Fitting In

A lot has happened since last I updated this blog, mostly a lot of working and a lot sleeping. I joke that I really only have two speeds, work and sleep. I get home from work, collapse on my bed, wake up, repeat. But my dedication is paying off and I'm beginning to feel more comfortable both at home and at work. I've had several conversations with people on the crew, where they've asked me if we've worked together on something before. "I don't think so," I'll reply. "Did you work on 30 Rock?" They'll ask. "Nope." "Criminal Intent." "Nope, this is actually my first job." "Really?!?!" It's encouraging that I've got people fooled, but it's also now a bit nerve-wracking that I may now be called on to know more than I actually do.

Work is cruising right along, tomorrow is Day 35 of 50, the home stretch. The final couple of weeks are broken up nicely. This past week we had Veterans Day fall smack dab in the middle to split up the week. Now we've got a full slate, but then next week we're on two days and then off four for Thanksgiving. By then we'll only have nine days left. And as far as the actual movie itself, we've been doing some pretty awesome stuff lately, including explosions and green screens. Through it all, we've shot in Brooklyn and Queens and couple of days in Manhattan. I've traveled pretty much every train line the city has to offer, and I've walked hundreds of streets. So in a way, work has forced me to become a better New Yorker.

That was something I suppose I had taken for granted until I was walking around with my brother yesterday. We got off the subway at Union Square, in hopes of hitting up the farmers' market there. No luck. So we walked a little ways up Broadway till we got to the Flatiron District. I had passed the Flatiron building on one of my epic, pre-The Sitter walks from the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum to Union Square. But my brother made a comment about how he only knew the Flatiron building from the old Spiderman video game we used to play. He felt bad that he hadn't really been around New York much, granted he's working an office job and travels most weekends.

So I'm thankful that work has basically forced me to get out of my apartment and see the city. As far as the development of my specific job as the paperwork PA, like I said, I'm beginning to fit in. I've developed a pretty solid routine and I know what is expected of me, when and where I need to be. I'm accruing more downtime by being more efficient with my uptime. I've, of course, been reminded that not all jobs will be like this and I've been lucky to have really nice Best Boys (the second-in-commands for each department, who I have to get the manpower for each day). But as my dad reminded me, I am the maker of my own luck. As long as I bring a positive attitude and confidence to my job, they'll be more accommodating, because at the end of the day they'll know that my job is important to them getting paid and if they blow me off, there will be problems with their paychecks.

Inevitably, on my next project, this will all have to repeat itself, but for now, I have good friends, good work, and good sleep. Ok, so maybe three speeds.

Paperwork Manifesto (Part 2)

I was on the phone with mom today and she said, "People have been asking if you're still alive?" Strange that mortality is now determined by blog activity, but I suppose it is an honest question and there is certainly some validity to it. My job has become my life. From Tuesday to Saturday (or, as has been the case lately, Sunday), every waking moment is spent at work. I eat all my meals at work and the only people I socialize with are those people at work. I've even begun to decorate my room in the honeywagon. I've even resorted to leaving jackets in the honey because the chances of me going outside out of work are slim. That being said, work is going well. I'm feeling increasingly more comfortable in my role as paperwork PA, and people have begun entrusting me with responsibilities that extend beyond the M-O of my job. So in light of all my newfound knowledge, I'll continue with Paperwork Manifesto Part 2.

BE A TEAM PLAYER

When I first started on this job, it was clear that there was already a system in effect. Most of the staff PAs had worked together before and had worked with the ADs before. It was almost like a family, with the 1st AD as the father and the 2nd AD as the mother. As one PA told me, "The [2nd 2nd AD] is like their first child and then all of us [the other staff PAs] are like their other children." And from what I've gathered, that's a lot of what this whole industry is about...allegiances. Especially when your job is an all-consuming one, it's good to have people at work that you like and that you trust.

At first, though, I felt like I had no place in the family. I felt like the system in place was too well established to make room for another. But I just buckled down, worked my butt off, and tried to make a good impression. And that's the best advice I can give. Be a team player. Even when it feels like you're out of the joke - because the joke was long ago established - don't worry, new jokes are bound to crop up. The Key PA, an additional PA, and I have set in motion plans to celebrate "Mo"-vember, rocking moustaches for the entire month of November. The 2nd 2nd AD promised me a $200 gift certificate to a nice steakhouse in Brooklyn should I carry out the deed. I'm still just trying to decide on the right look.

DON'T COUNT YOURSELF OUT

There have been plenty of times on this job where I've thought to myself, there's literally no conceivable way I can do this. Usually, in the morning when my alarm goes off is one of those moments. But also there's the occasional time when I feel like cloning technology would seriously come in handy.

Last night was one such moment. So union rules dictate that we break cast and crew six hours after crew call for "lunch" or else every Local 52 union member (basically any crew person not in the AD department) accrues a meal penalty every 30 minutes after six hours. Crew call yesterday was 4:30pm. But we are also contractually obligated to wrap out the children in the movie by 12:30am on weekends (I think 10:30pm on weeknights). So the rumor was going around set last night that we were just going to work through the six hours, break for lunch at 12:30, but also wrap out for the night.

Right as 12:30 was approaching, a delivery from the office arrived with revised one-line shooting schedules. I called up the 2nd AD, "Hey, so new one-liners came out. But we're about to wrap, so I kind of need to be here to get out times and such, right?" "No," she replied. "Take them up to set." Ok...

Now to give you an idea of what we were dealing with last night, we were shooting a night exterior driving scene, so we were on a stretch of road in Queens, right on the East River, underneath the Triboro and Hell Gate Bridges. Basecamp, where the honeywagon is, was probably a mile away from set. Catering, where "lunch" would be served as about a half-mile in the other direction from basecamp. Luckily, we had shuttle service, but there were no shuttles in basecamp. So I hiked up from basecamp with a thick stack of shooting schedules weighing me down. As I finally rolled into set to distribute them, wrap/lunch was called. Uh oh. I dumped stacks of schedules in each equipment truck for each department, hopped on the first shuttle back down to basecamp to call the wrap report into the office, and then hitched a ride with the unit publicist to catering. I gave them they're instructions and then sprinted back to basecamp to finish collecting out times and finish my production report. I've never felt and hopefully I never will again feel so stretched.

The whole time I thought it was physically impossible, that my presence was required in three different places at the exact same time. But somehow, it all came together.

Paperwork Manifesto (Part 1)

So I realize that one of my primary goals with this blog was to shed some light on the nature of the DGA training program. And well, to date, I've done a pretty lousy job of doing that. But I'm now a week into my first DGA assignment and this is what I've learned so far.

WEAR COMFORTABLE SHOES

Yes, yes. This one seems like a no brainer. It was one of the first things I was told in my training seminar and it was said over and over again on my additional days on Premium Rush. My shoes are pretty comfortably broken in and I like to think that I walk a lot. But I think the best way to describe the amount of walking you do on the job is to liken it to the dilemma the NFL is currently dealing with. Like with concussions, it's not the big walks I've had to take, but all the little walking that occurs. All day long, it's stand up, sit down, file this, file that, get me this, don't stand there. As a result, I'm constantly shifting. And when I'm doing that five days out of the week, it eventually takes its toll. My back aches, my knees are sore, I think my feet are now flat, and I have a perpetual crick in my neck. So yes, wear comfortable shoes, but also stretch frequently.

