God Gave Rock n' Roll to Everyone

Trick or treat, bitches!!!

Birthday greetings to Fed-UP & Dr. C.

Here's a little brain-game to get you going today.

Right Brain vs. Left Brain Quiz.

Do you see the dancer below spinning clockwise or counter-clockwise?


If you see her spinning clockwise, you favor the RIGHT SIDE of your brain.

If you see her spinning counter, you favor the LEFT SIDE.

Check the bullet points:

LEFT BRAIN uses logic detail oriented facts rule words and language present and past math and science can comprehend knowing acknowledges order/pattern perception knows object name reality based forms strategies practical safe

RIGHT BRAIN uses feeling "big picture" oriented imagination rules symbols and images present and future philosophy & religion can "get it" (i.e. meaning) believes appreciates spatial perception knows object function fantasy based presents possibilities impetuous risk taking

In the interest of full disclosure, I cribbed the eye-game from here, with a heads-up from FEDUP. But there are less adverts to suffer on my blog.

Supposedly, most people will see counter-clockwise. But maybe that's just in Australia. Regardless, you can make her spin in the opposite direction if you concentrate... I fucking dare you, right now...

Today's the big strike deadline for the WGA. Midnight Halloween. I'm feeling a bit green over it all. The business has suffered these things in the past, and one hopes that there would be lessons learned from history, but my way your way anything goes tonight...

At least we've got LOST fanboys rooting for us. And God bless Alec Baldwin.

I've got no idea how this thing is going to play out. I just pray for some resolution. So we can all go home happy.



Okay that's the end of it for tonight folks... It's good to hear you all out there... come back next week, have some treats for ya...

Remember on your way home, if you're driving don't drink... and if you drink, don't drive...!

Crash Learning

Paul Haggis's critically-acclaimed Crash (2004) is just as ham-fisted a meditation on race-relations as John Singleton's critically-panned Higher Learning (1995).

It's a fact! Someone had to say it.

You know what THAT means...?

RACISM!!!

Both movies show absurd depictions of racism, making the Avenue Q argument that everyone's a little bit racist (but especially cops). They both end up with cartoon powder-keg versions of the real world where every interaction between people of different hues becomes the potential spark for a full-blown race war. Both bludgeon the viewer with a didactic mallet. At least Higher Learning is funnier.

I'm looking forward to one final visit to Bodymore, Murdaland:

New Yorker article on the final season of THE WIRE.

(Thanks to ds for the heads-up.)

3! 2! 1!

3-2-1 Contact on member-supported PBS, Channel 13. It's what I watched when I was home sick from school growing up...



I was usually feeling pretty shitty when I watched it. Just watching the opening sequence brings back a potent sense-memory of aches and pains and Campbell Soup.



"The Bloodhound Gang" would piss me off because they were always split up into multiple parts, and I'd never be home for conclusions to storylines. (This was before we had a VCR.)

In later years, this girl Stephanie Yu became a host...



Now, I remember this girl. IMDB does a poor job of tracking her, but I remember her taking on an increasingly prominent role. And I'm pretty sure she made appearances on Sesame Street, as well. (Yes, I watched all that kiddie crap way past the point I should've been watching, including Square One and Ghostwriter. Slave to pop-culture as I've always been.)

FACEBOOK alone claims 195 profiles with the name "Stephanie Yu". Name like that is a needle in the haystack of the internet! But I'm curious what's become of her, so here's a blog entry. If someone's got some answers, contact me.

That Not So Fresh Feeling

Looky: it's little Ben Affleck in 1984, on educational PBS TV series "Voyage of the Mimi":



And here he is all growed up, promoting Jersey Girl by groping a Canadian reporter for 5 minutes:



I'm sure if this were in some sort of context, it wouldn't look so bad...

Bow in the Presence of Greatness

I didn't realize that the print version of PREMIERE stopped existing earlier this year. That was my first big "movie magazine" growing up. And now, stateside, it only exists online. And I hate the formatting of the Online Power List. (I've gotta view that list as a fucking slideshow?!)

My studio contact gave me a call Thursday aft, said he'd been meaning to call me for the past 3 weeks, they've been busy as fuck gearing up for productions. He gave me a little pep talk Re: My Concerns About a (Possible) WGA Strike, reassured me that I'll be in a good position when the smoke clears, said he'd buy up anything I wrote...

