What is it Like to Have a Free Weekend?

For real... I cannot even remember. The kinda weekend where you got nothing to do but watch tv and garden. Not that I garden but you know what I mean.

Tonight: Free Concert at Miller Outdoor Theater with a female prodigy upright bass player. See why I LOVE living in Houston?!?! S and the baby will meet me at Job #1 so we can drive over there together (a 2-minute drive!)

Tomorrow: Space Center Houston! S got 2 tix as a gift and I bought a discount one online.
We also have to go to Babies 'R Us to get a baby shower gift for J. Fu.
Tomorrow night: J. Fu's fun family baby shower at her millionaire friends' house. Unfortunately that means I will be surrounded by yuppies, BLECCCHHH!!! The things we do for our friends.

Sunday: the baby's 7th birthday. We will be going to Incredible Pizza way up north and the reason we are doing that is b/c my hated MIL is going to meet us there to bring the baby her presents. This is the 1st time I am going to allow the baby and my MIL to meet in 3 years. I am going to try to be civil and try and get beyond my hatred for her for S's and the baby's sake. But that woman is not to be trusted and as long as she is civil then I will be too. (Bitch!)

So the latest thing is that my dad has dropped more than 1 hint to me that he is going to need $ this summer. I have put funds into my budget for him so I have no problem paying him for his work. I am hoping the upside is that he will continue to NOT be mean to me like I was worried he might be during this whole filmmaking process b/c if he wants to NOT get fired and get paid then he will continue to be nice.

My application to the TFPF was mailed off today so now I do not have to think about it at all this weekend. I am a little concerned b/c they advise against sending in a trailer as your video sample, saying they prefer to get an extended scene so they can get an idea of your storytelling abilities, but my theatrical trailer is all I have. I am hoping it will still blow them away!

Ok Now Mostly Exhausted

After getting home last night at around 9pm (the Mudflap voiceover recording session was excruciating, as I knew it would be) I finished up some paperwork, made some phone calls, ate a quick 1/2 sandwich (with all this running around I am not having time to eat much so I am actually down a couple pounds, yay) and collapsed into bed. But at 1am my phone rang; it was S calling me from downstairs where he said he was deathly ill and indeed, when I went downstairs to check he was lying face down in the hallway, 1/2 in the bathroom, sick with stomach flu and/or food poisoning! So off I go to the Kroger for Sprite, Immodium, and Kaopectate. It was a long night of fetching Sprite for him and eventually, helping him upstairs where he could lie on the floor, a wastebasket by his head in case he could not make it to the bathroom. I slept probably around 3 hours.

And up way too early this morning (6 am) to go pick up my dad and take him to the school so we could get the new Mudflap voiceovers onto the trailer and adjust a few other minor things. But after 3 hours of this I could not take it anymore and made the executive decision to just "print it." Still, the trailer is better and I am even more pleased with it now!

I found way too many gray hairs on my head this morning. But this is still a way fun project. I have an appt. with the chief for next Tuesday to watch the trailer and discuss fundraising ideas. My TFPF app's are almost done and will be ready to mail tomorrow. I am picking up my dad after work tonight and he will give me 10 copies of the trailer on DVD. On Monday I will mail out my fiscal sponsorship application, and the $50 application fee is thanks to my mom who has given me my 1st donation to the project!

And this weekend I can finally RELAX a little, breathe, read, and enjoy the baby's 7th birthday on Sunday. At least for a little while until I get back to trying to figure out ways to raise the rest of the $ for my now $26,000+ film.

The Life of a Documentary Trailer

1. Get a bunch of raw footage. In my case this consisted of 4 interviews, 3 locations, and a bunch of B-roll which all came to almost 3 hours.
2. Spend hours with the raw footage and a laptop, watching the footage over and over and over again to massage and cull all those lines of dialogue into a fascinating script. Type those interesting lines of dialogue into your script. The first time I reviewed the footage I did so only while listening, for the best dialogue that jumped out at me.
   
3. After 2 weeknights of doing this (with one night off which I actually recommend b/c sometimes you will just need a break from the footage b/c you've been on top of it too much and need to come back to it a little fresh), now it is time to edit. Go pick up your dad and his computer w/Avid editing software, his monitor, his speakers, your new hard drive, etc. and set it all up in your dining room. Make sure there is plenty of Shiner Bock for him.
   
4. Begin editing, aiming for a 4-minute trailer. We did so in a linear style, going line by line down my script and setting up all the ducks (scenes) in a row. First we did the interviews. This was very tricky b/c you have to catch people mid-sentence sometimes and cut their lines in and out carefully. Fortunately my dad is a MASTER of Avid and Avid is sensitive down to the damn frame so though it was tricky it was mostly easy to do.
5. Toss in the music which really makes the trailer look and sound so much more professional!
   
