Hitting the ground running...

And we're back in.  Vacation was great, adjusting to the new work schedule has been smoother than I had imagined, and I just saw one of my favorite artists in concert at the Beacon Theater.  Tori Amos.  I could just die it was so good.  But we'll get to that.  Also, I just met with a new voice over coach for a consultation and I have good feelings about the future.

Every night now, I try to get myself into bed around 9:30 - 10:00pm and I wake up at 5:30am.  I spent my vacation sort of slowly acclimating myself to the schedule, because, let's face it, mountain sunrises in NC are worth waking up for.  That and everyone in the house was going to bed around 10pm anyway.  By the 1st of August, upon my return I had absolutely no problem getting up and going to work and surviving through the day without feeling tired.

Another aspect of my routine has changed as well, now that the Brooklyn Yogaworks studio is open.  A much shorter ride to class for starters but also, taking all evening classes has totally flipped my days on their side.  Now, I'm working first, then doing VO gigs, depending on the availability of auditions, and then going to yoga, eating dinner and going to sleep.

I'm looking forward to seeing how I'll manage the next music gig but now my focus has shifted back to VO until that comes along.  I mentioned an agent I was waiting to speak with only briefly a few weeks back, but didn't elaborate.  What happened was, right before my vacation, I got in touch with him and got some advice and pointers from him.  While it was mildly discouraging, I did glean a lot from the conversation and made sure I walked away from it with some clear direction for my next steps.  I pulled a few names from him of coaches I should work with, classes I should take.

So, I picked one that I researched pretty heavily and who had worked with Jane Lynch before and ultimately reached out to her after I was settled back in post vacation.  The consultation was yesterday and it went really well.  I went in there expecting to get torn apart because, after all, I'm well aware that there's something I'm lacking.  After speaking with the agent, it came clear that it's obvious to anyone in the business who hears my demo that I need more acting training.

I did not get torn apart however and in fact, had a lot of fun with the new coach.  She had me fill out paper work and whatnot and then we chatted a tiny bit about what I've done and she told me she can already hear what it is I need to work on.  So she stood me in front of a condenser mic hooked up to her iPad and threw some copy at me and I just dug in.  Her direction was not uncommon but something about the way she explained things made it sink in so much more quickly and before I knew it I was really nailing the copy, and incorporating all her directions with ease.  I think that impressed her and, as we were finishing up, talk turned to all the agents she'd like me to meet once we get working.  So I signed up for a package deal and a handful of coaching sessions over the course of the next month and a half, even marking my calendar for a day when one of these agents is going to be there specifically to listen to her other students.

Psyched doesn't even begin to describe it.  But, oh yeah, Tori was amazing.  And the Beacon Theater was an amazing venue.  She played only two songs off the new album and the rest were scattered from just about every other album, with a heavy selection from Little Earthquakes and From the Choirgirl Hotel.  I'd always heard about how her concerts are like a religious experience for some.  This crowd was no different.  The were appropriately boisterous during the wild parts but they always shut the f*ck up immediately after their outbursts because they, like me, wanted to hear every single note she sang.  For me, I was just on the edge of my seat listening, overcome with glee when she'd break into a favorite song of mine.  I've always found her melodies and vocalizations hauntingly beautiful.  A favorite moment from the show was her closing with Hey Jupiter.  Listen to the song, especially the part where she vocalizes at the end of the chorus in "oohs."  I almost cried it was so beautiful.  And just her up there singing and banging on her Bösendorfer alternately swiveling around to the keyboard behind her (at one point it was an organ they wheeled out during a changeover), sometimes playing both at the same time (she had a microphone at each instrument and would sustain a note at the end of the line as she switched mics to hilarious effect), occasionally slamming the lid back on the piano for emphasis (and scaring the shit out of most of us when she'd do it).  She even busted out a cover set in the middle of the show, including Faith by George Michael, Blue Jeans by Lana del Ray and Wicked Games by Chris Isaak.  Add a four song encore and I was satisfied.  One of the best concerts I've seen in my life.

There are other things on the horizon that I'll keep secret for now but I will mention that I have already secured my hotel reservation for Costa Dulce for next February, the real start of my trip planning.  For now, even though I don't work until 10am, I think I'm going to drift off to sleep and dream of being a voice over god.

Good things...

