Things are going well and God is continually stretching me and molding me. I don’t always understand why He puts me through some of the things I face. In fact, I never understand but I trust that there is a reason. So, let me catch you up on what’s been going on in my life over the past couple months. I went home for Christmas. Though I was home for over 2 weeks, the time flew by and I was barely able to take a breath. But it was nice to see my family and celebrate Christ’s birth. I returned to New York and moved right into a new apartment. It’s a great apartment in a wonderful building in downtown White Plains. White Plains is considered the SoHo of Manhattan to some and others call it “Little Manhattan”. Either way, it’s an older town that is going through a great renewal and becoming very chic. It’s the place to be, apparently. I like it because it’s close enough to Manhattan to get there in no time, but far enough away that I don’t feel caught up in the hustle and bustle all the time. It’s also 30 minutes away from where I work in Connecticut and 30 minutes away in the other direction is Manhattan. So, I have my apartment and I was expecting that my apartment would be facing South. I was excited about having a view of the Manhattan skyline in the distance. However, this was my first disappointment. The apartment faces North. I still have a great view. I guess it’s just tough when you expect one thing and get the opposite. In the end, it’s really not a huge deal that my apartment faces North, half of the apartments in this building do! I’d just like to have some direct sunlight. But for whatever reason, I’m not supposed to be facing South.
I had my things shipped from California. My things arrived about 2 weeks after I did and it was quite a production to get what little I own into my apartment. This is considered a luxury building so they have very particular rules about moving furniture. You have to reserve the elevator and cannot take anything through the lobby. Right now, the only furniture I have here is my bed, a cedar chest, and a file cabinet. There are boxes around the living room, most of them empty. I bought a sofa, dining table, and a dresser a few weeks ago. They should be arriving in about a week. That will be another grand production to try to arrange a reservation for the elevator without knowing what time to expect my furniture to be delivered. I’m sure it will all work out but not without a bit of stress first.
I worked quite a bit in January at the news station. I will be working there a little bit in February. I produced a show by myself for the second time on February 15th. I did really well and felt a lot more comfortable than the first time. I’ve learned a lot but I’m finding out more and more that I am not cut out for the news business. I’m not sure how every market is but I doubt they differ very much from place to place. It is a very morally corrupt business. After working a week and a half straight, I was so emotionally drained. Writing about homicides, fatal car accidents, missing children, child abuse, etc. etc. for 9 hours a day I was DEPRESSED! I can’t do it and I don’t want to become hard-hearted to where it doesn’t bother me. One night, our executive producer was pushing a reporter and cameraman to get in the face of people as they learned that there had been a triple homicide in their family. DISGUSTING! All he cared about was sensationalizing the story. Ratings. Where’s the compassion? Why would I want to be any part of that? I don’t! So, I’m really looking for a new, steadier job where I don’t have to compromise my morals. Please pray that something like that even exists in the broadcasting industry and that I’d find it. I'm also devoting quite a bit of time to getting some voice-over work. Voice-over is still my main interest and I'm feeling very motivated to pursue it right now. So, I'm making a lot of connections and networking to try to get some auditions.
So, there's an update on my life just outside the Big Apple. In fact, I've only gone into Manhattan once since being back from California. It's been too cold! We've been experiencing a deep freeze where the daily high hasn't even reached above freezing. We finally had a couple days of "warm" weather in the 30's. We just had a “Nor’Easter” that brought sleet for 12 hours straight. Sleet really hurts! The roads were awful and my car is so filthy! I’m embarrassed but it’s impossible to keep it clean with all the slush and snow on the roads.
Anyway, I hope you're doing well and enjoying 2007. I'll keep you posted as to my progress on obtaining voice-over work. Until then, thanks for all the support, prayers, and encouragement.
