A quiet place to think out loud Who put the filling in the pie in the sky?
Tuesday, May 28, 2002
FIRST DAY BACK...
The first day back to work after a great vacation is always a little tough. First of all - you simply must stop laughing. People at work notice this happiness as a contrast to the normal work environment. I was already asked why I simply laughed everytime one of my colleagues spoke this morning. His answer was exactly right - it's habit by now - that's all we've done for the past five days.
I keep trying to be serious about what I have to do - and there's plenty. On this first day back, I not only have to focus on my job - but I have to focus on my next job - which starts in a month. I still don't want to focus on ANY job. But this is bringing me back to reality. Already this morning I've written letters to let my landlord and CUNIVERSITY know I will be leaving in a month. I've always been kind of bad (in a sappy way) about good-byes. As a little kid, I had to say good-bye not only to people - but to buildings, cars, pets - anything I liked. I had separation anxiety from all of them when it was time to leave. There's still a part of that in me. I notice - as I take a particular freeway exit this morning for a "doctor" visit - that it might be the last time I ever use that road. Same with people I just happen to run into here or there. Funny thing is - these aren't people I particularly enjoyed seeing when I lived here. Now, I somehow miss them.
Somehow, though, that's how I see life - a closing window of opportunity. It's probably why I've gone from becoming a world-class procrastinator in my college days.. to being (some would say) pushy and stubborn now about getting things done. There just never seems to be enough time to do the things I want to do. And there's always a deadline of some sort - after which time I won't be able to. It's not that friendships go away - but the opportunity to look your friend in the eye whenever you talk does - or at least it becomes much less frequent. When it's all said and done - Bob Hope said it best - "Thanks for the memories." If you pass on the opportunity to make the memory - it never comes back. There's always a reason NOT to do something.. I think people who find the reason and way to make it work - are the ones who die with no regrets.
This weekend - I spent a lot of time with some good friends doing just that. I also lost my great uncle. 90 years old - WWII vet.. purple heart winner. I don't know what the two have in common - except that perhaps noting the end of someone's life is the best time of all to be glad that I spent the weekend the way I did. Another reminder that in this month left here there will be a lot of opportunities to create memories that will long outlive most of us living and working here.
This fall, I will go to one of my best friend's weddings. It will be the first time all of our "gang" from grad school will be together since the last wedding - seven years ago. We joked then that since we tell the same stories over and over (and laugh each time like they're brand new).. we should just catalog them so we can refer to them by number. We'd spend less time talking and more time laughing. I'm sure we'll do all the same things this fall - seven years later. Which is really what it's all about.. knowing that you did it all while you could - and created a bond so strong that even time can't weaken it.
First - one of the legends in TV news passed away Monday Night. Jerry Dunphy was anchoring in Los Angeles before I was born. He wasn't young then. He helped to pioneer newscasts and new formats at three TV stations there. Although he was smart as hell, he was one of the people "Ted Baxter" on the Mary Tyler Moore Show was created from - Dunphy had the snow white hair and deep voice. He was a World War Two pilot.. covered Vietnam.. the Watts Riots.. was the first on the air with the RFK Assassination... the 1992 LA riots.. and everything in between. I never met him.. but I've met a lot of people who worked with him.. and no one ever said he was anything but great.
My first resume tape was made at the station where he anchored (then.. and until last week when he had his third heart attack). He anchored two hour-long evening newscast... one at 8pm and one at 10pm. At about 9:02pm, you would, every night, see Jerry Dunphy walk out the front of Paramount Studios - where the station is located - across Melrose Ave. and into a small pub. He would have a glass of wine or two.. and about 9:45pm walk back across the street. People would joke that Jerry's cheeks were a little "colorful" at 10 than at 8.. and he smiled a little more. He was also well known for picking up the check at that little pub.. and for throwing huge parties where he invited everyone from top Hollywood celebrities to the people who cleaned up his office. Truly a class act.
He opened every single newscast with the same words "From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening..." even managing to work it into new formats that required slogans and other such nonsense. His co-anchor, announcing his death last night and fighting back tears, said "Los Angeles will never again be the same, because Jerry Dunphy will never again come into your home." Hard to imagine..
