Funny Names?

Going through some old pictures of mine, wondering why I took some of them, when I stumbled across this one.





Took this when we were up in St. George for the Warren Jeffs trial. I'd say I have the mind of a 12 year old, but I think that would be an insult to a lot of 12 year olds.

Facebook!

Hi!

I have a Facebook profile. Facebook is like Myspace, if they banned teenagers and people like me. Except they didn't ban people like me. But none the less, I did have to keep my profile a little less juvenile. Here it is if you'd like to add me as a friend!

Please do. I only have like 9. Thanks.

My Last Sunday...

Why the fuck does it take me 13 days to write up the second part of my story? Because I had another seizure. Are you happy, you jerks? ARE YOU?!?!?!

I actually did, but it wasn't a big deal. Had to go to the hospital, which cost me 200 smackers, but the EMSA paramedic was H-O-T! As for the reason? Well, some of us are not lazy nor stupid. Some of us are. I'm the latter. Ran out of meds, waited four days to get some more, guess where this is going...

Anyway, whatever. Let me see if I can remember any of that Sunday from several weeks ago, so I can tell you the story. I am sure it was interesting, otherwise I wouldn't have returned from my exile to tell it.

Ah yes... I see it clearly now. My reporter and I were tasked with doing our story from Saturday that didn't get done. Easy enough. Most of the day I wandered around the station, trying to make sure that if there was breaking news, I would not be the first photographer the Sunday producer found.

Eventually though I was trapped in the newsroom as it was time for me to edit the Okmulgee murder package. I put it together as slow as I possibly could, but unfortunately it was just some sots with some VO from a day old scene.

The story behind it was that a man was found dead in the trunk of a car behind his house. It was sad, and he had been there for a few days. Some of the people who lived nearby pointed out some of the blood that had leaked out of the trunk and dripped onto the concrete below. I was more upset by the darker spot in the grass that was covered by flies.

Twas my first (and hopefully my last) time I almost stepped into decomposed human being.

Anyway, I put the story together (sorry, like most stuff done on the weekend, it wasn't put online) and attempted to flee once again, but was cornered.

Producer: "There's been a stabbing at XX Apartments!"
Me: "So?"
Producer: "Get a live truck! You guys are going!"
Me: "Is someone dead?"
Producer: "Go find out!"
Me: "..."

Anyway, we load up in the live truck and head towards North Tulsa. Not the safest area of town, so a stabbing didn't suprise me. Plus, I could swear I remember the name of those apartments from somewhere... But where?

Then as we started to get close I knew.

"We did a story about this place." I said.
"Oh?" My reporter asked, not really caring.
"Yeah. This place sucks."

My reporter decided to call dispatch to find out if it was anything before we arrived. However the dispatcher who answered the phone said she couldn't help us as she wasn't at her computer.

She wearing a wireless headset? Where was she, the bathroom? And what if we had been someone needing the police?! Seemed like we should investigate it, but instead we continued to the apartment complex.

Arriving, I smiled happily. It was gated and there were two security guards out front. However, the security guards must not have been aware that they could keep us out of the complex because they opened up the gate and waved us through.

That NEVER happens when you want it to.

Anyway, we got there, got yelled at by residents, and couldn't find any police, so we quickly scrambled away and headed back to the station. The rest of the night passed by without incident, which was great because I don't think I could have handled another goose chase on my last night shooting.

I hope you have enjoyed this! Because when (if) I do any blogging about editing, it will all be very hostile. I think they put me in that position to see if I would off myself. *shudders*

My Last Saturday...

Sorry, I know it's late. I get distracted by shiny objects and have been dealing with some frustrations.

Anyway... My last Saturday, which was last Saturday... It was just my last Saturday shooting, I still work there, but in case you haven't been keeping up, I was demoted (sorta) to editor. Sidenote: I can't drive still, so the reporters have to drive and it apparently ticked one of them off, so I got sent to editor. However, I didn't receive a pay cut, which is why I say demoted (sorta).

Anyway, I get in and we're sent out the door almost immediately to Okmulgee, OK to cover a homicide that happened the day before. Nice 40 minute drive. Once we get there, we make a wrong turn, which was fine until we cross some train tracks that failed to warn us of a nasty drop on the other side. Doing the speed limit (30ish), it felt like a Dukes of Hazzard jump!

Stuff in the back got knocked around, but didn't seem to be a big deal. Till we got to the police department that was. My reporter went in to find the cop we needed to talk to while I decided to get some b-roll of police cars, since I wasn't expecting to have much at the scene.

I set the camera on the tripod and flip it on.

Nothing happens.

I groan and assume my battery is dead, so I take it off. About that time I look at it and groan. One of the clips has broken off and is still attached to the battery plate! D'oh! I pull that out and get a different battery. Flip the camera on.

Nothing happens. Again.

"WTF?" I ask. Yes, I said W-T-F because that is how much I used to instant message and chat.

I pull that battery off and notice that one of the power connectors has actually broken off from the battery.