6. After all the ducks were in a row we had an over 6-minute trailer. So now it's time to cut the fat, meaning we took out when people said things like "I know" and some dialogue that I thought was superfluous. HOWEVER--there was actually not that much fat to cut so we ended up with a final total running time (TRT) of 5:54.
7. Chop up the music a little bit, seeing as how it is a 4-minute 33-second song and so we needed more of it. So we extended it creatively. Easy and fun!
   
8. Find the good B-roll footage shots and insert those on top of the interviews where appropriate. Mostly we tried to hide jump cuts of people talking and mostly we were able to do that. However, I don't mind jump cuts! I think it just shows realism. (My dad hates them.)
   
9. Argue with your dad over a couple of creative differences. For example in my case, I like that shaky handheld camera work my brother did on a couple of shots--my dad hates it. Also some effects he suggested inserting. I thought some of them looked "too TV." I did accept one of them though, just to avoid fighting over it.
   
10. Now that the trailer is really starting to look good and like an actual real movie trailer, time to do the audio fix. Lower and raise dialogue/music where necessary.
    
11. Next it's time to do the color correction on everybody and the B-roll footage. #'s 10 and 11 are done shot by shot, scene by scene, BTW. That Avid is incredible! It can make grass look greener, people look suntanned and healthy, too-dark shots with no lighting look perfect, etc.!
    
12. Add your logo "2:10 Train Productions" to the beginning and you're done.
    
13. Make a copy from the computer to a DVD. Watch it on a real TV and be totally impressed!
    
14. Show it to the world, start collecting checks from rich folk who by God are now dying to see this damn fascinating film get made!!!

So I left out a few other steps, such as find out your dad forgot his universal power cord so run to the Radio Shack to buy one for too much $ (save the receipt, return it today!), run to the Walgreens to buy a DVD+RW since all you have in your house are DVD-R's, listen to your dad cuss up a storm when the computer won't cooperate, and also we will be totally re-recording all of Mudflap's dialogue b/c where we shot him in the lobby of the academy had too much echo so there is an annoying "hum" whenever he shows up on screen and my dad says we can fix that easily since Avid couldn't. So we're doing that tomorrow night.

So after 2 days of work and about 10 Shiner Bocks I now have this trailer. I have shown it to several people now and they all say they like it and maybe they do. But the important thing, and all my moviemaking books I've been reading lately say this, plus my dad told me a couple of times, is that I have to like it. And I do, though I'm sure I'll love it once we fix the remaining technical issues. I am hoping to show it to the Chief next week--he should love it and I think he will!

Now I have tons of paperwork to do: proposals to write, applications to fill out, and get my TFPF stuff in the mail (sent certified mail) out by Monday at the latest and of course everything has to be sent in quadruplet so Kinko's here I come. I was hoping to mail it on Friday just so I get it over with. My dad helped me on my budget a lot too so I am just going to say that's finished, finally! Total cost of the project: almost $23,000! Yow!

Exhausted, Energized, Exhilirated

Because tonight at 5:30 pm I FINISHED MY DOC TRAILER!!! I had to pick up my dad from the middle school on Fri. evening and we packed up his computer, speakers, my hard drive, etc. etc. and yesterday we set it all up in my dining room. My dad and I worked on it yesterday from 3:30p-7:30p, after which I worked on it by myself from 8:30p-10:30p. Then this morning I picked up my dad at 9am after which we worked on it some more until my 2p dentist appt. and then again from 3:30p-5:30p. It is 5:54 long so long for a trailer but my dad and I honestly could not find any more fat to cut--my trailer script is that good, heh heh.

So tonight when we finished I took him and his equipment back to his girlfriend's house and we begged her to watch my trailer with a critical eye. She did not want us watching her watch it though so we waited outside. My dad's girlfriend is the Director of the Southwest Alternate Media Project so she's, you know, seen it all, right? Well when she emerged 6 min. later my dad and I looked up only to see her eyes filled with tears!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! She declared my trailer "very good" and said a few minor technical glitches aside it was ready to show to the world. Holy crap!!! She made me tear up, dammit! But I believe much of the credit goes to the heartbreaking beautiful music I'm using, a piece my friend wrote, which really tugs at the heart strings. My dad pointed out to his girlfriend that this was my first project ever, and then he even told me "Great work, Adela." I just hope he meant it.