As a side note, wear comfortable pants, too. Wearing a heavy pair of jeans on a rainy day or a pair of shorts that constantly rides up can be mighty uncomfortable around hour 7 or 8.

IT IS LEARNING ON THE JOB

I'm not going to lie, I felt pretty confident going into my first day. Man, all I've got to do is a PR, I thought. After that training seminar, those things are a breeze. Then, "Hey Dixon, can you grab me a one-liner?" "Have any day-out-of days?" "You gonna eat your corn bread?" Ok, so that last one was never asked of me, but the first two...hunh?? Needless to say, I was constantly kept on my toes for week one. Fortunately, the other staff PAs were super helpful and cued me in when I was messing up. No matter how prepared you think you may be in the theoretical sense, you'll never know what you've gotten yourself into until you're knee deep in it. By the end of day one, I was a wet rag, and not just because it was raining (something that makes a job that deals with paper very difficult to carry out).

Okay, there's still a ton more that I wish I could share, but I'm totally beat. So I'll leave it at Part 1. Aside from providing me with the above life lessons, work has been going well. I'm beginning to settle in and I'm finding that I actually have some down time during the day. I've befriended some of the other PAs, as well as a bunch of the Grips and the Special Effects guys. Everyone on our crew is really genial and all of them are generous with their assistance whenever I'm at a loss.

But yeah I'll post a Part 2, maybe more, when I'm better rested and can think more clearly. To be continued...

Whoa! or The Importance of Being on Time

Note: I started this post last night after I got home from work. I promptly fell asleep (as you will soon understand why). So for chronological accuracy pretend like this post actually went up last night.

There are only a handful of paths to attaining immortality. Maybe conquering a Holy Empire. Saving a nation from Civil War, perhaps. Walking on water often does the trick. But one knows he or she has really reached the upper echelon of immortality when he or she has landed his or her (man, I should have just picked a hypothetical gender for "one") name within the comfy confines of computer screen, splashed across IMDb in all its pixelated splendor. Well I finally made it. And it's glorious!

In other news, I got back to NYC, from my restful and relaxing 10-day trip home, about 48 hours ago and what a crazy 48 hours it has been. I got an email from the production office on Wednesday about a "kick off party" that night. I arrived right at 8 (when the party was supposed to start) and I was the first one there. A guy from the props department showed up shortly thereafter and we started talking. A couple then arrived and the guy of the couple turned to me and said, "I don't think we've met yet, I'm David." I turned from my conversation with the prop guy and realized the extended hand was that of the director! I shook his hand, introduced myself, and managed to get in a conversation with him before the place filled up with people. He was a very nice guy, interested in my involvement with the DGA program and that I came to New York from Alabama.

Yesterday was my first day on the job. I was the only set staff PA called in, so I took on a kind of hybrid responsibility that combined all those of each of the individual PAs. I began my day by discussing the production report (PR) with the production accountant. Straightforward enough. But then the 2nd 2nd AD asked me to wait outside for the kids (the movie has kids in it, if I hadn't already made that clear), their parents, and the set teacher (SAG mandates that children have 3hrs of school on schooldays when they're working) to arrive. So I was temporarily switching over to the 1st team PA.

Their van arrived and I took them upstairs to the rehearsal space on the 3rd floor (the production office is on the 4th floor, this detail will be become important soon). I got the kids and the teacher settled into their classroom and made sure the parents were comfortable in the adjacent rooms to the rehearsal space. Jonah, his assistant, and the 2nd 2nd entered the room soon after and Jonah came over to me. "Hey dude, I'm Jonah." Also a very nice guy. Just about 5 hours into my first day on the job, I could tell that this film is going to be a very enjoyable experience. The 2nd 2nd had me hang out on the 3rd floor and be available should anyone need anything from the production office. I set up shop in one of the other empty adjacent rooms and began reading the shooting script that I had picked up earlier in the morning. Through the wall I could hear the rehearsals and hear how they all work and improvise. It was a great learning experience for me and great hilarity could be heard. In the afternoon, I temporarily switched over to walkie PA, took the walkie delivery inventory, and labeled all 100 walkie talkies so they matched up with the inventory.

Though I was split among the work of three different set PAs yesterday, at least they were one after another. Today, I felt like I was balancing four (add background PA) at the same time. We were doing a photo shoot, involving background, so I had to get them started on all their paperwork, take them to wardrobe, and basically make sure they were ready to go when we needed them. After the photo shoot, I continued to prepare the walkies (walkie PA) and the AD kit (paperwork PA), but had to be ready to wrap out background whenever they were wrapped.

Needless to say, I really hit the ground running with this job. But it's what I signed up for. The DGA training program is not going to teach you to do your job, your job is going to teach you your job. It's all on-the-job training, as it has become all too abundantly clear. And I love it. I come home with tired feet, a tired back, and a tired mind, but in the end it's worth it. My brother gave me some great advice tonight. He reminded me that, while I may be getting carried away by the little jobs I have to do, I can't lose sight of the bigger picture. I recall one of the great tenets laid out in the seminar week...GET THE SHOT. As long as the movie is being made, everyone's happy. I will screw up, but as long as filming continues to move forward, everything will be okay.

At the end of the day yesterday, Jonah was walking through the hallway saying his goodbyes to everybody and he saw me at my makeshift desk. "Hey Dixon, have a great weekend! See you next week." Whoa.

A Long Time Coming

The title of this entry has less to do with what's going on in my life and more to do with the fact that this entry has been a long time coming. I'm getting to that first wall in blog-writing. The initial luster of writing a blog about a new chapter in one's life is starting to wear because, to be honest, this chapter doesn't feel so new anymore. There haven't been too many new improvements on the apartment—though I did have a house warming party. That was actually very fun, because a) I learned how to cook a bunch of things, 2) I've conquered the fear of having people over, and d) having people over reminded me how awesome our apartment is. The wow factor was back!

Job-wise, I've still been putting in days on "Premium Rush," though this week marked the end of their shooting action scenes so they don't really need additional PAs anymore. I had a bit of a close call on Thursday. At the end of the day, the Key PA asked if I wanted to work Friday. I'm pretty sure I have something to do tomorrow, I thought. But I can't remember what it is and I've been living and breathing Premium Rush all week, so...

"Sure," I said.

As soon as I got home, I suddenly realized that I had made arrangements to go into the production office for "The Sitter" on Friday. I texted the Key, "Hey I feel really terrible about this but I just realized I had made an arrangement to visit the production office of my first DGA assignment. I can help find a replacement if you want." I was kind of expecting him to say, "I'll just hire someone I know and trust." Instead, nothing. So I figured I better deliver on a replacement. Only problem is, I don't know anyone who's been a PA before. But I called up a friend, who I had recently met up with for coffee to discuss the film industry. She had a genuine interest in film, but no real gateway to the biz. I texted the Key, "I found someone. She's never worked on Premium Rush before, but she's a go-getter." "Book her," was his response. Phew. As it turned out, she had a great time working on the movie. Of course, how could you not have a great time when you're shooting in Central Park. It's like touristing and working, wrapped into one.

