i <3 monday!

My brain is severely scattered today. I've managed to complete about 7 files... which isn't too bad, especially for how I've been feeling these past few Mondays. Plus my day isn't nearly over. I'd much rather remain asleep and start work on Tuesday. But that won't work because then Tuesday becomes the new Monday. It's a terrible cycle. Too many distractions. Right now, my grandmother is preparing something that looks like apple crisp. It looks delicious even without being cooked yet. But I feel not-so-good due to a hefty breakfast I made myself this morning. It was good, but maybe a little too good. AND I'm a little sleepy from reading too much into all five of the Saw movies. I've only seen the first two... And those movies I'm not really into. I don't care much for gore and torture. But with my overactive imagination, I read the plots to all 5 movies, and how the devices worked and what happened to all the victims. I did that for about 2-3 hours before I realized I should get some sleep... but I was a bit too terrified to do so because images like to playback in my dreams making it a little too real for me. SO after watching some Marx Brothers movies and a few Sudoku and solitaire games later, I was off to sleep with no torture-related nightmares. My waked-up time was between 6 and 7 am, and I didn't fall asleep until about 3 am. Yay!

Prior to my research into dreary doomland, I hopped back into my screenwriting chair and formatted a previously written script into a more professional-looking one. When I'm in a zone (or away from a computer that has Final Draft), I'll write a rough draft in MS Word, and just use a format I always see in high school or church plays:
BILLY: I ate a rock.
TIMMY: That's too bad.
BILLY: I know. (cries)
It's only 4 pages, but it tells quite a story. I strived for realism in the dialogue, and after having someone read through it, I think I achieved that much. Unlike what I usually write, this is on the dramatic/sad side. It's about the break up of an affair between a guy and a girl who have a secret to share with each other. Hey, it's only 4 pages, I can't give everything away.

I feel like working on one of the last projects I started back on my last writing retreat... which is coincidentally titled "The Writing Retreat." Guess what it's about! That's right... making apple crisp. Well, after sitting in bed trying to clear my mind of senseless violence, I came up with another character to add to the story. The hotel I stayed at seems like it encouraged people to live there... So I came up with a character who lived at the hotel that the main character can interact with at different occasions while he's there. I haven't really touched the story itself since a few months ago, but if I get a chance tonight, I'll rewrite it before working on the actual script itself. All of this after a quick Sudoku of course. I also want to put some time in on my Noah Madison project thanks to Jaden's latest post. I need to schedule time to work on certain projects just so no one feels ignored. (I hear your cries Fickette, I miss you too!)

I have a love/hate feeling towards the actual screenwriting process. I like writing dialogue... but it just takes so long for me sometimes--keeping track of the character's personalities, how they would speak, what they would say, and still making it sound believable... unless every character is just so outrageous, that they can get away with grunts.

I really want to see Wall-E after hearing so much good about it and it's non-use of speech. Better yet, I wonder if I could get my hands on the screenplay to see how that reads.

Okay, I must snap out of it and get back to "real work" and do some early knocking-out-of-the-park numbers so I can slack off on Thursday. We've got a meeting at the office and it's requested I be there so I can bring some food back for my mom. It's supposed to be catered with all sorts of yummies. But I'm in a Monday mood, so I can care less about going to a meeting right now. Even with free catered food. What do I really care about? I want to either be on my laptop or under the covers being unconscious. But we can't have everything, can we? Yes we can! Obama told me so.

write about now

Lately I'm finding more time to myself now that I'm getting other... I don't know... I guess you can call them distractions... but they are getting out of the way. One of the bigger issues was getting Sam back, which I have done. It's not completely taken care of yet since I still owe some $$$ on the repair job. At least it's inspired me of yet another project to work on tentively titled "Adventures in Having a Car." It will showcase the "joys" of operating a motor vehicle. A big segment will be devoted to "The Law" and all the fun you can have going to court for various reasons like driving and talking on you cell phone (which is illegal in Connecticut), driving an unregistered and/or uninsured car, and my latest offense--speeding. In one episode, we'll talk about why and how you can benefit fighting a ticket and what happens if you don't. Then we'll shed some light on yet another reason I might want to leave Sam and CT for the subway and cab-filled city of New York.

To shed some light on where this idea came from, I got a notice from the lovely DMV telling me I need to take a course in driving safety or else my license will be suspended. This is due to me just paying my speeding ticket thinking that it will be over and done with. I was mistaken. Sigh.

But back to the writing--I sit at my console (I love saying that) and I look through my list of projects to work on and never actually get around to working on any of them. I get distracted by other things I have on my table (which is usually half of my bed) which consists of unwatched movies and unread books. Wednesday I got a good 2 hours of harp learning and practice in. Saturday and Sunday I did some Spanish exercises. You can expect me to throw in some Spanish from time to time here. Furthermore, Saturday night I finally watched The Forbidden Kingdom which has been sitting on my bed for the past two weeks. I still need to finish watching Freaks and Geeks so I can return those to Netflix and get more DVDs to sit on my bed unwatched for weeks at a time.

Speaking of my room, I was terrified of a freakishly large spider hanging out on my jeans yesterday. I wasn't wearing them yet, and at first glance thought it was a ball of string. My God I was wrong. I'm not a girl. I don't scream. I voiced a very manly "WHOA!" and tossed them in the middle of the room, watching them cautiously lay there being passively occupied by an intruder with 6 extra legs. I grabbed one of four shoes I found and pounded around looking for this quarter-sized pants-stealer. I found him/her eventually and committed spidercide, then vacuumed the body, put on my pants, and went to church. No forgiveness was asked. I think there's a rule somewhere for spiders thou shalt not touch another man's garments or something.

I wrote an article years ago for my high school news paper about my friend Billy, who was a spider living in my room. He stayed by the ceiling, and we had an agreement that he would never cross the line, and I won't kill him. Unfortunately, my mom told me she killed him and didn't tell me, and an imposter Billy came about, but failed to recognize the treaty. I do believe I killed that one once I learned of Billy's fate. But I find it humorous thinking "what if..." What if who I killed Sunday was actually Billy? Or maybe Billy's offspring seeking revenge? I didn't see a resemblance. Billy was much smaller than this beast. I don't think they were remotely related.

I digress. Severely. I really wanna write a script or something but have a hard time choosing from projects I've started. But I think I'm going to set a goal for myself this week to work on some of the serial works I have. Like the Fickette McSavvy cartoon. At least I can have a pilot episode written. At least. Or maybe my Noah Madison stories. Something. I need the juices to pump and flow. I need the euphoria of accomplishment. Hmmm... I like that. Plus you just don't know how long I've been waiting to throw a word like "euphoria" out and have it actually mean something. I decree that will be the middle name of a future child! Do you hear that future wife and mother to that child(ren)? ______ Euphoria Watson. Heck! It even works as a first name. And it is written. Other names I like to throw in the ring: Jade, Phoenix, Nefertiti... I can't think of the others right now.

I'm not sure when the writing will occur. Possibly tomorrow evening after work and before Fringe. Maybe late on Thursday night. Sometime during Friday or Saturday? Who really knows? Plus I have a number of books to complete/study/skim. So I must make time for that also. Stay in school, kids.