a series of unfortunately bad events

as i write this, i am in the slow, tedious process of recovering from what could possibly be the worst 5 days ever. some events happened because i was careless and stupid. others just plain bad luck (or i was just really stupid. hehehe)

last friday, i was just about ready to pack my bags and spend my weekend with my brothers in manila when i got a “rush assignment.” wait a minute, rush may be a bit of an understatement. i needed to make a video (from concept until final product) by sunday afternoon. tuesday would have been fine but i had on official trip on monday and tuesday in iloilo. i wanted to make a separate blog entry about iloilo but i absolutely have nothing to say about it. didn’t really go anywhere but the farmers’ fields , SM City mall, and the hotel.

anyway, back to the story – rush assignment. this isn’t even part of the bad things that happened yet.

saturday. after having my script approved on friday, i made a few revisions on the narration and proceeded to recording it. yup, i recorded the narration. hehehe. while i’m not too confident of my voice over skills, i had to do it. nobody else is there. :p

anyway, i just got one of the tapes that was lying around my computer table. it was labeled “voice over” so i figured, i can reuse this tape – i already have the contents in my hard drive. turns out, that was the second time i had the same thought. i used said tape to shoot steps of another video project. so i erased 5 valuable minutes of the footage. and that part was one of the most important. i could just hit my head in irritation. i then decided to re-do the shoot. i still have until june to finish it anyway. so, the agony quickly passed…

by the way, my “video-editing computer” is located in a small room beside the office. so, every time the computer is ‘processing’ something (i.e. startup, opening large files, processing, rendering, etc), i head to my other computer to do other stuff, like surfing the net. but as i turned the knob to open the door, it didn’t budge. and through the glass i saw the keys on the table.

i started hyperventilating. those were the only keys – at least within an hour from me.

first, i tried to borrow a master key from the head of the office. said key opens all the doors – unfortunately not in our building, which is relatively new.

so, i went to the ledge (we’re on the second floor) to try to see if the window was open. it wasn’t.

i then turned to the internet – where all the answers are found :p and typed these words in google – “how to pick a lock”. talk about desperate huh? i did find resources about it unfortunately, i wasn’t able to transfer the skills.

i was about ready to break the door. i even thought of asking permission from the head of our agency if i could “destroy public property” for an emergency. but i didn’t. instead i opted to find a locksmith.

didn’t find one. when i was finally able to contact the other owner of the key, i immediately traveled 25 km (a millions miles for someone with a sunday deadline) to get the key.

when i got back, i was grateful that the sun was still up. i realized i needed a couple of shots i didn’t have yet. so, i got the camera from the small room and proceeded to the field. bad luck strikes again. since it was left in a air conditioned room with little ventilation (if any), condensation occurred in the tape. it must be turned off for an hour. or at least that’s the message that was displayed on its lcd display.

so, i decided to just shoot the next day and insert it to the project – the beauty of non-linear editing. you dont have to proceed according to the timeline. anyway, as i was just starting to edit, my cursor stopped in its tracks. great! now my computer is not cooperating. but nope, reboot wouldn’t be the solution. turns out, the batteries of my wireless mouse picked the right moment to lose its juice. i went to the supply cabinet and found an empty carton of batteries. at that moment, i was like “are you kidding me?”

i had spare batteries at home which i bought to place in my alarm clock weeks before but fortunately did not use. i got the batteries, placed it in the mouse, turned off the computer and went home. there was no way i could do anything after all that trauma.

early morning on sunday, i proceeded to the field to shoot the needed footage. i lugged the camera and a big tripod as i walked around the 90-hectare experimental fields. note: i walked!

after 2 hours, i finally had everything i needed. i went to the office to capture and have 4 pieces of crackers for my breakfast. at around 12, i finally organized everything but could not make the voice over (yup my voice) good enough. so, i recorded again, checking the tape carefully before starting.

at around 2, i finally started exporting the project to DVD. i finally could have lunch.

after a quick break, i went back to the office and submitted the project for approval. turns out, my idea of the project was way different from the idea of the proponent. he simply needed shots of good fields. maybe this was a bit my fault (but i had the script approved!).

anyway, i did just that. just different shots of rice fields and grains.

the next day, i had to wake up early to catch my 8:50 am flight. we still need to travel 3 hours to the airport. when i arrived in my terminal, i got down and remembered i had to text someone. i reached down my pocket but my phone was not there. checked my bag, was not there either. i left it in the van!

i had another phone but that phone was my main line. it was that phone that i need to contact those who will help me in iloilo. and since this other phone had very few contacts, i could only call my phone and wish those in the van could hear it. they didn’t.

so i had to ask help from a friend who had to ask from another friend for the phone number of those still in the van. after a while, i was able to call them. they were already in the expressway but didn’t hesitate to come back since they were “not in a hurry.” yup, i know. that was inconsiderate of me.

anyway, that’s that.

now, my left hip (if thats the right area) had been hurting for a while now. not sure why though – maybe i sat or slept in the wrong position. but it was ok, until i got in iloilo. i started hurting like crazy when i was sitting down. didn’t help that we had to pass by unpaved roads to get to the farmers i was interviewing. every time we hit a big bump, i could just bite my lips to keep from uttering sounds of agony. (btw, those who were with me did not know that i was silently in pain).

sitting was not the hardest part. standing up was. it was really really really hard to stand up. once im standing, the pain is gone. anyway, after a bit of help from several people, i think the pain is starting to go away.

whew… this is a long post. but wait there’s more.

my phone (yup, the one i left in the van), which i had with me for almost 3 years now, went crazy on me. i couldn’t send messages anymore. it ‘hanged’ with every button i pressed. and the battery drains after a few hours.

now, i have to use my other phone – which before was my music and video player and games console which can also call and text every once in a while. sadly, all my contacts were in my phone memory so i lost many of the numbers. if you text me and i reply with the dreaded “hu u?”, i apologize in advance. hehehe.

hope my luck changes for the better now! wish you have the best of luck too.