With my "day off," I went into the office for "The Sitter." It was in a very inconspicuous building, in an even more inconspicuous office. But when I got there, everyone was very nice and welcoming. They knew who I was and got me some crew information paperwork to start filling out. I was then led into the office of the 2nd AD, who couldn't have been nicer. There was still a lot to be done, so she didn't give me too many specifics, but it was definitely comforting to put a face with a name and get a better idea of who I'll be working with. She said the 1st AD was in a scheduling meeting with the producers and that I probably wouldn't get to meet him, but sure enough, the meeting let out and I met the 1st AD, the Line Producer, and one of the Producers. The 1st AD actually introduced me to the Line Producer, saying, "Harvard meet Cornell." "Oh, when'd you get out of there?" the Big Red LP asked. "May," I replied. "Oh! Well, welcome!" Then he introduced me to the producer, "Harvard meet Dartmouth." It felt a little awkward, but it was cool to see other Ivy Leaguers with obviously very successful careers in the film industry—outside of the typical writer/agent mold.

I met up with a couple of friends, one of whom was the girl who I "booked" for Premium Rush, and we strolled along Madison Avenue for the kick-off to Fashion Week. All the ritzy stores were open late, serving complimentary champagne (and one place had bourbon-filled chocolate truffles, very fancy). Even looked very, for lack of a better word, fashionable. I actually texted my friend who orchestrated the whole thing, "What's the attire?" "It's a mix, but safe bet would be no jeans or sneakers." I looked down; jeans and sneakers. So I made a quick change, scraping together the only decent clothes I have. It's tough when you work in an industry where you can wear shorts and a t-shirt to work. The high point of the evening was seeing Serena Williams at the David Yurman store.

Saturday, I went to a PA/AD party—ended up being more production assistants than actual assistant directors, but still very fun. There were a lot of Premium Rush people. I started to talking to a group of them and they said, "Oh, you're [name redacted]'s friend." Wait, what? She's my friend! Only one day on the job and she already had more friends than I did. But it pleased me to feel like I had helped someone "break in."

From that party, I went to the Ainsworth, a bar in Chelsea, to watch the Alabama-Penn State game with probably two- or three-hundred other Alabama fans. Apparently the Alabama alumni in New York (UANY) group organizes watch parties every Saturday, so I figured this was as good a game as any to check it out. The game ended up being a wash, but the crowd was great and I met a lot of nice people, including the guy who I sat next to at the National Championship Game last year.

I'm heading home tomorrow to get one last good dose of R&R and quality lake time before I start working ridiculous hours nonstop till December.

I Got a Job!

Hard to believe, two posts in one day. But such a groundbreaking step in this blog's plot warrants the day's second entry. The day started off innocent enough. I woke up later than I expected, finally rolled out of bed even later. I knew it wasn't going to be quite as active as yesterday (though the weather today couldn't have been better). But everything started to pick up when I finally decided to venture out of the apartment to run some errands at around 4pm.

First I discovered on the kitchen counter a paycheck (yesterday's mail) for the day I worked on Premium Rush two weeks ago. Then I checked today's mail and in it was my paycheck for the commercial I did two weeks ago. Then to top it all off, as I headed to the bank to deposit the aforementioned checks, I got a call from the DGA program administrator.

"Get out a pen and paper," she started. "Cause I've got a job for you!"

It was music to my ears.

But wait, what could it be? She had been saying for awhile that it might be Law and Order: Criminal Intent.

"And it's not Criminal Intent," she continued.

Phew, I was kind of hoping for something more fresh, more new.

"It's a movie."

Woah! A movie! But the first three trainees got assigned to TV shows. Can I really handle the big leagues?

"It's called The Sitter."

Hmm, ok?

"And it stars everyone's favorite, Jonah Hill."

YES!

"Oh great," I calmly replied.

She proceeded to give me all the details about who I'd be working with, when I'd be working, and what I should expect. Apparently the 1st AD on The Sitter is good friends with the 2nd AD on Premium Rush, and the 2nd AD was the one who asked if I could continue working as a PA after my week of shadowing. So hopefully I can get a good recommendation from her. Needless to say, I am psyched to start my new job. I won't be starting until late September, but in the meantime, I've been given the ok to continue moonlighting on Premium Rush.

All told, though the day started out slow, it was a banner day in the life of me. I got paid, I got a job, and I barely had to get off the couch (which is finally losing its new couch smell and starting to feel like home).

Rain, Rain, Go Away

So I was released from work yet again yesterday because of the change of the schedule. And because of the change of schedule yesterday, I didn't even have to go in today. I made the most of the opportunity yesterday. Having taken a lot of flack for not having rain gear, I was dead set on getting some. But, as it was still raining, I didn't want to be searching for a place in the middle of the rain. Thankfully, for New Yorkers on a rainy day, there's a place to go: Museum Mile.

I had heard about this exhibit going on at the Guggenheim that was supposed to be pretty cool. "Haunted: Contemporary Photography/Video/Performance." So I trekked up to 5th Avenue between 88th and 90th and was immediately aware of the swarms of people flooding in and out of the Guggenheim. I walked in and there was a long queue line for admissions snaking through across the ground floor. I looked at the admission price (General Admission $18, Students $15). Wait, I thought every New York museum was $15 general admission and $10 students. Oh right, this is the Guggenheim Museum. I panned the expansive ground floor and followed the spiraling ramp up with my eyes. Then it hit me, this place is way too crowded, I'm not THAT excited about this exhibit, entry is a little too expensive for my tight budget, and besides the main reason to go to the Guggenheim is to see the building. So I took in my surrounding for a little longer, visited the museum shop (which had customized Lego sets of the Guggenheim and Frank Lloyd Wright's other famous work, Falling Water), and then headed a few blocks north.

Poised pretty much smack dab in the middle of Museum Mile, the Smithsonian Institute's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is, in my very biased opinion, the greatest museum I've ever been to. First of all, there was no line. Secondly, they accepted my expired student ID, so it was only $10 to enter. Plus they had a free iPod touch tour guide thing. The museum's currently featuring an exhibition called "Why Design Now?" which highlights new aesthetic technologies that are sustainable and eco-friendly. It was amazing to see the wide range of ideas—from a wooden radio made of local materials to the car-free, carbon neutral, zero waste city on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi.

When I finally emerged after three hours in the museum, the rain had finally stopped. The rain had cooled things down, so I decided I'd walk along Central Park until I got tired, then hop on the subway to get to the sporting goods store in Union Square where I'd find some quality rain gear. I kept walking and walking and walking, passing by all the 5th Avenue landmarks—Saks 5th Avenue, the Rockefeller Center, eventually making it down to the Empire State Building and the Flatiron District. Next thing I knew, I was in Union Square. That's right, I walked almost 80 New York City blocks (apparently the rule of thumb is that 20 north-south blocks equals a mile, so 4 miles!). I got my rain gear and headed home to rest my feet. It was nice to finally make something of a day off, rather than lie sluggishly at home.

Only in New York

Work today was "cancelled" due to rain. I feel like I'm in an esteemed group, reserved for professional athletes and film crews, that I can say that. I still showed up at 6am, and I still moved some traffic cones to close off three lanes of Columbus Ave., but as the rain picked up, a large group of PAs were told we could leave as the crew would be shooting interior scenes in a studio in Brooklyn. So with all this newfound time, I figured I might as well update my blog.

