Six Months!

This post was supposed to be made on Monday and then it was going to be Tuesday....well now it's Wednesday and I'm finally getting this up. (Actually I saved a draft on Wednesday and am actually posting on Thursday) But then again, I don't really think anyone reads this blog anymore so does it really matter when I post. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

Monday marked six months to the day that I truly started off my Bay Life and one year to the day that I made the decision to roll the dice, leave my New York job and take a chance on coming out to the Bay. (I made this huge decision while waiting in horrific New York/New jersey Traffic a week after visiting the Bay to meet with a producer at the unsaid company and realizing how much happier I could be from where I was in my current life and job. Thank you New York Traffic!!)

Reflecting back on those 6-12 months, I can definitively say that I made the right decision. While things are still up in the air with the final arrival of Mrs. Nice Gal and while it may have taken me longer to lock down a job down than initially expected, I am very confident and happy with the decision made.

I feel that over the past six months I have been able to re-center and return to the "person" that I want to be and that I look to be over the course of the next years. Now I can make things seem all fluffy and bountiful, but as with as life situation there are going to be things that I wish would be better. I of course without a fraction of doubt in my being, wish that Mel was out here and am counting down the days till we are reunited finally and permanently. I can also say that I wish I had some closer friends out here. While I one of my best friends from high school is out here and I do see him every other weekend or so, I am still looking forward to building a larger group of friends and acquaintances. I could say that I look forward to the apartment to be fully set-up as it sits in partial disarray as I wait to make decisions that require Mrs. Nice Gal's presence. I could say all this and it would be true, but it still wouldn't change the fact that I took a huge risk and it can undoubtedly be said that the risk paid off and I am happier now than I was before.

So there you go after six months, I am in a pretty darn good place and ready for the next six. In conclusion, I will point out a few things that I have learned over the course of these past months:

• New Yorkers yell a heck of a lot more than in the SF/Bay Area
• There is not nearly as many horn honkers out here. For better and FOR WORSE. You can be sitting at a green light for 5-15 seconds, and people will just twiddle their thumbs waiting for you to go.
  
• People out west do however complain a heck of lot more. (If perhaps not as loudly and with as many colorful explicatives)
  People out here need to totally toughen up and stop all of this whining. (Guess it is true what they say when it is suggested to live in New York, but leave before you get too hard, and to live in Northern California, but leave before you get too soft. A lot of people out here are very soft.)
  
• I can't tell whether I like the drivers better or not out here.
  
• On one hand, New York drivers are far superior drivers than California drivers. Their skills are better.
• However this knowledge of their skills and their aggression causes them to cut more defensive people off, and just be obnoxiously rude and idiotic.
  
• California drivers are nice calm, peaceful drivers, but they also make moves on a dime totally oblivious of other drivers. For a defensive driver, this isn't so bad because I am prepared, but other California drivers are just as oblivious as a car is about to hit them! UGH!
• The weather out here is perfect with the exception of the lack of rain
• Since moving in by myself, it has not rained a single day. 6 months -- No Rain. CRAZY!
  
• Working in film (even with talking Chihuahuas) is so much more rewarding than spinning cell phones. Though from what I hear from my producers, the film clients are just as indecisive, whiny, and nasty as advertising clients. (And I tended to have good advertising clients...ACK!)

So there it is. If I had to give a grade for the six months, a resounding A (A+ will be once Mel gets out here). For the past month itself maybe a A-/B+ (The individual month grades always seem harsher in more immediate retrospect.) So everyone have a great long weekend, Happy Labor Day, enjoy the political conventions, and most importantly start getting ready for FOOTBALL! Blog with you soon!

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?

-Nice Guy SMA-

The Return

This evening, my sister-in-law returns from her month and a half long trek in Guatemala. As her life is full of uncertainty at this point, she will be crashing with me again (indefinitely) until things are settled on her end. I am gearing up for her return and trying to look at it from the most positive aspect possible. I will have company and someone to talk with.......right, right.......oh boy!

So in the words of one of the most memorable film characters from this summer: "I'm a Dude playing a dude, disguised as another dude!" Wait no...that's not right. We were talking about my sister-in-law's return visit and me getting prepared for her stay, right? Trying to gear myself up as she gets back in just about five hours? Ah yes.....the quote:

"And.....here....we......GO!"

-Nice Guy-

The Power of the Perfect Song

This was a week! I can't say it was a tough week because nothing really bad happened and I definitely can't say it was a hard week because I only actually worked maybe a 1/4 of my scheduled hours, but man was it a week. One of those emotionally draining, life questioning weeks. It was so for reasons I don't really feel like writing about here (see the previous post and you get the idea), but it definitely took its toll when I got home this evening.

