I've been drinking tea and watching British TV.

If this was the olden times, when people picked wives based on their skills and knowledge, my marketability would have soared this past week. I have learned three new skills - wall paper removal, spackling, and driving (okay, that would have definitely counted against me before). And I've been seriously practicing my baking skills.

And I started writing again.

So what, that lasted like a week and a half? I mean, I think that it's good to have a balanced mindset - so often writers are pressured to write write WRITE all the time, productivity is king, you need to always always always be working on a project (or two) in some way shape or form. And if this is to be your career, then yes, you need to work. But when the pressure starts to work against your creativity and your productivity and your fun (and your mental health), then you might want to consider a little break. And I had just finished a spec for class this past semester, so I can justify it in my mind. Besides, nothing makes you want to do something so much as not doing it. Or whatever.

So here are the projects. I've made my first few "official" notes for Current Draft, a children's spec. Right now I have more of a premise than a plot, more of a situation than a story, so I'm going to keep it percolating. I don't really want to do too much prewriting for it, though. I like exploring while I write. The other project I'm working on is a webseries. I outlined a couple sentences or so for twelve five-minute episodes before I took my break. I wrote the pilot today. It needs a lot of work for five pages, but I was still happy to have written actual pages for the first time in weeks. I also spent some time thinking about the feasibility of this project. A friend and I were talking about a webseries for next year. And to be honest, that one seemed a lot more infeasible, because we were talking several directors, rotating crew positions, having to make sure a lot of people coordinated in a way people don't coordinate if they're not getting paid. I really liked that webseries idea, though, so maybe we'll just make it a smaller production. So yes, that would be two series I want to produce this upcoming year. I'm not exactly daunted yet. I haven't set my heart on these series yet, but when I decide I want to do them - well, when I want something, it gets done.

Producing. I want to talk about producing later.

Horror vacui

I went to the beach Thursday. I have a rare problem, Reader. I don't understand how to sun bathe. After we got back from our little foray (by the by, the beaches are lovely this time of year. Empty because it's not yet summer but still warm enough to enjoy), I stepped into the bathroom and was surprised to see that one side of my face was more burnt than the other. A couple of years ago (shows how often I go to the beach, huh), I accidentally tanned one arm more than the other. But it's worse when it's your face that's uneven - oh the wonders of make up.

I've been pretty busy the past week, which is a little strange considering that I have nothing to do. I've decided that I'm going to redecorate my room. When we moved into this house a year and a half ago I just sort of threw my stuff into my room and left it there. My drawers are full of clothes I never wear and my bookshelf holds CDs and books I haven't touched since high school. And the wall paper in here - yuck. I mean, I may not spend a lot of time here at my parents' house, but there's no reason why I need to be living out of a duffle bag in the dining room since my closet of a room only has space for the clothes I never wear. Besides, it will give me something to do, and whenever my parents decide to sell this house, potential buyers need to see how this space can actually be utilized as more than just a walk in closet.

Iron Man - So I saw this movie last night. I really liked it. It was entertaining, I liked the casting, good effects. I think their decision to start the movie where they did was interesting; it was the only time they shifted the timeline, and it was obviously done to start the story off with an intense action sequence. I think it also helped make Tony Stark likeable. Because, let's face it, in the first act he's sorta a jerk. He ignores appointments, disregards his friends, and is superficial. But in those first few minutes with the soldiers, he jokes around with them, and the audience can see that his edge isn't necessarily threatening or mean. I thought it was very well written. Perhaps the best superhero movie since Batman Begins, no?

It was my worst theatre experience in a while, though. At least half of the near full theatre (it's been a long time since I've been in a theatre that full, actually) were middle school aged kids who would not be quiet. I'm really surprised the people sitting around them didn't complain. Also, I think we need to make a new rule about theatre etiquette. No cell phone use - whatsoever. No matter if it's on silent or you're just texting or whatever - how hooked up are we that we can't just leave them in our pockets for a couple of hours. Heaven forbid someone not be able to get ahold of us, like we might have a life or something. It's just so distracting when someone in your row or in the one in front of you whips out their phone and this insanely bright spot of light pops up on the corner of your vision. When we went to go see Jumper there were four people sitting in front of this, and three of them were constantly pulling out their phones. I'm sorry that I'm old fashioned.

Actually I'm not, really.

It's been almost a week since I said I wasn't going to write without feeling passionate about a story. A couple of days after that, I got a great idea for a story. I haven't written anything down yet, but I summarized it for a few of my friends and have been thinking about it. I think I might start taking down notes this week. I like it enough to deem it my next Current Draft. The other idea I'm playing with is a concept for a webseries that I plagiarized from myself. I'm hoping to shoot a webseries next year at uni. It's just up in the air still if it'll be my self plagiarized series that I'll write and direct or if it'll be a series in collaboration with others also writing and directing. I'd love to do both, but we've only go so much time.