The past couple of days have been fairly uneventful. It's frustrating that I have my entire week free (when all of my friends, with their 9-to-5 jobs are busy) and then I'm busy on the weekends when my friends want to go out. Hopefully my first DGA trainee job will have a more conventional production week (especially with the football season fast approaching!). Yesterday was more of the same: locking up one of a number of New York City blocks while Joseph Gordon-Levitt rode his bike through stunt traffic with the PursuitCar close behind. The high point of the day was when this guy...

...rolled through set, blasting Snoop Dogg. Apparently, David Koepp, the writer-director of the film, was thoroughly impressed with the guy so hopefully we'll see him in the movie. Other than that, not a lot's happened. The apartment's pretty much broken in and I'm acclimating myself to waking up at ungodly hours of the morning. Now I just need to slowly introduce sightseeing into my daily schedule. If the weather's cooperative tomorrow, I may try to go to a beach or Coney Island tomorrow while everyone else I know wastes away at their desks.

Settling In

So a lot has happened at home since the last time I updated. I mistakenly referred to my apartment as "my room" today when I was talking to my girlfriend. She rightfully called me out on it, "You're not in college anymore, that place is a home. You've got a kitchen, bathroom, living room, dining space, and laundry." The real lynchpin of the whole process was the sofa, which finally arrived two weekends ago. Funny story behind that actually. It was Saturday. "Premium Rush" has a shooting week from Wednesday to Sunday, so I was on my penultimate day of my shadowing. It was the only catered lunch of the week, staged in a school gymnasium near our set in Harlem. My phone rang and I stepped outside to take the call. It was the furniture store arranging for a delivery later in the day. While I was in a heated conversation about how I was at work and they needed to contact my non-brother roommate, Joseph Gordon-Levitt exited the gymnasium right in front of me. Realizing I had to do something in acknowledgement, I gave him a casual head up-nod without missing a step on the phone call. Joe quickly returned the nod then went on his way. My confidence restored, I negotiated the terms of our sofa's delivery.

So with the sofa in place, our living room certainly feels more homey. We've added bar stools and a rug—courtesy of my parents, a handmade Greek rug they got like 30 years ago. Plus, the Zelda Fitzgerald paintings have finally been matted, framed, and hung.

There are a couple more prints on the other side of the room. They all help to give the room some much needed dimension. We went with some "natural" pairings. We figured that the Washington Square one could pass off as Brooklyn's Grand Army Plaza, so we paired it with the Brooklyn Bridge. Times Square and Grand Central comprise the 42nd St. duo. Central Park and 5th Avenue seemed to make sense together. And then Grant's tomb is in a league of its own by the kitchen.

Speaking of the kitchen, I feel like I'm starting to settle in with the routine of feeding myself everyday. Tonight was the first time that I felt I had done an adequate job of replicating my usual evening routine when home in Alabama. Earlier in the day, I had turned some frozen ripe bananas into banana bread. So that, combined with some crackers and cheese and a glass of wine gave me the comfort foods I had desperately been craving. Plus when it came to dinner, I managed to time everything so it was all freshly warm when I set my plate on the table. Yes, it's easy when I'm free all day, and yes, it'll all change once I'm working regularly, but it's nice to realize my capabilities of living independently.

Martini, Shaken Not Stirred

No, I didn't get assigned to the next installment of the Bond franchise. And no, I haven't been shaken by my work so far as to put my entire life (starting with this blog) on hold. At least not yet. Martini is the designated name in film speak for the last shot for the day. Seeing as I have finished my first week (or two), I figured it was appropriate to update those still reading my blog on my latest.

Upon returning from my trip home, I began my shadowing on the film "Premium Rush"—starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Day 1, I felt like I went from 0-60. I figured I had learned all I needed to learn, and that I would be able to put it in cruise control for the rest of the week. How wrong I was! First of all, I was initially signed onto this shadowing gig as a shadow of a second-year trainee, who's running 1st team stunts. If you were paying attention to my earlier blog posts, you'll know that 1st team involves handling all the needs of the principal talent. So 1st team stunts handles the needs of all the principal stunt talent. You know when you're watching a movie and a character's running through a crowd of people? Stunt people. Or through a busy intersection? Stunt drivers.

So for the most part, I was helping out with that—the bulk of my day came at the beginning and end of the day when I had to assure that the stunt people's walkie-talkies were checked out and checked back in (because all the stunt people need to be kept in the loop for obvious reasons). But when I wasn't doing that, I tried my best to avail myself to the rest of the crew. I perfected the art of being actively-passive. I didn't want to get in the way, but I wanted to be there when someone needed something. As such, Day 2 took me from 60-120, Day 3 to 180, and so on. Needless to say, I'm moving pretty quickly right now and just hoping I'm hanging onto everything I've learned.

At the conclusion of my shadowing week, I found out that I had been hired by a two-day Converse commercial shoot. The assignment didn't compromise my #4 spot for a big project, which is good, but it gave me my first opportunity to be out on my own. The commercial was shot by Antoine Fuqua—who directed, among other things, "Training Day"—and starred Dr. J and Jim Jones. Day 1, I was asked to stock the talent's campers with sodas and such. While in Jim Jones's camper, one of the fridge door shelves somehow came loose under the weight of some seltzer waters and one exploded upon contact with the ground. Stifling the urge to say something loud and obscene at the catastrophic flood I had inadvertently unleashed upon the camper floor, I sprung for the roll of paper towels I had also brought for stocking. On my first pass at mopping up the mess, I leapt up quickly to discard the waterlogged ball of Bounty and smashed the back of my head into the underside of the camper table. This time the urge was too great. "S***!" I was convinced Jones was going to materialize at that point to see me simultaneously mopping seltzer water from his floor and blood from my head. But fortunately my head wasn't bleeding, the seltzer water got cleaned up, the fridge got stocked, and I got the hell out of there just as Jones and his entourage rolled onto set.

Once we were set up, the 2nd AD called for a safety meeting and then called me on the walkie talkie. "Ok, Dixon," he said. "For the PR, safety meeting was called at 6:25. Make a note." Hunh? PR? I know I've been trained for this, but I was under the impression they already had someone to do paperwork. I thought I was just hired as an extra hand. "...Noted," I replied and tucked it in the new expansion of my throbbing head. I finally tracked down a copy of the PR (production report, b-t-dub), made a note of 6:25 safety meeting, and went about confirming all the personnel on the shoot. The PR ended up being way more straightforward than I had been led to believe from the training seminar. I was assured that that's because it was a commercial and not a TV show or a movie, but still, I think I may actually be able to do this.

After the commercial wrapped on Day 2, I found out that the 2nd AD on "Premium Rush" wanted me to come back. So while I'm still awaiting my fate for my first project, I'm able to get some invaluable set experience on a well-run machine of a film. As of yet, things couldn't be better.

Home Sweet Home

Yes, I'm aware that all my Brooklyn posts bear the tag "Home" and this one will, when Blogspot asks me to do so, bear the tag "Travel," but Alabama is still in many regards home and I'm happy to be back. I felt like I was slowly seeping into a funk for the past couple of days in Brooklyn. All the IKEA furniture had been built, my to-do list was a majority crossed off. But everyone I know is working, leaving me home alone with very little to do. So I decided now was as good a time as any to take a respite at home. And what good timing it was! I found out yesterday that No. 3 has been assigned. It's been awhile since I've posted about work, so I'm not sure if "No. 3 has been assigned" means anything to my lay readers. Basically at the beginning of the training week, we all drew numbers out of a hat. I drew No. 4. No. 1 got assigned to "Gossip Girl," No. 2 got assigned to "Law and Order: SVU." And yesterday I found out that No. 3's been assigned to "Running Wilde," a new show from the writer of "Arrested Development," Mitch Hurwitz. So I'm next up! In the meantime, I'm going to shadow a second-year DGA trainee, who's working on a film called "Premium Rush"—starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt. I'm pretty psyched to see a real set operate. I'll be starting that up next week when I get back.

