Interviewing

After completing my demo reel last week, I applied to a bunch of listings off of Craigslist for editing/video internships and got a few callbacks. One of them was from Essence magazine, another from a boutique marketing firm called iconceptmedia. I don't know if it's supposed to be one word or not.

I met with Essence on Monday. Essence magazine is part of Time Inc, and their main office is in midtown manhattan, at the southern border of Central Park. There are a few media offices on that street, including NBC studios in Rockefeller Center. The Time building is big, with a few different Time publications on each floor. Essence was on the fourth. To get in I had to show my ID at the ground floor desk, take the elevator up which opened to a closed off hall, and then call an extension on a red phone to get let into the office. I got a kick out of the whole process. The woman who originally contacted me let me in, and she turned out to be an assistant to the producer. I waited in the reception area for a while, which was fairly swanky. I felt a little self-conscious and out of my element.

I spoke with the producer, a woman in her thirties named Dorothy who was friendly. Essence.com has a TV channel and they have a lot of extra footage that needs to be cut. Then she explained the pay schedule, I'd be put on a 2 week unpaid trial period to see how I fit in with the crew, and after that I'd be paid ideally 350-400 per week to assist the team, for a period of 6 weeks or so. She also said they worked a lot of hours. I met the crew, three directors who all seemed younger than I was by a few years, but were apparently really talented. She asked me to come in later in the week to speak with the director of the online division and I said goodbye.

On Tuesday I met with the marketing company, which was renting some space in Laguardia college in Queens. It took me a while to get there on the train, and then walking through a college building to get to their space was confusing with all the kids walking around. I kept wondering if I was in the right spot. I found their office eventually, which was a couple of rooms. Two people worked in one, and the CEO was in another. He had no idea who I was (I was scheduled by an assistant who was nowhere to be found) and someone else was scheduled at the same time, which I thought was a little careless. That feeling carried over through the interview, as he pitched his company's vision: an online fashion network, featuring up and coming designers as well as the established, with lots of videos and original content, set to launch in November. He said a lot of business idioms like "build from the ground up" that I found distracting. I wasn't very confident in his ability to build an audience and monetize the site, and wasn't buying how original and different it was going to be. And I didn't believe it was as great an opportunity as he said it was.

He wasn't offering any money, asked if I could shoot for him with my own camera, edit at home on my system b/c they hadn't gotten proper equipment yet, and then recommended I get an income so I could keep doing work for him. I felt like it was exploitation, and the idea that talented people would put themselves out like this made me a little upset. It probably showed in my face because he kept implying I didn't seem interested enough. I wanted to talk about how sad it is that you can squeeze people for all their worth by dangling some abstract incentive in their future, but didn't think it a prudent move. I thanked him and went on my way. Jess later responded when I mentioned my anger, "this is how things are done in NY." Damn.

On Thursday I got a callback from a staffing agency, which had posted an ad for an executive assistant to a prominent producer. I thought it might be a good connection and I sent in my resume. I went in to see them at 2, and man it was a sad scene in that office. Lots of people who looked like sadder versions of me, sitting in their suits looking for work. Of course I thought I was too cool for that place. Being here has reminded me that I have an EGO, haha. Anyway, they made me fill out a whole bunch of forms; it felt like applying to a mix of Target and H&R Block. I was sent to a computer room to test my microsoft word and excel skills (apparently I'm a regular user) and typing speed (104 WPM and no mistakes!). I eventually spoke with the recruiter at 3:30. The whole process took an hour and a half! My big ego was offended.

Then she told me the assistantship gig was for FRANK MILLER, author of the Dark Knight Returns and Sin City and 300 and general graphic novel God Amongst Ants. My disposition made a 180. Hell yeah I'll get book flights for Frank Miller. They wanted someone who was interested in production, and said the previous assistant had moved on to work on one of his projects. It sounded great, and I said I was down, and she said she'd pass on my resume. I came out thinking what a city, where you can hook up with Frank Miller on Craigslist?!

I'm not too hopeful about that potential gig b/c I signed in with about 8 other people applying for that same job, and I think the listing had been posted several weeks ago, so they have lots of people to choose from. Who wouldn't want to work for Frank Miller's projects when graphic novel film adaptations are so hot right now?

