It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small world after all
It’s a small, small world

The best things in life are free…you just have to wait for God’s timing/planets to line up correctly.

You may be wondering why there is such a tone shift in this post. I’d have to answer that by saying I received the best possible news. It turns out that Stephen Brock, the kindly young man that I’ve been trying to coerce to be my director of photography is none other than the son of one Dennis Brock, whom we’ve all come to know and love from Tusco. You can’t imagine how hard we tripped out last night when we were on the phone. It was a truly awesome experience. So it sounds like we’ll be working together a lot in the near future. In fact, I do believe that we have a commercial shoot the beginning of next week.

In other news, I just got word from my buddy about the job situation from the company that just laid me off. An excerpt from our convo:

friend: hey, I have some potentially good news.
me: sorry, I forgot to put an away message up last night
friend: Sent an E-mail to B earlier this week
me: uh huh
friend: Tuesday someone in payroll asked S. what to do about rehires in less than 6 week time
me: huh
friend: And yesterday, B, S, and T. were all talking for a long time
me: hmmmm. that’s nice


Well, it’s not much, but hey, when you have both the owners talking a long time about rehires in less than six weeks, especially since you know that your resume was going around the office last time with a note on it from one of the co-owners of the company, you know that’s got to be good, if only for wishful thinking.

Well, I’m off to lunch with Stephen since his folks invited me over.

To all of my readership:

yannow, I’ve heard a lot of people say they like to be busy. I’ve often wondered why that is. I mean, yeah, I know as human beings we like to feel useful…needed. But oddly enough, it’s only ATI people I’ve head this “love to be busy” thing from, and I’m starting to wonder if it doesn’t have something to do with, despite all the wonderful resources, not knowing what one wants to do in life or what one’s life calling is.

Maybe it’s just a feeling that looking back over life, one may see a lot of accomplishments, but doesn’t see anything (much) they think is worthwhile even though all of their time had been vied for. I wodner if being busy isn’t a way to lie to one’s self in the present, to ignore the past, and to look to the future for more things to do almost as an opiate to releave the pain of still feeling that despite said accomplishemts, their life is empty and vain or at the very least, superficial.

Thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.

Who here has figured out that I use my blog to rant and rave? Yeah yeah, I know. I’m just asking the question to hear my own voice speak the words. (Actually, that would be a misnomer because I currently have a headcold, thus I am attempting not to talk.) So Eric thinks I have a lot of drama in my life. We’ll see about that. I just report the news. I mean hey, if I’m going to use my blog to rant, then obviously I’m going to whine, moan, groan, bitch and complain till the cows come home. (“What are cows?”)

Where to start with the ravings? Ok I’m sick, and that sux cause I don’t feel like doing anything and I know that I don’t need to go out. I was dying the whole time I was coming back from the folk’s place and have been in bed ever since. In fact, I had a friend bring me an egg sandwich from Waffle House. But this sux because on top of being sick, I can’t go out and actively solicit a job.

“Why do you need a job?” I hear you cry. Because I was laid off after only haven worked nine days for The Comfort Group. In best Tony Montana voice: “It was a rather comforting experience, let me tell you.” Oh well. The only problem was I had the theater bump me down to just weekends. They since said they’d put me back full time, but I won’t get any real money out of them until after the first. Thankfully, I made enough to pay the bills at the end of the month, but I have no clue about next. Ironically, one of the jobs that I found via the unemployment office was that of webmaster of a novelty store. You know as much as I do on that one, but hey, if it pays the bills (and if I can do it remotely) I really don’t care at this point. I’ll keep you updated on the job thing.

So yeah, I went home to go see the folks. Got them to watch Road to Perdition. It was an enjoyable time.

Well, this head cold is getting the best of me and I can’t think straight. Lots of Blue Portal stuff over the next couple of days as well as get a real job. Heard from CASA…sounds like we just got to work out the nasty details.

I will have a film production credit within a year if it’s the last thing I do.

