Mistletoe Update

Erdedo writes:
I am happy to report that LIVE mistletoe can be purchased at the check-out counter at the Weigel's (gas station) on Westland Drive for $2.00 a piece. The girl who works the front counter said that she and her family shot it out of the tops of family trees over the Thanksgiving weekend, and now it is readily available to you...but somehow with that story it lost some of the mystique...

Yes, yes it has.

Holiday Checks

Today was supposed to be my last day of work, but the holiday payout checks weren't ready until this morning and I wasn't able to get everything done.

Holiday payout is a union thing; union members accrue 3.719% of their regular salary every week (paid for by the production). The money sits in an account and is used only if a crew member works on a holiday. If the crew member never works on a holiday, then that accrued money is paid out to them at the end of the show. There are some exceptions, but that's what happens for the majority of the crew.

It's usually a large project, but on something as big as EA, it's ginormous. I printed out 895 checks this morning. It took me awhile to get them all printed, copied, and then filed away. I had to file them because they were coming to collect our files to take them up to the studio - we knew we couldn't send them that much filing right off the bat! After all that was done, I had to fix the coding on the report so it all went into the right budget account. Then I was able to start folding and stuffing them into envelopes. T helped me with that part... Now we have 5 boxes of checks waiting to be sealed and stamped and put in the post. Thank dog I had the PA's get me 900 stamps!

And even though 895 seems like a lot of people, it's only the LA union crew. It doesn't count all the people from VA, the non-union crew, or the people who didn't get a check for one reason or another. That's a lot of payroll.

Maybe if I hadn't taken an hour and a half to look at townhouses... nah, it was too big for one day. I have to go back on Monday and finish up, then pack up all my crap. We leave for TN on Tuesday morning.

One last thing... I told T I wasn't going to AZ. That's finally settled.

Book List #24 & #25

While in Pasadena one weekend, we stopped at a very nice used book shop. I don't remember the name, but it had a good selection and seemed friendly. The husband found 2 books for me that had cats on the covers. Sad but true, I usually like that kind of thing. Anyway, I just finished reading the books and I have to say I hope there will be a 3rd in the series.

Diane Duane's The Book Of Night With Moon and To Visit The Queen feature cats as the main characters. Not ordinary cats, though; these cats are wizards and they control the gates that allow any wizard to jump from one place to another. Sounds kind of stupid, but I liked them and I thank the husband for picking them out for me.

Book List #23 Cont'd

The husband picked up Labyrinth at the library and I was able to finish it. I quite enjoyed it and read it pretty quickly, but I hope the author didn't think she had come up with a fantastic twist. I had it figured out pretty early on. But that didn't stop me from liking it and I hope to read more of her one day.

Arizona Job

So, T's got this show going to AZ. I've been telling her all along that I couldn't go out of town right now, too much going on with selling and other stuff. She kept asking, over and over, and I complained to the husband about it. He said - if she'll pay you X for 5 days, we'll go. I figured that'd be the end of it and tell T that I'd have to have a raise. I didn't tell her the amount, though. She tells me it's not in the budget. I think it's finally over.

I'm talking to her today and we're discussing the savings she's taking because she's on EA right now and her prep on the new one is shorter. I ask her how much they're saving and could I have it? She said D-studio exec told her that at my current rate, I wouldn't be getting more money from the studio. I'm a bit indignant about this, since the guy in VA got $100 more.

Anyway, we start discussing how the studio pays location and they it turns out they combine the 2 Idle days and the 5 day work week, meaning I'd be making the X the husband talked about. And if I worked 6 days, then it'd be X+$150. So when you add in per diem, I'd be making about $685 per week more than I'm making right now.

I called the husband to let him know his conditions were met, but now I don't know if I want the hassle of it all. We're going home for 12 days for Xmas and we'd have 10 days after getting back to get everything packed up and put into storage and get to AZ. Plus, I'd be leaving my bootcamp and WW meeting and other "stuff". I had been prepared to not take this job for so long, but the money is calling me back. I've talked myself into and out of this job about 6 times now. Blech.

Underdog

The husband showed me some stills from the upcoming Underdog movie. Of course, I decided if they have any kind of "bring your dog to a screening" event, I'm dressing Sofie up and taking her. She probably won't like it too much but I don't really care. I'd never do anything to hurt her but I'm all for embarrassment. She'd be so cute!

I tried to watch the live-action Year Without A Santa Clause. It was abominable. Why do they feel the need to tinker so much with the classics? If they had redone it word for word, I would have been happy. But all that crap about Santa losing his market share was totally unnecessary. I couldn't stand more than 5 minutes of it. I think I'll have to pull the original out and watch it soon.

My Husband Is Not The Bad Guy

There's something in my personality that makes me want to make things work out, even when they shouldn't. I've never really thought about it before, but last night the husband pointed out to me that he was always having to be the bad guy and say "no" to things.

It's true.

We discuss something and set up parameters, then I go out into the world and find out those parameters are difficult. So I try to find a way around them and the husband has to step up and remind me of what decisions we'd made.

It's not fair to him and I need to stop doing it.

Good/Bad Day

Turns out the townhouse I fell in love with doesn't have earthquake insurance and that's one of our must-haves. Bummer.

But I did find $5 on the street while walking Sofie this morning!

More Hunting

I went and looked at more townhouses today. Only 1 of them was as nice as yesterday's and that's only because it was bigger. None of them had attached garages and one had a sleeping Euro man in it (I guess his agent didn't tell him we had an appointment...)

I also got a lead on the job hunt, but they're not looking for someone to start until February and I don't really want to take that much time off.

I think it's about time to send some emails...

House Hunt

I went and looked at a townhouse today. It was a really great space (3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, attached side-by side garage, bonus room). It needs some updating and it's over-priced because of that, but I liked it a lot. I'm going tomorrow to look at some more and maybe again on Saturday, but this one could be something special.

SOLD!

It's over. Our buyer stepped up to our price on Sunday and we've sold the condo. It was kind of funny, as he waited until he'd brought his girlfriend by to look at the place before he answered. It's also kind of sad. I had so many plans for this place and so few of them ever got accomplished. Maybe I'll do better with the townhouse...

The husband and I went looking this weekend and found one really great condo. It's too far west, though. Not a lot by distance, but it adds on to the commute time. I just don't think it's going to be the place for us, but man did I like it. It was big and airy and had great views. It also had an attached garage, a loft, and a rooftop patio. I'm going to talk myself into it if I'm not careful.

Bits Of Show

I have continued my tradition of taking something from every show I work on. If I'm lucky, it's something from the set and if I'm not, it's something from the office. Anyway, on EA I've managed to get some pieces of cedar planking that was part of the ark. I even got Mario from construction to cut it to size for me. It's going to go over the cheapo bookcases I'm using as a sofa table. All I have to do is put a thick coat of poly on it, put the pieces together and voila!

Not to say I'm not going to try and snag the heavy-duty stapler, too.

Condo For Sale

I went over and wrote a counter-offer this morning, dropping our price by $4k. The prospective buyer came back with an additional $10k. We're only $8k apart now and I think this may work out.

We have another showing right now, though. Maybe we'll have some competition...

