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About This Author
I am SoCalScribe. This is my InkSpot.
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Blogocentric Formulations
Logocentric (adj). Regarding words and language as a fundamental expression of an external reality (especially applied as a negative term to traditional Western thought by postmodernist critics).
Sometimes I just write whatever I feel like. Other times I respond to prompts, many taken from the following places:
Thanks for stopping by! 
October 30, 2009 at 10:58pm October 30, 2009 at 10:58pm
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Got called upstairs today and was informed that the company is laying me off. Apparently, they're trying to cut overhead once again and, of the six of us who were still at the company and survived the cutbacks last year, they decided to let me and our business affairs person go... the only two people at the company with any experience on the business side of the industry. Now they have a development executive, another development executive, an assistant and a receptionist. But no one to cover business and legal affairs, operations, physical production, IT, HR, or accounting. 
During the "we love you but we have to let you go" conversation, the boss asked me what I was working on that she and the remaining employees would have to take over. As I started going over my list of responsibilities, she was frantically trying to write them all down and her face became more and more concerned as I kept going. Clearly, she didn't realize exactly how much I actually did for the company (I was the one who took over ALL the responsibilities of the six people they laid off last time). Not to mention that I'm the only person at the company who has a halfway decent understanding of troubleshooting technology, corporate operations, and the overall process of producing a film from beginning to end, in detail.
I'm not one to toot my own horn to puff myself up unnecessarily, but the very real fact of the matter is that I was the linchpin that was holding the company together as it tried (and continued to try) to cut costs and move forward productively. Laying me off is going to be one of those decisions that, in six weeks or two months, when things start to fall apart, everyone says, "Ohhh, he really did take care of a lot. We made a mistake letting him go."
Unfortunately, that realization won't do either of us any good. 
I don't know what's worse... the fact that I got laid off today, or the fact that I'm really not all that upset or surprised by it, even when it came unexpectedly on the Friday before Halloween.
On the bright side, more time for NaNoWriMo! Does anybody know if the SMs are looking for an out-of-work Hollywood production executive? Working at WDC would make things sooo much easier. 
P.S. - Hey, aszreal! I think my bosses finally beat your bosses in the all-time WTF department. 
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October 29, 2009 at 4:46pm October 29, 2009 at 4:46pm October 28, 2009 at 3:42pm October 28, 2009 at 3:42pm
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I'm shocked and awed by the response I've received to my "NaNoWriMo Write-A-Thon"  activity. I was adding it up today and, if my math is right, our generous sponsors have already committed to a whopping 96.6 total GPs per word among our participating writers!  That means that if, on average, the writers only get halfway through NaNo, that's still nearly 2.4 million GPs raised for WDC charities. WOW!
Since there are ten beneficiaries of the activity and each gets ten percent of the funds raised, that's almost a quarter-million GPs for each charity! 
My hope is that, by additional sponsors, the participating writers pounding out huge word counts, or both, we can raise a lot more. I think we can get it to 5 million GPs all-in and get these worthy groups 500K GPs apiece. If we could double that and get each group a seven figure donation in time for the holidays, I'd be positively giddy.
If you're interested in participating, either as a writer or a sponsor, head on over to the forum and check it out!
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October 27, 2009 at 11:45pm October 27, 2009 at 11:45pm
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Had to take the wife's car in because it was having a hard time starting. Seemed to be some kind of clogged filter, fuel injection obstruction, something-rather. $150 to fix, and the starter is in pretty bad shape, which will be another $300 when the next paycheck comes in.
Whenever these sporadic maintenance needs pop up, we start thinking, "Ugh, maybe it's time for a new car." I mean, one of them is a '95 sedan with 177,000 miles on it, and the other is a '96 SUV with 276,000 miles on it. So these things are bound to happen (more and more often it seems).
Of course, since we own both of our cars outright, we eventually realize that a couple hundred bucks here and there beats a couple hundred bucks every month for a car payment. So dear neighbor with the six-figure, 2009 Mercedes SUV, you keep on giving us those patronizing smiles when we roll up next to your precious ride in the garage ... at the end of the day, we don't pay any money for the privilege of driving our cars, and our annual maintenance costs still don't come close to hitting one of your monthly payments.
And that makes me smile.
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October 26, 2009 at 8:25pm October 26, 2009 at 8:25pm
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Apparently, the makers of those little grocery store tubs of fresh fruit (in this case mixed berries) have it out for us. In attempting to get the friggin' container open, the very thin plastic lid sliced my index finger open not once, but twice. Nothing gory or anything, but one of those nagging little grazes, like the kind you get from a piece of paper. You know the ones, where you'd swear it should be gushing blood because it's so painful.
