I'm a traveling gypsy

On a crazy road trip!

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Girl Talk Thursday: How to Eat on Set.

This week's Girl Talk Thursday is about food and cheap meals and eating under $10. Which is pretty much what I always do when I'm working. I'm a big fan of the one pot meal. Sunday happens and I throw a bunch of stuff in a pot. The end result is a chili or a stir fry or stew or soup or something that reheats well and can sit in my fridge for a week. I do a lot of stir frying when I'm cooking for myself. Some veggies, tofu, rice if I'm ambitious. It's all pretty simple and meat isn't involved so generally it stays low cost.

This week however I am not cooking. I'm currently working and therefore I'm being fed. Lunch is a big deal on set. People LOVE their food. I've already had to do two lunch runs today alone. First was for some stunt guys with an early call. Went to a local restaurant, picked up some burgers and a couple of Arnold Palmers, and that was lunch. Second was a McD's order for an actor. Big Mac, no onions. Easy.

My lunch today came off of a truck. Veggie burger topped with guac, side of french fries. Most amazing Mango & Mint smoothie ever. Actually, I think I have more smoothie in the fridge. Mmmm... smoothie...

My lunch was actually the crew's breakfast. Working in the office I'm on a different schedule than everyone else. While we may be shooting nights, all of our vendors still have normal business hours. The office needs to be open when they are. Our staff of four is currently working split shifts. Our coordinator and other PA are on the early shift working 8 AM to roughly 8 PM. The assistant coordinator and myself are on the late shift. Our call is 10 AM and we've been going until 11 PM or so (last night was nuts and we didn't finish until after midnight). Crew call however isn't until 5 PM and catering works around that. They started serving "breakfast" at 3:30 and that's when we had our lunch (minus the other PA who I made order something at 1 when I was grabbing the stunt guys orders). I was almost there until they served "lunch" tonight and considered staying. But I was tired. And not really hungry. Bed sounded like a much nicer option.

I was also eating from crafty all damn day. Fruit, nuts, the smoothie, chocolate... I had a bagel in the morning... COFFEE. So. Much. Coffee.

I didn't need anymore food tonight.

This show is a little different than a lot of the shows I've worked on in that our office is right next to the stage so we do have access to craft service and catering. On a lot of productions the office will be located somewhere other than where shooting is taking place. When that happens we're on our own for food. We stock our own kitchens, buy our own lunches. I'm getting spoiled here. I like it.

Oh man, yesterday at lunch they had this cucumber and dill salad... It was so damn good. The veggie options have been a little sparse on this show but they're doing okay. I'm eating plenty. And a lot of it has been YUM.

I'm going to gain twenty pounds by the end of this week. I know it. Ah well, isn't that like storing fat to get through the winter or something? After this week I'm back to unemployment and fending for myself. My meal options will be getting much slimmer. Back to the toast and hummus for me!

The Oscars

Okay, so I didn't really watch them. I mean, I could kind of see the reflection of a TV playing them in the window while I was out having dinner with my family. And I walked into the house just as Hurt Locker won the award for Best Picture.

Congratulations to Kathryn Bigelow. Hurt Locker killed tonight.  I'm a big fan of the film and I'm thrilled to see it do so well. Bigelow and Hurt Locker are not only deserving, Bigelow's made history as the first woman director to win Best Director. It's about damn time.

Will this lead to more opportunities for female directors? More recognition? Let's hope so. Talent trumps gender. Maybe Hollywood will remember this in the future.

High Points

I'm not really sure which was better. The hour + myself and the other PA spent moving seven not so light folding tables and thirty folding chairs from our stage to our production office. Or when, 45 minutes before we were supposed to leave for the night, that stage manager came over to tell us that we had to move them all back... Yeah... That happened.

I'm working!

Two weeks on some reshoots, I got the call on Sunday, started yesterday at 8 AM, and that's how this industry works. (Ironic as I just put something similar in a short story and my character made a point of saying that this is NOT how the industry works. Really, I should know better)

It's busy! Super! And I'm tired! Super.

Actually, it kind of hurts to stand up right now. So I stopped doing that. I blame the chairs. The ones I carried, not the ones I sat it. Right.