Christmas Meme

Erdedo sent me this and it makes an easy blog...

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Hot chocolate with marshmallows

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? What tree? Giftbags, if I'm feeling all Martha, otherwise just pulled out from behind my back.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Again, what tree? I wish I could put some lights up - I grew up with colored but I think I like white better.

4. Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? Uh, never? Usually working and don't have time, plus we have 3 cats and a dog. Too dangerous. Although the husband and I are collecting the Dept 56 Dicken's Village and one day we'll have a huge spread...

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? My mom's stuffing and her Parker House rolls.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child: Staying up late on Christmas Eve after midmight mass with the whole family.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I don't remember when or how I learned, but I did believe!

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? My husband's family does this and now I do, too. But I prefer Christmas morning.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? Since I haven't put up a real tree in years (allergic and has cats), have to pass on this. I do have a fiber optic tree, but it's small and doesn't really hold decorations.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! Too bad I live in SoCal...

12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but not with any real grace. I have trouble stopping. And I broke my tailbone when I tried to take lessons.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Nope - I know I've had some good ones, but nothing jumps out at the moment as my favorite.

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Family

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Pecan Pie

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? When I was little it was baking cookies. Now it's just being with family.

17. What tops your tree? My parents have a topper that looks like a star, but it has a big plastic faceted bubble in the middle. There's a light inside the bubble and the light is surrounded by a cylinder of mutlicolored gels. When the light heats up, the cylinder spins and the light is thrown onto the ceiling like a mirror ball. It's so cool I found one on Ebay and I'm anticipating the day I can put it up.

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Receiving. Yes, I said it. Bring on the loot.

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas

20. Candy Canes: I love the ones Hershey puts out with chocolate but I rarely buy them. They're better as decorations or in ice cream with apple pie.

1st Offer

We got our 1st offer on the condo today and it's $37K less than our asking price. Our agent said she would have been embarrassed to submit an offer that low.

The husband wants to counter with $8k more than our asking price, but I just can't bring myself to do that. Maybe he's right that I just let everybody else take advantage of me - trying too hard to be polite and nice. Maybe we should just come back with a big "Frak You."

Crappy Days

It's been a crappy couple of days. I woke up at 3:45 am yesterday morning, disturbed by the dog and Baxter. Both of them sleep on the bed and they wake me up all the time. Plus, Darby decided she needed to get into the bathroom cabinet. Since she's not really strong enough to get the door open, it ends up falling shut over and over (BAM. BAM. BAM.) When I got up to take care of it, I stepped on Sofie.

This kind of stuff isn't unusual but for some reason it really got to me and after lying there for over an hour, trying to fall back asleep, I broke into tears when the alarm went off. The husband woke up and tried to comfort me, but I still had to get up to go to the gym. I was pissed at Sofie, I was pissed at the cats, I was pissed at myself. The animals weren't doing anything intentional and I felt bad about it.

I stayed up really late last night - trying to exhaust myself so they wouldn't get to me again this morning. I slept until 5 and got up to the alarm, but it pretty much backfired. I was a total bitch to the husband and have been angry all day. I may have to go back on my meds. I think it's more than not getting enough sleep that's causing me to be angry at the drop of a hat. I keep it under control at work, but I can't hold it in forever. And my control at work is slipping. Whenever I get the chance, I yell and call people names. Never to anybody's face, just in general about the stupid shit that comes across my desk.

We did get the dog statue glued back together last night and it looks pretty good, but the finish is too shiny for the cracks to go unnoticed. The husband suggested we paint it like we did the lion from the Alburquerque flea market (faux stone). I think it's a good idea, but I want to get a different color for it. Have to go and have a look at the options.

Oh, and I found out my mom has macular degeneration or something like it. She's lost enough vision to not be able to read or write anymore. Scarier still, my dad has been driving her around.

Notes From Others

I don't know why I never get comments on my blog... but I do get comments in my email and occasionally some other fun stuff!

From N:
I meant to comment on your Splenda cooking. I tried once cooking with it, lemon bars. And it was disgusting. I threw the whole thing out. It didn't set right and it had a nasty taste. I don't know how people can cook with it. ME had major success with it.

All I can say is more power to her - the shiat was gross.

From my brother M (who forwards every joke, warning, notice, etc he comes across):
An elderly couple was attending church services. About halfway through she leans over and says to her husband, "I just let out a silent fart. What do you think I should do?" He replies, " Put a new battery in your hearing aid."

One of his better ones...

More from N about the CWW situation:
(my email to her)
Let me get your take on something - M called yesterday saying another Uni show needed a few days help with payroll and could I do it? T said it was ok and I said yes and today I'm at Paramount. I've put the gross on timecards; checked edits; printed, copied, folded, stuffed and sorted checks. I'm going to print invoices and I entered start cards into the crew list. The payroll acct I'm helping has been working 6 and 7 days for weeks and is having an allergy attack today. She went home at 3 o'clock. Should I feel bad for wondering if I'm being taken advantage of?Forgot to mention I had to buy my own lunch (they are shooting on the lot but had a late call). Besides that, I think it's a little weird that M would even ask knowing I was on EA - even though I'm not that busy.

(her response)
Hmmm that is a tough one. First, that sucks that you are at Paramount and that you had to pay for your own lunch. They really should have picked up that tab. They should allow you to turn it in as PC. Okay whether you should feel like you are being taken advantage of. By M asking you to take care of things for him tells me he really trusts your work. Are you getting paid for both jobs? Like any sort of perk? And do they really need you more days if you got all that done for her? Is she coming back tomorrow or because you promised to help out for a few days will her allergies continue. If they had said she needed help because she was ill and needed to go home then that was one thing but if she went home because you are taking care of everything well, she is taking advantage.

Which is why I'm not going down there tonight!

Estate Sale

I went to an estate sale this morning and got some nice stuff, but I have to say those things are always very sad. Some guy, probably no older than 40, died and all of his stuff got sold off to strangers. It took me back to when Betty died and we had a sale with her things. I appreciated the people who bought stuff and hated the bastards to wanted to haggle. At least this sale was held by professionals and the family didn't have to deal with any of it.

Anyway, I got a great statue of a dog. It's about 3 feet tall and black graphite looking. Unfortunately, I bumped him on the way over and his snout hit the passenger window and his head broke off... It's a clean break and I can glue him back together, but I do seem to have a bad time of it with statues. We did notice as we were looking at him that this isn't the first time his head's been knocked off. There's an old crack further down the neck that's been glued. I don't feel as bad as I did.

I also got some cookware (I guess it's Corningware), a nice pie plate, and the 1st 2 seasons of the Sporanos on DVD for the husband. The 1st wants to go over tomorrow and I think I'll go with her and see if the last of the rugs is still available and how much they want for it.

I don't know why I'm going to do this, but the company holding the sale sends out emails for their upcoming events. This past weekend they were in Bel-Air and maybe I just want a chance to snoop around in someone's home...

Official Job Hunt

Well, it's official. I've put myself out there as available for work. I'm still hoping to work with T but with the chance her show goes to Arizona I don't have a choice. It looks like there are a lot of things going out of town and I may end having to take one of them, but it's not to that point yet and probably won't come to it.

