Because Maya is so into video editing at the moment, I made arrangements with Apogee, the company that owns the Power Pilates studio where I work out, for Maya to come in on Monday and meet the guy who puts together all of their workout DVD videos for them. His name is Wiley Abbas and he is truly an amazing guy. We showed up mid-afternoon while he was working on a video for a new client of Apogee. They’d shot the video in the studio a few days prior, and he was on deadline to have a rough cut available for the client to view by the end of the day. Despite this, he spent over 30 minutes with us.
Maya currently does all of her editing with iMovie – the program that comes in the software bundle on every Apple computer. When we arrived at the Apogee studio, we were thrilled to see that the software being used by the pros is Final Cut – also an Apple product. Wiley told us that it is the editing software of choice for anyone working professionally. The great thing about this is that the basics of it are the same as iMovie; so Maya sort of already knows how it works. He walked us through some of the things it can do, (and oh my gosh can it do a lot!) showed us a promo video for a Pilates class that he’d just put together and gave us some insight on where to find good music to back up any video.
I asked him where he’d learned to edit, and he said he was mostly self-taught. He graduated in May from SVA (School of Visual Arts) with a major in Directing (he also directs many of the Apogee video shoots) and a minor in Editing, which was an easy ‘get’ since he already knew almost everything. Then we held our breaths and asked how much the Final Cut software costs. I was ready to hear something around $1000, and so nearly fell of my chair when he told us it is $299! Immediately I saw the wheels begin to turn in Maya’s head.
We left the studio with Wiley’s card and an offer from him to give Maya one or two tutorials on Final Cut if (when) we get the software.
And now Maya has a plan.
This place looks like a shrine!” Sue Townsend’s series is considered funny and stands upon widely popular prices cialis books forgood reason. These are the natural ingredients and are shown to work the same way in the levitra without prescription body. To replenish the broken tissues, they consume supplements that when taken for a longer time can affect our liver and kidneys. cialis soft canada , when taken for a safe cure of the condition as mentioned. This medicine is the most preferred drug by generic cialis in australia many people because of its positive results. Joshua and I offered to go in halves with her on the software. We’ll pay $150 and she’ll pay $150. She has $75 in Amex gift cards that she’s been saving, which means she needs $75 more. So, rather than having Joshua hire a cleaning agency to come in and clean his office, Maya and Ben will do it (with a little help and supervision from me) and will be paid for it. We decided a bi-weekly cleaning would suffice for the office. That, combined with her allowance, some eBay sales and a few other odds and ends means she is on track to buy Final Cut by the end of August.
This pleases me to no end. First because she does not expect or even want us to just buy the software for her. (She also wants to save up for a new computer and is adamant that she do it all on her own.) We offered to pay half because we feel this is something she might pursue long term and it is worth supporting in any way we can. We talked a lot about the fact that even if this does not become her career, it is an excellent skill to have – one that could make money for her while she pursued something else, or in any event give her pleasure as a hobby. Second it is fun to watch her make a plan, figuring out how much money she needs and how she can make it, all in the name of something she discovered and has pursued all on her own. All we’ve done is support her in it.
This may sound like bragging, and I suppose it is a little, but honestly I look at her and wonder how she got so smart and motivated! It’s not something I can take much credit for – I am in awe of her focus and drive when it comes to making plans and reaching her goals. It shouldn’t surprise me – it’s exactly what Joshua does – but I’m amazed to see it so well developed in someone who is only 11.
My only contribution has been to stay out of her way, and for that I must credit the life learners like Sandra Dodd and Wendy Priesnitz from whom I have learned that the best thing is to trust my kids and let them follow their own path.
So far, so very good.