So now I'm just hoping the damn film can live up to the trailer. As much work as this trailer was I'm just trying to imagine how much work this entire film will be. I have to say though: it's pretty fun. My dad is already urging me to make another documentary on another subject which I am very passionate about and I'm ready to start pre-production on it too!

A 3 Day Weekend, You Say? What's That Like?

There's strong evidence that lots of folks took off from work today and will do so tomorrow. Something having to do with a holiday on Monday! I can't believe it. I want to slap myself silly b/c, while it's true I do have to work a patrol shift at some point--and I believe that will be the early shift on Sunday so I can also be out when S is out on the river--as Gilda Radner says, "It's always something" and I seem to be powerless to stop these "somethings" from interfering with my life.

Turns out my father and I will attempt to edit my trailer(s?) tomorrow evening since his editing software is loaded on his computer at the middle school school where he teaches video and Friday night is the only time this weekend we'll be able to get inside the school. And Monday for some strange reason I have a dental cleaning scheduled for 2pm. But otherwise, besides the Sunday patrol shift, I'm free! Free! Oh wait, except for the Saturday night screening of this new movie called The Boys of Ghost Town. Ok, so other than that, I'm free. EXCEPT...

A friend of mine and fellow Board member of the High-spanic Health Coalition just had a baby on May 1 (the due date was supposed to be my b-day so while I'm miffed the little ankle biter came early I'm glad he's a May baby!). Well, she posted on her Facebook that she needed our thoughts and prayers b/c she is depressed and having a hard time. Uh-oh. I promptly emailed our 2 mutual friends to ask what we can do! I got the girls all fired up to go and do something except for one of them will be out of town this weekend. But the other one said she was available and I said she better be b/c I cannot go by myself b/c I don't know nothing about no babies. So I may perhaps be busy being a newborn-sitter either on Saturday or Monday. See what I mean? I get hardly any kind of break on my so-called holidays! But as I said before, I am powerless over my sense of duty. My sense of duty is way overdeveloped. To my detriment? That is the question, isn't it?

Anyway, there's things for myself I'd like to do this weekend. Watch this documentary Ballou! Read my new library books! Sit by the pool! Clean my new dresser drawers that I still haven't cleaned since J. brought it over what, a month ago? Smell the damn flowers. Shit, man. Well, I guess I'll have time for those things on Monday. Or Saturday. Probably not both.

My doc budget is finally taking shape. I worked on it for 2 hrs. last night while watching the DVR of the "Idol." I just need to tighten it up and it'll be ready to send to my hopeful fiscal sponsor to take a look. However I forgot my thumb drive at home today. S likes to sometimes chase me around the house and squeeze me with his big hands and while trying to escape through the kitchen last night I put the drive on the counter b/c I was afraid I'd spill lemonade on it, making a mental note to grab it this morning. Well, we all know how I am in the mornings so that didn't happen! But tonight I am GIVING MYSELF THE NIGHT OFF FROM JOB #2! This is HUGE. But I need it. I can't wait to go home and relax, or at least, finish my doc budget.

If Tomorrow Be My Great Gettin Up Morning

Lost a librarian colleage/old friend today. It's a testament to Life 2.0 that I found out via Twitter. Then went to Facebook and confirmed it. Coincidentally, this was just covered on NPR's All Tech Considered, or what happens to your Facebook, MySpace pages, email, etc. after you die. I don't know what happened to her but apparently it was sudden. She was not that old.

So here I am thinking. I already blogged on my funeral, or at least, I decided on the songs I want played at it. And while I did start wills for me and S I never finished them. So publicly I'll go ahead and declare a few important will things here in case the Good Lord calls me home unexpectedly soon! And in MY dangerous line of work (you know, documentary filmmaker) that could happen at any time!

• My Fender bass guitar and amps and accordion go to my brother. Surely he'll have fun with them.
• All my other musical instruments (violin, keyboard, guitar) stay with S. I'm sure he'll find some use for them. Maybe the baby will pick one of them up.
• All my cherished Band collection stuff (autographed CD's and other paraphernalia, T-shirts, etc.) will go to my brother. S has no interest in any of it. J2 has permission to contact my brother and get some if it if she so desires.
• My ever-present .38 Smith and Wesson "Gus" goes to my brother. Why not.
• My cop gear and the big guns stay with S.
• All my clothes and shoes and almost all of my jewelry go to my mom so she can pick out anything she likes. She bought some of it for me anyway so now she can have it back!
• Pearl necklace/earrings to Auntie R. Roo. Hopefully she'll wear them.
• CD collection to Bean, aka Sweet Dick Pete.
• And I want Brandon to somehow finish the film "The Reserves" for me. Ha!