I just hope I get something decent...

Who knows? I may end up as 2nd Payroll over on CWW considering how that show's going.

Not As Lazy As I Would Have Liked

After seriously considering taking the condo off the market, we had someone come look at it today and have someone scheduled for tomorrow. Plus, the article in the paper said the average sale takes 30-90 days. We just hit 30.

Going now to take the old paint to the hazmat drop-off site then on to the dog park. May stop by Jackalope on the way home and see if they have anything that would work as a bench base...

Runner

Just got back from taking Sofie to the dog park. I have to say if I get any time off after we get back from traveling, I'm going to take that dog to the park everyday for an hour at a time. Man, she loves to run. It's the only reason I'm seriously considering buying a house instead of a townhouse - so Sofie will have a yard to run in at any time...

Doin' Time at Paramount

Where to begin?

I spent the last 2 days working on CWW down at Paramount. The accounting crew was very nice and appreciative. I was happy to be able to help them, even though at times I felt they were to blame for getting behind in the first place - a lot of the stuff they did seemed like double work. I checked edits on Wednesday, but in the end I was a highly-paid clerk; a lot of copying, folding, stuffing, sealing, and filing. The only real point to having me down there instead of a clerk was that I didn't need to be trained. I could just step in and know what needed to be done. I only wish I could have finished everything but when you run out of basic filing supplies, there's nothing to be done. At least I fixed their label program.

What frustrated me most was the fact the woman I came in to help left at 3pm on Wednesday because she wasn't feeling well (and because I was there) and then on Thursday she left before I did again. Not sure what's up with that - if I was to get so far behind as to need help, I'd make damn sure I was the first in and the last out. Different priorities, I guess.

Gossip that I learned:
- Julia changed her name and is going by her husband's last name now
- Tom has his hair straightened
- They're going to be doing Angels & Demons next.

Gossip about RH3 (the payroll acct's husband is a driver on that one):
- J Chan broke his collarbone doing a stunt
- Chris got "saved" and now won't say any of the cuss words in the script. When they come up, he gets huffy and stomps off to his trailer.
- J showed up to work after breaking his collarbone, but Chris was sick and they shut down for the day. Wonder how sick you have to be when the guy with the broken bone arrives on time?

Possibly Sinister

I've been loaned to another show (Charlie Wilson's War) for the next 3 days to help out with the regular payroll while the payroll acct fixes some sort of SAG nightmare (something to do with getting back from Morocco and having the Exhibit G's be a huge disaster).* It's on the Paramount lot with an acct I've never met so it should be a good way to network. I'm still going to have to do my regular EA work, but we're so slow it should be fine. Just have to make sure I don't forget to take my timecards with me!

The reason any of this is possibly sinister is because it seems the exec here is trying to break up T's staff. He's got me going over the hill and he called and offered the 1st that show in Greenville, doing the tax incentive paperwork. It's almost as if he's trying to make sure T doesn't have a crew if she gets a job. Plus he started talking to her about reshoots and she absolutely does not want to hang around for reshoots. So I guess we'll see...

*SAG = Screen Actors Guild
*Exhibit G = the report indicating the call and wrap times for the actors, used to generate paychecks for anybody who isn't making over $65,000.00

My Friend Frank

I went to Six Flags on Friday with Frank, a friend I met back in Atlanta. He moved out to LA too and we're both chugging along in the industry. Frank is the only person I know who likes roller coasters as much as I do, so every year or so we get together and ride. This year, I found out Frank is an EMMY WINNER!!! I can't believe I didn't know he'd won an Emmy! That is so cool. He was going to send me a pic, but remembered they're all under copyright. So if he manages to take a pic of his statue, I'll post it.

As for Six Flags, we stood in line for 2 hours to ride Tatsu - which is the newest one at the park. I didn't care for it, mostly because you're hanging face down with your bum in the air and since the natural inclination is to look where you're going, you spend the entire time with your neck craned back and it just plain hurts. Plus it seemed a bit pokey. Thankfully the rest of the lines weren't that bad. We rode everything we could except for our favorite X which was closed. Damn shame. But it was fun and I had a good time.

Job Hunt

T has a good feeling about her interview on Wednesday. It sounds like an easy show - which is usually the kiss of death. Hopefully she'll hear something this week. The only possible problem is the locale... right now it's either going to be all in LA or all in Arizona (maybe Scottsdale). Depends on how low the studio wants the budget to go.

Happy Thanksgiving

I don't remember the last time I had a full 4 days off at Thanksgiving. I don't mean like 2 years ago, when I took off to go home for my parent's 50th anniversary... I mean just plain not having to work for 4 days straight. It's very nice but I think I'm going to end up paying for it. Work is going to be tough this week!

I would say that at least we're in wrap, but it's been like wrap since August. It may be busier now than it was, since we have to get everything put in order to hand over to the studio. We have 3 weeks, so it should be fine.

I did get homesick this weekend. I grew up in such a large family and it's not normal to spend a holiday with just one other person. I don't know if I'll ever get used to it. I guess people who come from dysfunctional families look forward to creating new holiday traditions but I just want to go back to the ones from my childhood.

At least we're going home for Christmas. That'll be nice. It's the first time in a long time that I'll have the week between Christmas and New Year's off, too. Driving cross-country with the Sofie - this should be fun. Maybe it'll be better than the drives to and from Santa Fe since she'll have both her folks in the car.

I suppose I should mention my Thanksgiving dinner. I made a turkey roast - which tasted good but looked really odd (imagine the white and dark meak of a turkey kind of mashed into a roast shape). I also made mashed potatoes from scratch and left the skins on. Tasty and no lumps! For dessert, I made a pumpkin cheesecake that didn't work out. I tried to substitute some ingredients on a WW recipe and the excessive use of Splenda gave it a nasty chemical aftertaste. We ended up throwing it out and making pumpkin pudding. Of course, that was the 2nd attempt with the pudding - the 1st try also had too much Splenda.

Bits and Pieces

I got up and went to work early today, trying to get my paychecks out before the holiday. The short week always makes it tougher but I got the added "bonus" of getting a new paymaster. My regular woman moved to Utah and my show got transferred to someone else. Have to say the work wasn't as good as before, but there's nothing major. I'm just glad I decided to come in and get it checked early.

The studio is shutting down at 2pm and the UPM wants everyone to leave as soon as they can, even shutting the production office at 2 as well. I don't think we'll be going until closer to 3pm, but I have to stay until I get the checks out. T has an interview at 3 and I don't know if she's coming back to the office or not. I hope she does because I want to hear all about it.

Coming in early did give me a chance to call the bank in TN about the stocks the husband inherited from his mom. We're going to get everything taken care of when we go home at Christmas and it turns out it'll be easier than we thought. Plus the bank is buying shares back so we'll probably sell and come home with a nice chuck of change.

One last story - we have our condo on the market and we put in the listing we had to have an hour's notice to see the place. I get a call last night (6:30pm) from Tony at Prudential who's standing outside our building and just realized he was supposed to call first. He asked if he could go in and I had to say no, would he like to reschedule? Well, he starts telling me his client is going out of town and was hoping to make on offer on something tonight, etc. Wow. I suppose the thought of his client wanting to make an offer TONIGHT is supposed to make me change my mind. What a loser. Am I really supposed to fall for that? Does anyone fall for that? Some of these agents are morons.

