If there's anything you need, I won't be far away.

So this week has been pretty sleepy; not like Sleepy Hollow sleepy where there's a demon of the night riding around on a horse chasing Johnny Depp sleepy, but like normal, quite, not much going on sleepy.
I'd say the biggest headline this week for me is that I'm starting in earnest the editing I signed on to do for London Citizens.  Alvin and I filmed an event this past Sunday night for North London Citizens and I already had some footage from a Living Wage event filmed prior to break so I was itching to get to some editing.  I put in my first whole day at the office today, since I had been able to work from the flat prior to that (and if I had a MAC I'd still be able to but I'm not going there lol) and it was really exciting.  I got to talk to a lot of community organizers who were pretty high up on the food chain at London Citizens and get their input on the Living Wage campaign.  When you work on a project like this, you want to understand it the best you can so you know what the finished product needs to look like in order for them to be really pumped up about it (not just happy or satisfied, but pumped up).  So I think I'm understanding more and more the stake they have in the Living Wage campaigns' success and the endless work they put into it.  I'm here for 4 months, and in that time I'll probably do a minuscule fraction of the work that these people do in a given month.  Now lets be clear though, that's not because I sit around and not do any work.  A temporary placement means that there are some long-term projects and responsibilities that aren't given to me.  I don't need to attend staff meetings, I don't need to undergo a performance review by the bossman or have to participate on other campaigns like CitySafe.  Another funny tidbit, the bossman - Neil Jameson - knows my name and can actually associate my face with my name.  This guy runs Citizens U.K., he's pretty well known at City Hall and in Westminster and in big businesses based in London.  He's a nice guy who always sounds genuinely interested with what you've got to say, which makes me feel really cool.  Anyway, the reason I bring him up is because he saw the Living Wage intro video I made as it made its way through the food chain and really liked it.  But enough of work, lets get to what was fun:

One of only two (I'm told) old Red Buses running active routes through London

I got a phone booth shot behind St. Pauls....I'll get the Big Ben one soon too when the motivation returns

So this is an awesome shot of me on the Millennium bridge (that was blown-up in Harry Potter) with my main slice St. Paul in the background...just a beautiful day out

This is the Tower Bridge behind another old bridge between which the London Bridge is sandwiched taken from the Millennium Bridge...there was a time when there was only one bridge on the Thames but no one remembers

So I was attempting to go to St. Paul's this past Sunday for a tour of the Cathedral and the Crypt (as per the advice of one Sarah Forcheski), but apparently Sunday is a "working holiday" and the dead sprint Sarah and I did to get "the tour" from the tube station was for no reason.  Hopefully we'll be able to find another time to go soon because the inside of the Cathedral looks sweet and I want to get the backstage access you know?  It'll happen.  Also, the Ceremony of the Keys has been performed at the Tower of London for more than 600 years as the formal locking of the Tower is something you can get tickets to (which are fffrreeeee) if you write in.  So naturally I had no idea it was possible for a foreigner to get tickets to it, but lets just say someone else in our group wrote them anyway and got 5 tickets.  She then proceeded to invite me along when the tickets are for.  So to put it modestly, this person is awesome and I'm not just pumped, but stoked up to see this:
http://www.trooping-the-colour.co.uk/keys/

I also visited the Transport For London Museum (TFL Museum) to inquire about getting a tour of an old, closed tube station.  They told me a written letter would be required when they post a prospective tour date on their online calender.  I've been vigilant in checking.  The gentleman said that one should happen before I depart for the states.  This website has given me all of my inspiration:
http://underground-history.co.uk/shelters.php

All in all, everything is going well and I can't wait for the weekend, when I'll post an update with the video I'm working on now for LC and pictures of the long-awaited basketball game we're going to have.  The video will be interesting because it's been a while since I've really had a producer or director be really hands on with what I'm editing.  I used to be able to film, produce, write, direct and edit.  Now I'm really just editing; I mean even my voice over is just a placeholder for a British voice.  We'll have to see what happens.  The title of this weeks blog; that's what I was leaving out!!  Well of course, it's a quote from Forrest Gump, but it's in here because I had a chance to look at all the films coming out this summer when I get back home.  My favorite will probably be Transformers 3.  So to explain myself here: one of the transformers (Bumblebee) can't "talk" with a human-sounding voice because of battle damage or something so he talks through is car stereo.  In one scene he tells Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBouf, the main character) that line.  So, I guess it's the title because 1. I'd like to think I'll always be around for someone if they need me and 2. Because I just can't wait to see Transformers 3!!!!

Until next time:


" [He] believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter--tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther.... And one fine morning-- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."
~F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby


Stay Tuned....