We're also working in the ghetto. The part of LA you never enter. Unless the production space is cheap and then yeah. Just, um, don't go out alone at night? Or something like that.

I'm enjoying myself. It's exhausting and I'm a little bummed I've had to put some of my own writing projects on hold but it's so super nice to be back doing a little feature work. And to have a job for two solid weeks.

I'm not going to think about how sad it is that I now consider two weeks a long time... Also figures that someone else I know called to see if I was available to work on another thing this week. It comes in waves.

Right. On that note. I'm going to bed. I need sleep. And did I mention that my feet hurt? They do.

We'll see if the next two weeks bring me any stories to share. No promises. Sometimes you take what you can get.

Hopefully all of this work I've been getting lately means things are picking up. It's actually starting to kind of feel like it.

Girl Talk Thursday: This Week in Rants

Disclaimer: My week was actually really good. I started two writing classes, I'm working, I have tasty food in my house because I'm working and can once again afford groceries, I got to see old friends and geek out over comics ALL IN ONE NIGHT, I'm going to see Traffic and Parade on Sunday night by myself if I have to, I got asked out on a date*... and some other stuff...

*Not entirely sure I care about this. I know, I'm a bitch.

That being said, even when things are going well we can always find something to bitch about. I suppose it's one of the sadder aspects of human nature (that, and you know, all that violence and greed and selfishness stuff). There is just something so satisfying about a good bitchfest. Who doesn't enjoy taking a few minutes to just VENT. Let it all out? Get the venom out of your system? Bitch over the unfairness of the Universe?

What do I have to bitch about if my week was so wonderful? Wait for it...

1) There are only twenty four hours in a day and I like to sleep. And I do sleep. Too much lately. I think my body is making up for the last two months when I wasn't really sleeping at all. So now I have a hideous time waking up in the morning. And twenty four hours is just not enough time. I have work to do. Writing to, um, write. Activities to take part in. Friends are in plays, they're visiting from out of town, my Monday and Tuesday nights are now dedicated to class taking. There's stuff to do! Please give me more hours Universe. Please?

2) The male sex. OMG. Seriously. I can't really go into details but there have been at least three times over the last week when I've been sorely tempted to nutpunch someone. All different someones. The stupidity of some of it is just baffling. Literally. I am baffled. After this week I am very happy I am single. F that noise.

3) Chloe. Gotta love her. It's impossible not to. And I mean, I know she's a dog and has only so many ways to communicate. For the most part she's a doll. But she has this whine (Jess, if you're reading this, you know EXACTLY what I'm talking about). I know it's sunny and nice out and it's been rainy and I wanna go to the park too. But I can't right now. I can in a couple of hours. I'm looking forward to that break. In order to take that break however, I need to get work done first. And as cute as you are, you staring at me with your pathetically adorable eyes, emitting that undoglike whine, is not helping. Anything. At all.

I forgive you though cause when we come back from the park and you curl up and go to sleep you are just So. Damn. Cute. Not to mention when you do that doggy dreaming barking in your sleep thing. I die.

4) Work. It's boring. I don't like being bored. This job is nice in that I do get to work from home and the guys I'm working for are great. I'd even do it again. Truly. Doesn't change the fact that it's boring.

One of these days I'm going to be a rich and famous writer and film director and I will love the work I do. Right guys? Right?

Shut up, it can happen!

5) Dirty dishes. No matter how many times I wash them, no matter how many times my roommates wash them, there are always dirty dishes in the sink. It's gross.

6) Verizon. Who hasn't actually done anything to me this week. They've just put me through so much hell the last two months that they've earned a permanent spot on this list. Probably forever. Because that's what permanent means.

That's it. For the moment. There are always more things to bitch about of course but really, I am in a mostly good mood and don't have all that many complaints over the cruelty of the fates. Life is never perfect but this week it's been good enough. I don't need much. Good enough will suffice. For the moment.

(Also, I really want to read and comment on all of the other GTT posts this week but I can't right now. I really didn't even have the time to write this but I did anyway. Screw you 24 hr day!)

