Through an obtuse set of circumstances I find myself creating a bid for the web designs for a major motion picture that's due out this fall. There's not much chance I'll get it, but that doesn't bother me too much. It was such a cool moment when the script arrived at my door, overnighted to me in a brown envelope by actual studio executives. Unfortunately, the nondisclosure agreement I had to sign entitles the studio to drain the blood from my body and leave me a shriveled, ghastly corpse if I reveal any information about the upcoming release, so mum's the word.

Most of my paying clients are nonprofit social change organizations, far cries from the klieg lures of the movie biz. I believe in what my clients do and I'm glad I can support their work while making a living, but I seldom get to pull out all the sexy stops when doing designs for them. They must maintain an aura of respectability, so my graphic hand has tended toward the corporate for the last few years. My own sites, places where I might stretch out and do things more representative of my desires, only reflect my visual sensibilities (and skill level) of two or three years ago. Never quite enough time for the big revision.

So the pitch to the movie studio gave me some leeway to goof off with a different set of standards. I only had a couple days to come up with a design, so I just had to bang out something without spending a lot of time worrying about font sizes and whether to round the corners of my boxes. I'd requested a CD of stills from the studio to give me some raw materials, but the execs indicated they didn't yet have any publicity shots to release. I felt very cool asking for "stills" though.

The upshot was I had nothing to work with visually except some pictures of cast members that I ripped off various fan sites. Before I began, I made a point of finding and downloading a new font to use in this design. It's very important to get a new font before starting a project. It's like a buying a new article of clothing before a big date. It makes you feel just a little bit more special.

In squad news, I'm coming up on my driver's test. Amazing but true, I may soon be cleared to drive a shrieking, flashing, massive ambulance at high speeds through your streets on furious missions of medical mercy. Right now I can drive "routine" calls (non-emergency, without lights and sirens), so for stable patients I'll sometimes handle driver's duties on scene and then do the driving to the hospital. Being the driver is a whole different experience than I've had before. Technically, the driver is the officer in change on a call, responsible for coordinating resources and communication to allow the charge EMT to render the best care for the patient. As a result, the driver is often the strategist and problem-solver, responsible for gathering information from family and bystanders, determining the best hospital destination and fastest transport route. I wasn't too keen on being driver for a long time; I've always preferred to be in the back with patients when I'm assigned to an ambulance. But lately I've been coming around. I recently ran a call that involved a lot of poo, and I was happy to stand back and play my coordinator role as the charge EMT dealt with the messy situation at hand.