Long Thanksgiving weekend...

This Thanksgiving holiday weekend was just what I needed....most of it anyways.  

Sweatshirt and hat to work!!!

My festivities kicked off when I was the only on in the office on Wednesday.  The whole of the other side of the office was gone...either out of town, or out sick.  My boss had a really important and time consuming doctor's appointment for her daughter, so she was out as well.  The only reason I was there was because she was expecting a call from the studio about one of her projects.  

They called, but not with any significant news.  Even though the phone only rang twice (once from the studio, and once from my boss checking to see if the studio had called) it was a very productive day for me personally.  Knowing that I was going to be the only one in the office, I brought my trusty laptop and did some writing. 

Feet kicked up...writing...at the office!

I put on some music, kicked my feet up, and wrote.  And yes, I wore a sweatshirt and a hat to work...and yes, I parked in my boss' spot right out front of the bungalow...and yes, I got to leave at1:00pm.  It was a GREAT kickoff to the long weekend!!!  After work I went to the movies and saw LINCOLN...and it was really good.  I love Daniel Day Lewis (he's the actor who played President Abe himself)  He's such a great character actor (which means he only plays characters...you'll never see him in the role of a regular guy)...he's so good, he could probably play Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr...if it wasn't so offensive for him to do so.  But I digress. 

The only con of the day was picking up a friend of my and taking him to the airport...he neglected to mention that his flight was leaving at 6 p.m. instead of 6 a.m...when I initially came to pick him...then of course I had to go back to his house in that evening.  Words of wisdom, don't say 'pick me up at 5:45am' followed by 'I'll get you some coffee.'

My boss' parking spot...mine for the day

Thanksgiving day was great...mostly.  Volunteering was (as always) fun for me.  I met an elderly  lady who used to volunteer with the Homeless Ministry at the church, and had her daughter drop her off so she could volunteer again.  Well, her age hindered her from doing much volunteering, but we became fast friends and I kept an eye out for her the entire time.   When cleaning was done, and the guests had gone, she was still here.  Her daughter had not come back, the lady couldn't remember her phone number, and no one knew how to get in contact with her. She kept saying "Please don't leave me until my daughter gets here"...and how could I, after her request?

Long story short, I (and a couple other people) stayed and waited with her...one couple even offered to take her home (as she did manage to remember the address).  Just as we were getting her into the car, her daughter pulled up and thankfully she got home ok.   I was a bit upset because there's no way I would leave my grandma, or mom, or aunt or god mother, or anyone up in age, anywhere. 

Thanksgiving Sides

Thanksgiving Turkey breast...Yum!

That ordeal, though I was glad to be of help to the nice, elderly lady, made my Thanksgiving dinner with Chicago delayed.  But, even though we started late, we had a good time, with good food, good conversation and a good football game...(Patriots vs. Jets)  And I have to say, my turkey breast was quite tasty!

The rest of the days were filled with rest, shopping, movies, hanging out and putting up my Christmas tree and balcony lights.  I good few days indeed.  

My Tiny Christmas Tree

I should be crawling into bed right now to get ready for tomorrow's back at work...but I'm just too nice.   An hour ago I picked up the same friend at the Burbank Airport.  In about 5 minutes, I'll be going to pick up Delaware from LAX...and I'm not too happy about it.  Especially since I asked her before she left if she needed a ride back, and she was like No, I"m taking the Supershuttle.  Yeah, until yesterday when she texted to see if I could come get her instead.  Ugh.  I guess it's my own fault for saying yes.  

My festive balcony

Oh well, this long weekend is almost over, and like the preacher talked about today in church, I won't dwell on things I can't change.  But...I will press on.

We will play...

Delaware and I playing Ping Pong!

You know the old saying...when the cat's away, the mice will play!  Well, when the bosses are gone, we play ping pong!!!

Delaware's side of the company just finished wrapping production on a sitcom that will air in January.  Because they are the executive producers, they get some perks...like confiscating a ping pong table used in the show.   While I don't often get to relish in their goodies, this one is for the office and it is fun!  (And I'm better at it than I remember!)

The last few nights, after the bosses have gone, we roll out the ping pong table from the copy room and play!!!  This week, it has been what I look forward to.  We crank up the music, roll out the table and hang out.

Tomorrow I will be the only one in the office...so there will probably be no ping pong for me. The Creative Director left yesterday, the Big Bosses will be out of the office starting tomorrow.  Delaware will be on a plane back East at 6am, the other assistant was out sick today and won't be in tomorrow, and my boss has to take her daughter for genetic testing (which takes up a half a day).

