Hamilton

Meet Hamilton. He didn't mind having his picture taken at first, then I guess he felt threatened. He started jumping at the camera then swimming to the other side of the bowl to hide. He's a pretty good looking fish, if I do say so myself.

Random

Girlfiend was looking for suggestions for a friend who got a new dog and I suggested Parker after my mom's Parker House Rolls (it was supposed to be a Thanksgiving-themed name). I'm glad she didn't end up using it. I don't know when or if we'll get another pet, but I want to use it now. Maybe we'll name the new car Parker...

I keep noticing that blogs I read all have book lists. Since I'm such a joiner, I figured I start one, too. Just got to figure out how to do that.

Back To Work

This is the part about my job that I really don't like. When everyone else had a 3 day week because of Thanksgiving, I had a 4 day week. And now everyone else gets a 4 day weekend and I'm back at work after a 3 day weekend... happens the same way at Christmas, too. Payroll always gets screwed when it comes to the holidays.

Not to mention the fact that I tried to have a nice cup of oatmeal for breakfast and managed to get the super hot stuff to go down the wrong way. So I'm coughing and coughing and I feel like my lungs are scorched.

Hamilton's still alive, but I keep forgetting to bring in my camera to take his picture.

Thanksgiving was fine, nothing special. The husband and I had the burritos and the pumpkin pie. Sadly, I realized Thursday morning that I didn't have any refried beans and we had to walk down to Jon's to get some. I hate going to a store on a holiday. I worked retail and I hated having to work those days, dealing with the idiots who would say how sad it was we had to work on a holiday. Got in trouble once for mentioning that if they hadn't come in to the store, then management wouldn't make us open. So I'm a hypocrite. But I needed the beans and in a city the size of LA, me not shopping isn't going to make a difference. The place was packed. So I got some Cool Whip, too.

Called home and found out that my great aunt Mary had died in October. She was 104 and was a twin. I don't remember when her sister Margaret died. They always told the story of how their own father couldn't tell them apart and used to call them Mary-Margaret. Didn't matter which one he was speaking to, he just said Mary-Margaret. Funny, but kind of sad, too. They were a great couple of ladies.

I'd better get to it - got a big stack waiting for me on my desk and I haven't even touched the football yet.

Burrito Day

I didn't feel like cooking a turkey today and those pre-done meals provide way too much food for 2 people, so the husband and I had burritos. And no, they weren't turkey burritos.

We also had pumpkin pie. It was all good.

Then I took a nap and he played his computer game.

Happy Holiday!

Problem Areas

When I work on Sunday to break time cards, I'm usually here alone. Therefore, I get to snoop into stuff that I normally don't get to see. This past Sunday was a good example. The paperwork comes in from set in a black pouch (referred to as "the football") and various manila envelopes. In order to do my job, I have to pick thru the football and the envelopes and find all of the time cards and the production report. Sunday there was an envelope that was not addressed to me, but since no one else was there, I opened it.

Now, all of the A list actors that I've paid have a clause in their contract that allows them to reject a certain percentage of the still photos that get taken of them on set. I had one of those approval books in my hands... Needless to say, I rifled thru it, looking to see what shots someone considered a beauty would find objectionable. Like anybody, this person had their fair share of being caught looking odd in a candid moment but what really got my attention was the note scribbled on several photos. "Retouch chin" with an arrow pointing to the offending area was on more than I would have expected. Apparently, someone is developing a slight sag in the chin, probably something you or I would never have noticed without it being pointed out. But it was there and it wasn't to be seen by the real world.

So if anybody tells you the photos aren't retouched or that these people look that way naturally, they are lying through their ignorant teeth.

Who's Not Getting Paid This Week?

Because I have less than 3 days this coming week to get paychecks ready, we sent out a memo telling the crew that anybody who didn't have their time card in my office by today would not get paid until after Thanksgiving. I just can't have the usual dawdlers showing up late Monday or even Tuesday, expecting to get paid on time. I'm really hoping everybody heeded the message, because I know there's at least one group and 2 people I haven't seen yet... I don't feel too bad about the 2 people, but it sucks for the group - the best boy turns in their timecards so it won't even be their fault if they don't get paid.

