Man, it’s been almost a year since I posted on here. What HAVE you all been doing without me? Other than living full, outdoors-y lives with lots of fun, traveling, sunshine, and meeting real people in locations outside your own home?
I may have overshot my estimations of what people who read this blog do with their free time.
The reason I haven’t posted here since you replaced your 12 Months of Gary Oldman calendar is due to the fact that I now have an 11-month old daughter. (Almost 12 months since I posted, 11-month daughter… hmm.)
Her name’s Joely, and she’s adorable, sweet, fun, she smells like heaven, and requires constant supervision. I remember a joke Dana Carvey made about how having kids was like being in a club, and if you’re ever curious about what being in that club felt like, just go out and adopt a hundred-year-old man who needs 24-hour nursing care. I laughed at that joke before I had a kid. Now it’s more like:
But while she’s hilarious and a handful, she’s not the only reason I haven’t blogged in a while. I’ve also been busy with school and work. School’s going really well, and I made the Dean’s List for two semesters. More on that later.
Work isn’t going so well. Well, work isn’t really going at all. I was laid off in February, and there are days (or nights, I guess) that I miss it. I still don’t feel like I don’t belong in that building. I keep catching myself saying things like “over by work” and thinking how I can print things off there before realizing I can’t. I miss the guys I worked with, and I miss the time it gave me for school or other projects. It feels weird to be so sentimental about a job, especially since I was never without a complaint about it, but I worked there for over five years. That’s the longest I’ve ever had a job. In some ways, it feels like one of the longest relationships I’ve ever had. And now it’s over.
One good thing is that I got a nice severance, and I’ll be getting unemployment while I’m in school. The other good thing is that I’ve got a lot more time that I can devote to things for school. Like film shoots. I’m part of a Production Workshop course (and probably will be until I graduate) in which every member has to pitch short film ideas at the beginning of the semester. Eight were chosen to be produced over the course of the semester, and one of them was mine! I was overjoyed that mine got picked, but in my excitement, I may have bitten off more than I can chew. I elected to be producer, director, screenwriter, and editor. I may have a control problem; we’re looking into it. I also ended up with the very first production slot, which was February 28-March 2, which gave us roughly three weeks to get everything together. I’ve done 48-hour film festivals before, so I thought it would be fine. And it was, mostly. I had never directed with any sort of crew before, so it was difficult for me to find my groove, and I’m still not sure I have. But I learned a lot, and I feel more than confident that I will do infinitely better my next time out.
The movie is about a young man that tries to catch the attention of a young woman by changing himself to match the cues he gets from her. She reads a book, he reads that book. She knits, he knits. And so on and so forth. It’s all set in a diner, and I lucked out by getting someone on my crew that had an in with the owner of a local place called Con Con’s.
I cannot describe how awesome this was. She gave us free reign of the place during her only day off, and by doing so, essentially gave us our entire production. The place is great, and the food is excellent. If you’re ever in Bowling Green (or if you live here), head over to 1924 Russellville Road, pop down in a booth, and have some delicious homestyle cooking. And tell Connie that Colin sent you.
In addition to that film monopolizing most of my thoughts this semester, I’m also taking Producing, Scriptwriting, and Horror classes, which means I’m staying pretty busy. Spring Break hasn’t lived up to its name, since this is the one time I feel like I can catch up on everything I’ve been neglecting around the house and with school. It’s amazing how the time just disappears when your days involve taking care of an infant. We make a list of five things we want to do in a day, and maybe complete one of them. But this week has been productive. I got the treadmill set up, reorganized my office, hung pictures that have been on the floor for six months, and offloaded all of the pictures and videos on my phone. It’s crazy.
Speaking of houses, we moved since the last time I posted here. We’re actually in a rental house now, which is infinitely better than the apartment. Our crazy dogs have a big backyard to run around, and I have a nice, tall deck from which to throw frisbees and tennis balls.
I would love to tell you more, but I’m about to fall asleeeeeeeefrgtyhbnujmk
hamm0ndeggs 