I can't think of anything else I have that's valuable that S will not end up with by default Texas law. Anyway, enjoy, ya'll!

Uh-Oh. Unsure.

On Saturday at the Steve Earle in-store at Cactus Records my father and his girlfriend brought me this slim book by legendary "Doc Doctor" Fernanda Rossi that she'd written on documentary trailers. But while she says there's indeed a difference between a "production" trailer and a "theatrical" trailer and that documentarians such as myself should make a "production" trailer for purposes of fundraising, she doesn't really outline what that means!!! All she says is that a "theatrical" trailer is an ad and like all ads they can be deceiving. She says a "production" trailer showcases your storytelling abilities.

So when I turn to YouTube for examples of documentary trailers--of which there are beaucoup--I can find tons of the theatrical kind but so far I only found a couple of the production kind. And I am even more confused b/c the only difference I can discern is that the production kind is LONGER--4 min. or more compared to ~2 min. for the typical theatrical trailer. And I am so frustrated b/c I have spent literally every one of my evenings for the past week and a half crafting a 4-min. trailer from my 3 hrs. of raw footage and it is in the style of a theatrical trailer!!!
I mean, I think it's a pretty good trailer--on paper of course--and I don't understand what else I can do. I mean, if a trailer makes you want more, more!, regardless if you're a potential funder/sponsor or a ticket buyer, what difference does it really make? And of course, I don't know anyone I can TALK to this about. I know no other documentarians besides my dad and he just told me to read the book, plus he's kind of old school.

Last night I finally finished my trailer script and I do think it is pretty good. Then again the editing process will reveal all. Here's how it starts out though:

“The Reserves”

2:10 Train Productions

[Interview #1—HH]: “I had 3 suspects who were burglarizing a house right on top of me before I was able to respond.”

[Interview #2—JD]: “As we’re driving by, basically I hear shots fired, 3 or 4 of them, it sounded very close and it sounded like they were shooting at us.”

[Interview #3—DO]: “There were probably 4 or 5 deputies with me and within seconds we were surrounded by hundreds of people that lived in that apartment complex.”

vol∙un∙teer [fades in]
[fades in] –noun
a person who voluntarily offers himself or herself for a service or undertaking. [fades in]

[HH]: “A Reserve is a person who is a licensed peace officer through the State of Texas…” [SHOT]: “Texas Peace Officer” on Badge

[JD]: “I go out and I do the normal functions as any patrol deputy does out there, handling calls, handling traffic, disturbances, shootings…”

[DO]: “We have the ability to do everything a regular deputy does, we just do it out of the goodness of our heart." [SHOT]: CU of DO’s gold badge necklace

And it gets even more exciting! The trailer shows conflict in the interviews! Love! Fear! There's funny stuff! Tragic stuff! Death! I mean... come on! So what if it's a theatrical trailer? I don't know. I may be doing this all wrong but I still believe in it. I tell you what, it took a long time to get these incues and cull these interview portions and mark down where they are on the DVD's. Hours and hours! It was fun though.

Also fun was this past weekend. I mean it was a damn hoot!!! Me and the baby were out ALL day on Saturday and even ended the day at the downtown Aquarium which is fun like you can't even believe! All for cheap! We ate lunch for free at the EMS day! We got all kinds of goodies. At the Steve Earle in-store I did my first guerilla shoot with my brother and our dad driving us absolutely batshit crazy. I shot the whole concert from the edge of the stage and Steve Earle didn't give a damn I was doing it! He even smiled at my camera and played to it a couple of times. He is so awesome!!! I love him! Anyway, me and the baby didn't get home that night 'til like 10:30pm.

S has been in a bad way since Saturday. He has conjunctivitis and it is making him even more pissy than usual, which is already a lot thanks to his job and his sciatica. He got himself an eye patch which is amusing. Frankly it is better to stay away from him when he's being such a crab and thus I was able to pretty much finish my trailer script last night. We did have a good time on Sunday though, at Lakewood Church. They put us right up front in the 2nd row. I was sitting right behind the Sheriff and S was sitting behind Joel Osteen's mother, who turned and grabbed my hand when Joel led the prayer for law enforcement. Joel and his wife sat a few chairs down in front of us. It was way cool! That church is hypnotizing, which is how the Christians like it, of course!

Weekend: Booked! Who's Surprised?

Actually, this weekend is only 1/2 as booked as last weekend was, though that's not saying much since last weekend was INSANE, leaving me only time to eat (in the car) and sleep (6 hours per night)!