I love a good thunderstorm.  This was not all that bad but could use some extra oomph.  A few rumbles and some rain a thunderstorm does not make.  It is nice to listen to the rain through open windows for a change now that the year has taken a turn toward nicer weather.  In truth, after this harsh winter that just wouldn't relent, this particular change in the weather comes as so much more of a relief.  Sitting outside with my lunch today felt so amazing.  Just to bask in the sun and put my feet up on a chair outside in the park on 10th ave and 15th Street was such an amazing feeling. I had forgotten how nice nice weather can be. To be able to spend some time enjoying it made the night spent inside at work that much more bearable.  And this is only the beginning.  I finally understand why it is that New York summers are something so beautiful.  It's the shit we have to put up with in winter time that makes the first sunny 70 degree day so incredible you wanna cry.  And the childlike anticipation of what's to come is something that could only be borne of completely shitty weather for 6 straight months.     

That said, ironically, as soon as it improves here, I'm flying away to even warmer climes in the south.  Touching down in Greensboro for a hot second and then on to Raleigh Saturday night.  I had originally bought the ticket for Greensboro when I was planning on spending time in the mountains with my brother... one last bro's weekend before he has a kid this summer.  But now, two other friends that are expecting planned a shower for that weekend in Raleigh.  The change is all good with me. Just means a slightly longer trip.  But there's a pool waiting for me in Raleigh, one filled with 70 degree water according to my dad.  I should be so lucky.

On the plane ride down, I plan on working on some edits to my voice over reel.  Polishing them all off really.  I've wanted to put together a promo demo for quite a long time but have taken the opportunity provided by a lapse in my membership to Voice123.com to really spend some time honing the others as well (narration, documentary and commercial).  And I've spent most of my time so far focusing on those three.  I think I'm almost done. I just need to come up with some music cues and do some compression and EQ on a few of them.  The name of the game is making them sound as professional as possible before I submit them to agents.  The promo demo is really the one that needs the most work.  But that's just because I only have one actual spot done for it.  The rest I have to produce on my own and that includes music and sound effects.  A monumental task to be sure.  It's going to consist of the promo I did for the novel, "Scarlet" from the Lunar Chronicles and a bunch of "stay tuned for scenes from next week's episode, starts Tuesday 9/8 central, Rated R, In theaters and IMAX this Friday," type tags that I have yet to record.

Everything else though: sounding good.  Hopefully I'll get a lot done while I'm in Raleigh.  Because that was the other half of the reason I took this vacation I'm taking next week.  To get this all done.  Now, though, the second freelance job, TruTV, (which was actually the first one I got hired for) will start on Thursday the 18th, one day after I come back to NYC.  And I'm working both Thursday and Friday.  So there goes that.  But this is good money, even better than CNN, though probably not quite as consistent.

I won't say much more about the freelance gigs, except that I have a guaranteed 10 weeks of Monday, Tuesday and Thursday shifts at CNN and who knows what at TruTV.  Other than that I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.  And in fact, I actually want to sleep.  Let's just say though, for now, that I feel there are good things on the horizon.  Good things.

Checking in...

It's been about three weeks on the new schedule now and I can say that I'm adjusting more quickly than I thought I would.  Those who read this blog and those who know me well, know how obsessed with time management and saving money I am.   Especially time management with the end goal of saving money.  

I managed to pull it off again today, gangbusters.  I cooked enough food to last me until next Wednesday (in terms of dinners at work) and brought it all here to work to store in the fridge until I need it.  But why do I need four meals at my immediate disposal?  Why not just cook the food the day I'll be eating it?  Well usually I do this stuff to save time and saving myself the weight in my shoulder bag has also been a goal as of late...that and not having to carry one every day.  But in this case, my weekly schedule has changed so much that I'm having to really improvise.  

Normally I would bring all this food in on the first day of my work week.  But, I can't do that anymore. Why you ask?  Because I'm starting my work week at a whole other job that I've just landed.  Freelancing at CNN again and squeezing shifts in on the morning side before working the 330pm shift at NY1.  On those days, I really can't (and kinda don't want to even try to) carry food from one job to the next and I certainly don't want to be eating out the two days of the week that I have shifts at both jobs.  So, last weekend, in a pinch because I didn't think of it until Saturday, I cooked my food on Saturday afternoon and rode into the city with the express purpose of storing it in the fridge for the next week.  The plan worked great and I only had to eat out once last week.  

This week though, I had the foresight to use my Friday morning to cook food, a morning when I can't ever make it to a yoga class on my level that ends in time for work.  

