Archive for December, 2007

2005, 2005, 2005.  It feels like only last month it was 2005. I look at the stuff I’ve worked on in the past years – skins for Quintessential Player, web design stints, and whatnot – stuff that feels like I only did months ago, but as I look at it all more closely it turns out to be many years ago. I’ve been with a particular forum for six years already. Six years! Oh how time flies.

Now 2008 is upon us. HOPE6 was already a year and a half ago, and the next one is due up soon. Jesus. I often wonder whether this lost track of time has to do with the fact that my time in that period has been absorbed only by a few projects (namely On Piracy and Docks), or whether it’s just one of the drawbacks of getting older.

I remember at the hunting camp I went to a few months ago, a man that was in his early sixties was there.  He had worked for Bell all his life, and yet, as he explained, his first day there felt like only yesterday.

I don’t want to end up like that. When I’m sixty, I want to feel like my being twenty-two was ages ago. What a scary thought that is, to have life literally dissappear from under you. To have it gone by in the blink of an eye.

These were small shoots to take care of the small extra scenes that help complete the film.  The scenes featuring the main actors was done with the Dec 11 shoot, this is all about the extras and the little things. Tomorrow will be the last day of shoots, at which point I’ll furiously dump the footage onto my home computer.

Which brings me to another point – I haven’t been home since last Friday. I went to my mom’s for her birthday, but due to the storm and everything I’ve yet been able to go my own home. I’m not looking forward to the gazillion emails awaiting me.

I appreciate my university education. It’s given me skills that have become indispensible to my daily living – the ability to think critically, an understanding of how to question, and the like. But in as much as I consider such broadening of perspectives invaluable, I’ve come to be extremely cynical on the stress imposed on high school students to get into the institution of their “choice.” Moreso if the student parent is aiming for a high-brow British university or whatnot.

I see such aims as both fiscally irresponsible and a waste of time. The more expensive the institution, the more specific the program, the less inherent flexibility there is for the student to change their mind. That fluidity is necessary, because unless one expects a 16 year old to somehow be imbued with the knowledge of a recent graduate, we shouldn’t expect him/her to not change their mind on the degree of choice. It’s only natural, as anyone who’se been through the grind will tell you.

So when I see news tidbits on kids suffering burnouts over their attempts to get into prestigious schools, I can’t help but think their parents blinded by their own aspirations. Naturally, there’s nothing wrong with getting into a prestigious school. But a 22 year old equipped with a university degree and a clearer mind is much better informed at making such a decision than a 16 year old still trying to grasp the basics of adult life.

I was in last Thursday’s Globe and Mail, as part of an article on the throttling of bittorrent traffic that a number of ISPs are undertaking. What a crazy day that was – I was at work when the first email came through on my BlackBerry. Within hours, a photoshoot and interview time had been set. These guys sure waste no time.

Globe and Mail Article.