But for now, I'm home and I love it...or at least most parts of it. I think I've reached the conclusion that when you no longer recognize a single haircutter at your lifelong haircutting place, then a little piece of home dies. That was the case today, when I went to Head Start and discovered all new faces. My haircutter was so fresh in fact, that midway through my haircut, another woman interjected and proceeded to give the woman a tutorial in cutting hair...using my head! It definitely ranks up there as one of the more bizarre moments of my life.

My mom and I also decided to take on the task of finding art for my apartment. She showed me a couple prints of watercolors done by Zelda Fitzgerald shortly after Scott died. I liked them and after a whole convoluted process, we finally emerged with seven prints. I think they'll be perfect for our apartment. They're New York, but not too New York. Plus they have the added bonus of being done by an Alabamian. And they'll hopefully be good conversation starters. Here they are:

Brooklyn Bridge

5th Avenue

Times Square

Central Park

Grant's Tomb

Washington Square

Grand Central Station

Fleas and Brute Force

I feel like this weekend was the first time I really got out to experience New York. In the weeks past, I've gone out to bars with friends, but this weekend was all about checking off the to-do list. I guess it all started with Friday. My brother roped me into volunteering for the Harlem Children's Zone for its annual Summer Olympics. So we woke up at 6am to hop on the A express train bound for Washington Heights. I spent most of the day getting the kids into the Whole Foods sponsored Nutrition Zone. The sweet payoff for that job was that I got loads of free Whole Foods hummus, kiwi, and grapes. I also took part in the staff 55-meter dash. Let's just say, it was an embarrassment.

Saturday started out slow. It was a scorcher in the city, so I stayed tucked away in the apartment. But as soon as the sun went down, I met up with some friends to go see "Fuerza Bruta"—an Argentinean dance show experience. I think that's the best way I can describe it. It started out with some lights and high-powered fans creating ambience. Then a guy on a giant treadmill emerged from behind a curtain and started sprinting, ultimately plowing through a bunch of walls of cardboard boxes. Some dancing ensued from other actors, then a huge pool with scantily-clad women descended above us. More crashing through cardboard boxes when all was said and done, the place turned into a club, with the DJ laying down house tunes while rain poured from the ceiling of the theater. It was all a very bizarre experience. Luckily, I had done my research and knew to dress casually. Some of the others didn't fare as well.

Today, my non-brother roommate and I wandered over to Atlantic Avenue, where every weekend the Brooklyn Flea Market takes place. While the building itself was very nice, the contents of the flea market left a lot to be desired—mainly women's clothes and jewelry (everything oozing with hipsterness). But it was definitely something I had wanted to do.

I leave tomorrow to go home to Birmingham for a little bit (still haven't booked a return flight). It'll definitely be a much needed break for my psyche as well as my wallet.

I Like IKE-A

"You have to question your life choices when you're planning your meal at IKEA," my non-brother roommate interjected in the midst of a heated discussion about Swedish meatballs and Lingonberry jam. We were on our third IKEA trip in our second UHaul van in two days. It had to end then. I moved through IKEA with the deliberate precision of someone who's spent way too much time at IKEA. I got all the finishing touches (nightstands, bedding, etc.), and have spent the majority of this week assembling furniture and getting our apartment up to speed while my roommates are at work.

Now that the majority of it is done, I feel I can relax, watch some TV, and post on my blog again. I think I'm going to let pictures narrate this entry. I'll start with my room.

This is my bed. I realized that everything was varying shades of beigey-gray, so I decided to get a little green pillow to add some color. I don't have any overhead light in my room, but I like the dim lighting provided by the atmospheric lantern lamps. It makes my room really warm and soothing. The bedside tables are also new and have glass tops that mirror the glass sliding doors that you'll see in this next picture.

So this is looking across my bed from the other side. My room is certainly "cozy." My fourth wall is entirely sliding glass doors. So I got this curtain to block out light in the morning. It's both a blessing and a curse. I now sleep well, but I also sleep well into the day because I have no grasp on what time it could possibly be. The curtains also do a good job of blocking out sound, like that of the dryer, which you may be able to see is right outside my door. I also got a dresser with glass facades on the drawers to match the sliding doors.

Here's our living/dining area. Things are still a little messy while we finish setting up, but we put the dining table by the window and put the TV area in what the floorplan designated the "dining area." I think it will help to reduce glare on the TV. All we're missing is a couch, but we're in the process of getting one that looks like this. Ours will have the chaise on the other side, so as to close off the dining area and open the TV area to the kitchen...

Still a couple of things that need some tidying, but it's coming along. We got all the necessities, toaster oven, coffee maker, pots and pans. Still a couple of things need to be worked out here, namely I just need to readjust my understanding of how big (or should I say not so big) the kitchen is. I keep catching corners with my hip and accidentally slamming my shoulder into the fridge because expectation and reality haven't yet aligned themselves. And of course, while trying to cook last night, I made a total mess of things. I bumped into an open bottle of vegetable oil, spilling a quarter of its contents all over everywhere. And then while making wild rice, the spice packet slipped out of my hand, spilling garlic powder and pine nuts all over the stove and floor. So still some kinks to work out, but it's coming together well.

Waking Up In Brooklyn

The day has finally come. My first morning waking up in Brooklyn. For the entire lead-up to this moment, I thought we were doing pretty well in terms of moving in. My mom had shipped us two big boxes of "stuff"—essentials really, I thought. But as soon as I started organizing things and taking stock of what we still need, I came to some shocking revelations. This is what we have:

• Hi Def DVR box...but no TV.
• Shower curtain...but no curtain rod.
• Dishware...but no silverware or glasses.
• Coffee mugs...but no coffee maker.
• Wineglasses...but no wine.

So we're basically half-way there on everything. But all of that changes today! My brother rented a UHaul van for the afternoon, so we're going to make some runs to IKEA, Target, maybe Bed, Bath, and Beyond. I don't know, I don't know if we'll have time (*name the movie reference there). So hopefully after today, our apartment will be a bit more habitable.

I tried to make some headway on buying stuff yesterday by going to Macy's. They were having a one-day sale, but everything was still SO expensive. I was trying to get some bedding, but all the beds-in-a-bag had cheesy floral patterns or fire trucks. The only way I could just get a solid-color comforter was to get a comforter + separate shams, pillows + separate cases and shams, sheets, a bed skirt, a mattress pad all separately. The problem is every piece was running baseline at like $40 or $50. I'm sorry but I refuse to pay $50 for a single pillow case. Hopefully, Target or Bed, Bath, and Beyond can give me better options.

I did, however, find a bunch of awesome 99¢ stores near our place that could be a good option for buying glasses (I found I could buy 10 big glasses, and 8 short glasses for $16), as well as other kitcheny objects like measuring cups and stirring spoons.

Well I'm going to try to make do with our bathtub, since I can't really take a shower without flooding the whole place. That's issue #1 today, get a shower curtain rod.

