Looking for work

I'm trying to find a job in the film industry. The problem is...I'm 36, heavily in debt and I don't have any experience in the film industry. Even if I did, its a tough field. Most of the ads I see want someone with at least 5 years experience. I have 2 months. In a field I'm not terribly interested in.

I guess this goes back to the old conumdrum, can't get a job with now experience, can't get experience with now job. It makes things a little difficult.

All that being said, I've got my heart set on a couple of companies that i really want to work for and I've set them as goals. In the mean time I'm going to do what ever it takes to get into those places. That might mean taking a job I don't really want to get through pay the bills while I work on the skillz. But I guess that's part of it.

So...anybody hiring??

Welcome to Laos - The Thing about Crickets is...

The coolest part about travelling is meeting new people. Spending the past 2 weeks in Laos I've made friends with a couple from Vang Tien. This evening after work they took us for some real Laos food just outside the main area of Vang Vieng.

The restaurant "Full Moon 2" (there are many bars restaurants and shops with 'moon' in the name here)  was brightly lit with thousands of Christmas lights. The kind of lights that are wrapped in a plastic tube so they look like rope. As we walked up several people sitting in the dining area looked up at us, then started to scramble. I realised we were the only customers, the other 15 people or so were staff.

Caught a cricket in chop sticks.
Take that Daniel-san!!

About 4 of them hung around as we attempted to order. Unfortunately for me and one other in our party, the menu was in Laos. My friend Vet began ordering in Laos for us. When she was done, the other westerner in our group asked us what she'd ordered.

"Chicken tendons, duck necks, prawns, soup, and deep fried crickets" At first I thought she was kidding, then she said "Oh and some french fries"

The chicken tendons came first, deep fried and served with a sweet sauce. Other than the unusual chewy, stringy texture, they were surprisingly good. Next the bad news came. No duck necks. Vet rambled something in Laos and the waitress (or waiter, I really couldn't tell) tottled off to the kitchen. Sweet N' Sour pork. Awsome!

Next came the prawns and the crickets. I don't like sea food so I opted for the crickets. To be fair Ana went first. She closed her eyes, pushed her shoulders up and made the strangest face as she chewed frantically. She said it tasted like prawns.

Great.

It took me 10 minutes of eating french fries and changing the subject to work up the courage. When I was finally ready to eat the damn thing my phone rang. Saved by the bell.  After dispatching my call I was immediately called out for taking so long. (Actually Ana called me a pussy)  My friend Peter was ready with his camera (His name is actually Peter Pan, I didn't believe him at first) I took a deep breath...tightened my grip on my chop sticks and popped Jimeney down the hatch. Crickets are not nearly as crunch as I thought they'd be, and that was somehow comforting. The poor little guy broke apart in my mouth. Mostly flavourless and about the same texture as the skin on a peanut, it really wasn't so bad.

I washed my latest snack down with some beer Laos and had another french fry.  The rest of the meal was fantastic and I have to say, I really like Laos cuisine.

Valentines Day -Laos Style

It's V day here. Actually it's V day home too but you are all still snug as bugs in bed. The 14 hour time change does my head in.

Valentine's day actually snuck up on me this year. It seems that commercially fabricated holidays designed to increase the sale of Candy, Cards, Flowers and assorted Red Junk are not that popular in SE Asia. Back in Canada, I'm sure the last month has been a red blur of candy coated heart shaped advertising.

Last Valentines day I had just landed in Aus. Romance was in the air at my hostel where groups of backpackers went off to dinner, only to return 6 hours later, drunk and horny. The Valentines day before that I got into a fight with the girl I was dating while were were away for the weekend and we broke up. Happy days.

I was really made aware of Valentine's day a moment ago. I gave my friend's 3 year old a red marker and some post it notes to occupy her while I tried to work. She immediately drew misshapen red circle and handed it to me proclaiming, with a strong Laos accent, that she loved me. Our editor then announced "Aw, It's Valentine's day!"

