The Good and Bad of Emails

I got this good email from my friend S who I have known since high school:

Hey Film-Chick,
I enjoyed reading your blog. BTW, since when did you suffer from a bowling injury? (since the wrap party for Scorpion King) Oh, I have a story to share about a bus experience. Before every Monday morning meeting, someone is always asked in our dept to share a "reflection". It's a Lutheran institution, so go figure. Mine usually tend to be funny rather than reflective. Our admin asst, Sh, shared an email her sister wrote the other day after she took the bus in to work on a Saturday to catch up on some office work. Her sister wrote that there was this young couple on the bus. He stared lovingly at every inch of her face...and then reached up with a pink daisy razor and shaved something off! Sh's sister was horrified. We all got a good laugh. S

I got this bad email from my sister:

Aunt L called Tuesday evening. It seems Uncle M and N went to southern IN last week for a reunion of some sort. While there N wanted to drive by Grandma & Grandpa's house (like we do when we're there). Well, they couldn't get to the house - the road was blocked. So they went down further and turned where you go to the Guest House. Tried that road - it too was blocked. So they got out of their car and walked down the street towards the house. Met up with two gentlemen - one was a contractor and the other worked for ABC. It seems a home was chosen to be on Extreme Makeover - Home Edition. You guessed it - it was Grandma and Grandpa's house!!!!! According to Aunt L the woman who lives there has four children and she's been diagnosed with cancer. N told the gentlemen that he and all his cousins grew up in the house and both he and Uncle M were taken on a tour of the home. Aunt L said the foundation was going and some interior walls were crumbling. Both N and Uncle M told them all about Grandma and Grandpa, how the land for the Monastery was given by our family, etc. The crew had already torn down the Shady Inn - no longer there. They tried to take pictures but weren't allowed. Uncle M said the episode is suppose to air sometime in December so be on the lookout. How cool is this!!!!!

I can understand how this may seem cool, but it made me cry. I hate to think of that house not being there anymore - not cool at all. I know it's a good thing for the woman living there, but they're going to show the before and it's going to look like crap. But when my grandparents lived there, it was always clean and tidy and perfect. I really hate change sometimes.

I wonder if AFG still works for that show... maybe I'll write her and see what's up...

Chipmunk

My paymaster told me a story yesterday while we were kvetching about all the animal wranglers. Apparently, a feature she was on had a chipmunk and therefore a chipmunk wrangler. Said wrangler was making his way to set one day, which was up a rocky slope. He took a tumble and managed to squash his chipmunk - he'd had it in his pocket instead of in its cage! The poor guy was hysterical and had to be flown back to LA. It took them a week, but they found another chipmunk and wrangler to take his place.

She got word of all this because they decided they needed to pay the guy right away and she had to process his paperwork. Turns out the guy wasn't in the union (yes, there's a union that covers chipmunk wranglers - Teamsters) and they had to come up with another job title. He was about 3 seconds away from having "chipmunk killer" on his paystub.

It's sad for the chipmunk and I do feel bad, but for 2 people who are tired of animal wranglers it was pretty funny.

Witnessed At

The husband and I took the subway downtown to the library yesterday. It was more crowded than we've seen before, which is good, but I don't know how busy it is during the week.

The husband thinks I don't like going to the library, but I just don't like the drive. That and the fact I rarely have anything I want to check out - it's usually his quest for books that takes us there. And for some reason I always get really sleepy inside that building, like they pump it full of something to keep people quiet...

Anyway, we got off at 7th Street and walked up Hope where we passed some production setting up a shot on Wilshire Blvd. We didn't see any signs indicating what show it was, feature or tv, but we think it was tv. On our way back to the subway stop, we saw some postings that they were going to have a car explosion between 1pm and 5pm, but we decided not to wait around and watch. It did look like there was a Hummer parked crossways on Wilshire and we figured that was the one to die in a fire.

So we're waiting for the train and a woman is on the platform talking really loudly (I thought she was talking to the guy standing next to her and if I had been him, I would have told her she didn't need to yell). The train comes and we all get on and the husband hands me a book to read during the ride. I'm trying to focus and the woman starts talking again, except I realize it's more a singing or chanting than talking. And it's loud. She was only 5 or 6 feet from me, but the entire car could hear her.

