Plodding Plotter

My Monday job list expanded outwards like an unruly weed. Things started to pile up around me and I kept batting them away with all my might. The one that kept coming back was sorting out the printer inks for art departments plotter, AKA, chuffing big printer. I'm doing a lot more peacekeeping on that one than I ever anticipated doing when I first woke up this morning, I think I found solutions but a lot of it feels a little outside my remit. Just keep smiling, as my boss would say, a line I kept telling myself as I counted down the minutes left in the day.

Blues Through Osmosis

My Sunday plans fell through last minute so I instead had more time to sit down for some writing. I'm still chipping away at an article for chap who scouted me a few weeks ago, I figured I had at least one good piece of work I can gift. I had a skeleton last week but I was able to put the meat on and thread through an idea quite nearly. It won't change the world, but I'm generally pleased with how it's shaping up. 

Rebecca gets the Sunday blues pretty bad and they're infectious now. Or perhaps I already had them and she's bringing them to the forefront of my mind? Whatever it is, it's making me mopey. Just one more weekend day would make such a a difference... Goo thing we got a bank holiday coming up!

My Own Little Saturday

I have an oddly vivid memory from about 15 years ago of waking up a little early on a Saturday and playing onld video games. I remember thinking at the time 'Damn, it doesn't get any better than this' and to this day I've yet to be corrected. With Rebecca away I had all the time in the world to switch off my brain and dive into a new video game that made me smile in all the right ways. I was transported back to my younger years when I didn't have a care in the world, and indeed, while the controller was in my hands this morning almost nothing else seemed to matter.

The only thing I really got up to today was hang out with my Production Manager at his house... Playing video games. There's a theme here. But it was legitimately a good hangout time that we both needed, passing the controller back and forth for Mario Maker levels is always a good time. No doubt Sunday will have a few chores in store, but I hope we can keep some of the good times rolling.

La Chat

I was busy but never rushed off my feet this Friday - an oddly nice middle ground of 'stuff'. I taped out firelanes in the studio with another member of the team, employing a 'work smarter, not harder' approach that served us very well. I logged a whole bunch of tech that got shipped over to us, and I ran out to the nearest greasy spoon to pick up a naughty lunch for some of my colleagues. Busy, but everything done well and would ultimately make people happy. 

Back at home I bid Rebecca farewell, she's off to London on a 24 hour run about. I'm looking after the cat in her sted and she's already found the perfect spot to settle down on the bed. It's hard to feel totally alone with a cat by your feet.

Flight Club

The last time I was asked to take notes at a page turn I was locked in a room with 5 people. One of which had Covid. Luckily today's one was much more normal. Everyone was collaborating, laughing and problem solving - all the while I was typing furiously, trying to commit everything to paper. Good thing I've been around the houses a few times so I know the filming lingo and was able to connect as lot of disparate dots, ultimately writing up well over a thousand words. My brain was running a little hot by the end of it but it was good fun to sit in the room where the sausage gets made.

With our Production team full up we're trying to do more socials while we can. This week was Flight Club, a social darts and bar which was a certified hoot. I learned that I was rubbish at darts, a fact one of my team brought up. 'I thought you'd be better at this'. Alas, I can control little Italian men with a joystick well, but when it comes to throwing tiny finned needles 3 feet, I am indeed naff. Gotta cherish these socials though, once I transition over to Script Supervising I will sincerely miss my team.

Tipping into the Tipping Point

Another recce means another breakfast set up in our little Production Office. I also got sent on a little lunch run that got cancelled at the last minute. At least that gave me some more time to catch up on my desk duties that I've been neglecting. Having said that, the plates I'm spinning are once again dependant on other people's actions now. Once I get a rubber stamp on a bunch of things I can leap into action, as it stands now I'm sitting on my hands a little bit. That'll all change as quickly as the wind though, I'm just enjoying a bit of the quiet while it still lasts.

CV Glancing

One of my old Script Supervisor mentors got in touch earlier to wish me luck on stepping up into the role, that was a nice bit of out of the blue recognition that kept me smiling. Otherwise I was going to the supermarkets and bakery early doors for bits and pieces as per usual... And I'll be doing it again tomorrow alongside a very sudden lunch run request for tomorrow afternoon. Just a few more weeks until I can hang up my informal title of Catering Coordinator for good. 

One little extra I got to do though was cast my eye over the CV's of my potential replacement. And hot damn, if my applications looked half as good as some of these guys I would have been in the business a lot sooner than I had dreamed. The next generation have got us covered and I know I can leave the team in safe hands.

