What wonderful momentous occasion(s) have taken place over the course of the past few days that would inspire me to write about it... where to start, where to start.
I just resigned my subscription to Match.com just moments ago. Why? Because I think that the whole on line matching / meeting / dating scene is a hoax. This is the second time I've tried and the general response I usually tend to attract are from fat chicks. Now please don't label me as a shallow individual. I know I don't necessarily have the physique of a all-star athlete either. However, in my defense, I'm a big guy... not particularly a fat guy. I guess that I've discovered that most on line personal sites tilt heavily in this direction (no pun intended).
I don't want you to presume that I'm not willing to date those that are weight-challenged in any way. After all, if I don't feel some sort of connection, I'm not going to waste their time, let alone mine. My conclusion is this: unless you have the patience of a saint and the pocket book of a wealthy business man, I wouldn't put much stock into on line personals. I was burnt once before (eHarmony.com), and therefore I've made the mistake a second time. With just the money that I've spent on these sites, (not to mention the hours upon hours wasted creating the perfect profile) I could have invested in several DVD purchases that would have probably made my life more complete than the false attempt at finding my soul mate.
There's my rant... and I feel much better getting that off my chest. Now on to more hopefully productive things!
I spent this last Saturday revisiting my past. I didn't go back more than six or seven years, but I believe (at least for my benefit), it was far enough back to spark interests that have been sitting on the back burner for quite some time. As I lifted the lid to the simmering pot (in my mind), I discovered that what had been sitting there had not spoiled. It may have gone bland over the years, but it wasn't worth throwing out.
After the second (and final) attempt to get a floppy drive properly functioning, I was able to install a software program called Final Draft. For those of you who have no idea what Final Draft is, it's a screen writing software program that automatically formats your script to industry standards. This program was purchased sometime between 1996 and 1997 when I had made a decision to become a filmmaker. It was an unfortunate failed attempt, but of course I didn't know this at the time. I was still in college (something else that was an unfortunate failed attempt) and high on the possibility of creating my own short film. This dream involved getting my hands dirty from the beginning stages of writing to the final execution of shooting, cutting and submitting a film in a festival.
The only other person who really shared this dream with me, at that time, was Max. Now I don't want to say that shortly after I would drag my cousin, Willis, into the admiration of this craft, but it started with Max and it started at school. (Willis storyboarded my first short video project before I met Max, so you could say that they both shared a part of this dream with me at different stages.)
My first impression of Max was that this guy was cocky as hell. Upon further examination, I discovered that he was just as passionate about the possibilities of career in film making as myself. His banter, first witnessed in a sort of round table at our first class together, ended up being just a fairly naguy who had more hands-on experience that me. After getting past my first inaccurate conclusion of the man, we hit it off really well and decided that we wanted to do all of our work together.
We ended up taking a few classes together over the course of the next year and putting a few small (and I mean small) projects together. These projects, which spurred from mediocre ideas, bad writing and even worse acting ended up producing two video shorts. And unless I was bound, gagged and with a gun to my head, I wouldn't subject anyone to that kind of torture. I think I ended up enjoying the process more than the actual final project. It also became increasingly difficult to find anyone, outside of Max and myself, to put forth the time and dedication to creating quality work.
As the months progressed, we started taking less classes, focused more on generating income and paying bills. We still had the deep-seeded desire to write, produce and direct our own shorts, but not much came of it. We flexed our writing muscles more with an actual writing class as well as putting together a short script with the desire to one day shoot it. This, of course, never happened.
FAST FORWARD [five years and 2200 miles later]
After the successful installation of Final Draft 4.1.6c (a version that no longer exists and BC Software no longer supports), I found several pieces of work that had been rather dormant on several floppies and a couple of zip disks. It's truly amazing when you come across work that you haven't seen in years and realizing that you yourself actually wrote it. Some of the material that I recovered from the ancient wreckage of my now forgotten zip disk made me realize that, at some point in my recent past, I could write. Now I'm not necessarily patting myself on the back in order to just make me feel good. I discovered that I knew (or at least partially) the craft of screen writing.
This rediscovery of old material inspired me to do two things. First, I called up Max, who I had not seen since this past January when I flew out to California for Ryan's wedding. When he called me back (obviously intrigued by the blast from the past message concerning our film endeavors) we talked for over an hour. This conversation just increased the hunger that was already starting to take over most of my waking moments again. Secondly, I pulled out my old screen writing text book Lew Hunter's Screenwriting 434 and began to read.