I’m in a nostalgic mood. It’s not that there’s something in the days of yore that I’m longing for, it’s just images, thoughts and feelings from my past that are all coming together in a sweet savoir haunting me; more correctly, teasing and tantalizing me. (As a side thought, if you have a list of three or more elements and a coordinating conjunction, does the last element before the CC get a coma? I’m much too hyped on using a colons and semicolons.) I’ve got music that I haven’t heard in years mixing with tunes I recently became acquainted with. The passion that I originally had for Meet Joe Black mysteriously came back to me today. Once again I found that Martin Brest knew what he was doing and should be commended for making such a fine film. Look at all of the subtle gestures or, for that matter, look at the camera work. It was just a wonderful, wonderful film, and the score was excellent. For some reason, I also have The Manchurian Candidate playing in my head.

Oh well…it’s update time. For my faithful readership (yes you, that one special person that dumped me like she did–the shame!) “you may receive information from what follows that may be valuable to you or not. Either way, thanks.”

First, as you all know, I gots me a new job. I’m supposed to be doing HVAC, but because I don’t have the tools yet, I cut angle iron Thursday and Friday. Wednesday was supposed to be my first day, but they didn’t have a place to put me, so I offered to go home. I promptly went to Verizon and spent way too much money there on upgrades for the phone. (Long lasting battery, a charge-while-you-talk charger, etc) Now when I call, I can talk even longer.

John, Beth and I went to go see Mr. and Mrs. Smith. It was awesome! Highly recommended for a light-hearted comedy. As a side note, Beth thinks I’m freaky. What a joke! (Thanks for the laugh…and the paranoia.) Speaking of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, I have a tale to tell you.

Ok, so everyone knows that I work at the theater, right? (Well if you didn’t, now you do.) So I went in Thursday night to get tickets for the three of us and saw the manager that takes care of the schedule. She asked me if I had decided what I wanted to do as far as quitting, full-time or just weekends. I told her (and I quote) “I’m thinking just weekends unless it becomes too much or someone pisses me off.” She goes, “speaking of that, I need to talk to you.” and I go “What’d I do now?” and she goes something like, “there was a girl (one of the concession workers) here this afternoon looking for you, and they were upset that you weren’t here.” This story must stop so I can fill you in on the details.

Tuesday was my last weekday at the theater and one of the new girls was being obnoxious. I don’t know if she likes me or not, but she’s rather outgoing and touchy-feely. Well, I had been back and forth about whether or not she likes me. I didn’t/don’t personally care, but hey, it beats sitting around the apartment and doing nothing. She also had this attitude about her the first couple of days that she worked…I mean she was Bitchy. (note the capital B). I decided that it would be best if I were just as cold back to her. The funny thing was, it seemed to be the case that we would work together on days when either someone annoyed me or I was having to go wide open, as in the case of when stock came.

Just a little commercial/FYI, when I get hot (i.e. sweating from working too hard too fast) I get irritable. I just want to get the job done and go home. Being an insomniac doesn’t help matters any, neither does having low blood sugar.

Well, I don’t know what made me do it. Maybe it was Beth telling me to get off my keister, loosen up and live a little. So to amuse myself, I gave this girl (let’s call her Tiger) my business card and asked her if she wanted to go somewhere Thursday night since we both had off. Well, she said, “sure why not?” and we kinda left things at that. Granted, I wasn’t exactly asking for an official date, I was just having fun and was thinking it would be a bonus to have someone to go eat with of the opposite gender. (By the way, if you’ve read through the bullshit by now and have gotten the subliminal message, know this, it was just a passing thought.)

Later that afternoon, I got a hankerin’ for Fettuccini Alfredo. I knew we both got off at the same time on Tuesday, so I asked her if she’d ever had any. Tiger said no. I asked her if she’d like to go to Macaroni Grill that evening and try some. She said she’d have to see, but that she’d call…Well, let’s suffice it to say that she didn’t call (I was expecting that). What I didn’t expect was for this mysterious concession girl looking for me on Thursday afternoon after I had told Tiger that I got off at three. She must have missed the part about me getting a job elsewhere…that is of course if Tiger is the girl in question. I’m not sure, but that’s what I was thinking, cause I don’t know who’d be looking for me and be upset over the fact that I wasn’t there. Back to the office story now.

