The Day The Rent Check Went Missing And I Get Ready To Start Editing The Music Video

Well the rent check never made it to Stockton, so we're late on that, too. Not to mention the bills that are piling up like Tetris blocks, one month late already. Almost three-hundred of whatever money we do have is going to Comcast and AT&T--the price we pay for communication. There's SMUD and PG&E and Wells Fargo and State Farm to pay, too. And once I catch up on the bills, I'll be able to focus on the forward progress of learning from my mistakes. First on the hitlist: my credit card debt. Get rid of that, and maybe it'll be time to invest in a house.

I canceled the rent check, just in case. Now would not be the most opportune time for credit theft.

In other news, the music video is moving along. It would feel a lot more real if I was being paid for all of this effort, but I'm not. No one is. But I got involved with this thing for the sole purpose of starting a demo reel, free or not, and so it's my own damn fault for getting in this position. Today Doug and I met with the two new male dancers, who seem like cool guys, and then we went to scout the mansion with Raquela and we met the aged-hippie owners. It's a nice place. Big, high-ceilings, tons of windows, space enough for a three-daughter family, two chihuahuas, a great dane, a parrot, and four horses. We're filming the music video here. It was good to get a visual of where the dancing is going to happen. Filming, and the major stress, should all be over with by next Friday. Then it's time for editing.

Obviously, money is tight. It will be for a while. AJ was excited about her recent check until she realized how much we owe for bills. Is this what everyone's going through? Is everyone having this much trouble trying to save money? But I see hope. I see little things happening around me that tell me I'm on the right path, that AJ is on the right path, and that we're facing this challenge for some greater reason. It's a test. It's a learning experience. And tomorrow's pay-day at Fair Oaks, so it's a good day no matter what happens. It won't be much, but it'll be something, and for the first time in what feels like a long time, I'll be moving forward.

Now if I can just figure out how to fix my car...

- Left to Fry

The Day I Got My Letter Back About Unemployment And Banjo Ate A Plastic Bowl

"I'm addicted to the job search," I said to my girlfriend, glancing quickly at the open browser window dialed to the craigslist job postings. Admin assistants, nurses, egg donors, painters, drivers, teachers, and food servers. I've applied for almost all of those positions, and see the new postings as nothing but echoes of those before. I hardly click on anything that doesn't sound like an ideal job. Editing positions, transcribers... Now that I have two jobs, I can start aiming higher again. You don't jump from a plane without a parachute on.

I got called from a workman's comp investigation firm where I'd work in a cubicle transcribing audio reports and editing the information. It sounds like maddening, mindless, tedious work. It sounds like the kind of job where I'd lose a little of my soul each day. But it sounds like it's right up my alley. I love writing. It's where I feel the most like myself. So having a job where I write all day, where I listen to non-fiction stories of real-life events and translate them into text and get paid sounds pretty good to me. It beats staying trapped in coffee. I would do this job. If it makes me more money than two coffee-shops, including tips, then yes, I will do this.

The pre-interview phone chat with Emily was odd. I think I did better on the phone with her than I did with Dominic from American Income, and Dominic still called me back. Albeit, the thing was likely a scam, but he still called me, and I was Mr. Insecure Mumble-Saurus during that fiasco. At least this time I could finish a full sentence and make a complete thought. And you wonder why I prefer writing? Anyway, the pre-interview didn't leave me feeling all that excited. I'm not looking forward to having to quit either coffee-shop, mainly because I'll feel like such an asshole, but I will if I have to, and something tells me that pretty soon I'm gonna have to. I'm scheduled for an interview tomorrow with Jealousy Catering at 11:00am. If they pay more than 11, I might consider it.

Michelle, from Fair Oaks, seemed pissy about me only being available three days a week. Linda was the one who verified this, so if the owner is okay with it, I'm okay with it. Now I'm officially working Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Wednesday at Old Soul. Good shifts. Good people. I really like that place a lot. Even at eight bucks per hour. The tips average between 25 and 35 per day. Me likey. What Michelle's abrupt attitude change hints, however, is that I'm probably not going to get along with her very well anymore. At least everyone else seems to like me. I was always good at winning over the people, not the ruling class.

In other news, the music video is moving along. This thing has become much larger than I anticipated. Now we're filming at a mansion, I'm supposed to go "scout" this mansion with Doug next week, we're talking about green screens, lighting, and promotions. We have a make-up artist (for the two dancers). We are actually doing this. The shooting dates are June 23 - June 25. I work those days, obviously. I work every day for the rest of however long I can stand. Thankfully Doug is more of the "director," so he's cool with me leaving early or showing up late (as I hope Raquela will be, too) and I'm planning to shine with the editing, anyhow. My official title is Videographer. Neat.

