Nearly twenty years has passed since I last drank alcohol. I didn't have a problem with it. I just decided that I was going to find more inventive ways to screw up my life.
Ha!
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Thursday, February 09, 2012
Out of Context Comment to a Friend
If you can't live up to the dreams you had when you were young, dream new ones. Worrying about what coulda or shoulda been can do nothing but bring you down. My life hasn't turned out as I'd planned, either. But I'm not finished yet. Neither are you. Maybe we can't be what we once wanted. But we can still decide to be what we want now.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Depression?
At the doctor's office the other day, his assistant is going down a list of maladies asking if I have ever had them. "Depression?" She asks.
Just for fun, I almost said, "Depression? No more than anyone else whose life stinks." But I had a day at the DMV ahead of me and I didn't want to have to talk myself out of a psych ward to get there.
Speaking of the DMV, the reason drivers licence photos look so terrible is not the web-cam-quality lens, the terrible lighting, or that they have you stand nearly flush against the background. It's that the DMV experience sucks the life out of you, and the hollow shell that remains is what they immortalize on the document that most identifies you to the world.
Just for fun, I almost said, "Depression? No more than anyone else whose life stinks." But I had a day at the DMV ahead of me and I didn't want to have to talk myself out of a psych ward to get there.
Speaking of the DMV, the reason drivers licence photos look so terrible is not the web-cam-quality lens, the terrible lighting, or that they have you stand nearly flush against the background. It's that the DMV experience sucks the life out of you, and the hollow shell that remains is what they immortalize on the document that most identifies you to the world.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
My Job
A friend saw me doing a live shot yesterday and posted on my Facebook page that I had an interesting job. I liked my reply, so I share it here.
"The job is rarely the same day twice and I love that it is a license to learn. I often feel like I'm walking into the unknown, with the stresses and frights that come with it, and the rewards that come when I can find my way out of the dark."
"The job is rarely the same day twice and I love that it is a license to learn. I often feel like I'm walking into the unknown, with the stresses and frights that come with it, and the rewards that come when I can find my way out of the dark."
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Pretty Good Week
In the last week, I enjoyed smash success with a side business project, had an original song of mine play on the radio, and learned that a Sunday newscast I anchor more than doubled its viewership in the last year.
First, I delivered a completed video biography for a customer of my documentary production company. Comments from the client included, "This is outstanding! I feel like I am watching an A&E Biography." And, after the film showed at a family gathering Friday to celebrate the subject's 70th birthday, "The Documentary was a HIT! Words like 'awesome' and 'unbelievable' were used to describe it."
That same night, a co-worker at the station who hosts a show on Sarasota's community radio station, WSLR played my instrumental tune Pulse and then used it as his background music for the rest of the show.
This happened because of another co-worker's breakup. When he left his live-in girlfriend, he stashed his guitar in the photographer's room at the station. One night, after I had finished my story, I went in and started playing for the first time in months, thanks to the all-consuming effort on the documentary mentioned above. Another co-worker walked in and made the mistake of not asking me to stop. So I serenaded her for a while until I ran out of songs that I — and my fingers — could remember.
That was a Friday. After the early newscast Saturday, the woman who runs our studio cameras on the weekend newscasts told me that she heard that I played and asked me to strum some songs for her.
By the next week, the legend had grown. On a computer in the photog room, I pull up the a video of me playing Pulse I had posted to YouTube.
The guy who also has the radio show played the song for his wife at home! She suggested that it would make a good music bed for his monologue. He decided to play it all the way through once before looping it in the background behind him.
Yeah, I know. It's only community radio, but it's still radio. And it was cool.
Then today, we got a memo with our November ratings results and the Sunday early evening newscast I anchor more than doubled its viewership compared to last year ‐ with no on-air promotion.
I am, of course, far too elegant to do something like a touchdown dance. But so elegant that I would not write and record a song in which I sing about doing a touchdown dance.
First, I delivered a completed video biography for a customer of my documentary production company. Comments from the client included, "This is outstanding! I feel like I am watching an A&E Biography." And, after the film showed at a family gathering Friday to celebrate the subject's 70th birthday, "The Documentary was a HIT! Words like 'awesome' and 'unbelievable' were used to describe it."
That same night, a co-worker at the station who hosts a show on Sarasota's community radio station, WSLR played my instrumental tune Pulse and then used it as his background music for the rest of the show.