I'm working on a script about a woman named "Poetic" who wants to be a Justice of the Peace. My working title is, "Police Academy 5".

"How is that little script of yours coming along?" needled the Average Frustrated Raccoon.

Harder Better Shuffled 5:
1. "The Facts of Life", Black Box Recorder
2. "Milk It", Nirvana
3. "All Because of You", U2
4. "Lucid Assembly", Gerard Bauer & Mike Bauer
5. "Pennyroyal Tea", Nirvana

Faster Stronger Bonus
"The Fool", Neutral Milk Hotel

TGIF Readings:
Philly's Fucking Ugly
James Lipton Loves Himself

I Got Blisters On My Fingers!

Maya Angelou didn't speak for 5 years. Now when she speaks, everything she says is devastatingly poetic. She can't help herself.

Not many people know this about me, but I didn't say my first words until I was 29.

There is a difference between anger and bitterness. Anger is healthy. It's good to be angry. Bitterness, however, is like a cancer that consumes a person. (I'm paraphrasing from Dr. Angelou—but it sounds much nicer in Italian...)

I honestly don't believe that I'm bitter. I'm fuckin angry. Prone to bouts of melancholy, perhaps. (Not without reasons.)

It's truly bitter people that get to me, though. Given enough time, it's downright caustic being friends with those people.

Today/yesterday was a bad writing day. Tomorrow/today will be better.

I Want To Sail Away To A Distant Shore

I think I wrote some good stuff today/tonight. This draft is going to be long, but that's the least of my immediate concerns. Just want to get it to a better place.

What fucking time is it?

How can anyone sleep? Non posso dormire. Nessun dorma.

How to fight monkeys.

Pretty Tied Up

I'm trying to write my way out of my hole. Which is always a wretched exercise.

A major revision of a very old script. I've been banging my head against the wall with it for weeks now, but I'm making some discouragingly lethargic progress.

But timing is everything at the moment. Apparently studios aren't really shopping for original specs at the mo, what with the pending HORRIBLE LABOR EVENT THAT I HOPE DOESN'T COME TO PASS, but I think that it would be good if I finished this and had another bargaining chip for more work.

Dark fucking days. I really hope the world gets better in the next few weeks. Or else it is going to get a lot less pleasant around here.

Remember all the hooplah over David Letterman not inheriting The Tonight Show from Johnny Carson?

Here's Letterman's last appearance on Johnny:

Part One
Part Two

Bet My Bottom Dollar

My darkest hours, I try to imagine some point in the future. Some day, some moment, where everything is right in the world. Where EVERYTHING... IS JUST... TOGETHER...

Some happy day where it is all sorted out for me. And I'll be able to flashback to my darkest, most uncertain hours and smile at how trivial those concerns were. Smile knowing full well how those problems were solved. How the gray clouds moved on. How everything wrong got righted...

Eventually.

Jeff Bridges has the coolest blog, completely hand-drawn. And I'm not just saying that because he's got a link to one of my YOU TUBE vids. (The one of Terry Gilliam crashing The Daily Show line. There are two vids of it on YOU TUBE: an official one and mine, and Bridges links to mine, bitches!)

Here's a celeb blog for Nicko.

And here's an article about GAWKER, for fans of internet readings.

And finally, this is funny for those who are old enough to get it:

Somnolent Confessional

Recently, I dreamed that I'd killed someone.

Let me be clear, I didn't dream that I was killing someone. I dreamed that I had killed someone. In the past. Specifically, at some point in my adolescence.

I don't even remember what was actively going on in the dream that provoked this memory. But in the dream, I suddenly remembered that I had accidentally killed someone years ago. That I had repressed the memory, somehow reconciled the accidental murder in my head...

But as I prodded at this memory, I began to remember more details. Like disposing of the body. Chopping it into pieces and burying them.

Years had passed. No one had ever discovered the body. I had gotten away with murder.

And what I was left to ponder was... assuming that "God" is a fiction... what did it really matter?

After I woke up, it took me a while to realize that I hadn't actually murdered anyone. And the sad thing is, I really had to think hard about it...

For your perusal:

A Fall 2001 email exchange between Freaks & Geeks's Judd Apatow and That 70s Show's Mark Brazill.

War Games

Attended the big WGAE "Strike Authorization Vote" meeting Thursday night. It was surprisingly sparsely attended. The atmosphere was... awkward. We were cautioned to be careful what we say to the press, but there didn't seem to be any massive revelations at the meetings...

