Melodie Turori

First and last post of 2010, oi vey!

Happy New Year! =)

Today I added two movies to my Netflix queue:

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

Helvetica (2007)

The former made my queue based on title alone. Saint Nick and martians in a movie from the 60s? That has awesomely bad written all over it. The latter made it for two reasons: 1- I have filmmaker curiosity on the how and why someone would  make a movie about a font. 2- Seriously, it’s a whole feature length movie about a font?

Addendum: Had to take a quick break from writing this post to add Ninja Cheerleaders (2008) to the queue (hey– George Takei stars!), thanks a lot @wilw.

Addendum 2: the reruns of Jimmy Fallon and Conan are hilarious tonight.

I’ve been doing a ton of research, both online and in books (you know, those paper thingies they have in libraries and stores), on how to start a business. Every single source has told me I need a business plan. I, however, came to an entirely different conclusion.

“Ha,” I said, “do I really need a business plan now? This sounds like something I can develop as I go along.”

With that mindset, I have waffled around for the last week, completely unsure of what my next step should be. Then I talked to a friend of mine who has been successful in starting and operating his own business. He explained why writing a business plan had been benefitted his business over the years. That’s when the lightbulb went off in my head and I went, oh, DUH. Being a planner by nature, I’m not sure what possessed me to think not doing one to kick things off would be a good idea.

So, where do I start in writing a plan?

I don’t think there’s a good answer. For me, it was looking at a lot of online templates to see what is generally included in this kind of document. I even bit the bullet, downloaded the free Target Market, Self-Assessment, and Mission Statement worksheets from Entrepreneur Magazine. All were useful exercises, even the self-assessment, which I was skeptical of (it flagged some important things for me to think about for long term goals). The result is I have a first draft of a mission statement that complements the immutable laws I’d already laid out. Plus, the company vision in my head is starting to look less like a stick figure drawing and more like fleshed out pencil sketch (the kind with shape and shadows). That’s awesome and has given me some much needed confidence. I won’t be writing a business plan that mimics any of the templates I’ve seen, instead I’ll be pulling key parts and tweaking them into what I need for my business.

In an effort to establish some accountability, I’m going to set some goals and incorporate them into my posts.

Goals for this week:

• Finish business plan by next Wednesday.
• Set up an appointment with the accountant.
• Create a to-do time line and set a tentative launch date.
• Finish reading The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur.

Aniwaniwa.net is now rocking the BlackPower theme by SkinPress. It’s the second one I installed today and I wasn’t totally sold on it at the beginning. The longer I tweaked it the more it grew on me. I think it gives the site a nice modern look with a nice splash of color that suits the site name and features my twitter stream prominently. The last point is key, I love twitter and spend a lot of time there, so a visually appealing integration of tweets was number one on my feature list. Number two was to find a theme that I could easily tweak to make my library look stellar. Sold on both point!

In other site news, I also added a contact page with links to all the places I frequent in social media land. The plan for tomorrow is to integrate easy social media sharing for blog posts.

Well, here we are closing in on the six month mark post-graduation. What do I have to show for it? Some replies of interest for jobs that were ultimately filled before they got to me on the interview list, a solitary phone interview, and what has to add up to at least several hundred hours dedicated to finding full time work. In preparation for interviews, I nailed down answers for questions like “where do you see yourself in five years,” and “what is it that you ultimately want to do in life?” The last year and a half in college was gave me the answer to the latter question easily:

Running my own production company.

I didn’t have down exactly what kind of production company, or how big it would be, or even what we would actually produce. My plan was to get an entry level job working in radio or television, figuring that would give me a good base that I could use to formulate Future!Company. Life is kind of a funny thing, it doesn’t always like the plans I make or the rationale behind them.

I got tired of chasing potential job leads that turned into nothing. I don’t remember exactly how the I came to this conclusion, but several weeks of careful deliberation ended in that stomach churning excitement that always clues me in on when I’m working on a project that I’m truly, deeply passionate about. The kind of project that wakes you up early so that you can get back at it again.

I, like my father and grandfather before me, am venturing out into the world of small business. Why wait for the future to arrive so that I can start a company when I can just start one right now?

Looking at the edge of that decision, the should I or shouldn’t I?, was kind of terrifying and not at all easy to make. It felt a bit like Indiana Jones, standing at the edge of that yawning chasm in The Last Crusade. He knows he has to step off, that’s what his directions are saying he has to do, but oh man his eyes are telling him it’s an impossible step because, dude, there’s no. freaking. bridge.

