life of andyman

So remember last week when I was excited about the upcoming overnight video shoot at my new jobby-job?

WELL! Here’s an update to that crazy day.

Crazy Item #1 = The company hired us to shoot a commercial for a funeral home in Danville, Illinois. The company was sick of those crappy “local commercials” that look so awful, so they hired us.

I want to say that I thought the owners and workers at the funeral home were pretty nice and respectable people. But, I also have to say that there was some unavoidable humor that took place in the funeral home. For example, someone arrived and a joke was made that they were just “dying” to come back.

Also, the morning of the shoot we arrived early to set up and at 9:30 the actors (just the normal staff at the home) were supposed to show up. We got done setting up a little early, and Eric made the comment, “Well, we’re ready. All we need now is the bodies. The talent.” To which an employee remarked, “That’s what we always do at funeral homes–wait for the bodies!”

Anyway, enough of that!

Crazy Item #2 = TriGard University

The company, TriGard, which owns this and many, many other funeral homes, also runs what they call “TriGard University” which is a training school for people wanting to learn the funereal sciences. As part of the “university”, TriGard owns a house they call “The Dome.” People enrolling in their university stay in The Dome as their residence while they’re away from home.

While we were working with TriGard, we stayed at The Dome. WOW. The Dome is a 4 bedroom house with the following attributes:

• –A full-sized a well-kempt pool table
• –A nice outdoor hot tub and a bathrobe in each room
• –Arcade basketball and arcade slots machines
• –A reasonably large-screen TV and about 40 movies
• –A kitchen stocked with various foods and snacks including doritos, a large jar full of oreo cookies, milk, pancake mix, cereals, bagels, bread, chocolates and more. Simply put, lots of free food and snacks.
• –A mini-fridge full of cold bottles of beer, which didn’t particularly interest me, and
• –A cabinet full of various liquors, including fancy, good tasting ones like Bailey’s and Khalua, from which I made a Long Island Ice Tea and a White Russian.

They just had this beatuiful, clean, large house, fully stocked with entertainment, food, and booze, for whoever the company wants to give lodging to. So, for those interested, I would highly recommend enrolling in TriGard University.

Incidentally, the house was also stocked with magazines and newsletters like “Funerals of the Famous, Vol. VII” and there were a few (presumably) empty urns decorating various countertops. Also, as art on the walls, there were several photographs of apparently noteworthy funeral arrangements–the arrangements on display at the front of the room when you go to a funeral. For example, a photograph of one arrangement showed the guy’s urn surrounded by its flowers and a large and plentiful collection of his favorite golfing equipment. To this I had to tell the others, “Geez, guys, I hope that when I die people can remember me for more than my love of golf…”

Crazy Item #3: The Beefhouse

Eric, boss, called this work assignment our “Christmas Present” and our “Vacation Shoot”. So, if the Dome wasn’t wonderful enough, he also took me and our other cameraman Derick to a restaurant called the Beefhouse, a steak restaurant that was roughly $25 per meal. It was delicious.

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So, granted, it’s not like these shoots happen often; in fact, Eric said, “Don’t get used to this…!” But, regardless, what an incredibly wonderful thing to get paid for!

By the way, that’s 3 posts in 12 days. As you consider that, take the advice that I took during my vacation shoot: Don’t get used to it, but enjoy it!