Catching up.

Sorry I haven't blogged in a few days. I've been in the editing suite a lot finishing the Martin Luther King Day stuff. It's almost done, it's just about 8 minutes too long. I had a good weekend with friends. This week I finished the stuff to send to my cousin in L. A. and I'm emailing a resume to a local car dealer tomorrow because they're looking for a receptionist. I have a temp job tomorrow and Friday. Unfortunately, my car may need a new wheel bearing so it looks like I'm just about done with it. :(

Editing on my own

I spent the afternoon in the editing suite at the studio and put together the first 24 minutes of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Event. I'm going back on Monday to work on it some more. Once the rough cut is done, the staff of the station will take a look at it and make suggestions or ok it to air. I'm excited! I think it looks pretty good so far. I'm also asking good questions of the staff and learning a lot.

By the way, my cell phone is now five by five. :) (For those of you who don't speak "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", or military jargon, that means that my voicemail is all set and you shouldn't have any problems connecting with my phone.) Hooray!

I'm also working on the stuff I'm going to send to my cousin who runs a production company out in LA. (Thanks again to Aunt Nancy for setting this up!) I hope to finish the letter and cover letter this weekend. I already updated my resume. I want to send them out on Monday.

My phone is fixed, mostly

and I went for a run today. The run was glorious. The ear pods that Raymah gave me, and my newfound freedom and willingness, really make it possible for me to be comfortable exercising in the cold. Otherwise, I get earaches. The sun was shining and the road was mostly clear. I didn't overdo it so it felt good.

I can once again make and receive calls on my cell phone! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to set up my voicemail. If I can't get it to work tomorrow morning I'll have to call Tracfone customer service again. Oh, well. I really like the new phone and the "iTap" feature it has. It allows me to type the whole word I want to enter and it figures it out. I was pretty tired of having to wait two or three seconds after typing each letter. Oh, and it looks like I have a lot more coverage area.

Today was a learning experience

I arrived at a nearby high school around noon to set up for filming a Martin Luther King Day event. I set up the camera and microphones by myself and then another volunteer showed up to help just before the program started around 2pm. I was a bit nervous because I hadn't done a real shoot on my own before. I'm glad he showed up because it meant I could sit down part of the time, eat, and use the facilities. I think the program will be okay once I edit it. I don't know if the sound will be okay though. It was hard to do this shoot because it was unrehearsed, featured video that we didn't have permission to shoot, and had audience participation (which I didn't have a mic for). Sometimes, though, it was only one person on stage for awhile and I was trying to make that interesting for a viewing audience. Also, the performers kept trying to use our mikes and then thinking they didn't work but I ended up with an earful of sound. Anyway, I learned a lot about what not to do and what questions to ask in the future. Also, I'll be able to ask the pros at the station tomorrow what they think. I'm really tired so this post is not coming out the way I'd planned. It wasn't meant to be a litany of complaints. I really did learn a lot today that will help me in the future. I also had a good time.

This weekend

Saturday I caught up with some emailing and had lunch with Steve. A result of my emailing is that I will be filming some local Martin Luther King Day events tomorrow, will begin volunteering with the local music show on February 4th, and will be sending my resume to a cousin-in-law who runs a production company in Los Angeles. Yeah! I've also been watching a lot of tennis. The Australian Open is on TV and it's pretty exciting. I just watched Venus Williams win her match and move on to the next round.

My first video!

Okay, here it is at last. This is the link to the interview I did with Susan for my class project. I posted it on youtube. Enjoy!

Busy shoot tonight.

Tonight I was part of the crew filming another local city council meeting. We had a bit of an adventure this time because about 45 minutes into the shoot a piece of equipment died and knocked us off the air. Thankfully, we were able to continue taping the meeting and it will be re-broadcast in its' entirety at a later date. I was also able to try out some new crew positions during this shoot. I started out as the audio engineer, making sure that none of the voices were too loud or soft. It was a bit difficult when several people were talking at once or they were switching from one person to another very quickly. After the equipment died the director handed me his headset so that I could fill in for him while he tried to fix the problem. I stayed low key and didn't get too fancy but it felt okay. It was kind of neat to call the shots and work with the camera people to find interesting views while one person spoke for awhile. I tried to build on what I learned at the school committee meeting shoot last week. After that, I manned a camera for about an hour and then returned to the booth for a snack and more sound work. Unfortunately, our mics were also acting a bit wonky so I was kept on my toes near the end.

Tomorrow I'm going to the studio to edit my interview for my class and, hopefully, I'll begin working with the local music show next Monday night. The director I worked with tonight is going to try to set that up for me next week. In addition, he said he'll let me know when our next big shoot is so that I can arrive early and help with the set up. That way I can learn all the technical stuff too. I'm excited. Oh, and I might be a one man band, so to speak, on Monday to film a local Martin Luther King day activity.

