Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #140: The Cabin Movie Shoot Day 3

 

1. This was my fifth day in rural North-Central Pennsylvania and the third full day of filming for my feature film The Cabin. The heat and humidity finally broke, leaving us with perfect weather for our last day of shooting in the middle of nowhere at the cabin in Osceola. This day was a bit easier. The weather helped, as did the fact that we had left all of our stuff at the cabin the night before. We really only had to bring ourselves. I began the day as I had all of the other days: a quick energy drink and a protein shake. Then I was flying out the door to drive from Mansfield across to Wellsboro so we could carpool out to the middle of nowhere.

2. I had been meaning for days to stop at a spot near Mark’s house in downtown Wellsboro. It was a beautiful fountain surrounded by flowers on the town green. On this day, I finally left a few minutes early to allow me the chance to grab some photos and videos. It was a classic hurry up and enjoy it later type of shoot. I probably spent three minutes at the fountain before I had to rush off to Mark’s house. Later on, I learned that the fountain is called the Wynken, Blynken & Nod Fountain. They are characters from a Dutch children’s poem, and the sculpture inside the fountain features those characters sailing in a wooden shoe. I would have regretted not stopping to get those photos since I kept saying it every time I passed by it, whether I was alone or with someone.



3. The first thing we saw when we pulled up to the cabin on this day was the carnage I left behind from the night before. The front door had two bloody handprints from where I, as the monster, busted through to attack. Inside the bedroom, in a pile on the floor was the outfit, consisting of clothes from my own closet, that I had worn as the monster. They would be getting another use on this day. We were like a well-oiled machine by this point. The cast entered the cabin, and within ten minutes we were shooting.



4. Laughs were had as we realized an error we had made the previous day. Even though the humidity had broken the previous afternoon, we had wondered why the cabin interior remained like a sauna. We figured it must have been well insulated and retained heat. Now, one walk around the entire cabin would have told us that wasn’t true; still, we believed it. The tradition became that we showed up at the cabin and turned on whatever power we needed from the fuse box next to the front door. This is when we realized that somehow, someone had turned the heat on the previous day. We only figured it out when we spotted the thermostat set at 75. This meant that the previous day, when it was 85 and humid outside, we had the heat on inside anyway. No wonder we were cooking the previous day. Although, to be fair, wearing a huge trench coat inside during the summer would likely have made anyone sweat. During the morning, it was definitely more comfortable inside the cabin than it was the previous day. However, by early afternoon it was starting to get warm inside. This made us question our theory on the heater being turned on. Luckily, this was our final day at the cabin, and as long as we remembered to turn the heat off when we left (we did), then everything would be fine for the owners when they returned.


5. There were a few scenes inside the cabin where the main character was sitting at the dining room table eating. We had brought some food for us to have during downtime, so we figured we’d use that as props for the film. That being said, we did make sure to take the time to explore the kitchen to see if there was anything of use. Anthony and I had fun poking around looking for kitchenware and utensils for props. There were also some interesting choices as far as food left behind. I mentioned previously that the fridge included loads of beer and condiments. In one of the pantry cabinets, there was a stash of canned goods. This was dominated by green beans. I don’t know why we thought it was so funny and odd that this hunting cabin had several cans of green beans. I guess because you looked around and saw an obnoxious amount of deer heads and a month’s worth of beer, and you get one image in your head of a typical hunter, but then they have to have their veggies for health? Besides that, there wasn’t much else of note left in the cabin when we arrived. Well, except for the human-scent masking shampoo and deodorant in the bathroom. That was definitely interesting but also made sense as to how they managed to shoot so many deer.




6. One of the most memorable moments of my entire trip to Pennsylvania happened on this day. We had a scene in the film where a person had been killed and their body needed to be dragged from the cabin outside to be stashed somewhere near the water. The person who originally played that character was unavailable until much later in the day. Not wanting to sit around the cabin for hours, we decided to improvise. We had Anthony stand in, well, his legs did. There was a brief scene inside where Cody grabs Anthony’s legs. It then cuts to outside in the grass. Anthony is a big boy, so we were trying to figure out the minimum amount of movement we’d need to make it look like he was being dragged. We again had Cody grab his legs and then, through movie magic, filmed Cody close up moving backward to simulate dragging a body. I know, so far that’s not very interesting, but oh wait, the best is yet to come. We hadn’t wanted Anthony to have to lie in the wet grass, so I found a pretty grungy white tarp in the basement. A basement that looks to be right out of a Saw movie, by the way. Once he was on the tarp, we figured out that with more movie magic we could have Cody drag Anthony on the tarp with a few of us helping to drag it off camera. So Anthony lay on the tarp while one by one the rest of us pitched in to try to move him. It was an exercise in futility. Not even four of us together could get the tarp to budge. We all were laughing at the scene. Jeff laughed the most, so much so that he had to walk far away to hide how much he was laughing. I had wished there was someone to film this scene, but I had been in charge of the behind-the-scenes footage, and at that time my hands were busy trying to drag Anthony on the tarp. Mark wondered aloud if there was some other way to get the tarp to move. For his part, Anthony said a weight loss program would help. Mark said deadpan that we didn’t have time for that. This entire scene became the main source of laughs for us throughout the rest of the shoot.


7. When people weren’t needed on the set, they tended to venture off to be out of the way. Anthony and Michael had a few times when they went for walks or went exploring. I mentioned before that this cabin was probably a mile from any other house. The dirt road that passed the cabin saw at most three vehicles pass on any day that we were out there. So you could imagine my surprise when I saw an ATV slow down at the end of the driveway. We were shooting inside. Anthony and Michael were at the end of the driveway. A guy on an ATV slowed down, then stopped briefly, and continued on his way. A few minutes later, he returned and stopped for a little longer next to Anthony and Michael. Then he was gone again. I went over to help Mark and the crew any way I could. A few minutes later I looked back out the window and noticed Anthony and Michael were gone. My common sense said that they had gone for a short walk and probably weren’t far away. A small part of my brain wondered if that guy on the ATV had lured them back to his house of horrors with promises of candy, or beer, or something else. Maybe Anthony and Michael were being turned into skin suits as we spoke? After a few minutes of finishing up a scene, we decided to find out. Cody went out on the deck and shouted for them like he was a parent calling their kids home for dinner in the 1980s. Cody’s voice echoed, and then moments later we heard the callback. They were fine. We did make sure to tell them what we thought might have happened. Just in case they got the itch to wander off into the rural abyss. Oh, and as far as that ATV guy went? He lived on that road and knew the owners of the cabin. He had stopped to ask if one of them was there. Anthony told him they’d be back in the next few days, although he said he actually wanted to tell the guy we were robbing the place.

