The Plan

I've been up since five, ostensibly to 'get stuff done', but that only counts if 'getting stuff done' is the same as 'farting around on time wasting websites'. 

Today I may have a baby swap with a friend of mine. She's a writer with an nine month old, and I'm trying to finish a documentary with a fourteen month old. We set it up this week to start doing a swap. One day I watch both babies, and she writes, and another she watches them so I can edit. Today's my day -- we'll see how it goes. Going to hole up in a Starbucks and see what I can get done. 

I scared the shit out of John P. the other day when I told him, excitedly, "I've got like six minutes edited!" I think I heard him swallow his own tongue. Then I explained that that's like having six pages inked, and it made a bit more sense. 

I'm trucking to get this damn thing done so that I can then go back and do actual post production work. Making sure the sound is good, lighting is balanced out, all that stuff. I'm planning on a debut at SPX in September, so my hope is to be done editing by the end of May. That gives a few summer months to tidy things up. 

I think today I'm going to focus on getting a couple outsider interviews in there, and then this afternoon when Oscar's down, get to scanning some stuff. If this comes off like it looks in my head, it'll be at least watchable. 

As Doug sings, 'The plan won't accomplish anything if it's not implemented'. Speaking of Doug, Built to Spill is coming back east -- nine shows in ten days. I'm in the works to catch two of them, and just this AM realized that 'Wilmington, DE' is a mere 100 miles away. Totally doable. 

This has been a pretty strange and challenging year in many ways, and I feel like I'm just getting my head together/screwed on right, and frankly, a few Built to Spill shows is just what the doctor ordered, so we'll see. 

It's funny, when I was 15-18, I'd drive hundreds of miles with my friends for a show. I remember driving three hours each way to see Tracy Chapman -- someone I only sort of liked. By the time I was in my mid-20's, I wouldn't catch a bus to Slim's if it was going take more than twenty minutes to get there. 

As I get older, I'm content seeing Built to Spill, Yo La Tengo over and over again with the random one-off special show thrown in for good measure (Neutral Milk Hotel, for example).

Wish me luck.