Also, for those wondering, still no word on when I'll get my first gig. I emailed back and forth with the program administrator, and it seems that there are three people who still need to be placed ahead of me. I think the way it works is that we are assigned in pairs. So the first two "first-years" got assigned—to Gossip Girl and Law and Order: SVU, respectively. But now they need to assign two "second-years," then the first-year guy who drew number three, and then me! I saw Inception last night, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Christopher Nolan wants to shoot something in New York. But I'm guessing I may start work in mid- to late-August.

First Post from Brooklyn

We are well on our way to moving into our new place! The cable guy is here this morning and just finished setting up the wireless modem. So while he finishes setting up our HD DVR box, I figured I'd send my first post from Brooklyn.

I have to admit, as much as I disparaged "waking up in Brooklyn," I am actually now eagerly awaiting my first night (and morning) in my new home. Especially when I read articles like this piece from the NY Times. Apparently Brooklyn is just chock full of free concerts. This past weekend, my brother went to Prospect Park where there was a free Roots concert going on. Next week the Beach Boys and the Monkeys are performing in the same concert and then in August Aretha Franklin is performing...twice. I actually have a bone to pick with Ms. Franklin. She was supposed to come to City Stages—a now-defunct concert series in Birmingham—a couple of years back as the headlining act. At the last minute, she bailed to perform at a bigger venue in Atlanta, leaving us with Poison (ugh) as our featured performance. Anyway, I'm psyched to take advantage of some of those concerts.

Also, my brother and I went to Williamsburg (a neighborhood in Brooklyn) to check out a furniture store that he had been reading a lot about. I had certainly heard the rumors about how hipstery Williamsburg is supposed to be, but my God I had no idea! As we were waiting for the L train at Union Square, teems of people in skinny jeans and thick-framed glasses swarmed around us. It was almost comical.

At the furniture store, we found this terrific L-shaped sectional couch that will fit perfectly in our living room. We didn't order it quite yet (so we could compare prices online), but I think it's a pretty sure thing that we'll be getting it.

Afterwards, we grabbed some dinner at a nearby El Salvadoran place. It actually reminded me a lot of Honduras. I got a frijoles con queso pupusa (tortilla stuffed with refried beans and cheese), aguacate (sliced avocados), and enchiladas de pollo (chicken enchiladas). It was muy delicioso, que rico, and all that good stuff. But above all, it made me really nostalgic to be back in Honduras to see my girlfriend again :(

A Case for Teleportation

I hate traveling. Actually, let me re-phrase that, I love my destinations—especially this trip to Honduras, which was exactly the trip I was hoping it to be—I just hate getting there and back again. That was certainly the case when my Tuesday travel back to New York seeped into my Wednesday.

It started as most travel days do for me, I woke up early, showered, and threw all my stuff in my suitcase. I checked my email and, little to my surprise, I had an email from Delta saying my flight was delayed—only half an hour. But when I emerged from my room for breakfast, my girlfriend's sister said that apparently the Tegucigalpa airport was closed for the next week due to some repairs. That would have been good for Delta to have told me a month ago when I made the reservation, let alone that morning when they said I'd only be delayed a half hour. So I dug around online and found that sure enough the Tegucigalpa airport had scheduled the repairs a month in advance, but apparently had failed to mention it to the airlines who had to land there. Long story short, I think under the pressure of a potential lawsuit, the airport officials did whatever needed to be done to get the airport passably operational so my flight could take off—two hours later than originally scheduled.

I then had to connect in Atlanta. Bad weather had forced us to maintain a holding pattern for about an hour, so we arrived three hours later than originally scheduled. Of course, the bad weather also delayed my departure to New York, so I wasn't rushed through customs. The big board initially said my flight was pushed to 11:10 from 9:30pm. Ok, I thought. This way I can get some dinner and watch some of the All-Star game. I found a place close to my gate, ordered a sandwich and a beer and picked up the game in the third inning. I talked to a sufficiently-inebriated guy who had been trying to get home to his wife and kid in Phoenix since 6pm—after four weeks digging up WWII-era chemical debris from an Army compound in the Atlanta area. He was soon replaced by a professional bass-fisherman, who was trying to get from Little Rock, Ark. to Las Vegas (via Atlanta?) for a fishing trade show. He had been traveling since 6am. I was beginning to detect a pattern.

I checked out of the conversations and the game just after the sixth inning to go catch my flight, only to find that my gate was only just now seating a much-delayed flight to Denver. Fearing a gate change, I asked the woman at the desk and she assured me I was in the right place and that my flight had now been pushed back to 11:25. Enough time to go to the bathroom and get some reading material for the flight. When I emerged from the newsstand with the latest copy of the New Yorker and Entertainment Weekly ("homework"), I checked the big board once more. JFK...JFK...JFK...Ah, JFK...1:00?!?!?! Yes, my flight was scheduled to leave Atlanta one hour after it was initially scheduled to land in New York. So I returned to the bar to discover that just after I had left Brian McCann drove in three on a bases-clearing double in the top of the seventh and my bass-fisher buddy had been replaced by a woman trying to get from Minneapolis to San Diego, via Indianapolis and Atlanta (not all in the same day), who was sharing the same delayed fate. I was suddenly attune to the grumblings of the masses, a constant refrain, "I've been traveling all day," percolating across the terminal.

As I was finally boarding my plane at 1, I did so behind a couple, who had only managed separate middle seats. I asked where they were sitting and one had the seat next to mine, so I offered a trade. I was hoping that karma would reward me with a seat on an empty row, or at least next to someone engaging enough to pass the mind-numblingly earliness of the now-morning's flight. Nope, landed myself between two heavyset women—one of whom, I think, was wrapping up a phone-sex conversation as I took my seat. Both fell asleep as soon as we began taxiing and I soon realized that my little TV screen required me to pay for everything, including the headphones.

To cap off the night, when we landed in New York, the plane pulled up just short of the gate. "We're going to sit here for a little while," the pilot chimed in overhead. "We have to wait for a grounds crew team." After an excruciating 20 minutes, we finally pulled into our gate at 3:45am. "Welcome to New York," the flight attendant said, adding with a stinging tone, "Have a nice morning."

I eventually made it back to the apartment at about 5, after a painfully slow baggage claim process (I contemplated leaving it behind) and passed out. I'm hoping next time I travel, they can just beam me up.

Not Fit For a King

News travels fast and far. Especially when it's about LeBron James. The top news result for LeBron, when I Google-Hondurased him, was "Cleveland 'destrozada' por la marcha de James y Miami 'celebra' su llegada," or, according to Google translator, "Cleveland 'devastated' by the departure of James and Miami 'celebrates' his arrival." While my heart does go out to Cleveland, especially considering its history of lousy sports, I also feel a little bit robbed.

I was really warming up to the idea of becoming a basketball fan. I felt that Brooklyn really had the perfect storm brewing. The Russian oligarch/Jay-Z are planning to move the Nets to Brooklyn, LeBron was considering the Nets, and Brooklyn shares the same boundaries as Kings County. If LeBron truly is King James, wouldn't he want his own county?!

Anyway I digress, it seems I will hold on to my satellite allegiances in baseball and football because there's no treading on those and because the only thing I like less than the NBA is hockey (sorry Rangers and Islanders).

