Paper Route - Sing You To Sleep

3/20/08 Mayday Parade
Originally uploaded by Elyse Archie

It feels good to say that I am no longer backed up in the photo department. Typically, I would have about 7 different concerts in my photo folder untouched. And in those seven shows, there would be probably three different bands which always added up to about 700 photos. So multiply that by 7 and thats about how many pictures I was backed up not editing. I discovered a couple days ago how to quickly edit them. Loading the entire album or even half of an album would take hours, mostly because of my extreme ADD and my inability to remember what I was doing only five minutes ago. But then editing the photos themselves took forever because there'd be like 400 photos in photoshop causing the performance to slow down a huge amount. Not only that but it is a pain in the ass resizing each photo one by one, doing the required editing to each photo, tagging them with my website stamp and all of that. I don't know. I strongly dislike that part of my job. If I could, I would shoot the show and then hand my things over to a computer whiz and let them edit everything. But alas, I found a quicker and safer way to get things done so it won't cause my computer a serious melt down (which it's on the verge of right now due to serious concert photography overload). I do own a 320 Gigabyte external hard drive though which I purchased a few months back to give my laptop some breathing space but I fail to ever transfer the photos over to the hard drive up until the very last minute where my lap top starts having asthma attacks because my photos ate up all 80 Gigs that my computer has in space.

Funny though because even though I transfered most photos over to the external drive today, it still seems like the photos weren't the problem. My website in total only takes up less than 1 Gig on my hard drive (I checked the folder. It contains ALL podcasts, my photos, Kristia's, Brandon's, and all the web page content). I want to blame my mp3's but there are also some movies that I ripped off of dvds and turned them into Ipod format lurking on my computer in the shadows somewhere and they probably take up like 10 Gigs a piece because I'm not ever space savvy and don't waste time crunching files unless necessary. There is also probably a music issue considering labels send me albums constantly and I just don't know where to store it all! Like I received the new Panic At the Disco album and The Hush Sound album and then a bunch of albums by artists I've never heard of and most of the time, they send them to me in digital format so I can listen to them like two to three weeks in advanced and submit a review but they eat up my computer.

This was not supposed to turn into a rant about the lack of survival drama that I put my computer through sometimes but more to brag about how I quickly found out how to edit my photos. I'm tempted that if I'm not tired, after shows, come straight home, load them and just edit them that night. It'll take me about an hour or two tops but that's much better than the five or six or even days that it took me last time. I think honestly, this all contributes to the fact that I do this full time now and no longer work a day time job or anything. Probably how I managed to have so much time on my hands. Which is weird because I'm never home. Ever. Unless it's to go to bed. I like and hate it all at once because it makes me feel like I'm neglecting this website which I'm growing into loving more because I have so many marketing schemes that are going to make all my star photogs (K & B) love this website even more. But yeah, I'm always out doing something. I guess it's my way of avoiding slipping into some form of depression because that happens a lot when your life revolves around a computer screen. Up-keeping a social life keeps my spirits high and makes me feel better. I guess it's the fact that concerts don't necessarily give me a high anymore. It's become strictly work all over again. I don't remember what it was like in an actual pit without a camera. It's okay though. It just means I have something going for me, right?

F-R-E-E that spells freecreditreport.com baby.

If I quit and give up now, my life would be SO boring. I want to give Mayday Parade a good review but I let stupid things get in the way of enjoying my night. Oh and doing an interview with them at 1am? Not my idea of a good interview. Sorry. Not their fault. Absolutepunk's fault. THANKS!!!

I feel like Im going to hand this off to someone else by the end of July and pursue something fulfilling... this definitely isn't. Despite what my last entry says. I must have been slipped some really good drugs.

Hey Mr. DJ, you gotta put it in Beyonce.

I'm slowly becoming addicted to my camera. Now that I'm not working for any real establishment, I'm enjoying what this photography thing does to me. It gives me something to work towards; something to perfect. I love that. I didn't have anything real to grasp onto before this, not even acting. Acting is one of those things that you already have to be amazing at to get anywhere. Even then, you have to know people in the industry and money to progress. With this photography thing, I started out with a little point and shoot not knowing anyone at shows or anyone in/working for bands and now I have all of that. This isn't me bragging, this is me enjoying my life for .2 seconds finally. I never had that and it feels great. And even when I get swarmed with photos and work to do, I still smile about it because it means my job is never really done. It never is! I will always be shooting a show or doing promo for a band and I know that the work will never die.