Deserted, until it wasn't

8. As we got closer to wrapping the shoot at the cabin, it was time for me to get back into costume as the monster. The outfit, coated in fake blood, was sticky and a bit cold. I had to be doused in the blood again. These scenes were part of the big climax of the film. There was lots of running and fighting. I loved the mask that Anthony had made, but there was a problem; it didn’t offer much in the way of vision. In fact, I had less than a quarter-sized hole’s worth of sight and only in my right eye. The rest of my vision was blocked. That meant I needed assistance when it came to movement. For my chase scenes, I asked that any rocks and roots be moved, and I would run in a straight line. I still went for it, though. I’d run, and scream and growl like I was trying to scare any nearby animals away. Of course, after nearly every scene I needed the mask removed since the only air coming in was from that tiny hole of a right eye. We had fight scenes where I had to do some stunt work, like taking a flat back bump (that’s a pro wrestling term). When swinging at people, whether with fists or weapons, I did my best to hold back since I couldn’t see well. I am happy to say I didn’t really hit anyone. In one scene, Cody had to hit me with a weapon. We chose a shovel. The mask provided a bit of cushioning, and I told Cody to give a good swing, not full-force but more than a love tap. In all of the takes of that scene, I barely felt anything but reacted like I was really hurt. Without revealing any major spoilers, I will say I got to have my Michael Myers moment in this film.


9. Once my scenes were wrapped, I was able to get out of the blood-soaked clothes and clean up. There was a problem, though. We had been keeping the water pump off because it seemed to be having trouble pulling water from the well. It was counting down to the end of the shoot at the cabin, and we didn’t want to break anything, so we thought it might be better to leave the water off and use the woods as a bathroom if needed. This was not helpful when it came to cleaning fake blood. We had to improvise. Anthony grabbed a few bottles of the ice-cold water from the fridge that we had brought. I lathered up with dish soap first, and then he started pouring. It was not a pleasant experience. I tried to hold it together but ended up shouting and cursing from the cold. This got us yelled at by Mark, who was filming a scene right outside. We finally broke down and put the water pump back on. Thankfully, it ended up working because I wasn’t looking forward to cleaning the rest of the blood off my neck and chest with ice-cold water. The costume and mask were kept as potential props for future films Mark might do. I told him he should make a comedy where it’s the same monster, but he’s just doing everyday things like laundry and mowing the lawn. Maybe that will be coming to a theater near you in the future.

A pile of (fake) bloody clothing

 
10. It was mid-afternoon when we wrapped filming at the cabin. We had worked so hard, with few breaks, and ended up far ahead of schedule. We honestly thought we’d have been at the cabin until well after sunset. Instead, we were cleaning up around 3pm. This was an arduous process. We all had to go room by room and put everything back the way it was. In reality, we left that place cleaner and better organized than we had found it. All of the kitchen utensils went back. We remembered to snag the black sheet off the bedroom window. It would have been interesting for the cabin owners to come back and see that setup, though. They might have wondered what kind of movie we had made. Everything was packed up, and we were ready to go. I sat at the dining room table taking one last look through my belongings. It wasn’t like if I forgot something, it was an easy trip back to the remote cabin. While I was sitting, thankfully, I noticed something. There was a big bloody handprint on the side of one of the chairs. We likely would have missed it if I hadn’t sat down. I’m sure Mark would have gotten a call about blood, even fake, left on their furniture. We cleaned it up, shut down all of the power, and headed out. We took one last look at the property before leaving down the quiet country road back to civilization. In total, we had spent something like 20 hours filming at the cabin. It was a fun time.


11. With the cabin scenes wrapped, and with there being time left in the day, we decided to celebrate. Mark said there was a local restaurant where he liked to go with the crew anytime he finished a film. Now we weren’t done, but we were close. The next day would be the finale. Since I was planning on heading back to Cape Cod right after filming wrapped, there was no other time for us to enjoy a celebratory meal than right then. The place was Harland’s Family Style Restaurant on Pearl Street in Wellsboro. Anthony said he was there a few times a week. He wasn’t kidding. When we all walked in, he got a reception like he was Norm entering the bar on Cheers. The restaurant was quiet, as it was 4pm on a Saturday. We got a big table. It only took me a few seconds to see what I wanted. On the first Saturday of each month, they did a meatloaf special. Since it was the first Saturday of the month, I knew what I was getting. What arrived was a gigantic slab of meatloaf and a healthy pile of French fries. The ultimate irony is that the veggie that came with the meal was green beans. Anthony and I laughed about how there had been so many cans of them at the cabin, and here I was having them with my dinner. We all ate and talked about what we had filmed and what was still to come. It had been an amazing adventure thus far, but it wasn’t over yet. Naturally, we retold the story of Anthony and the tarp a few times, mostly to see how much we could get Jeff to laugh. He is very quiet and reserved, at least that’s how I saw him, so seeing him get so animated, laughing at the tarp story, was great. The food was excellent. When I went up to pay for my meal, I explained to the woman that I was visiting from Cape Cod. She went on about how she’s always wanted to visit the Cape. I had debated giving her my number, but I didn’t want to seem like a creep, so I just thanked her for the food and walked away.




12. The shooting day wasn’t done, though. We went back to Mark’s house because we needed some scenes of his large shed that doubled as another cabin in the film. The only issue was that these scenes were at night. We all sat around on his porch waiting for sunset. It was fun to just hang out and chat for a few hours on a quiet street. I tried to make sure to remain present throughout the entire trip. Sitting in the front yard on a perfect summer evening was an unexpected but welcome part of the whole experience. I passed the time by doing a few cast interviews in Mark’s backyard. These will be a part of the bonus features on the future DVD release. Finally, it got dark enough to film. We needed longer to set up the lighting than we needed to actually shoot. It was a few simple yet creepy shots that will go nicely in the film. As producer, I tried to make my job being available to help in any way I could. I hauled equipment, handled the script, and even acted in a few roles. I figured I’d learn as much as I could in my debut as a producer so that when the second film comes around I’d have way more knowledge and could be more helpful.


13. By the time I left Mark’s to head back to the motel in Mansfield, the next town over, it was almost 9pm. We had eaten a little after 4, so I was feeling hungry again. I decided to stop at Weis supermarket, which was on the way. There I grabbed stuff for the morning and also decided on what I’d do for second dinner. I had become too familiar with the Mansfield McDonald’s. Running out of ideas as I drove, I figured I’d hit up the Sheetz near the motel. I’d grab something quick and easy I could toss in the microwave. Little did I know what the scene was like at Sheetz. I pulled into the parking lot and was shocked by how busy it was. There were cars and people everywhere. I guess Sheetz is the late-night summertime hangout for a lot of younger people in Pennsylvania. I couldn’t imagine hanging out at a Cumberland Farms on Cape Cod on a Saturday night. Once I found a parking spot, I ventured inside. I tried to make it a point to eat as many things on the trip that I couldn’t find on Cape Cod. McDonald’s aside, I think I succeeded. At Sheetz I had a big ol’ chicken sandwich which felt pretty dense. I also grabbed Herr’s chips and a sugar cookie-flavored whoopee pie. Healthy? No way. Tasty? Absolutely. I ate my second dinner at about 9:30pm. What was amazing about this trip in general was that no matter how much my adrenaline was pumping during the day, my body knew to shut it down by 10:30pm so I could get close to a full night’s sleep. I finished eating, had a short time to decompress, and then my body began to shut down. It was time for bed. There was one last day to come, as far as filming and my trip in general. It would end up being one of the longest driving days I’d had in my life.