On the other end of the spectrum, one of the TV stations against which I will be competing starting in July, has been selling prominent area families stories about the impact their families have had on the area for $5,000. I won't say anything more about it.. except to note that reading that story after Jerry Dunphy's today makes me realize that more than just a legend may have died.
Someone I used to work for took great pride in catching me being - well - less than upfront. His theory was that (and I can still hear his voice) "if you turn down the volume.. reality will scream at you." In other words, if you stop listening to what people say - and just watch what they do - you'll figure out quickly how they really feel. He would routinely catch me pretending to be interested in some project or client when I was anything but interested. He actually helped me figure out that I was anything but interested in that job/career/life. Lesson learned.
Since then - that was 10+ years ago now - that skill has come in handy almost every day. I do it during interviews.. stop listening for a minute and watch body language and eyes. Instant "bullshit detector". I do it during conversations... see if the intent seems to match the words. Most of all, though, I do it to myself - try to pay more attention to what's going on inside my head.. than to what comes out of my mouth. Sometimes they don't match.
That's a very long introduction to say - I've made a difficult decision to relocate and take a new job. The hardest part was figuring out why I would want to leave a place where I like the people I work with, have great friends, and enjoy what I do. But somewhere, inside my head, I needed to find the next challenge. It wasn't easy to figure that out. If you like most of the things around you.. why change them? I still haven't answered that question - except to know that when all is quiet - and I listen to my thoughts - it was time to find a new challenge. I do best when I have a mountain in front of me to climb.
There will be many mountains to climb between then and now.. and I'm sure I'll talk about many of them here. The past few weeks it's been hard to write - because things kept changing so quickly. But now that I know where to climb.. I'll have more things to say. Stay tuned..
Here are some random things going on that I thought were interesting or funny:
1. I guess now that the Psychic Friend's Network is gone.. she can't see these things in advance:
(Miami-AP) -- Dionne Warwick may have been saying a little prayer that baggage screeners would let her walk on by. Authorities
at Miami International Airport say they found marijuana inside her lipstick container. Warwick was arrested; she was released after
signing an affidavit promising to appear in court.
This could have been "Dumb Olympics" event #10!
2. If I watched and enjoyed that "Dumb Olympics" what does that make me?
3. THIS WEEK'S NAKED NEWS...
(Villanova, Pennsylvania-AP) -- We interrupt this program to bring you a -- porno movie. Some Villanova University students got
an eyeful early yesterday morning, as a prankster put an X-rated movie on the campus cable system. Officials of the Pennsylvania
university aren't laughing. They say someone broke into an office to switch tapes in a V-C-R. Instead of the usual program, students
saw 30 minutes worth of a movie called "Cheap Thrills." Villanova spokeswoman Barbara Clement says breaking into the office was a
criminal act. She says if they catch the prankster, he or she will be turned over to police.
(Camden, Arkansas-AP) -- It's a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it. Authorities in the Camden, Arkansas, area say they're
getting complaints about a man who offers to clean septic tanks in exchange for sex. Chief Deputy Paul Lucas says they want to
determine whether he has the proper certifications to service the tanks. Aside from the sex-for-septic service, deputies say the man
has also offered to clean systems in exchange for guns.
I used to cook a lot more than I do now - because it used to be one of the things I did that would totally absorb me - and let me forget about everything else going on. Drawing and writing used to also fit into those categories. In college and grad school - when things got really tense - I would take a day off and do any or all of those things - it's like going on vacation without leaving.
That's harder to do now.. I'm not sure why. Reading will do it for me - if I'm really into whatever it is I'm reading. But more and more - it takes getting out of town - and away from all of the things that pull me back from my distraction. I guess this is a long winded way of saying... LEAF IS ALMOST HERE!
IS IT MACARONI AND CHEESE... CHEESE AND MACARONI... OR JUST CHEESY...