I looked down at this happy little girl holding up a day glow yellow post-it, proudly emblazoned with a home made heart and said

"You're not my type, I think we should just be friends, now please leave me alone so I can get some work done" She stuck it on my arm anyway and toddled off blissfully unaware of how badly she'd just gotten dissed.

I love holidays!

Working on a Movie -Adaptable

You need to adapt. To all sorts of shit. Hours, conditions, equipment, people, schedule, surprises...the list goes on.

On this trip I started out working at an amazing 5 * hotel with one guy. He taught me a lot of stuff. Then two more people joined our small little suite. But the view was great. Elephants walking by the grounds each day, babbling river, fantastic staff catering to us. Life was good.

Then we moved. To an alright hotel. Alright if we hadn't been at an AMAZING hotel the day before. My room was full of mosquitoes. The water was brown for a few minutes when you first turned it on. The staff was slow. Our little edit suite was now half a hotel room that the editor was staying in. There were 4 of us there and it was hot as hell. The AC worked but it was LOUD.

Oh, yeah, and 'people'....that's an important one. People are quirky. And they have habits and ideas and ways of doing things. And idosycracies. We all have 'em. It takes about a week for them to start to appear. About another 3 days for them to become annoying I figure. Add that to a tiny hot room with four people working long hours in it...well, we're lucky to be alive I figure.

Now we're in Laos. We are within walking distance to everything and have much more access to the rest of the crew. We get to go out and do things at night, see the sites. Have fun. The motivation to work a 14 hour day is waning. But, some days you have to. You need to adapt.

I'm not too bad at adapting. Working conditions don't bother me much. Shit, SFS was either freezing or boiling at all times, sometimes both in the same day. I just pretty much need a chair and a computer and I'm good to go. I don't deal well with bullshit though. If you can't give me a solid reason for wanting me to do something, I'm going to question it, and get annoyed. Sometimes I need to relax that rule though.

Its now 3am. I just finished work. I started at 10. Just part of the deal. Have to roll with the punches.

Laos

We landed in Udon Thani in a plane with a duck bill painted nose. A quick drive brought us to the border. It took about an hour to get about 30 of us through. Travelling with a 70 year old Thai TV star makes life interesting. People stopped to ask her questions or get pics and she'd make them laugh with her antics.

Welcome to Laos, pop 6,200,894. The hammer and sickle flags are a dead give away that we'd entered a communist state. Be that as it may, capitalism is alive and well here. The myriad of electronics, tonics, and pirated harmonics (music dvds, its a stretch, I know, but if you can do better....) on display at the duty free is a testament to that.
   
~Things I've learned in Laos: If there is a light above your bed LEAVE IT OFF or a staggering number of minuscule flies will fly into the light and stay there until they are cooked to death, only to fall onto your pillow.


After a few purchases we loaded the vans for a 4 hour trip over the worst roads I've ever driven on...and I've driven to Indian Mountain and back. Its not like dirt roads, its worse. It's dirt roads that used to be paved, but years if not decades of indifference have left them a mangled track of jutting tarmac and stone peppered between ten meter stretches of solid pavement. Our driver treated it like the groomed concrete of a formula 1 track. Passing on blind corners, being forced onto jarring shoulders where holes and stone were the norm, and dodging oncoming traffic seemed very much the norm to him.



Arriving in Vang Vieng is like arriving in a past that's been victimized by the present. Thatched huts line the roads along the village. Legions of scooters scamper through the streets overtaken by rumbling trucks and vans laden with inner tubes and foreigners. Restaurants featuring raised seating platforms with stubby little tables face plasma screens blasting Friends, or The Family Guy. I would hazard that 90 percent of restaurants or bars are playing one of those two shows. Depending on the time of day, the corpses of stoned or hung over backpackers are strewn across the cushions and mats at each table.


~Things I've learned in Laos:  A bottle of Whiskey for 15,000 kip (+/- $1.80). If there's a snake in it, "Don't worry, it acts like viagra"-bartender, Smile Bar.


