doc U-ME ntary.

I keep forgetting that for the sake of school credit, I'm supposed to be logging what I do at work each day!

Today was pretty interesting. I was given a break from transcribing...Praise the Lord...and I got to watch and organize footage for a documentary on a jazz music festival that takes place in the south. I loved this and it was a great excuse to sit back and enjoy some relaxing melodies on the piano.

I think one of the most interesting concepts regarding the documentary process is the way the story or the theme is constantly changing. When you are documenting real life, you can only plan so much. Stories will occur on their own. The tricky part is looking for the important ones. And then you have the issue of major life changing events that happen, say an oil spill for instance, and suddenly your footage could seem out of date if it doesn't hit on the recent issues. It seems like a bit of a race against the clock.

Here's some food for thought. If a documentary was made about your life, what would be the theme? What people would be the major characters in your story?

In my best "Carrie" tone of voice, I can't help but wonder what the "footage" of mine would show if I fast forwarded it to six months from now. This has definitely been the reigning thought encompassing my mind lately.

Anyway...

On the way home from work, I'm pretty positive I saw Christian from Project Runway ...you know, the "fierce" one. That made me smile just a little! Gotta love working in the Garment District!

Tomorrow is my day off. Woohoo!
Morning goal=4 mile run along the Hudson. I really need to get after my training schedule for the fall! Also need to go to Century 21 to return the jeans I feel guilty for buying. Yes, even at the discount price, I'm still having buyers remorse. That's definitely the Oklahoma girl in me.

After that, I'm thinking that taking a blanket to Central Park and camping out for the day sounds perfect. All I need is my ipod, a PBJ and I'll be good to go :)

I can't wait for my little sis to get here! I do the love the city, but there are definitely some things at home I've been missing lately.

A working gal

"and I'm feeling the pull
dragging me on again
and I'm feeling so small
against that big moon sky tonight"
-Listening to: "Feeling the Pull" by The Swell Season (If you do one thing today download this song by this wonderful Irish duo)

Today was my first working girl day in NYC. I can only hope that this is the first of many many to come in the future.

I didn't have to be at the office until 10 a.m. Seriously? I didn't know jobs existed like that. However, the fact that I was wide awake at 5 a.m. this morning didn't exactly allow me the chance to sleep in. In New York, the morning sun likes to come blaring through the window at about 5. I didn't mind it too much though, I'm not a huge fan of sleeping in anymore anyway.

The office I work at is right by Fashion Ave and the Garment District. It's an exciting area to be a part of on a work day. The location is only ten minutes from the W, which is extremely convenient. I felt that the vibe was one hundred percent different today, the first work day of the week, in comparison to the weekend. I actually liked it much better today.

It was exciting to be amongst the people who were on their way to work. The weekend was filled with mostly tourists wandering the streets, but today the real New Yorkers were out. Papers were for sale on street corners and men in business suits pushed past me, coffee in hand. I love knowing that I get to be a part of that working crowd, at least for a couple of months.

The movement and energy I felt around mid-town today was similar to the energy that I love so much about the financial district. I was glad to find it here too. Being located near such huge tourist destinations I didn't know whether I would be able to distinguish between the commercial tourism and the local working crowd, but today I could.

I arrived at work ten minutes early, the same time as one of the producers and another intern. He was shocked that we were there "early." It made me chuckle, again, to think that I seem to have the one internship where they don't expect you to be early and you don't have to be there until mid-morning.

The three producers and other two interns in the office are all incredibly nice. It is a very relaxed atmosphere on the 16th floor overlooking midtown. I spent most of the day transcribing footage for their latest project. While I can't go in to much detail about the content, I can say it relates to the politics and racism in New Orleans and it was absolutely fascinating. I cannot wait to learn more about the process that goes into making documentary films. After one day of working in an office responsible for creating award winning ones, I already have higher esteem for these types of films than I did even when I woke up this morning.

During my lunch break, I went with Kristen, another intern, to grab a sandwich. She pointed out that directly across the street from our office is the place where the contestants on Project Runway go to get all of their fabrics, so that was my fun fact of the day. Speaking of fashion, it was fabulous to see all of the different looks people were sporting to work today, especially being near Fashion Ave and the Garment District.

After a solid first day at work, I went back to the W and found myself crashing at about 7 pm. Ever since I have been in New York, my body seems to have no idea what time zone it's in. I know that a one hour time difference from home isn't enough for me to really feel, so I'm assuming it must just be some kind of adjustment to living a completely new lifestyle. All I know is that I'm ready for bed at about 8 pm and completely wide awake when the sun is coming up. Needless to say, I'm trying to fix this issue-so I had a nice big cup of coffee after dinner and decided to take a stroll down my street around dusk. I felt kind of ridiculous when I considered the fact that a "stroll" down my street consists of passing places such as Macy's, Madison Square Garden, and all the while enjoying the grand presence of the Empire State Building towering above. Can you tell I'm still a bit awe-struck?

I've also decided I have a strange love for Penn Station. While I'm not a huge fan of the subways, this station isn't too bad because it is also where the Long Island Rail Station is. There are always pretty decent musicians playing in it, so it's kind of fun to walk through it. On Monday when I was down there some one was playing an instrumental version of My Heart Will Go On. No joke-it was great.

Anyway, tonight on my walk, it was just beginning to get dark enough for the huge LED sign at Macy's to illuminate the whole intersection on the corner with the colors of the advertisements. In a twisted, technology-induced way, it was kind of cool.

Well, that's the end of my rambling for the day. I didn't manage to get around to taking many pictures today, so I will leave you with the not-so-attractive picture of my damaged feet.

This is New York baby...