Killing Time

So I'm here at work killing time waiting for my payroll edits to come over and I start clicking on the links on the hotmail site. Mostly gossip and lite news but it's something until the husband hooks me up with some more blogs to read.

Anyway, at least one link every day has something to do with dating or relationships and because I'm female, I click on those to see if my life is normal. But I get so pissed when the link goes to the Match.com sign-up page! Hello! Not interested in looking for someone, just want to read about someone else's trials and tribulations, thank you very much. So annoying.

My bootcamp instructor has been gone since last Wednesday for a wedding and Thanksgiving so I've been doing the workout on FITV these past few mornings. Only problem with that is Sofie. She feels the need to lay at my feet so I'm forced to step around her constantly and today while I was doing push-ups and crunches she felt the need to come over clean my face and nose. After pushing her away repeatedly, I gave up and just let her do her thing. She thought it was fun trying to keep up with me. Have to say the paw in my eye wasn't great, but she has a way of using her paw to pull the object of her attention closer that can be uncomfortable.

Thanks But No

I've called both shows and told them no. I really hate turning down work, but I can't go out of town now and I don't want to drive to Playa every day.

I'm not worried, though. I've already gotten a call from someone I've never worked with before (the timing probably won't work out) and my current boss T has an interview tomorrow with the DW who isn't a porn producer.

Should be good.

Felix

Just got back from set where they have the Coffee Bean truck dispensing caffinated goodness. Gotta love the "treat trucks".

Anyway, while we were there they wrapped Felix the lion. We waited until they drove him out in his big red cage in the back of a pick-up truck. He was gorgeous. The trainer gave him some water and I have to say, watching that 550 lb lion drink water from a baby bottle was too funny.

But I didn't think his testicles were that small...

It's A Wrap!

This is it, the last day of shooting. We have the lions (who weren't in the mood the last time they were here) and the alpacas. We also have spfx alpaca spit. Must have been fun mixing that stuff up.

Only 4 weeks of wrap to go - time to get this thing cleaned up and passed on to the post accountants. I'm hoping it's as clean as it should be, but I'm sure there are going to be some nasty surprises coming out of the woodwork once I start really digging into it.

Job Interview

I'm back from my interview with Iron Man. The accoutant seems really nice, the rate is $100 more per week, there would be 2 payroll people - basically there are a lot of really good things going for this show.

The fact it took me 45 minutes to go 27 miles is not one of them (and that was during off-peak hours). The commute is not at all fun and is the only thing stopping me from saying yes.

Have to think about this one...

Greenville

I've called the acct for the show in Greenville twice now and left messages and have heard nothing back. I think that one's done.

I still have the interview for Iron Man on Friday. It's got 2 really big strikes against it (location and payroll company) but I'm always up for an interview with a new acct. Never know what'll happen in the future.

There is some good news on the current boss front. She got an email from a friend at the studio about a new show that we would roll right on to. I have no idea what it is, but it's all in LA and the timing may work out. We'll see.

Mind-Boggling

The 1st asst acct on this show came into work late this morning - not a big deal as we've all been coming in late. But she said she'd been stuck at home because a fire truck had blocked her driveway. Apparently there's an old woman next door who routinely calls the paramedics and the paramedics have to call out an engine. Ok, fine.

Here's the kicker - when she tried to drive out, she discovered the engine blocking the drive and decided the best course of action was to "toot toot" her horn to see if she could get someone's attention so they could pull up and let her out. Ummm... is it just me or does honking at a fire truck seem like a really bad idea? A paramedic yelled at her that they had an emergency going on and she replied that it was ok and that she'd wait. So why honk? Why not just go back inside and watch some HGTV or something? As it turned out, she's convinced they took longer than necessary to leave just to make her wait. Duh.

I told her I couldn't believe she honked and she got really snippy with me. She felt I was slapping her hand. I tried to tell her my point was that honking was only going to piss them off. If she'd walked over there and asked nicely, they may have helped her out. But she took it as an insult. I told her they took it as an insult and that's why she waited.

So who do you think is "right?" Would you honk?

Monday

Erdedo wrote:

I'm watching the Extreme Makeover episode that you wrote about. I'm sure that it was strange to see for you and your family to watch.

So, if you aren't going to Portland what are you going to do?

I responded:

I haven't talked to the rest of the family, but it was hard for me to watch. Even though the inside of the house looked so different it wasn't hard for me to remember what it used to look like. And the outside looked practically the same. But it was an old house and they needed the new one.

As for work, I'm waiting to hear back about the Greenville show. I called on Thursday with a couple of questions, but nothing yet. It's got me a bit worried. But something will come up if that one doesn't pan out.

Speaking of which, I just heard Iron Man is looking for a payroll acct. That would be cool but it's in Playa del Rey which is an automatic hour commute each way. Ugh.

Goodbye Portland

Well, I did it. I sent the email and turned down the show in Portland. As much as I'd love to go there, I just didn't think this show was for me. Too much drama with the payroll company and I just don't need that.

Now we just have to decide if Greenville wins or if we wait for the next offer.

My Vague Political Thought

I'm glad the Democrats have gotten control in Congress. Now if they can only make something happen... My advice? Don't bother pointing fingers at the Republicans (remember the waste of time and money re: a horny intern?). Just hunker down and get this country fixed.

I know most civilizations have a Golden Age, then decline into mere shadows of their former selves. I don't want to think about the fact I may be living through the decline portion of America.

Mo's Response

I wrote to Mo this morning to find out her reaction to my job offer:

"I got a job offer with CK for the new George Clooney movie. I'm interested in it, but you had dibs so I thought I'd better see what was up with your show."

Hi Film-Chick
my, Oh damn....I know she's a good accountant and a very nice person so I say go for it!!! I have nothing solid at this point and am still budgeting various projects. Looks like we could be going to Louisiana in January, but I don't know for sure. I hate to lose you, but you don't want to turn down a solid offer to just wait...I totally understand. I love George so please, please tell him hello for me. We're very old friends...Good Luck Film-Chick...and we'll try again!!!
xoxo
Mo

So it looks like I'm off the hook with her.

And I did write back to tell her any excuse to talk to George would be greatly appreciated!

Now I just have to deal with T.

Book List #23

Not sure if this can really be counted as #23, but I'm planning on finishing it so I'll leave it.

I started Labyrinth by Kate Mosse and was enjoying it, but I'd gotten it from the library and my time ran out on it. I read about this one in Time magazine and it's been a winner. It started out as a parallel worlds sort of thing, but I never really made it back to the present day chapters so I'm not sure. I'll have to get online and put a hold on it so I can finish it.

Book List #22

1634: The Ram Rebellion by Eric Flint is a collection of short stories about some of the peripheral characters in his 1632 series. This one I liked. The main books are enjoyable and these stories fill in some gaps you never even noticed.

Book List #21

I read Duchess of Nothing: A Novel by Heather McGowan. I think it was a Daily Candy recommendation but I didn't care for it. The main character was whiny and annoying and I wanted her to get on some meds and stop screwing up the little boy's life. I kept hoping it would get better but no love for me.

