What I Did On My Winter Break

I've made the observation that everytime I get laid off, the next job I get is better than the last. I'm wondering now if my next job is 100% freelance. Self employed. That would certainly trump the normal 9-5, 40 hour a week day job, merely because your schedule is flexible. That is the ultimate freedom, to have control over your schedule, and decide how much you want to work.

In my case, I want to work at my old job, but just not in a 9-to-5 capacity. So there I was, about 6 weeks after being laid off, sitting in the same chair in the same edit suite. It's like I took a winter break and back to work I go. I enjoyed the sense of fulfillment, having surfed through the initial "what to do?" phase, and finding my place in the world.

Having my creative batteries recharged, I still have energy to bang out these home projects, only having to divert to paying jobs a few hours a week. Here is a partial list of things I accomplished in the last six weeks:


1. Went to see "Children of Men", "Blood Diamond", "Pan's Labyrinth", and "Apocalypto". These films rival "Dawn of the Dead" in graphic depictions of violence and torture, with intense scenes of gore. All of these films would be better served not to go over the top with the violence to the point we are desensitised (I haven't even scene "Letters from Iwo Jima" yet).
2. I did NOT see "Rocky 18", "Bad Date Epic Dumb Movie", "The Good Shepherd"(wait for DVD).
3. Rented "Jesus Camp" (brainwashing kids - disturbing), "Jackass: 2"(just had to see ... had to see...), and "Da Vinci Code"(didn't read book - didn't excite me).
4. Went on vacation to New Mexico, read a couple books.
5. Climbed a mountain(well..about 3/4 up).
6. Partied with many old friends. Vowed to stay in touch.
7. Slept too much and ate too much.
8. Cover band i'm in played two successful gigs.
9. Did some subject photography (taking a break from the vidi)
10. Mapped out a concept video based on my blog, called "Thread of Mind". It will present my autobiography in a lyrical way.
11. Tediously backed up all the latest music and video I have collected recently.
12. Listened to massive amounts of music.
13. Loaded in my computer all the individual pieces of video and sound for an abandoned feature film "Acid Snow".
14. Painstakingly began to restore the soundtrack from about 40 hours of source audio tape for the film.
15. Started a blog and still trying to keep it going.
16. and, oh yeah. Tried to look for a job.