Fortunately today is S's turn to go pick up the baby, which means I might actually have some time this evening after I get home from Job #2 to continue working on my trailer. Last night I only got like 15 min. to work on it b/c I went up to the Academy to check out the cadets, taking the trouble to run a 1/2 mile with them in 90 degree heat while I was at it. Running on that track brought back lots of horrible memories but secretly it was still kind of fun to be doing it. Most importantly I managed to keep up with them (though 2 of them did turn to ask me if I was doing ok!). After I spent an hour with them in class, observing them, then I rushed to Cactus Records to pick up the new Steve Earle CD--a tribute to Townes--and get my wristband for the in-store on Saturday. Me, the baby, my brother, and father will all be there, hell YEAH!!!

Anyway, then when I got home I was all sweaty from the run so I jumped in the shower, then tried to settle in with my trailer only to have S come into the bedroom, piece of birthday cake in hand (we'll be eating that shit for days still) and insist that I get ready for bed and Seinfeld watching. But I've got all Saturday night and Sunday night to work on it (though I'm sure DH will be ready for us to begin watching Season 3 of 24 by Sunday night).

Here's the agenda for this weekend:
Sat. from 9-2: Working a health fair on behalf of Job #1 in Bellaire TX, not too far from the house, yay.
4pm: Get to Cactus Records to get a good spot for the Steve Earle in-store at 5. Getting there at 3:30 might be even better!
Sat. night: quality time with my trailer, budget, grant applications, etc.!

Sun. 11am: Lakewood Church's Law Enforcement Appreciation service.
Sun. night: more work on my trailer until S makes me stop so I can watch 24.

And in between all that I gotta do laundry, grocery shopping, general household cleaning, and all that other mundane shit. But my trailer script is really coming along and it's fun to watch it come together.

More Trailer and Budget Fun

Yay, last night DH let me work on my trailer footage for almost 2 hours! I got a lot done, still more to do of course but I am putting a dent in this stuff. Today I spent some quality time with my budget, finally. I had started a budget awhile back but so much of it was still so abstract for me I found the process very confusing and frustrating. Now that I have read more books and literature on the subject and have a shooting day under my belt I have a much clearer picture of what my budget will consist of. So far my rough numbers reveal a total budget of around $10-11K although some of that will consist of my own In-Kind contributions as Director/Producer etc. Real #'s reveal closer to the $8K mark. Still gotta add more stuff though but I gotta keep it under $10K for the TFPF grant so there might end up being "2" budgets, one for the TFPF and one for soliciting contributions to interested parties (i.e., rich, cop-loving individuals). Bottom line is, my dad and brother were technically "In-Kind" for the trailer shoot but I would love to, and do plan on, paying them SOMETHING. It's only right.

Fortunately I spoke to the owner of the Karoake club where I had my party and he has agreed to refund me some of the room charge. Thank God. The room charge fee is still high but this definitely helps. From now on I am done with these big birthday and other parties where I need to rely on my friends. Future parties will be held at venues like restaurants where if and WHEN they don't show up it doesn't matter and I'm not out a whole bunch of $ for food, party favors, reservation fees, etc. Unfortunately today on Facebook I "un-friended" one of these friends, an old friend from college b/c he has been living in Houston for months now and still cannot meet me anywhere or anytime no matter how many invitations I throw at him and yes, he promised to come to my Karoake party. I was a little sad about doing this, but what kind of friendship is a Facebook-only friendship anyway? Who needs it, man?!?

Tomorrow night I plan to head up to the Academy for my first night of sussing out the new fresh meat that is this year's cadet class. Mudflap said he'd join me, DH said maybe. When I was a baby chick cadet I always loved it when real live deputies came to class and talked to us and told us stories during breaks.

Sunday is law enforcement appreciation day at the mega-monster Lakewood Church and we have all been invited to go. The Sheriff will be there and we have to wear "Class A" Uniform (long-sleeve shirt and little clip on tie, plus I will wear my shiny glossy po-lice dress shoes). DH and I will take the baby with us, of course and it should be very nice, with our own special seating section. Hmm, is Joel Osteen a cop-lover? Lord knows he's rich!

Fun with Trailers

When I finally got home last night c. 8pm and after I spent an hour with S, eating a sandwich and watching the new cop show Southland, I was eager to get down and dirty with my footage, which my dad was nice enough to put on DVD's for me. I was working on writing down good "sound bites", and my "in-cues" and "out-cues." I went through the 1st of the 5 interviews and didn't even watch the screen much of the time so I could listen really carefully for good things to jump out at me. My next pass I'll do more watching of the screen. However, S stopped me after only an hour so I could pay more attention to him and get ready for bed so I only got to watch a few minutes of Interview #2, Deputy Mudflap. More fun trailer work tonight until S puts a stop to it!