Anyway, gonna be a long day as I have to have everything done before I leave tonight. Otherwise, what's the point of the memo?

Weekends

We took Sofie to the dog park today. A woman there was selling dog clothes and we got Sofie this Chinese jacket. She's pretty damn cute in it. I'd dress her up all the time except she's got black fur and overheats easily. Maybe when it's colder I'll take her for her morning walks in one of her little t-shirts.

I'm really starting to hate the weekend. There's so much to do and never enough time to do it. The husband wants me to relax and do something for myself, but I can't when I know the stuff is just sitting there, waiting for me. It's not like the chore fairy comes by because I'm taking some "me" time. That'd be nice... anyway, what I'd really like to do is take a nap, but then I have to deal with running out of time for everything and it's not worth it. It's starting to become a problem between us because I get bitchy and dump on him. I know it's not right or fair, but I'm so frustrated I don't know what else to do.

Whiners

I forgot to mention yesterday the whiner cry-baby I had to deal with on the phone. Because of the nature of the film industry, a lot of the crew members only work for a few days on a particular show. Since checks come out a week later on Thursday a lot of them get put in the mail. And quite a few of them go missing. This happened to a man I'll call "Ron" who was in our set decorating department.

"Ron" wasn't with us anymore when his check was cut (11/3) and it was returned to me with the instructions to mail it. I did. I mailed a lot of checks that week (I keep a list). On 11/8, the Set Dec Coord called and said he hadn't received it yet. I asked her to check with him if I should put a stop payment on it, with the caveat that it took a minimum of 72 hours to reissue a check (it's the bank's rule, nothing anybody can do to get around it). His response was to give it one more day, just in case... So the following day he called back - hadn't gotten it yet - so I called the payroll company and stopped it. That was 11/9.

Yesterday he calls all huffy and says he has to have that check TODAY. I told him I hadn't gotten anything from the payroll company, but I would call them and let him know if they had an eta. Well, they didn't. They were still waiting on the bank's ok. I called him back and we went round and round about the bank and the 72 hours and he tried to lay into me about the check being 3 weeks late already and that's where I shut him down. I didn't call him a liar, but I said "No, that check was cut on time and put in the mail. It's nobody's fault that it got lost in the mail, but it certainly wasn't late." He wasn't particularly pleasant to me and when he asked for my paymaster's name at the payroll company, I told him I would not give it to him if he was going to call and yell at her or in any other way be abusive. She's good at her job and doesn't deserve that treatment. I think calling him on his attitude calmed him down because he actually said he would not be abusive. I gave him the info and after he hung up, I called her myself to warn her. I still don't know how that turned out... we'll see.

This is why a lot of people don't like payroll. People love you on payday and think you're trying to ruin their lives if something goes wrong. I have had people yell at me on the phone and accuse me of ruining their Christmas/holidays/etc, as well as causing someone to lose their home/car/etc - all because of a check that got lost in the mail. Whatever. I always want to say "don't live paycheck to paycheck and you won't have these problems" but that probably wouldn't go over so well.

Waste Of Time

I hate it when I spend the time to do something per someone's request, only to have it be for nothing. It's so frustrating. I always send my timecards to the payroll company in alpha order. My boss asked me to put the timecards back into code order so she could input them into her report. It's not that big a deal, just time-consuming. I had them split and sorted and back on her desk last night. She did nothing with them all day today, saying by the time she could get to them she just couldn't deal with it all. So she gave them back to me and I have to spend more time putting them into alpha order so I can check my edits. It's true that I would've had to go through the process whether she looked at them or not, but she didn't do her part. That's what rubs me the wrong way.

Whatever.

I sometimes use a bean-filled bag as a bed-warmer and the other day I left it under the covers. Destructo ate through the sheet to get to it, filling the bedding with beans. And she's eating the new couch. At least this one has a slipcover that hides the damage.

We clipped her nails last night and at some point in time, she's become afraid of the procedure. The husband had to wrap her in a blanket and hold her down while I did the trimming. She cried and whimpered and struggled so much she wore herself out and started panting. And Baxter, Mr. Empathy, had to join in the cries. He's such a softy - he can't stand to see one of his sibs in distress.

