And why is that old woman smiling? Because the final version of The TV Show just made it safely to YouTube. Because the old woman is drinking a strawberry daiquiri on the patio. Because it was 79°. Because the old woman had enough free time to play with post-processing a photo.
All that remains to be done on the TV Show is to spiff up the closed captions.
Gratitude
grateful for warm fall evenings.
life and coronavirus #230
I ordered lunch today since they had smoked salmon sandwich on the menu. When it arrived some assembly was required. Not complaining. It was excellent. Enjoy every sandwich.
looking for the light – that’s not my smudgy iPad.
This really is THE LIGHT. The light at the end of the tunnel that might be a train.
This morning, all nine chunks of video came together into a 28 minute long TV Show. If I don’t make the opening bell tomorrow, they can show what’s already on YouTube and not be embarrassed.
The client watched all 28 minutes. She even made her husband watch it. She came to the office and we sat in one of the public spaces on the floor and decided what needed to be tweaked or corrected. I did the easy stuff. Saving the hard stuff for tomorrow morning when I have more functioning brain cells.
Gratitude
How can I not be grateful that the TV show is almost done? And, it completely distracted me from the dismal state of our country.
Maybe I should call myself “The First Rodeo Production Company”
I escaped for a little air and exercise this morning while the office was being cleaned. (Elizabeth cleaned all of the Old Bat Cave) The Pixel 2XL still does good work as a camera. And it even makes phone calls.
The Old Bat Cave under construction ca 1985The Old Bat Cave – took this photo when I moved in in 2015.
Gratitude
Grateful for cheese, beer, and bacon. Also coffee and chocolate. I consider these “mental health” foods.
Still looking for my video editing miracle that will make everything magically come together. The MacBook is keeping it together. Me not so much.
Sort of an ordinary sunrise to start my 6th year as a resident of The Asylum. Yes, I have lived here 5 years. I moved in too soon. But, I just wanted it over. And, I made wonderful friends. That would have been harder if I had waited until it was “time”. And, the rent here is cheaper than it was at the old apartment. Knowing what I know now, I still would have moved in when I did. Quarantine, lockdown, and all.
The view from “My Office”.
Something caught fire. Didn’t see anything about it on the local news blog – so – it must not have been too serious. And, I didn’t see any flames.
Gratitude
Grateful that the MacBook made it through another editing session. The client wanted to know how we would tie everything together – I told her that “a miracle will occur”.
life and coronavirus #229
The guards tried to amuse the inmates with “Dinosaur Games”. We were not amused. Booze would have been more effective. I took this picture from the office. My client is one of the dinosaurs. That is one hell of an “other duties as may be required” employment clause.
The sun now comes up south of the cooling tower. Autumn is well underway.
Gratitude
Lots to be grateful for today. The MacBook behaved. I played hooky from TV production long enough to enjoy a companionable Tequila Sunrise on the patio. I was never a fan of boat drinks until Covid.
Yes, the computer behaved today. But, I was very nice to it. I didn’t try to run a VM session, and Final Cut Pro, and maybe fire up Google’s piggie browser at the same time. And, I continue to render sections of my production as I go along.
Good news: The TV show will be shown at 1:30 on Wednesday afternoon. I will hope for a fire drill and/or splendid weather so the audience will be small. The fewer people that tune in the better. Unfortunately, it will be on YouTube as well. But, a week from now, for better or worse, it will be finished.
OK, looking back, the MacBook Pro has been behaving a little less than Pro-like since it stopped in the middle of Zoom yoga last week. But, I really need for it to keep it together until I get my TV show wrapped. I did render out all of my clips and stashed them on an external drive. That way, I can beg or borrow a Macbook and finished the job using iMovie.
Lots of computer issues around The Asylum this week. Except for me, everyone’s problems are with the WiFi.
life and coronavirus #227
We get dinner in green plastic boxes. We get soup in white plastic buckets. Sometimes we get apples. One of my neighbors decided to put them on the floor in our elevator lobby. We are not all fully functional beings.