This happened because of another co-worker's breakup. When he left his live-in girlfriend, he stashed his guitar in the photographer's room at the station. One night, after I had finished my story, I went in and started playing for the first time in months, thanks to the all-consuming effort on the documentary mentioned above. Another co-worker walked in and made the mistake of not asking me to stop. So I serenaded her for a while until I ran out of songs that I — and my fingers — could remember.
That was a Friday. After the early newscast Saturday, the woman who runs our studio cameras on the weekend newscasts told me that she heard that I played and asked me to strum some songs for her.
By the next week, the legend had grown. On a computer in the photog room, I pull up the a video of me playing Pulse I had posted to YouTube.
The guy who also has the radio show played the song for his wife at home! She suggested that it would make a good music bed for his monologue. He decided to play it all the way through once before looping it in the background behind him.
Yeah, I know. It's only community radio, but it's still radio. And it was cool.
Then today, we got a memo with our November ratings results and the Sunday early evening newscast I anchor more than doubled its viewership compared to last year ‐ with no on-air promotion.
I am, of course, far too elegant to do something like a touchdown dance. But so elegant that I would not write and record a song in which I sing about doing a touchdown dance.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Reliving Old Glory
Glory is an overstatement. I anchor news on the station where I work. So that our station's sports guy could stay and cover the entire Buccaneers game in Tampa, I volunteered to do the sports for our early newscast tonight.
I did sports for years before switching to news so it's not new — except the part about doing sports in addition to doing the news. Sparing you the details, my split attention combined with technical trouble set me up for disaster, which I think I marvelously avoided.
I did sports for years before switching to news so it's not new — except the part about doing sports in addition to doing the news. Sparing you the details, my split attention combined with technical trouble set me up for disaster, which I think I marvelously avoided.
Saturday, October 08, 2011
I'm Back! And I Didn't Have to Get Fired First!
It has been more than a year since I last wrote here. The fine and kind people who agreed to pay me to write stories made me agree to stop writing here.
But I just got emailed an addendum to my contract about social networking. It says, "the Station recognizes Employee may use websites and blogs and social networks." It even capitalized "Employee."
Of course, it also says that if I say anything disparaging about the station, its sponsors, its vendors, or puppies1 that they can toss me and my contract off the roof of the building.
As you can imagine, this doesn't leave me much material left to work with. You know there is no end to my loathing of puppies2. But where I come across something that warrants my commentary that won't risk my paycheck, it appears that I am allowed to post it here.
I don't know how often that will be, if at all. But I wrote this, didn't I?
1 I am not really prohibited from disparaging puppies.
2 I do not really loathe puppies.
But I just got emailed an addendum to my contract about social networking. It says, "the Station recognizes Employee may use websites and blogs and social networks." It even capitalized "Employee."
Of course, it also says that if I say anything disparaging about the station, its sponsors, its vendors, or puppies1 that they can toss me and my contract off the roof of the building.
As you can imagine, this doesn't leave me much material left to work with. You know there is no end to my loathing of puppies2. But where I come across something that warrants my commentary that won't risk my paycheck, it appears that I am allowed to post it here.
I don't know how often that will be, if at all. But I wrote this, didn't I?
1 I am not really prohibited from disparaging puppies.
2 I do not really loathe puppies.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Signing Off
I got a new job and I don't want to blow it by saying something stupid on my blog. Actually, while that's true, my new employer requested that I shutter the blog. So this will be the last entry for a while — unless I find a different stupid way to become unemployed, which I will studiously attempt to avoid.
As much as I've enjoyed this outlet for my observations, opinions, photographs and even music, blogging has caused more trouble than it's worth. Honesty is not the best policy when writing about your job, or anything else that an employer could misconstrue as bad-mouthing or another bitter expression.
Even if it weren't a condition of employment, it would be wise for me to stop spouting my private thoughts to a public audience. I appreciate the freedom of expression, but it is not free, and the cost right now would be a job that I greatly look forward to doing.
So, goodbye for now. Thank you for reading.
As much as I've enjoyed this outlet for my observations, opinions, photographs and even music, blogging has caused more trouble than it's worth. Honesty is not the best policy when writing about your job, or anything else that an employer could misconstrue as bad-mouthing or another bitter expression.
Even if it weren't a condition of employment, it would be wise for me to stop spouting my private thoughts to a public audience. I appreciate the freedom of expression, but it is not free, and the cost right now would be a job that I greatly look forward to doing.
So, goodbye for now. Thank you for reading.
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