Apparently the place to be on weekend nights.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #139: The Cabin Movie Shoot Day 2

1. I began the fourth day of my time in rural north central Pennsylvania by downing an energy drink and trying my best to wake up quickly before exiting the motel room to head over to Wellsboro to meet the rest of the crew. I found it amazing how fast my body will wake up when I have fun and exciting things on my schedule. If it was a typical work day, my body would have been like a Ziploc bag full of oatmeal. Yet, there I was on that morning, very tired but fully awake because of the adrenaline that kicked in as soon as my eyes opened. Each filming morning required me to be at Director Mark’s house in the next town over from where I was staying by 8:15am. No matter what time I managed to fall asleep, I was alive and kicking by 6:30am at the latest.


2. This was the first day that we would all be heading to the cabin to shoot. We were lucky in that Mark knew someone with a cabin nearly in the middle of nowhere. They were willing to allow us to use it for nothing. We had gone a few nights earlier to clean the cabin to get it camera-ready. That day, we packed up gear, loaded the food I had bought at Walmart, picked up anyone who needed to carpool, and started the journey to the tiny township of Osceola. I thought Mansfield was small, with a population of just under 3,000. Nothing prepared me for Osceola. Its population is under 600. On each of the drives out to the cabin, we would pass by many dilapidated houses. These looked like if you got a flat and needed to ask for help, you’d be shot before your foot touched the grass on the edge of their property. In fact, there was one time when Mark had to stop to wait for another car to catch up. I was carpooling with him. I was on my guard as we parked in front of one of these sketchy houses. When a person stepped out onto their porch, I was ready to duck and cover. There were never any issues with anyone on the drives out to the cabin, but it felt like the threat was always there.


3. A daily highlight on my drives, not only to the cabin, but just around where I was in Pennsylvania, was the fog and clouds. The elevation in the area ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 feet, and so there were times, especially in the morning, when the fog and clouds would be right at eye level or just above. We get tons of fog on Cape Cod; the spring is the worst of it. However, I hadn’t seen it hovering just off the ground, the same with the clouds. I couldn’t get any photos while I was driving, but managed to grab one while on a drive out to the cabin on that first day of shooting. It won’t do justice to how cool it was, but it’s better than nothing. Mark told me that the fog/clouds and the heat lightning that I found so exciting were so routine that it didn’t even faze him. I guess it’s the same as how I feel about the summer traffic on Cape Cod. No, wait, that’s never exciting or fun.

Looking at the fog on the horizon traveling toward Osceola.

4. The cabin itself was an interesting character not only in the film but for my trip in general. I mentioned the obnoxious amount of stuffed animals inside, and not the cuddly ones kids have on their beds. We arrived and, first off, had to turn on the power. This would come into play a few times throughout the shoot. There was a breaker for the pump, which allowed us to have running water. Not wanting to overdo it, we would only flip the switch for short bursts periodically when we needed to use water or the bathroom. I was honestly fine with just wandering off behind some bushes, but I know that’s not for everyone. We unpacked the food and set up the props, lighting, and scenery we needed. Even though we were only there for two full days, it did feel like we were arriving at an Airbnb. There were a few perishable items we brought: meat, cheese, and bottled water, so we had to shove them in the fridge. Surprisingly, the fridge was full. We didn’t get too excited, though; it was mostly condiments and copious amounts of beer, which I am sure the cabin owners had counted. There would be some time to explore the cabin thoroughly, but once we had everything settled, it was time to dive right into shooting.

A pano shot showing how isolated we were.

5. It’s funny, regarding the trip in general, I can tell how busy the days were by just how many photos and videos I got. This day was the busiest by far, with the following day being only slightly less busy. It should come as no surprise that, since we were shooting at a cabin roughly a mile from anything that the cell reception was nearly nonexistent. I would get flashes of one bar of service, but it was never anything that allowed me to post any updates on social media. I was, for all intents and purposes, off the radar for two entire days. I still shot a handful of videos on this day. I even began uploading one to Instagram around 10:30am. By the time we left the cabin, which was close to 9pm, that story was maybe 30% uploaded. I ended up canceling that upload and throwing all of the footage up once I got back to my motel room and civilization.





6. Being that we had a small cast and a small budget, I had a feeling that I might end up with a role or two in the film. One came about by my own foolishness. I was checking over the script while still on Cape Cod, and on the first page, in the very first scene, I saw that there was a character that I never cast. It was another friend of Will, the main character, who is being given the lowdown about why he was quitting his job. Since I was pressed for time, I decided to just record those lines myself, so that was my first role. Secondly, I took on the role of an investigator near the end of the film. This was relatively small, so I wasn’t too worried about remembering lines. This role was memorable because it came with a costume. Mark’s son Anthony, who is such a sweet person and a very talented visual effects person, brought this hefty trench coat with him. I agreed to wear it in my role as the investigator. The trench coat was memorable for two reasons. For one, it was 85 degrees and humid, so wearing it was like having a portable sauna. Secondly, it was too big. I looked like a five-year-old who got into daddy’s clothes. All I could do was laugh when the cameras weren’t rolling, of course. I was so inspired by the incredible acting jobs that Cody and Jeff did that I took on some extra lines and lightened the load for Michael, who played another police officer. A funny thing that won’t come through in the film is that my character was interacting with Cody’s character in a scene. The only issue was Cody had to run home to let his dog out. So we shot my scene with me interrogating an empty chair off-screen. I got really intense too. I hope I scared that invisible ghost I was yelling at.

7. As far as my roles in The Cabin go, we save the best for last. My third role ended up being that of the mysterious creature that stalks the main character. Coming into the shoot, I don’t think any of us had a clue who would be in that role. I had brought the outfit for the creature from my own closet. Anthony had made the mask. So we had the creature costume but nobody to play it. I didn’t need to have my arm twisted too much to play the role. For one, it had no dialogue, just a lot of growls, grunts, and howls. Also, it was another perfect full-circle moment. When I used to make skits with my friends with my camcorder in the 1990s, I enjoyed being a bit of a stuntman. I would fall and throw myself around to make things look good. Granted, I was now 30 years older, but how much different could it be? The answer was very similar but also very different. I had to get made up in the monster garb, which included a horrifying mask with one tiny eye hole for sight. There were also copious amounts of blood to make me look as gross as possible. A fun little issue came after nearly every scene where the neck of the mask needed to be tucked back into the collar of the shirt I was wearing. I looked a bit like a cross between Jason from Friday the 13th Part 4 and Sloth from The Goonies. The setup was all good to go, but could I pull off being the creature?


8. Yes. But seriously, we shot the initial monster scenes at night, and so with very little vision I had to basically use The Force to make my way around. This included crashing through a door, killing one person convincingly with no real way to see them, and then viciously trying to bash my way through another door. I was told that my performance terrified the others. Mark said as he was filming that he thought I was going to really break the door down, but he didn’t want to stop me. I left blood all over the cabin, some of which we wouldn’t find until it was time for us to pack up and leave. The initial crashing through the door was nuts. I went all out. Not being able to see much in the dark and with a quarter-sized eye hole made it easy for me to appear to be wild. I was throwing chairs, growling, and causing utter chaos. The only downer was one guy whining that I got blood on his shirt. It’s like, you’re acting in a movie; nobody forced you to come. Later on, as we were all leaving, we saw him pulled over in his vehicle, changing his shirt. He must have had a date that he didn’t want to know what he was up to. I would have another crack at being the creature the next day, but we’ll get to that when the time arrives.


