Yikes! Time is not my friend...

[k8cre8]

I've been typing this in fits and starts, offline, for almost 4 weeks. It's long. 

Reunion
The Reunion went fairly well, but, was somewhat disappointing. There were 3 people from my class at the dinner Friday night, and a spouse, for a total of 4 people. There were 3 tables set-up for our year, but we didn't even fill one. The President of the University joined us at our table. I'd like to think that was due to the fact that our class was among the first he presided over as president. Realistically, I know it was because there was room. Granted, I *think* he remembered me, and one of the other alums at the table, but, we were just about the only partially filled table in the joint.

Because of the low turn-out, and the gloomy weather reports for the mountains, I suspected we might not get anybody for the picnic. (I knew that the other committee member who'd actually done work on the arrangements would be there, but, my expectations had plummeted from the previous evening.) So, I invited my mom along, so it wouldn't just be me should things be a complete bust. The ride up was beautiful, the fall colors were lovely, and I don't think I've really seen them in person since I lived in the high country. I'd forgotten. Anyway, at the picnic site (elev 10,691 ft, thank you GPS), it was snowing. Pretty, but a tad chilly. We ended up with six alums (plus a spouse, and one adorable 7-month old), decided to punt, and went to Beau Jo's instead. Good call, and a nice time was had by all. Nobody minded that my mom was along.

At the mass in the new chapel (which is lovely, and the accoustics are marvelous), I saw 11 people from my class, and there were other spouses and children. Saturday night, after the dinner, we'd planned for pool and drinks downtown. We had about 15 alums, plus spouses and a few other assorted folks, including an appearance by City Auditor, Dennis Gallagher. (He's also a professor and alum, he's up for re-election, and is generally a welcome addition to any gathering.) He was interested in my book(s) on cemeteries. He mentioned a previous book on such, I told him I quite liked that book, but was going a different direction, and confirmed with him that he'd written the forward for it. He told me, should I get a publisher, he'd like to look at it. The implication seemed like I might be able to get a similar forward? Anyway, it's always nice when local government officials know you by name. I talked with him, several times during the weekend.

Work
I'm still floating in a strange limbo. At my main job, I'm looking forward to the Nashville trip (eak! it's getting way close! Packing! Laundry! Yikes!), I like the company more each day, but, I'm still not really thrilled what I'm doing. To that end, I'm trying to really figure out what I really want to do for a living, maybe it's something I can fit with this company, maybe it's not. And, really, I'm increasingly uncertain what it is that I want to do. Fun, huh? (Although, I've been having interesting thoughts on that front, more on that under "Rampant Speculation") 

At the other job, over the last month and an half, I've been spending 2-3 hours a night doing tech support. With the exception of real minor stuff, I'm still waiting to start the writing part of this job. Of course, the amount of time I spend doing the tech support  (which I've been pretty burned out on for years) means that during the week, I've not had time to do anything but this. Weekends, have been a mixed bag, some really busy, and I've had a few days of "yuck," where I stayed home in my PJs, and that's all I managed. 

Catharyn was planning to hire another writer, this person being a student that just graduated. I happened to see the contract offer she'd drafted for him, and she planned to pay him the same wage as I make. Needless to say, I was a bit grouchy. Is she saying that a kid just out of college, with far fewer skills than I have, and with far less history with Catharyn and the company, is worth the same as me? Sure seems that way. This doesn't encourage me, and maybe it means that I should decide that the time it will take to get a return on my patience is not worth it. There are probably better ways I can spend my time, and at this point, they have about the same chance as this to become lucrative. Not that that's the only reason I was interested in this company, and clearly, if I'm worth the same to them as some snot-nosed kid, well, I've had it with them.

Television
New non-Fox fall shows I have seen: Smith, The Class, Studio 60, Kidnapped, Heroes, Help Me, Help You, Ugly Betty, Six Degrees, The Nine and Jericho. (I've got a few taped that I've not yet seen) And *all* of these were better than both 'till Death and Happy Hour. Happy Hour has my vote for the *worst* show of the season. Fox sorta agreed with me, and Happy Hour has been put on hiatus.

Vanished lost me somewhere about episode 3 or 4. I found out I mostly didn't care about any of these people any more, and the convoluted nature of the case just became annoying. Kidnapped is similar. I hope the kid gets rescued, but, I'm not sure I care enough to watch it take a whole season to rescue him, which, I must say, seems to be a forgone conclusion. I'm pretty sure the young FBI guy is in on the kidnapping.

