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maygrehan

Kicking Goals and whatnot...

Aside from watching all of High School Musical: The Musical - The Series (thanks Coleman for Disney Plus), getting my bike stolen and buying a couch with pokies winnings, I've managed to do quite a lot this January.


I chose three goals for the month.


1. Stop Smoking - Success!


Although I did find two cigarettes on the 21st and smoked them instead of throwing them out. But I'm still counting this one as a success. I used to only smoke while travelling but in 2016 when I did a six month travelling stint, I came back to regular life with the habit and it wasn't until 2019 that I was able to admit that I was a full-time smoker. But that's all done now... or at least for this month.


2. Be in a band - Success!


Yes this is cheating because I was already in a band but sometimes you have to have really attainable goals to tick off. We are singing at the Brisbane Jazz Club on the 2nd February for a Bushfire Relief show and next we are headed to the Doo-Bop Bar in March.


3. Sell and Distribute Zombie Bro - In Progress.


I had the most frustrating time trying to export my perfectly fine 25 fps film and audio down to 23.98 fps. I tried frame blending and then went through every cut in the movie and replaced ones blended with frames. And now, I'm not sure the audio matches very well. Rio Zoulas, my colour grader was a great help in answering questions and exporting sequences again and again but ultimately the problem lay in shooting in 25fps.


NOTE TO FIRST TIME FILMMAKERS: Shoot it in 24 fps. If it gets distribution, that's the frame rate it has to be for everything so do not do what I did.


So now it's off for it's second QC and if the sound needs to be redone, the quality control company is quoting me for that cost. And after that, I can move on to the next difficult task in distribution, whatever that may be.



This month, I've read five books. My favourite being "The Art Of The Good Life" by Rolf Dobelli, which gives you 52 ways of thinking about life, people, business that makes you less stressed and more content. I've watched five movies at the cinemas, my favourite probably being Star Wars. I saw JoJo Rabbit too and love Taika Waititi but in the end, I just think I had more reactions and kick-butt feelings for the new Star Wars film.


And on a personal note - I've had a very stressful time with my mental health recently. I think it started when I moved to Canada in 2017 and has dragged along until this moment here and now. I am quite optimistic and goal oriented but about once every 2-3 weeks I find myself uncontrollably weeping for a few days, feeling hopeless and worthless. It's definitely better than it used to be. After my split with my ex, I cried uncontrollably everyday for about three months, and when I started taking hormones for egg donation, the crying started up again daily. But it's all a bit concerning, ya know? I talked to a therapist in Canada, who advised I go home. And since home, I've seen a doctor who has referred me to another therapist. Not really sure what's going on... but it would be nice if I could go back to being myself now.


Also work has been stressful. I find myself coming home extremely fatigued and I stress about work on weekends too, which isn't ideal. It has also come to my attention that my voice is being dramatically affected by working in childcare. Must be all the "John, get of the table!" several times throughout the day. There's also the part where I get sick all the time too. So I'm thinking of moving and shaking out of the industry but also I'd like to go into the next one without having a coffee job in between. Any tips are welcome. I'm studying Social Work this term so maybe there is an entry level position related to that.


And that's my monthly recap for January. I'm living in Brisbane, settling into a four year degree and am feeling optimistic that I'm making the right choices.


See you next month,

May


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