So I did what you do when you live out here in the Bay Area and need a revived spirit. Grab the iPod, and head out for a walk along the shoreline. I can't tell you how refreshing it was and how the combination of soundtrack with nature's absolute beauty was just the exact uplift needed. It always amazes me how that one song or combination of songs at the right moment can just bring back the spirit like the much needed irrigation of the dried soul. I'm not sure which song it was precisely, but it was definitely something from The Boss. (Bruce Springsteen for all the not so muches reading the blog)

Plus how can you not feel better when you have the Bay right outside your door and a beautiful walk to take your mind off of things. It was nature, life, and music in perfect alignment and its uplifting power was imense. I did also see one of the most sureal sights I have witnessed since the move out here. The East Bay is always known to be sunnier than the city itself, which usually is engulfed in a blanket of fog, but this evening as I walked back to my apartment, and looked across the Bay to view the normally shining city I was stunned by what I didn't see. The fog was so thick covering San Francisco that the city practically vanished from the horizon. As I looked out across the Bay, I saw a clouded abyss expanding to the depths of infinite unknown. Truly an amazing sight and the power that nature has in affecting our own known perception. An added treat for a lovely walk and a much needed uplift in spirit. So now I feel a lot better and have a sly smile on my face, a good beat in my head, a an extra little thump in my heart. Till next time, I will blog with you later.

-Nice Guy SMA-

Feeling Displaced

For probably the first time since moving and definitely for the first time since starting my job, I have begun to feel a bit displaced. In the wake of the much anticipated visit by my family and Mrs. Nice Gal, I am finding myself a little out of place and lacking the "settled roots" that I had on the East Coast. I don't want to call it homesickness by any means because I do prefer being out here than living/working in NYC, but I feel like I have yet to establish the new "persona" that I would like to have out here.

I know that this is most hampered by the distance separating me and Mrs. Nice Gal. I'm holding out on a lot of different opportunities till she get out here, but as the months continue to pass, I feel even more removed from the family structure that I had back East.

Also adding to this is my not fully sure work situation. As you may know, my project with The Company came to a close a few weeks ago. I took a couple of days off to spend time with the family and for the past few days have been on some busy work stretching a three-day project to four days. Now it's a waiting game until my next project kicks off. I am feeling pretty secure in my position within The Company, but until I am officially signed to a new project, I find myself slightly on edge. Until that day, I will keep coming into work each day hoping to make myself as busy and necessary as possible and I look forward to some new updates to report.

So hopefully soon, I'll be reunited permanently and able to finally plant some roots out west; making new friends, experiencing new adventures, and feeling fully in the moment. Till then, I'll keep the smile and move forward with each beautiful day, if feeling slightly displaced from the immediate moment.

-SMA-

Dr. Horrible

I am weeks late in posting this blog, so many of you have probably already seen this. But if not, I highly recommend you guys check out Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. It's a short film, musical, super-hero, love story. That pretty much sums it up. It's written and directed by Joss Whedon, who did the Buffy series. Plus it stars Neil Patrick Harris, who is quickly jumping up on my list of favorite "random" actors. So give it a watch and let me know what you think. Blog more soon.

-SMA-

Five and a Half Month in Review

It's August, I only posted six times in the past month, and one post was about the X-Men, boy do I suck. This has gotten me to think about the nature of this blog and what I intend to reflect on. Clearly this review is late(r) than usual and over the past 6+ posting I haven't really reflected on anything overtly exciting. (Other than the Viva Chihuahua!) So where does that leave me.....

Well to start off, things are going great and the job is wonderful. I am shipping my final spot on this "show" for The Company today and then have a few days off with Mrs. Nice Gal and the visiting family. I am still very much enjoying getting up each day and heading to work and the routine has been something I no longer dread. And this I believe is leading to the lack of postings...Everything is going well, but nothing is overtly exciting and after my unfortunate experience blogging about The Company, I have been hesitant to write about much work related material. Since I'm not writing about work and I haven't been doing too much else other than working and watching a bunch of movies, this seems to lead to a lack in subject matter. I have thought about writing about a list of random musings that I have been building, but after a day (be it long or not) my first gut reaction is to chill out instead of spending the time to compose. Yes it is true, I may be choosing my own activity over my love for you, dear blog reader. I just ask that you understand and not hate! =)

I think that once things get settled with Mrs. Nice Gal and I have more excitement to write about, perhaps the frequency will increase. So in this month's review, the only negatives that I can state are that Mrs. Nice Gal is still far away (though having her here for the next week is the most wonderful thing in the world) and that my blog postings aren't as frequent as I would like.

So that leads me to give a solid A for the past month. A month that has seen the release of my first project with The Company and has brought many enjoyable moments from great movies on the screen to some beautiful weather outside. There is a lot more that I still look forward to, but that is for the months down the road. So till then, I shall rush off and finish this last day of work on my current show, gear up for the next potential project I may be working on, and anxiously look forward to a four-day weekend with my beautiful and wonderful wife. Alright, all my best till the next post and I will blog with you later.

-SMA-