9. Throughout our time out at the cabin, I tried to manifest a nature encounter. I saw a few deer, including one that walked into the front yard to eat apples. There was a rabbit that really seemed to enjoy hanging out in the back yard by the shed. Those were all well and good, but what I wanted was a black bear. Oh, I’m sure if I had been jumped by a bear I’d have regretted asking for it, but I never got the chance. I didn’t go all out and start playing bear calls on my phone or anything, but we were in the middle of nowhere in bear country; I mean, come on. A few times I wandered up into this clearing behind the cabin hoping that I’d sneak up on a bear foraging for berries. Yes, I did think to myself how stupid and dangerous it was, but damn it, I wanted photos of Yogi doing stuff. The closest I got to a black bear while in Pennsylvania came when I was walking the bike trail earlier in the week. I heard some noises coming from maybe 20-30 feet in the woods off the trail. I figured it was either a group of squirrels or maybe a deer. Mark said it was more than likely a bear since they like to forage for food in areas like that. I never saw it, so there’s no proof, but Mark lives out there and would know better than me. Therefore, I am considering it a near-miss with a black bear. In the future, the story will evolve into me fighting for my life against the bear, which is why I was unable to get any photographic evidence.


10. There were several hilarious moments during our shooting at the cabin. One that only became funny after the fact was as follows. It was broad daylight, but we needed to get some night scenes done. This required some lighting trickery, including shooting day for night, which will mostly be applied during post-production. A more practical way to make day look like night is to cover windows with something black. We had a sheet that would do the trick. First, Anthony and I tried taping the sheet over the window from the inside. This was a failure and included us losing the tape as soon as we put it down, despite neither of us moving from where we stood. It ended up being wedged between the mattress and the side of the frame. We even sent Michael outside to see if somehow we dropped it out the window. The next bright idea was taping the sheet to a pair of lighting stands outside and raising it up to block the window. The sheet was taped, but as soon as we attempted to lift it, everything unraveled, and the sheet fell to the muddy ground. Yes, the ground was soft and muddy, which made everything else harder. Finally, Mark found a ladder, and we were able to nail the sheet to the window frame. It ended up being like a scene right out of the Three Stooges. It took five of us about a half hour to get that sheet in place. We nearly forgot to take it down when we were leaving too. I could only imagine the cabin owners showing up and seeing a window totally blacked out. They’d probably have started wondering what type of movie we had been shooting.

Three Stooges Seal of Approval

11. Being on a tight budget, you have to become creative. I wish we had a more robust budget to use on props and effects, but that wasn’t the case for The Cabin. In the script, there is a scene that includes the main character finding the dead deer. Sure, we could have found stock footage of a deer to put in post. But what made more sense was grabbing one of the many, many deer heads off the wall and using it as practical effects. I grabbed one, which weighed next to nothing, and brought it outside to lay in the grass. It ended up working perfectly. Cody came around the corner of the cabin and spotted the dead deer, brilliantly shot by Mark. In the script, it is supposed to be all bloodied up, but that probably can be done in post-production. We just needed the one shot and then to get it back on the wall no worse for wear. My greatest fear was that I had hung it back up improperly and that it had somehow fallen off the wall and been destroyed. I figure if that had happened, the cabin owner would have called Mark, and at least as of this writing, I have heard nothing about damaged deer heads.

The one in the middle was used in the film.

12. After a long day of filming, you can get hungry. Sure, we had a lot of food that I got from Walmart; that was part of the budget after all. But finger foods like granola bars, donuts, bags of chips, and even peanut butter and jelly sandwiches don’t fill you up unless you eat a ton all at once. I had been picking at stuff when we had the chance, so by the time we called ‘cut’ to end the day, which was close to 9pm, I was starving. As I was in Mark’s car, being brought back to his house where my rental was, my wheels were turning as far as where I could go to grab something quick for dinner. I only knew a few places along my driving route back to the motel. One was a McDonald’s located maybe two minutes from the motel. I decided, why not? I was technically on vacation, right? Something exciting, but also troublesome for me, that I discovered was the fact that I could pay for my food through the app using Venmo. Not only was everything slightly cheaper than on Cape Cod, but now I could just click one button, and it was paid. I grew up in the analog age of the 1980s and 1990s. Most things I learned about now require fewer steps, which I don’t mind. I think if you grew up before technology took over, you appreciate the advances. If you are born into a world where everything is simple and convenient, you likely don’t appreciate it. I didn’t think about that much while enjoying my late-night dinner, though. All I could do was eat and hope that my adrenaline wore off soon enough so that I could get a relatively good night’s sleep before another full day of filming.

I became very familiar with this spot

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #113: Wicked Insurance, Construction Woes, Avert Your Eyes, etc.

1. In an interesting turn of events, I briefly had two different auto insurance policies out for my car. I had my original one, which was through AAA. But AAA was switching to a different carrier. They sent me an email, probably a month ago, explaining the change on their end and what I had to do to keep current with the new policy. Around the same time, my original insurance company, the one AAA was leaving behind, emailed me separately to tell me how to keep up with their policy. I was busy at work that day and mistakenly thought they had been sent by AAA and that it was all one and the same. Nope. I got a call saying my AAA policy was going to be canceled because I was reupping with the original company. Now I was more confused. Luckily, I contacted AAA and was told that if I made a payment on their insurance policy, it would stay current. To further solve things, they called the other insurance company and got my first payment through them refunded. That means there was a period where my car was double-insured. I mean, I love my car, but it doesn’t need two insurance policies. All of this was more confusing than some football plays you see scribbled out on a chalkboard, if they still do that.


2. I can only speak for myself, but I feel like once the blizzard hit southern New England on February 22nd, it basically turned my winter blues up to 1,000. It only got worse when we had temperatures hit 60 and then dive back down to around freezing. I had enjoyed the weeks of cool ice content I got on Cape Cod, but once that had run its course, I was all in on winter ending. Instead, it was a piledriver of snow and then just enough warmth to remember how spring felt, and then wham right back to cold. Once I got the taste of spring weather, I put my heavy winter coat away for good. Even if it’s below freezing in the morning, I’m heading outside in my spring hoodie. Looking ahead, the first week of spring includes highs in the mid 30s a few times and at least one possible chance of snow. My energy level has been in the trash for the last several weeks. Hopefully, once spring really begins, I can shake off the winter blues that are beating the hell out of me currently.


3. I’ve wanted to be a writer, or do something in a creative field, since I was 8. If I told my younger self that someday he’d have published 10 books, done speaking events, radio interviews, been on television, hosted a podcast, acted in a film, co-produced a short film, and was getting set to produce a feature-length film based on something he’d written, he’d probably ask me how big my mansion was. This isn’t humble bragging because then reality sets in. Despite having on paper a pretty impressive portfolio, I still have to work a full-time day job just to pay my bills. Success can sometimes be subjective. I am lucky and blessed to have a roof over my head, a job that pays my bills, and the freedom and physical health to be able to still chase my dreams at this stage in my life. I’m sure that along the road of life, I missed exit signs that could have gotten me to what I would consider success sooner. You can’t live life looking backward, though. You have to keep moving forward. You have to keep sharing your gifts, sharing your creativity, and put together such a massive portfolio of content that your success becomes inevitable and undeniable. So yes, I have accomplished a lot in terms of creative endeavors, but I also have quite a ways to go to become successful. It keeps me focused.


