Archive for the ‘UCLA’ Category

So, I gave myself a little free reign and slept in a bit this morning. Jacob was off to his job – it’s his Friday – as he work. So, I gave myself a little free reign and slept in a bit this morning. Jacob was off to his job – it’s his Friday – as he works Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and has the rest of the week off; and I had put in more time than expected on that copywriting gig (Thanks again, Jason!) which was a nice surprise and a good boost (plus there looks like they’ll be more work to do – which is perfect.)

I digress within the digression. I’ve been trying to get up at 8:30, but its been more like 9:00 or 9:30. What I’m trying to get away from is the 10:00 wake-up, which is what I let myself go until today. I’ve also resumed walking, now a bit in the afternoon, to get a break from the computer and get some sunshine/exercise in and to listen to my audiobook/This American Life because I’m not in the car much these days.

ANYWAYS (finally, woof! Sometimes the tangents within the tangents are a little taxing, aren’t they?) I awoke and grabbed my handy-dandy, don’t-know-how-we-existed-without-them iPhone, as I do now every morning, and checked my email before pulling myself up for some apple-cinnamon Cheerios and toast (Hey, I’m out of English Muffins, which reminds me….) with some iced coffee. So, I turn off my alarm – which is on my iPhone, too. (I mean everything’s on that thing!) and lo and behold if there isn’t an email there that goes a little something like this:

Hey Guys,

I got your emails from **** (Ed note: Jason & Doc’s Agent) It was so great meeting you a few weeks back.  I just wanted to reach out and tell you how much **** ( Ed note: Her Boss the Producer) and I enjoy your writing and that we’d love to find something to work on with you in the future so definitely expect me to be bothering you guys with projects.  Thanks again for coming in!

Talk to you soon.

This being from one of the Execs and her Boss whom we pitched to recently with our latest TV idea. And though they passed, we had heard they loved us and the door would be open, but that was it. Until the email today. Which was a nice boost. Which meant we had taken a nice little step forward. This was further emphasized when the above message sparked an email conversation between the Exec, Jason (as he was moving, nonetheless!) and myself (before I could have any breakfast or iced coffee, but not from bed) that seemed to go on for an hour and a half maybe? The Exec asked what we were interested in working on in the future. We asked what her company mandate (the types of scripts they’re interested in doing most of all/are actively hunting around for)  is on the feature side. We chatted on that a bit which evolved into her asking us to return to their office for a meeting to discuss features this coming Monday @ 4.

Which is exactly what we had hoped would occur, reasonably speaking, from our meetings. We hoped , and tasked ourselves, with making fans – which we apparently did with this Exec. Now we’ll go in and have more of a general meeting where we’ll pitch some feature ideas, but they’ll also talk about what they’ve got optioned or purchased (books, magazine articles, ideas they have themselves) and we’ll discuss possible fits for an assignment hopefully of some kind, or they’ll spark to one of our existing ideas and we’ll go across the studio lot and pitch it to the Studio Brass.

BOO-YA!  GO. TEAM!

Yes, a lovely way to start the day. We figure this should please everyone @ UTA as it shows (again as Jason reminded me) a) progress under their guidance, and b) demonstrates value in our pitching skills along with our material, which means that when they do send us out there are benefits – like making fans – who may open the door to unseen assignments, business/creative opportunities.

More and more I am mesmerized by the education in how Hollywood really operates, since I left school! Sure, UCLA really prepared me to take advantage of the PHD program Jason and I find ourselves in right now. It’s amazing. There is no way on GOD’S GREEN EARTH that you could do this – start a career – from anywhere but here. NO WAY. If you were able to accomplish that, I would wager my last dime that it was a result of sheer dumb luck, or the person had been here previously (This is the untold portion of the GRAN TORINO screenwriter’s legend. He actually worked and lived here for quite some time, before leaving for Minnesota where he wrote and then sold his script through his CONTACTS here.)

Why do I say this? Because, there’s so much misinformation swirling around this aspect of the journey and the more and more that we take each gradual step these days, the fact that there’s such a deep schism between hard reality and The fantasy that’s sold in the many books, screenwriter’s conferences, et. all which I used to look to for facts like countless others out there. This isn’t a Mike Tyson fight people. There’s no thirty second, first round knockout. This is Muhammad Ali, Rumble In The Jungle, gotta last the whole fight type of fight. Which means you gotta be there every step of the way. In the ring. Taking your shots as you deal some out, bit by bit, too.

As I look about, read the trades, and pay attention to what’s going on as best as I can, I witness this reality in all of its myriad guises. I love it. And am frustrated by it. As well as depressed some days and just bewildered other days. Or exhilarated. But there’s no sense in railing against how it is. You may not want it to be that way, but it just is – and has been long before you came along.