I hate when I get a bad book, because I'm compelled to finish most everything I start. I only know of 1 book I didn't finish (can't remember the title right now).

Job Hunt #2

The accountant I worked for in Santa Fe on Used Guys has written to offer me a show called Untraceable. It's Diane Lane and it's shooting in Portland, OR.

Now I would dearly love to go to Portland on someone else's dime and I'd like to work with S again, but the payroll company the show is using is supposed to be horrendous. Random checks spitting out of the printer, no techs on call, late payroll, etc. I took the opportunity to send a mass email to some payroll accts and others I know to ask if they had an opinion and so far it's all been negative. No horror stories, just comments like "never again."

I just don't think it's going to be worth it. My job is hard enough without having to struggle with the payroll company. I mean, the one I had in SF had some problems and it was frustrating to get it all sorted out, and we hadn't even started shooting yet.

It's Looking Better...

I just looked the movie up on IMDB and George Clooney is the director! Oh man, how cool would that be? Not that I ever really get to meet the director, but still...

Job Hunt

What the opposite of a job hunt? What is it called when the job comes looking for you?

I got a call this morning from an accountant I met while I was in Santa Fe. I don't remember what show she was on, but I met her at the gym I joined. Anyway, she's doing a football movie (Leatherheads) for Universal and wanted to know if I was interested. She wanted me to start right away after EA (mid-December) but I told her I already had Christmas plans. She's willing to have me start Jan 2. The funny thing is the show's in Greenville, SC and we're going to East TN for the holidays. It's not right next door, but it's damn close.

Anyway, the rate is good and the housing and per diem add up fast, but I had to tell her she was the 4th person who had asked me to let them know before I took a show. Mo is first, then T (my current boss), then S from Used Guys, then the gym acct. Mo's show doesn't look promising, T doesn't have anything but rumors, and S is apparently working with a payroll company that is a nightmare. The gym acct is the only one with an actual offer.

So husband, what do you think about Greenville, SC for 6 months?

Mr. Quincy

Mr. Quincy is not amused.

Destructo!

Here's Destructo in her secret identity as Sofie (look at that "who me?" expression).

Destructo posing next to her latest victim - a roll of painters tape. Poor tape never had a chance. You can also see one of her previous victims - a stuffed hedgehog that's been completely gutted.

Stuff

The trailer for EA is up on Moviefone now. It looks pretty good but I'm waiting to see more of the visual effects shots. Should be cool.

Yesterday as we drove down to set for lunch, we passed Ben Stiller sitting in a konked-out golf cart. I didn't recognize him, but the 1st said it was him and I asked if we should go back and give him a bump with our cart. Decided not to.

I know that fall has arrived in SoCal. This morning, Sofie wouldn't come to me to get her harness on. I knew she wanted to go for a walk, but she just sat on the living room rug and stared at me, cocking her head from one side to the other. Finally, I bought a clue and got her shirt from her box and she came right to me, let me put the shirt on her, then trotted to the door and looked at me over her shoulder as if to say "we can go now." Strange little dog, but so friggin' cute!

Boring

My boss had a meeting this morning and since I usually go to set first thing to get breakfast I just drove down with her. She thought it would only last about 20 minutes (which I knew was optimistic) but since I didn't have anything to do at the office I didn't care.

The UPM decided it would be a good idea for me to go watch the motion control (moco) camera in action while I was waiting and I figured "why not?" So off I went to the stage and sat myself in one of the producer's chairs right in video village. I had a good view of the monitors, the moco camera, and the set. Not that there was much to the set, as they were planning to shoot birds sitting on a wire.

It was just about as boring as it sounds. I enjoyed talking to the crew and watching the camera move around, but the subject matter was a friggin' power line. There weren't even any birds yet.

I did hear a good story about the moco system, though. Apparently, while shooting Garp, the scene was set for the moco camera to zoom in on a baby in a stroller (I haven't seen the movie, only read the book). The guy got it all programmed and they put a doll in the stroller for the test run. Well, that camera went through it's paces and ended up slamming into the doll and stroller. The mom, standing there with her infant, just turned around and walked out and did not come back. I guess they got another baby, but man I think I would have peed my pants watching that happen.

Fire 2

So it turns out someone was welding near the elephant door (really big door that slides open) and a spark hit it. It got caught up in between the door panels and POOF - fire! They're down there with chainsaws and stuff chopping the door down to make sure the fire gets out completely. When they took the first whacks at the door, it opened up the space to more air and they had a total Backdraft moment. Flames were shooting into the parking lot.

We have no idea what's going to happen, since we kind of need to be able to seal the stage with the animals working. We may have to move stages if they don't have another door lying around to replace the torched one soon.

We should definitely make the news with this one.

FIRE!

Apparently, our sound stage is on fire. We don't have any details, don't even know how serious it is. We sent W down to have a look and I called N and asked her to go out and see what she could see. More to come...

Pictures!

Bart and his trainer Doug. We just went up to have a look and Bart put on a show for us.












This is Moon. When I stopped to take the pic, Moon wasn't really paying attention. Sausha (the trainer) came up behind me and had Moon stare. It made quite a difference! Look at those eyes.









The Ghost Whisperer base camp outside our trailer. You can't see JLH's trailer in this shot though. Sorry.

Moving

The husband and I are thinking about moving. Although I don't really like living under the restrictions of our Home Owner's Association, I do like our condo. It's not up to what I want it to be, but it's on it's way.

The problem is there are plans to tear down the apartment buildings next to us, and the apartment buildings next to them, and the apartment building around the corner, and the 3 houses next to that one. Not to mention the 2 apartment buildings on the next block or the office building that's converting to lofts one block north.

All that construction is not the biggest problem, though. Our condo is 1st floor and it looks out onto a wall, about 8 feet high, then onto said 2 story apartment building - there's about 20 feet between the 2 buildings. It's not a great view and there's not a huge amount of light getting in, but it's ok. When the new building goes up, it'll be 3 stories. If the building is as close as the apartments are now, then our little alley will be more like a cave than just a bit dim.

And since all of this construction will produce shiny new condos, our's will be the old, tired unit if we need to sell it. So I've been looking around and I've found a couple that I like enough to consider putting an offer down. One is the very first one I saw and I saw the other this past Sunday. They both have good and bad things about them and while I was in love with V, W is starting to grow on me.

We have one more weekend's worth of work to do before we can put ours on the market so it's not a big rush. There's no way we're going to take on 2 mortgages.

Photos

When I get home tonight, I want to post some pics. They're all on my laptop and I just don't think about them.

But I have to get a pic of Sofie right when she wakes up from a nap. Who knew a dog could get pillow face?

Let Me Clear That Up

The husband informed me that I didn't make my point very clear in my last post. The link between #3 and #4 is the director. He was heard to make the comment (several times) that he would hit $175 million and deprive the parent company of its profits on a "war machine."

I can agree with that.

Gossip

This morning I found out some very interesting gossip about this show:
1) the lead female actress sucked
2) the director did not want to do this movie
3) the parent company of the studio supposedly makes $175 million in profit selling missiles to the goverment
4) the budget of this movie just hit $175 million

I've spent the rest of the day getting my name off the catalog mailing lists of several companies. I prefer the emails to the paper wasting catalogs.