So I stood there and I looked over the edge. I did a little research and my brain split into two sides — the one that was running around the cliff in my head, arms flailing like a fangirl (my mother would have SO yelled at Positive!Brain for behaving in such an unsafe manner and-at-the-side-of-a-cliff-for-goodness-sake!), giddy with excitement, hope and potential. And then there was Negative!Brain looking at the vast emptyness and not saying a word, just giving me the evil eye that spoke more than was really necessary.

In the end, I closed my eyes and stepped off the side. Hopefully, like Indy, I’ll also be rewarded by landing on an invisible bridge that will get me across to the success on the other side. I’ll be blogging regularly about my experiences in getting this little business off the ground, I hope you’ll stick around. Perhaps you’d even like to offer me some advice? I’d love to hear it!

I’ve been a fan of webseries The Guild since halfway through season 1 because it’s  funny, honest, and all around awesome. Yesterday they unveiled a music video called “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?” in preparation for the season 3 launch at the end of the month. The video is currently #1 on the iTunes Music Video list and #1 at Amazon, indie webseries FTW!

(Yes, I did my part to support by purchasing via iTunes).

3 or 4 weeks ago when I decided not to bring my laptop on the NZ trip, I thought I was going to have a hard time detoxing. My laptop is basically a 5th appendage, I haven’t been on an overnight trip without my laptop or a backup computer in…more years than I can remember. Probably at least 5. Kind of sad, right? Now to be fair, my only current source of employment requires that I have a computer and internet access…but still. Sad.

Anyway, last week I went 4 whole days without even seeing a computer (which is why my primary source of updates has been via twitter through text message). Do you know, I never missed my baby that entire timespan? There was one moment on the day of our arrival in Auckland that I thought, “ooh, I can’t wait to get these photos on my laptop and post-process them in photoshop!” Which was quickly followed by, “aw darn, I can’t do that for 2 weeks.” After that, nothing. No urges to jump online and look up random facts, no 2-hour blackouts where I look up and wonder where time went. No endless job searches or resume tweaking..I think you get the point. There is life without computers and technology, I had just forgotten what that life was like.

So, what have we been up to since the last post? My cousin kindly took us on a road trip down the coast to auntie’s farm in Onepu. We stayed there Tuesday through Friday, making it our basecamp for adventuring in Rotorua. Those adventures included an unfortunately boring trip to the Rotorua museum thanks to a tour that was almost an hour longer than promised (interesting info, waaaay too long). There was a trip to the Buried Village, which has a beautiful waterfall. And our two favorite parts thus far: the luge & sky swing, and riding ATV’s through paddocks and up a big hill in Rotorua for a breathtaking view of the lake and city. Friday we drove back  to Auckland through Matamata where we took the Hobbiton tour. I’d been on it before, during the last trip, but this time was fun too. They changed up the tour to add in a sheep shearing, but my favorite part was seeing the beginnings of botanical set construction for the upcoming The Hobbit movies.

The weekend was spent relaxing mostly. We packed in a lot of activity the first week and when combined with jet lag and that nearly-48-hour-stint, equals two pretty exhausted girls. So we veged watching movies, a jaunt out to the flea market and mall, plus an afternoon well spent playing Rock Band. As long as my traveling buddy is content to hang around the house, I am too. It makes me feel like I’m part of the family I never get to see. And I like that feeling.

Last night uncle took us up to the Sky Tower for a look at Auckland light up at night. It was a beautiful view that I missed last time around. Well worth the trip.

Not sure what we’ll get up to for our remaining days. Fun things, no doubt! More trip details and photos to come soon…but the photos maybe not until I get back. We’ll see, I’m still digging this minimal computer vacation.

Yesterday I had the most surreal moment. There I was, how many thousands of miles away from home, sitting in a Starbucks sipping a white hot chocolate with my friend and Uncle Jamey. The same kind of music you’d expect to hear piped through an American Starbucks was playing in the background, the same merchandise, decor…really the only difference was the sound of kiwi accents and a load of different choices in the pastry case. All I could think was, is this really happening? Am I really in New Zealand?

Of course it is all real. We’re getting royal treatment from my aunts and uncles and cousins! After the Starbucks and bank run, Uncle Jamey and Junior drove us around Auckland. We hit up the Auckland museum before heading down to the harbor for a late lunch of fish n’ chips. Happily, the fish n’ chips are still just as mouth-wateringly delicious as I remember. I think we’ll be enjoying that particular meal again before the trip is over.