Dog Poo

I had my nose deep into my phone as I walked to the bakery this morning, at least, that's my excuse for stepping in dog poo so early on. Is that good luck these days? Bird poo supposedly is, but I think any kind of floor poo works on a 'shame on you' kinda way. Was I any luckier today though? Jury is still out on that one. I was busy enough and a handful of the more ropey jobs just disappeared before I had to action them. I also beat Rebecca at this one board game for the first time ever today. Chalk it all up to the dog poo. I won't be doing that again tomorrow morning though as hosing down my shoe before work wasn't my ideal way to spend a Monday morning.

Sunday Writer

Before I had even opened my eyes the Sunday blues had sunk in. I feel like I'm drifting through my days at the moment since I don't have anything definitive to sink my teeth into. I'm lacking a game to play, a book to read or a TV show to watch. Nothing exists right now that fills my little heart with glee whenever I think about engaging with it. I'm riding it out because I know circumstances will quickly change when something comes along but for now I'm just coasting. I did return to my writing desk briefly to crack on with an opinion piece on behalf of another games blogger who wanted me to contribute to their site. I put off doing it for a long time today but I ended up really enjoying myself - a little no pressure time tapping on a keyboard turned out to be a good time with something potentially to show by the end of it. That'll be the legacy of this Sunday.

Chest High Wall

There wasn't a cloud in the sky so we took the opportunity to do some swift gardening. That horrible red weed thing crept back in, flourishing across every patch of soil that didn't have another plant firmly anchored in place. We filled two sacks almost exclusively of the stuff and the garden looks all the better for it. With great waste comes great responsibility so we booked in a trip to the dump. Rebecca disappeared into the cupboard under the stairs and managed to pull bulky trash from there like a magician. We filled Rebecca's car to the rafters, hocked it over a chest high wall and felt good about ourselves for the rest of the day. For bonus points, we took the picnic blanket out into the park, sat down and sunned ourselves in mid-April. Gotta enjoy it while we got it..

Deal In Principle

With most of the 'grown ups' out the office, today turned out to be easy going. It's what the team needed in all honesty, a day to get stuff done but also have a few laughs. I didn't even get sent out on a run, but I made more phone calls than usual which made me feel more like a member of the team and less like a gopher. That said, I had to low-key say goodbye to them as I got confirmation today that I'd soon be transitioning away from Production and into Script Supervising for this job. I am thrilled but it's a little bittersweet because my team are legitimately great and I'm headed into slightly uncharted territory. It's a new challenge though and they've already asked me to go out to all their future socials - an offer I gladly took up. Maybe this is the start of a whole new chapter.

Soft Boiled Eggs

The bread and pastries were still warm as I plated them up for breakfast - and as if that wasn't enough we also made some soft boiled eggs for the visiting executives. It truly was a spread to behold, it was only a little bit of a shame when they didn't eat it... Guess my hungry production team would have to step in instead. The grown ups were out on a recce once again so that gave us some breathing room to crack on with our day jobs. I struck a lot off my to do list but still found myself feeling mentally scrambled. I look around my team and the feeling is mutual. We're all still smiling but the busyness is strangely all consuming right now.

Salted Butter

I took a load of bread from my local bakery into work and within 2 hours it was gone. Apparently I love making rods for my back because now that people have gotten a taste for the finer things (fresh bread and French butter, the kind with hunks of salt dotted throughout) then they can't live without it. Guess I've turned into craft services once again, a role that is anathema to me but it keeps people on my side. I'll be at the bakery early again tomorrow morning. And probably the morning after that.

A Rainbow

Pulling out of our road I spotted a full rainbow arching over the park. This was at 7:15 when I left to get groceries and snacks for another recce. It was an early start but I had a lot to crack on with, every beat I hit with good timing, even after the occasional wrench was thrown into my timings.

One of which came as a missed called from my PM - usually this means something big brewing that I'd have to quasch. In reality, he had tee'd up a meeting between me and the Script Supervisor to discuss me coming onboard as an assistant Script Supervisor! I shoved the recce lunches into the hands of the HOD's and raced back to hop on a Zoom call with who could become my boss. We got on really well and she provisionally said she'd be delighted to have me on board as long as the higher ups are all good with it. I rode that high for the remainder of the day, which culminated in a pub session with the Production Team. Finger crossed that rainbow was indictive of things to come.

The Glamour of Television

Built my first Ikea flat pack of the job. The first of many I'm sure. The other assistant and I built it in the foyer of our director's accomodation so it was ready to be taken inside sometime this evening. At several moments during the build I resisted the urge to say 'The glamour of TV!' to my relatively green colleague but I didn't want to crush her hopes and dreams. That light faded from my eyes long ago I realized, I'm so used to scuttling food and hocking kit around that the magic of the silver screen feels alien to my efforts - I exist so deep in the periphery that I'm barely an extra.