I Married a Good Guy

The husband and I went over to Glendale to browse the used book stores. There are 3 of them on Brand, as well as a Salvation Army store and a comic book shop. Anyway, we were in the last bookstore of the evening and I had picked up a copy of Vigil and sat down with it, to wait while the husband finished looking around (I had given blood in the morning and felt a bit out of it). A family came in, mom, dad, daughter. I heard them ask for the new Harry Potter and a bit more of the chit-chat, including the mom commenting on it being 20% off. Then I tuned them out while I read my book.

When the husband came to get me, he asked if it was ok if he bought HP for the girl, as he had heard the parents say they weren't prepared to pay "that much" for it. Apparently, the girl was pretty upset, even offering up her piggy bank to defray the cost. So of course I said yes, it was a good thing and he should absolutely buy her the book. So we did. He had intended to just leave it for her at the counter, but she wandered up to where we were and he tried to give it to her in person. I think it must have scared her, to have a stranger try to give her a book that her parent's had already said she couldn't have. She started to cry and said she couldn't take it and that she'd have to ask. We ended up leaving it for her.

The husband spent a lot of time wondering if he'd done the right thing. I kept telling him he had - he'd done something that most people think about doing but never follow through on. I know if I had been paying attention to what was going on, I would have wanted to buy her the book. He was afraid the parents wouldn't take it, but I'm sure they did - they just seemed like the type (especially since I learned that after refusing HP for their daughter, they were picking out books for themselves at the back of the store). I hope she's enjoying it.

So I married a good guy, didn't I?

Yeah! The Weekend

I am so glad another week is over. I'm finally starting to do more than "keep up" at work and it's starting to be fun again.

Nancy and I went to set yesterday, which was on the lot because of the rain. We wandered around, handing out checks, and took the opportunity to see what the "interior house" set looked like. Not bad, but it's kind of hard to tell when it's full of equipment and stuff. There was also a freaky blond chick sitting in one of the rooms, all alone in the dark. Creeped us out so we left. Went down to the craft service truck and raided it for treats. Mark had wanted some Pirates Booty, but they were all out.

We did see Dillon while we were out there. His costume was pretty interesting, considering it was a t-shirt, boxers, and a robe... and we wondered if the blond chick was Hudson, but figured she had a super nice trailer to sit in, why would she sit on the floor on an empty set?

Anyway, I've been reading girl-fiend's blog and she wrote about weird baby names. I made a comment about some of the weird names I've been seeing on my payroll. I usually get some odd stuff, but this time I'm making a list. We actually have an extra whose name seems to be Angelic Ho. Really. And we have Roger Wilko, DeDe Troit, and Chantal Boom'La. Not making these up.

Star Sighting

The husabnd and I went to the Four 'n' 20 for lunch today. Scott Bakula was approaching the door from the other direction. He got there first but was a gentleman and held it open for me. He looks pretty good in person - I've had a crush on him since his "Quantum Leap" days. So there you have it. You can go to a diner in the valley and see famous people.

On Set

Went to set yesterday to pay everybody, but nothing interesting happened. I got there during lunch and left right when they were going back to work. Boring.

Nancy told me that when Douglas passed her in the parking lot on our first visit to set, he was sucking his teeth (well, making a noise like he was sucking his teeth). Good to know he's human.

I was reading girlfiend's blog the other day and she linked to a blog called "Overheard in Philly". It was pretty funny and I was thinking someone should start one for LA. It might be interesting, but a lot of the time people are talking smoke about "deals" and other industry crap, so it may turn into one big lie.

Did I mention that I thought I saw Pam Anderson outside a Coffee Bean in Toluca Lake? The husband and I were going to get haircuts and there "she" was. I have to admit I tried to confirm her identity by looking at her chest, but the way she was sitting made it hard to tell. We turned around so the husband could see, but he said it wasn't her. Either way, she looked a lot like Pam without all the glamour.

We've got Harry Dean Stanton on our show - I haven't seen his deal to see who he's playing. But I love that guy!