Better then yesterday, where I had to take a nap on the couch in Don's old office for about 20 minutes. So exhausted.

Who I've Seen Outside My Trailer

The base camp for Ghost Whisperer is set up in our parking lot again - have been for a few days now. It's a nice change of pace to have something to watch while I'm killing time.

Yesterday I saw Jay Mohr and today we've spotted Camryn Manheim (she drives a blue Prius). I've yet to see Jennifer Love Hewitt but she has a very nice trailer.

This morning when I went down to set to get our usual eggs and berries, I heard a wolf howling. Turns out the wolves are back and a couple were on set working. The ones left in the trailer were howling about it. It's a very lonely sound but it was fun to watch the people walking around trying to figure out if they really were hearing wolf howls...

Home Improvement

Last night I decided it was time to clean the walls in the guest bathroom, as well as move the cat box into the shower and free up some floor space. That done, I decided I'd better figure out where the leak was in the toilet. We'd had a bit of water on the floor for a couple of weeks, but never had the time to suss out what was going on. Turns out the tank was loose and the water was seeping out the bolt holes.

Of course, this all sounds very pleasant, but it was a fiasco. I got all freaked out when I couldn't get the wrench on the nuts and every time I touched something the water leaked even more. The husband came to help and I yelled at him because I wanted to do it myself and letting him help made me feel like a useless girl. It took a bit of time and a broken float but we finally figured out what needed to be done and I went off to HD for parts while the husband bailed water out of the tank (did I mention we coudn't get the water to shut off?).

So I got back with a new float and new tank bolts. We decided to go ahead and try to fix it ourselves, something we've never attempted before (I was very proud of us for that!). The husband unscrewed the bolts, then I held the tank, still attached to the water line, while he put the new ones in. It took a bit to figure out the directions, but only because the tank wasn't on correctly in the first place. It's supposed to have 2 sets of hex nuts, one to hold the washers in place and one to hold the tank onto the bowl. Ours only had the bowl set... no wonder it was loose and leaking! Anyway, we got the tank reattached to the bowl and set to fixing the float. Pretty easy since all we had to do was unscrew the float arm and attach it.

Then we held our breath and let the water flow back in. YEAH! Nothing leaked! We even flushed a few times and it looked good to go. He took Sofie for a walk and I cleaned up the water and that was it. I wish I hadn't yelled at him, though. It could have been a really good bonding thing for us. We work pretty well as a team, but we don't do a lot of home improvement on our own. I guess maybe we really should try and replace the Pergo this weekend. We could probably do it very well, together.

Boo and Willie

Just got back from set where we had lunch and I passed out paychecks. My boss decided we should go over and see what animals were around today.

One of the trainers brought out Boo, who's a lemur. He was so beautiful, with his black and white fur and his gold eyes. His face reminded me of Sofie's - long snout with whiskers, but if you caught a glimpse of his mouth from below, he has these huge fangs. They're totally hidden from above or straight on. Anyway, Boo wasn't that friendly. We tried to pet him, but he kept chattering at us and it was loud. My boss and I finally got a chance to pet his long tail, but he really didn't want anything to do with anybody. It was his lunch time.

Then another trainer brought out Willie - the 2 year old chimp. He was cute, cute, cute. He started giving everybody he knew hugs, then she had him give the newbies high fives, low fives, and knuckle bumps. That was almost surreal, to get hand jive from a chimp. She had him show us more of his tricks, including "boogie" which involves him standing with one hand on his hip and the other pointing in the air (a la Travolta) and bouncing. It was really cool getting our own little show and he was such a ham, eating it up and starting the clapping if he felt we waited too long on our own. When the tram went by, she turned him around and had him wave and the folks just went nuts. Heads whipped around and cameras popped up all over the place. It was nice of her to do that, because that ride can be a bore.

So I met Boo and Willie and even though Willie was the more charming, I think I still liked Boo better.

My Day

I'm sitting at my desk, stapling timecards to copies of paychecks (last week's stuff - I fell behind because it's so f*cking boring). I've got to finish these and file them, then do this week's stapling and filing. Bleah. Welcome to the glamorous world of movie making.

Every morning, I'm awakend at 5 am by Sofie ("she who will not let mom sleep in"). We go on a walk and then I either get ready to go to the gym, or crawl back into bed, or find stuff to do around the house. If I'm lucky, I curl up and watch a movie. Yes, I know it's 5:30am, but I'm awake and alone, I can watch whatever I want.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are my bootcamp classes from 6-7am. I love those classes and would gladly go 5 days a week. I really hate going to the gym anymore and I've been avoiding it, but I need to work out more than 3 days each week so things are going to have to change.

Anyway, at some point I shower and dress and scoop the litter box. Then Sofie and I go on our "8 o'clocks" up and around the cul-de-sac. When we get back, I pack up my crap and head off to work. I'm supposed to be in by 9 and I usually make it, but sometimes I run late and sometimes traffic sucks.

Once I get to work, my first task is to go down to craft service and get hard-boiled eggs and mixed berries for myself and my boss. I also take special requests, getting W a chocolate donut w/ nothing in it or M a banana or apple.

Then it's nose to the grindstone. HA! I only have about 3 hours of work each day but it's spread out - I do my thing and send it off for approval, then sit and wait for it to come back around 5:30 each night. Then I have to finish it off. It's pretty damn boring, but the pay rocks. And lunch is free. It seems ideal, but I'd really like to be a bit busier. I get out of work mode too easily and it's hard to get back in. Sometimes all I can do is put everything in a big stack and go thru it piece by piece - dealing with it one thing at a time. Sad but true.

Anyway, I usually manage to leave for home by 6:15 or 6:30. Then the husband and I have dinner and watch some tv and take Sofie for another walk. Then it's off to bed.

I need a hobby. Well, I have a hobby. I need to participate in my hobby.

The Truth Is Out

Yes, it's true. I am working on the most expensive comedy ever made. Evan Almighty is reported to cost $175 million dollars and that's just production. Marketing and stuff should push it to $250 million.

Makes my paycheck seem a bit paltry...

Grandma's House

http://www.saintmeinrad.edu/enews/Extreme%20Makeover2.htm

What I Learned @ Lunch

Just got back from lunch where I learned a couple of things:

1) Lions have very small testicles (smaller than hard boiled eggs).

2) My car could have been in You, Me & Dupree - as he was dropping us off at the trailer, the captain on EA asked who my car belonged to. Apparently while they were scouting on Dupree they came back to the office and the director spotted my car and said that's what the slut librarian should be driving. But my car is a stick and she couldn't drive it.

3) Some crows have white feathers, they aren't all black.

Anniversary and Stuff

Yesterday was our 8th anniversary. We decided to wait until the weekend to celebrate and go to Dave & Buster's out in Arcadia (that's "our" restaurant - the Wednesday before we got married, the husband took me to dinner at the one in Atlanta, which was only 1 interstate stop from where we lived). I love the place - the food's ok but I really like the arcade, especially skeeball and the coin drop games. We went to the one in Honolulu last year and I'm glad there's one in Arcadia now because otherwise we'd have to drive out to Ontario or down to Irvine.

