Compare and Contrast

I was on set again this weekend and, needless to say, this experience was quite different than the last.

I guess I should blame myself - not realizing what I was getting into. When someone tells you that you're shooting a music video in one (that's ONE) day, you should know that that means one helluva long day. Don't get me wrong, I'm not one to get discouraged from a long day's work, but when a production team - your superiors- foster a poor working environment, one tends to get discouraged. 

Days like these are ruthless, never-ending and people will almost always be on edge. I was shocked, however, by how caddy, demeaning and arrogant many members of this particular team were. Again, I'm not above working my way up the ladder, but when people purposefully go out of their way to make you feel small, insignificant - a PA, then something is seriously wrong. I hope I never forget that any successful production rests on on the sweating backs of its PA's. If I do forget - feel free to offer my a swift kick in the balls.

The good news? Productions are never permanent and I earned my paycheck.

Moving on...

How much change is too much change?

When I was in high school (saying that keeps getting weirder) I was a member of Upper Merion High School's Varsity crew. Crew... that's, um, rowing a boat..ah...competitively. Really, though, crew was one of the staples of my high school experience. To this day, I still use the lessons learned from those four, extremely difficult seasons.

One of the things coaches talk about while training for races is "the threshold of pain" and how to deal with it. In so many words, your threshold of pain is the point where your brain tells you to stop because your body cannot sustain itself physically anymore. An athlete's goal is to recognize this point as merely a mental, and not physical, boundary. If you learn how to will yourself to continue and go even harder - the pain stops. You become invincible.

All of this is to say that after three months in Los Angeles, I am approaching my threshold of pain. I've come to LA to work between school semesters for the past 3 years and every time I get to the third month, I start going stir crazy. These feelings are creeping up on me; closer and closer. I miss the East Coast, I miss my family, my friends. I miss the rain.

So what do I do in response to this feeling? I start planning a trip home of course. Only, I can't find the prices that work, the times, etc.. I'm not planning around class anymore. I have a job and responsibilities. I can't make it work.

I think that I need to take a cue from my high school athletic training (that sounds ridiculous...) and learn to move past this threshold. Can I even apply this idea to my life at this point? Will it all click all of the sudden? I have to keep pushing ahead - School isn't starting up again. This is my life. I'll have to suck it up for now until I learn if this LA threshold actually exists.