AJ and I had a moment. After leaving a plastic water bowl in Banjo's crate, the puppy tore it to shreds and ingested a large quantity of plastic causing AJ to panic for his safety and lecture me about canine welfare. Her frustration was completely warranted. I, however, have been so preoccupied with the complete rearrangement of my life, that I admitted to being otherwise blind to the rest of the world, including Banjo, including AJ. So we talked it out last night and confessed our frustrations with the way things have been going, but both recognizing that there's not much of a choice when it comes to wishing for the past. I am in a state of chaotic change and personal frustrations, which has put me in a very detached mood--although I do always try to smile. AJ, in the meantime, continues her usual schedule and is, comparatively, completely fine. We're okay now. We've promised to keep each other more up-to-date about our mentality and our feelings. We've promised to work on it.

I shift my attention, now, to my oldest passion. Writing. It's about time I get as serious about writing as I became about videography. I know I can get myself published if I work at it the way I did about finding a job. Look at me now: I have two.

Oh, and I was denied unemployment. Mike, you bastard.

That's it for now.

- Left to Fry

The Day I Met With Raquela And Figured Out That I No Longer Have Any Days Off Work

No more days off.

It's a good thing, yes.

I work tomorrow and tomorrow's tomorrow. First at Fair Oaks, then at Old Soul, then Fair Oaks, Old Soul, Oaks, Soul, Oaks, Soul... I have no right to complain. My body thinks that I do, but my body doesn't really get to say what's up, these days. I wanted to keep this blog going, even though I'm now employed, because this is about more than just finding a job. This is about the moments when everything changes,seven months was how terribly easy it was. I was basically lazy all day, while writing (two novels, a short story or two, and half a novella) and making lattes and sandwiches for strangers. Home-life was consistent. The only thing to complain about was the decreasing amount of money in my bank account and the increasing credit card debt. It was like New Orleans not being evacuated until the hurricane had already passed. I saw this coming, didn't I? I predicted it. I only never thought it would really happen... when life is new again and nothing is for certain. One thing about working for my grandmother for

So here I am. Working every day. It's nothing new. I'd been doing forty hours a week at a repetitious dead-end result of a thirty-minute commute, five days a week, for seven months. All that's different now is the environment. For those seven months, I did do a lot of writing, but I wasn't being productive about it. I hadn't really set any goals for myself, other than, "Keep writing." I was taking advantage of an easy job for my grandmother that paid just enough to afford rent, while it was taking advantage of me. But I let it. I liked the consistent paychecks. I liked the time to write. Then Mike moved in, things got weird, and I got fired. Just like that.

That's gone, now.

I knew it wasn't going to be that easy, not forever. But who can ever predict when forever's going to end? I now have two completely new jobs. I am meeting buckets and buckets of brand new strangers. I am making two entirely new plot-lines in my autobiography. All of a sudden, my regularly scheduled programs are missing and there all these new shows to start watching. So far I'm liking the Old Soul show the best. It's more my speed. But Fair Oaks is good for switching to when there's a commercial on.

Still looking for more channels...

I know it's made my real life a lot different, too. A new schedule promotes a sudden shift in routine when it comes to bed-times and such. It gives me more or less time with AJ, depending on our schedules. For example: today she had the day off, but I worked from 7:00 to 2:00 and then arrived home around 6:00 after meeting with Doug and Raquella and the make-up artist, Rosa at Old Soul. I think a good change of pace can do wonders for any relationship, put it to a proper test, make sure things stay productive, we keep each other moving. Anyway, the point is now there's some much needed, busier, variety to life that I think we both really needed. This is a change that will improve the both of us.

The music video meeting was interesting. Raquela's a recording artist who's down-and-out luck of late has been given a boost of momentum by some opportunity with Capp Records. She's been doing this stuff for a long time and it's interesting to meet her while she's experiencing the same fresh start wake-up call that I am. Anyhow, that's a project I'm trying to keep afloat, if for no other reason than to say that I did it (or at least tried my best).

I know I'll improve as a person because I'm never going to let this happen again. I will work seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year, for three years straight--until I get rid of this debt and I start taking chunks out of that student loan. In the meantime, I keep writing. I keep making music videos and short films, and perhaps that will lead somewhere, perhaps I'll still be at Fair Oaks and Old Soul three years from now, or maybe not. Either way, I've been cut from the family once again, as I was when I left for Sonoma State, as it felt when I lived in the loft on McBride with Bryce Cook and worked at Aromas. It's part of the adventure of life. Being blatantly cradled by my grandmother was an unhealthy beginning to a life after college. It was not what I should have been doing with all this time,.

So there you have it. Why I'll keep writing...

Writing like this!

I don't want to have the rug taken out from under me again. I need to buckle down. And I will. In my own way, step-by-step, I'll get it done. Stuff is happening, or I'll make it happen. There's no world out there but the one I create for myself.

So goes the life of Christopher Fryer. Me. Just me. For my own personal entertainment.

Now if I can just figure out how we're going to pay rent...

- Left to Fry