Yesterday, I cooked as well as baking bread for the week and doing laundry.  So, I'm making it work and with the CNN gig and also the TruTV gig (which starts the week of my vacation right after I get back from NC), I should be making bank by the middle of May.  The only thing is that I'm finding minimal time to work on the important things like the voice over and the music so I've gotta figure out when to squeeze that in.  

Luckily, at the moment, I don't have any music gigs, even on the horizon, except of course playing shows with Lacy, and the voice over gigs will be deliberately back-burner-ed while I focus on polishing the demos (redoing a few takes, producing the promo demo).  I'm at a point right now where I can't afford to renew my subscription to Voice123.com anyway.  So, what better time than now to polish things and reposition myself for another attack on the city's voice over agents.  I've also reached out to a few filmmakers that I know but haven't worked with yet and I'm waiting on responses from most of them.   

By the summer time I hope to have something else going in both of those arenas.  

Things could change with the day jobs as well but I won't get too far ahead of myself, as a rule.  Just the excitement of having consistent extra work is enough to get me by.  After only two days at CNN, I'm finding I really like the crew this time around.  There are a ton of people that work there that I've worked with before at other jobs...one of them being a former coworker at NY1 ingest who just started there this past December.  She was training me on Monday and Tuesday.  

TruTV, like I said starts after my quick trip to NC, for which I leave a week from tomorrow.  And I'm really looking forward to getting shown the ropes there.  I will fly back to NY on the 17th and work the following two days at TruTV to train and then it's my birthday weekend and I plan to throw a bar party that Saturday night.  

Fun things on the horizon then including a much needed vacation.  

Perspective...

I'd like to talk about perspective tonight.  I've been thinking a lot lately about how easy it is to be down on myself for not having accomplished enough, not having arrived at certain milestones I hoped to or expected to have arrived at, or just not being busy enough at any given moment. I try not to get overwhelmed with the sheer number of ambitions I currently have, and struggle constantly with how not to neglect any or all of them. 

I'm just finishing the end of my first work week post vacation and I still don't feel fully acclimated and back on my routine. I even kept up with music work while I was gone, both on the film score and the dance music and did some editing for the videos from the Galapagos Art Space show back in May.  I even almost got another voice over gig and planned ahead enough to bring my equipment and software to Raleigh in case I had to voice something while I was there. (Two thumbs up there because I totally would have pulled it off had they actually offered me the spot). 

I had a good 9 day vacation, the first part of which was spent here in the city, visiting with my folks who drove up here to hang out and meet my girlfriend one day, driving upstate the next day with them to my family reunion in East Greenbush, NY.  After this it was back to Brooklyn for a night then down to Virginia the next morning to see my sister and her family, then the very next day on to NC to laze around my parents' pool and see my other sister.  As if this wasn't enough driving, my folks needed to turn over their rental units in Boone, NC near Appalachian State University so I hitched a ride to see my brother.  After an afternoon enjoying Boone culminating in a fantastic jam session, we drove back to Raleigh the next morning and I spent two more afternoons by the pool right up until I had to fly back on Thursday to NYC.

After such a fun filled and, somehow, simultaneously lazy week, it would be easy to feel overwhelmed getting back to the city.  Funny enough, when I examined what I was most concerned about, it was the one thing that I had neglected (in fact, was forced to neglect in a way): Voice over auditions.  Now, forget for a minute that, on any given day, I'm at the mercy of the automated casting system with the sites that I'm a part of and whether the spots they send me are even a fit for my voice.  Besides there not being that many gigs I would have applied for, I had a lot of other things to do.  Chief among them taking it easy for a few days.  And I most certainly did.

I finally came to it today, though, what would make me feel better about the past week: looking not at what slipped through the cracks but what go picked up, essentially.  Then, taking a step further back, looking at those things I have accomplished so far this year (it's only slightly more than halfway over, after all).  Versus what is yet to be done.  I mean, if you think about it, changing my perspective as such is probably more likely to give me the boost I need to knock out those remaining tasks, than sitting around kicking myself, am I right?

So, let's wrap: in the last week, while I was supposedly vacationing, I finished editing Tania's videos from the Galapagos show, made some more revisions on the Samurai score, before my vacation even started I hammered out a mock-up for the dancer I'm writing for now, and discovered that, should I happen to get a voice gig when I'm in NC visiting my parents, packing my suitcase with a mere 8 extra pounds of stuff (i.e. audio equipment), is all I need to do to ensure that I don't miss any opportunities.

Looking at this entire year so far, what have I done?  I've gotten my first 6 paid voice over gigs, scored four short films and a promo, and had a world premiere of one of my pieces at a world class venue in New York City.