We also visited a memorial that I can’t remember the name of. Then it was off to One Treel Hill — no, not the TV show — the hill that gives you  a stunning 360 view of Auckland. After some quick pictures we beat it back to the car because there was a chilly wind blustering around the top of the hill.

Maybe it was the extreme lack of sleep coloring my perspective, but all of yesterday felt like a surreal dream. The plane ride over was quite full so we were cramped and didn’t get much sleep. This morning after waking up, I totaled up the number of hours we had spent not sleeping. It came out to about 41 hours.

Today was a lighter day. We did a little touring, made time for a secret mission for my friend, did a little shopping for a camera battery converter and then back to the house for a rest. I ended up going with Uncle Richie to visit his work garage after he brought a camper van by for us to use. Not only does uncle rebuild damaged cars, he builds huge bar-b-que’s (or spits) from scratch!

Click here for a few photos.

Tomorrow we head south to Rotorua with cousin Junior at the wheel. After that, who knows? Maybe Taupo, Whakatane, Wellington…we’ve officially ruled out going to White Island, we figure it will just be too cold and miserable to be properly enjoyable.

Tonight I’m catching a plane bound for the land of the long white cloud, New Zealand. Of course I’ve been excited since I booked my ticket back in April, but I’m happy to say I’m finally excited. The kind of excited that causes wide, toothy smiles at the most inappropriate times. The kind of excited that makes you feel like you’re eleven years old again and just consumed

It’s a notable trip for several reasons, two of which I feel were worth pointing out. First, there are no plans. If you know me at all, this probably comes as a small surprise. Or a big surprise. I like to have plans, lists, and backup plans. Last time I traveled abroad through the South Pacific with my dad and brother I had lists upon lists of things to do, places we had to see, where we were going to stay and when…you get the idea. This time around? I’m done, burnt out on planning and organizing. I’ve spent the better part of the last 5.5 years busting my tail to finish college and I. Am. Done. The last thing I want to do is narrow down my trip to a couple of lists with more items to be crossed off. The only thing I know about this trip is that we’re getting picked up by my family in Auckland (thanks guys!!) and we have a place to crash for a couple nights. No specifics other than we’re going to wander around New Zealand and have a fabulous time. It’s a freeing feeling really, not having all the plans. Not that plans and lists aren’t good things — they are in moderation, and I know I’ll be back to them soon enough –  I’m just glad to have given them up for this brief time. This is a real, one-of-a-kind, spontaneous vacation. Actually, it’s more of an adventure.

Finally, this trip is one more example of growing up. I haven’t had cause to travel much in my short life, but any and all traveling I’ve done up to this point has been done in the company of at least one other blood relative. This trip is just me and a friend. We both just graduate from Biola and we are almost ready to take on the world. It’s just that first we’re going to take on New Zealand.

Yesterday I saw a friend who told me she my name on “the list.” Naturally, my response was, “uh, what list?”

Turns out there is a magical list that the registrars office posts on a wall for everyone to go and see if they’ve been cleared for graduation. I had no idea. Today I went in search of this magical list and succeeded in finding it. Sure enough, there I saw my name at position number 3 (based on alphabetics)…but with 3 asteriks next to it. At first I was a little concerned that the asteriks meant there was some kind of qualification to my being on the list, you know a “well, as long as she does X, Y and Z she can graduate.” This too, was an incorrect assumption. As it turns out, I’m set to graduate summa cum laude, the fancy pants way of saying I got really good grades. Of course, that is contingent on me not doing something really stupid in the next 4 weeks and 3 days (!!) to murder my GPA. I’m not planning on that…but then who really plans to murder their GPA? So…um…yay?

Anyway.

I blew off doing tons of radio work today and took my homework off to the beach with a couple friends. I don’t know why, but the ocean has the ability to soothe and quiet the soul. Even though I was studying for an important test next week, it didn’t feel stressful. All the questions, concerns and frustrations that are currently holding a dance party in my brain melted away into the sound of the pounding waves. Don’t get me wrong, I think my party attendees are just out on a supply run, I know they’ll be back rested and ready to boogie when I wake up tomorrow. But right now, my mind is enjoying the peace and quiet.

On a more amusing note, I saw a couple dudes and a chick strolling down the beach…smoking a joint. And I got an unintentionally large lungful of weed when they walked in front of me. Then a completely different dude tried to hit on one of my friends…his attempt failed, probably because as he walked away my other friend and I could no longer refrain from a little laughter at the completely obnoxious way he went about it.