Naturally, today was the day that I was planning on finishing up a couple of contest entries and actually finish some writing early for once. Unfortunately, when I write, I need my fingers to keep up with my thoughts or I lose myself in my writing when my head's going faster than my hands. And a big bandage on my finger isn't exactly helping me keep my WPM up.
Oh well, at least I'm getting caught up on my WDC e-mails and whatnot. Granted, it's only at about 40-50 WPM, but I guess it'll have to do.
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October 25, 2009 at 8:41pm October 25, 2009 at 8:41pm
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Since the maintenance debacle of last Monday, my wife and I have been looking for a new place to live. Not just for that, but because we're getting a little older, we're both working full-time now, and we figure that maybe it's time to upgrade from the one-bedroom apartment we've lived in since we needed to survive on one income.
The problem is, our desire for a better place to live doesn't trump our good financial sense, and the Southern California housing apartment is still ridiculously inflated. We got into our current apartment at the height of the housing bubble, and we're paying $1300 a month for a one-bedroom apartment outside of Los Angeles proper. (As my friends back home delight in telling me, that's more than their mortgage payment.) In today's housing market, an apartment comparable to our own - reasonably-sized, small building, etc. - is going for $800-$1100, and two bedrooms are in the $1200-$1400 range.
One would logically think that a nicer two-bedroom apartment - the newer, big building ones that at the height of the housing bubble were going for two grand a month or more - would be subject to the same decline in housing prices as the rest of the world.
Nope.
They want more. Most of them are charging $100-$200 a month more in rent than they were two years ago, and every single one of them cites the reason being that the economy is hurting their business and they have to offset their losses.
I'm sorry, but the economy is affecting everybody, not just businesses. I don't know many people (my wife and I included) who would even think about renting an apartment for $2200 a month in this economy when pink slips and layoffs are always around the corner. And call me crazy, but I don't think it's your tenants' responsibility to pay astronomically inflated rent just to off-set your balance sheet. You have to charge fair market value for your units, not just what you want them to be worth. Maybe that's why your units sit vacant for six months or more at a time.
Besides, how much is a company really hurting when all their leasing agents are driving two year old BMWs and Mercedes?
It seems like the wife and I will be living in college-style comfort for a little longer...
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October 23, 2009 at 6:13pm October 23, 2009 at 6:13pm
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First, let me just say that I love music. I have an extensive collection of CDs and iTunes downloads in just about every genre available... it's a remarkable medium. So in many ways, it pains me to say this... but music is a waste of time. At least in regard to my commute. I spend an average of 60-90 minutes each way on my commute, five days a week. That's *shudder* four and a half hours of my life every week spent behind the wheel of a car, just getting myself from home to work and back again. So that's what, an average of about 12 hours a week I spend in the car?
Let's face it, music is great, but song after song after song doesn't leave me feeling like I've made the best use of my time. Morning radio shows are even less helpful, except for the news ones like NPR... but even then I can only listen to idiots espouse their political, religious and academic opinions for so long before I feel like my brain is rotting.
Enter audiobooks. Earlier this year, I picked one up from the Barnes & Noble bargain racks for $5.98 and thought I'd give it a go. I was amazed, not only at how much faster the commute seemed to go when I was wrapped up in a narrative, but how much more accomplished I felt afterward. I didn't spend those long hours of my commute singing along with a song or listening to talk radio... I spent it "reading" a book! At the end of the week, I actually felt like I had done something productive with all that time I spent in the car.
More importantly, I'm reading again. My job subjects me to the same phenomena that is so popular among students... I do so much reading for my job that I have little energy to read for leisure too. On an average day, I read anywhere from one to three full screenplays, a half dozen talent or operational agreements, and budgets and schedules galore. So when I get home, cracking open a book and looking at more words usually isn't my first choice of activity. But I also found myself sorely missing a good story. Not a screenplay or a legal contract... but a story that I could lose myself in and let my imagination run wild.
Normally, I'm lucky to finish two or three novels a year, read on vacations, planes, or whenever I have free time. Thanks to audiobooks, this year I just finished my eighteenth novel today and am getting ready to make my next selection. As an added bonus, the city library that I drive by on my commute has an extensive audiobook section, which I can check out for $1 per week. It takes me a week to finish a book (two if it's Frank Herbert or Robert Ludlum ). So I'm making productive use of my commute time, getting to actually "read" for enjoyment again, AND supporting my local library.
Not a bad deal, eh?
If anybody else has a lengthy commute, I highly recommend audiobooks, especially if you can check them out from your local library. Heck, I might even try nonfiction one of these days and attempt to learn something. But for now, I'm just enjoying getting caught up on all the books I've been meaning to read for years, and all the authors I've heard about and seen on shelves, but never had a chance to read. I've got some new favorites, and can safely cross others off my list.
