swimming in a sea of gold

so now that i've finished gathering content (i think) my new home for the next 10 days will be the treehouse (aka the newsroom where we edit). there's no ac, but we keep all the windows and doors open to let the breeze from the sea in. come to think of it, there really isn't much of a breeze because the resort we're staying in is built around the jungle on the side of a hill. its pretty awesome, but the trees block the breeze unless you go right down to the beach.

i really don't have any pictures to show because i've taken a break from shooting since finishing my story. i'll resume again soon, because i need to remember the faces of everyone on our team before we all go our separate ways in a week and a half.

sad! we're over halfway done... its been awesome. the story i have is completely not what i was expecting and i feel like the least likely person to get that story, but its the greatest one i've ever worked on and i'm really excited about pulling all the pieces together and getting online. my coach and i made a trailer last night that was really just to update the rest of the team, but its hilarious and if i get approval to use the music i want, maybe i can have a preview on here.

editing is such a long, arduous process. i'm not AS excited about working on a computer as i am about going to the beach and swimming at sunset (which i did last night with charissa... unbelievable, it was like swimming in gold), but it must be done and it is quite entertaining. i'm glad i got a fun story, otherwise i might be bored out of my mind listening to and watching the same footage over and over and over again.

currently i'm trying to come up with a catchy title, pull good quotes from the interviews, write intro text and decide what my cover image will be. they seem like small decisions, but when you consider that your audience may only scan the homepage for 7 seconds and you only have that long to pull them into your story, the decisions become a little more important.

yesterday i took my laundry to a little old lady down the street and paid 50 baht a kilo to get it washed (and apparantly lightly starched, including underwear). i had 3 kilos, so it will cost me about $5 to get all my nasty clothes washed. you can't help sweating all the time, so its an essential expense.

speaking of expenses, thailand has cost me far far less than i thought i would be paying. i withdrew around $80 two weeks ago and i still haven't spent it all quite yet.

other great things about this place:
-fruit shakes
-dinner for $2
-babies
-monkeys
-everyone is friendly
-motorbikes (which i'm not supposed to be riding...)
-giant snails
-fruit i've never seen
-vines for swinging and climbing
-the andaman sea at sunset
-so much green
-boats
-being surrounded by friends for a whole month in a beautiful place

tomorrow there's a tsunami drill in town, which everyone who can will cover. today is the deadline for content collection, so everybody should be able to come out. should be interesting.