So I got the husband a 250 GB Iomage external hard drive and he got me a diamond bracelet. I think I won that round but he's happy.

A strange direction to go now, but I was reading today on Fark some of the responses to Ms. magazine printing the names of the women who had abortions. I can understand women not being ashamed of it but I can't understand wanting to put yourself out there for fundies to have at you. I don't know anyone who's had an abortion, I don't know anyone who wishes they'd had an abortion, I have no first-hand knowledge of it. I just think I would keep it between myself and the father - it seems to personal. Whether or not you believe life begins at conception or at some point in the 2nd or 3rd trimester, getting pregnant opens a door into all sorts of potential futures. I can't imagine finding out I was preggers and not wondering if it was a boy or girl, what it would be when it grew up, picking out names, etc. I am adamntly pro-choice, but I don't think I'd be able to have an abortion myself. I do want it to remain an option for those women who need it, though. Recreation, not procreation.

What I Saw Before 9am

When I got to work today, I took the cart up to the Upper Flatlands so I could give L her pictures w/ Bart the bear. Not much going on up there yet, a bunch of extras dressed in camos and military gear and a crane setting up some blue screen.

On the way back down, I went by "Wisteria Lane". I don't usually go that route because you get stopped while they're shooting and today was no exception. I didn't see any of the actors, just a couple of extras and a short school bus.

While driving thru Old West Town though, I had to stop my cart and watch a deer trot by. A guy was standing there watching, too and when the deer had run off he turned and said "too cool". I was looking in his opposite direction and saw a baby deer come around the corner and trot after its mother. So cute. I watched it bound off into the trees and realized it looked more like it was hopping than running. Never noticed that before.

So it's been a good morning, even though I did get an email slideshow (http://www.saintmeinrad.edu/slideshows/slideshow.aspx?ss=extreme1) showing those bastards at ABC tearing down my grandparent's house. It didn't make me as sad this time. At least now the husband will get a chance to see what it looked like. And I'm glad I had the chance to have a beer at the Shady Inn. The place was a bar and it was so fascinating. You could hear the people and music late at night while trying to sleep - it was only one vacant lot away. My dad and I went to see my grandpa while I was in college and that was my one foray into that mystery from my youth. Oh well, change happens. The little market where my grandma sent us to buy candy has been gone for years now...

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...

Staying

Although it's not official, it looks like they're going to add 3 weeks of work to the schedule, which has us finished the day before Thanksgiving. Then we get 3 weeks of wrap and it'll all be over. The acct came in today and gave me a pep talk, which I don't really need. I'd pretty much planned on staying here thru the bitter end. It's just too much trouble to try and get something new and if it's on location, that's just a hassle I don't want right now. I mean, I finally found a bootcamp!

The animal coordinator was in yesterday talking about having elephants, giraffes, zebras, wolves, and grizzlies. Man, I hope I get to set that day...

And I got N's birthday present, but I can't say what it is because she's an occasional reader. But it's really good.

If we end as planned on the 13th of December, the husband and I should still be able to drive home for Christmas. I'd like to go - it's been awhile - and I'd like to take the dog. I think K would enjoy a game of "filthy nose" with Sofie.

Pancake Meow

I've been checking out the website www.pancakemeow.com for a while now, ever since they were featured on Daily Candy. They finally have something back in stock and I ordered a cupcake necklace for my niece for Christmas. And yes, I ordered one for me, too. How could I not? They're so cute and they smell like yummy things!

Erdedo, would your little ones like a cupcake necklace for Christmas? Send me ideas for colors and flavors if you think they would. And if I don't hear from you soon, I'll assume your life is crazy-making and send you an email...

It's too bad this woman is working out of Georgia... I'd offer to go into business with her because these things look like so much fun!

Rich Kid B-Days

I've been meaning to blog about this for awhile...

Several weeks back, the husband and I drove down to UCLA to scout parking for a class he was taking. On the way back, we drove thru Beverly Glen canyon. It's prime real estate in any of the canyons, even though you're either right on the road with no yard or you're on stilts over a 45+ degree slope with no yard. It's also mostly only 2 lanes with the occasional turn lane. Anyway, we saw the balloons and signs for a b-day party and noticed a town car pulled up in front of a house. The town car was dropping off some child so we had to slow down to pass, but the thing that really caught our eye was the Belle who was greeting the guests. Yes, there was a woman who was hired to dress like Belle from Beauty and the Beast and stand by the side of the road and greet the guests. And it was a NICE costume, something you would have made special rather than just rent. I bet she was sweating like a pig in it... We also wondered of there were more Princesses inside or if some poor guy was sweating like a pig in a Beast mask.

Sp my point is rich kids get way cool birthday parties and guests better show up in some swanky car if a Princess is opening your door.

Portland?

That acct who claimed I flaked on her wrote me an email today:

I recall you had some travel plans in the works, but are you working? Just wanted to say hi, I might have something else happening, it's a good (payroll) gig for the right person.

I wrote back that I was on EA until Thanksgiving but thanks for thinking of me.

I just got back a response - hang on...

Darn, but glad you are working... if you know of a nice payroll person, the gig is a good one, as I mentioned.

I suppose I could get more info, but EA is going to be fairly easy-money and I won't have to deal with packing stuff up and going somewhere.

Oh, and where else could I get to say "the giraffes are here"?

Bootcamp

I'm quite enjoying my new bootcamp. Today was #5 and I'm able to keep up with almost everything. I still need to work on my rope jumping skills, but it's going well. I'm so glad I found these guys - the gym was so boring.

Did I mention I finally got the payroll files on Tuesday? They were waiting for us when we got in, sitting out on the front walkway. I couldn't believe anybody would think that was ok, especially since the boxes weren't sealed or anything. It's not like they're filled with names, addresses, license number, social security numbers, etc - everything you'd need to rack up some swag on somebody else's dime. That woman is such a moron.

Carnival

The husband and I went to the carnival in the park on Saturday night. It was fun, but most of the rides were 2 person minimum and the husband's not a fan of that kind of stuff. Still, I rode one loop ride and we played some games, winning a stuffed tiger and a plastic sword, both of which are displayed in my office. I do wish we had taken Sofie with us but we didn't think dogs would be allowed. Of course, other people had their dogs...

Speaking of dogs, we went to the dog park Sunday evening and a couple of people got into an altercation about poop. I couldn't really make out most of it, but there was one guy (who has abusive dogs) who was confronted about not picking up the poop. It started out in front of us when a guy from the dog park mafia (a group of people who are ALWAYS there and who always sit in a big semi-circle) was talking to the other guy. They wandered over towards the mafia and the next thing I know, some woman from the mafia is screaming and they're cussing at each other. Then they're grappling and she's yelling for someone to call the cops. Then I'm pretty sure she kicked him and then he kicked her and the whole time they're grabbing each other's hands or shirts or wrists (hard to tell - they drew a crowd). They finally got broken up and she's yelling about the cops and how he can't just punch her in the face and he's walking back to his litttle clique cussing and muttering. We saw her on the phone, but the cops didn't show while we were there and the 2 groups pretty much stayed away from each other. I really don't know anything more than that but the guy's dogs are going to get "accidentally" kicked one day if they don't start behaving better - they really are bullies and Sofie usually ends up under my chair or in my lap if they're around.

