Flaming Lawnmowers and Hippies

This past weekend I went to Burlington, Vermont, with some friends. It was a blast. Weekend road trips are going to make a come back, I'm telling you.

Downtown Burlington. NOT "Birmingham," like I had been telling people.

The friends I went with asked me a fair amount of questions about screenwriting, which I really appreciated. I kinda happen to think that I do something interesting, but conversations usually go like this --

Rando: So you're an aide. Do you want to be a teacher?

Me: No, actually, I want to be a screenwriter.

Rando: Oh. (pause) So do you like working where you are?

I mean, how often do you meet educators? (Let me tell you, surprisingly often. My Bible study is mostly made up of educators or prospective educators. It was not planned.) How often do you meet someone who's trying to break into the movie business? I'm just saying, if I had just met me and was making small talk with myself, I'd ask myself about the writing business not the education business.

Ben & Jerry's factory. AKA the most delightful place on earth, right before Hershey, PA.

Anyway, the friends I went with were awesome sports because I kept taking out a notepad and taking notes. It's something new I'm trying to 1. help me get ideas and 2. improve my comedic writing. Of course, I decided to start this experiment the weekend I go away with friends. Some might find it creepy that I giggle to myself as I scribble furiously in illegible cursive on the hotel notepad, but my friends were awesome. They'd ask about what I was writing down and even suggest things they thought were funny.


Talking about writing with friends always makes me feel awkward. I feel simultaneously arrogant and embarrassed. I mean, it's pretty bold to go around talking about how you're going to write movies one day. And I think the chagrin comes from the underlying acknowledgment we all must (or should) have that this is a complete long shot. On the other hand, it's so important to me to have people I can talk to about what I love to do. And the ideal is that not only will I be able to have friends that I can talk to about writing but ones that will support me and take it seriously. So important that it's on the short list of qualities I want in a guy (right after "must look good in uniform" and before "preferably from Ireland or Britain").

The Flavor Graveyard at Ben and Jerry's, showing love to my British side.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to figure out a story that harmonizes the Jersey Mafia and a trendy Montclair cupcake cafe.

Goodbye, East Coast mountains...