4. A recent viral craze on social media is ‘X, what were you like in the 90s?’ People my age and older share photos and videos of themselves from back then. Loads of celebrities from the 90s are doing it as well as ordinary, everyday people. Of course, having a creative mind, I couldn’t just post a few photos. It needed to be unique. What I did was dress in an old flannel and a fedora and act like an old man while a narrator off-screen (also played by me) asked me what I was like in the 90s. It segues into a montage of photos with Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit playing. When the video comes back to me, the narrator makes sure to remind me that the 90s ended 27 years ago. This causes old man me to cry that he’s wrinkled like an old piece of fruit (a nod to Grampa Simpson) before collapsing on the ground. The best part was that I did this in an empty parking lot across from a museum. I had to wait to begin filming because a large group was getting ready to go into the museum, and I didn’t want to act all foolish for their amusement. Also, I lost the remote shutter for my tripod briefly, which was what I used to capture myself driving my car into the scene. I actually accidentally filmed myself frantically searching my car for it for a minute. It had fallen behind the front seat. Nice.




5. My first acting gig, Cape Cod Cthulhu, is now available to stream for free. It’s actually a pretty good turnaround. I shot my scenes basically one year ago to the day. It’s a feature-length film, roughly 75 minutes. The fact that it was shot, edited, released for sale on Blu-ray, and then put up for streaming, all within a calendar year, is impressive. Considering that I’ll be working with a lot of the same crew, it gives me hope that my feature-length film, The Cabin, which we’ll be shooting this August, will be released in plenty of time before my 50th birthday in November 2027. Of course, that project will be a lot more work for me since I’ll be producing and acting in it. In Cape Cod Cthulhu, a campy low-budget horror movie, I only had 3 scenes, so it was pretty simple. Obviously, I wouldn’t mention that you could stream the film and not put a link to it. Check it out, it’s a breezy, fun watch.

6. Where I live on Cape Cod, I am pretty much surrounded on all sides by seemingly never-ending construction projects. I have to choose my driving routes very carefully to avoid stops and detours. While those are annoying, the real issue comes from the terrible conditions of all of those same roads, plus many more. It’s nonstop pot holes, some a few feet wide and probably up to a foot deep. I bet the roads in most major cities are better than ours are currently. I have to bob and weave while driving just to avoid the parade of hazards on the roadways. I am actually begging for the day that a cop sees me weaving to avoid these holes and pulls me over. Then, when I ace their breathalyzer, I can inform them that I’m not going to ruin my car thanks to these crappy roads. Because if I blow tires or destroy my suspension, I guarantee that the town won’t be helping me pay the bill. So why the hell shouldn’t I try to avoid doing that at all costs? By the time the construction that’s going on is done, there will be fifty other projects starting in other areas nearby.


7. I didn’t start my Saturday thinking I’d end up with over 21,000 steps. I played basketball for the first time since the fall and then had a pair of long walks. Those things made up most of it. The steps didn’t take into account walking on sand, over rocks, and up and down hills. It was a marathon day that left me exhausted. Not too exhausted to go walk the flats and get some great sunset photos. A neat thing I found out is that my Fitbit buzzes not just at 10K steps, but every 10K steps. So when I hit 20K, it went off again. The last time I hit more than 20K steps was January 2024, so it’s been a while. I’d like to say it’s a sign of things to come, but we have to wait to see how my knees feel.


8. I tried to get away with something, and craziness ensued. At the supermarket, there were these great Oikos Flip yogurts, the ones with mix-ins, that had $1 off two of them coupons taped to each container. I grabbed two. When self-checking out, I used the coupon, and when trying to shove it in the coupon slot, I saw that the tape on it had gotten it stuck to the side. Figuring why not, I tried to use a 2nd coupon for the other yogurt. The register ended up alerting an employee. I quickly folded the coupon and tried putting it in the slot like I was destroying evidence. The employee came over, and I showed him the stuck coupon. He then said, ‘avert your eyes.’ I turned my head but noticed him whip out a box cutter to slice the coupon free. Just foolishness all around. Oh, but the register did accept the coupon in the end, so I ended up paying about $1 for both of the yogurts.


9. There truly are very few places on Cape Cod that I have not been to. When I find a place I haven’t been, or a different way to see a spot I am familiar with, I jump on them. One such place came up this week. There is a tiny dirt parking area in Orleans called Priscilla Beach. According to Google Maps, I should be able to walk along the shore from there and come out far north of the Nauset Beach parking lot. It was about ½ mile walk, sometimes over rocky and unstable ground. Once I walked out onto the beach, I was close to a mile north of the main parking lot. I had never been to the part of Nauset Beach, and then it got better. I crossed back over the dunes after walking about another ½ mile north. It was calm and quiet as I faced the Nauset Inlet. I had never been there either. I took a very slow walk back to my car, savoring every moment in a new place. What was meant to be a quick stop took 1 ½ hours, and I had to skip a few other places I was meaning to see, but it was all worth it.


10. One sight on my walk out to Nauset Beach was a hawk hovering above. It was in an updraft, floating and looking for something to eat in the shallow waters. Armed with my phone and selfie stick, I was able to get a high-quality video of the hawk using 4K 60fps quality. As I spun around, trying to keep the hawk in frame, I ended up staring right into the sun briefly. Luckily, I didn't fall over or anything. I did, however, spin around and come face to face with some guy wandering toward me from the beach. Maybe I had seen him but hadn’t paid any attention, but it was definitely creepy how he just appeared. He was interested in the hawk as well, although he thought it was a vulture. I wished him a good day and kept moving, making sure to put distance between us pretty quickly. Even though there were houses up on the bluff, they were 40-50 feet up and likely were unoccupied at this time of year. So if the guy decided he wanted to turn me into a skin suit, I’d have been in trouble.



11. The Red Maple Swamp trail in Eastham is worth checking out. The White Cedar Swamp trail in neighboring Wellfleet is much more well-known, but the Red Maple deserves some love. It’s a little under a mile and is a boardwalk over the swamp. At this time, though, a month out from the major blizzard we had on Cape Cod, there are still a good number of fallen trees. I had been walking for several minutes and remarked how there weren't any downed trees. Then it was like a switch flipped. There were a bunch of trees down, a few right across the path. I bumped into a younger couple at an intersection. There was a gigantic tree down. They offered to let me go first, but looking at the tree and not knowing how much effort it would take me to climb over it, I let them go first. I figured if I went first and flipped over onto my head, I’d go viral for the wrong reason. I did end up getting over the fallen tree; it did take a bit of effort, though, so I was glad I let the couple go ahead.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #103: Snow Picnic, Exciting Laundromat, Job Applicant, etc.