I went back and spoke with the Essence director on Friday. This is one of the directors of the site, high on the food chain guy. He was very frank and decisive. I asked him about the site and future employment and his job experience and he was frank about everything. "You're in spring training" he said. "Trying out for the team." Afterwards I spoke with the producer again, and she reiterated how much work it was going to be. Election night is an overnight at the magazine. She made it sound like generally I was going to work through dinner. But she also said after 6 weeks my reel will have a lot of celebrities and that I'll always be able to get a job b/c of it.

I left feeling pretty good, if not overwhelmed. I'm typing this in bed right now, Jess asleep beside me–it's 4 a.m. I'm just excited I guess. I start my new gig with them on Monday.

Walking across the Manhattan Bridge

Today I decided to go into Chinatown to get my hair cut. I thought it'd be fun to walk instead of taking the train, crossing over the Manhattan Bridge to get into Manhattan. It took me about 15 minutes to get to the bridge, and then I took the pedestrian walkway, which looks like this:


It took about 10 minutes to cross the bridge. I was going at a pretty brisk pace, because I was meeting Jess after she got off work to sit before her class at 6:20. Here are some pictures from the view of the bridge:


Once I got into Manhattan you could see lots of graffiti on the rooftops:


I made it into Chinatown and got a haircut from an older woman. They are mostly Cantonese in Chinatown, but she spoke a bit of Mandarin and I did my best to talk to her. The haircut was only $8. Woohoo!

I started walking North to meet Jessica. On the way I picked up some dumplings. They sell pot stickers 5 for a dollar, which hits the spot. I got some vegetarian ones for jess too. While walking I heard someone yelling '10 dollar, 10 dollar! bike 10 dollar!' A man was trying to sell his bike on the street. I have thought about getting a bike, and 10 dollars was too good of a deal to pass up, so I stopped him and bought the bike. Take a look, can you believe I got it for so cheap?



I met with Jess later and she laughed at my on-road purchase. I gave her the dumplings and we talked a bit before she had to go to class. Then I biked over to the Franklin D Roosevelt highway where people jog and bike along the coast. I found an area with bars and things where people were working out, and I stopped in and did some pullups and pushups. Eventually, I biked back across the bridge home. A good trip!

feeling significance

standing on the sidewalk outside my building and staring up at my newly empty second story apartment i feel it a bit, the feeling of significance. moving everything out my apartment was significant, driving my things down to brooklyn is significant. renting out my place is significant. tonight, in the quiet of my friends condo, when i am finally alone, i feel it a little more, this is significant. my life should be significant.

Moving continued

Everything's been moved out of my condo and as far as I know, my tenant has moved in. I spoke with her briefly on Friday night and left her a desk and my mattress, which I was unable to sell. The rest of the apartment was empty. I didn't have much time to look around and take in the change. I'm in a slight state of shock/disbelief that it's all done.

Late Friday night Jeffrey and I drove his sister's car down with all of my stuff in it. We left around midnight, and arrived close to four in the morning. Surprisingly, Jess was awake. I found her cleaning the bathroom. The apartment was very muggy and hot. We moved everything in, and talked for a few in that early morning hour while we showered. Jeff replaced my shower head with one he had bought me and we went to sleep. In the morning I woke up around 10. Jeff showered and we noticed that the sink was leaking. He mentioned that there was something wrong with the shower, that the pressure was erratic. It appeared he broke the shower's pipe when he replaced the old head. That meant we had to call someone to take down the tile and replace it. What a headache!

So this morning someone is supposed to be fixing it. Poor Jess has to use the bath and splash water on herself instead of showering. Yesterday after eating lunch with Jess I drove back to Northborough to visit my father. I made it in time to see my brother play with his band in a restaurant.

Moving

I"m often unmotivated to write, right when I have the time to do it. Usually it helps to do a little reading, and then I'm right again. It's like reading something good reminds me what I might do with writing.

