What a relief it was to finish training Mom's new assistant and leave real estate, hopefully for a long, long time! Then the economy happened (or failed to happen, depending on your point of view). My career as a full-time temporary, winging my way through corporate America and Texas government, has come to an end. My temp service only called me once the entire summer, and that was to work one day! So I've had to work for Mom twice since I left at the beginning of July just to make ends meet. Mom is generous and kind for letting me work for her again when she now has an excellent assistant, Lemuel, but I gotta get out of here before we drive each other crazy.

I've been applying for regular jobs. Desk jobs that my spotty resume qualifies me for, mostly, and all of these fabulous jobs have been at UT, The University of Texas at Austin. Out of 12 or 13 jobs applied for (no, I'm not kidding), I've had one rejection email, two rejection letters, and one interview. The interview was great! We had a great time talking about my experience, someone at Rice she's related to by marriage (who knew that knowing SNC would come in handy?), and generally chatting. Will I get the job? Probably not. Apparently, the Dean is hung up on their receptionist being there at 8AM on the dot, and I'm not an "on the dot" kind of guy with anything but film work, so little chance there. I'm also going through the testing and application process for a coveted programming job on campus. I tried for it once before in '98, but I have more confidence that it will work out this time.

The Right Girl rolls on ... Lots of progress and not enough progress. I'm really excited about what's going on - final tweaks and adding music and the like - so I'm even more frustrated with our usual pace. Also, the lack of cash to just buy things I haven't finessed is more in my face right now because I need to shoot some things and record some sound, and I can't tell people that I can pay them. Bummer. On an up up note, the first "test screening" went great! One person who knew nothing about the plot or filmmaking in general, and she love it! Gives me strength and increases my hunger to finish this puppy. Time to buy another lottery ticket.

No drumroll for the love-life update:
I have continued to have high hopes and one fun-but-not-romatic date since I got back to Austin at the beginning of June. Luckily, the Kerrville Wine and Music Festival happens next weekend, so I'll see. I can already hear you complaining: "Where's the excitement? Where's the drama? Both of your loyal readers have a right to know!" For the time being, it's all in my head.

Check out the March or July updates, or even the latest update!

Thanks for coming! I hope you enjoyed your stay.