Buds - a la blossoms

I want to make money. I want to raise money to finance films and establish good relationships to sell films - so that I can have the wherewithal to produce the films I want to see made.

There you have it.

My new writer-friend has ambition and fire in his belly, combined with a huge empathy/compassion streak. I like these qualities. He's hungry and ready to set the world on fire. But, his computer is ill, so he's got technical challenges at the moment. Which means I haven't read any of his work, yet.

It'll come. Don't know, yet, what sort of relationship might pan out of our growing acquaintanceship and friendship - whether we'll do business together, or become fellow-artist-support people for each other. But, he's very verbal about his desire to work with me and his appreciation of my persona/skills. That's nice; I've wished for that.

And then I think, it's too soon to be too effusive. Measured. That's my stance/approach. It's all good.

Last night, Ken was kind enough to go look at Colin's computer for him. Colin and I compared notes on Midwest cuisine (ah, the starch - creamed corn, beef and noodles, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, biscuits!) while Ken tended to Colin's PC and drooled.

IN OTHER NEWS - Ken bought a vaccuum yesterday! It was lovely to get home to the apartment to such a cat-hair-free floor! Plus, he put up the remaining straggling shelves, towel racks, etc. Very exciting.

And, I've figured out our first entertainment plans - dinner party upcoming in late June! Here's the menu I'm contemplating:

Pinot Noir
Prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spears
Sliced mozzarella with beefsteak tomatoes and basil
Fava bean, pine nut, basil dip with toasted Italian bread

Cabernet Sauvignon
Spaghetti

Haagen Das Vanilla Cherry Fudge Truffle ice cream
Coffee
Bailey's, Amaretto, Brandy (?) -- GOTTA use those crystal snifter glasses!!

MMMmmmmm

Pity Party

I'm feeling sadness.

I keep telling myself not to do this, but I read some blog entries of my former partners this evening. I tell myself not to, b/c it makes me sad. I'm sad that I was so full of hope for those relationships. I admire my former partners, and I wanted our partnership(s) to work. I'm sad b/c I read about their lives, their thoughts, tidbits about the status of the film we produced together, on their blogs - not in conversation with each other. Don't get me wrong, the channels are open and amicable; but, my choice to move out west to pursue my ambitions ended our partnership. Duh, right?

I'm sad b/c I don't feel missed. I'm sad that they're close, closer than ever, and I feel stupid that I feel (and felt) excluded. I'm sad b/c, despite our best efforts, things didn't work out. I'm sad b/c two projects that I really invested myself in over several years are moving into the world without my direct help/guidance/participation. And, that wasn't my hope when I went into them. And, I'm mad that I still get sad about this shit. I'm mad that I keep rewinding these feelings - seeking some sort of comfort...? Purpose? Explanation, point??

I keep thinking, hoping that my experiences over the last few years make me wiser. That they'll help me while I tread my path. I keep waiting for the hurt to go away. I keep waiting to feel closure.

I realize now that so much of the time that I lived in Austin, I felt like an outsider. When I did theatre stuff, I didn't feel completely comfortable/accepted within that community. Nice, lovely, talented people - but, I didn't come to feel I belonged... And, when I did film stuff, the happiest/most at-home/accepted I felt was when I was producing/making my own stuff. When I tried fitting in with other groups, filmmakers, it usually felt - awkward. Like, it would seem, on paper, that a bond with peers might be a "natural," but the only strong bonds I felt were with those folks whom I met or collaborated on my own work...

I don't know, maybe this is all supposed to mean something - or, maybe I'm just venting, trying to expunge some poopy feelings.

Thanks for reading. And, thanks for the kind words of support and encouragement when you send them my way. Sometimes, those are such life lines to me, you have no idea.

Summer Hours

Guess what? Starting this holiday weekend, the studio begins observing "summer hours." That's right, the studio closes at 1 p.m. on Fridays until after Labor Day.

Hunh.

Okay, I can work with that. :)

So, today, given my early departure, I scheduled a meeting with a new writer-friend acquaintance to explore our mutual career goals/interests further. He's the one from Lincoln, IL. I mentioned a while ago. He's a writer and actor. I like his energy and his ambition. And, he's a good listener. We're both very enthused about working together, and I'm going to read some of his stuff over the next week... I'm happy.

