First blog post

Listening to: The Wall
Writing this: in my living room in a comfy chair
Weather: Rainy

OK, so here it is, my first blog post. I've always thought that blogging was just another form of vanity. A new sort of mirror-polishing by folks who really want to scream "LOOK AT ME!! I'M IMPORTANT DAMMIT!!" Anybody who thinks they know me might think I fell into that category; that I had the biggest ego east of the Mississippi. In truth, the people who really know me know that I am actually a shy and private person who thinks he is probably the least interesting person on the planet and that the big personality is really just a facade; a mask to help my shy self get out in the world and mingle.

So, why the blog then?

Well, it started with my friend Don Young's blog "The Book of Don" http://don4422.blogspot.com/ in which he contrasts snippets of his journal from the late '70s and early '80s with his life experiences now 25-30 years later and gives an interesting insider's view into the world of radio (then) and TV (now) production. The blog is fascinating to me firstly because I became a fan of "Morningside" just about the time he is writing about, secondly because I am now inching my way into television production (out of TV sound recording) so it's an interesting map of the minefield ahead of me and lastly because I consider Don a friend and a helluva fella.

And I've always wanted to keep a journal.

I've made a few starts over the years but they always seem to peter out after a few entries. I always wondered why? I've never been that "introspective" per se ('brooding' would come closer to the truth) so keeping a journal to record deep feelings wouldn't work because I'm not consciously in touch with those. Recording day to day events doesn't work either because I regard everything happening as just happening. Can ya dig? Not really worth recording. Maybe I'm too much in the moment but all the journal entries ended up saying variations of "Nothing much happened today"

Reading a few blogs though, I get the sense that even though events were (or seemed) unimportant at the time they formed part of a bigger picture just as each thread by itself isn't much but woven together they make a tapestry that tells a bigger picture. (OK, I can get deep sometimes)

So then, what happened today? Let's start with last night. I got the bad news that a pitch I have been working on just got kicked back by the broadcaster with a basic form letter. This is the second rejection for the idea but we really thought that it was tailor-made for them. It seemed to fit almost all of their submission criteria. Oh well, back to the old drawing board. Now we (that is me and the producers I've partnered with) have to put our heads together and come up with a new target. I'm opposed to just taking the 'shotgun' approach to pitching (shoot at everyone and someone is bound to bleed a bit) because I think if the pitcher-broadcaster relationship is more 'simpatico' then the production process is likely to be smoother (but what do I know, I've never produced anything in my life except a 5-minute tourism video for the City of Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada and some Halloween shorts for a community cable channel) All I can hope for is that the wall I'm banging my head against isn't too hard. I've got lots more ideas that they can reject if they want...

Today I spent a day tying up some stuff for a Ringette Tournament that I am organizing in February. Don't know what ringette is? click http://www.ringette.ca/Content/About/OurSport/AboutRingette.asp and see. I play goal for the local women's Open Rec team as a guest, I'm male... duh they just don't have enough goalies and I like playing goal so it's a good fit. Truth is they generally kick my butt every Wednesday but I must confess that I like ringette better than I like hockey. I've played both and while both may look similar on the surface there are a number of rules differences that make ringette faster and vastly more strategic than hockey. It's no wonder that ringette is primarily a female (team-oriented, strategic) dominated game and hockey is primarily a male (individualistic, brute-force) dominated one.

This afternoon I baked bread. I usually bake white bread but this time I got everything together and discovered that the bag of flour in the cupboard was whole wheat for some reason (perhaps I made a mistake at the store) Thank God for the internet, I just jumped on and looked up a handy recipe. Luckily I had molasses . It isn't that great to be honest but definitely edible. It was great warm with scads of butter and a pinch of salt sprinkled on the slice (I've always eaten bread and butter with salt, doesn't everybody? Apparently not because I get some very weird looks...) *Ahem*

Now I have to go clean the kitchen.