With that, I end this fairly long journal post. In the midst of the never ending hectic holiday season, I plan to discipline myself in the screen writing craft and attempt to, once again, flex my creative muscles and do something productive with my life: write.
Wish me luck!
Final thought of the day: I can't believe that I'm this desperate to watch the next season of BtVS that I renewed my membership with Netflix (although I was willing to wait for it to broadcast on FX, but their schedule is so damn screwy that I can't rely on it). Thank goodness for small miracles: TNT and a consistant broadcasting schedule (no more power outages, please!). I must feed the habit. It grows inside of me every day. Sooner or later, it's bound to take over... it's just a matter of time.
Monday, November 15, 2004
Sunday, November 7, 2004
Opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one.
I love what a democracy is all about. Earlier this week I came into work and saw Justin, one of my employees, wearing a jacket with a cloth sign safety-pinned on the back stating:
"George W. Bush Will Never Be My President."
And you know what my reaction was...? I laughed. I laughed for a good thirty seconds. And do you know why? Because I respect my fellow co-workers and friends and their right to express their opinions. I know for a fact that there are several people that I work with on a daily basis where we don't see eye-to-eye politically. But it doesn't really effect me. We always agree to disagree. That's what makes this country so great.
Last month, when the political campaigning was going full steam ahead, Justin and I went to lunch together. At the end of our meal, we cracked open our fortune cookies, and mine gave a fairly generic fortune. The other side said "Learn Chinese" and then printed out a word, which I can't quite recall. However, the pronunciation of the word seemed very similar to "dub-ya." As I showed it to Justin, he made the comment that it did say "dub-ya", scribbled a "b" in there and gave it back to me. He found it rather amusing that I receive a fortune that had something similar to the pronunciation "dub-ya" since I supported President Bush. Now I know that Justin didn't support or respect Bush, but he respected me and my opinion and found the humor in it. That's why I love this country.
Ignore the extreme from either side as much as you can and make up your own mind is all I ask. Respect other peoples opinions, even if they alter from yours. Why? 'Cause it's their right and it's what makes our democracy so wonderful.
Remember... Variety is the Spice of Life.
"George W. Bush Will Never Be My President."
And you know what my reaction was...? I laughed. I laughed for a good thirty seconds. And do you know why? Because I respect my fellow co-workers and friends and their right to express their opinions. I know for a fact that there are several people that I work with on a daily basis where we don't see eye-to-eye politically. But it doesn't really effect me. We always agree to disagree. That's what makes this country so great.
Last month, when the political campaigning was going full steam ahead, Justin and I went to lunch together. At the end of our meal, we cracked open our fortune cookies, and mine gave a fairly generic fortune. The other side said "Learn Chinese" and then printed out a word, which I can't quite recall. However, the pronunciation of the word seemed very similar to "dub-ya." As I showed it to Justin, he made the comment that it did say "dub-ya", scribbled a "b" in there and gave it back to me. He found it rather amusing that I receive a fortune that had something similar to the pronunciation "dub-ya" since I supported President Bush. Now I know that Justin didn't support or respect Bush, but he respected me and my opinion and found the humor in it. That's why I love this country.
Ignore the extreme from either side as much as you can and make up your own mind is all I ask. Respect other peoples opinions, even if they alter from yours. Why? 'Cause it's their right and it's what makes our democracy so wonderful.
Remember... Variety is the Spice of Life.
Wednesday, November 3, 2004
Peace isn't merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice.
Nothing brings more joy to my heart than hearing these words spoken just a few hours earlier today:
"Democratic Senator John Kerry conceded the White House race to President Bush in a phone call on Wednesday, ending the drama of ballot counting in Ohio and cementing Bush's re-election to a second four-year term."
Now those who know where I stand politically, I didn't deny nor did I brag about which party or candidate I stood behind. I've been given the opportunity to vote in three Presidential Elections and I've taken advantage of that opportunity twice.
----
Four years ago I missed the opportunity to vote by merely not realizing how popular it would be as well as being spoiled by the ease of voting back home in California. Large populations allow more voting polls to access. I was able to vote at a community center located just outside my neighborhood within walking distance from where I lived.
When I moved to Tennessee, I registered to vote soon after 2000 to make sure that I didn't miss an opportunity. But when that day came, I under-estimated the turnout crowds and thought that I could get my vote in before going in to work.
Yeah, right!
The poll was at an elementary school about mile and a half away from my apartment complex. When I drove my truck around the corner, slowly approaching the school, I started to pass an extremely long line of people standing and waiting. I thought to myself "You've got to be kidding me! There's no way that this is the line for voting." Well, I was wrong, and the estimated time it was going to take to punch a card went from less than 10 minutes back home to an average of two and a half hours. I was schedule to work in less than an hour. I was extremely disappointed so I drove back to my apartment and got ready for work.