Smith had some promise, and a great cast, but, it needs to lighten up, or make the contrast between their "real" lives and their criminal lives more distinct. Basically, it's suffering from trying to be too many different things. Is it a caper show? well, than I want to see the capers, and be more involved in that. Is it a show tryng to show the severe contrast between the mundane lives of their covers, and their "real" work? If so, there needs to be more contrast. Especially since I can't see why these people pull off these heists. They don't seem to take any joy in it. It doesn't look like fun. They're always risking being caught or killed. Most of them appear to have "cover" jobs, and are under strict orders to keep their spending low-profile, so, it's not really all about the money. So, what then, do they get out of this? If this is all about the ecitement, or entertainment, well, the audience needs to get that sense. Mostly, after 2 episodes, I'm wishing I were interested in
it. I gave up. So, too, did the network, Smith is the first cancellation of the season...

The Class has been the only new comedy I've actually laughed at. It's well-paired with HIMYM, and I'm enjoying it. Not groundbreaking, nothing particularly revolutionary, just funny. Which, now I've got that typed, is surrently something of a revolutionary concept for most comedies. Help Me, Help You was simply tiresome.

I kinda liked Jericho's pilot, but, episode 2 annoyed me, and really lost credibility with me. "Weapons of Mass-Snark" totally loaded. Episode 3 was better (My sister loves disaster shows.) I enjoy Heroes, it's gotten a full-season pickup already. Studio 60 is good, but, viewership has been declined for some strange reason. During last night's episode I realized
why I got the Fox premieres on DVD. They think I'm an Alpha consumer. That's right! I'm worth five regular viewers! ;)

Ugly Betty main plot points are not "ripped from the headlines so much" as "ripped from The Devil Wears Prada.'" I'm rooting for Betty, but, I have trouble watching a weekly dose of the "smart, resourceful, unfashionable chick is abused by the pretty people." Too much "like real-life" pain in that.

The Gilmore Girls premiere was not bad, and several muscles that had been tensed in anticipation of potential "transfer-of-power" problems relaxed for the moment. Of course, then there was the badness of Luke's truck pulling away from Lorelei's house. I'm glad she confessed the "Christopher" badness, but, I'm sad for poor Luke, with his smashed heart, and smashed diner. Grr. Taylor! Grr. Episode 2, by Buffy-alum Rebecca Rand Kirshner, had the whole Asia sequence, complete with "desert sushi." Classic Gilmores.

I'm really just glad that BSG and Veronica Mars are back. It was too long a break, especially for BSG. Really liked The Nine. Smart, interesting characters, great cast. This has started out quite well, and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Lost's premiere was quite good, and I was surprised, not so much surprised that it was good, just, well, the opening montage was not at all what I expected. Not that I, really, expected anything in particular, just, not that.

Six Degrees was a disappointing "blah." I expect more from JJ Abrams. The cast is highly talented, but, "blah" is about all I can muster.

Rampant Speculation 
I had this realization about a month ago, and it sparked a bunch of thoughts. I realized that a TV studio and a black box theater are fundamentally the exact same thing. And, from my admittedly limited experience with creating a movie, I realized really how easily this can be done. Also, it occured to me that a college could take a small studio/theater and use it as a potential profit center/training facility.  I also remembered how under-utilized the ACC studio is, and also, the Colorado film school. I'm wondering what it would take to develop a real film school, here, and make the studios competitve with studios doing commercials, or, even how hard it would be to develop a film school that puts its content online. And, I have vaguely entertained the idea that it would be cool to get a Master's Degree in film, come back, and grow a program here. I could write/produce, teach, etc. It's still sorta vague, but, it was something I've thought about.

Misc.
I'm still working on Word of the Day columns, but, it's slow, given everything else.  I'm actually entertainig the idea of finding out what it would cost to get the rights to produce the Buffy game myself. Clearly, they're not really getting more valuable, and maybe it's something I could invest in, produce the game myself, and hold the rights to producing many trivia games in the future. I'm working on getting a couple of actual book proposals together. Also, I will promise to carve out some time to see people soon, I have a play-date to reschedule. Also, ornaments to make, and a cookbook to finish. And! Thanks to badjeebusI have a very shiny iPod to play with. Yay!

Oh! And for kessiebabe, the 5 lies meme, the true statement is #2, I have a birthmark the shape of Argentina on my left leg.

I think this is officially my longest post ever...

Comments

[ng-nighthawk.livejournal.com]

Catharyn: I know that she means well, but from where I sit I'm getting the feeling... ok, analogy time. You know how you're watching someone who believes a romantic relationship is warming up, but from outside you can kinda tell the one person is warming up and the other is lukewarm? The less interested party is fine hanging out and doing things, but hasn't quite figured out how to tell the person they're not interested because a) they don't want to hurt the person's feelings and b) they're only speculating that the other person is interested and they don't want to say something if the other person can get the hint on their own.

