Julie Quantum Leaps

Mercury is stationing retrograde tonight.

That means it is stopping and moving backwards. It doesn’t actually stop, nor move backwards, it just appears to from Earth’s vantage point. It’s a time when things, especially things technical or based on communcation, don’t work so smoothly. Tonight was no exception.

For the past few months, I have been manning the video camera as Rick Levine and Jeff Jawer give their monthly astrology talk that have gone up on YouTube. Each time, we change things a little trying to get just the right angles and everything. It’s a little tricky since there are 2 of them, doing a little moving around while they speak, plus the projector screen between them which really messes with the lighting.

So tonight, we moved the camera, on its tripod closer and more central to get better angles. While Jeff and Rick get their setup ready, I check the camera.

Snow??? There’s a little tiny snowman up in the corner of the screen indicating it’s going to compensate the exposure as if there were snow. I try pushing every button I can find to get the menu to pop up but none work. So I call Jeff over before they start and show him and he immediately shows me the buttons ON the screen that I somehow had missed. Ok, that’s fixed.

Did I mention Mercury is stationing retrograde?

Camera seems to be ready and they start their presentation. I click the white button and watch for the numbers to start clocking off the time on the screen. All I see is –:–:–. I click the white button again. Nothing. I check to make sure it’s on “camera”. They keep talking and I’m still NOT recording! 

Uhh… I draw attention to myself and they stop. “I can’t get this to record.” I’m positive it will be “user-error” and that somehow I’m missing something obvious. Jeff, whose camera it is, says “Oh!” as if remembering something and proceeds to dig out a film cartridge for the camera. Phew! I have not lost my mind and/or all technical ability, after all.

Did I mention that Mercury is stationing tonight?

About 5 minutes in, it is clear to me that this setup is just not going to cut it. The tripod is not high enough to clear the heads of the people in the audience at all. I’m also having issues with zooming in and panning smoothly because the counter is next to me and I’m not really behind the camera. I can’t stop them again, but I don’t want to continue on this way.

So I make an executive decision to take the camera off the tripod and manually hold onto it. This would be a relatively easy thing to do if there were a knob on the bottom of the small platform where the camera sits.  Instead, the camera literally screws onto the tripod itself. This means that to remove it, either the camera has to spin around half a dozen times, or the tripod does!

Not wanting to totally ruin any footage, I decide that I should be able to spin the tripod and remove it without anyone being the wiser. So, determined, holding the camera, I lift it and tripod about a foot off the floor. Still looking through the viewfinder screen to keep the footage going, I begin to slowly twist the tripod. As it turns, the legs in turn, hit MY leg and I have to step out of the way, all the while attempting to keep a steady camera. Twist, step, twist, step, without taking my eyes off the screen.

I am failing miserably, and after what seems like 100 spins of the tripod, I’m convinced that both the camera and whatever it’s screwed onto must BOTH be spinning because it doesn’t seem like I’m making enough headway. 

Did I mention Mercury is stationing retrograde?

With eyes on me that I can feel but not see, because my eyes are glued to the screen still trying in vain to keep the shot, Mars in Aries loses patience with the whole ordeal and urges me on. Screw it! (no pun intended.. well, maybe a little) I flip the screen closed and, camera still rolling, grab it firmly and start spinning it off the tripod! 

Finally, I hold it up where it needs to be and continue filming, as Rick uses the moment to point out what kinds of things can be expected during a retrograde Mercury.

Did I mention Mercury is sta… oh yeah, I guess I did. To hear about the month ahead with the planets and stars, watch Rick & Jeff’s forecast on YouTube.