Tuesday, August 31, 2004

My post from yesterday was eaten up. I believe I can't remember what I talked about beyond this site. That is actually the result after I did the exercise at the site. It was an interesting experiment. I am listed as georgiana and Chris is listed as christopher.

Chris and I went to look at a car for sale on Sunday. It's a little car named after me. A Geo Storm. I made the mistake of getting in the tiny back seat and then I had a claustrophobic attack and had this vision of the guy who was selling it crashing it and I panicked at the notion of being trapped in there and I had to get out.

Saturday, August 28, 2004

It's amazing how attached you can feel to someone you have never met who has no idea you are alive.

I was reading this article and I was just stunned by how courageous and incredible some of these climbers are. I was thinking this guy and Colby Coombs would make an unstoppable pair. I ran a quick google search on Colby to see what he is up to these days and found this:

COLBY COOMBS WINTER HARBOR - Colby Coombs, 81, died April 10, 2004, at a Bangor hospital. A complete obituary will be published at a later date. 351445

I didn't even notice where it said this particular Colby was 81 I was jus suddenly so stricken with sadness I felt faint.

Several years ago when I was going through the initial testing for sleep apnea I had the sleep study with the cpap machine. I guess it was triggered by the mask on my face but I had this dream I was climbing Everest with Colby and he went snowblind. I was kind of disappointed that we wouldn't summit but I know how dangerous summit fever is on that mountain. But Colby said no we were still going to summit. It's just that I had to describe every single step of the way to him so he could make it. I'm good with words, right? And why would he let a little thing like not being able to see stop him? Of course I agreed with whatever dream logic was going on but oh my the sheer weight of the burden of what we faced could have broken my back.

Friday, August 27, 2004

Happy fun dancing pony day off of work times commencing now...

Atomic Books is giving away tickets to see Hero. Good for any Baltimore theater through the entire run of the show which is way cool. So I was thinking something in Charm City but was not sure what and then as I was daydreaming about what the standard of the Medicis really meant I decided we should go to Pimlico for the last day of summer racing.

Good times, not too much money spent and not too much physical effort either since I was still throwing up last night.

http://www.marylandracing.com/

Thursday, August 26, 2004

A sudden transformation startled me today.

Cullen and I were out and about running errands and getting junks done. We were at this counter and I was talking to a nice articulate woman with beautiful hair. I turned away for one second and to my shock she had been replaced by a little skinny woman who seemed to be quite coked out.

She kept sniffing and wiping her nose on her shirt. How foul is that? Then she got really angry because she couldn't find a pen. She started bitching everyone out and throwing things around. I think maybe it wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't gotten the nice chick first. There is no doubt some sort of lesson in there.

Wednesday, August 25, 2004

In Blood and Gold Anne Rice's character Marius says "And then I went to my rest, never dreaming that it was the last night of our life together, the last night of my supreme power...the last night of my Perfect Time."

I think it has to be that way. Perfect Times may just always end suddenly and in tragedy. If we knew the Perfect Time would end in blood and death and fire and pain then would it still be the Perfect Time? Would it still be beautiful and sweet and slow and intoxicating? Would the pall of the premonition destroy the Perfect Time or it would it make it all the sweeter for knowing it wouldn't last and you needs must cherish every moment?

Tuesday, August 24, 2004

It's just not working.

I am so pressed over this sitcom script. Maybe that's why it's not coming along at all. I decided I needed to scrap most of what I had and start over. I know that many people say just get the first draft done and do the rewrites later and I agree somewhat but I also think that when you have to force yourself to write and you hate every single word then maybe you need to decide if you are going in the wrong direction.

I think that's the case here. I've never written a sitcom and I think I was trying to do too much in the first episode. The parts I have happening at page 13 should probably be the end of of the episode. Rip it up and start over but still if I didn't have a deadline to finish this thing I would put it away and let if ferment for a few months because I am not convinced I really have a handle on it as a TV show.

Sunday, August 22, 2004

I saw the headline about The Scream being stolen and I was interested in a morbid sort of way. I thought anyone who steals a famous painting in this day and age would have to go through some technical ballet but the article said that the thieves terrorized everyone with guns and then yanked the paintings off the walls.

How barbaric and disappointing. Once again my imagination is a gazillion times better than reality. Why do I bother?

Saturday, August 21, 2004

What is the deal with sitcom formatting? Who invented it? Why is so much of it in all caps? How does the casting director tell when a new character is introduced when they all the look the same? Was there any thought behind this insanity?

Friday, August 20, 2004

Some thoughts on communion

This article is odd.

It says this little girl tried to take part in her first communion but it doesn't count because she can't eat wheat. Rice is not good enough sayeth the Lord or the Vatican or something.

I thought transubstantiation meant the wafer becomes the body of Christ anyway. It is no longer rice or wheat but flesh so who cares what it used to be?

Thursday, August 19, 2004

Less Than Zero

I read this book again yesterday. I need to stop rereading books in the hope that they will finally click with me.

This book is part one of what I perceive as the author's attempt to rewrite Catcher in tea Rye. Oh sure there is some "shock value" stuff in there that you would not find in Salinger's book but then you find much in Salinger's book you can;'t find here like interesting characters and a point to the pointlessness.

The scenes in Less Than Zero that are meant to make you feel terrible for everyone involved are written with such a dearth of compassion, humanity or reality that they do little beyond making me think this is just stupid and ridiculous. The paperback I was reading, which I picked up for a quarter at Goodwill, said something on the back about these poor characters afflicted with too much money. Hmmmhmm. That doesn't really seem to be the problem when I read the book. It seems to me like the author sprained something trying to desperately to create some poor little rich kids with no morals. I hope he recovered but from what I have read of his subsequent work I think not.

