I don't like ordering anything "creme de menthe" because it sounds like "creme de meth" and I don't do drugs.

One of my friends once asked me what was the most effective way to approach a random girl and successfully come back with her number. After careful thought and personal, if reluctant, experiments, I have my answer:

There is none.

That situation never works out like it does in the movies.

Lost last night was amazing. I had to miss last week's because of Valentine's Day, and streaming wasn't working when I tried to watch it which made me probably a little more upset than warranted, but this week's episode was way worth it.

The madness is finally over and I'm able to breathe. School is not all it's cracked up to be. However, as charged up as I was to start my ten day, two state, three stop, five friend spring break tour, all that charged adrenaline that comes from having to hurry back from work, finish packing, grab lunch and stop at Border's to get a book (it's hard to find a cheap one these days), and then lug an immensely packed duffle bag across town came crashing down and then froze out when it was announced that our bus was two hours delayed. After sitting in an hour in the freezing, stuck in the 70s one room bus stop with a guitar-playing pseudo Canadian, one of those overly friendly woman who just comes across as a middle aged flirt, and the guy sitting next to me reading Neil Gaiman and blasting opera from his headphones, I realized that I had rested enough from my initial trek out and that I might be able to make it to a coffee shop for warmth and the appearance of middle class yuppy normalcy for a while. One of the chains that proliferates campus is just a couple of blocks from the station, and I've found it to be much chicer than the undergraduate versions as the floor is carpeted and I'm sitting at a cute little round table (they're mostly square on campus) drinking Ruby Fruit tea out of a real mug and listening to the soundtrack of Chicago delightfully playing in the background. Probably because it's on "Main Street."

I went it for extra advice on my screenplay because I had to present my inciting incident (doesn't that seem redundant to you, "inciting incident?" However, you can't just say, inciter or incident. It wouldn't make sense) and I wanted to make sure it was really good. Also, my screenwriting class is competition based to get into the next level, so a little extra advice is warranted now and again. He did have some helpful suggestions that definitely made the pages stronger. I also got to drop it in there that this will be my fourth completed first draft. Of course, that could come back to bite me if it proves that after writing three other screenplays, taking one through a second draft, I still can't write or structure, but I hope instead that it will prove to him that I'm dedicated to this craft and want to pursue it.

While I'm on break I'm hoping to spend one of my luxurious lazy days in Florida thinking about my future in the industry. Not that I'm set in entering it (it's just what I tell people), but if I do, I have bigger plans than the be a script reader-sell a screenplay-slowly make connections-make a short-go to grad school, all culminating in the getting paid to stay at home and write dream. Not that that wouldn't be great, I just have some... different ideas.

Over break I'm also going to scheme a way to get one of my shorts made before the end of the semester. Find a crew, find a cast, hammer out a production schedule, draft another version of the script, etc. etc. If it works, I finally might have a reason to get that website my brother's been trying to convince me that I want just so that he can design it.

I've also decided to explore the idea of writing a short "season" of websoides. It sounds challenging and therefore fun. How to add that on top of writing a feature screenplay, directing/producing a short, and the most draining academic semester I've had? Maybe I'll let the idea percolate for a little while.

I have to change buses in the nearby metro "city." People talk about this city being scary, and, having been homegrown on the West Side of Manhattan myself, I've always disparaged such comments. However, bus terminals in general are just a bit sketchy.

Here's to hoping I find some good stories, just not any life threatening ones. More updates from the airport/train station/retired persons community club coming soon.