Not A Very Good Wife

I just wanted to tell the husband that I do care about what's going on with your work. I don't mean to seem so selfish. I know my job isn't important enough to not be there when you need me. I just don't know what to say or do to make it better. I love you.

Time To Go Home

I'm not done of course, but it's time to go home - got a good chunk done but there's not enough hours in the day. We had over 65 new hires this week. I'm glad the biz is staying in LA, but do we really need to hire everybody? Aren't there any other shows these people could work on?

At least I got to meet one of the directors. He stuck his head in the door to make sure I knew there was someone else in the office, which was nice of him. It could have been embarrassing cause sometime's I go to get a drink from the kitchen and break out into song and/or dance with my Ipod shuffle. Anyway, after telling me he was going to be back in his office, he introduced himself. I told him my name and said I was doing the payroll. Didn't have any noticeable affect on him - a lot of people get really friendly when I tell them I pay them. It's a bit annoying because I know it's not real.

Home now - dinner and bed.

If It's Sunday, I Must Be @ Work

I got up this morning extra early by totally ignoring day light savings. I showered, walked the dog, and drove to work. I always work Sunday thru Thursday when we're shooting. I need that day when no one is around to break timecards and cuss out loud at the stupidity of the crew.

I got to work and cleaned Hamilton's bowl - which I meant to do on Thursday but since I was working until 2 am, that didn't happen. Anyway, I got his bowl cleaned then dumped the dead flowers in the trash and washed out the vase. Started sorting thru the inbox and got so discouraged by what I saw I still haven't started working. Blech. And that's only the stuff that came out the inbox for the rest of accounting. My stuff is filling up 3 inboxes and it makes my stomach hurt to look at them.

So I checked my email and tried to respond to someone about Granny's property in Lenoir City. It's her house and nobody's lived there or taken care of it in years. We tried to deal with it, but there are a lot of claimants and it was a huge hassle so we let it drop. We just want the city to come in and take it for back taxes or something. It's not like it's worth a lot of money or anything, especially when you consider everybody who'll crawl out of the woodwork for a share. I gave up on that email and forwarded it to the husband. He'll have to answer at least a couple of the questions or they'll contact Granny and when she hears they're going to take her house, she'll flip out. The woman is 97 years old and the nursing home just switched her into another room because she kept giving her roommate's husband a hard time when he came to visit. She's a tough cookie.

So then I read Sped's blog - her "a" key isn't working - and asked her if she's ever going to read Sandman. I noticed it's not on her list anymore, but maybe that means she read it already... I doubt it. I know she's had that for at least a year but it keeps getting superceded by Star Wars novels.

Anyway, I've wasted enough time. I've got to start picking thru these piles of paperwork. Let the cussing begin!

What We Saw On Set

Nancy and I went to set on Thursday; me to hand out paychecks, she to hand out petty cash and per diem. It was a long drive down to Irvine and we kept asking each other if they didn't have office buildings in LA or one of the valleys (they were shooting the dad's office - he's a developer). One of the producer's assistants told us they were going for the whole "Orange County" look, kind of a wide-open desert thing. The building was nice, had a pond and a Buddha and was very clean lines. But come on, did we really have to drive all the way to Irvine for it? Anyway...

We got to base camp and dropped off some stuff for Michael F. - one of the producers (who we found by spotting his shoes walking past a trailer). When we were done with him, we went from trailer to trailer, handing out stuff as we found people - most people are actually "on set", but it's a good place to start. We even met Douglas' people (hair, makeup and wardrobe) who are just about the nicest I have ever met. You'd think the crew attached to stars would be uppity snots, but these three are fabulous.

After we finished up there, we had the producer asst w/ the "Orange County" line show us where the set was. They had just finished shooting and were moving to a different spot. I tried to point Wilson out to Nancy, but she missed him in the group of people milling about. Turns out he was done for the day so she'll have to wait for next time.

