further signs o' the times

monday night as deadlines were approaching and fatigue was getting the best of me, one of our edit consoles started giving us pains. in a fit of avid crashing, rampant bin locks and frustration these are the names i assigned bins at midnight monday:

-new and different
-blow me
-you suck
-fuck you

sign o' the times

**the above pic (with me having all-time bad crazy cat lady hair) isn't from my current job. this is the post production staff from the defunct show "Life." one of the best jobs i've ever had. the man standing just to my left works with me on my current job, too. He is Rad.**

the job i'm working has resulted in some crazy work hours. today is day 11 in a row. not that impressive on it's own, but monday night i was at work until 1 am, tuesday until 3am. i've eating breakfast, lunch and dinner at my desk for a week. as is the norm with picture editing rooms, my office has no windows.
it's not my intention to set myself up as a martyr, just wanting to give context for what i did yesterday...

yesterday afternoon, as the hubub was dying down a little at work, i went on a coffee run to the starbucks across the street from the lot. it was 5pm. i grabbed my ID badge, some cash, and my sunglasses. i walked out the front door and into the dusk.

i just started laughing out loud.

between my work schedule and the time change last week, i'd completely missed out on the idea that the sun sets early now.

this weird little event just underscored how happy i am to be out from under the short short schedule of this last episode.

(also: i knew what the schedule was like before i took this job, so it's not as if i feel they're taking advantage of us. and we're union, so when we have work nutty hours, we are compensated, and well fed. :) )

rad thing of the day -- 1 week later

this has nothing to do with June Allyson, but i just came across this pic of her. it's a terrific pic, and she was fab. so.

these days i am working at a studio lot that abuts a recording studio. i walk by there on my way to lunch or the mailbox. people are often standing outside the front door, smoking or chatting.

last week as i was walking around the corner i looked up and was face to face with eric clapton.

!

as i continued walking down the sidewalk i thought "hey. that was eric clapton. and he's recorded this song...and worked with that person...and and and."
this was just a random sighting, but since moving to los angeles, and working in t.v. i've ended up working and crossing professional paths with so many people that i never imagined i'd meet.

three of these that stand out:
--david mamet: having been a theatre/film major in college, i'd read my fair share of his plays, so working with him on the pilot for "The Unit" was a pretty rad thing.

--bruce campbell: while we never met, we worked on "Burn Notice" together. i got to cut a few scenes that he was in. also very rad.

--jim scott: jim's a record producer. he worked on wilco's "being there" and "kicking television" as well as the "7 worlds collide" record. i worked with jim while he was mixing "kicking tv". i was the assistant picture editor on a concert film that that jim was mixing. although the concert film never got released (ala) i did get a short tour of the sunset sound recording studio (think neil young and led zeppelin).

i've got another great one coming up: the director who is slated to direct my next episode of "mercy" directed the movie, "rock n roll high school!" oh, i am bringing in my dvd for an autograph, to be sure. :D

additionally rad: the editor i'm assisting these days was an editor on "The X-Files." she edited one of the all time great episodes: "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." I have brought this up in conversation no fewer than 8 times already.

i love the mail

i came home last night to find some packages on my stoop. four (4!) records/cds had come in the mail!
pkg 1: wilco: the album and grizzly bear: vekatimest -- from a local radio station, thank you gifts from a recent pledge drive

pkg 2: yo la tengo: popular songs (new!) and an lp of their score to "adventureland"

i was too tuckered out from work (got home at 9:30) to give any of them a listen last night, but put them directly into my backpack for quality listening at the office today.

note: it is true that until last night i hadn't owned a copy of the latest wilco album. it came out june 30. this means that i haven't been to a record store in TWO MONTHS. what?! i work 2 blocks from amoeba in hollywood. of course, now that i have 4 new records, i don't need to go for awhile.

but still.

hmm.

enigmatic list baffles co-workers

sold
civilians
civil war
this afternoon
flag
leaning
fail me
progress
trampoline
...
god only knows

these words are on a buckslip propped up between the monitors on my desk. it's been there for a few weeks. it must have recently caught someone's attention b/c over the span of a couple days 4 people asked me what it meant.

it's a set list from a joe henry show a few months ago. when read not as a set list, but just a list, it is pretty obtuse. :)

i'm working a little later than expected tonight. nothing dramatic, but it made me think to update the desk posts...
changed the desktop images on my avid last night: on the left: allison (of SUPERSCHEIN) and brian standing in line outside the riviera in chicago last february during the wilco residency.
on the right: jeff tweedy during one of last year's letters to santa living room shows. that white square hanging from the mic stand is one of the printed pot-holders i made as a souvenier of the potluck & musical revue. :)
you can also see a "rampant badassery" sticker taped to the bottom of the left monitor. WORLD WIDE, YO!
both pics taken with my analog cam, by the way.

b/c it's a cool visual, here is a pic that is an overview of how i constructed the potholders:
from left to right:
1. gocco printed square (kind of lo-fi screen printing)
2. example of backing fabric
3. printed square, batting and backing during quilting process
4. a finished quilted square trimmed up
5. cloth strip to be used as binding
6. potholder with binding being turned to front & pinned
7. done! it's even got a loop at the corner.
the back row shows many of the different fabric combos i used. they're all pinned, waiting for the top stitching on the binding. i all i made 40 potholders in 16 different fabric combos. i took this pic standing on a chair in my sewing room.

for the potholders i used the same binding technique i use for my quilts. SEGUE! last night i made considerable progress sewing the binding on a kids' quilt that's been kicking around unfinished for about six years. i am THIS close to finishing it. last night i laid on the couch under it watching the colbert report. (if i've ever sewn or knit something for you, i have tried it on, or slept for a night or two with it on my bed. i just like to enjoy the finished project before sending it out in the world. note: i do NOT try on the baby stuff i make. nope.)

i've been laying pretty low the last few weeks: i was too sick to go out for awhile so i just got into the habit of spending evenings at home. all day yesterday i was thinking about going home to sew and check the blocking of roberta's scarf. tonight, i'm having to stay a little later at work, but i'm pining for the knitting needles. (say what you will.)
the only thing left to do on the aforementioned kids' quilt is to embroider a phrase, my signature, and the date on it. i like to use a phrase that is related to something going on when i finish the blanket. past phrases:
-"we can swim any day in november." from the postal service song, the district sleeps tonight. i finished the quilt right after thanksgiving. a thanksgiving i spent swimming in my friends' pool until 2am. brilliant. :) this was for nora.

-"this is the new year." from the death cab for cutie song, "the new year." i dated the quilt jan 6, 2006. it's not as obvious a choice as it sounds: jan 2005 started off with my sister in the hospital on life support. it was a statement of reclaiming the new year, dammit. i kept this quilt.

-"churro of understanding" is a reference to my friend moe's short film, "corndog of tolerance." i sent him a letter addressed to moe "churro of understanding" g. then i wrote a postcard to our mutal friends tiff & duane explaining the whole joke. this quilt went to tiff & duane for their son, barrett.

those might be the only ones...i used to just embroider them with the date and "Yvon."

totally unrelated, but truly cool: last weekend the western regional barista competition was held in l.a. (i was working, wtf?!). the top three spots were won by three of the guys who pull shots at intelligentsia. WOO! i am such a fan girl. i believe i blush when they slide those cappuccinos across the counter. *swoon* GO TEAM! last year's national championship was won by a barista at the los angeles branch of intelligentsia. (recently noticed that they've expanded their late hours to thursday! if i get out of here before 9:30p, think i'll head over. dude, it is 9pm now. there is no way i'm getting out of here in time. ahh, well: overtime, yo.)