I will only have to be there half a day, but it will only be me.  I don't really mind actually.  I mean being the only one in the office is nice!  I do it every morning.  I look forward to the quiet and tomorrow I plan on bringing in my laptop to get some writing done; I doubt the phone will ring much, if at all.   Besides that...I could be unemployed, so I dare not complain when I'll get paid to sit in a quiet room with ample time to write for a half day...getting paid for a full one.  It is truly a blessing.

I'm watching the classic "To Kill A Mockingbird" and working at writing...this is nice...and I press on. 

"Pre-GIving" Activities

The week was pretty quiet, but things picked up once the weekend arrived.

Saturday, after waking up early to try and avoid too much bustle at the grocery store, I spent some time with my tutee.  since I can't spend the required hours with her, I am no longer her 'official' tutor, but we continue to meet.  We usually just talk, so she can work on her English speaking skills, and lately, I've been giving her (what I think are) fun assignments.

I bring a movie (or pick out one from the library) for her to watch and make her write a one page synopsis.  This particular week was the first mostly coherent paper that she turned in.  It had quite a few flaws, but it was the best one she's completed to date.  To her credit, she completed her first paper on INCEPTION, which would have been hard for anyone, not to mention someone who's first language is not English.  One of her other attempts was for DIRTY DANCING.  It was better...but she still didn't grasp the whole story.  This one was for JUMPING THE BROOM, and it was much, much better.   She felt good about herself, which made me feel good about her improvements.

Saturday night I went to the first 'Pre-giving' celebration with Delaware and her friends and it was very fun...even without being drunk (which everyone else was).  I brought corn pudding, better known to this group as 'crack bread' because they just can't get enough...and this batch was a particularly good batch and was a big hit.  After dinner, we split up into teams and played 'charades'...and even though some people got a bit too competitive, it was a good time.

Sunday morning was supposed to be spent at the barn, but it has been raining here for the past three days or so (which I love!) and so conditions at the barn were not ideal.  Unfortunately I ended up just spending the morning in, even though I was now able to go to church.  It's bad, but I convinced myself that since I'd already hear the sermon for today last week (It was a week when the Pastor would be on the East coast and he would be preaching via video...and I was on camera last week and taped it) that it would be ok if I lounged around the house.  I know, it's bad, but it was nice.

Sunday afternoon and evening, I went to the second 'Pre-Thanksgiving' dinner at my co-worker's home. It was very nice of him to invite me and I had a really nice time.  His party had way more people than the previous night's festivities, and a good amount of toddlers/babies running around.  He's married with a 4 year old, so his friends are mostly the same...and about 95% were in the TV industry, so the conversation was a lot like being at work.  But again, it was fun and the 'crack bread' was a big hit.

Tomorrow starts a new week, but it looks like it will be a very quiet and very short one.   My boss has doctor's appointments all day on Wednesday with her daughter, Delaware and the Creative Exec on her side won't be in on Wednesday, and there's a rumor going around that Wednesday could be a half day. (Here's hoping!!!)  Till then...I press on.

PS--(Nerd Alert) I just saw an advertisement for "Treksgiving"...a Star Trek marathon on Thanksgiving, and I'm excited!  Although, I am supposed to be at a friend's house after the morning of volunteering with Feeding the Homeless and she's not into sci-fi anything.  Maybe she'll have pity on me and let me watch there as we cook and fellowship!

Drama!

There was some drama yesterday...not particularly the kind I like, but not like previous week's drama in the hospital.  This drama was based around one of the writers my boss is working with and how the studio is basically being a little shady with him.

There are 3 basic steps in developing a show before a script for the pilot is even written.
 1.  The pitch - where the writer and producers go and tell the executives what the story is all about.
 2.  Story area document - where the writer does a 2 page treatment with a little more detail than the pitch
 3.  The Outline - The writer expands the 2 pages to 10-12 pages with even more detail.

All of which get scrutinized by the studio/network and sometimes making the writer do the documents several times over.  Which has been the case with this writer.

Long story short, after making him do revision after revision after revision of the second step, they want him to pair up with another writer because they say he just isn't getting it.  Well, to this writer that is both an insult and an embarrassment...and boy did he let my boss know it.

From about 4:00pm yesterday until my boss left at 6:30pm, we were on several calls with him cussing people out and them (my boss and the other bosses) trying to console him.  After it all, (I'm pretty sure) my boss was crying because she felt so bad for him.   It is a precarious situation, and him being the artsy type, didn't make anything better for his emotional breakdown.