1. We’ve had a snowier winter this year than in the last few so far. Granted, we haven’t had any huge storms, just a bunch of smaller ones. Going back to work after the holiday break, I had thought that the parking lot would have been plowed, boy was I wrong. According to the owners of our building, they had plow guys scheduled, but they never showed. Nice. So the employee and customer lots were a mess. It was fine for us in the back, but not for the customer lot. We have lots of people who come in who are in their 70s and 80s. Many of them are also getting their backs and hips adjusted, so the last thing they need is to be walking to or from their cars across a skating rink. That’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. The irony is that once the plow people finally showed the temperatures had risen and everything was melting, so they weren’t even needed.


2. Even though the warmer temperatures helped with the treacherous conditions in the customer parking lot, it didn’t make the employee one much better. Because it wasn’t plowed, the snow turned to a slushy mess. I was lucky enough to have to take out our trash. Not only was there a few inches of slush around the dumpster, which instantly soaked my shoes, but it was only the beginning. Apparently, the snow had been heavy and wet enough that it knocked a tree down onto the back of the dumpster. This meant that I could actually get the top opened, but only so far, since a damn tree was lying on the back. I had to slosh my way to the dumpster, put the gross trash can on my shoulder, pray nothing spilled out onto me, and then, with my other arm, lift the top about two feet and pour the garbage in. There were a few F bombs on my way back inside for sure.


3. It’s not every day that you get a copy of the film that was your first acting role. I ordered a Blu-Ray DVD copy of Cape Cod Cthulhu, my first acting role, this week. In high school back in the 90s, I spent all of my savings on a camcorder in the hopes of becoming an actor or director. Maybe I’ll never be a breakout Hollywood star, but I got to act in a film that got distributed & will soon be available to stream. Later this year, I will try my hand at producing a feature-length film. It shows you can’t ever stop chasing dreams; they don’t have expiration dates. You can order a copy of the film here: Cape Cod Cthulhu


4. In 2018, I had to take a detour from personal training and head back into cooking. It was necessary due to the financial situation. I worked at a retirement home called Mayflower Place. There, I met many people who made my return to cooking not only bearable but fun. One such person was named Alan. He was around my age, so we chatted about sports, music, and trash-talked about a few people we didn’t enjoy working with. He battled his demons in the form of alcohol. At one point, he was so bad that his skin was yellowing from advanced liver damage. He got clean and made a full recovery. It was an inspiring journey. Alan passed away suddenly and way too young this week. I have no idea what the cause was, and it really doesn’t matter at this point. He left behind a son still in high school. It definitely reminds you that your number can be called at any time. There is a GoFundMe set up to help his family with expenses. I am linking to it here if you wish to donate or share. RIP Alan. 




5. The washing machine is out of commission where I live currently, so I had to take a trip out to the laundromat. Major first-world problems that I had to driving to wash my clothes. It gave me the opportunity for one of my favorite spectator sports, people watching. It was a slow time at the laundromat, so there were slim pickings for people. There was nobody weird, which was sad. The highlight for me was a little girl who had to be 4 years old. She was so happy to be there that she was singing and squeaking in these high tones. It wasn’t an isolated incident either. I was in there probably a total of 20 minutes, and she squeaked and squealed and sang the entire time. It was pretty funny and very cute. Considering she was in a laundromat, I wonder how excited she gets going to McDonald’s or a toy store, or something like that?


6. I finished the first season of The Paper, the spin-off of The Office, and I enjoyed it. I say ‘first season’ because the show was renewed before even debuting in September 2025, and there should be new episodes probably by the end of this year. If you watch the show, try not to compare it to The Office. It’s not that, and it’s such tough expectations to live up to. I found it to be a fun watch, with some likable characters. It’s about the documentary crew from The Office working on their next project, which is a struggling Ohio newspaper. There are some connections to The Office, but it mostly stands on its own. I’m trying not to give spoilers if you want to binge all 10 episodes on your own. It’s weird how in this streaming world, a ‘season’ of television is usually 10 episodes or fewer. My hope is that The Paper gets several seasons to really flesh out characters and stories. I mean, The Office had 201 episodes, hopefully The Paper can get close to half of that.

7. At my job, we are passively looking for a new person to come aboard. They would be a part-time trainer and chiropractic assistant. This would allow us to open up some more time in the schedule for patients and clients. I say passively because there’s no push for it currently, but if someone comes along, we definitely give them a look. Several months ago, a stereotypical trainer applied. He was incredibly rude and condescending not only to our office manager but to my boss as well, referring to him by his name and not ‘doctor.’ I mean, if you’re applying for a job and you call the boss Joe and not Dr. Joe when he’s a doctor, it’s a sign that you’re a jackass and we don’t want you working with us. Flash forward to this week, and we get an application. This guy is looking for some part-time PT work and even name-drops me, saying I went to his gym. I had no idea who he was. Our office manager started feeling like it was deja vu, so she searched his email address in our archives. Sure enough, it was the same guy from before. He basically acted as though he had never applied before. Sorry pal, we’re way smarter than you think. I had to laugh at his nerve and also his complete stupidity. Hard pass.


8. Like many people, I have begun the new year with an eye on getting in better physical shape. It is a lot of eating better, tracking calories, and obviously hitting the gym. It is a struggle between a slow and steady pace and trying to reach the goal as fast as possible. I am straddling that line. I figure the more I do at the gym, the more it loosens the reins as far as the amount of calories I can have. I use a Fitbit to track my activity. I’m actually wearing it as I type this, not burning many calories now, though. Anyway, it will adjust my settings according to how hard I am training. I realized this week that I must be working hard. That is because my Fitbit said that I had exercised 6 out of the last 5 days. Yes, that’s not a typo. I guess I have been going so hard since 2026 began that my workload was the equivalent of working out an extra day’s worth. Needless to say, to avoid falling off hard, I’ve had to scale down my training. I’d rather need an extra month to hit my goal weight than fall off totally and have to start over, or worse, start from a worse position somewhere later this year.


9. This year has begun with me working on the first draft of the script I am writing for my hopeful first feature-length film project set to happen later this summer. As of this writing, I am on Page 32 of what I think will be 70. It’s a step out of my comfort zone, but I feel like I am improving with each day I work on it. This script work is having an unintended benefit. If I can get good at drafting scripts, who's to say I can’t start creating them for other projects? One such idea is a potential television show based on my experiences working in the restaurant business. It would be set in the 1990s and would be a wacky comedy with heart. Sort of like The Office, where you’d have crazy things happen, but it’s also character and relationship-driven. In maybe half an hour, I came up with more than 60 potential story beats for the show. Some of them could be expanded upon, some are crazy enough as is. I feel like these stories, the characters and relationships, along with the nostalgic setting of the 90s, would make it a fun show to watch. I am messing around with the idea now, but I am a little more serious about seeing if I could do this. Of course, the first question is: How do you pitch a television show pilot? One step at a time.

The setting of a future TV show?

