Musings of an Idiot: Goodbye 2006

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Goodbye 2006

Before coming to bidding farewell to 2006 I would like to quickly highlight something important.
Wikipedia - the online encyclopedia is doing a fund raising in order to keep the site going. It is a fantastic resource and I think it a worthwhile cause to share the knowledge base - after all knowledge is power. Do donate whatever amount you feel like (big or small) to it to support the cause. You would have lots of questions about what and why - you can check out the FAQ section on it HERE. In order to donate you can go to their page here.

Yesterday was a lovely day as I attended Tania and Andrew's wedding. It was a different experience - more so because it was the first western wedding that I have attended. The whole event (including the reception) lasted about 8 hours - which is a big change when compared to any kind of indian weddings which are long drawn and elaborate affairs. Overall it was a fantastic experience and it is always good to be part of a family event - in this case the Wordsworth family.

Editing wise I have edited another 10 minutes in the 1 day I had since the last update, so the assembly now stands at 58.5 minutes. Yesterday and today are my days off editing and I get back to it from tomorrow. I hit the first rough patch in assembling on Friday as one of the scenes wouldn't cut together at all because of lighting and exposure problems on location. That was one of the last scenes we shot in the evening on one of the Saturdays of filming and we kept filming even though we were loosing light pretty fast. It has now come to bite me in the bum during edit. We will re-shoot the scene when we go back to shoot the pickups and the climax of the second act. It is not a biggie as it is only a small scene. But overall the movie is shaping up really nicely.

Since this is going to be the last post for 2006 I think I will get a little bit introspective of the year that has gone by. The year started off great with trip back home and catching up with family and friends in India before coming back to NZ. Work wise - it has been a tough year overall with all the struggles of trying to get 'Nowhere to Love' into production and ultimately postponing it till we got the script in a better shape and find proper funding for it. Add to that a rough year at South Seas where there were more downs than ups - especially the later part of the year, which made the overall year that much more tougher. And I unfortunately also missed my sister's wedding earlier this month. But the year had also had many positives where I managed to rally together a team to get 'Five' off the ground and into production in a really short time span. This more than made up for everything else. I also moved into a new flat which has been fantastic and proved to be a good move. I formed some great new friends and probably did more socializing than 2004 and 2005 put together.I paid off my student loan. I got my full NZ driving license and I have applied for NZ citizenship after finding that I was eligible to apply for it now - making the cut off date by 5 days (otherwise I would have had to wait for another 2 years). And finally being lucky enough to get the support from a lot of people in one way or another. So it has been by all means been an eventful year.

Now I head into 2007 with my second movie to be released sometime during the year. And without the security of a pay check arriving into my bank account every week as I will be freelancing instead of being in a job. It is definitely an exciting time to look forward to. A bit frightening at times but exciting and challenging nonetheless. Here is to another year lived to the fullest and to the future.