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

Project Greenlight three top six scripts

I finally gave in and started reading these today. I read one called 6th Street Boyz and one called Wildcard.

Boyz was a vampire movie set in the gang life of a small town in California. Lost Boys meets West Side Story with no dancing, singing, humour or anything at all interesting or compelling. I have no idea why this script made it past the first round. It worries me that people read this stuff and think that is the best we have to offer when I have personally read hundreds of much better unproduced scripts.

Once again the author proved that you need to shell out for a proofreader. Of course it will not help with the lack of plot or character development but at least the reader won't be cringing over stuff like INT. VAMPIRE LARE. Oh and a little history of any weird medical stuff you are trying to do would be good. AB- is the rarest of the blood types yes but not as rare it needs to be for this script.

Wildcard was much better. But still I reached this point where I thought this is ridiculous. Still miles away a better script than the other. It reminded a lot of Alan's con man script.

I am hoping that I will like the winning script but I don't know.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

I don't know how your kids argue but here is an example of mine.

Cullen yells up the stairs to me in that I am arguing voice and says "Mom, isn't it true that androids don't necessarily have positronic brains?"

I think for a second and then say "Yes, that's true."

He says "See?" in this very meaningful voice and Cam says nothing at all. Can't argue with the truth can you?

Monday, August 16, 2004

Song of Susannah

I just finished reading this book. I liked it and oddly the ending didn't leave me frustrated and annoyed as so many endings do these days. Perhaps because it's not really an ending but more of a stopping point for now.

The stuff about Stephen King was a little disconcerting. I don't like it when something keeps pulling me out of a story. But still it was interesting to see some of my own fears on the page. When I read the very first book I had this terrible fear that Mr. King would die and leave the story untold. I managed to get my hands on an original copy of the limited edition of the first book in the series so I have been reading this book for a very long time. Somehow he and I have both muddled through the accidents and traumas of the intervening years and here we are very close to the end of the story.

It's particularly interesting given my own very recent fears that I am going to throw an embolism and kick off before I manage to finish any of my novels. I guess the scripts mean something it would not be like I never finished anything but I would like to finish at least two of my novels before I die.

Carnal Fear and Angels in Black Suits. Those are the ones that I would finish.

Sunday, August 15, 2004

Today I learnt that skoldpadda means turtle.

Yesterday I learnt that if I don't fix this broken backspace button I will go crazy. I make too many mistakes to not be able to at least try and fix them.

I lost my balance today. Big deal I know but in this particular case I was just taking my dinner out of the oven when I fell. I was able to twist around and just missed landing on the open oven door and the rack I had pulled out. Boy that would have stunk wouldn't it?

Until my brain is better I am thinking maybe I better not do stuff like that when I am the only one going to be home for a couple of days. Now this is the point where God should be listening and think oh yes, I was going to fix that little problem of hers wasn't I?

Tuesday, August 10, 2004

Encephalitis Lethargica?

I remember when I was quite young my mother talking to someone about how my great grandfather, or possibly my grandfather, having had sleeping sickness. I remember the tse-tse fly being mentioned. I believe it was when my mom was going to Pearce College and studying biology. I also think she was guessing that he had had African Sleeping Sickness but nobody knew for sure.

Did he have Encephalitis Lethargica? What are the chances that I had an older relative with an obscure brain disorder and now I have another totally unrelated obscure brain disorder? I wish I could get at some medical records.

Monday, August 09, 2004

Positively medieval.

After five months I still say this whole treating my brain thing smacks of the bodies divided into four humours theory. Making my body so dehydrated that I stop producing too much spinal fluid sounds on a par with blood letting to me. Why don't they just stick leeches on my spine?

Sunday, August 08, 2004

Pain relief through chili peppers or Evaluation of Vanilloid Receptor Inactivation for Preemptive Analgesia

I like to read the new studies that are recruiting. It is probably a little queer but I'm always fascinated to see what sorts of new trends are out there and what non traditional methods are being studied. I see there is a study of green tea extract and a lot of carcinoma vaccine treatments.

But this study of the efficacy of using capsaicin binding to treat pain is really intriguing. Chris still needs two wisdom teeth out. When he gets back from his trip I'll see if he wants to look into this study.

Saturday, August 07, 2004

If you are Mr. Jones...

I was talking to Megan about the fascinating nature of tech support and customer service and she told me about this fellow who keeps calling up to ask her a question. The trouble is that it is always the same question. He remembers calling but not what they talked about or how the situation was resolved.

I told her to get an automatic phone system. If you are Mr. Jones you have already called. It could be big in Japan.

Yesterday I was really being bombarded by this person who finally bewildered me to the point of incapacitation. The only positive thing that came out of the entire 100+ email relay was that I should start a site for people who do tech support. It would randomly email people with little messages that say things like "You do such a terrific job." I would call it techsupportsupport.com.

Friday, August 06, 2004

Faith Credit Healing

I get these weird emails for like Christian debt repair. Christians only need apply. They ennoy me so I don't know the details. I got one the other day that was not Christian related but it was called "heal your credit."

This makes me think of the preacher character. Only say the word and thy credit shall be healed! Smack your credit report against your forehead and repeat the holy words of Antioch, I shall pay all my bills on time, I shall have no lates, I believe I can have an 850 FICO, HEAL ME!

Odd little notice - someone wants a horror script that "puts animals in jeopardy." I'm guessing they don't mean the game show. At first I thought what kind of suck fuck puts animals in jeopardy but then I realized that I have two script ideas where animals are indeed in danger.