2009 has been crazy!!!!

Published by scott.clausen | Filed under Life

Its been a long-ass time since I posted to the blog, but with good reason!  2009 has been reeeediculous!  Its hard to believe its June already, as this year has been one of the busiest I’ve ever had.  There’s been so many crazy things that have happened this year, I almost don’t know where to begin.  I’ve focused on 4 things the last 6 months:  Work, Marathon, Lakers, and Family.
I started work on 2 different series back in December, ABC’s “Better Off Ted” and Disney Channel’s “Sonny With A Chance”.  I posted on Facebook at the time that I was going underground for while, and what do you know, here we are 6 months down the road and I’m finally coming up for air.  Both shows have been awesome experiences.  They’ve both been challenging, with a ton of music to be written for both.  “Better Off Ted” features a retro latin/lounge sound and “Sonny With A Chance” is a mix of teen pop and sketch comedy jingles/underscore.  I’ve found out in the last couple of weeks that both shows are coming back in the fall!!! This will be the first summer I’ve had in some time where I know that I have some work to look forward to in the fall.  A lot of times, summer’s are more stressful than the actual TV season because I’m spending day in and day out trying to line up work down the road.  Knowing that I have work lined up, I’ve got plans to spend more of the summer writing songs and finishing up the studio re-furb.

I ran the marathon a couple of weeks back!  It was probably one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve had in a long, long time.  I had ankle surgery last August, and my initial intention was to run it to test where I was at physically.  But when I teamed up with Team In Training to have some people to train with, it evolved into something completely different.  Team In Training raises money and awared for LLS, an organization that is devoted to the research of blood cancers.  As a part of the team, I had to raise $2200 as part of my commitment to running the race, something I’ve never really done before.  Fundraising was a challenge in and of itself, but in doing so I heard so many stories from people affected by Leukemia that I would never have known about had I not committed to doing this.  I met some amazing people that I trained with, people that I’m hoping will be friends for years to come.  And best of all, I finished the marathon!  I hit some bumps along the way (I have a brutal case of shin-splints right now), but I managed to finish the race only 10 minutes slower than the pace I ran it at 10 years ago.

I went to Game 1 of the NBA Finals last night!!! What a rush……I’ve had season tickets since 2004 (and was on the wait-list for them starting in 1999), and its been amazing watching this team go from Champions to the Lottery and potentially all the way back.  I really feel like this is their year.  They weren’t ready last year.  No one expected them to be in the Finals in the first place, and when they got their it was almost as if they had accomplished more than they had planned and that was good enough.  This years, its title or nothing!  I’m a HUGE Kobe Bryant fan, and I really, really, really want him to finally get that title without Shaq.  Its gonna happen this year, I know it!!!

Last but not least, while work has been all-consuming over the past 6 months, there have been some things happening with my family that have been at the top of my list of things I’m most excited about in my life.  One of them has to be my oldest son Cooper learning how to swim.  He finally unlocked it about a month ago, and I can’t tell you how proud it makes me as a dad.  The water is such a scary yet tempting thing for kids, and to see him go from being absolutely terrified at his first swim lesson to going down the slide and my dad’s house and into the deep end by himself has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen.  On top of that, Nicholas, who is only 2 1/2, is trying desperately to keep up with older brother and looks like he’ll be swimming on his own within 6 months.  He can already doggy-paddle on his own for about 5 seconds at a time, and I can tell he’s on the verge himself.  I absolutely love it!

I’m hoping to bust out a site re-design this summer.  I’ve been reluctant to make my site a “work” site.  I like the Kevin Rose model, where people know him for his work and his site can be just a blog.  But I keep getting told that I need to do a little better job with self-promotion, especially when I’m working in Hollywood…..uggggh…..I’m torn between just keeping a blog and creating a career promoting site.  I like that fact that I’ve been able to work all these years by word-of-mouth.  But am I doing myself a disservice by not promoting my own success in my field?  Blah, blah, blah, blah…..gotta love internet narcissism.

Regardless, the one thing that WILL be happening is that I will be paying more attention to this blog.  Book it, and let’s go Lakers!