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.
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