We're working on the Lives Agape website. My computer hacker (in the best way) brother is helping me out, because if it's not prefabricated for me, I'm pretty useless with the internet. I'll let everyone know once it's up and running and "Join This Group?" has premiered world wide.

Ad absurdum

I realized the other day that my posts had gotten deeply personal and a little sentimental. Ew. Let's get back to real business.

School is getting irritating. I'm so far beyond this semester and the drama it's caused. But really --

We turned in our Act IIbs in screenwriting class this week (20 pages in one day, baby). We workshopped mine, and I got reamed a little bit about de-conflicting my Act II turning point. I would agree that something was not quite right, but I'm not sure that it's what everyone was telling me. I have a tendency to want to drain scenes of their overt conflict - especially if it's not relational conflict. In my screenplay there's the real story about relationships and the conflict there, and then there's the subplot about legal proceedings and such. So for every turning point/midpoint in Current Draft, I have scenes for the relational/emotional plot and the "physical" subplot. The "physical" subplot is really only there to create momentum for the plot points and make them easier to distinguish, so really those are the only times it shows up. So for my Act II turning point I have an emotional/relational turning point and a "physical" subplot turning point. Because the latter is less important, I drained it of its conflict. And that's where I took the fall. It's definitely something I'm going to want to think about. I agree with my classmates that there's a lot of potential in those scenes - but that's not where the story is, so I'm not sure how much importance I want to give those scenes.

I feel sometimes like the story in Current Draft is growing beyond my control, like a puddle of water.

In a week and a half we'll turn in the completed screenplay. So far I like Current Draft, much better than my last two, which is good, because I pretty much went to my professor early on in the semester and said, "I've sucked at the last two screenplays - if I don't do well with this one I'm going to radically rethink my decision to be a screenwriter." I feel like I'm back in the game, though.

I shoot my mockumentary short, "Join This Group?" this weekend. I'm stressed. We only have two crew members for our first shoot (including me), the one that I got the professor that I'm in awe of to act in. First shoot, only two people, and I'm going to blubber around her anyway. Oh no, I can already feel my brain start to fog up and my throat getting sticky. I'm still looking for a fourth actor to shoot on Sunday. I think I would already have one, but it's taking a while for people to get back to me with their answer. Otherwise, I think it's going to be a lot of fun, not too stressful, and I'm excited for both the process and the finished project.

I mentioned earlier that I wanted to write a series of websoides this summer. I've got another idea for a series of websoides, but it would require tricking a whole lot more people into being involved.

April is going to be crazy. No, really. Besides school finishing (two 8-10 page papers and three finals, with a few presentations, quizzes and short papers thrown in for extra spice), I'm shooting and editing this short, doing Script Frenzy, and hopefully pulling Current Draft through a full edit in time for the Nicholl. The only way this is remotely plausible to think about is because of the fact that after April 18th I will have no obligations whatsoever to anything. Nothing. No more school obligations, no more church obligations. Pure, clear freedom. It's like a shining moment I look forward to. I wish you guys could see my Google calender to compare the next few weeks in all their multi colored jam-packed glory to the complete emptiness of the week after April 18th.

Google calender went out for like 5 hours on Friday and I almost had a meltdown. No joke, there were noticeable panic feelings.

Anyone writing anything for Script Frenzy? I'm trying to decide if I want to write something that's been percolating for a while or go with something completely different. I have an idea about Sierra Leone that I really like, a very plot-based, socially concerned piece. Or I have the vaguest idea for a more anti-structure, romantic piece that will explore some questions I'm thinking about right now. Any suggestions? What are you writing?

This post is nothing but procrastination against working on my Current Draft.

So tonight I put on my dancing shoes skipped on over to a "silver citizens" karaoke night (don't ask how I got in; my secrets are my own). My screenwriting professor told me the other week that my combination of situation and setting was unique and interesting. The funny thing is, in that scene and in others that I would gamble he'd find similarly interesting, the combination wasn't anything I fixed. It's just how it really happened. Writers need to keep their eyes open. As I was sitting at dinner, I realized that I no longer keep pen and paper on me and what a disadvantage that puts me at.

The other day I did something not so smart. I was staying with my friend, and in the morning after I brushed my teeth and came back from the bathroom, I tried to jump onto the bed. However, my knee struck the footboard and I doubled over it. Suffice to say, that jump was not successful.

Quarterlife is going to be on TV tonight. It's the first internet-to-network show. I was hoping to watch me some Quarterlife, and still might view it via the web if I can't watch it tonight, but it would be interesting to compare the presentation of it on both the internet and the network.

Whenever I see the ads for 10,000 BC I think of Intolerance. Oh, silent era cinema.