Been Busy

It happens. Strange how it works, though. The more I have to write about the less time I have to write it.

Let's see... Got a call from the TV station for which I do the occasional A.M. traffic anchoring. Almost out of the blue. I had dropped off a tape months ago, didn't hear back and forgot about it. Then last Monday I get a voice mail from the station's news director. They have a new position opening for something called a "backpack journalist." This person will shoot his own stories with a camera similar to the one I have and edit them on a laptop computer. He'll be a self contained news gathering crew. Sounds cool if exhausting. The stories I do for the high school sports show I've mentioned I shoot myself and edit on my own computer so the work would not be foreign. Doing it every day would be tough and if the station wants a two-for-the-price-of-one crew I'd only do it if the price were right. I called the ND and we talked for about 25 minutes. He said he'd forward my tape to his chief photographer, under whose aegis I'd also fall, and that the CP would call me. He hasn't. That could mean he's busy or that the station is not interested. Note to self: Work on phone manners.

Got an unusual e-mail from my next door neighbor that read, "This my friend (so-and-so)'s e-mail address. I keep getting messages to hook you two up." I e-mailed the friend and we met at a Borders book store in Tampa Wednesday. It was a mutually safe place to meet either one of us found the other butt-ugly or otherwise repulsive. She wanted to look at some travel books about Italy and the walk through the store got us started in easy conversation. "Do you like this?" "Have you read this author?" "What kind of movies do you watch?" I didn't feel a romantic spark with the young lady (actually 37) but she was pleasant company and I found a the movie Serenity on sale for $7.99 during our stroll. Its writer and director Joss Whedon also created the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show, of which I am a fan. Note to self: Borders (or Barnes and Noble) for a first date. Full of conversation starters.

Got to another story for that high school sports show. A soccer game in St. Pete last night featured two teams that, according to the St. Petersburg Times, featured 24 players from 16 different countries. The coaches gave me smaller numbers when I interviewed them. I should have delved further into what the discrepancy was but the bottom line that there were lots of kids from lots of different places still held up. It was the first time I had interviewed three kids originally from Bosnia. That's a sure-fire fact. Both coaches talked about how the kids from countries where soccer is king had never played organized soccer. In other places, kids play in the street with whatever they can fashion into a ball. All the kids told me their families moved here either for better jobs, to escape political problems or both. Note to self: Devote more thought to interviews before doing them.

Got an e-mail from a long ago TV colleague about the possibility of producing a video documentary for an London-based lobby group trying to raise its profile here in the U.S. This could prove as lucrative as it is interesting. I have since spoken to the head of the U.S. arm of the organization. He watched video clips on my web site and liked them enough to consider me for a job that could take me literally around the world and pay me like a jet-setter. I'd be doing it all -- shooting, writing, editing, narrating, DVD authoring, graphic design and more things I forgot to mention -- so it wouldn't be easy money but it would be worth the effort to earn. Note to self: Find out how to get a passport.

Other than that, I haven't done much. You?