Redundancy of Awesomeness

Here I sit in my multi-colored bed, my studio somewhat vacant as Jenny is gone for a week… feeling calm since I’m home earlier than normal and have a later call time for tomorrow… and all I want to do is share my truly blessed adventures, endeavors and splendors…

ONE: Call me Aunt Ally because I am going to have a little niece or nephew (Al or Allison, I’m sure) in July. The card that told me of this glorious happening was retrieved from my mailbox at about two (maybe one) in the morning after my second day of a somewhat horrific shoot; a beacon of light that was needed in that night of fear for the next day of work. Of course, I called my biggest brother to wish him congratulations… it was met with a sleepy thank you and with the next sunrise I proceeded to tell my entire cast and crew (and maybe some strangers) that I was indeed on the path to Aunthood.

TWO: Thankfully this news endeared me somewhat to my director at the time… which was needed. I was ADing a segment of a hopeful-to-be-picked-up pilot episode of a TV Show titled “The Divine Marigolds.” A difficult undertaking of an originally 12 page script, that turned into something like 15... and was to be shot in just a weekend. It was a rollercoaster of a ride, although a product that I feel I can be proud of! (I mean hell! We got it done!) Each time I am on set, I find that I love this career path even more than with the completion of that last project; even more than that naïve teenager did when her idealized/romanticized notions of what the film industry would be were unfolding in her mind. After the finish of this project, however, it did take a bit longer to see the benefit of the experience, but it is there, nonetheless. (Just heard BBC wants first dibs?!)

THREE: I can officially say that I am a filmmer fulltime! That’s right, I left that clerical caboose and hitched a ride on the Biz Kid$ express. I am, and have been since December One, the Production Coordinator for a PBS show called, you guessed it, Biz Kid$; a kids-teaching-kids finance program that is in its fourth season. I was reluctant to hand in my two-weeks notice, saying goodbye to health benefits, paid vacation, and a fat bonus at the end of a year’s work… but it has been an enjoyable venture since. A bit new for yours truly, whose used to working on set; this job title keeps me tied to my computer and phone, but I am enjoying the work without a doubt. The hours are long and I am sharing them with a team that I am thankful to know. The season of shooting will end mid February (that’s when the true “fulltime” test begins) but I am working my booty off for tomorrow’s shooting day, number 12 of 24, first.

FOUR: My favorite number and my favorite people. No, I did not spend Christmas at home, the first of this… but I did meet up with all three (now four) of the siblings in good ol’ Wisconsin for Thanksgiving. Loving them the way I do, and knowing the quality of the time that is spent with them, I sometimes wish to go back to the days of Rapter and Polly Pockets; I yearn for the days of dinners spent together and our Friday Night Movie tradition. Being together now is as if the planets have aligned to allow the Eckerts to converge in a single setting and take part in the games that ensue. Each one, whom I call my own, is someone to be proud of. I love them and look forward to my private jet that will allow more of our time to be spent with one another.

SIX: (I don’t like fives) Another year is upon us; another year I get to live in God’s Grace and I feel privileged. A year where Jenny and myself will move from this one bedroomed, anti-privacy zone and find a perfect little spot in Seattle; a year where if I can hold no other job than that of a film, commercial, or tv gig, I will indeed be successful; a year of new family members and new excitements that are all on our horizons. Here we go folks… two zero one one!

PS. This is an interview from “The Divine Marigolds” shoot… a little longwinded, but I still feel pretty damn cool anyway.

http://schn00dles.wordpress.com/2010/11/27/seattle-celebrity-news-11/