In other news, all's well in Honduras! My girlfriend and I went bowling yesterday and we're planning to go to one or two of the outlying towns (Santa Lucia and Valle de Angeles). In the meantime, my brother and third roommate are planning the official move-in to our apartment tomorrow. We found a pretty awesome L-shaped couch on Craigslist that I'm hoping we can land, because it would fit perfectly in our apartment. Brooklyn, here we come, with or without LeBron!

¡Feliz 4 de Julio!

So this was news to me at the time I was buying my tickets, but it is significantly cheaper to fly on the 4th of July. After searching wildly for midweek-to-midweek flights that were running at least $650, I finally stumbled upon a 9-day, roundtrip flight to Tegucigalpa, Honduras for just $500. Now those who don't know me are probably thinking, why Honduras? Well, simply put, the love of my life lives there. My girlfriend and I met freshman year in college and have been together ever since. We haven't seen each other since the chaos of graduation/moving out this past May, so it's nice to be able to have a relaxing week+ with her.

I've been to Honduras once before, during the summer after freshman year. We really packed in a lot during that trip—bat-filled caves, Mayan ruins, Caribbean islands off the North Coast. It was all very Indiana Jones, which is right up our alley. So this trip is going to be much more relaxing. We're going to take in some awe-inspiring waterfalls as well as Isla El Tigre (an island off the Pacific Coast).

My girlfriend's family has moved around a lot over the years, so they're in a different house than the one I stayed at last visit, but I couldn't be more comfortable here. When I arrived, her dog, Bucho, excitedly ran around me in circles—apparently a sign that he remembers me. Bucho's a tiny little Chihuahua, so last time I came to visit he was having some hesitancy walking down the stairs at their house. During that stay, I finally helped him conquer his fears and we've been best of friends ever since.

I've just now woken to my first full day in Tegucigalpa and it sounds and smells like breakfast is cooking, so I'll sign off for now.

A Dodgy Part of Town

So it's official, we're moving to Brooklyn! I signed the lease Wednesday and my first act as a proud Brooklyner was to hop on a bus with one of my college roommates and travel up to Boston to visit some of our other college roommates. To be fair, it'll take a little while to get our new place up to speed (turn on utilities and the such).

My mom sent me this article from "The Cinematical" about Emma Watson and her boyfriend filming his band's new video. She refers to her character being in "a dodgy part of New York." From all I can glean from this music video, that dodgy area looks a whole lot like Brooklyn. I took offense to her statement, but my mom reassured me that Emma was just paying an homage to the baseball history of Brooklyn. Somehow, I doubt that.

But honestly, Brooklyn is most certainly not "dodgy." My brother and I walked around it last Sunday and, for a Sunday night, it was actually kind of happening. There's a nearby street called Smith Street that one of my brother's friends said is his favorite street in all of New York. We're also not too far from the promenade, which apparently is supposed to have a great view of Manhattan and I think the Statue of Liberty. We have a park of our own, just around the corner from our building.

Anyway, I'm heading back down to New York today after two days of catching up with old friends. My brother and I are planning to move some stuff into the new apartment when I get back, and I've been put in charge of setting up our internet tomorrow. Either tomorrow or Sunday will be the first morning where I will officially be waking up in Brooklyn.

The Power of the Network

Well I've officially begun my first "period of unemployment," as promised by the DGA training website. So with my free time, I've been taking the opportunity to better understand the nature of the job and connect with friends in the City.

As for the job, it couldn't have been more stressed throughout orientation week that I was signing on to freelance work. I will be paid by the production companies I work for, not the Directors Guild. If I work on a film that gets nominated for and wins a DGA award, then I get to fly out to LA with the rest of the Director's team to accept it. So this is as real as it gets! For those who, like me, don't really understand many of the positions that roll by in the credits, here's a quick breakdown: every department (Lights [Electrical and Grip], Sound, Hair, Makeup, Wardrobe, Camera, etc.) has a Head or Key guy. He's the top dog. The Best Boy (usually only for grip and electrical) is the number two. On the production team, there is the 1st AD, the 2nd AD, sometimes a 2nd 2nd AD, and then sometimes a DGA Trainee. That's where I come in. There are also four staff Production Assistant (PA) positions—Key PA, who oversees all the other PAs; 1st Team PA, who responds to the needs of the principal actors; Background PA, who responds to the needs of the background actors; and Paperwork PA, who does all the paperwork. As a DGA Trainee, I will essentially operate as one of those four staff PA positions on each project I work.

It's pretty much guaranteed that I will be a paperwork PA on my first gig. Why? Because we spent two full days out of seminar week discussing how to properly do paperwork. It's not the most romantic of positions, but it's a pretty solid start. And it should provide me a great opportunity to interact with everyone on set.

As for seeing friends in the City, it's almost hard not to meet someone I know. On an island with over a million and a half people, I thought I'd inevitably get lost. But then of course, all those people are packed into a 23 square mile area. So it's pretty easy to be exposed to a lot of people. The other night, I was out with a couple of friends, and we went to this place called Pommes Frites. As the name suggests, they make one thing...french fries. But the rub is that they make an endless amount of sauces. I got pesto mayo. It was delicious. Unfortunately, there's a line out the door, so seating is scarce. My buddies and I got our fries and ate them out on the sidewalk. All of a sudden, I hear my name. I look up and there's a group of about 4 or 5 people from college. I saw one of them again the following night, and she said that her friend asked her later about the homeless guy she was talking to. I know I need a shave, but homeless?!

In other news, we're pretty set to move into the Belltel building in Brooklyn, and tonight I'm going to make some pesto gnocchi and watch the Bravos rattle Stephen Strasburg. Till next time...

Just a Leisurely Stroll

So I woke up especially early this morning under the belief that work started at 9am (as opposed to the usual 9:30) per the orientation calendar I received with my acceptance letter. So abiding by the film mantra that you're late if you're on time, I showed up to an empty office at 8:30. People slowly started trickling in around 9. Apparently I missed the memo that the seminar indeed started at 9:30.

When we finally got started, we continued yesterday's discussion on paperwork and went over the homework assignment. As difficult as it was to do yesterday, it actually seems pretty straightforward now. Also, the good thing is that in the real scenario of putting a production report together, I will basically just be copying each department's daily notes into my report, so it won't require too much deciphering on my part. It also seems like production's beginning to pick up. On our first day, we all drew numbers. I drew number four, so I probably won't start until mid-August. But the guy who drew number one is 99% certain to be assigned to Gossip Girl and the girl who drew number two will likely go to Law and Order: SVU. I wonder what I'll get?!?

After work, I decided the day was too nice to take the subway, so I walked home through Central Park. This city really is quite remarkable. When you get lost in the depths of Central Park, you really don't feel like you're in one of the most populous cities in the world. Especially when the hillsides are dotted with sunbathers in swimsuits, it's easy to forget that around you is a logjam of traffic. There are also somethings that I think are only suitable near bodies of water, and swimsuits are one of those things. Semi-clothed men and women just look awkward sunbathing in Central Park. Also, I guess New York has installed pianos all across town and I stumbled across this one on the main drag of Central Park (see above). He was playing a stylized version of "Brown Eyed Girl." I can't believe I'm saying this, but I kind of enjoy living here.

I Can Cook!

