Los Angeles, I'm Yours

And, so, here we are.

To be precise, Rachael arrived in the City of Angels on May 15, 2015, after a lovely nine-day drive down from New York City, through the Deep South to New Orleans, across the wide part of Texas, through the blizzrd strewn northern deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, and finally over the blasted wastes of the Mojave and into the San Bernardino Valley, where we hit traffic.

The last month and a half has been a whirlwind-ish slog through unpacking, homemaking (in our rad 1929-vintage apartment in Ktown), gas guzzling, and, vitally, work-getting: thanks to a Bainbridge connection (we Island folk are everywhere!) my roommate, Marshall, and I secured positions on Swap, AKA WEAPONiZED, a new sci-fi-detective-action feature about a renegade cop who stumbles onto a secret bioweapons program that "swaps" the consciousnesses of anyone with anyone else for nefarious purposes, and who must bring it down and save his family. There're war scenes, martial arts, a cool sci-fi bioweapons complex, and a fight with a giant robot - so, bascially, a pretty enjoyable late Saturday night. The cast includes Johnny Messner, Taylor Cole, Tom Sizemore, and Oscar-nominee Mickey Rourke. Marshall was on the production, and I'm the editor: my first feature editing credit in Hollywood, and it only took me about ten days to land it. Not too shabby, I think.

We're deep in the cutting process now, and look to begin locking reels in mid-July; the turnaround is very quick. I've no idea what'll happen after that. Los Angeles is a vast ocean of opportunity, and I've luckily managed to snag a small inner tube that will eventually run out of air. I need to start paddling towards something bigger to hang on to, and quick. Next steps: update the reel and the resume! Get on the CSAFT Experience Roster and reactivate my MPEG status! Network network network network network network [break for yoga and fresh kale smoothie infusion] network network network [realize that kale smoothies an offense to taste buds, and get the chocolate peanut butter one instead; rationalize rationalize rationalize] network network network!

The good news is that my Avid rig is fully up and running again after spending a couple of months packed away as we shifted our lives west. Feels pretty good to be back in the saddle, once again in my own little office space in our apartment. I'll be able to continue with my freelance clients, obtain new ones, and move forward with my own productions (not one but TWO short films are in the offing! Blistering barnacles!). Yes, my kickass graphics card is also handy for playing Fallout 4 (or will be, when it finally finally arrives), but computer games are not the priority! No, sir!

The priority is to continue on this mad journey we've recently begun. To press forward on our inner tubes and paddle, rest, and paddle some more. And if the air begins to leak, blow the damn tube up again and keep going. The alternative is to drown.

A bit morbid, perhaps, but one must be realistic about these sorts of things.

[......]

What's that?

[..........]

Ah. I'm being told that, as California is in the midst of an historic drought, drowning, as an eventuality, is not likely. So, silver linings.