Good lord, what's going on?!
How can I even start to summarise the last few
months?
Well actually, it's not that hard. It goes like
this:
"Ghost on the
Highway".
That's the film I edited,
scored, did opening titles for, a few visual effects, and colour timed. I
started at the end of January and only finished a few weeks ago. The film was a
huge amount of work -- over 40 hours of interviews and insert material -- and it
came completely down to the wire to the point where I flew to L.A. for the
premiere landing at 10pm, and had started working on the colour timing again by
11:30pm. That went until 8 the following morning. Anyway, the premiere went
well, some friends came out (thank you to all of you who did -- that was
awesome!), and the film seemed to be received well at the festival. (Sold out
for two nights!)
So... what's happened to
me and my blog entries over the past few months? Well, shit.... uh... I joined
a pool league. One of the first people I met in the league died three weeks
later in a car crash. (There seems to be a lot of that up here.) I met the
mayor, and he gave me a couple of steak and kidney pies. (How cool is that?!)
I got my ice skating together (with views to playing hockey) and then had to
give it up because the film kept me way too busy. Graham learned to walk, and
Heather started speaking in complete sentences (most of which involved reminding
me of the things I promised to do with her -- typical woman,
eh?).
The work front has been
interesting. I was up for the second season of a show called "South of
Nowhere". I was up for it because, by all accounts, the composer the network
wanted (and got) for the first season was disasterously bad. Hey, guess what
kids? No one cares 'cause they hired him back for the second season!
Consequently, I'm out of work. "Ghost on the Highway" didn't really pay me
anything, and I find myself broke, unemployed, and living in a country where I
can't get a job. (My immigration stuff probably won't be finished until around
April of next year. This is fun, fun,
FUN!)
So I worked my first day of
construction last Saturday. (Under the table, of course. I trust the Canadian
government isn't reading this!) It's all forcing me to contemplate my chosen
career which seems to be failing me badly, and in a way, it was almost galling
to hear how great everyone thought my editing was on "Ghost on the Highway".
(Who gives a shit if it doesn't: 1) pay or 2) get you some paying work?!) Then,
there's writing. So many people have commented on my blog and encouraged me to
write that it almost has me gun shy to do it. "Write what?" I think. "Blogs?!"
Hey, why the hell not. It's a weird world we live in. Maybe I could start
charging the 50 or so people who read my blog $10 a shot to read it. If I wrote
two entries a week (which, at this point, would involve a LOT of fabrication to
keep it interesting), that'd be $1,000 a week... so $4,000 a month. Not bad,
eh? Unfortunately, I doubt anyone'd go for that. I certainly
wouldn't.
So... times are interesting.
As I mentioned briefly, I worked construction last Saturday. $10 an hour for 12
hours. $120 under the table. I helped build a deck -- a lot of drilling and
time spent on my knees nailing boards and stretching wood. (On your knees
nailing isn't what it sounds, trust me.) The guy I worked for wants to hire me
back. Nice. I'm flattered. I just don't see myself as a blue collar
construction guy. (Nothing against blue collar construction guys -- shit, it's
an honest day's work, and I was happy to do it. I'm just not used to that much
soreness for $120!)
So my blog, now, will
continue. I'd like to welcome you all back (those who have been reading), or
welcome you to go back through the interesting bits about the move and how I got
to this weird, almost existential place in Canada. The coming weeks and months,
I hope, will be entertaining at least -- the original intention of this blog, in
fact: to relate my experiences in Canada. Seeing as I'm still not a "landed
immigrant" (green card holder), it's all still valid, right? My wife has a bank
account that I can't get on. I don't have a driver's licence up here yet, and
can't work. I'm essentially "persona non grata" and fiercely trying to figure
out what to do with my life. Join me through my daily trials and tribulations
as I redefine myself, my career, and discover what it means to be
Canadian.
Posted: Wed - July 19, 2006 at 02:00 AM