Late Sunday Lasagna

A lasagna awaited us at Louis and Rachel's, how could we refuse a lunch at theirs? So for the first genuinely Summery day of April we all headed to the garden center and to start planning our season. I almost walked out with a couple of pumpkin planters but folded at the last minute - this was just a recce afterall, if I truly believe I'm ready to care for a pumpkin I'll be back out there in a flash. The rest of the afternoon was spent huddled around Louis' new emulator machine. We passed the controller on Super Mario Bros 3, each of us howling in disbelief whenever our fingers betrayed our intentions and let poor Mario die. 

The Sunday niggle squirmed back into my brain a little later on, that thought that poisons your good vibes, the ying to Fri-yays yang. What does next week hold in store? Lunches, research, emails and spreadsheets. The lasagna we enjoyed only served to remind me of Garfield's favourite quote...

Tyntesfield House

 Our energy provider incredulously gave Rebecca and me two tickets to a National Trust property of our choice. Tyntesfield House has long been on our 'Bristol to-do' list but it's always been too expensive to justify. No longer though! Parking was still a paid premium, but we knocked this attraction off our bucket list. I packed a cute little picnic for us to enjoy on the orangey lawn, Rebecca dropped a few nuts for the wildlife to enjoy but that gave us the fuel required to muscle past the slow walkers inside the eponymous house. It was a pretty mid-tier National Trust property, annoyingly it did that thing where rooms were cordoned off at the doorway, so you could poke your head in but could never get a sense of the space. There was also a distinct lack of information signage. I read most of the ones inside the building and I still don't know who lived there nor why it was an important building. I know they had servants and there was a billiards room but that about it. Still, it was a grand day out in somebody else's dime.

Pepper Mill

My Friday was almost left in tatters on account of a lowly pepper grinder. I fitted a fridge no problem into my car, I begun drafting cast gifts without a sweat, but what got me stressing was a tiny pepper mill. Our director is moving into a new accommodation so it fell on us to provide a couple of groceries for them, but for love nor money could we find a pepper grinder in a nearby supermarket. An hour later we located one, but at that point the absurdity of the task had taken hold. It was simultaneously the highest and lowest stake thing we'd ever had to put inside a kitchenette. We returned as humble champions, the director will never know if our struggles as they season their meals..

Kidnapped Earl Grey

Once my shopping basket was full up with real butter and posh sliced bread, I realized that I become an incidental Art Department Runner for the day. They're waiting on their junior people to start the job so I'm filling in the gaps til then. I gladly do their shopping, what I had less sympathy for is when they started outright stealing our teabags. Not just one or two mind, whole boxes! I wouldn't even mind if they were neighbourly about it and just asked for a borrow, instead I look the muppet when my team ask me where the Earl Grey has gone and I can only say 'But I swear it was RIGHT HERE' as they look at me like a crazy person.

It's so nice to come back home to Rebecca and the cat after a long day of jumping through hoops. They keep me going and keep me smiling.

Feet in the Door

Looking back, I'm not 100% sure what I accomplished at work today. I was fairly busy prepping Birthday paraphernalia for a colleague: cakes, cards and prezzies. I quietly spent a good chunk of the day releasing what I'd say during a training course seminar that I had been invited to speak at. About 12 young adults who were looking to break into the industry we're all on a day course at The BottleYard to learn how to get their foot in the door, so I joined forces with a member of the Locations team to give a lil spiel about what it's like to work in our industry. We could have filled a whole day chatting to them, but sadly our time was very brief with them. I think I presented myself ok, it's hard to drum up enthusiasm in strangers for a department as nebulous and spreadsheet based as Production but I had a gas of a time.

Emergency Pret Run

Just as I was making a passing remark to a colleague about not having to do a Pret run so far on this job, I got the call. Emergency Pret run, on the double. Our recce team ran a bit late and lost their restaurant reservation so I was deployed, alongside a colleague to feed our hungry, hungry heads of department. This derailed my day somewhat as I had only just left a big team meeting that filled my to do list with bullet points. I'll pick up the slack tomorrow, assuming there's not another surprise coming my way.

I mean there will be, but that's part of the fun.

Office Bananas

Morning of running, afternoon of sitting - that's most of my days in a nutshell. People are out on recces again doing their thing so I can be found pecking at emails, running away to buy groceries, returning to my inbox before being whisked away for a tea and coffee run. I'm never at my desk long enough to get given any meaty tasks which is a blessing and a curse. While the lack of responsibility is nice, I often find myself yearning for something more important and restocking the office bananas. Every now and then someone throws me a bone to gnaw on, mostly it's sustainability measures and figuring out best way to implement them. For better and for worse the higher ups are being sticklers for environmentalism. Sometimes things are overly altruistic rather than realistic, but finding that compromise is all part of it.