So I ask the husband if maybe she had foreign Turretts - we really can't figure out a word she's saying. Then she starts talking about being saved and needing god and basically witnessing to the trapped riders. I did find it pretty amusing that she kept telling us how she, too, needed god and how she was no better than anybody else. But mainly it was miserable. Everyone kept their head down and tried not to make eye contact and no one tried to make conversation. A couple of stops later the woman got off and there was a huge sigh of relief.

So I still like riding the subway and will continue to do so, but if that happens again I think I'll get off and wait for the next train.

Paraguay 9/23/06

The final email from my brother:

Dear Family and Friends,

Sorry for the late news from the mission. The week has been very busy. The team performed surgery on Monday through Thursday from 7am until around 8pm. Then the wait for the bus and again the 45 minute ride back to the hotel for a meal at the restaurant and then to bed at 11.

Friday we finished by 4pm and could catch a cab to do what we wanted until the party at 10pm. A few of us went to the city port area where a local surgeon bought us a few beers and a few local snacks. It seems that all the food in this country revolves around meat. The Adkins diet delight. The vegeterians on the team have suffered.

The party last night started at 10pm and ended at 3am with the 45 minute bus ride back to the hotel. Up at 8:15 to see some of the team off then back to a local market to see some local trinkets for gifts. The Paraguayan culture is limited to a few local customs developed by the Europeans and the indiginous Indians called the Guirani.

Leaving for the airport at 2pm and back home. Amen. A short stop in Brazil and Atlanta.
Hope to post some pictures soon.
K

Paraguay 9/19/06

Another email from my brother:

Hello,
Sorry for the late entry. Sunday was a team day and we were out on a very polluted lake for a day at a club. Not much to do but the view was interesting and everyone had a chance to meet. Yesterday was crazy with a lot of work but all the kids did great and the parents are very happy. The kids, not so much.
Try to write again soon.
K

The past few days must be operating days, as we haven't heard from my brother. They do a lot of work in a short amount of time and it amazes me they can do it at all, considering how surgeries work in the US.

Book List #20

The Rosetta Codex by Richard Paul Russo. It wasn't bad, but it looked better than it turned out to be. I wonder if he'll do a sequel, since the premise of the book was for a guy to go thru some pretty crappy thing in order to help and alien species regenerate. Seemed to be a lot of people suffering for little to no payoff. Maybe it was too much like real life...

Book List #19

I read the entire run of the comic Fables by Bill Willingham. Brilliant stuff. I hope the husband buys the next graphic novel soon so I can keep up. I prefer them to the individual comic, you get a longer read out of it w/o the high probability of damaging the goods.

N's Star Sighting 9/21/06

Brace yourself
I just saw Spike from Buffy......

I LOVE HIM

He was up at 2160 with casting. He has jet black hair now and was wearing all black. But he wasn't pale at all. I know it is all makeup but when you are used to seeing him pasty white you are kind of shocked. He is shorter than I realized though. And I think he looks older than I thought he was, but he still looked hot....

GW and Bart

Ghost Whisperer has set up in our parking lot. Actually, I think we only have the extras and the minor cast out here, but it's quite a lot of trucks and trailers just outside the windows. We've been watching and pointing all day - some of the extras are interesting... and everybody's dressed in black, so it must be a funeral scene. I'll try to sneak a photo and post in from home later.

Bart the bear wrapped today and we're waiting for his trainers to call and let us know when he's done resting so we can go and get pics before he leaves. I really hope they don't forget, but I'd rather miss out than interupt his nap. Everybody's hoping to get a shot where they're actually touching the bear (I want a kiss, myself) but we'll be lucky to get close enough to get him in the frame. I'll post those pics, too, if they happen.

It's after 5 and the bear's still asleep. They figure he knows he's done and is doing that collapse thing a lot of us in the industry do when a job is over. But they said they'll let him out for a bit before they leave in the morning and we should be there around 8:30 if we want to see him. I think I can make that...