Monday, Monday

I am lazy and bored today. Need to get that out there before anything else. I am actually doing a little work, should be doing much more. Today's list of Should Haves:

-Grocery shopping
-Novel revising
-Food eating
-A bit of reading
-Dish cleaning

Plus work of course. The work part I'm getting to. The rest of it, I'm looking at and thinking about but not actually doing. I'd blame my laziness on a busy weekend but really, my weekend wasn't that busy. I'm just lazy!

I will stop that though. I'm going to get some work done. Then I'm going to go the store and buy food because it's good to have things to eat. Then I am going to go to my first of two writing classes that start this week. And then I'm going to come home and go to sleep at a time that reasonable people go to sleep and then tomorrow I will wake up at time that is also reasonable.

And while I'm doing all of that (and continuing to be mostly lazy), you should go look at these things.

Listen to my friend Cherie talk about filmmaking and kickstarter and editing over on this Coffee and Celluloid podcast.

Then if you want, enter to win stuff from Film School Rejects. There are flashlights involved apparently.

Finally, since you'll be hungry from all that, check out this contest that Eco-Vegan girl is running. You could get a book! Or a dinner at Seed. Which looks super tasty. I've been dying to try it. I should probably get on that.

Okay, I'm done being lazy and boring for the moment. Off to be productive for a few seconds. Woo!

Yo Tony

Anthony Bourdain and Yo Gabba Gabba. I sort of feel like I need to watch this show. Maybe all of the time.

Speaking of V-Day...

If the movie is this good, maybe I should go see it.

What Film School Rejects has to say.

Much more exciting than that, Neil Marshall finally has a new flick coming out. Centurion is an action period piece about seven Roman soldiers trapped behind enemy lines and stars Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, and Olga Kurylenko. The new trailer has just made its way to the internet:

More Centurion Videos

To date I've really enjoyed Marshall's films. Dog Soldiers, The Descent, even Doomsday. While Doomsday is easily the most forgettable of the three, I still thought it was entertaining. Dog Soldiers is my favorite but that might just be because the cast is full of good looking British men. Maybe.

In any case, Centurion could be fun. It'll be out in the UK in April and will hopefully make its way to the states not long after.

Girl Talk Thursday - Valentine's Day

I haven't written a GTT in a bit but how can I resist the topic of Valentine's Day? As Maria puts it over at her blog, it's everyone's favorite holiday to hate. It's a sugary sweet commercialization of a holiday that tells us if we're not in a Nicholas Sparks style sappy love-me-until-I-die-tragically relationship, we're doing something wrong. And there's candy EVERYWHERE. Which is wonderful after the first chocolate or two. Get halfway through that box of Godiva in single sitting however... you're not so happy with life.

This is what Valentine's Day is supposed to be. One way or the other, the most romantic night of your life or the worst day of your year. Dramatic. Or so they tell me. Honestly, I've never really cared all that much for Valentine's Day. Sure when I was a kid I loved any holiday that allowed us to receive and eat candy in school. Picking out which Valentine's cards I was going to pass out each year was a high point. Barbie or Ninja Turtles? My Little Pony or He-Man? Sesame Street? AWESOME every time.

It was a tradition I was sad to see go, replaced in later years by the candygram fundraisers and carnations delivered during class. I'm sure I received a few of those, I did have a boyfriend in highschool, but do I remember? Nope, not really. The one Valentine's Day in highschool I do remember clearly is the one freshman year when I decided I was going to hand out candy to my friends even if I was five years too old for it. Screw that! Candy is delicious! I bought a giant bag of those individual boxes of Nerds, the ones that were out special for the holiday. Hearts on boxes, candy died red and pink, crunchy and sweet and just barely sour enough to make your mouth pucker. I handed them out gleefully to any classmate who came within a five foot radius declaring proudly as I shoved candy into their outstreched hands "Nerds from a Nerd!"

It was a surprising success. At least, no one made fun of me to my face and everyone seemed to enjoy the five second sugar high after English class. This was freshman year after all. Most of us hadn't discovered a stronger high yet.

