Posts made in January, 2012
Day 11: Why 3?
Day 11: I’m a fan of the number 3. It’s my favorite. Has been for as long as I can remember. Three Hershey kisses, three ice cubes, three friends at tea parties. It’s my go-to number. In Wait a Minute, the film short I made back in the Paleolithic period on actual 16mm film that no one except my six-year-old niece ever saw or appreciated, it’s a runner throughout—3:33am is the key turning point, it’s three days until a big birthday and three friends help her through it. Whenever I play the lottery, it’s always checked off as the mega number. Plus, it’s my limit in drinks and in tacos. With this kind of intimate info about my love affair with trois, it’s...
Read MoreDay 10: Judgment Day
Day 10. My stomach churns. I now regret the leftover Chinese food I had for breakfast. But, it’s really not the Mongolian beef or the eggroll to blame for my abdominal hijinks it’s my head. I’m overthinking an email I just pressed send on. “Not this again,” you think. No, not that again. It’s something completely different—thank God. I wrote my response in less than 10 seconds but now I’m giving it way too much time and power. I receive one of those “Please update your records” emails from an old business associate—really old, like nine years ago old. It isn’t to me personally. I’m sure it is a massive group email to all the contacts that live in his address...
Read MoreDay 9: Free Wi-Fi, Detours and Good News
Day 9. Kansas City International airport rocks. I am sitting in a plush, black leather armchair at gate 40, hooked up to free wireless service, watching the sunset. I’m heading from my childhood home back home via Southwest to LAX. My Dad’s birthday surprise a resounding success, Wi-Fi connection on the farm a breeze through Verizon’s Hotspot, my parents and siblings excited to check out my new venture, I feel content and weepy—the perfect combination. A young woman wearing a collegiate style sweatshirt, the insignia I can’t quite make out, asks as she walks by, “Is there free Wi-Fi here?” “There is and it’s awesome, “ I tell her as I open my email, finished...
Read MoreDay 8: The Test of Time
Day 8. I built a barn—a long time ago and not by myself, but still, I built a barn. I probably only carried a few nails and boards to my Dad, Mom or my older brothers and sisters who were the ones doing the real work…the building…but I was there, I was a part of it. That’s the type of people I come from: creators. Do it yourself creators who were always being forced to create from what they had because money was tight and there were six kids to feed. Just picture HBO’s “Shameless” in the country circa 1982—minus the welfare, lying, stealing and multiple moms. 30 years later, years of use, wild midwestern weather, loss of relevance and a decade of neglect, that...
Read MoreDay 7: Surprise!
Day 7. The stage is set. The decoy phone call took place yesterday. My Dad officially has no idea I’ll be surprising him today for his birthday. The cake is bought, the sparkly “7” and “5” at the ready to go atop it, an oddly large “it’s your 75th birthday” button to place on his lapel post surprise and the obligatory gag gift of a Bass Pro shop t-shirt that reads, “My Equipment may be Old, but it Still Works.” I’m not sure how my Dad has reached this milestone birthday. The time has flown. I remember when he turned 40. I can only imagine what he was going through at that mid-life marker because he had the ingenious idea to color in the grey of his beard with...
Read MoreDay 6: Who needs directions?
Day 6. I never ask for directions. I’ll drive from Van Nuys to Watts and back again before asking how to get to the beach. I’m not sure who I got my, “I can figure this out, I don’t need help, I know what I’m doing,” hard headedness from but let’s just say, it takes me longer to get where I want to go and I make everything more difficult for myself because of it. Reluctantly, I give over to the charms of Google maps on my iPhone and it turns my world around. I no longer get lost! I no longer waste valuable time trying to find my way. With this new tool so easily accessibly, I refuse to pull my usual self-ego stroking, I know what I’m doing, aren’t I...
Read MoreDay 5: In Transit
Day 5. I need no alarm. I’m awake with the sprinklers. It’s 5:30am. I’m still not packed. I stumble to find my iPhone. Isn’t that what everyone does first thing upon waking? Check emails while they pee? No response from photographer. I’m deliriously wide-awake. That painful perkiness you have when you didn’t sleep much the night before in anticipation of the next day’s travels. Even once the email snafu panic had cleared, the frenzied energy from yesterday would not release me to the sandman last night. Instead of counting sheep, I laundry listed everything I needed to get done: Wake up early Pack Email photographer friend again Drive truck around so battery...
Read MoreDay 4: Time to slow it down!
Day 4. Have you ever found out that you completely misunderstood what someone was saying in their email only after you’d already replied all? Well, I haven’t…until now. I have been rushing around since my eyes popped open this morning—creating clean toilets, dishes and a good credit rating by paying my bills on time as well as trying to create my creative work all the while thinking outside the box inside the box and creating from what I have…which for breakfast was scrambled eggs and left over tossed salad…surprisingly a nice compliment. The frantic energy a by-product of a last minute, unexpected trip I’m preparing to go on tomorrow to surprise my dad for his...
Read MoreDay 3: Didn’t see that one coming
Day 3: I wake up to find an email from an incredibly talented writer friend in my inbox. My heart pumps a little faster at just seeing her name. She graciously agreed to participate in and lend her abundant gifts to my experiment and she is currently writing a screenplay for it. I am expecting to hear from her but I’m not sure when because of the holidays. Today is apparently the day. The subject is “update” so I presume she is filling me in on her progress and to coordinate a time and place to meet on January 14th, the date we’d decided she’d deliver a first draft. Embarrassingly excited, I quickly double click. To my absolute shock, the note immediately takes an...
Read MoreDay 2: Is it possible to have too much to create from?
Day 2: As I prep to start work this morning, I can’t deny how much I actually do have to create from—for my current project anyway. 1200 hours to be exact. Although I’ve made the primary purpose of this exercise in thinking outside the box inside the box to create from what I have about narrative film, the completion of my non-fiction movie has been creeping along at a snail’s pace for myriad reasons and languishing in postproduction purgatory in the process. If the lumps and growths and curbs of the world don’t kill me, it just might. One reason I’m fairly obsessed with giving expeditious, prolific creation from what I have a shot is because that’s the polar...
Read More
Recent Comments