Gratitude
Grateful for another adventure-filled day. But, maybe tomorrow my computer will behave nicely. I don’t need but so much adventure.
The first day of autumn. All of spring. All of summer. And now autumn. I should be getting better at this crap. But, I don’t think I am.
Just now stopped working on editing the TV show. And it is almost 8PM. That would be a 12 hour day for me. I did take an hour for lunch. So only eleven hours. And the commute is short.
In a way, it is like I have my old life back. I have 8+ hours of work. I cook my own dinner. I go to yoga classes. And, bottom line is I really like working. I was always amazed that people would pay me to do something that was as much fun as slinging code or wrangling data. And editing video is a lot like coding. You have to be consistent and fussy.
This morning I decided that it would be a good idea to combine the four segments that I have been working on. See if my MacBook could render it, see if I could get it to YouTube, and see if the woman that runs our inhouse TV channel can use it. Happy to report that everything worked.
Gratitude
Grateful for the hot shower, cozy bed, and audiobook that are waiting for me as soon as I post this. Maybe a nice cup of coffee too.
So much for the Last Day of Summer. Summer 2020 was a bit of a bummer!
Mālama pono
For a short while every September, the sun comes up over the cooling tower of the building across the street. That tower drives some of my neighbors crazy. They say it obstructs the view. I prefer considering it a feature. My own personal Stone Henge, faithfully marking late September.
I avoided thinking or reading or listening or watching anything political today. Diligently worked on my video project. Considering my audience, I decided to learn about captioning. YouTube “auto-captions” badly.
Gratitude
Grateful that I am not bored. I don’t think that is right. Don’t think I can be grateful for something that I am not. Grateful that I have a project to keep me busy. Very busy. That’s better.
Playing with the sun coming in my window early this morning. It was under 50°. Way too cool for me.
I moped about Justice Ginsburg today. I fear that the horrors that I think are likely after the election no matter who wins will be even worse. And, they might not wait until after Nov 3 to start. Seriously considering immigration. It isn’t easy when you are old. Most countries don’t want old people.
I guess I should just sit in my chair and record the end of American “civilization” outside my window. Much like Pliny the Younger recorded the eruption of Mt Vesuvius in 79AD.
Still working on getting my 30 minute TV show together. And, I don’t even have a TV. This will most likely be the first and last 30-minute video that I ever edit. I am wondering how long it will take the MacBook to render the final product. I have been building it in 3-6 minute chunks. Final Cut Pro is an unbelievable piece of software.
Gratitude
Grateful for our Dining Service. I complain mightily about the food. But, honestly, it is hard to complain about an operation that will deliver 4 ounces of rare beef filet to your door every single day at dinner time. With the addition of a little of this and that one has steak and eggs, beef and broccoli, steak salad, wildly enhanced vegetable soup, a Philly steak and cheese, the list is endless.
This was from Earth Day 2019 – but it seems even more compelling during Rosh Hashanah 2020. I celebrate anyone’s holiday if it involves food.
Another busy day editing video. It is going to be amateurish. But, seems to me that you shouldn’t spend your donors’ money creating a 30 minute “thank you” video. Especially a video that almost no one is going to watch, either on in-house tv or on YouTube. The only good thing is that most of the audience have failing eyesight and hearing,
But, as Carlton would say “If you think you are having fun, you are having fun.”
Gratitude
RIP RBG. Peace and comfort. Grateful to have lived in her era.
Still on a political bent. In the US, threatened cult leaders usually end badly. David Koresh and Jim Jones come to mind. The Orange Lord is a cult leader. He is under threat. You have every right to be concerned. He does have the nuclear codes.
Peg – 1968 – Kunia Tunnel.3 drunks and a cat. – early ’90sCarlton on oil can horse – Medora ND 1997Carlton 1994 wearing “The Jacket”.Peg – New Zealand mid-’80s.
Hey, I am an old lady. I am entitled to a little wander back to way back when. All film time. The first one was a Polaroid. The others whatever Kodacolor print film I could afford.