Ken and I will be hanging more shelves, hooks, towel racks, etc. tomorrow. I put out a lot of our photos this afternoon after my meeting. I see many of your smiling mugs in my living room now. :)

Odds and ends

Ken worked with the phone company guy to resolve our home phone service and Web access. We are now functional again at the apartment!

Oh, house update - we're on track to close June 7th.

Several friends/family members have expressed concern and advice over the prospect of capital gains taxes vis a vis the sale. Thank you all for the pointers, and rest assured, that I've been in contact with our accountant. What she tells me is that we'll slide under the limit at which we'd have to pay, b/c our primary residence sold for under $250K. Or something like that. Like I said, I'll be sure to get it straight in the next few weeks.

Only 2 more boxes to unpack!

Celebrity sighting - Saw Martin Landau last Monday. They were shooting scenes for HBO's "Entourage," and I guess he had a cameo.

I've been reading/researching a lot in the last couple days - countering the boredom. I've been gathering info/ideas for my next entrepreneurial enterprise...

Uh oh. Loud-talking-man in adjacent cube has gotten on the phone. I can't keep my train of thought!

Monday BLUHHHH

OMG, I'm bored. BORED. Sleepy. Will to live is seeping away from me...

Guy who sits adjacent to me is having a meeting in his cube with someone, plus talking with someone else on speakerphone. As such, I can't keep a train of thought for longer than about 23 seconds. So, if within my boredom, I begin to get a glimmer of a creative thought, it quickly dies on the vine of too-much-nearby-distraction.

Phones ringing. People talking. Someone keeps talking about "Wild Boys." Don't know what that is. And, another conversation adjacent to me on my other side keeps popping forth with, 'yeah.' 'Yeah, yeah!' Low-talking, low-talking then 'yeah! yeah!'

Our home phone stopped working Saturday, early evening. Ken's minding the homestead today, waiting on the phone service tech to arrive. And, my cell phone seems to arbitrarily forward incoming calls to voicemail w/o ringing first.

Hm, there seems to be a theme here - communication breakdowns!

Oh great, now next-door guy has started some music application. Sigh.

Then again, it helps keep me awake.

Updating past posts

Added photos of packed truck to May 9th...
Land of Film and Money: Today we left Austin!

Added text and photos to Paramount tour on April 10th...
Land of Film and Money: Paramount Tour Today

Added text and photos regarding Diane's fabulous brunch on April 9th...
Land of Film and Money: Brunch at Diane's - yum!

Pant critters

Okay, feeling antsy again. Really tired, but with a restless mind.

Things are very quiet at work. I keep hearing the voice(s) in my head say, "patience."

On the homefront, I'm wildly happy. Ken's kicking butt and taking numbers as he's set up phone service, cable, car battery-replacement, paying and mailing bills, setting up a new bank account, etc. Wahoo, Ken rocks!

Yesterday, he met up with me at lunchtime. That was lovely. I liked being able to touch his forearm during lunch and hold hands while walking back to the lot. So tangible and fabulous.

Got a note yesterday from a writer/filmmaker friend out of NY who's nearly ready to send me a script he's been working on. I'm looking forward to checking it out. His is one of the two scripts that I'm hopeful about possibly producing...

The Taskmaster (that voice in my head that want's everything NOW) is trying to seize control of the ship today. It's impatient and wants ACTION, results, BIG THINGS HAPPENING. But, on the other hand, the Bigger Me knows that this manageable work load/environment right now is very helpful, given our move and all the other changes that are swirling about. Bigger Me also knows that my Guides have me covered, I'm where I need to be right now, and that good things are brewing, stewing, percolating and I'm minding those "pots" with patient expectation.

Okay, it's only 10:30 a.m. What's next?

Oh, and in Austin...

We accepted the highest offer on the house. We're currently in the "option period," which ends this coming Saturday. After that, we're set to close on June 2nd.

Yow. :)

Back online - update time

Okay, so I'm back at work and have Web access. Time for an update!