Phone Update & Snowstorm

I had a great conversation with TracFone customer service today. It turns out that my phone is no longer compatible with current cell phone technology. They are upgrading me to a new phone, and transferring over all my current information to it, at no charge. Yeah! I should have the new phone in 3-7 days. In the meantime, feel free to call me at Susan's before 9pm each night. I'll let you know once I have a working cell again.

In other news, we have a beautiful covering of snow here. We got a bit more than 8 inches. It's still coming down a little but we aren't expecting much more.

Don't Panic

If you can't get a hold of me by phone. There is something wrong with my Tracfone. It has been deactivated. They seem to think that I'm not up to date with my service but it doesn't expire until mid-April. I've been on hold with their customer service for almost an hour. :( Pretty soon I'm going to hang up and try them tomorrow.

Editing Class, Opportunity, and Other Neat Stuff

Editing class last night was really cool. There are three of us in this class (because you can only fit four people in the editing suite, and that just barely) and two of us got to edit our interviews last night. The first person's interview was pretty short so she was able to complete hers with all us us watching and listening to our teacher walk her through it. Then I got to begin mine. We are using IMovie. It is easy to use and I am excited to continue.

Tonight I helped film a local school committee meeting. For the first part of the meeting I was operating a hand-held field camera. Unfortunately, I couldn't keep the thing steady. Thankfully, the director wasn't planning on using the footage. It was just a test for future shoots. Later in the shoot I was operating the studio camera and I got a lot of good practice because this was a one camera shoot. I had to be able to capture everything that was going on without a break. I learned to zoom out to get the whole room between getting head shots of individual speakers on opposite sides of the room. The director suggested that next time I can move the camera around more to get different kinds of shots and keep things interesting for the viewing audience.

As we were cleaning up after the shoot, the director complimented my camera work and suggested that I volunteer for a live music program in a nearby city. He thinks that the additional practice, and the livelier type of shoot, would be good for me and that I could be really good at this. He is going to put a good word in for me with the director of that program.

Monday was a big day!

I arrived at a local senior center at 9:30 on Monday morning to be a part of the crew filming a local mayor's inauguration. It was different from previous shoots because it was being taped (instead of being broadcast live), we were using field cameras (as opposed to studio cameras---these are more portable), and we weren't linked to our director via headset. At the end of the shoot, the director sent me into the reception room with the camera (sans tripod) and told me to get some crowd shots. That was kind of cool and I don't think I shook the camera too much. :)

After the shoot ended around 11:30AM, I ate my lunch in my car and then walked around town. I picked up the sheet music for Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" while I was at it. Susan was playing the version by K. D. Lang the other day and mentioned how much she'd like to hear me perform it. I love the song and she was right about it being perfect for my voice. I've been plunking it out at the piano a bit over the last two days. Susan used to take piano lessons so she's going to see if she can accompany me. That will be cool.

At 1PM I reunited with the rest of the crew and we filmed a very quick city council meeting where they voted for a new city council president. At one point I goofed and my camera drifted but I've seen it on TV already and it doesn't look to bad. Thank goodness. I think I prefer being a production assistant and techie to camera operator because I worry that a lot more when I'm manning a camera.

When I got home I called the temp agency but they didn't have anything for this week. I've gotten a little exercise this week by walking the dogs with Susan. I think I'm going to check out her "Hip Hop Abs" video tapes this week to get some more. Today, I fixed a wooden chair that had been broken for awhile. I really like fixing things and using tools.

Not much to post

To be honest, I haven't posted as much this week because there isn't "big stuff" to report. Thursday I did more chores around the house and met with some friends after dinner. Friday I went grocery shopping and gassed up my car. Saturday I woke up with a headache. I took some ibuprofen after breakfast and went back to sleep for a few hours. When I woke up the headache was mostly gone but I was wiped out. I decided it was a good stay at home and watch TV day. Unfortunately, I watched the "America's Next Top Model" Marathon on VH1 most of this week and I think I'm a bit top modeled out.

Chore day

I got a bunch of stuff done! I checked my P. O. box, went to the bank, paid the rent for my storage unit, met with some friends, picked up Susan from her mechanic's, vacuumed, and sewed up two holes in my down parka. I'm so glad that I finally stitched up my coat. I was really tired of bleeding feathers everywhere I went.

Quick update

Hi all! Christmas was okay. I was dealing with some anxiety about work and other stuff and behaved awkwardly with Steve's family on Tuesday. New Year's was quiet. I watched the CSI marathon on SPIKE while eating goldfish crackers and drinking sparkling apple-grape juice. We've had two snowstorms in two days but our plow guy is really nice. Susan returned safely on Monday afternoon and the dogs will come home Thursday. I got a lot of stuff done today. Tomorrow I plan to call the temp agency again to see if they have any new opportunities for me. I really like the job I did last week.