Now that the solo performance show I was in is over and my other blog is fully launched and running, I’ve been able to refocus my efforts on my First Attempt, which will use the California Christmas Flood in the 70s as a pivot point and examine how that fits into the larger story of my mother’s father’s life.

My mother’s family will be gathering for Memorial Day weekend, and I’ll use that time to interview my aunt who lives in Oregon as well as any remaining family members.  Once The Gathering is complete, I’ll use the next week to complete the remaining steps (The Coupling, The Refining and The Submitting).  My First Attempt will be ready to go by Monday, June 7, when I will post a snippet of it here and send the entire thing off to the folks at This American Life.

Then I’ll get ready to do it all again.  Rock on.

I’ve been super-busy getting with work and getting ready for an upcoming solo performance show (in which I will be performing an original piece), so that’s why updates have been, uh, sparse.

I would just like to do a little self-promoting and point you toward this other project called Garden to Garden. A friend and I are doing a bit of competitive gardening, and I’ve been building, digging and planting a lot in my efforts to beat the pants off her.  Check it out!

I’ll have big developments in my project here very soon.

Still interviewing for my First Attempt.  It is tough to juggle a day job, a theatre company, some semblance of a social life and this project, but I remain on schedule.

Task-master awaaaaaaay!

I’m thinking about what I will do for my Second and Third Attempts, and tonight I met at a local diner with an old friend, where she recounted for me her attempts to get rehired with her old government job.  Her efforts have been, thus far, fruitless.  She left this job amicably some time ago, and the reason she can’t get rehired is because of a completely automated scoring system.  A computer somewhere has it out for her.

More after the jump…

She said that, when one applies for US government jobs through this online medium, a computer process scores your application by checking for certain buzzwords and key phrases.  It also scores things like whether you or a family member is or was a veteran.  Your application must score within a certain top percentile to even get forwarded on to a human.

I’m unsure how she got this job in the first place, but it she believes that, since neither she nor her family members are veterans, she cannot score high enough and therefore cannot be considered.  Increased demand in the job market has brought more veterans and family members of veterans into the search.  She has been in touch with her old boss, and the applicants who are passing the computer’s protocols with flying colors are terrible for the actual job. Furthermore, if the hiring manager turns down one of these green-lighted applicants, s/he must then supply ample reason for turning down someone who was ranked so high by the online scoring system.

My friend talked a bit regarding pay grades and work comparable to her education, but the gist is this: the hiring manager (whom she knows and who would like very much to hire her back) has been neutered by and can only hire people selected by an automated computer process.  S/he could know the perfect applicant (and, in fact, he seems to know someone who would do quite well), but if the job seeker can’t pass a mysterious, veiled process, then that person is out of luck.  Not even the IT experts who crafted the thing know how it works.

I don’t know all the facts, but it sounds like this specific position has been open for several months with no viable candidates in sight.  This at a time when we are enduring one of the highest recorded unemployment rates on record.

This seems, to me, the very definition of red tape.

Any thoughts?  Is there a good story in this?

More after the jump…

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No, I’m just joshing.  Happy April Fools Day, everyone.  I’m running on schedule, and my first couple interviews have gone very well!  I’m excited about this First Attempt.

Once I’ve talked with all the family, I enter the process of editing and mixing all the bits and bobs.  The pieces of the puzzle are starting to take shape.

More after the jump…

I recently experienced a new kind of drunk dial.  I got a few sheets to the wind and called one of my closest friends.  In my inebriation, I was deeply annoyed by the automated attendant telling me that his voicemail inbox was full and could take no more messages.  “Who does that woman think she is?” I said to myself.

I collapsed on my bed and landed on my tote bag.  Inside was my hand-held recorder.  It was resting in my bag because I had taken it with me earlier in the day with the intention of recording the sounds of a friend of mine baking pie.  She didn’t want me recording her, however, and I thought to myself, Ah! Here’s an interesting opportunity.

So I pulled out my recorder, stepped outside into the chilly air (the last vestiges of winter hanging on for dear life), and recorded a drunk message.

Then I transferred that rambling message to my computer, uploaded it to the internet, and sent him the link.  You can listen to my own faux drunk dial right here.

(WARNING: there is some adult language in the message, and I’ve edited the audio so my friend’s name and a few key details are kept secret.)

Notice how I say, “I wanted to call you and leave you a drunk text message!” at 0:12.  Also, I come dangerously close to quoting Thornton Wilder’s Our Town at 1:31.

I did not originally intend to post this here, but I love catching moments like this, even if they are of my own life.  I am learning to carry my voice recorder with me everywhere so that I can preserve these kinds of confessional moments.  Opportunities like this really get my blood pumping.

What if I gave a little recorder to ten people and asked them to record their thoughts after drinking?  Or maybe their dreams if they wake up?  Or maybe their fears just before they go to bed?  Or what if I gathered people’s drunk dial messages?  What could be done with such material?