Paraguay 9/16/06

Another email from my brother:

In 1958 a man named Vernon Ray came to South and Central America from Frankfurt, Kentucky to work in the pipeline industry that was beginning to move the resources from South America to the burgeoning industrial countries to the north and in Europe. He became familiar with Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and in Paraguay he also became familiar with an Hungarian national who was forced from her former home by the Nazi party early in the 1940's. He was very successful in his work and for the next 11 years worked developing relationships throughout the capitals of South and Central America.

When he retired in 1985 and returned to Frankfurt, Kentucky he realized that he was bored. In 1987 he returned to Paraguay, the City of Asuncion where he met and married his wife 24 years earlier and they decided to build a resort on the banks of the Paraguay river where people from all over the world could come and discover the possibilities of business in Paraguay.

The leader of Paraguay at this time was a man named Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda who took the country by force in 1954 and ruled as a strict and grievous dictator. When I talked with Vernon Ray about this leader, he said he was my friend and always will be. He was good to Paraguay, business, and capitalism. One can only imagine the relationships that were forged here at the Hotel Resort Casino Yacht and Golf Club.

Mrs Ray died three months ago of breast cancer and today the guests at the hotel are as varied as ever. There is a convention here of dentists and dental manufacturers where dental chairs are in many rooms and where receptions are often overflowing with dancing, drinking, and free gifts and souveniers. The Mexican Embassy is sponsoring a golf outing with 2 starts - one at 7:30 and the other at 12:30. They are serving Tequila at each tee site where you can buy up to three drinks. Each drink purchased will lower your score by one point. Some may not finish the course. There is also a South American hard rock band that is giving a concert and all the members of the band and the tour group are are staying at the hotel. Almost all are dressed in black and have tattoos and multiple body piercings. All have their hair died black. Others are here with Operation Smile where they have screened over 458 children from the poorest of the poor in this country and have scheduled 150 to have surgery next week. They will be living in an army gymnasium until they are ready to go home and many that were turned away left with little hope that their children will ever have the opportunity to have the surgical repair again.

Paraguay is an interesting place and with a growing economy. Let us hope it will be shared by all.
Hope to chat again soon,
Love,
K

Now that's a golf game I could get into!

Paraguay 9/15/06

An email from my brother:

Good Morning,

Early Spring in Paraguay means temperatures around 105 F, I learned that yesterday sometime around 4pm when I was at the hospital in a room the size of an average patient room with 20 other people all trying to screen for surgery or being screened for surgery. As this is only the second mission here for Op Smile, the crowds came early and we finally shut down screening at 9:30 pm. The poor speech pathologist did not finish until sometime around midnight as there is only one pathologist and everyone must be seen. We screened 257 patients and expect another 200 or more today. Fortunatly, cloud cover came in around 7 pm and the temperature dove into the 80´s.

The team members are great as are the in-country assistance from Peace-corp members and students from the American school. I am even getting a little better with my Spanish. It is like learning a language with a private tutor and in an immersion setting where you have to learn it to survive. Only I really don´t. The hard language is the language of the native indian people of Paraguay. Mixed with the Spanish, then the Portugese and then the freed slaves of Brazil and then the Europeans seeking a place to hide after WWII the people are of all size and color but the Indians still survive. The language is difficult to learn and consists of a series of vowel sounds. The word for wind is similar to making a blowing sound. I do not expect to learn much of their language. We have not had any time to check out much of the city except for what we see on the 45 minute drive to and from the hospital. Today we may finish around 6pm and with any luck make a team dinner with all the members who arrive today.

I learned from C (his wife) that N (his son) toured Duke and really liked the law school. He is touring the East coast and checking out all the really expensive and difficult schools he may be able to get into. I love the fact that all new lawyers must buy their parents a condominium upon graduation even if they don´t help with the cost of school. Great profession!

Talk to you soon after I get more time. Off to the morning meeting and then to work.
Enjoy the day!
K

Paraguay 9/14/06

An email from my brother:

Good Morning!

Hope the world is good for you today. In Paraguay the clouds are coming in and it is expected to cool down a little. Not sure how cool. Yesterday afternoon we toured the hospital. It is a 45 minute drive from the hotel and is on a military base where the hospital is not used. This is my idea of a military. All the uniforms, a calvary, very nice police ground and no killing people.