Ken and I both are quite tired and sore - though, proud of emptying our moving van entirely ourselves on Saturday. Chagrined, exhausted, sweaty, sunburned, but proud. I think we only wanted to kill each other maybe two, three times total. Ken nearly tossed his end of our new loveseat in a fit of pique last night. That was the very, very end of our long ardor. I'm glad he resisted the urge - we had to travel to TWO Ikeas to get that damn ektorp.

My car battery's dead. Yesterday, we left the apartment at 8:30 a.m. (I KNOW, for us that's unbelievable, isn't it?) and didn't return until almost 10:00 p.m. First, we drove the moving van over to Larchmont to find some eats and coffee. Turns out there's a lovely farmer's market there on Sundays. Bought a so-tasty-I-could-smack-myself-in-disbelief cheddar cheese/bacon/jalapeno scone there. MMMmmm, yummy.

Anyway, grabbed some grub and coffee and we were off North to Burbank to Costco, Sears, and IKEA.

Note to self - don't go to Costco on a Sunday morning, much less on Mother's Day. And, turns out, the Burbank Sears didn't carry car batteries. How is that possible? So, we made our way to IKEA and sat upon many sofas.

Oh, can't remember if I mentioned this - but, we had to leave our sofa back in Austin. Wasn't room enough for it in the moving van.

After MUCH discussion, and a few little snits of miscommunication and disagreement, we settled upon a particular loveseat design - the EKTORP. And, after reviewing the fabric possibilities - we agreed upon the exciting color of Beige for our slipcover(s). We also cogitated quite a lot upon a particular area rug design, but ultimately rejected it.

IKEA is laid out like a maze. I think they must pump stupid, unable-to-find-one's-way-out gas through the ventilation system, too. I can't believe a store that seems to make so much money makes it so difficult to find one's way to the checkout stands.

Anyway, we found our way, and lo and behold, the ektorp we wanted was out of stock at that location.

Sigh.

We had our moving truck for one more day and really wanted to put it to use.

So, after a side trip to Macy's, where we bought an area rug we both liked very much, we hauled our asses and the truck out east to Covina, to the IKEA there.

Along the way, we dropped in at another Sears location and bought a car battery. Oh, and there was a trip to Home Depot in there somewhere, too. Ken bought a big storage cabinet thingie for the rest of his tools, sawhorses, etc.

Got lost in the second IKEA, too. See? It's a conspiracy. "Keep them lost, and they'll be lulled by pretty displays into buying more stuff." If they can ever find the exit.

Next, grabbed something to eat at Islands Restaurant, which tacked up Tiki decorations all over and screened surfing footage in monitors in every corner -- by which, Ken and I were completely zombiefied during our meal. The zombie state continued while I drove us back west to LA.

By the time we got to the apartment, it was almost 10 p.m. Unloading our purchases from the truck proved to be the last straw. First, I nearly skimmed off the roof of an adjacent parking garage, not to mention running over Ken while backing down the alley. In short, I thought Ken's gestures in the rear-view windows meant "reverse;" turns out, they meant "go forward." He kept gesturing, and I kept going, wondering why the hell he wanted me to back up MORE? Crisis was averted, but the incident contributed greatly to the (shortly thereafter) fit of pique which nearly resulted in the aforementioned "angry toss" of the ektorp.

If freight elevators could talk...

It's good to be home.

Last leg of journey: Phoenix to LA, and the "joy" of move-in!

After another luxurious stay with Sue and Tim in hot, hot Phoenix (pronounced: 'fuh-HELL-nix' this time of year according to Sue) , we humans & cats climb back into the truck for the final push to LA. Thanks for everything, and see ya' soon!



We're actually well under way by 8am! Unheard of! Who are we?

A few uneventful hours and many coffees later (1:10pm to be exact) we pull up to the freight entrance in the back alley of our new home! Fortunately, it's a beautiful day in sunny California, so we waste no time working ourselves completely, irrationally, embarassingly batshit unloading the truck. God, I hate moving. Hate it.

Hate. Hate. Hate. Hate.

