Unfortunately, today the dogs started barking at them and they were scared off.

My first television class assignment.

Tonight, at our second to last class in this session, my classmates and I were given our first homework. In order to move on to the editing class in January, we each need to compile raw footage of a five minute interview and a countdown sequence. The interview footage needs to include cut-aways (graphics, photos, or other footage related to the interview---for example, if the interview was about City Hall then a cut-away could be a photo of City Hall) and shots of the interviewer asking questions and reacting. The countdown can be any way of representing the numbers 10 to 0.

For my interview, I'm going to interview Susan about the "rock creatures" that she and her class are about to make. My countdown sequence is going to be pictures of numbers on food labels. I'm really excited about this and hope to start on Friday. I already e-mailed the station's Access Coordinator to reserve the field camera. After the pieces are completed in January I'll put them on youtube and link them to my blog so you can all enjoy them too.

Snow/Ice Day!

Woo hoo! Susan didn't have to go to school today so I made chocolate chip pancakes for her birthday breakfast. The rest of the day will be for chores and errands, and perhaps a little laziness. :)

I called Mom, Becky, and dad last night. Everyone is doing well. Becky won't know the gender of her expected baby for another few weeks but Jacob has already decided it's a girl named Alexis. Obviously, I'm quite partial to that name because it's a little like mine. Mom's enjoying retirement and building her Shaklee business. When I called, I interrupted dad and Jan watching the episode of "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" that I worked on.

Back at Susan's!

I'm home from house/petsitting for Raymah and Hutch. They had a great time in Florida and beat the bad weather home. Their dogs and birds are very happy to see them. It just started to snow as I pulled onto Susan's road. I'm not sure how much, if any, accumulation we're going to get but I hope it doesn't interfere with the chores and errands I need to do tomorrow. I'm really glad to be back here because I missed Susan's dogs (Casey & Allegra) too. Unfortunately, it looks like I'll be calling them Abbie and Tess (Raymah & Hutch's dogs) for a couple of days. :)

The Capitol Steps are hilarious!

Friday was a good day. I got things done, played with the dogs and birds, and got to see the Capitol Steps perform.

For those of you who don't know, the Capitol Steps are a political musical comedy troup made up of former congressional staffers. They take pride in saying that "when breaking political news happens you can go to our website...and find out what rhymes with it". I've been a fan of theirs since I was in middle school and have seen them live on tour about ten times. Last night's show was mostly material I hadn't heard before which was really nice. My favorite piece was Ruth Bader Ginsberg asking Sandra Day O'Connor to rejoin the court because Ruth was tired of being the only woman there. Another song I love, even though I've heard it several times before, is "Lord Bless My SUV". It's about mass consumption and sung to the tune of Lee Greenwood's "Bless the USA". The guy who I've seen sing it three times has an incredible set of lungs and holds one note for about 30 seconds while the audience just cracks up.

That was awesome!

I had a blast operating cameras at the city council meeting. There were three of us available to operate cameras so we rotated positions throughout the meeting. We also got to sit in the control booth for part of the meeting to observe the director. When I was behind a camera, I felt really focused watching what my camera was seeing and listening to the director via my headset. I was actually so intent on what I was doing that I almost missed the fact that the council decided to go into "Executive Session" and we had to leave. I loved the quick pace of the shoot and the variety of the shots I was asked to get. It was really nice to have plenty of stuff to do.

Catching up

Class was great on Tuesday. We learned about lighting and sound. Some of it was familiar to me because the concepts are similar to ones in Theatre. Wednesday I thought I was fighting a cold so I didn't do much except take care of the dogs and rest. I took a nap today and I've been drinking "Emergen-c" so I feel much better. Tonight I'm going to be a camera operator during a local city council meeting. I can't wait! Happy Hannukah everyone!

The big secret about Saturday.

So, my "big day" on Saturday was very busy. I realized when I was creating my previous post that I couldn't say what I was going to be doing because one of my friends, Lynette---who reads this blog occasionally, was getting a surprise baby shower. Her husband and her mother set it all up and all the guests parked on a side street near the house so she wouldn't see the cars when she arrived home. It was a great shower. I was especially excited because, since we both went to MHC, my present to her was a 12-month MHC onsie for the baby. We played charades at the shower and I volunteered to go first. I ended up winning a cool prize. I now own an original, handmade, piece of art that's also a lunch bag. It's sewn together from "Capri Sun", "Minute Maid", and "Kool-Aid" juice drink bags. It even has a front pocket. I also took home a little rubber ducky that is wearing a baby bonnet.

Unfortunately, before I got to the shower I was speeding around doing errands. I got up at 8:30am and took care of Raymah's dogs and Hutch's birds. I left the house around 11am so that I could drive 45 minutes to check my P. O. box. I had ordered Lynette's present a couple of weeks ago but it didn't show up until Saturday morning. After that I drove back to Susan's to take care of her dogs, pack the rest of the stuff I needed at Raymah's, wrap the present, and take a shower. Then I rushed off to the baby shower. After the shower I went back to Susan's to take care of her dogs and then returned to Raymah's. I was exhausted but didn't feel like sleeping so I watched Lois and Clark until 5:30am on Sunday.

I've been watching Sci-Fi Channel's "Tin Man" mini-series and I like it. The sets are beautiful and the homages to both the Frank L. Baum book and the Judy Garland movie are nicely done.

That's about it. I ran some errands today and I'll be doing Steve a favor by giving him a ride to work tomorrow morning while his car's in the shop. Then I have class tomorrow night.

Okay, I know it's been awhile since I posted, but...

MY DGA APPLICATION IS FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I spent most of this week finishing my application and mailed it out on Thursday. It was quite an experience. I think I stated on here before that it was like filling out a college application. There were five essay questions in addition to requiring a work history, resume, and college transcript. I was so focused on it that I even forgot to bring the camera to class with me on Tuesday night. Anyway, it's done and hopefully I'll hear good news from them in February.

In the meantime, I've started house and pet sitting for Raymah & Hutch. Unfortunately, I don't seem to have cell phone service anywhere in the town where they live. I can still check my messages though, so I will get back to you. I have a big day tomorrow (today) so I'm headed to bed now.