We returned to a meeting where we all were introduced to the members of team Paraguay and then to a dinner in one of the 5 restaurants at the resort. Dinner was similar to a "charssussaria"(sic)where a small salad and fruit buffet complimented coal fired brazziers that were brought to your table. On each were grilled steaks, sausages, blood sausage, ribs, chicken, a pork. At the main table were 7 or 8 chutneys with which to cover the meat. Very good idea, similar to a Brazilian steak house. I went to bed around 11 after reading Jeffery Sachs book " How To End Poverty". I will let you know how it goes.

Today after breakfast and the team meeting we head to the military grounds and the hospital to start screening. We are expecting between 350 and 400 children today and they are all staying in a covered tent on the grounds until they find out if they qualify. If accepted and they live away they will stay in the military gym. Maybe Rumsfeld should look into this as early recruitment!

I will take a lot of pictures and show them when I return. Have a good day and try to enjoy all the things that will happen to you today.
K

Paraguay 9/13/06

One of my brothers in is Paraguay right now, working on an Operation Smile mission (where doctors go in and fix cleft palates for free). This is his 3rd or 4th, not sure. I know he's been to Russia and Cambodia before...

Anyway, I asked him if I could post his emails here and he agreed. The only changes are to spelling and grammar as necessary.

Dear Family and Friends,
Hello from South America. I arrived in Paraguay about 2 hours ago and am now in the hotel and will write more later.
Talk to you soon,
Love K

Hello again,

Sorry for the short message but I was requested to be at a lunch and team meeting and had to go. The flights down were not bad. I managed to secure aisle seats and met the team manager for the Indianapolis women's nba team next to me. I learned quite a bit about women's professional sports.

Sao Paulo, Brazil airport was nothing great and once they found a plane that worked we arrived here in Paraguay only a few minutes late. While early Spring here, the temp is in the 80s and all the flowering trees are in bloom. The land is hilly and covered with the tropical plants and scrub trees familiar in almost all of Central America and Mexico. The hotel is as nice a hotel as I have ever stayed at for an Operation Smile trip. The lobby is beautiful, the rooms are huge and all have leather sofas and chairs with mini-bars and huge bathrooms. Seems strange for a mission to have such a nice place. It is situated on the Paraguan river that borders with Argentina across from the hotel. There is a casino nearby but I have not seen it. The pool is huge and has a golf course behind the hotel. Pretty nice place to stay if you are in Paraguay.

The city is large and reminds me of a city in Mexico. I have not seen the poverty familiar with many of the trips but have not been out much. Almost all of the nicer stores and hotels and offices have armed guards outside for protection. That always seems a little strange.

I am heading out for a hospital tour at 4pm. Will try to write more later.
Love K

N's Star Sighting

So C just pee'd next to the guy who played Xander on Buffy. I saw him earlier, and wasn't sure if it was him, came into the trailer and told C who went to see....

that made me lol - thanks, I needed that. Did Carlo happen to get a look at the guy's package? big? little? bent?

I hadn't thought to ask, so I just did, trying not to get embarrassed as I asked it. And he said he has a hard enough time looking at actors there is no way he could look at his package. But I'm going to say he must be small. C said he was grumpy so I think that he was trying to distract him from looking at the little man....

So Xander has a little man. No wonder Willow went lesbian...

Bart

My boss and I went to set to hand out paychecks, then went up to see the animals. We got a little lost and ended up with the grizzly bear - actually, we came around a corner and saw him galloping across a field and stopped in our tracks (didn't see the live wire at first). But there he was, playing with his trainer in a field. Bart has to be kept separate from the other animals because he's afraid of the giraffes. He doesn't understand what they are and it makes him too aggressive.

The trainer had some tree branches that he would hold out at Bart, who would delight in running at them and batting them out of the way. It was so cool. He and the trainer would romp and wrestle and play tug-of-war with the branches and it was amazing to watch him move. His fur rippled and changed color as he ran and he would throw his head around to show his cockyness. I did notice the trainer had a big club tucked into the back of his pants - his daughter said it was because the bear doesn't feel your fists. Yikes!

