Living Room Jam Party

 Rebecca and I got the house together for her parents who were staying with us for the weekend. They all went out to enjoy an afternoon tea while I stayed home and recharged with a quiet spell with the cat. While the new Castlevania was high on my priority list, I did find time to make a batch of brownies for a games night we'll be at tomorrow night.

Until then, I had another evening plan to enjoy. Namely a very old colleague and friend of mine was hosting his annual living room jam party. By that I do quite literally mean we crammed about thirty people into a living room to rock out to a live band made up of the host and his friends. It was intimate and radiated good vibes. I'm always really touched by well attended parties for really honestly good people, it refuels my faith in humanity and makese proud to be a part of that circle. 

C'mon Friday

Only hand a couple of pints last night but the telltale signs of a hangover were present as I clambered out if bed. I styled it out pretty well but I spent most of the day wishing it was home time. The thing that kept us all going was the knowledge that a special baguette was incoming for everyone from lunch, all the way from Cardiff no less. So come lunchtime I left renewed and ready to power through the last couple of hours, which went very quick as the workload picked up again. I have a kind of boneyard of jobs to do, mostly when I get a spare moment now (which is never). I'll get round to it all one day... But it all sounds like a Monday job to me.

Tall, Frosty Pints

Decided to put my watch on because it felt like that kind of day. Production Meetings, Tone Meetings and all the in between stuff - we did it all today. Lot of turbulent, seat of our pants kinda a prep stuff at time, but the movie business is all about what's in front of camera, the rest is auxiliary. While I camped out in the sidelines, my team did some really exceptional work. We got all the busy stuff done and dusted now, roll on the final week of prep.

It was also the kind of day that called for a nice, tall, frosty pint. What started as a work thing capitulated, but from the ashes rose a nice double date opportunity with Rebecca and my colleague (plus their partner). We hit up an old favourite pub, met the new owner and tossed darts til the little voice in our heads said 'but it's a school night'. If it was a Friday we'd be there til the small hours, still it wouldn't have improved our darts skills... 

Massive Mirror

I pride myself in my ability to pull rabbits out of any crack, and I got a chance to flex that muscle this afternoon. I managed source and get delivered a mirror about the size of my height and armspan all within a 90 minute turnaround. We got it all done and the Costume Supervisor was rendered dumbstruck by my efficiency. When I do good I really knock it out the park it seems, but the rest of my day was again spent without catching much of a break. We have the big production meeting tomorrow so it'll be all hands on deck for most of the day, after we crest that hill though everything should get a little easier. Til then I'll just continue to white knuckle it.

Death by A Thousand Favours

Had a taste of 05:30 alarm goodness for the first time in a while because those early recce breakfasts won't collect themselves. All in we actually had an incredibly smooth experience (it's almost like we've done this a few times now), but the meat of my day was packed. Yet, I still wouldn't be able to tell you where all the time went. I would blink and two hours had passed. It's lots of little jobs all adding up into grander ordeals, death by a thousand favours. That and sustainability bits which hoovered up a lot of my mental bandwidth - all for a good cause thankfully but it's put a lot on my plate now.

Society

It wasn't until about 3pm that I came up for air. Before then I was drowning in an ocean of emails, WhatsApps and post it notes reminding me to do things. Everything is really heating up now and the workload is reaching it's zenith prior to the shoot actually starting. But it's also reach that point where we've all planned it for so long that it's honestly just time to go out and shoot the damn thing. 

I'm doing well on my October watchlist too. There's always an 80's SFX video nasty every year and this year's pick was Society which gets appropriately squelchy in the final moments, aka, exactly when Rebecca comes home from yoga. I basically had to pause it to give her a warning that the living room was going to be mighty unpleasant for the next couple of minutes, and boy, I didn't know the full truth of it then but I do now. Probably not in a hurry to recommend it, but that last sequence is something else. 

Glassy Potatoes

Just the other day Rebecca was flaunting about how she never really gets hungover. When I woke up and rolled over to look at her she said in a raspy voice that she didn't feel so good. Thankfully neither of us were actually very bad, a cup of coffee sorted us out so we were ready to do the North Street Shuffle. Every time we go now I bump into someone I know, crazy how for such a big town I'm still never more than a stones throw from a friendly face. 

I accidentally made the best roast of my entire life tonight too. The chicken I brought had more meat than we bargained for and my potatoes were glassy and fluffy. One of those dinners where all the planets aligned and it became the best version of itself. It was so good I almost forgot I had work tomorrow... What can next week bring I wonder?