The other night, #2 son went to take part in an experiment at the local university’s psych department. It involved wearing electrodes while being exposed to Macauley Culkin and Tickle Me Elmo, among other things. Since Culkin and Elmo are two of the most irritating things I can imagine, I surmised that the experiment was about irritation.
Afterward, I took #2 son to Target to spend the money he had earned.
“Think how proud of us you’d be if you could bend us to your will,” he said thoughtfully in the parking lot. He had in mind my desire for the boys to study hard and do well in school, to do their chores, and perhaps to come sing in the choir, which is desperately short of tenors.
Ordinary parent, or evil genius set on bending people to my will?
Other family members are having some excitement. My husband placed first in the opening night of a pool tournament. Son-in-law is going to the north pole in a submarine, with a film crew.
Yep. Stargate, which is apparently a TV program of some kind, is sending a film crew along. Apparently they needed some footage of a submarine breaking through Arctic ice.
Can you imagine that conversation?
“So, Commander, do you have any boats going to the North Pole? We’re wanting to vanquish an ice alien, and we need some footage.”
“We’ve got some boys heading up to visit Santa Claus next month. You can fly somebody in to meet them if you want.”
“Terrific! We’ll be happy to send a little donation to the Navy.”
I have no idea how you would arrange that, actually.
I have a new assignment from the History Encyclopedia –1000 words on a county to the southeast. I was not happy with the outcome of the last assignment I had with them (that would be the Miss America/Playboy cover one), so I am glad to have another opportunity there.
I also have some upheaval at work. I had a worst-case scenario in the back of my mind when we opened the second store, and it looks as though it may be coming true. At this point, there are three possibilities: my job may continue as it is, it may change radically and indeed for the better, or it may disappear entirely. I have worked there for a decade and a half,and I now have about a month to decide what to do. And perhaps to find another job.
The key will be to look on this as an opportunity and an adventure.
it is an adventure. I mean, you’ve never done anything like it, have you?
Qualified adventure material. Right there.
Hoping for the best here…. whatever the best may be.
There are two Stargate TV shows: Atlantis, and my favorite, SG-1. Atlantis is a spin-off.
On Saturday afternoon, on the Fox network, they run an episode of Atlantis, one of SG-1, and another Atlantis. And SG-1 is on SOMETIME every single day on SciFi, here, from 6 to seven. Monday, SciFi showed about 6 episodes in a row. According to the storyline, there’s a base near one of the poles full of alien artifacts including a planetary defense system.
Anyway, every state, most counties, and branches of the Military have a film office. They are responsible for coordinating movie and TV filming with their local area.
A lot of the opportunities for locations for Invader were organized through the PG County Film Office (in Maryland), and a lot of the film was shot there. If you get a copy of Invader, where our heros arrive at the building on the Air Force Base, they’re actually in the lobby of the film office (I made the sign behind the guard that’s shot). The outdoor scene where the agents chase Frank, and the plane crashes were done on the film offices sound stage (I’m in the background several times). The meeting with their military advisors is in their conference room. And there’s a chase through their halls and offices.
They also taped footage of us filming for local TV in which I was featured prominently.
There was also two weeks spent filming at a Virginia military base, and some location work at the Census Bureau, which stood in for the Pentagon.
I’ll bet that if you check your phone book, you can find your nearest film office.
And I’ll bet that’s more than you ever wanted to know about the subject.
Any more questions?
A visit to the north pole in a submarine sounds exciting. So do electrodes and bending people to my will. But I’m sorry to hear about your potential job troubles. Whatever happened with that interview you had? Did I miss it?
Very exciting goings-on. But I’m sorry to hear of your workplace woes. I do so admire your attitude when potential adversity strikes.
Isn’t the only difference that you have more alternative outcomes than you did in the old store? In the old store your job could have continued as is, or it may have disappeared. You now have a third possible outcome – radical change in the job for the better. Doesn’t that mean that the decision rests on the question ‘If I assume my job will disappear in a month or so, should I leave now and get a new job or should I wait until the job disappears and then find myself a new job?’ The answer to that depends a bit on whether you think it will be easier to find a new job now than it would be later and also on whether the possible ‘radical changes for the better’ are worth waiting for . Good luck anyway – weren’t you the one who told me that you thought job hunting was fun when I quit my job 🙂