The bottom-line is, the strike is not an absolute. It's a last measure.

The contract expires on October 31st. A lot can happen. And these negotiations will probably come down to the wire.

The "Strike Authorization Vote" is supposed to be a show of unity. It doesn't mean that we immediately strike. It's a vote to give our guild leaders the authorization to strike if the negotiations call for it. A large vote for YES would, theoretically, be a show of strength and unity at the bargaining table. The hope would be that we'd get a 90% or higher authorization.

A brief history of Writers Guild strikes, FWIW...

1981—
68% vote, stayed out for three months:
won our demands.

1985—
75% vote, stayed out for two weeks:
accepted a contract that is considered very poor in hindsight.

1988—
96% vote, stayed out for more than five months:
accepted virtually the same offer that the AMPTP put on the table one month into the strike.

Happy days, huh?

If you've put it off (like I did), do yourself a favor and watch THE LIVES OF OTHERS. It's my NetFlix Pick of the Weekend, you motherfucking NetFlixing lurkers you! It is so fucking good. Best movie I've seen in a while, man.

"While you're watching movies, you COULD be looking for a JOB, asshole!" shouted the Average Frustrated Raccoon.

"Why don't you just mind your own business, AFR?" queried Malice.

"Or WHAT??" spat the Average Frustrated Raccoon. "You're gonna make me disappear like the Gay Horse? Oooh, I'm sooo scared!"

DefCon-5 Shuffled 5:
1. "I'll Do Anything", Courtney Love
2. "Hollywood Freaks", Beck
3. "Debra", Beck
4. "Musicology", Prince
5. "Painted By Numbers", The Sounds

"Joshua Called You?" Bonus
"You Got No Right", Velvet Revolver

Live and Let Die

Woke up early. Around 7:30. I know that's not early, but it's a lot earlier than I've been waking up. Went to bed early with a pounding headache. Had a strange dream I can't quite relate here. I think it involved jealousy.

A lot of people actually read the article I linked to yesterday. Supposedly, this is the blog of the woman who got duped.

Big Writers Guild meeting tonight. On both coasts. I'm hoping for some news that will put me at ease.

Consumer alert!

The Made Up Man

You might have to register to read this, but this is a good read.

Best not to watch this video till you've read the whole article, else it won't mean nothin:


Assuming you're not going to immediately go through the trouble of reading that article (written by the writer of "A History of Violence"), let me start off with a blank slate. I am endlessly fascinated by what lonely people will do.

What lonely people will buy.

What lonely people will delude themselves with.

There's a difference between stupidity and desperation. You have a need that is great enough and all sorts of things seem possible.

But what about the person that preys on the lonely? What's going through her head?

---

Same people who assume I've been living the high life are making it more difficult for me as I contemplate having to go back to office work, in the shadow of a Writers Guild strike.

To recap, yes, I've enjoyed a really great breakthrough and I have done well with it, but this strike business hits at a really awful time when I was hoping to get more assignment work. This past year, I've been getting paid enough to cover my costs but not enough to really save it away. And there may as well be a strike going on now because there's a freeze on hiring for assignments.

If a strike happens, who knows how long it will last and how quickly things could pick up for me once it's settled. Most of the industry people I've talked to have assumed that the Writers Guild would postpone striking, and instead align with the Screen Actors Guild when their contract's up in June 2008. It appears that the leaders of our guild had other plans...

I know this is all just a lot of noise to most of the people who read this. I just find it particularly annoying when people respond to my predicament with what amounts to, "Wow, sucks for you."




"Wow... sucks for you," cackled the Gay Horse.

"You're going to the glue factory, motherfucker," whispered Malice.

This is why the blog is called "Misanthropy Central".

Because humankind is hateful.

Feast or Famine

The past weekend, I paid all the bills I'd been dreading paying, my rent, my quarterly WGA dues + 1.5% of income and renewed my lease for another year.

Now I can get run over by a truck and die well into the red!

Holy Mary Mother of God, October is beating the living shit out of me...

Great Pumpkin—why have you forsaken me?!! Do you need more blood?? Haven't I killed enough in your name?!!?


Hell help us...

You Come Up Here, You're Gonna Get Beaten or Raped

Anybody watch Donahue growing up?

