Sunday Synopsis: Gratitude, Moving Objects and What It’s Like to Be Involved in Cool Shit

A production crew member at work on the Rocky Balboa spinoff 'CREED' filming on Temple University's campus.After much procrastination on a growing to-do list for the A to Z Challenge (we're at 1,000 participants and counting! Yay!), I'm supposed to be catching up on editing videos for an upcoming surprise you'll see soon enough. So how did I find myself on here blogging today? For starters, I know it's about time since there hasn't been a new post in a few days.

So I figured this is a good day to discuss how much we take our jobs for granted, or rather, how we sometimes fail to recognize the perks of whatever field we find ourselves working in. Sure there are stressful times and annoyances that are part of a job we don't particularly care for, but who can name any field that doesn't come with its own set of challenges, right?! Unfortunately, filmmaking hasn’t contributed to the bulk of any money I earn.

Making less than $400 in the last year alone, which turns out to be around -700 or so, at minimum, when factoring in the expenses I racked up (in other words, no profit equals no revenue, but I digress…) tells me I have a lot of work to do in the motion picture arena if this thing is going to pan out for me. So anyone able to make a comfortable living – or even enough to pay a bill or buy groceries for the month -- by landing jobs on productions with some kind of budget that makes these things possible, are lucky to work in an environment where there is no stringent dress code and you can be anyone or do anything that you wouldn’t normally do in the real world.

This weekend I was watching an actress's vlog where she and the crew of an action webseries, about espionage, were on set wrapping a 20-day shoot. As she filmed her last scenes as a femme fatalle, teased the cinematographer and exchanged jokes with the sound guy during lunch breaks, it dawned on me how much of a blessing it is to be able to work in an industry where you get to play make believe all day.

Sylvester Stallone's Rocky franchise continues with 'CREED' starring Michael B. Jordan (Fruitvale Station).Depending on what role or position you're in on any given production, you can dress up, perform stunts, travel, play with gadgets and basically run around town acting like a fool while meeting new people and forming relationships (albeit brief) with these strangers -- many of whom you may never run into again. It’s like a never-ending celebration of Halloween, Mardi Gras and the Fourth of July on steroids.

Making movies, television, commercials, music videos, or other content in the audiovisual medium brings with it a set of crazy responsibilities while also putting you through a roller coaster of emotions. When you step away from it for a minute and view it from another side, however, it's kinda awesome.

The stress for, say, a production sound guy is different than that of someone working on an assembly line at an automobile manufacturing plant, or even a doctor performing open heart surgery. Each person involved in the assembling of cars has challenges of making sure all the parts on the finished product is working. If there is a recall or people stop purchasing them, then the company doesn't make money, people start getting laid off and then there is no fun in a situation like that. In the surgeon's case, his (or her) stress and challenges carry a whole other level of importance because it's a life or death situation with the patient's future literally in his hands.

Heart surgeon's get to be heroes who make it possible for people to have a chance at a better, and longer, quality of life. Those working on airplanes, trains, automobiles, bicycles, etc. are helping other people get to their jobs -- or to the hospital for that surgery -- faster than they would on foot. All in all, this stuff makes the world go 'round in the sense that they aid, in one way or another, our ability to carry on with our day-to-day existence as efficiently as possible. These things are awesome, making the medical and manufacturing industries just as cool as many other fields.

Since I'm no expert engineer and would probably faint at the mere thought of rearranging a person's internal organs, I think I'll stay in my lane for now and remember to appreciate the privilege of playing pretend, when and where I can.

No matter whether YOU work full-time, part-time or seasonally, what are some awesome aspects of YOUR industry (or industries)?

*Note: Just a quick heads up…the Monday Movie Meme will likely go up late tomorrow now that I’m going to have to make up for lost time on those video editing tasks ;)

Comments

[Barbara In Caneyhead]

I work for a uniform service company. We supply uniforms for working men and women in industrial jobs in our area. From petrochemical plants, to mechanics, to lawn services. I enter 90% of the data for my company and it is my job to make sure all the correct information goes to production for loading, to the route manager for delivery and to the customer on their invoicing. I've worked before in the lumber industry and in the oil/gas distribution industry, but there is more detail by far in what I do now than in anything else I've done. And while it may not be glamorous or seem important, after hurricane Rita hit our area, they needed us up and running ASAP to get all the men who needed to get into the refineries outfitted in Nomex and FR. There is value in every job if you care to do your best.

[Angela Brown]

I'm involved in the Telecommunications industry. It's a competitive field where technology makes the most ambitious of things obsolete within weeks. And it helps to be a part of other technological advances helping to make the world go round.

[C. Lee McKenzie]

Rearranging anything for someone else terrifies me. I can't imaging fiddling with someone's organs. However, I do admit to doing some mental tampering during my career as a teacher in the university. I tried to only present the information for digestion, and the best part of my job was seeing how well some students did just that.

[Susan Gourley]

I taught high school for over 30 years and to my very last day I loved my students. It's not kids that burn teachers out of their careers. That said, now I get to write full time and I love that too. All my stress is now self-imposed.

[Nicole]

Barbara,
Sounds the jobs you've had were in some of the most dangerous industries that play a vital role in the maintenance and distribution of our country's natural resources. Must be a high pressure environment to work in, I would imagine. The hurricane Rita situation shows how there are times when details make a huge difference, especially regarding the safety of a large number of people. I like what you said about there being value in every job if the workers in said jobs put their best foot forward. Thank you for your comment!

Angela,
Talk about competitive! When you mentioned telecommunications, my first thought was of a traffic controller (for airplanes, radio or television) so that tell you where my head was at, lol. But yeah it's so hard to stay on top of technology and maintain one's place in a field that is dependant on tools that are constantly changing. From cable TV to satellite radio to the way people make phone calls, and beyond, there are probably no dull moments in that industry. Must be exciting to be a part of something that's at the head of the future. Thanks for commenting :)

C. Lee McKenzie,
What a pretty clever (and accurate, I would add) way to describe the education system...as mental tampering. Ha! That's all good and well just depending on who is doing the tampering. It's nice to be able to enjoy seeing the fruit of your labor firsthand in those students who really got it. Good teachers are one of the many gifts that society and legislators take for granted. Thank you for adding your comment on this post!

Susan,
That's a long time teaching and to teenagers with all those raging hormones too?! It seems like a mighty tough job; good thing your students helped to make the experience worthwhile. Writing for a full-time career sounds like heaven! What you said about the self-imposed stress has me wondering what's worse and I'm thinking that maybe at least you get to have control over that kind of stress, to some extent. Thanks for reading and commenting!