Snow Week
So I had a zoom call ready with Van guy ready to go, one small thing though. During the previous week my roommate John has gotten bored and convinced our friend from Gainesville to come and pick us up in Tallahassee so we can speed the weekend in Gainesville. Which then prompted our friend from Orlando to also decide to pull up to Gainesville, making this upcoming weekend a reunion of sorts. I hadn't seen Sebi, Jaime, and Blake (the Gainesvillians) since October and I hadn't seen Angelo (Orlandian) since Spring break Freshmen Year, so it was quite exciting.
We'd leaving Tallahassee Friday Morning, and be returning Monday since it was President's day. We didn't have much a concrete plan for those days besides going bowling, exploring, billiards, and liar's dice. I told Van guy we could probably call late in the morning on Sunday, but that I'd tell him for sure when on Saturday. I took the new environment and audience to go ahead and pitch them the doc idea and see what they would be curious about as a way to prepare for the interview. None of these people are "film people", but they're all kind of smart and online so I figured it be nice baseline for general populations. They showed a lot of interest in what I already knew of the guy and the topic in general, as well as asking some of general questions about the practicalities and contexts of this person's life. I also would use the breaks between our actions/plans to draft up some questions and prep.
Sunday then came around and conveniently John had left to see a friend, Jaime had some to go do something for his class, and Angelo with his cousin went to try out this in-only rock climbing gym in the area, so I basically had the house to myself to do the zoom pre-interview since Sebi would still be asleep. I was going into this call with an err of caution. I would be both trying to learn more about this stranger while also trying to gauge if this person seem like a safe and trust worthy individual.
I personally found the call to be pretty successful. I learned that he was actually in his hometown with his family for the first time in a few years waiting for the climate to warm up before heading west to work on the Melon Farm he's worked at the last few Summers. Our filming window would actually be a very important time period for him since that would be around when he would be leaving.
During this call we spoke a lot about his context. We spoke of what lead him to start living out of his van and his family, which were very much related. He wasn't totally estranged from his family as he'd keep in contact with some members more than others, but what I found interesting was that even though he was parked in the drive way of his family's home he took the call and seemed to feel more comfortable within the van. The call also gave me a good impression of the guy. While I knew there was still more to learn, I felt good going into another pitch with the new information.
Perhaps the biggest issue I had to resolve would be what the story / lesson learned would be and the scope of the project (travel wise). Following the call, I felt less motivated by following Van guy across state lines over the course of a week, and more interested in his leaving of "home". The doc could focus on his finally moments in his hometown before he would leave like he normally does, but the thing I felt was special was that I wasn't sure if pr when he'd return there; he was only in town for very specific reason this year, so it hard to say if he'd even come back the next year. I felt the doc could touch family dynamics and what "home" means to different people.
Driving back to Tallahassee that Monday afternoon, all I could do was thinking about the pitch meeting that upcoming Tuesday. About half way through the car ride, John breaks my train of thought to show me perhaps the last thing I could've imagined.
Classes Tuesday and Wednesday would be cancelled due to "Severe Snow". As for our Pitch meeting Tuesday? No clue. We had to wait to hear from our Assistant Dean about when that would be postponed too. During this car ride I had started to get a sense for my physical well being the next couple days. The weekend trip had made me more aware of a soreness I've had in my thumb for a little over a week at this point. When I described the soreness in Google, I saw it was likely a sprained ligament, partially torn one, or partially fracture bone in my. Online resources suggested a brace and limited movement, so I asked to stop by Walmart to buy a brace since I didn't want to take any chances with doc production in about 6 weeks (for sprains in that area they suggest 2-6 weeks depending on the severity). The worst part was that because FSU was closed due to the snow, I couldn't book an appointment with the Health and Wellness Center on campus. I had also started to get a little sniffily during the last night in Gainesville (likely due to the lack of heating in the house).
That Monday night, John and I had visited a friend at their apartment to see the snow start to fall. It was subtle, but it was there. Unfortunately the same could be said about the slight sickness emerging itself from deep within the cold. In the couple hours between walking over to their apartment and returning back the snow had started to build up. It was honestly pretty crazy to see as someone who's only ever seen snow once, but only when it was already settled.
When the sun came up on Tuesday morning, it was all white outside. With classes cancelled, my classmates were all making plans to play in the snow together. It was really enlightening getting to see everyone so joyous. Pitches were pushed back to Thursday, but it was pretty difficult to really focus on it considering the once in a decade snow storm. Naturally some of my classmate had brought up docs in conversation which helped to contextualize where others were standing. I heard early on that one of my classmates was doubling with someone else which was cool to hear; kind of made me think about I did at points consider reaching out about doubling, but I didn't want to abandon my pitch nor feel like I was coming off as potentially lazy. It made the idea of docs feel a bit more real and showed me that there was always going to be some degree stepping out of my comfort zone.
By Wednesday, the snow had stopped, but was by no means close to going away any time soon. Wednesday also came with news from FSU that classes would be further postponed until the following Monday, since Tallahassee did not have the infrastructure to clear and un-ice all the roads. With that news came a further postponement of the 2nd round of pitches which was now even closer to when our research paper would be due, which did make me nervous. As much as I was nervous about going into a 2nd round of pitches, I felt like I needed to ensure I had sealed the cracks of my vessel before starting on the research paper. I spent the rest of the week mostly cold, under the weather, and preparing for the next round of pitches. I considered all the information I had about my subject and tried to come up with a narrative structure that would be feasible to execute. I felt like there was a story in this subject and everyone that I've spoken to about it both in Gainesville and during my snow adventures would echo that notion and show interest in learning more about the particular person I was in communications with. By this point the only thing I could really do was just prepare myself for the 2nd round of pitches, and be ready to resolve any cracks within the vessel.
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