Much has happened in the last week. I decided to move to New York, and have since put in my resignation at work, and rented out my apartment. Jess looked for apartments in New York, while I showed my own in Boston. I came down this weekend to help her look, and decided on a small two bedroom unit in an area both of us like. The rent is very reasonable, and we have our own yard and an extra room. The living room area is not as large as we'd like it to be (it's a living area combined with kitchen that looks just like a big kitchen), but I think it's a fair compromise. We wrote our checks and sat in the bedroom after they left, excited at the possibilities. I really enjoyed it.

I got a call later from my friend who's acting as my real estate/property manager. He told me he rented it out to a woman who works with autistic children in Newton. I have until Saturday to sell all my things and empty out the apartment. It's so soon! Right now it is a very full house in there, with lots of furniture and things.

Before my tenant moves in I have to:

Packing:
-my clothes into garbage bags and move them to a friend's place
-my computer and electronic equipment:
video and digital camera
audio mixer and microphone, and midi keyboard
Cancel:
Electricity
Cable

Alert:
Condo Management Company
City of Boston

Weekend Retreat

This weekend my arts collective held a retreat at the home of one of its members. The purpose of the retreat was to bring up some energy behind the group so we can start putting together some great events again. Some of the things we've done in the past include a response show to Miss Saigon and a national Spoken Word Summit, a three day weekend where asian american poets and writers from across the country came to boston for workshops and community.

There were 9 of us there, and we began by writing down our introductions into the group and our favorite moments. I first met the group during the Miss Saigon response show, and one of my favorite events was a concert with an independent rock band. We wrote these down on nametag stickers and shared them with the rest of the group. After lunch, we made a giant timeline, with a sticker for every event we'd done. When we finished, we placed our own nametags with our personal choices on there, and mapped out our course through the organization with string. It was an interesting way of looking at the organization.



We came up with some goals for the future and ended the day with a BBQ and poker. I got home shortly after midnight, feeling tired but happy with the day's events.

***

My First Migraine

Yesterday I played basketball after work, at a local park near my apartment. The sunlight seemed extraordinarily bright, and I felt a strain in my eyes. I continued to play and didn't think much of it. Soon the pain in my eyes drove its way back and I felt a tightening in my head. It was uncomfortable, but not unbearable. I filled up my water bottle and drank more, thinking it was just dehydration. After another game, it started hurting worse, and I called it a day. On the way home I stopped by the supermarket to pick up some meat, and it continued to get worse. As I walked back home the weight from my groceries felt very heavy, and my head was in immense pain. I bought a nutritious shake from another grocery store near my place and swallowed it down, thinking my body might be starved of healthy nutrients. When I got home, I prepared some rice and jumped in the shower. I poured my self several glasses of water.

After my shower the pain began to subside, and I prepared dinner. I made chicken breast stir-fried w/mix vegetables, and poured it along w/some black beans on to a large mound of brown rice. I ate and thankfully began to feel much better. I finished my meal with some ice cream, and lay down on the couch relieved.

I read about migraine today online and it looks like it's what I had yesterday. I'm not sure if you get them, but apparently they are more common for women than they are for men. Light sensitivity can be one of the causes/symptoms. And they can last up to 72 hours! Thankfully that was not the case for me. I don't ever want that to happen again.

I woke up early yesterday morning, around 6am. The sun was barely past the horizon, and I took the opportunity to take a walk outside with my camera and snap some photos. I took the train to Boston University, and took some photos of the Martin Luther King memorial.



Then I went to the esplanade by the Charles river. It was a beautiful morning. People were rowing kayaks down the river, and joggers/bikers were on the esplanade getting their early exercise. I really liked being out there, and hoped to make it a regular thing, but this morning I didn't want to get out of bed when the alarm hit, and woke up much later around 8:45.


Boston along the river

I learn a little each time I take the camera out. I'm discovering how light will translate in the frame, and am thinking about making images more dynamic, so they seem to 'pop' off the page. I know this is helping my eye and will translate well to film. I've thought a little about filming and would like to do some video projects before the summer's end.

If you want to see the photos that I like, you can visit see them here: http://flickr.com/photos/11507905@N07/. I will try to update that regularly.