To make matters worse, for reasons I won't bother describing, our building is logistically a SUPER FANTASTIC ROYAL PAIN IN THE ASS to move into. Add to that my constant paranoia in this unfamiliar place that our stuff is going to get stolen...
- out of the open truck in the alley
- out of the garage near the freight elevator
- out of the vestibule at the elevator
- out of the 3rd floor hallway near the elevator
- out of the 3rd floor hallway outside our unit door
...and it's no wonder we were both short on patience towards the end.

'nuff said.

It was well past sunset and we were walking dead by the time we parked the empty Penske on a side street and stumbled up to our matress on the floor.

Here's some shots of our place the next day:

Seven offers so far

It's currently the middle of Friday afternoon, on the day after our house was officially listed for sale. Our realtor has informed us that we have seven offers already. He'll be phoning us tonight with the close-of-business-day total tally, and we'll have some decisions to make...

:)

Trip out west has made me big-time spacey. Sometimes, being in the limbo of traveling can be freeing. But, I'm getting tired of feeling this discombobulated. Keep having dreams with water -- rain, tidal waves. Last night, I dreamt I had to be to a party, but my "ride" was a child-sized pedal car, with wheels made of hearts instead of round wheels. Made it difficult to get anywhere, as you can imagine.

BTW - Tom, the cat, has "travel legs;" Boo, the cat, does not. Poor Boo.

More later.

Today we left Austin!

Since the last post 10 days ago, Lorie and I have run around like chickens. Here's a few of the things we've been doing...

...scavenging free (used) boxes from friends and strangers online, packing those boxes with all our belongings, breaking down furniture, mulching/trimming/mowing/and otherwise cleaning up all the landscaping (ignored since Lorie left), wrapping up loose ends with existing customers so I could focus on fixing up the house for sale, visiting with friends and saying goodbye, selling my car to a friend, spending a whole day attending to an emergency computer issue for a customer (unexpectedly, I've built a thriving two customer tech support business in Bastrop - a town 45 minutes east of Austin!) hosting a goodbye party at our house Friday night, having a yardsale Saturday, surviving over 48 hours of no electricity after two severe storms blew through in a 24 hour period, renting a 12' Penske cargo truck Sunday, using the truck to take household items to Salvation Army and Construction materials to Habitat For Humanity's Re-Store, attending a wedding and reception Sunday afternoon, and picking up a new 7' tall metal storage cabinet for my tools from the Sears Grand in friggin' Round Rock Monday - then assembling it with the help of best friend Gail...

...and all day Tuesday, loading the truck with the help of two wonderful friends, and cleaning the empty house with the help of another wonderful friend!

And we are SO, SO grateful for those friends Gail, Derek, Eric, and Beth for their unflagging assistance in getting us out of that house on our target day!!! We never could have done it without them, and even with all their help we barely made it. As the clock approached midnight, Master Truck Loader Eric was artfully squeezing in the last few standing lamps as a third lightening storm boomed louder and louder!
With absolutely no more room in the cargo area,
and three large expensive wrought iron plant holders sitting in the driveway, Eric had the brilliant idea of wrapping them in pads and strapping the bundle on the roof of the cab utilizing all his Boy Scout knot-tying and bungii-hooking skills! It was a beautiful solution and off we went into the western darkness. (photos taken next day.)

Funny truck-drivin-newbie anecdote: just a few minutes outside Austin we stopped to gas up and I checked the tire pressure. I noticed one of the wheel lug nuts was totally loose, so, not having any tools available (all packed up), I tightened it by hand as much as possible. Upon checking all the rest of the lug nuts I discovered I could hand tighten about 50% of them!!! Needless to say, we were a tad alarmed by this, but since everything was closed (just past 1:00am) we were determined to forge on to the nearest motel and deal with the lugs tomorrow. We fretted cautiously all the way to a Best Western in Johnson City



Map of
Johnson City, TX
and were in bed by about 2am. Next day we stopped at the first service station we found where a nice grease monkey informed me that real trucks like this have plastic lug nut COVERS, which is what I had been straining to hand tighten the night before. duh. duh. duh. duh. duh. etc.