I have a lot of habits that I picked up over the past 3 or 4 years and they're still things I hang on to but I know I can easily let that all go because I know I'll never grow bored. I remember when I was sitting at the computer without a thing to do so I'd chat on aim for hours and kill boredom but it never killed it. Now I know I can log onto my computer and I have something to work for. I've become a workaholic since leaving Starbucks. I just crave more and more shows and working with more and more bands. I love that. I love it.

I love traveling to shows too. I'm really looking forward to going back to Nashville for We The Kings/The Cab/Valencia/Charlotte Sometimes. I know the show will be ace and I'll have a good time hanging with the bands as usual.

I don't know what this post was for but I'm excitied about all of the projects that I have under my belt. My CLOTHING LINE, my new videographer, The Casanovas, my comedy production company. All of the things that are one step away from being open to the world. Look out for it. I'm a young business woman and I know what I want. :D

Kate Nash - Foundations

2/17/08 Cobra Starship
Originally uploaded by Elyse Archie

Cobra week came and went pretty fast. It actually turned out to be Cobra Three Weeks but in actuality, for the website, it's only a week long promotion. The sole purpose of Cobra week morphed when I realized there were going to be a lot of things that I couldn't do when I was on the road with the bands. For the most part, the tour diaries fell through when my California tour dates got messed up so there weren't any real videos that would be forced to go up on the website. The guys were all really cool with seeing us every night and made sure we were having a good time and even more, they all made sure I got the photos I needed each and every night that I had a pass. Not only that but the merch guys took to us very well, as well as tour managers (not so much Mitch the TM for Metro Station). We left with an entirely new group of friends aside from just the Cobras. Some of which, I keep in contact with until this very day. It was honestly a great experience for me and something I definitely was able to jot down on my resume. My resume is filling up with all kinds of things that I've had the ability to do within the past year. And even though last year put my ego down a LOT, it definitely built up an awesome resume. I've got so many people under my belt now that I can have as references.

As far as the personal aspect of the trip. I can't repeat all that happened because what happens on the road stays on the road but I can say Stephy is pretty awesome to road with. We never fought once in the two/three weeks that we were on the road and I'm pretty sure I would have sucker punched anyone else if I had to deal with them for that long. But no, she knew how to have fun and the bands all took well to her and I accompanying them at the many many shows. We became friends with Kelly and Amanda, the two who did the entire tour and they made our nights probably the best and most memorable nights of the year. I miss those girls and can't wait to see them again.

Coming back to getting fired definitely put me into super work mode. I took my time away from employment as an opportunity to get everything on my site done. I'm almost done uploading everything that I missed last time around. Once Cobra Week is officially over (today), I will go back to uploading the previous interviews I missed out on everything. I edited all of my video interviews and such so alll I need to do is put them on the podcasts page.

I took on another webmaster job. I'm co - webbing another website for something I really really love. The cobra will be let out soon enough so just wait for it. I haven't started anything yet but the site is there and managed by a new friend of mine. I'm excited to work on it though because I know I can do great things for the website.

I also decided that I want to shoot weddings. It's going to take a while to get off the ground but it's a great way to make some extra cash and I need to put my camera to real work. Concerts, bands, promotional work that I do? It's a hobby.

Lastly... I have been debating on jailbreaking my iphone for about a week. I think I'm going to do it. I want the AIM application. I mean my iphone works with aim but it isn't installed on the phone and it frustrates me. I get kicked off a lot. Blah. Jailbreak it is!

Mayday Parade - Black Cat

I love how I didn't buy a single concert ticket for ANY of the cobra starship shows I've been to since the very beginning of the tour hop on for me and yet I still somehow manage to be broke by the end of the tour. Do you realize how strange this feels or how much it sucks? Like, honestly, I didn't buy a single ticket. I was guest listed the entire way through thanks to Kelly, Tony, and of course Gabe Saporta. Blah but now I have to figure out how the hell I'm getting to Bamboozle because I'm negative like 300 dollars right now haha.