I did notice that my brother often did not stop recording even when we cut takes, which I was surprised and delighted to see. I think he had in the back of his mind that I might want some of the "making of" footage for the DVD release, yuk yuk. Today I bought the external hard drive so my dad can transfer the 3 tapes on to it, that way the footage will be ready when we start editing. Laszlo said editing a 4-minute trailer will take about an hour. Cool.

Finally, here are some funny quotes from Sunday:

My dad to me: "Don't say things like 'B-roll' to laypeople!"

Me to my dad: "Yeah, I guess documentaries DO take liberty with actual fact."

My dad to me: "Can you get me one of those big double sausage things? I like them because they're healthy for you!"

My Crazy Birthday Schedule

The breakdown of the last 4 days:

Thursday. Birthday!
Awake at 8:30ish.
10am: picked up camera for Sunday trailer shoot.
10:15am: Volunteer luncheon. Served iced tea/water to ~300 volunteers and their guests.
1pm: Dropped off camera with father Laszlo.
2pm: Ran around trying to find good deal on external Hard Drive.
3:pm: Stopped by library to find more filmmaking books.
4pm: Job #2.
5:45pm: Quick break at home, met up with S
6:30pm: Birthday dinner at Saltgrass Steak House.
8:45pm-10pm: 48 Hour Film Project viewing downtown, which I went to alone but still had fun.

Friday.
Awake at 8ish.
9:30ish-2pmish: Patrol with crazy friend B.J.
2:30pm: Met up with father Laszlo to transport lighting, equipment, etc.
3:45pm: Home for extremely quick shower and change.
4:30pm: Job #2.
6:45pm: Accordion documentary viewing, The Big Squeeze. Followed by 2 awesome accordion concerts!!! Location: Houston's history El Dorado Ballroom! Awesome wonderful time!
9:30pmish-1:30am: Took friends from documentary viewing to eat at Tacos A GoGo next to Continental Club. Went to Sig's Lagoon, the Big Top, then to CC to see Big Sam's Funky Nation. Holy CRAP was this fun!!!!!!!!!!!!

Saturday.
Awake at 8ish.
10am: Picked up Laszlo, transported him and camera equipment to Conjunto Festival.
1pm: Ran errands like a crazed weasel. To-do list at least 10 items long.
5pm: Finally home to rest.
8pm: Arrived with S at Karoke birthday party location.
2am: Home where I passed out drunk in car. Oops.

And on Sunday was the 12-hour day trailer shoot! This day really exemplified how life works in cycles, with Fortuna spinning you on her Wheel of Fortune and some days you are up and some days you are down. The Karoake birthday party was a colossal disappointment even though I had fun. The problem is that majority of my friends just do not want to go out anymore, a subject which I have covered before in my blog. Basically I got screwed by them b/c I booked the big room in the club and since very few people bothered to show up and therefore not enough drinking was done, I got stuck with a shockingly high room reservation fee. It is so high I can't even discuss the dollar figure and I am pretty much ready to be done with several of my lame-ass friends. Still haven't decided what to do about that yet.

But getting back to Fortuna. Yesterday was the day I had some trepidation about, seeing as how my father was an integral part of the day and there were 5 interviews and 3 locations to handle logistics on. But the day went incredibly smoothly! We arrived everywhere on time as scheduled and the shooting of the interviews was great! My dad was of good cheer and my brother enjoyed himself! Basically, it was a really cool, pretty fun experience. So I was thinking that God gave me a huge break b/c man, I needed one yesterday!!! It really was like I had a guardian angel working as my production assistant or something.

Now I have to pick my "intakes" and "outtakes" of the 3 hours or so of footage for the trailer. Then begins the editing process, working with my dad on that. This being my first film production experience, I was amazed at how much there is to know about cameras, lighting, shots, etc. and I am even more amazed at how much my dad and brother know about all that stuff. I thanked God repeatedly that they were there b/c there is no way I would ever have time to learn it all.

Tomorrow Is My Birthday..?!