Scoop

We braced ourselves for an almighty storm that never really manifested. A spot of drizzle in the morning, then sunshine for the rest of the day. The Tabacco Factory market operated a minimised amount of stalls in case of wind, but with the sun out I couldn't believe how busy it ended up being. 

I finished the game I was playing and tuned into watch Netflix's recent film of the fortnight: Scoop. It's a journalism piece about the Prince Andrew interview that was fine... It exists... It doesn't elaborate on much we already know and doesn't hit the same highs as other contemporary journo flicks like She Said or Spotlight. It is a film about the interview in the most literal sense: we watch people say 'boy, it sure would be good to chat with the naughty prince' and then they do. If you've seen the real life interview you arguably don't need to see the dramatized version unless you're really interested in seeing actors reconstruct it.

Revenge of the Rum

Last night's 'on the house rum' might have been one drink too many as it turns out. I awoke to an almighty headache, even just focusing my eyes on things was enough to get my head spinning. A bit if self pity and an episode of The Apprentice later and I was on the mend though, a coffee and a walk to the Harbour side freshened me up a bit too. This weekend Rebecca and I just wanted to take things easy after some big working weeks. I already feel detoxed and stoked to have one more day of rest tomorrow. There's meant to be storms though so we may have to treat it as a wet play day and stay indoors.

Maximum Board Game Night

Continued to tick off boxes at work and making good strides towards our end goals. I feel like I'm doing good work to support my team, be it helping them take stuff off their load, or by simply making them a tea/coffee. Just happy to be there an make the difference where I can.

The nearby board game night is back on the cards after a lengthy hiatus so Rebecca and I filled out bags with games and headed up the hill. It started out with just 4 of us having a cute little session, then more and more people all dropped in! I have never seen it so busy - the owner was thrilled and I was happy for them. We spent most of the evening with said owner, we even got a free rum out of the deal! I said to Rebecca on the way home, I'm so glad I took the gamble and popped my head into the shop two years ago after seeing a poster.

Spreadsheet Shuffler

Did a little bit of everything and nothing today, but got a lot more direction after sitting down with the team to discuss our individual 'to do' lists. I'm being deployed like a satellite to hover over my guys and help out where I can. For the travel and accom peeps it's updating logs, for the more admin based folks I'm updating spreadsheets. In fact, whenever I'm not doing food work, all I seem to be doing is inputting data from one source into another. What a time to be alive.

Top Gun Maverick

Opened up the office and paraded around for half an hour before anyone else turned up. And by 'paraded' I mean I manically brewed coffee, set out pastries, yoghurts and fruit all for our team going out on recces. The day was pretty chill afterwards though, just ran errands as they cropped up and made dream come true... Again, mostly in the food department but we gotta start somewhere.

Being in early meant leaving early too so Rebecca and I had a chance to watch another Tom Cruise recent blockbuster: Top Gun: Maverick. Though I can't remember virtually a single plot point of the original, I can tell you this new one if flat-out better. It nails the academy style 'lets train the best to be even better' narrative beats and bolts in some high octane action to boot. It's innovation to effectively mount a go pro to fighter jets provides footage that always stuns and the film manages to honour it's own past without getting high on it's own supply. Solid, solid, solid.

Emergency Freezer

I was the first one in our local bakery for a pastry pickup. Some crew from London are down for the next few days visiting so we wanted to put out a good spread for them. It was one of those mornings with a lot of running around to set things up, but once everyone was in and happy the day mostly ran itself. I did have to source an emergency 2nd hand freezer because one of them wanted to keep their smoothie ingredients frozen. I suppressed my eye rolls at this being a first world problem and got one in the office within the hour, all before the peas and broccoli begun to melt. 

I'm back in early again tomorrow to lay out a continental breakfast spread for everyone before they head out into the rain for recess. All I do is food.

Gluten Free Biscuits

I wanted to optimize every second of the bank holiday Monday. I did a bit of extra curricular work by doing a supermarket sweep ahead of tomorrow's big meeting (we have a royal visit from the higher ups so I wanted to make sure we had enough posh, gluten free biscuits up our sleeve). But after that it was pure chill times, starting with the most recent Mission Impossible film which was just 'ok'. I've slowly come to terms with the fact that the action is good in these new ones, all the auxillary dialogue stuff is just woeful now though as every single group conversation consists of characters finishing each other's sentences. But, it was a long movie so today was the perfect time to watch it. 

I actually can't quite believe that the Easter break is over now. A double weekend over in a flash. I don't want to go to sleep because that'll make tomorrow come faster.