-
Sitting around waiting
As I write this I am sitting at my local airport waiting for a delayed flight. In production in general we do a lot of waiting. If taking a long flight and/or a multi-day trip, I take my laptop. For one-nighters, a good book will suffice. But what about waiting between interviews or setups, or the hurry up and wait of an early call? I generally do not take a book to read on shoots, but if you are by yourself with no one to talk to, you have to keep busy (smart phone).
So a survey – what do you do to pass the time, aside from reading COW content of course!
Mike Cohen
-
14 Replies
-
Today I stood in line at the court house to pay a traffic ticket. I answered emails (business and forum related), and then played ANGRY BIRDS on my iphone.
Airport…I bring a laptop and write. Blog…podcast. Listen to a book on tape or read.
Interview…review my questions and check down my answers…think about B-roll I might need. Perhaps fantasize about lunch, or dinner…or drinks. Mainly plan the getting drunk part.
Shane
GETTING ORGANIZED WITH FINAL CUT PRO DVD…don’t miss it.
Read my blog, Little Frog in High Def -
ipod if possible. I have podcasts, movies, videos, and a couple days’ worth of songs I like, so here’s always something on there to keep me entertained. In my grip bag I carry a pocket sized copy of George Bernard Shaw’s “Man and Superman”. The first half is incredibly dense, but the last half has some rewarding nits in it. I have a large bookshelf of classics in paperback form, and they fit in a camera bag quite well.
-
Ever since April when I bought it (on Day One, mind you) I’ve taken my iPad EVERYWHERE that there’s a chance of waiting. So I have books, newspapers, music, movies / TV shows (not to mention portfolio work), many apps and MORE everywhere I go. Carrying a book or even a newspaper sends the message that you are bored. (IMHO.)
-
“Carrying a book or even a newspaper sends the message that you are bored. (IMHO.)”
Or… it could mean, I’m in locations and in environments where I might have to walk away from my bag of stuff instantly to go chase a story down a hallway, and I don’t have the time or money to let an ipad get stolen nor to carry it around while I’m shooting off the shoulder and holding my own stick mic. It could mean I’m frugal, it could mean I’m intellectually curious, depending on the book. It could mean I go to places without wifi and g4 phone access. It could mean I want to read in the tub or pool at the hotel after a long day. It could mean I have to spend hours sometimes waiting in a senate chamber where electronic devices are prohibited. it could mean I go to places without easy access to power. It could mean I like to stash my entertainment stuff in very small spaces so as not to be ostentatious. It could mean a lot of things. Hell, carrying a newspaper these days means you are an elite minority, and not a bad kind.
Don’t dismiss folks who are not early adopters of every new toy. We use what’s appropriate for the situations we live in, and that’s not the same for every person.
Cordially yours, me.
-
I have a scortching case of ADD so boredom just aint an issue for me. I’m use to not paying attention. Down time just lets me do it without making anybody mad.
-
I count my money. And for the second minute, I find something else to count.
Steve Wargo
Tempe, Arizona
It’s a dry heat!Sony HDCAM F-900 & HDW-2000/1 deck
5 Final Cut (not quite PRO) systems
Sony HVR-M25 HDV deck
2-Sony EX-1 HD .Ask me how to Market Yourself using Send Out Cards
-
Warning: Odd and possibly uninteresting story ahead.
Once upon a time a LONG time ago I was in college.
I had a 7:40 class that got out at 8:20 – and then a 9:40 class. So every day I’d go to the cafeteria and get a coffee and something to nibble and read the paper.
On day I found myself entering the cafeteria with not a penny to my name and no paper anywhere to keep my hands busy.
At first, I was a bit confused. I didn’t have ANYTHING to do. And for some reason, I thought to myself “why can’t I simply sit here for the allotted time and be content? Why must I ALWAYS be doing something. So I decided to simply see if I could SIT and contemplate life inside my head for the allottted time.
IT WAS ASTONISHINGLY DIFFICULT. For most of us raised on constant stimulation and/or interaction with others, with media, with tasks and deadlines and the GUILT that attends the appearance of not accomplishing anything with ones time – well, it was a HUGE eye opener.
And I vowed to do it again and again until I could be comfortable with just being by myself and not having to do something to justify my existence in THIS time and in THIS place with nothing obvious to do.
It became something of a very minor ZEN exercise for me. But after a few weeks (3 days a week class schedule is all) I TAUGHT myself to be comfortable when I had to simply sit quietly and do nothing for an hour.
I can’t tell you how many times since then that I’ve found myself stuck behind a delayed flight – or waiting for someone or something LATE that I had little or no control over that I’ve had to dust off and use that SKILL over and over again in my life.
I suppose it’s what people in the old days called PATIENCE.
Whatever you call it, It IS a useful life skill.
Try it some time.
Plop down in a chair and see if you can entertain yourself in your own head for an hour without the NEED for outside stimulation.
I suspect it will likely be MUCH harder than you think.
And useful for the rest of your life.
YMMV.
-
“Plop down in a chair and see if you can entertain yourself in your own head for an hour without the NEED for outside stimulation.”
Man, I’ve been doin that since 1987.
You’re right about it though
Rob Grauert, Jr.
http://www.robgrauert.com
command-r.tumblr.com -
[Bill Davis] ” suppose it’s what people in the old days called PATIENCE. “
This is why I took up wildlife photography and sailing. Both require me to sit for long periods just being. The usual conversation at the beginning of a sail goes something like this:
ME: “Where ya wanna go today?”
WIFE: “No where”
ME: “Any particular time you wanna get there?”
WIFE: “Now here”
ME: “Groovee…fancy a cold one love?”
Phones are off, no laptop, no radio, no music, just….water….sky….
Mick Haensler
Higher Ground Media -
[Mick Haensler] “This is why I took up wildlife photography and sailing.”
Sailing…hmmm.
Mick, I have a 30′ Swedish Shipman28 with your name all over it. She needs a new home!
T2
__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up