The other thing that the manager said was that there had been some complaints go through the grapevine that I had been asking out “all the girls” and that it was making them uncomfortable and that it needed to quit because it was a terminable offense. Now, you must understand that this thought thoroughly amused me, especially considering the fact that I am socially clumsy and hence anti-social. The “asking all the girls out” business had come directly from the GM, but for some weird reason, she was having the hiring manager do her bidding. Ha! What a conversation I’d had with her. It would have been less amusing, but I assure you it would have resulted in a massive storm system developing over Huntsville, the likes of which no man has seen before.

When the hiring manager uttered the above dialogue, I was a bit taken back in thoughts of someone looking for me and them being upset that I wasn’t there. However, what I “heard” when she said that was “Someone was angry at you because you weren’t here.” BIG MISTAKE!!! I flew off the handle and heatedly (I don’t think I yelled, but so be it if I did.) said, “I don’t know why someone would be mad at me for not being here. They know how to contact me and I’ve publicized getting the new job for quite a while now. I’m chasing the dollar, working construction during the week and here on the weekends. Everyone knew that.” Once I realized what I did, I attempted to apologize, but all I could do was attempt to justify my irreverent behavior. Finally, I just looked at my manager and said, “I’m just digging a deeper hole, aren’t I?” She looked at me and went, “uh-huh.” I got up and left.

When I got home, I called Beth and told her what happened. She said, “You asshole! That meant that whoever was looking for you was disappointed that they didn’t get to see you, not angry at your for not being there.” Thanks Beth for you’re encouragement. My only fear was that the hiring manager relayed everything I said back to whomever it was (probably Tiger, but we’ll have to see), so…

There’s follow-up to this never ending tale. I worked last night and went back and gave a sincere apology (read as sincere an apology as I am capable of) to my manager, explaining the miscommunication. She said something along the lines of she had thought about the situation too, and realized that she didn’t give the most tactful presentation possible. You can’t help but be amused by it all.

Blue Portal looks like it’s about to get a shot in the arm. There are two real projects that need a little time to mature, but might become productions before the end of the year, if not the end of the summer. I still have a lot of legwork to do via email for Blue Portal, but I do believe that I will get it done this week. Lots and lots of stuff going on, and I found out about it all on Saturday.

So I finally got a decent job. We’ll see how long I hold it down. Sometimes life is too amusing, jus like you.

P.S. What was that whole crack you made about maybe going into programming? And how are you liking Hunt for Zero Point?

UPDATE: So Tiger was a work tonight and I asked her if she came up on Thursday and she said no. But there’s a good possibility that she’s lying, which wouldn’t be surprising.

Oh, to those of you who are still thinking up an answer to the dilemma of whether or not to get a girl or save the money, I just wanted to let the world know how much of an idiot I really am because I already had the answer: make the movie already! Indifference is great.

This is going to have to be a quick one.

Ok, so I’ve been trying to get a date for like forever. I’m not talking about getting drunk and having sex, I’m talking about dinner and then I dunno (cause since I stay boxed up in my apartment, I don’t know what there is to do in town, but all my friends tell me that there’s isn’t too much to do in Huntsville unless you’re going to the movies. But when you’re trying to pick girls up at the theater…)I suppose we could always go walk in the park. I’ve asked two girls out specifically and a one or two more on the side. I’ve yet to have an appointment. People wonder why I’m anti-social. I mean, I don’t want to go out and everyone does. I finally cave and no one wants to go out with me. Well fuck ‘em! That just means I’ll have more money at the end of the day. Speaking of which…

I’ve been debating about whether or not I’m wasting my time with Blue Portal or not. I desperately want to make movies, but at the same time I don’t have the money. That leads to the other topic of discussion for tonight. I start the construction job at 7 and it’s 1:30. I’m not going to be getting any real sleep tonight. In fact, I haven’t gotten any real sleep for the past week. Every night has beeen like this. (Sorry for the side thought.) What I’ve decided to do is construction during the week and the theater during the weekend. Plus I still have that programming thing.

