Slow going

I know at least one person has been eagerly awaiting my next blog post (hi Mom!), and so here it finally is.


I'm back in the office again today after almost a full two weeks on set, with a total of two days off. I only had a week to get settled in at the office, so being back here is kind of like starting all over again, except I recognize more faces. I've been here since 10 (it's currently 2:30), not doing anything, really. I asked my boss if there was anything she needed from me, or anything I could do for her, and she said no. I said, "well, okay. I'm right here if you do need me," but so far nothing. Maybe I'll ask her again when I finish writing this. The one thing somebody needed an intern to do was to go drop something off someplace, but since I don't have a car, that ruled me out pretty quick.

If I do move out here after graduating next year, I will absolutely need a car. Taking the bus has been fine for me, but almost every day (that I'm working) I run into some situation where I can't do something or something is made a lot harder for me, because I don't have a car.
It helps that I have my license, though. On Thursday, the last day of the Sears shoot, at the end of the day, I was trying to figure out how to get home (because it was kind of far, so taking the bus would've sucked balls). The director asked me if I was a good driver, I said yes (duh), and so I drove her car back to Westwood.
Turns out she doesn't like driving, which works out perfectly for me, since I love to drive. She was visiting from New York, so she had a rental car (which I probably wasn't supposed to be driving, but I didn't get into an accident so it doesn't really matter now, does it?). It was pretty nice, to be behind the wheel again. I miss driving. More so than I miss it when I'm at school, because at school I don't really go anywhere, just walk around campus. Here, I commute every day, and even though the traffic is terrible, I'd much rather be driving than riding the bus.

On the topic of plans for after graduation, Jake and I have been throwing around some ideas. He wants to go to film school, preferably at USC or UCLA, so if that happens for him, he and I could find an apartment (maybe with Patrick too, if he goes the film school route as well) and begin the adventure of living in LA (for reals!). All this is contingent upon finding a job, of course, and it's not even close to top priority at the moment, but it's something we've talked about. If things go well this summer, maybe I can keep up a relationship with Radical.... who knos.


Let me take this opportunity to say that the 'w' key on my keyboard is being a bit tricky, so if there are any typos because of that, you'll just have to excuse me. If there are typos that in no way involve the letter 'w' well, that's just my own damn fault.


Yesterday I went over to Jake's apartment and we worked on writing our senior projects. He introduced me to a program called Celtx, which is the free, open source version of a softare he uses (the name of which I forget at the moment). It took me a while to figure it out, but I think I'm getting the hang of it, and I've started writing the opening montage.

He also lent me the book Story, by Robert McKee, a book that's been recommended by several of my cinema professors, but which I'd never taken a look at before. I read the chapter on "The Substance of Story" last night and this morning, and it was really helpful.
More reading material came to me in the mail last week-- the newest issue of Film Comment from Dad. Finally, having a dad who works at a magazine printing company finally yields something useful! I read a bit of that on the bus this morning, and it made the trip a lot more pleasant. With things going at this rate, I might not need to get a library card after all!


Now, I never made any promises to keep this thing regularly updated, so don't expect stuff to appear here soon.

Back to work with me!
-C