So if you're reading this it means that we both made it to 2019.  I've been BUSY!  
The end of 2018 was extremely exciting for me and BrilliantEye projects.  I'm looking forward to finding the perfect groove in 2019 for work/play and living a deeply enjoyably interesting life!   Hope y'all do the same if that is your wish!   Cheers for now!

One of the last projects I worked on before leaving Durham Region in Ontario to move my life up to the far east end of Lake Ontario was this fun and challenging project with the team at Sport Durham. 



We had a fairly short time slot to put this together as the upcoming 2019 Ontario Parasport Games was needing donors sooner than later... but Brilliant Eye and the Sport Durham team were up to the challenge.  

Realizing that someone speaking from their heart and their experience usually is the best way to get someone to listen to a proposal, we quickly decided on the Talking Head approach.  The message was scripted and sorted out and then 12 very nice folks were contacted an asked to volunteer their time to this.   To keep things on the very tight budget we needed to work with (a high percentage of game support, like most big "government" games, comes through volunteers and their energy) we needed to shoot all 12 of our fine orators in one day.   Thus, the "cat herding" began. :-)

Organizing 12 (not counting myself and the creative team from Sport Durham) busy people to arrive at specific times during the same day at a specific location may not sound that daunting, but it is not as easy as it seems.  Add on top of this the reality that some of our fine speakers were at ease delivering their lines in one or two takes, while some others were a bit less "confident" with the recording process.  Perhaps a few (dozen?) takes might be required until we got the energy and pizass that we were looking for.  Let it be noted that they were ALL troopers and worked hard to give us what we wanted.  

Once the main bits were recorded came the editing process, again, with limited time available.  This was the fun part for me, next to actually meeting and videoing all these interesting folk.  Their hard work in front of the camera made my challenges behind the camera much easier to navigate.

In the end, I hope this project helps bring good things to Durham's hosting of the Games. Meeting some of the athletes and the people who support them was very inspirational to me.  
Truth be told, they were all pussy cats!   ;) 
Zero egos were to be found, just caring and dedicated people who had a common goal to hit.  
And I think we did it!   Thanks again, all who participated❤️   
 

Well, my "new" BrilliantEye.ca website is launched.  
Um.... sort of. 🤔

Let me explain.  First off, let me tell you that it has taken SO much more energy than I had ever imagined to create this new version of What I Do For A Living. What I thought I'd accomplish in a couple weeks took twice as long.  Was it worth it?  I think so... but this website isn't for ME, of course.   It is for YOU.   So, let me know if I've tossed the better part of a month away on making it pretty and nice. 😉

Secondly, this project really reminded me of a phrase a good buddy once said to me. "I pity the perfectionist."

Now, I've got some grey hairs (or "silver" as I like to call it) and I've learned a thing or two in my 50+ years riding around on this strange mudball called Earth. One thing I've learned is that phrase above is a valid one.   I've learned that nothing is ever perfect.  Except, perhaps, imperfection itself. Yet even knowing this truth I did somewhat torture myself over the weeks of building this website from the ground up again.  What colours?  What images? What's MY message I want YOU to know about ME?  What message do I NOT want you to know about me?  etc etc etc.

Thus, the "soft launch".   Many of you will not read this blog until after I do the HARD launch.  The soft launch is so that a select (and please take no offence if you were not initially included in this crew - take it as a simple fact I spared you some potentially challenging conversations with me 😎) bunch of people can go over this site with their fine-toothed combs or, if inspired to do so, with a big knarly hair brush.   They will let me know what they like and dislike.  They will let me know what is WRONG or, alternatively, NOT RIGHT with this version of the website. They will, in effect, be a first guard for me against the hideous perils of Public Shame and Loss-of-Face that could result from not getting it perfect.   (And I love them, truly, for taking the time ❤️)

As I worked on the content and construction of the new BrilliantEye.ca, there were many a lunch that sat beside my laptop getting cold as I wrestled with a rogue image placement or fenced with an arrogant pronoun. But, eventually, hunger drove me to look 10 to 12 inches to the left or right of my computer to locate sustenance. And then, after a few distracted bites, I got back to the work at hand.

Hope you like the site. I really do.  It's not perfectly RIGHT but it, at least, isn't (and I've checked with my peeps on this) WRONG.