Airplane Bloggin’: Miami for the Holidays Edition

Airplane Bloggin’: Miami for the Holidays Edition

Well, so much for subtly named blog posts, that one comes right out and says it. To whom (other than Dawn?) good question. I imagine I’ve lost most of my once small audience do to the infrequency of my posting. In fact, it seems that I post only when I fly. For the most part, that’s been the case. If its any saving grace, I do actually plan to be traveling quite a bit more than I have in the past few years, as the job I’ve taken (more below) promises more of that. Even now, I bave a few more trips on tap over the next few months.

So what’s been going on? Quite a few things….

I took a job with a small but rapidly growing sales and production company in Los Angeles. It’s a full time, in-office position, and thus, I am officially a full time resident of Los Angeles. No more back and forth – though I may travel, I am fully based in Los Angeles and report to a job M-F etc. etc.

Towards that end (and also towards the end of having a place to live with roommate who can pay the rent), I moved from my old digs in the Cahuenga pass area to newer digs in West Hollywood, with a brief stop on Cherokee in Hollywood during my search for a new place – thank yous to Scott and John, John for his hospitality, and Scott for his vacancy and generosity. After the waylay on Cherokee, and a misstart with another apartment on Franklin, I’ve been at the new place, on Alta Vista just below Sunset Blvd., for a but less than a month now. I have a new roommate, we get along fine, though we’re not close and I don’t particularly see that changing. He’d just moved up from San Diego to take a job with Disney Radio. Pretty much, we both work outside the place, and do mostly our own thing when we get home. Cordial, fine, not remarkably friendly, but its fine.

The apartment itself is close to the new job and to my gym, and its on a very attractive block in West Hollywood at about the most central location one could hope for. It’s hardly more than I was paying at the old place, and its nice and new and I have my own bath. It’s a fairly good situation this far. Oh, and its pretty quiet, except for the occasional garbage truck in the morning.

The job, well, yeah, the job. I am the head of business affairs for a film sales and production house. Means I am in charge of all that is legal and contractual. However, since it’s a small company, and (bow) I have a multitude of skills, I am spending my time in production (which is how I want to spend my time, as much of its as possible), in acquisitions, not bad, and doing a few other things to help move the Company’s business along. It’s an adjustment to be back at a full time job after many years on my own, but its OK. Adaptation is an important trait, and I guess I am still in practice, well enough. Besides, I work out of a compound where the owner’s house is also located, and it’s a fairly informal attitude except for the general office policy. That might have something to do with the industry; it definitely has something to do with the five wolf hybrids running around the compound at all times. Sounds scarier than it is and besides, with respect to the pack, I think I’ve climbed to a respectable place in the middle.

Aside from the office time, I’ve already spent time at the American Film Market, where we have a booth each year to sell the films we make and acquire. I’m booked to go to Park City for Slamdance and Sundance, after a hiatus during last winter. And unless we are in production on a movie, it seems likely that I’ll go to the Berlin Film Market and Festival during early February. If not, I’ll go to Cannes for either the TV or the Film market in the spring. So there is a lot of potential travel involved.

One adjustment has been dealing with having allocated vacation time. I only have two weeks annually in my contract, and I basically was required to take one week during this holiday. The office (and the vast majority of the entertainment business) is closed, and if I hadn’t taken the vacation, it would have been treated as “leave” and been unpaid. I’d prefer to be paid, and it worked out anyway, as I get to go to Miami and see my parents. The timing of my visit isn’t perfect in some ways, but alls well enough, and they are excited I am visiting. The apartment is going to be very crowded, as my sister and her sons will be in town as well during five or so of the ten days I’ll be in Miami. Haven’t seen the boys in a while, so that will be nice. Most likely, I’ll get to take them to the beach a few times while they are down there. Its been a little terse with my sister for a reason or two, but I am sure we will all have a good time together, and I know how much my parents are looking forward to it. I’ve visited them in Florida quite a bit for New Year’s, I think this is the third year in the last four I’ve been with them. Last year was with Newman and two years before that, I was there alone I think (I remember bringing home a girl on New Year’s Eve after getting separated from the people with whom I’d been out, Ryan and company), and waking with her and hearing my parents already awakened. They were super relaxed about the whole thing, and I think they were just happy to have me there having a good time. Hehe.

So hopefully the weather will be decent and I’ll get a little sun. LA’s been quite dreary for about a month, rainy and/or cloudy, and I hate to say, as it reflects my new sensitivity to colder weather from living in LA, absolutely freezing some of the time. I’m not that keyed up about what to do for New Years, so I’ll play it by ear and see if I am interested. Last year was fun most of the week, but New Years itself kinda stunk, and that was the same in 2007. I’ve never been a huge fan of the holiday, and always considered it a big rookie night where the chance of having a blast was less than the chance of having someone vomit on your shoes. Pushing 40 (almost), that opinion has only been reinforced. But what I can look forward to it relaxing, unwinding, and spending time with my terrific parents and family. That sound pretty good right now, and I guess on the flight back, we’ll know for sure.

Grumps.