As I've gotten older Valentine's Day has continued to mean much the same thing. I know there have been a few good ones, a few romantic ones. There were flowers and dinners and all of that through college when I again had a boyfriend. As an adult however, I've spent the last several Valentine's Days single. Not that I've really noticed. Three years ago I remember a friend asked if the present he was getting his girlfriend was a good one. Two years ago I assume the holiday happened but I'd be hard-pressed to provide you with the evidence.

Last year however was thoroughly debauched in the best way possible. Yes, I was still single. No, I did not have a date. Instead my roommates and I threw a party. Ostensibly it was a Singles and Cookies mixer. A stupidly cute idea that I'm still proud of. The idea was to come single and mingle or, if you were in a relationship, to bring your date and a single friend. Or a plate of cookies. Bring cookies either way really. It half worked? We had a table full of cookies and cupcakes and candy hearts and it was amazing. I made several different kinds of cookies (I was ambitious) including a version of these from Lauren's blog. Minus the bacon, plus the Irish Whiskey.

So cookies - check. Singles - I was there so check. Rest of the plan - ummmm... A good number of people showed up. Actually, kind of a lot of guys showed up. After a few rounds of tequila (who's idea was that again???) the party morphed from mixer to frat party flashback. Various bits of nonsense happened. The details are amusing but not particularly appropriate for this venue so let's just say everyone had a good time and leave it that. Yes? Good.

I was eating cookies for days after that. Those chocolate ones and these other ginger ones I made that were phenomenal, chocolate chip ones, a couple of cupcakes even. The day was decidedly unromantic but fun and memorable it definitely was. I don't really know how many more of those sorts of parties I have left in me, but really how many of those parties do you need in a lifetime?

I know I won't be repeating it this year. What will I be doing? I don't know. Maybe my roommates and I will have a few friends over for dinner. Maybe we'll do nothing. I haven't really thought much about it to be honest. I don't have a date and that's fine. I don't particularly want one. I feel no need to wallow in front of the TV, bombarded by cheesy Lifetime movies with a pint of ice cream melting in my lap. If anything I'm sad I won't be going to Madeleine Bistro to try out their special day tasting menu as I'm sure Chef Dave will be putting together something truly special. That of course has more to do with the fact I'm broke than the fact I'm single. C'est la vie.

In the end though, Valentine's Day really is just another day in my life. A day made a little bit sweeter by the explosion of sugar going on around me.

Link: A Softer World 527

A plan for when the dead rise.

My plan: the baseball bat in the trunk of my car.

Insomnia

I haven't been sleeping all that well as of late. There's been quite a bit on my mind and even nights when I do manage to fall asleep early I find myself waking after only a few hours. I've seen 5 AM happen more times than an unemployed person really should.

Most nights I get to the point where I give up on sleeping but still I refuse to be officially awake. A lot of lying in the dark with my eyes screwed stubbornly shut happens. When the muscles holding my eyelids closed against their will get tired (ironic?) I give up and just stare in the general direction of my ceiling. My room is fairly dark so I can't actually see the ceiling. But I know it's there. Hovering. Mocking my futile efforts to capture that elusive idea of sleep. Did you know that ceilings mock? I've only just discovered this but trust me, they do.

A lot of tossing and turning happens as well. It's probably a good thing I'm not sharing my bed with anyone at the moment. If I were, my poor unsuspecting bedmate would most likely find their legs covered in mysterious bruises upon waking in the morning. Assuming they were able to sleep through a night of being kicked repeatedly during my bouts of frustrated flailing to begin with. As it is, the only one who has to put up with me is my ever-suffering companion, Funshine Bear. This is for the best I think.

I'm not particularly productive during these nights where sleep refuses to be found. I wish I could say that the nights of never ending awakeness lead to epiphanies and creative brilliance. They don't. Really the only thing they lead to are headaches and crankiness and mornings that start much later than I'd like them to. I used to have all sorts of tricks I would employ on nights like these, but Smashing Pumpkins long ago ceased to lull me to sleep and I have yet to find Melancholy's replacement.