Since, I got back to the city, I also got organized and looked at my expenses and cash flow and realized that after all of the above, I am not operating my business at a loss like last year.  Granted, I'm not making all that much money in the grand scheme of things but, in keeping with the theme of this blog, I choose to focus on the positive. 

Either way, missing out on auditioning for a week is not going to kill me.  And just the simple act of counting up all those accomplishments has lifted my spirits quite a bit. I think I can relax now and enjoy the start of my weekend.  And you all should enjoy the links I'm about to post to the Galapagos show.

http://www.timdaoust.com/2012/08/improvisation-with-tania-stavreva/
http://soundcloud.com/composertim/quivering-filament-of

The Time Management Ninja...

I gotta admit I was almost stumped there on how to squeeze in all the activities I had planned this week.  But my grad school time management skills have not yet failed me.  I figured out a way to go to almost every yoga class I wanted to, make up one of the two make up co-op shifts I owe before my vacation starts, pack for said vacation, stretch my remaining clean clothes until I have time to do laundry on Wednesday, fit in rehearsals with Lacy and two of the three open mics we wanted to do, a meet up with Tania about the video from Galapagos at my place Thursday morning and find some quality time with a friend I've been seeing.  Indeed I might even have time to meet another friend for drinks before she moves to Florida next week and, god willing, train my cat to stop peeing on my couch (bought some Nature's Miracle no spray spray on the way to brunch after church this morning).

And on top of it all, I have time to still work a full time job and juggle two music projects.  Regrettably, voice over is taking a break this week, but that's okay because I got another gig from the guy out in Oregon I've been voicing videos for and have finished that already.  The two music projects are the Samurai film, for which I await instruction on the next round of revisions, and a mockup for a collaboration with Marie-Christine Giordano, the dancer whom I met at the bus stop a few months back who knew Lacy from their days at Martha Graham.

That's a fun project and it'll be a nice change from all the film work I've done lately.   So far we've sat down at her studio, bounced around ideas and came up with a palette of sounds which I'm currently trying to creatively string together into something coherent.  Little by little.  It's coming along well and I'm really psyched for this project.  I love working with dancers but I also love a project where I can come in early on in the process.  More on this later.

I have an exciting week with Lacy coming up too.  We're reconnecting with the open mic scene while she simultaneously scouts locations for some potential gigs.  On Wednesday night at 7pm we hit Bar 82 in the E. Village and on Thursday we will try out a new one: Lucky Jack's on the LES.  I'm psyched for both especially the new one.  Later that night we will go see her friend Tom Tallitsch, a jazz musician she's worked with, at The Garage in the W. Village.

And all this is made more exciting by the fact, that after this Tuesday, I don't have to be back at work until the 3rd of August, a full 9 days off!  My folks will be in town Friday and we will likely do a leisurely day in Brooklyn, potentially Botanical Gardens or something else outside…perhaps even the Intrepid museum, which I discovered I can get into free with my NY1 badge.  Saturday we will head upstate for the Cousins by the Dozens family reunion.  Then Sunday we drive to Virginia to see my sister's family, Monday it's to NC to see my other sister's family and laze around by the pool.  Then Tuesday, I go see my brother in the mountains of NC, with a potential jam session still on the docket the last time I spoke with mon frère.  Then, it's back to NC for at least one more full day of lazing by the pool.  I know.  It sounds like a lot of travel.  But the pay off is I get to see everyone.  But I am going to get sick of cars.  I'll probably blog later on this week and as I'm traveling.  For now, I'm going to sleep though because this crazy week I have planned starts tomorrow morning at 8am!

A vacation....

The first paid vacation in five years, or so I've calculated. I'm currently sitting at my folks' place in Raleigh contemplating such. This week was very relaxing and laid back, with only a slight few bumps along the way. The most interesting thing to note about this week is that little, except for my travel plan, was planned out according to any sort of strict schedule. As a result, I intentionally had a lot of time where I was simply hanging out with no real itinerary. Sometimes, impromtpu plans emerged, sometimes I was content to just relax.

In Boston, as I may have mentioned in the previous blog, it was nice while I was just chillin' with friends to not have plans that necessitated running around trying to get places and see things but when it came to having to kill time in the city it was a bit tricky. But even still, I made plans on the fly to meet up with a friend who was staying in Boston for a few months and that killed all the time I had and I barely had to spend a dime or figure out any logistics.

