Busy, Busy
Radiation Level: Ovoviviparous
Listening To: At Last by Etta James
Okay, as I mentioned in the last post, January has hit the ground running. I started my new job this week and it was a wee bit more complicated than I thought it would be. I’m reviewing films for an online magazine (I will link to them as they start to go up). Of course I enjoy going to screenings and giving my opinion (if only one could walk the treadmill while watching new films). What I didn’t know was that I would need to enter the articles onto the site’s server and format them with photos and videos. Ever heard of SEO? That’s what I’m talking about, bitches!
Okay – I do this stuff with my blog, but let me tell you, for-profit websites are a heck of a lot different than using WordPress. Sure, learning WordPress takes some time, but really, a nine-year-old could do it. I spent seven hours yesterday trying to get one of my reviews properly formatted and it’s still not there. Pictures have to be a certain size, placed a specific way depending on whether or not they’re vertical or horizontal, there are tag words, meta words, meta keywords to add, code to embed and don’t get me started on uploading video.
Well, the good news is that I’m learning all this stuff and certainly it will come in handy as I add more content to the web. And a BIG thanks to RioGirl for getting me the gig (you seriously rock)!
So while I finish typing all my 1′s and 0′s that will magically turn into a movie review of Underworld: Awakening, take a gander at my students’ drawings of carnivorous plants (that’s right, Venus Flytraps!).
Hello 2012!
Radiation Level: Isotropic
Listening To: Little Black Submarines by Black Keys
Okay, I was hoping for changes this year. Didn’t think they would happen so fast. Today I got offered a new job (details of which I will share when it’s official). Right after I hung up, my phone rang again. It was a current employer telling me a job I currently have is coming to an end. Spooky that those two calls happened within minutes of each other. Earlier this week my manager sent me an email that he’s moving into producing and out of management. That’s three major changes this WEEK. I know it’s the beginning of January and a lot of people resolve to make changes at the beginning of the new year, but still – didn’t see these things coming.
I want to be a well-paid screenwriter. I want to make feature films. BUT last week, I decided to open myself up to the universe for other types of writing work. And it seems to be coming. I’m going to forego writing the clone pilot and start working on my book. I’m excited. I’m scared. I’m willing to work hard. I’m ready.
I’m making a film with gifted 3rd-5th graders called Psychotic Stabbing Nerds. We had the table read yesterday. Considering half the students forgot to take their scripts home with them to learn their lines, I’m not sure how smoothly it will go. But it should be exciting (or harrowing) to see it all come together.
Learn your lines, darn it!
AND I’m going to be teaching another class where we’ll make a movie. This time it will be about an historical event. One of the suggestions from the school was the British burning down the white house. !!!!!! If you know me, you know my love for Dolley Madison and the war of 1812. I finally get to make a movie about it! GO DOLLEY!
So. Things are changing. Things are good. I’m hoping they get even better for us all.