I've just completed eating my first self-cooked meal as a New York resident. It sure is unceremonious when you're just cooking for one. But it's good to know that I can do it. And on the plus side, I now have leftovers for tomorrow night. I've decided that, in addition to learning the ins and outs of every union contract, I'm also going to use my month off to learn to cook. I went with my staple tonight—apple chicken sausage, couscous, and green beans—but I'm looking to diversify and feel free to comment with delicious, quick, cheap recipes.

The past couple of days since last I posted have been a rollercoaster. Monday and Tuesday's seminars put the fear of God in me about this job, but Wednesday's seminar reassured me that no one ever remembers the Monday or Tuesday seminar. Two recent DGA training program graduates spoke about how it really is. My job will certainly be difficult, but it will be fulfilling and every project eventually ends. So that put me at ease a little bit. Today I was given my first (and, I think, only) homework assignment—to put together a production report based on a call sheet, a script supervisor report, film inventories, and productions notes. It was actually kind of fun in the same way that a puzzle would be. I was basically given all these misshapen bits of information and I had to piece them into a coherent picture. I think I may just be able to do this job after all.

Also, Tuesday was the first time that I've felt like I was supposed to be in the City. After work, I decided to walk around midtown (where the DGA headquarters is) and I stumbled upon the Rockefeller Center. There were hoards of tourists walking aimlessly, but I really felt like my aimless walking had purpose. Slowly but surely, I'm starting to come around on the whole living here thing.

First Day of Work

Wow! I don't know where to start, other than to say, I can't wait to get assigned my first job. Everything about the program sounds right up my alley—I got a new laptop, a sweet t-shirt, and about 50 pounds of books dictating every contract agreed upon by every union involved in stage, film, television, or commercial production (wait, what?). Luckily it sounds like I'll have over a month to familiarize myself with all of them. Unluckily, however, is the reason why I should have over a month. Apparently, the New York state budget is caught up in the legislature, and in that budget are the tax incentives for the next year pertaining to films being shot in New York. So while that's still held up, a lot of productions are holding off shooting, making job availability terrible for us trainees.

I'm really impressed with the group of trainees that will be going through this process with me. They're for the most part all over the place—though a lot of them have a connection to New England and particularly Boston. They also seem to have all had more experience than I, especially in New York. But they're all good people, so I look forward to getting to know them better.

After work, Brother and I went and looked at the apartment in Brooklyn and, as promised, it had that "wow" factor. The building is a converted, old-timey telephone company building, so it has this cool art deco lobby. Also, as I learned from my mom, her grandfather worked for a phone company while he lived in Hell's Kitchen. She's going to look into it, but I may be living where my great-grandfather may have worked.

Brother and I got pizza in Times Square, and he said it perfectly that Times Square is like Blade Runner. I still feel like a tourist in the City, but I'm slowly getting comfortable with the subway, the traffic, and the overall hecticness of big city living.

I've Arrived!

Well I had a fairly uneventful flight up to LaGuardia today—though when I sat down with my salad for a late lunch, I failed to cut a dense piece of lettuce with my fork. The result was that my fork snapped in half and my salad flew everywhere. Probably one of the more embarrassing moments of my life. I feared it was a sign of things to come, but a friend of mine reassured me that it was only a sign that I should've gotten a pizza or a hamburger. So I went to Arby's and got a roast beef sandwich and some curly fries.

But after two painless legs of flying—Birmingham to BWI to LaGuardia—I have finally arrived in the City (my brother, who is also going to be one of my roommates, said we can only refer to it as the City now—that may take some getting used to). Brother, as I will henceforth refer to him as in this blog, had a productive day on the apartment hunt and may have found us a winner. But, get this, the apartment might be in Brooklyn!! After all this build up of dread about waking up in Brooklyn, I very well may be waking up every morning in Brooklyn (gasp!). "Waking Up in the Bronx" doesn't quite have the same ring to it, and I don't think it's possible for one to be "Waking Up in Staten Island"—unless I were to sleep walk onto the ferry. So alas, my blog's name may be taking on a more literal tone.

Tomorrow, I begin my weeklong orientation for the DGA training program. I'm excited to meet my fellow trainees and get a better idea of what to expect over the next two years. I'm also excited to see the training program's office—which, according to my highly scientific Google maps searching, seems to be in the same building as the Late Show with David Letterman. I have no idea what to expect, but I am fully prepared to dive headfirst into whatever tasks I'm given (So I will beat on, my boat against the current...or something like that). Stay tuned...

FML

My brother sent me this piece from the New York Magazine today, and it's really getting me amped up to move to New York. And by amped up, I mean nervous as heck. I think it's a sign, that I may potentially be reminded daily to "f*** my life."

As the column suggests, I will (hopefully not) be running late, (definitely) be overheated, and (probably) otherwise dejected. The good news is that my line of work will likely not take me as far downtown as 14th Street, unless I end up living in Brooklyn.

I suppose I should use this as an opportunity to explain the title of this blog. I've heard horror stories from friends who live in the city about falling asleep on random subway trains after a long day and waking up in Flatbush. So here's to hoping that, after clocking a 15 hour day, I don't wake up on the F, M, or L trains.

Theme Song

Right when I had reached my most apprehensive point about moving to the city, my mom sent me a link to this New York Times Op-Ed. It's called the "Brooklyn Bridge Song" and seems to fit my situation perfectly:

1) The masterminds behind this little project are not only not from New York, but also from an area that I'm willing to concede is part of the South for the sake of this blog (Austin, Texas is cutting it close).

2) The drawings are of the Brooklyn Bridge and seeing as this blog is called "Waking Up In Brooklyn," that goes without saying.

What sold me? This passage:

"...he felt for a moment that he could live in New York forever, that it was a limitless source of inspiration, beauty and wonder that — despite everything that makes living in this city difficult if not impossible — was almost holy in its ability to inspire."

Thank you New York Times! You have not only put my fears to ease, but also provided me with a sweet theme song. Enjoy!

Welcome

It seems like everyone's doing it, right? So why not me...

This is my first time blogging, but I must say it's an intriguing idea. As a native Alabamian, I feel like I'm caught in a reverse "My Cousin Vinny" situation. "I've heard of lox. I just never actually seen a loc before." I had grown up to hate New York—the home of the Yankees is all I needed to hear—but lo and behold, here I am, about 10 days out from moving there for the next two years of my life. Why? Well, in short, because I got a job. I applied for and got one of six spots in the Directors' Guild of America's Assistant Director Training Program. It's a pretty sweet opportunity to work on film and television sets, for me, straight out of college. It's a dream come true...until I heard that I'll be working 70-90 hours a week (divide that by 5 days a week?...eesh). But nevertheless, my ambitions cannot be swayed. I'm moving to New York (apartment be damned!) with likely little more than a suitcase, which brings me here to this blog.

As the description indicates, this blog will include my (hopefully) daily musings, meditations, and mishaps of big city life. Hopefully I'll be dishing out more musings and meditations than I will mishaps, but, with me, there's no telling. As much as I legally can, I'll try to name-drop who I get the opportunity to work with, without giving away spoilers about the shows and movies I'm working on (and thus piss off everyone I'm working with).

As an added bonus, hopefully I'll be able to shed some light on this program for anyone who's interested. I scoured the internet for any information I could and came up fairly empty. So as best I can, I will try to give prospective DGA trainees a good idea of what to expect.

So without further ado, stay tuned for more posts as they come (probably won't update again until I'm actually in New York starting June 20). Welcome!