24 February 2005 (yesterday) (tomorrow)

At 2 a.m. on a Friday morning, as I write this, I am cut off from everyone I know except the three other assistant editors working on their various shows in the other rooms.

I've begun to settle into working on specific episodes: Episode 6, about two female roommates, Episode 10, about a friendly American/Swedish couple, and Episode 14, about an eccentric, older blonde woman living alone in the hills of Connecticut.   Right now I am watching a layoff of the final, uprez'd version of Episode 6 with a timecode burn-in for Shura, the show producer, out of the corner of my eye.

Until mid-July, I will continue to work on 1 out of every 4 episodes, although we still share the work for all the episodes when there's not much to do, which is rarely.  There are no actual breaks here, just 8, 9, or even 10 hours of intense work with lulls that come about as the result of tapes running in the machines that cannot be stopped, and must simply be observed.

I usually make popcorn around 2 a.m., and eat it messily.   Every now and then, I wander into the kitchen to dip my hand into the jar containing peanut M & M's or goldfish crackers.  I used to monitor the amount of coffee I drank at this job but now I just drink as much as I can.

Jason walks into the room to pick up some tapes.  I keep writing.  So much of my life is spent looking at a computer screen...