This year I took advantage of early voting in Tennessee and I was able to cast my ballot two weeks before November 2nd. Now I don't care whether or not you like early voting, but for me it was like a sign from above. I went down to the Election Commission Office in downtown Murfreesboro and took care of things in less than 10 minutes.
----
Anyways, back to the Presidential Election...
After all of the hatred towards President Bush as well as several inside and outside forces trying to unseat the man (including the recent terrorist tapes, the hoards of Hollywood actors and music artists chanting "follow me to the polls" and the "Fat Slob" also known as Michael Moore and his propaganda filmmaking), the President prevailed with gaining the majority by more than 3.5 million votes. He wins the electoral college as well as the majority. Four more years. The Republicans now control the White House, Senate, Congress and possibly the Supreme Court. Alright, that's me gloating. Enough said.
I'll leave this post with the wise words of Penn Jillette quoted in Maxim about the engagement of voters:
"I think the real heroes in this country, the true patriots, are the ones who aren't voting. Clinton had, what, 23 percent of the population voting for him? If you can go in there and actually pull a lever for either of those two scumbags, what kind of piss-poor human being are you? I haven't met one person who says, 'I f**king love Bush. He's the best person in the country to be president.' That guy, please vote. The person that says, 'Kerry's the best. I agree with everything he's done. I like him shooting Cong in the back.' Vote for him, then, please. The whole 'anyone but Bush' thing is the biggest horror. It's the most cynical point of view possible. Your saying, 'I don't even need a president who means anything to me.'"
"Democratic Senator John Kerry conceded the White House race to President Bush in a phone call on Wednesday, ending the drama of ballot counting in Ohio and cementing Bush's re-election to a second four-year term."
Now those who know where I stand politically, I didn't deny nor did I brag about which party or candidate I stood behind. I've been given the opportunity to vote in three Presidential Elections and I've taken advantage of that opportunity twice.
----
Four years ago I missed the opportunity to vote by merely not realizing how popular it would be as well as being spoiled by the ease of voting back home in California. Large populations allow more voting polls to access. I was able to vote at a community center located just outside my neighborhood within walking distance from where I lived.
When I moved to Tennessee, I registered to vote soon after 2000 to make sure that I didn't miss an opportunity. But when that day came, I under-estimated the turnout crowds and thought that I could get my vote in before going in to work.
Yeah, right!
The poll was at an elementary school about mile and a half away from my apartment complex. When I drove my truck around the corner, slowly approaching the school, I started to pass an extremely long line of people standing and waiting. I thought to myself "You've got to be kidding me! There's no way that this is the line for voting." Well, I was wrong, and the estimated time it was going to take to punch a card went from less than 10 minutes back home to an average of two and a half hours. I was schedule to work in less than an hour. I was extremely disappointed so I drove back to my apartment and got ready for work.
This year I took advantage of early voting in Tennessee and I was able to cast my ballot two weeks before November 2nd. Now I don't care whether or not you like early voting, but for me it was like a sign from above. I went down to the Election Commission Office in downtown Murfreesboro and took care of things in less than 10 minutes.
----
Anyways, back to the Presidential Election...
After all of the hatred towards President Bush as well as several inside and outside forces trying to unseat the man (including the recent terrorist tapes, the hoards of Hollywood actors and music artists chanting "follow me to the polls" and the "Fat Slob" also known as Michael Moore and his propaganda filmmaking), the President prevailed with gaining the majority by more than 3.5 million votes. He wins the electoral college as well as the majority. Four more years. The Republicans now control the White House, Senate, Congress and possibly the Supreme Court. Alright, that's me gloating. Enough said.
I'll leave this post with the wise words of Penn Jillette quoted in Maxim about the engagement of voters:
"I think the real heroes in this country, the true patriots, are the ones who aren't voting. Clinton had, what, 23 percent of the population voting for him? If you can go in there and actually pull a lever for either of those two scumbags, what kind of piss-poor human being are you? I haven't met one person who says, 'I f**king love Bush. He's the best person in the country to be president.' That guy, please vote. The person that says, 'Kerry's the best. I agree with everything he's done. I like him shooting Cong in the back.' Vote for him, then, please. The whole 'anyone but Bush' thing is the biggest horror. It's the most cynical point of view possible. Your saying, 'I don't even need a president who means anything to me.'"
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