It doesn't feel like it! Meaning, I just am not in a party mood due to all the activities looming. Tomorrow is booked solid, pretty much. I don't even get to sleep in! I gotta be at the volunteer luncheon for Job #1 from 10-1ish. Then gotta window of time during which I am hoping to go pick up the camera and lights for the shoot this weekend--waiting to hear from pater familias on exact specifics. I should also go buy the 2 boxes of MiniDV tapes we will need, or at least the bottle of coconut rum that is my b-day present to myself! Job #2 at 4:30 (always nice to make extra $ on your birthday). Dinner somewhere with S, and I haven't even thought about that, i.e., cuisine, place, etc! And tomorrow night I kinda want to go to the Thursday Mixer of the 48 Hour Film Project b/c I am totally intrigued and have even contemplated doing a project next year! Not sure S will allow himself to be dragged to that though. (See, we have an understanding. He doesn't drag me to horrible things like the new Star Trek movie and I don't drag him to my stuff in which he has no interest.)

Here's something silly. In honor of Tito J., The Look is as Follows: black leather boots, black slacks, snug brown short sleeve top, Sheriff jacket, and gun belt! Yep, I'm at Job #2 again, keeping a lookout. What movie is this line from? "I get paid to be suspicious when I got nothing to be suspicious about." I can't remember!*

Last night while Mano was over at our house buying a Ninja motorcycle (S had to supervise the purchase, then give Mano an impromptu motorcycle-riding lesson in the next-door parking lot--though I was forbidden to, I snuck out and got some quick video footage although it is too dark to see much!) I FINALLY finished my documentary website. It is a good start and I had to pay extra to knock off all the ads that were cluttering the page but I still have some more work to do on it to polish it up.

Friday: Looks like I'm gonna have to patrol on Friday early or at least early for me, which is 9ish-2p. Hell at least I'm out there. Then Job #2 in the afternoon, then an accordion documentary that night that I just found out about today--with a zydeco concert afterwards! Damn this shit gets me so excited! Makes all the hassles of life go away.

*Postscript: I just remembered. Wilford Brimley in The Firm! Heh heh.

Breathe... Ommmm... More Yoga Is Needed Soon

I actually did some "On Demand" cable yoga on Sunday night. S and I bought 2 yoga mats, pink and blue, chuckle. It was pretty cool even though I am woefully unlimber, and I'll do some more yoga soon. I need to do some more! Snags are already cropping up and here and there in regards to the documentary trailer shoot this weekend. I shoulda known they would, I guess.

The very cool Canon XL-2 camera that shoots in both HD and Standard Def. is not going to be available so the pater familias, Laszlo, is gonna get a 3-chip camcorder. Now I don't know what that means except that Laszlo says he does not know how to operate the 3-chip, just the Canon--however he says the instruction manual will come with it. OMG.

One of my interviewees, the female Lt. (incidentally, S's new Lt. now that he is in the Marine Division!) says Mother's Day is one of our busiest days on the river and even though her mother is in town from Connecticut or some such Yankee place, Lt. is going to be out on the river!!! She says she'll "take a break" and come do her interview with me at her home but then will head back out again. OMG squared.

One of my other interviewees, the Asst. Chief says his son is graduating from college and he doesn't know if he'll be back in town and available for the dental office scene on Sat. morning. Am I gonna have to shoot ALL 3 locations and ALL 5 interviews on Sunday?!?!?!? OMG!!!!!!!!!

And Mudflap? I can't even discuss him right now b/c he is driving me batshit crazy.

I admit it. I am now scared. Yet I forge ahead and that is what separates the winners from the losers! I need to figure out a way to raise some $ as well, I mean besides the TFPF grant b/c who knows what will happen with that. I've been meaning to squeeze out all my brain power to think of folks/companies/organizations to approach for $ but haven't devoted the time to that yet.

In other news, S and I had our visit with the CPS idiot lady last night. I call her an idiot b/c she is; however, she did verify that this bullshit report is indeed going to be reported as bullshit, or in CPS language, "Unfounded." Ya think??? They interviewed the baby, the baby's school principal and counselor, the whore and dickhead and of course there is nothing at all there. In fact CPS had to get on the whore and tell her that she needs to start paying the baby's lunch money account at school b/c she does not do so and the baby has had to eat the school's emergency brown bag lunches apparently way too many times. Worthless piece of shit whore. If anyone needs CPS called on them it's her and dickhead!!!

Speaking of poor white trash, last night's "patrol" at Job #2 was uneventful. I got a picture of the student and she is obviously PWT. The bad orthodentia-starved teeth, the cheap ugly dye job, the pasty sallow complexion, and she lives with 3 guys. But apparently she showed up at school yesterday all banged up with 2 black eyes, a broken arm and on crutches so she was expelled without physical incident. Still, I kept a close eye on the building both inside and out and me and "Esteban" were on high alert! I'll report for duty again tonight and I asked for the office doors where the evening ladies work to be locked after 5pm as a precautionary measure. I cleared the downstairs area several times and walked around outside so as to be a visible presence. More of the same tonight!