Ah well, it made for an interesting afternoon...we'll see what pops up today.   I press on!

Uneventful Days...

The past few days have been quite uneventful...and I suppose that's ok, except it doesn't much help in making an interesting post.

I sat here staring at this computer screen trying to think of something noteworthy to write that recently happened...after 10 minutes, I got nothing.

Maybe something will happen today...perhaps over the weekend as I do have some interesting plans.  Stay tuned...I press on.

Victory!

Yesterday, after waking up super early, standing in line (though a short one) and completing my civic duty by exercising my right to vote, I prepared for the day's doctor's visits and tests.

To be honest, I wasn't terribly nervous and I went to get the tests with no jitters or butterfly friends flying around in my stomach.  Now, the actual test was not pleasant at all!  So when they told me all was well and they would see me when I was 40, I was like, "I don't know if you'll see me then...This was not fun."  I was pretty much violated by a machine!  The ultrasound wasn't too bad.  Though, for both tests I had to go back in the rooms and repeat parts of the tests after they spoke with my doctor.  (It is really convenient to have everything in one place...they just called down or maybe even walked up there to ask questions.  It makes everything so much quicker.)

(The only thing I don't like about the facility is the $11.00 parking ticket, for which they DON'T validate!  Ugh, I sound so LA...but it's true.   You have to pay to park nearly EVERYWHERE that isn't in the Valley.)

Back to the issue at hand....though part of me felt like a hypochondriac (since this is the second 'episode' that has caused me to get medical attention where it turned out nothing was wrong with me) I was very grateful for the prognosis.

The rest of the day was pretty normal...and besides some election talk in the office...pretty quiet.

So, VICTORY!  This little issue is in my past, and again I am healthy (though obviously I always was).  Thank you to those who offered up prayers and concern...and who always have my back.

Perhaps now I can get it in turbo gear and get some writing done!  I press on.

October...November...

October has ended and November has arrived...and I'd love to tell of all the wonderfully interesting things that happened during the changing of the months that kept me from updating the blog...I'd love to, but that won't happen today as nothing neither wonderful, nor interesting happened since the last post.   My days are pretty low key which is fine (for now) because unlike my low key days of the past, I'm getting paid for these.

I will say that my boss and I have been chatting a bit more.  Perhaps it's because she asks more questions now that she knows about the accident or maybe it's because we go off on more tangents when talking about work.  Which ever it is, it's nice.  I mean, most of the day I mind my business and she minds hers, but it's nice to have a bit of a break in parts of the day.

This week however, I do hope to capitalize on 'my' time more, because I've got some personal writing goals that have either already passed or are quickly approaching with the year coming to an end.  I've prayed for something to happen, and yet I have not done everything I can to insure that I am prepared for it when it comes (as I am believing it will).  I have no one to blame but me.  BUT I've always been better at the start and finish of something than the middle...so, I will let that fuel me to finish what I need to get finished in the short amount of time I have left.

Tomorrow is, along with Election Day, a day that brings me a little bit of worry.

(OK, Election Day doesn't much worry me, because at the end of the day, I believe God's will will be done.  I'd be a shifty Christian [at best] if I thought everything rests on what 'We The People' do (or do not do for that matter).  I don't really talk politics because I believe it's your right to believe what you believe, and it's not always particularly relationship building to voice opinions on such matters... I have blocked people's news feeds on my FB account because they just go too far with spouting their views, that, outside of FB they would likely keep to themselves.

That said, I really wish I hadn't changed my voter registration to CA...I care more about what's happening in FL than in CA.  So...after tomorrow, I will re-register in FL.  I mean, that was the only 'legal' thing I've done since living here.  I still have a FL driver's license, FL tag, FL phone number, and up until just a few months ago, I still had FL health insurance.  So, I might as well change it back, right ;))

Back to the day that brings me some worry.  At my Dr. appointment last week, something was found and so I have to go for additional tests tomorrow.  My heart believes all will be fine and everything will come out favorably...it's my mind that acts shady sometimes, causing worry, however small.  But again, I believe God's will will be done.  So, prayers requested that all will turn out fine.

I did see two movies this weekend:  WRECK IT RALPH and FLIGHT.  I really enjoyed both, and the latter surprisingly talks about God's Will and how HE orchestrates things for a purpose.  It was really good and I would say go see it!  (Though I am a bit biased since Denzel Washington plays the lead...and he really can do no wrong in my book!)  Wreck It Ralph was really cute, so even if you're not into animated movies, I would say check it out.

Off to the next part of the day...hopefully something really interesting will happen today that I can share tomorrow!  I press on.