I don't mind though, not really. Naturally I prefer a solid night of sleep, hours of uninterrupted rest and peace, but I've never been the best sleeper and I suppose that over the years I've just gotten used to it. I've accepted the inevitable; there will be periods in my life when I just don't sleep. There will be times when I don't dream. And then there will be evenings of giant spiders distantly related to Shelob stalking me through secret passageways and tunnels blacker than the darkness in my room could ever conceive of being.

Don't worry; I crush the giant spider beast in the end with a satisfying crunch as my heel bursts through its exoskeleton. And then I sleep. Happily, fitfully, without tangling myself hopelessly in my sheets.

These are the things that happen when I sleep. Or they're the things that happen when I don't. It's really all the same either way.

How's the insomnia working out for you?

A Return

Hey guys, check it out! I'm alive! Whoa, I know, it was doubtful there for a second.

Life has been a little busy, a little not. I've been working a little bit. Not the full time job I was hoping to have found by now but little odds and ends here and there. A couple of days as a story assistant, a night helping a friend with a wrap party, a day taking notes for someone else... that sort of randomness. Whatever pays the bills I guess.

I have been going through a bit of soul searching, a bit of that "what am I doing with my life?" business. All kind of boring really!

And since I don't want my first post in over a month to be BORING, let me share fun stuff.

Um... Fun stuff... I have to have something good to share, right? Okay, maybe not much.

I can leave you with a list of what I've been reading, watching, etc. All stuff that's worth checking out.

Watched the Super Bowl yesterday. But that's yesterday's news really. Not today's.

Reading Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.)by Anthony Bourdain. Finally. Have loved him forever, No Reservations is a fabulous show, and his book is just as wonderful as I was hoping it would be. Sex, drugs, the seventies, food atrocities, mobsters, this book has got it all. Love it. And him. True story.

Watched An Education this weekend with the roommate. It is also wonderful. Carey Mulligan's performance lives up to the hype and her nominations are well deserved. I really enjoyed the screenplay by Nick Hornby. I have to admit to a bit of the nostalgia factor with all of the talk of French cinema, existentialism, jazz clubs, the wonderful dresses, etc. And there's the whole thing where I love almost all things British... including good looking men with British accents... The ending did leave me a bit unsatisfied, a feeling of "this is it?" Either way, it's a lovely movie that's well acted and I enjoyed it a lot. I'd actually love to see it again so I can think though a few things a bit more but that's what DVDs are for.

On TV I've been watching a lot of Chuck, which is delightful as always, Doctor Who, those last few episodes with David Tennant are Excellent and not to be missed if you're at all a fan, and The Inbetweeners on BBCA. OMG, have you guys seen this show yet? Please do. It's awkwardly hilarious. The kids in that show are such little shithead trouble makers... The episodes leave me in giggles for days.

Also worth noting that this week is the final episode of Friday Night Lights that's been airing on DirecTV. I actually still have the last two episodes to watch so Wednesday I fully plan on having a three episode FNL marathon to be followed up by an episode of The Inbetweeners. When did Wednesday get to be so good for television? I don't know.

Alright, that's what I've got. I will be back for more later.

The State of the New Year

Happy New Year everyone!

I have to say that I'm incredibly excited about the start of 2010. There are good things in the works over here people. I'm still unemployed, go figure, but I'm now moving full steam ahead on two projects. Two big projects.

One of these big projects is my novel. I've brought the first little bit to my writing group, I've started revisions, and I'm really excited to be working on it. My goal is to have it finished and readable and out in the world by the end of the year. Will see how life cooperates with me but I'm feeling rather confident at the moment.

Project two I can't really talk about yet but it's shaping up nicely into a very solid, very real thing. Project two is a film project. Project two has its first meeting scheduled for tomorrow. The monster is coming to life.

Can't really say much else about it yet but don't worry, you will hear all about it. It's very exciting. There will be things for you to get involved in. Just you wait and see.

Consequently I haven't been on this blog nearly as much lately. I'm going to try and continue updating but for the next couple of months I expect to be concentrating mostly on these two projects along with any work I may be lucky enough to find. Okay, the work thing may also not be that desperate at the moment. The maybes have also turned into at least one very real possibility. So we shall see.

Hope everyone has had a good start to 2010. And here's hoping that 2010 is an improvement over the last couple of years. I'm looking forward to a good one.