Not Intimidated...

The construction acct still hasn't brought me the payroll files and she's been off the show since 7/25. This is the email I wrote her today:

K,
I need the payroll files for construction. At this point, I don't care if you've cleaned them up or not. Please bring them by as soon as possible so I can get on with my work. Someone is usually here from 8am until 7pm. If you need to come by at a different time, please let me know and I will arrange to be here. "The acct" is aware of the situation and if no one has told you yet, he has said if the files aren't here by the end of this week (yes, today) that he would have to inform MM (studio executive).

This is what she writes back:

Hi "film-chick",
That is news to me however we don't have a driver available until Monday. I made arrangements earlier today to have them delivered on Monday. If you have any questions I can be reached at 310 or by cell 310. They are ready to go.
K

What I didn't notice was she cc'd the acct and the studio exec with her response - wtf? Did she think I was going to be intimidated by that? I just spoke to the acct and he said he thinks she's going to do it all this weekend and have it brought on Monday, that the driver thing is a smoke screen because it's not done yet. And it is not news to her because we told her last Friday the acct wanted them by the end of this week. She had notice and did nothing about it... stupid cow.

Caroline's Cakes

I ordered my parents a Montana Gold cake from Caroline's Cakes in Maryland (www.carolinescakes.com) for their birthdays. I don't think Caroline's really needs the extra attention, but it was declared a success. 4 layers of chocolate cake covered in rich caramel icing. Yum.


Mom and Dad? Send me one!

A-M

I just finished the letter M in my crew list. I'm at 870 lines. This does not include construction (I don't have those files yet and isn't that turning into an ordeal...)

Snakes

We were supposed to have the cast and crew screening of SoaP on the 15th, but they decided to push it until the 22nd. I guess they didn't want to risk having anyone see it before the opening. I was definitely going to go when it was early, but now that it's behind everyone else, I'm not sure. It's not really my kind of movie.

Weird Things at the Prop Dept

Driving in to work, I pass the costume and prop departments (they share a building). The loading dock faces the street and this morning, I caught a glimpse inside the prop dept. Either someone is coming to pick up the life-size Jesus-on-the-cross, or the prop people are making a statement...

TourTip

A quick tip for anybody taking the Universal Tram Tour: most of those cars you see parked right up next to the stages belong to actors and other VIPs. Each one has a name-plate on it, so when they're driving you around, you can look for names and see what kind of car JK Simmons and Jerry O'Connell drive. Those trams move slow enough, it shouldn't be a problem...

Dancing

Dancing With The Stars is looking for people to be on the show, specifically women who are out of shape who want to get fit while learning to dance... yes, I'm thinking about it.

The Purge Continues

I got thru my button collection and my shoes this weekend. I'm barely keeping any buttons, since I never wear them and I got rid of 10 pairs of shoes. That leaves me w/ 22 pairs now, but I think that's acceptable.

I need to speed up the process, but it's going to turn into a matter of space. I'll need more boxes and a dedicated place to stack them. But I have to get rid of the junk. Too much crap.

Liquid Explosives

Did I mention I'm totally wigged out by the new terror attacks they've foiled in England? I'm going to have to avoid the news outlets for awhile if I don't want to end up with another stress-induced allergic reaction.

But I have to mention one thing - right after 9/11, the husband and I were flying from visiting our families in TN back to CA. I had a bottle of water that I'd just gotten at the gas station. When I went thru security, they made me take a drink of it to prove it was ok. Now, if the security guy in TN can check on that 5 years ago, why are they treating it as if it's a new thing?

Scary.

Crazy Eyes

I'm wearing the contacts I got in San Diego, but no one has said anything yet. I should have gotten something more outrageous.

London

My current boss is going to London in September to do Tim Burton's Sweeny Todd with Johnny Depp. Yes, we've all metioned to him how much we'd like to join him but it's not going to happen. This will be the 2nd movie he's done with them (the 1st being Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

Makes you wonder why I get stuck in Shreveport...

Book List #18

Started a book called Bandbox by Thomas Mallon that I got in Santa Barbara. It's about the staff of a men's magazine during the 1920's. There are a lot of characters and I'm not always the best at keeping track of who everybody is. It's a quick read, though and that's always good.

Sofa

We're finally going to be able to get rid of the last half of our sectional. We're donating it to the doggie daycare Sofie goes to and they're picking it up on Friday. Now I can put the furniture I bought off Used Guys into the "study" and get it out of the garage before I get a letter about it. Did I mention I got a letter about my kitchen window? It's a garden window and because we're on the first floor I put a window cling in it that looked like leaded glass. It was very pretty and didn't cut down on the light, just provided a bit of privacy. It wasn't colored or anything and had been up for a couple of years. Well, last week I got a letter to take it down and I spent time on Sunday putting up new curtains. It looks fine, but it's not as nice as the cling. At least I got rid of some stuff while doing it. I really need to get the purge going.

Work is really boring right now. There's no good gossip and nothing to do but clean-up until September. I swear if I hear anything good, I'll pass it along.

Crew List

On every show I've ever done, I made a cheat sheet of everybody who gets hired and how much they make. There's other info on it too, stuff that helps me do my job. Well, I knew the crew lists I had inherited weren't complete, so when I was out on Tuesday, I collated the lists and asked my clerk to pull out any files that weren't included. She only got thru the P's and the stack was about 4 feet tall! I was so pissed because it meant I had no choice but to go thru each individual file and make a whole new list. There's gotta be more than 600 files and wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 800. And some people will have more than one entry, because rerates have to be separate so there's a trail. It's going to be a great list when I'm done, I'm just glad I've got until Thanksgiving to get it done!

Bird News

While walking Sofie this morning, I saw 2 crows chasing each other. They landed and the chasee looked pretty ruffled. Then I saw the chaser. It was a hawk of some kind. Wow. I knew they were working to get hawks into the downtown area, but to have one on this side of the hill is pretty cool.

In other bird news, I finally got around to taking care of my plants today. A lot of them suffered because I didn't take care of them when I got back from Santa Fe. Not sure why, just didn't... Anyway. I went to clean out the hanging lantern with the bird's nest in it and saw that one of the chicks didn't make it. Poor thing was dead in the nest. When I saw that, I had to throw the whole thing away. Couldn't deal with trying to pry it out.

Book List #17

While in Santa Barbara, I picked up a couple of books and just got a chance to start reading one of them - A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian by Marina Lewycka. It's an odd book and I'm not sure how much I like it. The premise revolves around an 84 year old widow who marries a 36 year old gold-digger who wants to immigrate. The guy has 2 daughters and one of them starts out thinking this may be a good thing! WTF? Who in their right mind thinks it's about anything other than the money (other than ANS)? I'm going to finish it and see if it redeems itself, but it's not hopeful.

Book List #16

I read The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt a few weeks back. It was quite enjoyable and for some reason, Sofie really likes the sound of "Rangergirl." She tilts her head back and forth every time we say it.

Anyway, I hope he's writing a sequel.