"D'OH!!!!!!!" I cry out. Several Okmulgee police officers look at me and move their hands towards their tazers. I assure them I am harmless and tell my reporter the bad news.

"They are going to have to send someone with a different camera."

Let me tell you something about Saturdays. There is no one there. One producer, one editor, one reporter and two photographers. And I was unsure what time the second one was off.

Luckily he was still on the clock and grabbed the only unsecured camera and headed our way. We spent the next 40 minutes listening to the police make fun of us for having broken gear. Once we were done there we headed to the house where it happened. We managed to find some nice neighbors who were happy to go on camera and tell us how nice the victim was and stuff. Beats knocking on doors, I'll tell you that much. We returned back to the station at about 6:30 and got to work on getting the story put together for the 9.

But wait, there's more...

Weather started to roll in, a big chunk of it severe. And it was headed right for Pryor, OK, where Rocklahoma - a rock concert, duh - was going on. Thousands of people and many, many bands.

And the weather knocked over two stages.

Minor injuries, but it was BREAKING WEATHER so my partner and I loaded up in the Nomad and hit the road.

Pryor is outside of our microwave range, so we needed a sat truck. I am not trained on the big one (even though when I started I told them I ran the SNG trucks in Vegas, they still didn't bother to train me on this one) so we took the Nomad, which is what I lovingly refer to as a sat truck for dummies.

Seriously. All you have to do is point it south, turn it on and hit deploy. The satellite transmitter finds the bird on its own and the guy at the sat center turns it on, adjusts the power, all that stuff.

However because of its simple nature, it's prone to failure. Add in storms and well, I think you can see where this is going. Another 40 minute drive later, and after I had stood in a foot of water to shoot what was left of the stage, the fucking thing would not work. So my reporter did a phoner with the sheriff, while I - drenched from a new line of storms rolling through - broke down my live shot.

Final result, NEITHER story got on air. Well, the homicide did a little. They ran a VO/SOT. However, they planned on doing a package on it Sunday; community reaction! Perfect! An easy day for me! Or will it be? Find out in our next installment!

First Day Editing...

And I managed to not screw anything up! Go me!

I actually got the entire Noon show done, before it was over even! I will say this, I have a bit more respect for editors now. I always wondered how long it could possibly take to edit some teases and VO/SOTs. Now I know!

It was a semi-rough day though. Too much breaking news, not enough staff ends up giving the editors some packs to edit... Oy!

Tomorrow night I will tell you about my last day shooting, if you're interested!

OVERDRAWN!!!

I hate being overdrawn. I even more hate having to deal with returned checks. I miss Washington Mutual, who would charge a bazillion dollars in overdraft fees, but would still pay the check.

Blaine was very, very nice and sent me some money. Of course when I go to deposit it, I find out QuikTrip managed to rocket a check I wrote on Tuesday through the banks and it had already bounced.

Bah!

Hopefully they will go ahead and send it through again, but not until Tuesday. Otherwise I have to deal and fight with people to keep my name off of the permabanned check writing list.

There is a bright side coming soon. First, I am going to get some Friday overtime for the next four weeks. While I will no longer be shooting, I still get to go out and work on 'On The Road', a remote thing FOX23 does during the summer. Pretty much 9A-10:30P work day. I could complain, but they feed us. So I won't.

This Saturday and Sunday will be my last to photog days for a while. So I need EVERYONE'S help in hoping for a couple of good stories! Seriously, I will cry if it ends up being just 'we need something to fill the newscast with, so here you go.'

So place your good wishes in my comments. That way I know that people are still reading this shit.

OtakuEditor?!

Yup.

Apparently the reporters are tired of driving. Not that I blame them in the least, because I know I am sure as hell sick of being a passenger.

So anyway, starting on Monday, I go from disgruntled photographer to melancholy editor. I say melancholy because I am not upset about this even slightly. I am not being given a reduction in pay and I think I will be still stuck with the same schedule, so there really isn't anything to get upset about. Plus, Holly our GM, says that during my downtime, I can possibly begin to learn to become a Web Producer, something Chad was trying to help me get into before Black Wednesday.

So I will have no stories to blog about! Whatever will I do? Well, I do hope to keep on blogging about something, even if it is just the weather. So we will see how that works out for me.

As well, once I am able to drive again, Holly says we can reevaluate things. I should get a note from my doctor in August or September.

I also am dealing with the fact that my weekend this week is Wednesday and Thursday! I am unsure how much I care for this, though I cannot complain about the fact that a side effect of it was that I only had a three day work week.

Today was a hell of a day to go out on, though. My story was VERY sad. It's about CJD, a disease I cannot spell. I didn't shoot hardly any of it, as it was mostly shot a few weeks ago. But I did have to sit there and watch it a half dozen times in the process of editing it.

A couple of the most disturbing parts of it was that one, CJD reminds me of Alzheimer's, which is a very sad disease to begin with. Secondly, we talk about the fact that you need to get an autopsy to determine which kind of CJD you had - the kind that just shows up or the kind you get from cows (a/k/a Mad Cow Disease). We reference a man who Janna profiled, talking about the fact his doctor hasn't recommended an autopsy. He's not dead yet... So, it was kind of odd.

