0-100 so fast I got whiplash!

Previously I mentioned how much fun I had being psycho Tom Cruise and meeting this great bunch of people. It looks as if I may have fallen into something pretty cool, and definitely good for me. The skit I filmed was for The Austin Movie Show, which has been around for a while in various incarnations and currently airs on our Public Access station. It’s mostly the two hosts reviewing and talking about movies, but also has a lot more thrown in such as the shorts we’re starting to write and film now and some other segments.

Last Sunday I went in to help out on the floor crew for the show and to see my skit air. I knew this must be something Ir really enjoy because the how airs live from 11:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. on Sunday night, and I’m a big wussy who usually really wants his sleep. Yet here I was voluntarily going to a Public Access TV studio at 9:30 p.m. knowing I wouldn’t get home until after 2:00 a.m. when I had to be at work the next day. It looks like I’ll hopefully be acting as the Assistant Set Coordinator, holding cue cards, helping organize things, and generally doing whatever needs to be done. I had a blast and confirmed that these people were all as cool as I suspected, and in fact I met even more unbelievably cool people.
On Monday I went to the actors troupe meeting where we brainstorm ideas for the weeks shorts to be filmed. Creatively, I felt very in sync with almost everyone. My ravenous creative monster was binging now.
On Wednesday I met with them at 10:00 p.m. to film something for this week. We knocked it out pretty quick and then 4 others were going out to a bar for drink. I said I should probably get home, but then one of them convinced me to go out, at least for a bit, using the argument that she was normally in bed by 10:00 and she was going to go. I happily gave in, since I could tell that I really wanted to go anyway. Yes, that’s right, on a Wednesday night I actually went out to a bar and stayed until they kicked us out around 2:15 a.m. and I loved it.
I really feel like I’ve gone through some kind of metamorphosis and kind of found myself again after a long period of not really nurturing this side of me. Thankfully I have an awesome wife who has put up with me suddenly being gone quite a lot with this hectic new project, but I think it’s doing me good. I still feel a bit shy around this new group of friends, but I do really feel like they are my friends now and not just some strangers I worked with (although I naturally think that they probably don’t think nearly as highly of me as I do of them because, you know, that’s what I do; that’s my “thing”). I don’t know where this will lead, but I don’t think it really matters. The important thing is that the journey is a good one.
I’ll be going to the studio to help out with special SXSW airtime on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, and then back again for the normal show Sunday night. Strangely, I find that lack of sleep doesn’t leave you as tired as you’d expect when you lose it doing something you enjoy.