A little reminder of why I do what I do

Back in 2003, I had an amazing opportunity to work on a film called "November" which made it all the way to Sundance and won the Best Cinematography award. The hours were long, the learning curve was sometimes intimidating, but the reward of working with so many creative minds on a great project was priceless. I just came across this clip on Greg Harrison's (director) blog and it brought a smile to my face. As you watch this behind the scenes clip, it will be obvious to you why I love to edit and hope to work on more features in the near future. Editing is often a very lonely endeavor. Independent filmmaking often doesn't pay the bills. However, I would never trade the creative rewards in this kind of project for any amount of money.
Trying to find post-production work in a non-industry town like Seattle is definitely a challenge. However, I'm glad to have little bits of inspiration like this sprinkling in to keep me going on the daily quest for the next great gig! This clip also reminds me that for all of it's negatives, Los Angeles really is a town of some incredibly creative people in all regards.

The Making Of November from Greg Harrison on Vimeo.

The end of a chapter

This past Friday, April 2nd marked my official last day working at RealNetworks, Inc. Of course, I'm accepting all the normal range of emotions people experience when confronted by a layoff. I wasn't there very long, but 2.77 years can be a very long time for someone used to freelance editing at many different shops. Why does this job merit extra mourning? Perhaps, it's because it was in many ways a dream job. A full-time corporate job w/all the benefits implied and the added bonus of a great team of colleagues, ice cream cake, and wine Fridays. This really WAS the Emerald City complete with a gig allowing me to edit, produce live and studio events, TRAVEL, and most importantly give me a rest from the rigors of the freelance world. If you've never gone freelance and had to answer to yourself for EVERYTHING, you might think it's a walk in the park. You can wake up whenever you want, work out for hours, etc.

However, having more time means you have that much more time to worry about where your next paycheck is coming from and how you'll pay for your health benefits.

There is really no "good" part about getting laid off unless you truly were miserable day in and day out @ this job.

In my case, my world crumbled a bit thinking that I'll have to hope and pray that I rid myself of Lyme disease before my extended health benefits expire.

I'm also a jobless post-production professional in a town with very few job prospects. However, if I suddenly woke up knowing CSS and HTML tomorrow, I'd be home free. There are so many things I'd like to geek out on first before becoming a code monkey. I could easily geek out on Adobe, FCP, and Avid for ages before getting remotely bored.

In conclusion, I'll really miss my coworkers and friends. However, I will not miss the company protocol that has resulted in nothing but layoffs since I landed this job in 2007. 

I suppose like every other public corporation, it must be responsible first and foremost to its stockholders. After all, we do live in imperialist America. I do hope the numbers start to look up for them if only for the sake of my friends still holding on to the ship.




Pondering a move back to LA or NYC soon if things don't start looking up in the northwest

A different kind of christmas eve

My Christmas break and escape from the gloomy, cold, Seattle climate has been an exercise in stamina. My mom had back surgery on December 23rd. I left Seattle that morning at 7am, got to Burbank airport, rented a beater car from 6.99 rentals in Mexico..I mean Van Nuys, had some mediocre breakfast and offensive coffee and started my trek down south to La Jolla (about 30 minutes from the Mexican border). 

There were points in this commute where I seriously fought to keep my eyes open and my nerves were shot. 2 plus hours later, I arrived at Scripps and my mom was still in surgery...not a good sign.
My brother started showing signs of worry, so I turned all the small bit of energy I had left to distracting him and trying to cheer him up. Finally, the surgeon came out around 5pm to tell us mom had pulled through the surgery ok but they were monitoring her very closely as her heart rate jumped to 140..a very dangerous level.

My brother and I stayed with her until almost midnight. We finally got to eat, but unfortunately, the only meal available in Solana beach at that hour was Denny's. We did our best to get the grub down. I could have easily skipped it except that food is necessary for me to get my antibiotics down for the night.
Now on day 2 (Xmas eve), my mom's pain management is much better now that she's on oral pain meds. However, she's very forgetful, disoriented, and doing quite a bit of hallucinating. Now after 2 meals and more pain meds, they think she'll be able to make it home for Christmas. I'm alone tonight which sucks. But, my brother needed to go back to LA to be with his family and I'm minding the store for the night. I can't even reach my boyfriend now as he's in a no cell phone zone for Xmas eve.

I've had some support from friends on Facebook which is totally appreciated. It's funny...it's the folks I expected to give a fuck..but I can't say that I'm not disappointed to have ZERO phone calls or texts from all the many people who claim friendship. I mean even if my mom wasn't in the hospital, a phone call to say "hey..you're in LA..let's hang out when you can" would have been appreciated. No matter how low my standards for faith in friends go, times like these show me that they can always be lower.
Tomorrow, I'll venture back into the ghetto mobile to make the trek up to Altadena and then Thousand Oaks for Christmas dinner. phew...must get it together and get going now. Merry Christmas!

Seattle gets a light rail!

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Originally uploaded by b_luecke

this is some of the art inside the Beacon Hill station (which is walking distance from my house..woot woot)!!
After looking at the art at some of the other stops, I'm grateful for mr. corson for hooking us up with some psychedelic, glowing, wonder at our stop! I'm extremely anxious to ride once this opens up in July! I'll be even more excited if it gets me downtown to work in LESS than ONE hour! please oh please!

so why do we want a tunnel under the waterfront?

this is just what's happening in our neighborhood. the tunnel to replace the viaduct is 3 times the undertaking. tsk tsk seattle...light rail, light rail, light rail!

This week had a great start

This week started with the usual Monday blah workday and gloomy skies. However, all I could focus on all day was going to see "my bloody valentine" for their last US show at the WAMU theater. I feel fortunate to have great friends like Isa who made the tickets possible! Originally, i had planned on purchasing one ticket and making the journey on my own. However, thanks to Isa I could now bring my s.o. with me so he could experience MBV for the first time. I also learned that one of my only gf's in the NW, Heather from Tacoma was also coming up for the show! So, when all was said and done we had an amazing vietnamese feast at "The Tamarind Tree", followed by some quick drinks near the venue, and finally and all out audio/visual assault at the hands of MBV. There were indeed signs that read "this show will be exceptionally loud" posted all over the venue.
I honestly didn't feel the sound was that loud or "intense" until they unleashed a 20 minute, wall of sound, at a volume only comparable to a 747 taking off. my hair, dress, and my insides were all a vibrating mess. It was completely trance inducing and fabulous. I do feel a little bad for the folks sans earplugs. But really, how did you miss the guy at the door handing out earplugs? That's all your "bad"

i like the beach

Here's the view from the Marina Pacific hotel in Venice beach where we spent what was left of Valentine's night. All in all, we managed to salvage a day which was so full of pain, drama, and demoral and ended up having a great time together. I can really be a hoot on pain pills.
my boyfriend Damian has some thoughts about venice beach. he is ever so eloquent. I do believe this is before we had any proper coffee in our systems. Enjoy this little clip shot from the roof of the Marina Pacific hotel the day after Valentine's day.

sunset west seattle

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Originally uploaded by julimirabal

my feet were soggy and it was frightfully cold. however, the race to beat the sunset from beacon hill to west seattle was worth it! it was an amazing sunset shared with my amazing boyfriend. of course, soon as the sun set and the arctic chill set in, we booked...well..we did run up a shit-ton of stairs first.
yes..this is a nothing post..but everyone has those now and again