10. I have worked as a personal trainer in my daily life for 10 years. I have several other certifications to my credit and have trained hundreds of people toward living better lives. Despite thinking I might have some knowledge in the area of fitness, I have to laugh at the fact that those closest to me either never ask me for health and fitness advice, or they do, but don’t actually do anything I recommend. I don’t make these huge sweeping life-changing suggestions. I advise on small, incremental changes that are sustainable. Still, no follow-through from family and friends. I wonder if it is like this for people in other fields. Do doctors, lawyers, teachers, and others have their closest friends and family ask them advice and then just not follow it? I feel that with me, it’s like if I can’t guarantee the maximum impact for the least amount of effort, nobody is interested. Taking creatine is great. Oh wait, what? I have to actually exercise with it to get the most benefits? It’s like taking a diet pill and gorging on fast food. You only get out what you put in.

When Henry Met Henry: Behind the Scenes Wrap-Up

 

When Henry Met Henry is a short film depicting a fictional meeting between famed authors Henry Beston and Henry David Thoreau. It was my first in-depth involvement behind the camera in the film industry. 

In this video, I take a deep dive into the entire process of the film, from fundraising to actual shooting, along with some fun behind-the-scenes footage and stories.

Rather than filming this indoors, I decided to soak in the fall on Cape Cod by walking and talking along the Cape Cod Rail Trail.

Thank you to all of those who donated to the fundraiser. We are working on a special screening of the finished film for donors sometime early in 2026.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #62: Blank Pages, Elder Squirrels, Pumpkin Smashing, etc.

 

1. We’re talking genius levels of stupid for this entry. I downloaded this writing software I’m currently using writing this, LibreOffice, for my work computer. It’s free and it’s very much like Microsoft Word. It’s a great program; that’s not the stupid part. No, that comes next. I needed to print something out. I sent the file off to the printer, and when I went to grab it, the pages were blank. I figured there was a glitch with the printer. Nope. It turns out I had the LibreOffice program set to dark mode. This meant that to see what I was typing, I had to change the font color to white. Do you see where this is going? I printed my file out that had white letters, on white paper. Yes, once I figured it out and admitted my foolish mistake, things were fine. But seriously? How did I not figure it out before printing what I thought were blank pages?

2. After the amount of fun and new experiences I had last week on a movie set, it was a bit of a hangover this week. Part of me feels like you do after having gone on an amazing vacation and then having to go back to your same old daily routine. You have this drop in energy and interest, at least for a little while, and you get used to being back at the grind. Another part of me feels like last week shined a light on what I really want to do, my passions. I felt so alive and excited being on a movie set and shooting content for my YouTube channel. It just makes my day job seem so uninspiring and boring. It is not my passion. So now the next step is how I get more of that passion in my life and let go of that which doesn’t fan the flames of those passions.

3. Not sure who was at fault here. I came to a 4-way intersection. I was turning right. In the other lane of the road I was taking, I see an SUV flicking their lights from normal to high repeatedly at the truck ahead of them at the intersection. In response, the truck slams it into reverse and goes back a few feet. They weren’t that close to hitting but it was obviously a stupid and aggressive move. I made my turn but slowed and rolled my window down to ask the driver of the truck what his problem was. He blamed the people in the SUV. Me? It was late, and I didn’t feel like eventually being interviewed by the cops, so I moved on. Before I got far, the truck peeled out and turned left. The SUV quickly followed. I will keep checking police reports as the days go by.

4. I find that no matter how old I get, anytime I see a plain all-white van, I immediately think the driver is some crazed lunatic on the prowl for unsuspecting victims. I am pretty sure that the companies that create these types of vans didn’t anticipate them being the preferred mode of transportation for serial killers and kidnappers, but here we are. Also, I don’t think they should lean into it and create some kind of ad campaign saying 8 out of 10 serial killers prefer X brand white vans for all of their murderous needs. That might not cause sales to increase, but what do I know?

Sure! I'll be right over, and never return.

5. I have signed up on a voice acting website. I figure, why not look for some potential voice-over work in addition to potential on-screen acting roles? The funny thing is when you do your on-boarding you have to list any accents you can feasibly do. I can put together a few words in Irish, English, Italian, Portuguese, and maybe French accents. I didn’t think I was skilled enough to do real voice acting in any of those accents. I panicked, though because you had to choose at least one. Then I scrolled down and saw North American(general), meaning my normal voice. I never thought to look for my own accent, oh well. I can do a sarcastic accent if that helps?

6. It’s spring again. Cue the rampant number of squirrels being flattened by passing vehicles. I have to wonder, if squirrels can figure out how to get into relatively sophisticated feeders, why have they not figured out that the giant things 100x their size should be avoided? Seriously, are there no elder statesman squirrels to share stories of the giant machines on the asphalt? “Back in my day, sonny I nearly was squished by the metal giant, but luckily I survived to share my story with you!”

Things you'd never see.

7. I have finally broken down and bought a mini-blender. This will be used to make breakfast smoothies. I am hoping it saves some money and also works to keep me on my diet. I am trying to be very regimented when it comes to counting calories. This means I have to measure everything I eat. Nothing wakes you up faster than pouring almond milk into a measuring cup and nearly spilling it all over the floor. The first smoothie I made was good but took way longer than I’d hoped to make. I’d say over time I’ll become a smoothie king, but there are already several smoothie chains, so I’ll just stick to making them for myself.

8. I went to the beach as I often do, to enjoy the scenery and listen to a podcast. The lot was mostly empty, and the day was gray and foggy. It made it easier to notice a car with its hazard lights on doing laps around the parking lot. I noticed it do probably 4-5 laps before finally leaving. That was weird. Then, a few minutes later, it happened again. No, not the same car. This was a totally different car driving laps around the parking lot with its hazard lights on. This car did close to 10 laps and was still doing them when I finally decided to leave. It was just an odd occurrence to happen twice back to back.

9. A tradition I have now is doing a video showing me destroying my Halloween pumpkin. I am always surprised at how long a pumpkin I bought in October survives. This year I had a vision in mind of the current pumpkin being tricked into believing it was going to visit its brothers at college. The idea concludes with me backing my car over the pumpkin. The only issue is how wacky it looks setting up the camera and doing dialogue talking to my pumpkin. I had to find a secluded area to pull it off and then hope nobody, especially the police, came by while filming. Not that pumpkin smashing is illegal, it’s just how do I explain what I am doing, especially as a man in his late 40s.

10. If you had told me when I was in my 20s, hell, even 6 years ago, that I’d be waking up voluntarily at 7am on my days off, I’d have wondered what happened to me. Part of it is that when I stopped drinking, I had no real reasons to be out super late so it became easier to wake up at 7, or sometimes earlier. I do wonder though if it is just something that happens as you age. Sure, I could fight it and stay up on nights off until midnight, but my mind goes to tasks I have to do in the morning and I end up in bed by 10:30. At this rate I’ll be waking up at 4am in a few years, and then comes dinner time at 4:30pm. Yikes.

Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog #61: Acting Gigs, Chilly Hikes, Meeting Frankenstein, etc.

1. I wrapped up my scenes in my first film and first acting gig. It is a campy indie horror film. I had to put together and record a Zoom meeting which was fine. There was a brief moment of terror when I couldn’t get my camera and speakers to work. I can’t give too much away but I can say there were several takes of a scene. These went well and were all sent to the director and editor. The filming wraps the weekend of March 22-23 and then we’ll see how long until the film is available to view. Needless to say, I am pretty excited about what is to come.