My eyes are full of stars as I consider the possibilities.

Also, I’m clearly thinking in semi-tired clichés.

Ah, me.

MAGIC: THE GATHERING.

No, not really.

More after the jump…

I’m still very much on track for my First Attempt, and this Saturday I’ll start by interviewing my mother and maybe my grandmother about the Christmas Flood.  I’m about to start setting up interviews with others, too.  I need to connect with at least two uncles (preferably all four), two cousins and both of my sisters.  It is possible that some of this will have to be done over the phone.  I’m considering using Skype, because I think that is the easiest way to record phone conversations and have them already in a digital format.

This step seems so massively frightening, but I think that it might be one of the easier.  It is difficult in scale or scope, yes, but not so difficult in actual substance.  I’m just going to talk to each of these people whom I already know pretty well.  I am happy I read about plotting this thing out like a play or movie with scenes and characters in advance.  Had I not done that, I would have no idea what to actually ask people beyond prompting them, “So, the Christmas Flood. Tell me about it.”

It just now occurred to me that some of these people may not wish to be recorded.  I didn’t even give that a moment’s thought until now.  What do I do for that?  Do I just ask permission at the beginning of each recording?  Another detail to add to the growing list of stuff I don’t know.

Here I go.  The Gathering.  Let’s hope I have enough green mana sources.

Ha. Ha.

More after the jump…

I have also recently learned the value of lists.  I’m not an ace at sticking to them, but they do help me get my ideas out in the open.  This is all pretty elementary, right?  Okay.  So.

Here’s the list of stuff I want to learn about or learn how to do better.  This is in no way exhaustive, and I will add to it later.  I may even make it a static page and check back with it if the mood strikes me.  IF it strikes.  Like, if the mood strikes me when the iron is hot or whatever that phrase is.

I’m feeling flippant.

The list of things about which I want to learn more.

• Using Skype to record phone calls
• Recording at different speeds/recording different types of audio (mp3/wav, etc.)
• Mics (VERY BROAD, this list)
• sound wavelengths and frequencies
• all the fancy tools my sound editing software has
• Recording in mono v. recording in stereo
• where I can record that will give good acoustics (i.e. not my dining room…)
• in-depth info on clip length and listener attention span
• sound mixing (basic things like mixing at appropriate volume)
• master a basic compendium of sound engineering/mixing/editing terms (i.e. terms like dampening, balance, dBs, etc.)

Some of my friends have mentioned that much of this can be learned easily enough online, but it can be tough to wade through all the incorrect information that way.  Also, I learn this kind of thing much better with someone else guiding me through the basics first.  I’m semi-pro with lighting equipment, so I wonder if this might come easily with some guidance.  I’ve considered taking classes at a local community college, but I don’t have time for that between my day job and my theatre work.  I need a time turner like Hermione in the Harry Potter books.  I don’t want to rob banks or anything.  I just want to learn more!

In all seriousness, I do feel a void here that needs to be breached, and while I’ll read and ingest what I can, I will need guidance.  I will need to reach out to some professionals, I think, and say, “I know nothing. Please teach me.”

Humility, my friends.  Time to reclaim some humility.

Still, that’s no excuse.

More after the jump…

I’ve written all my narration for my First Attempt except for those parts that I will probably only write after Step Six (The Gathering) is complete.  I can’t possibly map everything until I finish the interviewing.

So I’ve written my narrative bits, and I’ve been recording them in chunks.  I’m learning things.  I’m learning about using a wind filter.  I’m learning about how much I hate the letters “P,” “B” and “T.”  The hard “K” sound is a close runner-up.  The popping is intense, and it really could be solved with a little filtering.  I’m adding it to a growing list of THINGS TO DO BETTER.

I’m also learning about people’s attention span.  I tend to talk in rambling, circuitous sentences, and while that works for solo performance, I don’t think it will work so well on the radio.  Maybe that could be my gimmick?  Do radio people have gimmicks?  I feel as though I’m likening them to exotic dancers.

Anyway.

Here is a little clip of my First Attempt.  This will be after the opening but somewhere in the first quarter.  I haven’t done any editing or anything.  This is raw.  Because that’s how I roll.

I am le sad (as opposed to le tired).

But I’ll be going there this Saturday, I uberpromise.

This week I finish writing my own parts for my First Attempt.  I’ll record them this weekend to finish up Step Five: The Framing.  Next week I’ll begin the next step (Step Six: The Gathering) by talking to my mother and siblings.  From there’s it is aunts, uncles, cousins and a grandmother.  Talking, talking, talking.  So many words will make something so focused and direct.

I’m basically an editor.  Or maybe a distiller.  I like that.

Give me your stories, friends.  I shall distill them until they are a most interesting and intoxicating brew.