Day 4: In which I discover a suitable meta context

I reach a deal with my producer that I will work one more day - today - and then I have to beat it, even though there is a lot of turmoil going on. The commercial we shot keeps coming out to be any between $40k and $55k over budget, based on $106k estimated. So I try one more time to provide him with a breakdown of actual costs that he can take to the mucky-mucks and plead for mercy. As far as I'm concerned, it's no one's fault except the client's whose neurotic changes of mind kept the Art Department from settling on set designs until the day of shooting.

...

But back to my so-called vacation.

I want to elaborate on something I mentioned the other day. There was more going on when I stopped at the Fruit Barn in Gilroy than a taste for apricots. A couple of days before I left, when I was still in production and realizing I didn't know when I'd able to go shopping for the trip, I started fantasizing about driving across the country and stocking up on food bought only at farmer's markets. I could use them as little oases of resources, fresh, organic and local. I could be a food tourist, sampling the tomatoes grown in say, Newburg NY or the zucchini in Louisville KY and never have to step foot in a Safeway or Food Lion. I still think it's doable, and maybe even feasible.

The reason I mention this is because I think I've found not only the title for this blog, but also its theme. Spending any time with my brother and brother-in-law means having to explore every possibility of armageddon. Or at least the collapse of civilization. And one of their favorite indicators of cataclysm is peak oil.