Pre-Oprah, kiddies. Phil Donahue was fucking hardcore. Oprah stacks her audience with adoring women. Phil had no problem surrounding himself with an audience of punk kids. Discussions could get passionate, but this wasn't the Jerry Springer show. Phil would just try to keep the dialogue going.

Some of those shows freaked me out as a kid, though they seem pretty tame in hindsight...

October 15th. How the fuck did we end up here?

Jesus Christ, I've been on a roller coaster. For once, I'd like to head into the holiday season secure about something in my world. Clock is ticking. Don't buy into the skewed press. Writers aren't money-grubbing little monsters just out to prove who supplies the pig-shit to Hollywood...
Whooo run Bartertown? Say loud. WHOOO?

Master Blaster runs Bartertown...!

Lift embargo!

It's a lot more complicated than that. People's livelihoods are at stake.




"Haaaay," verbalized the Gay Horse, "Didn't you use the Thunderdome analogy back when the MTA went on strike?"

"Aren't gay horses supposed to shut the fuck up until Fridays?" muttered Malice.

The Midnight Show

Do you love writing spec scripts as much as I do?

All right. For posterity, for the bookmark in time, for the reminder for myself, the next original script I intend to concentrate on is going to be called "The Midnight Show". Will I finish it? Will it become one of those delightful things I develop halfway before shelving? Place your fucking bets.

What's it about, you ask? Ohhh, so many things, really... Primarily, though, it's about me trying to get a payday.

Found a good BBS exclusively for WGA members. Strike fears/speculation are rampant. There's a big informational meeting on the 18th that I'm going to attend. You wanna talk horror, this shit is keeping me up at night.

There's such a range of members in the WGA, the strike affects people in different ways. Yes, there are the A-list writers who get paid the serious bucks who'll be able to weather the strike a lot easier than many others. For me, I'm just starting out and this seriously disrupts the momentum I was developing. A strike can derail a person's career.

I'll be okay in the long run. I know I will. It's the short-term that's the concern. The remainder of this month. And depending on what happens November 1st, the next six months.

49 Up played on PBS HD this week. Fascinating movie. Seeing how these people's lives evolve over the years. They tagged on a little interview with Apted at the end where he talks about how he approaches each installment of the series as a blank slate, every 7 years. Each movie has a different feeling depending on where the subjects are in their lives. Some of the movies are a bit more optimistic. Some are darker and uncertain. "49" is more contemplative, as the subjects start to question their relationship to the actual series, and how their lives have been depicted.

I'm hoping I'm going to be in a much easier place when I hit 35. Hard to believe that's just a little over 3 years away.

"I give you three months before you crack..." hectored the Gay Horse.

Sleepless Shuffled 5:
1. "All Because of You", U2
2. "Fistful of Love", Antony and the Johnsons (with Lou Reed)
3. "You Got No Right", Velvet Revolver
4. "Born of a Broken Man", Rage Against the Machine
5. "Sweet Little Sister", Skid Row
Bloodshot Bonus:
"Trouble on the Line", Loretta Lynne

Double-Talking Jive

Over six years ago, I was in an Asian-American performance group. It allowed me to experiment with theater, which was one of the few lasting positive things I took away from the experience.

Ultimately, there were a lot of bitter people in there. A lot of negative shit. And it seems that that doesn't die easily.

I don't like people talking trash behind my back. Especially someone who claims to be a friend.

I don't need people in my life that I can't trust. Not now. Not while I'm rebuilding and moving forward with my fucking life.

I won't belabor this. I am just moving on.

You want a real bummer? I just stayed up till 4am reading this blog entry about the pending Writers Guild strike, and all the comments that followed it... I may have to go back to an office job for a while, if this thing hits...

Nicotene, Caffeine, Sugar Fix

Erm... can someone tell me what the fuck happened on the Upper West Side yesterday afternoon?

Okay, okay—the above pic is actually from the set of the new Hulk movie, but there were cops swarming all over the Upper West Side yesterday, redirecting traffic, creating a scene on Broadway, around the 70s-80s. At least one ambulance parked in waiting. It looked like a big deal but there was no clear focus for the heat.

(0)(0)(0)

Small chat with the agents Tuesday aft. They both really like the spec script I sent them, "A Sweeter World" (formerly known as "Sugar Fix"). The studios are sweating at the mo coz the WGA's threatening to strike sooner rather than later, so work is scarce the next few weeks, but this script could open up some more doors. And, of course, I'm working on more horror for the kids. Waiting to hear back on some stuff. Bought six reams of paper because I go through it so quickly.

