September 4th: Burdett fashion show shoot. Russ, Dave, Eric and I find Boston traffic to engage in this annual event. Get covered in silly string. Meet a truly enhanced barmaid who provides me with expensive Coca-Cola and lime concoction. Have ringside seat for some cool fashion stuff. No Fudruskers...closed for the night. Duncan Donuts instead. Oh well...
September 5th: Johnson and Wales video shoot. Start by locking keys in car and calling dad to bail me out. Shoot the annual orientation stuff. Lots of wrestling attire. Lots of pretty girls. Lots of underwear. Shoot events that night, including a cool illusionist/mentalist and some neat improv stuff. Happy that this will make their heads spin. I was right!
September 12th: shoot wedding for Angela and George. Nice, hot sunny day where the bridesmaid refuse to wear undergarments. This leads to some less than proper comments during the course of the shoot. End up at Atlantic Beach Club in Newport where the girls sing songs from the Brady Bunch, some guys do bad Karaoke rap and I see Eric's sister Val. And they PAY me for this!!!
September 26th: shoot Kristen and Mark's wedding. Bride and 12 other girls sing a beautiful rendition of "Baby I'm yours" to the groom, sans any musical accompaniment. Most amazing thing I've ever shot to date. Make your own sandwiches while the guests eat Smoked Salmon. Watch some bridesmaid stand on her head while waiting to take pictures. Sum that up in one line: her hemline went to her bustline and her bust went to her head. Again-they PAY ME for this?!
October 7th: District manager visits store. Store manager tells me that, in the midst of all the other Christmas stuff, I have two weeks to move and rewire five cash registers before a 10/27 visit from the entire district staff. Work a 14 hour day. Fell like I've hit a major wall. Nervous breakdown? Not quite but pretty darned close. October 10th: Lucy and Mike's wedding. Small crowd. Tough reception hall. Nervous couple. She puts ring on wrong hand of groom. They both cry a whole lot. Killer last dance shot. All in all, an uneventful event. October 16th: first day of WBIM radio takeover during college homecoming. Renew old friendships until midnight. Meet new friends. Get harassed by a student named Erika, who proceeds to buy the DJ's dinner in a campus watering hole that is far too loud for its' own good. Nice touch. Hang out and talk and remember how old I've gotten.
October 17th: second day of WBIM radio takeover. I have first air shift. 8 AM-sign on and national anthem (Hendrix, of course). One solid hour of loud rock and roll. Bad karma, good music. Sign up a couple of folks for possible DLM stuff. Run station until noon, when I heard for a wedding in Freetown. Cool wedding at a cool church. Strange audio buzz going on...must be a radio transmitter somewhere. The truth IS out there. Cool pictures behind church. Bridesmaid with clothing problem continues to crop up. Reception in New Bedford. Food is fair, DJ is hot...Eric shows up to hang out. I get molested by the bridesmaid with the clothing problem. All in a days' work. Eric gets dragged on the dance floor at the end. Some severely toasted folks by the end of it all. Eric and I end up back in the studio, reviewing footage and working on graphics stuff.
October 18th-24th: cash register moves continue and my stress level just about runs me over. Less than a month until NACA.
October 25th: Mike "working way too hard for my own good" Keane and I meet up with Eric to take in the Boston Comic Show. Mike gets X-MEN #6, Eric gets AMAZING SPIDER MAN #8 and I purge the 20 for a buck and 3 for a buck box. Estimated take home-about $300 for a mere $35. Spend the night watching LOST IN SPACE in glorious surround sound. Cool!
October 27th: district visit comes and goes with a great deal of success and fanfare. A major weight had been lifted off my lower lumbar.
October 31st: Halloween at Sears. Yay! If all goes well, Eric and I will check out Brass Force tonight, followed by a screening of SIX STRING SAMURAI at a midnight show. Either way, I'll be wasted by tomorrow , when I do the work thing once again.
Less than two weeks to NACA now. 20+ performers, three days, and 1,400 college kids. Ya got to love it.
Keep reading. Keep dreaming. And in the words of Jeff Jarrett: "Don't P*** me off!"