Anyway, watch the story here. It's long. It was 2:43 if I remember correctly, which blew my mind. They usually cry if they have to give you a full 1:30!

Enjoy. I am not shooting on Friday, working with 'On The Road', so my last two shooting days for the foreseeable future are going to be Saturday and Sunday; and the weekend crew seems to fail at posting stuff on the web, so you might not get to see any of my work ever again!!!!!! Oh noes!!!!!! Naaa, it all sucks anyway.

Facebook!

I have a Facebook profile now, for some reason. The link is http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=633320125.

So, add me as a friend. Or don't. Though I am pretty sure though if you don't, you will make me cry.

(As a reminder, my Myspace page is here: http://www.myspace.com/otakuphotog. Catgirl lovers UNITE!

TIA Troubles! Talking To Travelers!

Man, I hate Dayport. The system we use for video. Just wanted to state that off the top.

Nothing thrills me more than going to the airport! I love the airplanes, so I am happy to go there and do a story, even if it is just a 'busy' story. Plus, of all the places to get MOSes (Man On Street interviews), the airport is usually the most successful, since most of the people there aren't from here and don't mind being on TV.

Unless you run into the guy we ran into today.

Now I wasn't right next to Frank, my reporter, when he approached this dude, but Frank had the mic on so I could hear. Frank asked if he would be willing to give his opinion on the cost of airline tickets. The dude went on to explain how he doesn't do MOS interviews because he feels that they suck and that they set a poor industry standard and how they bring down journalism as a whole.

He's right, but still.

Both Frank and I agreed that this man must have been a former newsie, but the way he said it led us to believe that he had seen us earlier and had been rehearsing the statement for at least 15 minutes.

Undeterred, we did manage to find three other people who would talk to us. Of course we only used one, but that's normal. I sometimes wonder what it would be like if other jobs were like mine. Say an architect. You design an one billion square foot building that is 172 stories tall and when it's complete it's a two floor ranch house with two baths and four beds measuring a meager 2,000 square feet.

Of course, somehow, when I do not shoot my ass off, I get back and end up with a script calling for 5 specific shots that I did not get. Oy!

Anyway, here's the story. The live shot is boring (well, the whole damn story is boring) but I have slipped into a mode where I put the amount of effort into a live shot that it deserves. Live for the sake of being live? Lock down the tripod and go flirt with the Avis rent-a-car chick.

On a semi-related note, I am thrilled to have Frank. He's not even been here a month, but he is getting me scripts ON TIME and they are well written and don't tend to call for shots we both know I don't have. I am quickly developing a favorite...

Keeps on Raining...

Well, not literally. Figuratively. Although it did rain both Friday and yesterday.

That isn't important though. What is important is that I blog. But of course it's not going to be about anything wonderful, as I don't have anything wonderful to blog about.

I worked today. That's right, I have been moved to weekends. Not by choice, mind you, but whatever. I was upset about it, but weekends are kind of relaxing and laid back, so it's not really that bad. My new schedule is Friday through Tuesday. I don't know how long that is going to stay like that, but I assume it will be until my work improves.

Yes, I have been told that the quality of my work sucks (only in the diplomatic, boss way). I wanted to argue that maybe it wasn't my work, but the stories that sucked and that I cannot be expected to make a wedding cake out of a pile of cat litter, but I decided against it.

Partially because I believe it. Not in the stories that were pointed out to me, which I do believe were very well done*, but in general. With all the stuff that has been going on in both my professional and personal life, my 'give a damn' has dropped far below the required minimum.

It's something I am working on though, since I am not, and have never been, someone who would not do their best just because I have a shitty attitude.

Anyway, on an unrelated note, I finally manned up and asked my dad to loan me some money. Eight days till payday and I am already 16$ overdrawn. Not good. Especially considering I will run out of food, gas and anti-seizure medication before then. Fortunately he's come through for me once again. I just fear it's going to take me so long for me to get my act together, everyone will be dead before I can return the favors.

I've also began the first steps in getting my college and high school transcripts - a step to get me into TCC this fall. I think I am going to go ahead with the EMT/Paramedic stuff. I figure if I see anything in class that grosses me out to the point of where I am going to barf, I will be able to quickly switch to a less exciting, and less gruesome Network Administration major.

Now, he's hoping I can get my student loans current before then, so that I can borrow more money! If not, well, I guess I can just take a couple of classes here and there for about 17 years till I get my certification!

Maybe I can see the silver linings after all.

*For the record, that story was edited in the truck; most of it on the trip back from Lake Keystone. I do believe I got it into the server about 1-2 minutes before the show started. If I had more time, obviously I could have done a better job on it; but given the circumstances, I think I did a great job.

Happy 7/4!

YAY! Now remember to celebrate the birth of our nation by blowing up a small part of it!