If you ever want to get me a cheap gift, get me a ream of paper. If I have a birthday thing this year, maybe I'll just ask people give me paper. That's how cheap I am.

Here's an interesting article on Craig Gillespie, who directed both the critically panned "Mr. Woodcock" and the critically praised "Lars and the Real Girl". There are so many ways a movie can go wrong throughout the process. That's why it pays to be humble.

We'll try to stay blind...

Lag War!!!

Not to turn this into a geek entry, but I activated the free 48-hour upgrade to XBOX LIVE GOLD that comes with "Halo 3", to see what all the multiplayer hooplah was about.

Have I lost half my readers already? Basically, playing "Halo 3" online is like playing a virtual game of tag with a bunch of strangers. I could theoretically play "Halo 3" online with friends. If I had friends. Who had XBOX 360s. With their own copies of "Halo 3". And XBOX LIVE GOLD memberships. (I don't.)

First couple of random rounds were surprisingly fun. I know this is old stuff for most gamers, but it's all new to me. There are different types of games you can play—and they all feel like playground games! There's the standard "kill everyone that moves" game. There's a game where there's a skull somewhere on the level, and you win points for however long you manage to hold onto that skull before someone kills you. There's a game that's a variation on the classic game of "tag", where one person is The Juggernaut, and everyone tries to kill him... and the person who manages to kill him automatically becomes The Juggernaut... and so on...

I did surprisingly well straight out the gate, with a few of the games, despite my n00b stats. A lot of people play with their headset mikes, talking throughout a game; it's a bit unsettling to hear strangers talking at you from the television set. But, I admit, it was gratifying to hear one player say, "Nice game, Malice..."—after I pwned a game.

Of course, my winning streek took a nosedive as my stats improved and I got swiftly paired with more experienced players. But what really started to ruin me was THE LAG...

What if you were running into a battlefield, bullets whizzing through the air, and every so often your field of vision would stutter and you'd end up three steps back... another stutter and you'd end up 10 steps forward...?

(Hint: You'd get really, really killed.)

The online's real glitchy, and I don't know if that's 24/7. But it's fun. Fun weapons and vehicles and boards and games. But the PS3 multiplayer online games are free. And what the fuck am I doing playing motherfucking videogames, goddamn me?!!?

Today's Readings:
Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow talk to their disciples.

Hooray for Women.

Strike Club

Okay, last week sucked.

The threat of a Writers Guild strike is totally buzz-killing my life right now.

The issues are important, granted. They don't affect me now, but they'd affect me down the line.

Nobody seems to be breaking a sweat except me. Assignments are scarcer as the studios gear up for a war. If a strike happens as soon as November, I'm wondering how long it could possibly last—and whether I'll need to swallow my pride and take up a civilian job to get me through the fight.

I wish I could be calm and contemplative like the established guys. It must be fucking nice.

Waiting to hear back on some things. Brushing up some old portfolio pieces. Staring grimly at bills.

This week. Refocus. Redouble. I'll work my way through this funk.

The Bad Son

Phone call, with dad:

"Hi, Malice, tenks for calling me back!"

"Hey, dad. What's up?"

"Did you see da papers? Da news about deh Beep Recall?"

"Deep Recall? What is that?"

"BEEP RECALL."

"Deep Recall? Is that a company?"

"No, *BEEP* RECALL. Dere's a spokesperson for de company, Topps Meat..."

"Ohhh, *beef* recall..."

"Yes, beep recall! Dere's a spokesperson for Topps Meat wit your mudder's name..."

(checking internet) "Yeah, look at that..."

"I tot it was your mudder, so I called your seestar, but your seestar sed it wasn't her. But I tot it was punny..."

"Yeah, pretty funny..."

"So, what about your ex? Do you talk to her?"

"Nope."

"But you are een da same, what-do-you-call, business..."

"Not really. She's only in theater. She's behind me."

"But she studies so much."

"She's had a lot of school, but it doesn't make a difference. I've been writing a lot longer than she has."

"But she is okay?"

"I don't know, I don't talk to her."

"But you don't, what-do-you-call... quarrel...?"

"No, we can be civil. But there's no reason to talk to her. I don't like her."

"I see..."

[Awkward silence.]

"Well, I'b got baykayshun time coming up, I'b got to teyke. At deh end ub dis munt. Ip you wanted to, you cud come bisit me here..."

