NDA

Who uses it: Corporate lawyers
What it means: Non-disclosure agreement, a promise not to tell anyone what you're working on
How to use it: When you want to keep something a secret.

As much work as I do for as many diverse people and organizations, this week was the first time anyone asked me to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I don't discuss the specifics of my work on this blog, and I rarely even discuss it with my friends -- mainly because most of my projects sound boring to outsiders. It's funny how having to sign an NDA makes me, perversely, want to discuss this project, which is a fairly routine research assignment for a movie in the early stages of development.

The irony is that most of my work on this project is already done, turned in weeks ago. If I'd wanted to blog about it or sell my (boring) inside information to the tabloids, that would have happened already. This agreement is something I have to sign just so I can get paid. So this agreement will be ex post facto, another legal term for another day.

The song in my head since yesterday afternoon: the Neville Brothers, "Sister Rosa." It's on Yellow Moon, and a great live version's on Live on Planet Earth. Go listen to it, and let's all say thank you, Miss Rosa.