conjunction junction, what's your malfunction?

well, there certainly are some transitions going on right now.

this weekend was a bizarre collision of 'out with the old, and in with the new'...

i got the first shot for my film 'in the can', as it were (make up your own jokes there). a tricky little tracking shot of a miniature - 16 ft. long minature, that is. when peter jackson does it, they call them 'bigatures', but i ain't in new zealand just yet. 32 takes, and after reviewing the tape, we pretty much nailed it on take 21...not just good, but good enough.

it felt pretty damn strange, i gotta say...actually filming something that's been knocking around my head and hands for at least 4 years now. hopeful.

and then the following day i had to stop a tattoo session short because my hand and wrist were pretty much imploding. it didn't go numb exactly, but after years of working through that sensation and alot of actual pain, i sorta lost my sense of touch and sense of grip in it. very weird. it came back the next day, but not before i dropped something on a trip to the fridge.

that's it folks, i'm really, really, really, REALLY done. i don't have a choice anymore. that is, if i still want to be able to draw or write my name or something in the next 10 years...and that's pretty weird as well.

ze tattoo gear is going into long term storage. sorry, if anyone was holding out. can't oblige. bad enough i can barely straighten my neck out anymore. i guess you'll have to "wait for the movie..."

so here's a still of the set we shot saturday, taken by miss magpie.

1-800-RIP-VACA

here's the video we just finished...pretty snappy for 4 hours of shooting and 20 hours of post...and suffering through windows movie maker.

enjoy.

video.google.com/videoplay

Are you tired of the same old, boring vacations? Rest in Peace vacations has the cure. Produced by IGNH of Eastern Michigan University and Kedziplex Films; "Sales from the Crypt" is sure to raise some laughter while raising the dead...

once again...

i'm glad this week is over.

tuesday being the brunt of the bad tidings...i found out first thing in the morning that one of our warehouse guys was murdered:

www.mlive.com/news/saginawnews/index.ssf
blog.mlive.com/saginawnew...rs_are.html

then later that night i (accidentally) punctured my hand with an exacto knife all the way up to the handle. pulling it out is a lot less comical than the 3 stooges make it look...yeah.

RIP Stan Kelsey. he was a good guy. services and a big gnarly stagehand wake were held friday, i did not attend.

been working on a video project (ironically enough an infomercial parody for cemetary vacations) with carl, many late hours but well worth it...funny shit. i'll post it next week when it's done.

thought buying a new power supply might fix my 'good' computer. no such luck. i think i'm just gonna bite the checkbook and take it in for a diagnosis...a diagnosis which i'm terribly afraid will be a motherboard problem...i've tried everything else i can think of...*sigh*

on a more inspiring note, check out more of this badass artwork @ www.kuksi.com/

all i do is complain...

but honestly, i'm just killing time right now until i can try to sleep again.

i have not been this sick in a long long while...something to do with putting in 7 shifts without heat and a ridiculous stressload. i am SO SICK of being cold...i don't remember ever having body aches like this from the flu. if i get under the covers, i start sweating, when i get up, instant chills. until today, i was holding on, but we've got another 9 days straight to go before a real day off.

the nose, cough, throat deal is one thing...but today, i made the mistake of eating lunch and doing an energy shot, and my guts went on strike: everything-must-go style. nothing to do with the obscene coffee load, handfulls of pills, and bending over to lift 40 lb. magnetic ballasts all damn week. in the cold.

the worst part is i can't bear to think about calling in and losing the overtime i've built up so far this week. DAMMIT. this final push is pretty much my last chance to put aside anymore cash before the end of the season, and it's going to be a serious headache for my brother, the good boss, not having the lighting dude there to pull lighting for this gig.

but there is no way in hell i can do this another day if i wake up this bad in the morning. i'm fairly sure i have developed a total immunity to tylenol, which is the only OTC that's ever worked for me...sorry, liver, but them's the breaks.

i feel like absolute hell...far too 'uncomfortable' to sleep. my eyeballs hurt.

someday i'll have some good news to type in this little box, but until then, would one of you be kind enough to put a plastic bag over my head and wake me when it's california?

where is the lesson in this?

sure, this job is turning me into some sort of part machine, part animal, part unpleasant thing to be around by the sheer volume of workload and stress...but just when you think it can't get any more surreal, frustrating, horrible...

