Pink Day – It’s Not Easy – Mac Harmon

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This past Saturday, I took the SeaBus to the Lonsdale Quay Starbucks in North Vancouver where I met my film/video tutor.

Originally I had signed up for a course at the Emily Carr campus. It sounded good; how to work with the Final Cut Pro program.

But the more I looked into it, I realized it was way beyond the basics of what I needed to know. Considering I had never even opened up the iMovie program on my little MacBook Air, I decided that it might be smarter to begin at the very beginning.

So I did what any self-respecting 51-year old woman would do…I hired a 12-year old.

“I’m just going to grab a cappuccino,” I said upon arrival. “Can I get you anything?”

“Sure,” said Mac, who was already seated, MacBook open and glowing, “I’ll have a glass of cold milk.”

And so we began.

I have uploaded a few uncut videos to YouTube before, but they were straight from my camera to YouTube. But since our meeting I have been working up my first little video, learning to use transitional devices and other groovy little tricks that Mac ‘Invincible’ Harmon has taught me.  My goal is to be able to edit and fine tune some of my travel pieces.

Meanwhile, Mac has about a million video projects going on his computer, a few television and newspaper interviews under his belt and has already acted in a few commercials and did I mention he just turned 12?

As I watched him flip around the buttons and icons demonstrating all their functions,  I tried to imagine what I could have taught someone when I was his age.

How to pole a boat in a swamp? How to straighten a nail for building a fort? How to bake bread? How to practice piano scales? How to ride in the back of your dad’s pickup on the way to the dump?

I’m pretty sure I am from a far, far away place in time; a place that only exists in the sepia-toned mists of my mind.

But I hope that if I keep hanging around with Mac, and working on what he teaches me, I might manage to keep one foot in the present.

Here’s hoping…