Happy Friday, everyone!
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October 22, 2009 at 7:04pm October 22, 2009 at 7:04pm
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So this season, I had every intention of entering my friend Coolhand  's awesome short story contest, "Invalid Item" . I realized a couple weeks ago that I haven't entered his contest in over a year, since the summer season way back in July of 2008! (It's a good thing Coolhand is, well, such a cool guy... because I've been criminally negligent in submitting entries for his contest). I wrote half of my entry yesterday, planning on finishing it up today and sending it off, as per usual, at the last minute.
Of course, the danger of that strategy is that sometimes you end up with days like today, where the deadline has already passed because you got the dates mixed up.
Coolhand, I'm sorry amigo... I missed your contest again. But at least I'm halfway done with my Winter entry. You WILL get another "Classic Story" from me... |
October 20, 2009 at 9:20pm October 20, 2009 at 9:20pm
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For those of you that don't know, my wife (who is a far more altruistic person than I) is a special education teacher, currently teaching 9th grade Language Arts, or what used to be called English before California got all "PC". Anyway, she tells me that her kids are having a hard time dealing with the fact that they have to write a 500-word essay in class this month. One of her more vociferously opposed students is a huge Stephen King fan and my wife asked me how she can motivate this student.
Never one to pass up the opportunity to share my obscure trivia knowledge (or frighten children), I told her to let him know that Stephen King recommends writing 2,000 words a day to become a better writer. That's right... they have a month to write an essay that would take Stephen King less than a quarter of his day to write.
I'm waiting to hear whether she used the tactic and if it succeeded (I'd consider inspiring him to write or scaring him into not complaining anymore equal victories), but it also made me remember back to my high school days in AP English (sorry, Language Arts) when my teacher would give us a three-page article which we had to read, analyze, and write a 500-word essay about in 40 minutes. I suppose I have him to thank for being able to write quickly.
And hey, if the Stephen King factoid doesn't scare him straight, I told her to tell them that her husband is going to write 50,000 words during the month of November. That's right, kids. That's like your essay times 100. Now put your eyeballs back in their sockets. |
October 19, 2009 at 3:16pm October 19, 2009 at 3:16pm
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So I normally try not to do this, but it's a particularly unpleasant Monday (and it's only noon!), and I feel the need to gripe and whine for a little while. So feel free to skim, skip or otherwise ignore this post if you wish.
There's been a change in management at our apartment building. The on-site manager has "renegotiated" his arrangement with the owner, which - to make a long story short - essentially means that he now only does some repairs and maintenance work. What that translates into for me is that now, instead of calling the on-site manager and having him come over and fix my backed up garbage disposal the same day (any day), it now takes four days of e-mailing and calling the owner's office in order to schedule a maintenance visit by the on-site manager for business hours only. 
So I take the earliest available appointment this morning... 10 AM. That's okay, my job is usually pretty flexible and I'll just stay a little late today. At 10:30 AM the on-site manager comes in, looks at the garbage disposal for a couple seconds and says, "Oh, I don't do those repairs anymore. We outsource that now. I can have the guy out here between 2 PM and 5 PM."
Great. My commute to work is roughly an hour and a half each way, so by the time I got there, I'd pretty much have to turn around and go back. So I e-mail my boss and say that I'll be working from home today, I have my laptop and all my files, I'm just waiting for maintenance men, etc. Basically, I may not be in the office, but I'm still going to be working. Nine times out of ten, this isn't a problem. But today, I get that rare ten percent e-mail that says if I'm out of the office, I have to use a vacation day. Not the news I really wanted to hear, but that's okay... I've got plenty of vacation days saved up, so I take one. 
Then I get another work e-mail thirty minutes later about a problem with the phones. They want me to help walk them through fixing it from home. I kindly explained that they forced me to take a vacation day rather than allowing me to work from home, so since I have to use my own personal time, I shouldn't have to be on-call for work issues and I would be happy to resolve it when I'm back in the office tomorrow. Apparently, that's not how it works... I need to take the personal day and deduct it from my paid time off... but I also need to be working from home to fix this problem. 
So what am I doing today? I'm sitting at home, waiting for the maintenance guy to come and fix my broken garbage disposal and backed up sink, so I can do the nasty dishes that have been sitting out for four days. While I wait to do that, I'm working just as hard as I usually do (even harder actually, since I'm trying to walk my technologically illiterate colleagues through the steps to fix the problem)... and for all of that, I get the privilege of being docked one vacation day in return.
Happy Monday, everyone. Who's ready for the weekend?  |
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