Tuesday, October 5, 2010

[important things]

Well, news of job-ness got me out of my funk and got me writing today, I completely gutted and semi-re-wrote "Rhymes With Orange," a short script I wrote years ago that I've always wanted to make into a short film. I'm pleased about this. I've also been thinking of how easy it would be now to make a homeschool-mockumentary, as it is not something that has to "look" good at all, and I have at present connections to the young homeschool drama kids who would probably be willing to volunteer (Bernie...?), so I'm thinking of gutting my original script and writing a short (or a short series of them) and filming them sometime soon. I can picture that going very well. I'm still thinking of my Alice Noir shorts as well, however I would like for those to "look" nice, and with my camera and lack of lighting skills I'm scared of that not happening. Also, as I've been working on it and outlining, it's taken a bit of a dark turn, far more whorish and sketchy characters are surfacing, so I'm not sure if that limits the actor possibilities.

I have this great idea for the tea party scene, which will of course be in black and white, when Alice comes upon the Mad Hatter, the March Hare, and the Doormouse all sitting at a table. The Mad Hatter and the March Hare light about a million cigarettes for the duration of their chat, and place each one in their respective saucers. Each of the saucers would be on a lazy-susan kind of thing, and every time they pause to find their cigarette it will have moved away. By the end of the conversation the Doormouse, in the middle-- the top of his/her head barely visible over the tabletop-- will have a billion cigarettes in his/her mouth and hands. Bahaha.

Well, I thought it was funny.

Anyway, I want to work on that stuff. I have also assembled a goal list (well, I assembled it last month but I've been too despondent to care about it lately). My screenwriting teacher recommended such a thing-- a list of ten goals that I can see every day. It should change every six months, even if some things are not achieved. This is what is on mine:

1. Win a screenwriting contest. [part B- sell something in said contest]
2. Hook amazing internship.
3. Pay off credit debt.
4. Write/finish true-life script (my deadpan, Greenberg-I-hope-esque "this is my life story" script, which I hope to make one day, somewhat like the film "Tiny Furniture" which was a big inspiration).
5. Go to New York.
6. Shoot Rhymes With Orange
7. Lose enough weight so can look fabulous in Sacred Blue Dress (purchased before graduation, however with stupid extra weight does not look good AT ALL- pregnant is the word that comes to mind)
8. Get an agent.
9. Publish a story in print.
10. Go abroad.

tacked on: 11. Play guitar.

These are the biggies. Some are doable, some will be transferred to my next six-month goal list. At present, it makes me happy to look at it.

Some other things I hope to do:

Screenwrite, of course. And work on my novelish thing from time to time.
Work on the little short films.
Attend therapy. I don't and won't have money for it anytime soon, so in the meantime I've decided to try a group therapy for depressed and bipolar people that meets on Tuesday nights. I missed it tonight, but I'm going to try for next week.
Return to church. I have been going so rarely due to the expense (gas) and depression/sickness, really, and that in and of itself makes me depressed.
Volunteer. I thought about doing so quite a bit over this stretch of Doing Nothing, but I was far too bogged down by the monotony of Doing Nothing that I did nothing. Bah. The library downtown has a literacy program, so I may try to be a part of that twice a week. Literacy is one of the few causes that I think of quite a bit (the other two, for the most part, being autism and homelessness, but one thing at a time).
Read again. I was on a blitz there for awhile and then I just stopped. Still trying to get through East of Eden and Running with Scissors, both very easy books to read but for some reason my mind hasn't been capable of paying attention.

Also, in order to lose weight, I need to make some sort of plan. I'm trying to negotiate a bike, which will make this much easier, as I love biking (WIND IN THE HAAAAIR) and will probably be more apt to get out of the house into the air if I had such a thing. I hope. Also, I'm going to get back to walking the dogs, which will be some pleasant cardio every day. I don't know about eating habits. I either want to curl up and eat all of the food in the world or drink coffee and eat nothing-- neither option has done me much good. I wish I had the clear mind and motivation that I did after we moved to California in 2004, I immediately just GOT ON IT and lost a bazillionedy pounds while reading a bazillionedy books and watching almost the entire Criterion Collection. And then I made friends, hahaha. Oh well. There always has to be a trade-off I suppose.

Also, I know I'm so late to the party, but Empire State of Mind has a fantastic chorus. I plan on singing it to myself (as well as my entire, carefully selected "NY State of Mind" playlist) as I explore the streets of my beloved someday-city. Ahh. Ahh. I'm over-caffienated and underfed today (option 2), but also a bit hopeful. Just a bit.


3 comments:

Sonja said...

Oh. My. God. I love that dress! I might buy one for myself when I graduate. x_x Ah, curse you Katrina, when I ought to be saving my monies (which aren't technically mine at all)...

Yay on writing! I haven't been writing at all sadly. Just thinking mostly.

I enjoyed going to group therapy back in the summer. But not enough to actually do it again this semester. I hope the Tuesday Group will do good things for you. :)

Your Alice Noir sounds fantastic by the way. Bahaha.

K said...

Hahaha. Yes. When it didn't fit I was faced with such a moral dilemma. I really should have returned the thing but I couldn't! It was too pretty! If you love it you should get it, you would look better in it because you're a shorty ;) That's my only complaint about it, it's surprisingly short, even on skinny girls. Er. I mean, SAVE YOUR MONEY!!!

I'm actually excited about the Tuesday thing, I just started hoping that there might be people my age there. Might be a good/weird place to make friends, which would be nice, because most of my friends are elsewhere at present. Anyway, I hope it's good all around.

Erin said...

I LOVE the sound of Alice Noir shorts. And your goals. Now I feel all inspired to make a list of writing/film stuff I want to do...