Anyway, it turns out these are the same trainers who worked with Tank from Doolittle 2 and the original Bart from The Bear. This Bart isn't the same one or even an offspring, just a namesake. His mom was poached in Alaska and they got him at 3 months. He's 6 years now, and 1100 pounds of what equals an 18 year old human. So he is a bit full of himself. It was a treat to watch him play and I hope we get the chance to see the rest of the animals today.

Busy but Bored

My boss is totally swamped right now and is hating her job. She keeps repeating "this was supposed to be easy" as she slogs thru the animal wrangler budget. I knew when she offered me this gig and said it would be easy it was a lie, but I'm doing ok... Of course, I'd be doing better if I didn't waste time blogging and surfing. I actually saw a photo online today of a cat with bacon taped to its side. I have to say, I think all of my kitties would be up for that...

The husband has taught Sofie a new trick. Actually, she's been doing it for a while now, but he's gotten her to do it on command. She's always liked to lick my nose (to be specific, the inside of my nose). I'm not sure if my snot is especially tasty or what, but she really likes it. So the husband decided to announce that I've got "filthy nose" which is her command to stand on me and attempt to clean out my nostrils, sometimes clear up to my brain. It's not something we do in public. And she won't do it to him no matter how much I try.

How Fast Were They Going?

There's a small side security gate off of the main security gate I go thru every morning. It leads to the building where I worked on Dupree. Anyway, yesterday as I was driving in, I noticed the guard from the small gate standing in the drive, waving cars by. As I passed him, I wondered what was up, why he was blocking the lane, so I turned my head to look. Sitting there in the road was a golf cart, fully engulfed in flames. Not little sparks mind you, but 10 foot high shooting flames and roiling black smoke. For some reason, I laughed out loud at the sight. It wasn't crashed or tipped over or anything, it was just sitting there burning. The fire trucks came about 5 minutes later and that was that. Hope no one got hurt.

Clockwatcher

The 1st is at it again - haranguing people about their hours... The clerk left 15 minutes early last night to get a haircut. She came in at 7:30 this morning to "make up" for it. She still got called into the office. I heard the 1st say something about how we're trying to keep regular hours and people can't just change them willy-nilly (no, she didn't say willy-nilly, but it's what she meant). It's such a friggin' power trip that I just do not get. If the work is getting done, who cares if someone leaves a little early? But I guess the clerk forgot to tell her she needed to leave early and didn't give her a chance to bestow permission...

VFX Day 2

The lion saga continues... the prop guy told us today that while the lion was loose, no one was quite sure where it was. The trainers shouted for everyone to freeze and then crept around the set looking for it - had to be careful not to startle or provoke it. With my luck, I'd be the one they found shaking in the corner with the lion licking my hand or something... most animals like me but that's going a bit far.

I did make it to set today, but the animals weren't out yet. They were running the motion control camera back and forth and it got boring real quick. But on the call sheet we have: owl, ravens, chimps, raccoons, foxes, wolves, kangaroos, alpacas, ducks, geese, lemurs, and rams. I'd like to see the lemurs.

VFX Day 1

Today on set they have lions, grizzly bears, tigers, baboons, yaks, orangutans, and reindeer. I hope I get the chance to go down there - I brought my camera! I'll post pics if I make it and don't get mauled or eaten.

I called down to the 2nd AD earlier and when he answered, I asked if he had a second. His response "not right now, we have a lion on the loose." Honest to dog I thought he meant they were working the lion and everybody had to stay alert. Nope. The lion had gotten out of its harness and was wandering around the stage... No one got hurt, but after Steve Irwin this weekend I'm sure people were pretty freaked out.

It Annoyed Me

My desk at work has been bothering me for a couple of weeks. Specifically, I could tell there was some paper stuck behind the bottom drawer but I couldn't get to it. Today I managed to get the drawer out and retrieve the papers. To my surprise, they were dated 3/18/90 and there were about 50 sheets! That stuff's been stuck in there for over 16 years and no one took the time to dig it out in all that time. Does that kind of crap only bother me? Guess so...