I certainly have no idea, but Catharyn is clearly not acting as she would toward a valued employee who she is desperate to keep. I don't think she really thinks of you as being that important to her company. In other words, no matter what her words might be telling you, her actions indicate that you are replaceable and your goals are not in synch with her priorities for the company. And actions are generally a better compass than words. Especially when the problems have been brought to her attention numerous times.

I would say, despite all her best intentions, that there is no future with her as far as your personal goals are concerned. If you like doing what you're doing, or find it valuable in other ways, no problem. But this woman has never fulfilled a promise to you in anything approaching a reasonable timeframe. I wouldn't expect her to change anytime soon.

I'm not saying anything you haven't figured out already for yourself, based on what you wrote above, but I felt I should say it anyway.

BSG: Just watched the season premier. My only complaint was that after the last scene, they showed a preview which included at least one character who you weren't sure survived. I would have preferred staying in the dark on that, since they were clearly setting that up as the big cliffhanger. I don't mind knowing what's coming up, but I do mind a technique like a cliffhanger being defanged within 30 seconds. A small complaint, though.

Film: I guess my only thought is that you probably need to set up a studio and then have an audience, rather than setting up a theater and then filming it. Theatrical lighting isn't very good for film, as I'm sure you know, and you need to make sure the cameras are set up correctly. You also need to block things for the camera, rather than the audience. So overall, my sense is that the "studio audience" technique can be somewhat limiting, but you do get the multipurpose space, and it's not impossible. I'll be interested to see what you come up with on that.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

I think you are correct about Catharyn, and currently, I'm only hanging in there since the extra money is helpful for the time. I'm getting close to debt free (well, non-house debt), which means that living at the lower FPA salary is much easier, and, will be useful in the long run, no matter my income level. Anyway, thanks for your thoughts.

I'm with you a bit on the BSG spoiler in the "upcoming" segment. They should have learned from the outcry at FOx over the similarly executed 24 spoilers. But, like you said, a minor quibble.

Mostly, my thoughts on the theater thing are largely how to take an under-utilized space and maximize its potential. Why have a space if you're really only going to use it once a year? In the downtime of one cycle (i.e. theatrical use), you can use it for other things (making commercials, or teaching about lighting, whatever). Anyway, I'm at least going to keep thinking about it.

[foot-tapper1.livejournal.com]

Glad that the reunion went well despite a slightly disapointing start and the surroundings sound beautiful!

I'm a little worried for you on the job front. It does seem very 'off' to be drafting up a contract for that other guy who has far less experience than you. If it were me, I would be concerned and I'm not saything this to be negative - it's just the way I see it. Definitely something for you to think about.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Thank you for your concern. I'm getting concerned, too. Strangely, I got an e-mail from this boss person the day after my post, which maybe seems to me that they're getting nervous that I might leave, mostly it was sort of, "you're really important to the project, we really appreciate you," all that. I'm not sure that it changes anything, but, the timing's interesting.

Also, I'm sorry that your friend is leaving at your work. I may not always comment, but, I do read your posts, and think of you often.

You reminded me, I did get a few pictures of the trip, I should post them somewhere.

[foot-tapper1.livejournal.com]

Well, that email sounds interesting. Maybe they're beginning to realise that you won't stay around forever if you're not treated well?

Thanks - yes, it is a shame. I will miss him a lot. Don't worry about not commenting - I don't always either - I just like to hear from people every now and then to make sure they're alive! *g*

And yes, please post some photos - that would be great!

film/video training, resources

[boat-of-car.livejournal.com]

www.deproduction.org.

Tell Tony I sent you. They're good folks: mostly liberal granola free-speech types, but they offer training classes. AND...they're getting ready to re-open Denver Community Television, also a great resource...

Re: film/video training, resources

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Very interesting. They have a job opening I might be interested in, and am more than qualified for, the "Education Director." Hmm. I think I'll at least send a resume in. Thanks!

[kessiebabe.livejournal.com]

Thanks hun!

Oh and if you ever do the studio thing ... you know i´ll be there ... ;-)

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

Ugly Betty is a remake of a HUGELY popular Colombian telenovela, so it's actually less "ripped from The Devil Wears Prada" and more "ripped from Yo soy Betty, la fea ("I am Betty, the Ugly")".

Or at least, we hope it is, since apparently the original was pretty good. =)

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I sorta knew that in the back of my brain, but, having seen the movie recently, and the first 2 episodes' A plot were identical to the movie, well, I went with what I knew to be identical. There are definite telenovela elements in there, and they were actually sorta fun, but, the less fun overtones, well, Betty is someone I might visit with once in awhile, probably have a nice time, but, I can't see on a regular basis.

[portlandpiglet.livejournal.com]

Chris and I enjoyed the pilot of Jericho, but we don't remember what day it was on. We have been unable to catch it again, and I am too lazy to look it up.

[k8cre8.livejournal.com]

It's on Wednesdays, 8 / 7 central...