My days back in NYC between returning from Boston and traveling to Raleigh were similarly spent. I ended up hanging out with a friend most of the time, which included that impromptu trip to the beach. Here in Raleigh it's been a similar scene and maybe even more laid back despite the day of my arrival being a bit hectic.

Delta cancelled my flight first of all and put me on another flight for Friday but I called and said I wanted an earlier flight. They said it was because of weather...um, it was cloudy? Anyhow, I got an earlier flight but so early was the flight that I realized that I had to drop everything and, well, pick up everything and run out the door prepacked suitcase and peanut butter and jelly sandwich in hand in order to catch said flight, still not knowing who was going to picking me up now that I'd be arriving two hours earlier. There was a lot of running to catch public transportation and I had spectacular train (and bus) luck (I was not the only New Yorker running to catch a 12 noon flight, I spoke with an out of breath Wisconsoner who had just barely made the M60 bus right behind me after having gotten off the train at Astoria Blvd). The packed bus made it to the airport at 11:15 so I was all ready to go but saw the line for security and almost freaked out because I still hadn't checked in to my flight. Because I freaking rock, I was able to get to the gate and get a seat assignment with half an hour to spare, good considering I had left my house at 9:50 and it normally takes an hour and a half to make LaGuardia airport taking only public transit.

When I got on the plane I realized that the seating assignment I was so happy to find was a window seat, was also at the front of business class with some massive foot room. My luck, which for the next two hours would be characterized by an almost pendular swing from good to bad, changed when the fattest man who could have boarded through the front door of the plane was seated next to me, almost fully negating the amount of foot room I had previously been grinning about. Luckily though, he was reseated at his own request, relinquishing my elbow space and I sat out a comfortable flight. Upon arrival in Raleigh though, I somehow managed to snap my phone while trying to call my sister (who I had begged to come pick me up). Yep, the Motorola Krave has a plastic flip that besides being gimmicky and useless (you're supposed to be able to tap the touch screen through it, thus not having to open the phone up to text, etc.), is also quite flimsy. But, and here's that pendular swing, I, for some unknown reason, had thrown my phone's headset into my suitcase the previous evening without knowing why. So, it still works thankfully, but I'm still debating getting a new one when I get back even though I had wanted to wait to get a Droid.

But anyway, I left the airport with my sister and the kids and spent the whole afternoon just doing kid stuff and having dinner with them. That night my brother arrived from Boone and we hung out all night and all day Friday. We did go have lunch with a friend but beyond that we sort of just did whatever, hung around, petted the cat, played our instruments (guitar and bass), tried to fix my brother's car stereo, photographed spiders on my parents' side porch, walked to the North Carolina Art Museum and checked out their new space, etc.

Not having to stick to a strict schedule has been both relaxing and strangely stressful though. More of the former though. I'd have liked to have had certain opportunities while being home but I've missed a few for various reasons, mainly because those opportunities were last minute, friends getting in touch last minute, me being too lazy to message people prior to leaving, etc. Since I've been so relaxed, though, about my time, it's been easier to let it go when nothing works out. Probably because not trying to fit in seeing everyone (i.e. driving all over) immediately seems like the more relaxing choice. I think I've just gotten really into the idea of taking it easy while I'm not working.

And that's what I had in mind for this vacation anyway. Granted, I didn't have a whole lot of cash to spend on a big vacation. But, either way, this is what I needed after all of the stress of the past year. Schedule changes, juggling freelance schedules, working composing gigs, not working composing gigs and starting this new voice over venture. Which is probably not nearly as stressful now as it is going to get eventually.

In a few hours, I'm going to be meeting with a graphic designer friend who is working on a new logo for me and design for my web graphics, business cards, marketing materials, etc. Excited about that. But meanwhile, I'm doing laundry...how cool is that? Last night and the night before I watched my parents' new HD TV for a while.

Tomorrow's going to be interesting though. I, once again not planning ahead (or was I), I scheduled my flight for 7am, not thinking about who would drive me to the airport or how tired I'd be. I have to go right back to work too at 11pm and work the overnight shift. So maybe it'll be better not getting much sleep tonight since it'll make me inclined to sleep during the day and so I'll have an easier time staying awake all night.

At any rate, I think I'm just about ready to reinstate routine and get back in the swing of things. On Wednesday, I'm going to reinstall my operating system and start troubleshooting. This time I have a 32 bit operating system and maybe that'll clear up some of the compatibility issues if not all of them. Then I can start composing, recording, and just generally tooling around again. For now, I'm signing off so I can get showered and get ready to meet this designer. Laters...