It will probably go down in history as one of the least thought out promotional events. Our local hockey team asked people to bring a box of macaroni and cheese to the first game in the championship series... to use as a noise maker. The boxes would then be donated to needy people. First of all, very few people actually brought boxes along. Those of us who did actually use them as noisemakers - thereby reducing the contents to mush (Bits n' Cheese... Crumbs n' Cheese.. etc. - you can hear the jokes). Someone will get that to eat! Can you hear it? "Mmm... gruel n' cheese. Mom, can I have more?" A few of the boxes broke while be used as cheering devices - macaroni showers for all. Hardly memorable..
However, most of us there will always remember it as the night Tjake chugged the cheese. Just like all the old college stories that start with "Do you remember the night when..." this will live in the Friendship Hall of Fame for years to come. For those of you who missed it (and I can almost guarantee you it won't be repeated again).. for a mere 5 dollars.. and some mutual support.. this person whom thousands of people turn to for their weather and news.. chugged a packet of dry cheese-food (cheese is merely one of many ingredients in said cheese-food). With the help of a couple of sips of beer, he managed to keep it all down. The hockey game became a distant backdrop to the powdery-orange performace I was lucky to witness from about a foot away. Suggestions later than night that he chug a bottle of marinara sauce (you'd think it would go with the cheese) were roundly refused... so I think we all witnessed a one-time flashback to college Friday night. If only there were pictures...
A couple of years ago.. after finishing up a week of professional development at a highly respected Florida institute of journalism (which certainly would not like to see their name printed here).. a couple of new friends and I decided we would end our dinner on our last night.. but taking a leap.. fully clothed.. into the hotel swimming pool. With beer in hand (duh!).. we did.. and someone took a bunch of pictures. I have one on my desk at home. Sometimes you just have to jump in the pool (or chug the cheese).... it makes life interesting (especially if you don't get sick!). But, I wanted to express my true admiration for someone who would try to cram a powdery almost-food down his throat just because his friends threw out a few singles and a collective pat on the back.
AND FOR THE VEGAS CROWD...
(Las Vegas-AP) -- Prosecutors want to take some of the sin out of Sin City. They're calling for a crackdown on outcall private dancers who visit customers in their Las Vegas hotel rooms. Clark County Assistant District Attorney Mike Davidson says the private dance services are just a front for prostitution. He says if someone needs to express themselves through dance, they can join a ballet troupe. There are more than 130 licensed outcall businesses in Vegas. Davidson, who's running for D-A, wants a moratorium on new services and the eventual elimination of the existing ones.
Lucky for us.. we'll just be there to see a couple of (stage) shows.. and sample the cheap buffets.
Disclaimer: I am stealing the idea for this blog from someone I work with. But, I work in television. So we don't call it stealing. If you get it first - it's yours. And, besides, he's the "Dude of the Year".. so he'll have plenty more ideas of his own - many involving unnaturally large vegetables.
Now back to our story...
You've probably read on other blogs... people complaining that the fortunes in fortune cookies are anything but a fortune. My co-worker made some phone calls (as reporters often do - and sometimes tell everyone on air they do) and found out the company that makes the fortune cookies actually buys these "fortunes" from another company in California. That means there's a market for inane 4-6 word sayings. I smell MONEY!
We can have a few different product lines:
1. Blind flashes of the obvious. For example: "Where ever you go, there you are." That's about standard fare for fortune cookies these days. Why shouldn't we make money off it?
2. The adult line. Since so many people add "in bed" to the end of the fortunes anyway... why not print it? It takes care of 1/3 of the word requirement right away.. and people will think it is funny. For example: "Today is the day to try something new IN BED." I can hear the giggles now. Obviously, there will be an extra charge for this product line - but we could expand sales to include video rental places and novelty stores. Who needs to eat first?
3. Actual fortunes. This will be another premium line. Instead of cliches and sayings that predict nothing.. we will produce actual fortunes. Since it would be hard to sell things like "You will be hit by a car".. we'll try to be more subtle and less negative. Example: "You will be a big hit today." That also gets us away from the nasty "you said it would happen and it didn't" thing.
What we all need now are suggestions... so I'm opening up the floor. New product lines are welcome as well. Let those creative juices flow... (that could be a candidate for the adult line!).