We wandered around some more, handing stuff out and chatting with various crew members - nothing makes people chattier than getting a paycheck. When we finished on set, we went back to base camp. I was giving BR some paychecks to distribute to people who I couldn't find when Dillon walked by on his way to set. I made a comment to Nancy to make sure she recognized him (she did). Then I headed off to the special fx truck. As I turned to go, I saw that Douglas was walking to set as well. He walked right between Nancy and I as I was responding to her question about whether I'd be ok to drive back - I'd hurt my neck earlier in the week and couldn't turn my head to the right anymore. I said as long as I didn't have to check my blind spot, we'd be fine. As I was saying it, I wondered if he was curious about what we were talking about. I mean, it's human nature to listen in on conversations, especially if the two conversants are on either side of you...

I have to say that when Nancy and I joined back up, we spent a good 15 minutes discussing Douglas and how he looked. She thinks he has a peanut head (broad forehead, narrow at the eyes, strong jaw). I thought if he was a woman they would be calling him a lollipop. I've never seen a man that petite with that big a head. It was weird, especially since I'd never gotten that impression about him onscreen or in pictures. But he's less than 6' tall, really thin, with a small build. I think I could have taken him, except he's older than I am and probably knows a few tricks. But it was a shock and Nancy agreed.

Actually, the strangest thing about these movie stars is how easy it is to not recognize them. They just don't look the same in person as they do on film. I don't know if tv stars are the same, haven't worked with enough of them yet.

S#!T List

That dumbass video assist guy... What an effing moron. So I get back on Monday after taking the red-eye out of Hawaii. I've had about 2 hours of "sleep" on the plane and I go right into work. I get his check recut and I have the clerk call him to make sure he's at home before we send someone out there. Guess what he says... good thing we called because he has his check and he's about to go to the bank and deposit it! And then he says we can just send it to the set on Tuesday. Aaarrrggghhh!!! On Friday night, that bastard gave me all that bullshit about the mail taking at least 6 days and how Tuesday wasn't good enough (he actually said he wanted to take his check home with him on the plane, as if they would enjoy the ride together or something). And I have a copy of the note we sent on Friday night, apologizing once again for making the mistake and asking him to let us know if the check was there when he got home. Can you imagine the ordeal it would have been if he had taken that mailed check and put it in the bank, only to have it get kicked back with fees attached? I'm telling you, he is so on my list. He's so on my list that anybody else has been pushed off. When I got this week's checks ready, I actually bogeyed his check. I know it's totally gross, but won't stop it from being cashed and I felt better.

Mistake

I made a mistake cutting checks this week. I accidentally cut a check in California that the crew member asked for in Hawaii. Boy, you'd think I'd killed his dog. He claimed if he made a mistake like that, he'd get fired. I wanted to reply that it was one check out of 300 and it's not like he could take it to the bank anyway. It'll probably be waiting for him at his home when he gets back. But no, I have to reissue the check and deliver it to his home on Monday (the company is off that day). All this because he and the executive producer went to the same college (or so I heard). I guess the exec prod felt it was his duty to dress me down for my failure, saying it was unacceptable and shouldn't have happened. I totally agree with him but mistakes happen. I wasn't trying to put blame anywhere else - I told everybody I had screwed up. But on the grand scale of things, it's not the end of the movie if the video assist guy gets his check a few days later...

News From Hawaii

The golf balls that Wilson hits into the ocean are plastic. They float around until the scene is done, then a prop guy goes out with a pool skimmer and brings them back onto the beach.

Laulau is pretty good, but when digging into a taro-leaf wrapped piece of chicken, it's a bit of a shock to hit bone. And if that really was taro leaf, it tastes like spinach.

Poi is supposed to be used as a condiment, according to one of the office PAs. It's still gross. I'm sure it's very nourishing if you're in a canoe traveling long distances from island to island, but with McDonald's down the street, it's just unnecessary and a weird shade of purple/gray.

The rice/coconut dessert stuff is better than it looks, but as it looks like a cube of fat, I really can't bring myself to eat it. It's jiggly but still has a visible texture.

If you couldn't tell, we had authentic Hawaiian for lunch. No wonder these people like Spam.

We're going to set tonight to hand out money. I'm hoping to meet Douglas and maybe even get my pic taken with him. I'm wearing my "bossy beyond belief" shirt so I can live up to that and make it happen.