"Yeahhh, I 'll see, you know it's hard for me to plan ahead with everything. I might have to fly to L.A., I never know what my schedule's going to be..."

"Okeh... well, call me prum time-to-time to let me know how you are doing..."

"Sure, pop. Talk soon."

Horror Evolution

Malice walks down the street, iPod shutting out the world.

Pretty girl approaches, taps his arm.

Malice plucks out an earbud.

Pretty girl (pointing down street): Is that south?

Malice: Yeah.

Pretty girl (walking away): Thanks.

Malice: Sure.

And... scene!!!

I am sooo bloody slick with women, boy. Don't lean on me, man, coz you can't afford the ticket...

Ten Truths About Human Nature

Remember that internet meme with the Filipino prisoners dancing to "Thriller"? Here's the background info I was waiting on:

Filipino Inmates Explained

This is bloody obscene (but work-safe, honest):

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

This whole strike business could really fuck my shit up. It's a big game of chicken. I've been trying to stay cool about it, but it is fucking hitting home now. I'll make it through. It is just some poor-ass timing, s'all I'm sayin.

Waiting to hear on some shit... can't write about anything just yet...

"Hey, maybe you can sell out just a little bit more, dickwad!" howled the Gay Horse.

Horror Shuffled 5:
1. "Dirt Off Your Shoulder/Lying from You", Jay-Z/Linkin Park
2. "Long Hard Road Out of Hell", Marilyn Manson
3. "Son of a Preacher's Man", Dusty Springfield
4. "Shambala", The Beastie Boys
5. "Ghost", Neutral Milk Hotel
Remake Bonus:
"Rollercoaster", Sleater-Kinney

TGIF Laugh:
Shoplifting Seagulls.

Eviscerating Pumpkins

It's been a strange week and the blogging suffers for it.

I haven't got news I'm willing to openly write about just yet. Not up in here. Suffice it to say, I'm trying to figure out what my next project is going to be. 'Cause freedom isn't free, 'n'am'sayin'?

There are a few different projects that I'd like to focus on. I just need to figure out the best move for me. (It'll probably be another horror thing, though.)

This is one of the few shows I don't watch, but it looks like Desperate Housewives is trying to pick a fight with my Filipino brethren.

I predict a riot.

Remember Carrot-Top?

I need to sleep better.

Caveman

Anybody watch "Cavemen", the ABC sitcom based on the GEICO commercials that featured cavemen as frustrated minority yuppies? Not so good...

Well, I just revisited an old movie from 1981 that I watched a million times as a kid, called CAVEMAN. It starred Ringo Starr and Shelly Long. How they managed to get those two in a movie, Christ only knows.

I think I really liked this movie as a kid. Watching it again, I'm not even sure why it was made. I guess it's sort of a parody of the (inexplicable) cavemen genre that existed once upon a midnight dreary. It plays like a live action cartoon. Filled with stop-motion dinosaurs and wall-to-wall sight-gags.

The great Evan Kim plays the one Asian caveman—and he's the one caveman who doesn't speak in grunts, but in perfect American English. In 1981, no less! Evan was way ahead of his time, man.

The Beatles got themselves into some weird-ass movies...

By the by, the NYFA deadline is today, folks! Everyone remember to get your applications in?!

Me neither. Every few years, someone reminds me about it about a day before it's due. I am fucking awful at making application deadlines.

R.I.P. DEADWOOD.

October Nostalgiac

I don't know if other people are like this, but I enjoy revisiting places that are filled with bad memories.

An old school. An old office building. An old neighborhood. I welcome the flood of sense-memory. The flashbacks to bad times. It's important to remember the bad times, in order to fully appreciate the good. You need that pinch of salt in a dessert to fully bring out the sweetness.

Can you believe it's October? We've reached the 10th month. Where does it all go?

I've got a pitching session I'm gearing up for on Tuesday. I've got to lay out all my ideas so I can communicate them articulately. Jesus, it's daunting. This is the big oral exam. I've got to prove that I've got more than one marketable story in me.

I've developed some poor sleep habits this past year, and when I've got deadlines anything goes. I've done a poor job of keeping in touch with people, but I'm trying to remedy that. It's just going to take some time. A whole lot of precious time. It's going to take patience and time.

I have got no idea what's going to happen this week. Or the remaining three months of this year.

I've got some fucking work to do...