The point is, I’ve been back and forth in my mind about whether to save the money and attempt to start a film company or not. That’s my passion, but I don’t have a distributor, etc. etc. It would be money well spent, but at the rate I’m going it’s going to be another two years before I can make a movie because of the cost of living. And then there’s student loans. And cars. And needing to buy a house instead of renting an apartment.

On the flip side of the coin, I could take the money from the theater and save it for a car or house. Or spend it on a girlfriend, assuming I can pick one up. Therein lies the dilemma: I would be healthier emotionally if I had someone to invest in emotionally, but I’m looking for someone to settle down with, not just hook up with every once and awhile, though the benefit of not getting married is that I wouldn’t have to put up with the whinning 24/7. In theory, since I’m too scared to have sex, I wouldn’t have any kids. But I konw myself too well and know that if I were caught up in the moment, I’d wind up gratifying myself now instead of waiting. Then I’d have a kid or two on the way, no money, no real job, and I wouldn’t ever be able to travel or make movies. Grrrrrr!

So, do I save the money and attempt to make a film or two, knowing that my chance of success is subliminal? Do I attempt to get a girlfriend knowing that I will spend the very money that I am trying to save and wind up setting myself up for heartache again? Which will make me truly happy? Can I be truly happy?


I bought the Crash score. It should be here next week. I also bought a copy of Dilbert and the Way of the Weasel to give to the theater as a parting gift. Now I am thinking about giving it to them when we have our next mandatory meeting. It could be fun. Starting the tradition I should have started at Ryan’s but wasn’t equipped to do at the time.

Ok. Well what to say in this post? First of all, to my huge fan base out there, you get the latest news. Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of print worthy news.

Let’s just say that I now disown the whole idea of myspace.com. Much grief goes out to those of you who know who you are. (Ha! beat that!)

In other news, I do belive that I have the job at the construction place. Kudos to Chris for all his help. Still waiting to hear from Birmingham though. Who can resist $$ (no sir, we aren’t talking PID numbers. For crying out loud, there isn’t even a pound bang at the beginning of the post. Sheesh!)

That leads to the next little bit of news: I’m leaving the theater. There is one chance for them to keep me for the weekend and the occasional weekday. But…time is ticking, and within less then thirty-six hours it will all be over, and I all the better for it. He! he! he! I’ll have to hit up on Stephen to see if I can still get in at the TeeVee station. Now that would make a great combo. And line my pockets very well. Should this scenario be the case, there is hope still for the struggling Blue Portal. We shall see.

Oh oh! “Mommy wow! I’m a big kid now!” O.K. so I finally got the documentation for the little project, right? Well, now the question is what are we supposed to do and what pre-exists? Hmmmmm. Let’s roll the dice on that one. lol

Crash is an excellent film, but I think it will be gone by Friday week. They’re already cutting it down to two shows a day, but occasionally, it sells out. Come on people! Let’s put some marketing muscle behind the quality films that come to our crappy establishment so we can make money. Ever heard of the Wachowski brothers? Yeah, they were the guys that made that pRoN movie with them rubbing money all over themselves because of their slick PR campaign. I’m trying to con Beth and John to come see Cinderella Man on Friday. Oh well….

Peter Griffin: This isn’t the first time that I’ve screwed things up. You remember that time I was supposed to get that boat?
Peter Griffin: [cut to previous scene] A boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we wanted one of those, Lois! We’ll take the box.
Lois Griffin: [cut back to present scene] Peter, that happened ten minutes ago.

This too is priceless.