BOING.

let's back up a minute. you know my manager's the definition of a douchebag. his life revolves around underage tits and bacon martinis on the playa. life is just what happens in between episodes of burning man. he almost got me killed because he doesn't know what a ground wire is after 6 YEARS in the stage lighting business. he's berated my hardships, leaves early for 'haircuts' with his girl on the side..i'll cap it there or i'll be typing all night. he's got the personal skills of a landmine and couldn't delegate a lunch ticket.

point being, he thought it would be a good idea to hire another notorious douchebag that WE'VE ALL AGREED WE CAN'T STAND not only to work in the shop during the most stressful month of the year but also to INVITE HIM INTO MY CAR WITHOUT ASKING.

three of us carpool every day. and it's like a little bit o zen in the morning, a decompression chamber in the evening, and where we talk amongst ourselves, hatch mutinies, blow off steam, go have a beer together sometimes after a rough day...

and now, someone we can't stand as badly as our boss, is in the car with us. MY CAR, every other day.

"uh, huh, uh, i guess i shoulda warned you before monday morning...uh, huh, uhhhhhhhhhh. boobies."

these people are ignorant scum. i want to scream. constantly. i always want to jump to the conclusion that he's doing this shit on purpose BUT I KNOW HE'S TOO STUPID. good thing he makes twice as much as any of us.

i only had to interact 5 MINUTES with the newest douchebag today...at nearly 5 o'clock, and he did EXACTLY what i asked him not to do.

oh, the reason we all hated this dude *before* he started 2 weeks ago? he NEVER shuts up. he's THAT guy that sits down at your table in the coffee shop, the bar, no matter what the situation is. barges into ANY converstation you might be having, invites himself wherever you're going...

has no idea what's going on at work but knows a better way to do everything.

sweet lord, help me. chest pains, heartburn, neck cramps...what's next?

blur

after a long saturday, cleveland is ready to ship out monday a.m.

at least we earned ourselves a sunday off. yay.

hell month is almost over, in a couple weeks, we'll have the ny show out the door...and then we can work at a reasonable pace checking it all back in without the time pressure we've had for the last few weeks. a mountain of fixture repairs already...detroit is the worst for that. thank you, corrupt unions.

and then...

big changes.

purge mode, logistics, dusting off what's left of my personal life and re-prioritizing big time. i'll just be really grateful to get out of survival mode. things at home are, well, complicated...but we're back together for now. which makes the moment a little saner, and makes the next 5 months alot more difficult.

jesus.

i've given up this illusion of some kind of break ever happening, and i think i'm okay with that.

play, pause, resume.

i just got my "film/video/entertainment" resume re-written this morning.

it doesn't look nearly as bad as i remember. the irony being that my current position of slavery looks really good on paper:

"Currently employed as Conventional Lighting Supervisor, Tobins Lake Studio Productions, Brighton, MI. ( www.tobinslake.com/ ) Head Technician for fixture testing, maintenance, repair and quality assurance. Warehouse inventory management, labor delegation, show prep, equipment pulls, forklift operator, truck loading. Cable and Rigging experience. Sept. 2007 to present."

hah. i've been keeping an eye on craigslist for video related jobs (it's time i sat my tired old ass at a desk) in various cities, and the bay area has been consistently encouraging...hmm.

i'm guessing there's about a bazillion qualified people for every one of those listings, but hey, maybe my faith isn't quite dead yet.

however, the next step would be re-writing my "will do anything for money" resume, which is a little less than exciting...

i think i'll go tackle the sink fulla dishes instead.

reset

let's try this again, shall we?

my best wishes to all you who are "more human than human" out there in the net...happy new year.

thanks for being there, even though there's no "there" there.
i've got my next few months cut out for me...

et vous?