Nervous Today

So now I am starting to get nervous. I've got the trailer shoot coming up this weekend and while I know what I need to do and I am totally looking forward to getting it done, I am nervous b/c I am having to rely on so many people in order to make it all happen. #1 Cause of Concern is, of course, my father, Laszlo. He is one of the most unreliable people in the history of the universe and I am SO scared he's gonna... I don't even want to say. And even if all the logistical stuff does happen as planned, I don't want him distracting me and bringing me down by being his mean, impatient, loud self and giving me a hard time and just generally being a source of ongoing continual stress and aggravation.

But if I can get past that Chomolungma (Mt. Everest) of potential trouble, then I am still trying to coordinate the interview shoots with my main interviewees. The Lt., her mother, and her husband the Major have confirmed a 4pm shoot time on Sunday at their house. I have followed up with the Asst. Chief for around that same time, also at their house. At some point I need to shoot Mudflap on the track outside the Academy and he is already giving me a hard time about when to do this and I am pretty much ready to strangle him or at least Taser him. I need to also get INSIDE the academy for some B-roll footage and therefore I need to find someone who has the key and alarm code for this. I have several names and I just need to pin someone down to commit. Finally I want to get a shot of the Asst. Chief in his dental office, but when can we do this? I've got limited windows of time to get all this footage shot THIS WEEKEND!!!

No wonder Scorsese was a cokehead and Joe Gideon (Bob Fosse) was on speed. Crap, I still gotta go buy that 250 gig external hard drive too...!

But after tonight, the rest of this week should be pretty open so I can wrap all this stuff up and be ready to hit the ground running beginning Saturday. Tonight we are going to try our 3rd attempt to have that CPS lady come visit me and S. So I should be able to go get the hard drive tomorrow night after work. Weds. night is free for me to do more planning. Thursday is my birthday and at this point, it's the least of my concerns which is SO unlike me!!!

Just had a pretty cool weekend, though. Discovery Green park on Sat. was awesome. I sat in the shade with a cold lemonade and my book for the day (Murder By Family, started at the park and finished last night) and watched the baby frolic in the water park and then the playground. I ran into my friend Ricky H. there. Then I raced home to drop baby off with S and get to the MFAH for the Latin Wave film fest movie, Lake Tahoe, made in Mexico. It made me cry! It was extremely slow-paced but very wonderful and sad and funny. The director was supposed to be there to introduce the film and do Q&A afterwards but he did not want to fly in from Mexico due to that H1N1. Turns out the movie was based on an actual event in his life. Lovely film!

Sunday was spent all day in the Academy for a required training class and the less said about that the better, though it was instrumental in me finishing my book in only 2 days!

Blues and Greens - YES!

The baby got all blues and greens for the month for her conduct at school, the 2 best colors. So Little Miss Thing earned herself an ice cream on the way back to Houston today! Now she is at the movies seeing X-Men with S (I have zero interest). I asked her what other rewards she wants. She and S will also go see the Hannah Montana movie on Sunday while Mudflap and I are in our all-day class. She also said she wanted to go to Discovery Green park, and well, we just may find ourselves down there tomorrow! After all, I myself love that park!

I got a text message confirming that we will shoot interviews on Sunday the 10th at 4pm. I am trying to confirm with pater familias Laszlo what time we will need to pick up the camera on Friday the 8th. Somehow I gotta fit a patrol shift around the 8th-9th, plus my shift at Job #2 on the 8th. But it looks like Sat. the 9th is going to be free of all-day shooting now that Laszlo got another shooting gig that day (the Conjunto Festival, which I kinda want to go to) and I want to be rested for my evening Karoake birthday party anyway. But this means Sunday shooting is going to be concentrated and intense since we might be fitting everything into 1 day now.

We may have a serious problem brewing here at Job #2. I got a call yesterday from my supervisor here who heard I am an LEO and he told me they are going to release a troubled and troublesome stude on Monday morning and they are so concerned about it they need to hire security. He asked me could I serve in that capacity? I offered my services but said that I cannot show up in uniform, that while here I will need to be officially serving in my librarian capacity--however, nothing precludes me from taking action if necessary here or anywhere I may be for that matter! The best I can do here though is wear my badge and gun on my belt and my Sheriff uniform jacket. He confirmed that next week they would like me to keep an eye on things downstairs where the animals are kept and around the building instead of being tucked away here in the Library as I always am and I agreed to do so. They are going to still hire an off-duty Houston police officer for the morning shift and I'll take the evening shift. Mudflap is gonna lend me his radio just in case I might need it. I am happy to serve and protect!