Colonised by the French, their Asian servants fought back and reclaimed Loas leaving behind a varied culinary culture. Coffee, baguettes and pasteries are served neatly beside Larp and Laos BBQ. The food is amazing and cheap. The latest incarnation of Laos cuisine includes pizzas, garlic bread, brownies and milkshakes prepared with weed, mushrooms or opium. It's been the hot topic of discussion over dinner lately.


Drugs are highly illegal, this being asia, and a communist country no less, however the trend is tolerated here. While walking with a long haired buddy in a hawiian shirt one evening, a guy on a moped stopped out of the blue before us, shut off his engine and asked if we wanted to get happy. I almost had my belt undone before he said, "No, do you want to buy drugs? Weed? Opium?" 
"ooooohhhh"


~Things I've learned in Laos: The more fun the shit on the menu is, the less fun the staff is.


Each year 9 Australians, usually young backpackers, die in Vang Vieng. Most drown while tubing down the river. The wide variety of bars along the river eager to toss you a line and refill your Whisky/Redbull bucket may or may not be a contributing factor. Other dangerous yet fun activities include Kayaking, Hot Air Ballooning, Boat Tours, Rock Climbing, Spelunking in any of the various caves in the area, and Rock Climbing.


The other major pass time is drinking. BeerLao, the local brew is exceptionally good. Buckets of booze and redbull are dirt cheap and often come with free TShirts. Thatched roof huts serve as bars with hammocks, beer pong, pool and makeshift dance floors. Fire dancers light up the night. Most are staffed with expats who've elected to extend their vacation in exchange for lo/no pay and a free room. 


~Things I've learned in Laos: The party doesn't start till after midnight.

Working on a movie

Working on a movie is a pretty cool thing. I'm meeting people that worked with Stallone on Rambo. I'm surrounded by creative minds and problem solvers. I'm making friends from another part of the world.

And it's exciting!

The other day a coworker was bit by a monkey. I watched an elephant put a bomb on a truck. I rode a rubber raft to set one night in the dark because it was the only way to get there. Oh, and the food on set is spectacular.

Then there's the other side. I'm staying in a shitty hotel fill of mosquitos (mosquitoes?). I've officially eaten too much rice. I'm done with rice. Fuck rice. I'm stuck in a small, hot room 12 hours per day doing something don't particularly enjoy.

I'm calling that last bit "paying my dues" for the moment. But I'm not meant to be someone's assistant. I resent being told to call someone and get information about things when there's a phone sitting beside that person. I resent catering to their strange requests solely on the basis that I "might learn something" because they've got more experience than me. Don't get me wrong, I've learned a lot but I hate feeling like I'm someone servant. Its a mental thing, a bizarre mistrust and dislike for authority. Maybe I'll get over it one day, but probably not.

On the plus, I'm headed to Laos in 5 days. Never been to Laos... let's see what happens.

L

NYE 2011 (or 2012)

When we say new years eve, do we mean the year that just ended or the year that's just about to start? I think technically it means the one that just ended. I'd just like to be clear.

The most recent new year's eve, and the last one according to the Mayan Calendar, was an amazing one for this Mayan.  (For some reason the Mayan calendar has some sort of relevance now, although not important enough to know any other important dates on it...here's a website if you ever want to know what day today is on the Mayan Calendar  http://mayancalendar4u.com/page/10215  and happy "white HAND manik' ~ gather will branches" day!)

I had drinks with a buddy as we strolled to the city and watched  the early fireworks at The Rocks. Then I headed to a friend's place for a NYE party at Circular Quay right between the bridge and opera house. Most of my favorite people from school were there. At midnight we moseyed down to the viewing area and watched an amazing fireworks show. If you like fireworks, this a 'bucket list kind of show'. Who doesn't like fireworks??

Back at the party we drank our host dry and he kicked us out. I don't blame him. We caught a bus to the beach and waited till the world turned enough to reveal the sun. A swim, a nap, a quick packing job and 8 hours later was on a first class flight to BKK.

Pretty good start huh?