2. You would think that the ‘best by’ date would be accurate and I’m sure for the most part they are. This week I was making some coffee and grabbed the milk from the fridge. It was the exact ‘sell by’ date so I figured I was good. I poured some in and then got rid of the rest. It definitely tasted a little bit off but I figured ‘oh well I’m sure it’s fine.’ That was until I got to the bottom of the mug. It was there that I found a nice congealed blob of milk swirling around. Was it edible? I have no clue because I immediately tossed it out. That woke me up more than the caffeine in the coffee.

3. In 2012 I injured my Achilles tendon marathon training. From that point on I had to re-learn how to run. A major saving grace was Dr. Scholl’s Heel Pain insoles. They were the perfect size and amount of padding and they allowed me to actually become a better runner after such a bad injury. I stopped using them around the time COVID started because I had a bad hip injury that really stopped me from doing any meaningful running. As I am training for my latest comeback race I have been looking for those heel pain insoles. It turns out they have been discontinued. I was devastated. But as luck would have it people are hoarders. I was able to find a stash through a person on eBay. Brand new, reasonably priced, and now in my possession. I might not ever run like I did say 7 years ago, but I do feel like I might not make a fool of myself in my latest race. That’s something.

4. Some people have a high pain tolerance. Some do not. Then there is this next person. At my day job we have many helpful therapies for overall health and wellness. One such therapy is called Shockwave. What it does is use focused acoustic waves to treat various musculoskeletal conditions, promoting healing and pain relief by stimulating tissue regeneration and increasing blood flow. That being said, it doesn’t feel like butterfly kisses, more like a tattoo needle or bee stings. It’s a good pain most can tolerate because they know it’s promoting healing. We had one patient, who in full transparency is a friend of my boss, come in needing the shockwave on her lateral quadriceps. He jumped everything the shockwave wand hit his skin that you’d have thought I was using a taser. It got to be so ridiculous with his hooting and squirming that my boss finally had to come over and physically hold him in place so I could do my job. In the end it was one of the funniest scenes in my time at this job, but also one we won’t be putting in our brochures.

5. Hopefully without jinxing myself I can say now that after a few weeks, I feel like I’ve finally cracked the code of my own mind. To sum it up for the last several years I have been in a bad place mentally. Dealing with the stress of life in general led me to destroy my diet and therefore my body in general with bad foods. My diet was terrible. At times it felt as though I had no control and that the only thing that gave me momentary happiness was all of the fried, salty, and sugary foods I could find. I have slowly been chipping away at my bad habits. Cutting my caffeine intake, hitting the gym more, and forcing myself to fix my diet. It’s not easy but after closing in on 3 weeks I feel like I might have turned a corner. I don’t crave the bad foods anymore and actively seek out things to help me reshape my body. My hope is to get back to how I looked and felt 6 years ago, before Covid. Will I get there? Who knows, but at least I feel like I’m on the right track.

6. I saw a video this week on social media of someone referring to an otter as a ‘water sausage’ and I cannot stop laughing. On one hand, I wonder how they came up with that description. On the other hand, I immediately think ‘Yes of course it is.’ Now you will never unsee it.

A water sausage in its native habitat.

7. The weekend was a whirlwind of fun adventures. I was up before 6am to drive an hour to Provincetown to hike with a pair of friends out to Race Point Lighthouse. To get myself up and out the door early I needed a dose of caffeine. I was trying to stick to a schedule so as I was driving I had to pee pretty bad. I was determined to make it to Provincetown without stopping. I was still 10 minutes away from my destination when I realized a disaster might be coming. I ended up pulling into the parking lot of a restaurant in Truro and dashing into the nearby woods to pee. All I’ll say is it was a good thing I stopped. Just think of when Austin Powers is unfrozen and you’ll know how bad I needed to pee.

8. The hike out to Race Point was fun. It was also 2.5 miles. We saw a handful of people about a mile from the beach parking lot. They were all taking photos of the returning Right Whales. The huge mammals pass by Provincetown just offshore and can be seen due to their water spouts from their blowholes. We didn’t see any whales, but we did see about half a dozen fluorescent light tubes intact. Fair trade?

Race Point Light is always worth the hike.

9. Rather than walk the same way back around the beach we decided the take the ORV trail back to Race Point Beach. It was a good walk sometimes over soft sand. It was filled with planes from the nearby airport, a low-flying helicopter, and a friendly albeit off-putting Natural Resources guy who wanted to chat while menacingly holding a sledgehammer.

10. It was a unique experience getting to be on a movie set. The main thing to remember is to be quiet and stay out of the way. I mostly did that. However, there was one scene take where I was seated off camera just trying to keep quiet. Well silly me I thought I could simply move my arm and things would be fine. Nope. My elbow decided to let out a huge cracking noise. Luckily this foolishness didn’t ruin the take but I did have a few eyes looking at me wondering why my body had to explode like that.

11. A bonus of being on the movie set was getting to shoot some behind-the-scenes videos and interview some people from the film for my YouTube channel. That being said, one interview almost didn’t happen because of another one. The first interview, with 3 people, went great. The problem was after we stopped filming and I was prepping to leave they wanted to talk for another hour. This meant my other interview subjects had to sit and wait while hungry. We bribed them with delicious cheeseburgers from Bay Cafe in Provincetown and all was forgiven.

12. Nobody could have told me that one day I’d be driving down Commercial Street in Provincetown in the backseat while in the passenger’s seat, Frankenstein’s monster growled and yelled at people on the sidewalk. The uncle of one of the crew in the film dressed as the famed monster for a scene. We had to drive him to the location though. As soon as the first woman spotted him and mouthed ‘Oh my God’ it was over. Frankenstein spent the entire drive shouting and growling at people much to my amusement. Too bad it was a short drive, although the wackiness continued on location. I’m sure all of the people driving by were wondering why Frankenstein was attacking people. Or maybe not, it could have been just another day in Provincetown.

13. I highly recommend anyone go to Provincetown and just walk around. It is a different vibe there than almost anywhere. Unique shops, famed restaurants, interesting but friendly people, loads of history, and beaches for miles. Yes I live on Cape Cod so I’m biased but there’s a reason people fall over themselves to visit in the summer. I have been to Ptown countless times but always find something new and interesting when there. Besides Frankenstein. You can walk all of the narrow streets and find beautiful vantage points for photos which is right up my alley.

14. After such a packed and fun day the next day was essentially a ‘fun hangover.’ It consisted of mostly sitting in an easy chair and surfing the web until I got hungry. Eating, and then going back to the internet until I got hungry again. A perfect balance of blandness from the previous day’s excitement.

15. A rather odd occurrence. My phone desperately needed to be charged. I grabbed a plug adapter so I could attach the USB cord. This portable plug had been in an outlet for days. I grabbed this plug and removed it from the outlet so I could plug it in closer to my bed. I attached the USB and attached the other end to my phone and shockingly before I even plugged it in it turned on my phone to charge. It’s like the portable plug had just enough stored electricity to briefly turn my phone on. It was pretty weird.