Best bet is to learn those rules, master them, before you start even having the slightest glimmer of the thought that they should not apply to you. Because guess what? Even then, they still do.

I think as long as their are emails like the one above every know and again, I can make my peace with that and work (though I’m not perfect!) towards setting aside any thoughts otherwise.

If you’re out there, on this crazy journey, too, do yourself a favor. One I wish I would’ve done years ago, and put aside the delusions, see it for what it is and approach it accordingly. The headaches and heartaches from pounding your head against it just isn’t worth it.

My brain is a little fried tonight. Been pounding on the keys quite a bit again. Tons of work to do. Like, starting-to-make-me-nervous-amount of work. I can’t even imagine the chain of events that will lead past this torrent of projects. Uff-da! (As they say in the North Country.)

Okay, let’s rumble:

-What in the name of GOD happened at Coors Field tonight to the Redbirds? Good lord. Can we all agree that Ryan Franklin as closer has reached the end of the line. He gave up two three run home runs! I’m not even angry. I’m numb with disgust. St. Louis Post-Dispatch baseball columnist, Bernie Mikalscz is right! This team is an embarrassment at this point. Something is wrong with the mix.

-I have to return to the dentist on Thursday. I will admit I’m fairly depressed over this unexpected development. The lab is not happy with the impression taken last time, so I need to have a third one taken before they can properly make the more permanent crowns/veneers that will go up front. It’s no one’s fault – just bad luck. Because they’re in such a visible spot – my front teeth – we have to go the extra distance on getting them right. Unfortunately, that means four or so more hours in the chair before the four or so more hours to wrap the whole procedure up. UGH!

-I’m having lunch tomorrow with cousin Polly, who’s bring her sons Will and Matt up from the O.C. to attend a basketball camp at UCLA. I’ve been looking forward to this for a bit. Polly’s a very busy lately and with my busy schedule, we often have a hard time connecting. It’s always a treat to catch up with her.

-Still have to hand in my graduation forms, so that I can get the actual diploma.

-Need to get on that job search, too, while I’m at it.

-Wish I could share the almost, really cool news here; but we’re not quite there yet. Moved a little closer to locking up the first stage of it today. Hopefully all will progress just fine with it.

-Free Jason Motte from the 8th inning!

-Apartment search is on hold until Jacob returns from seeing family in Seattle. Should move real quickly upon his return.

I think that should do it for this edition. Have a wonderful day/night wherever and whenever you are!

Seriously.

I am amazed that yesterday’s entry was even coherent. I was so exhausted/falling asleep at the keys when I pounded it out last night. You should’ve seen me trying to write it out. Literally to just string those thoughts together. I think I had to take a nap on the couch at one point to rally and edit down the babble I had put down initially.

So, to recap on what I was trying to say and give anyone who’s curious a little insight into the cause of such exhaustion:

-Jacob and I decided not to go with the Culver City place we initially settled on. The one I blogged about earlier in the week. Instead we decided to raise our monthly limit a bit and broaden the area of our search and see what we came up with. That was yesterday. We took a look at several two bedrooms in the $1450 to $1600 a month range. We saw one that might work right down from Boardwalk 11 (Tiff!) Then today we conferred and decided to postpone our move out dates until August 1st, so that we can really look and find the right spot. We both have a bunch of writing type work to do and I need to look for employment of some kind, etc… So, it’s a relief to back off for a few weeks and come at it down the road.

-I was sooooo exhausted b/c I had another crazy, marathon dental appointment. Though this one caught me COMPLETELY by surprise. I was under the impression I was going to get the finishing touches on the work I had done two weeks, or so, ago. Usually that’s a quick one or two hour appointment. Your in, your out. Everything is paid already. It’s not new work –  just swapping the temporary work for the actual veneers or crown (or combination which is what I have this time.) So, I swung in for what I thought was a quick visit and was there for a little over five hours in the chair, straight. I didn’t eat before, which was my mistake. Big mistake. But the whole visit was painful like the last time, which is unusual for me. Something about my front, upper area – super sensitive all around. So there were many shots to numb the area down, through the whole process. I also had a tightly scheduled day – looking at apartments, a notes meeting with my professor, and a writer’s support group meeting that night – boom, boom, boom – all back to back. So, as soon as I realized what was happening at the dentist, I had to start texting to cancel this and move that – very stressful when you’re managing pain and quite hungry!  Then I had to race out of there when I was finally free (in another cruel twist – they took the temporaries out, showed me the permanents weren’t done to their satisfaction – I could put them in, but my Dentist wasn’t completely happy with them, then had to totally redo the temporary!) and get on with what was left of my day. Which meant when I finally got home at 11 p.m. and ate something substantial, I got very sleepy very quickly. BUT, in true doc fashion, refused to admit to myself I should go to bed, because I wanted to watch the season finale of JUSTIFIED and eat this (what turned out be awesome) slice graduation cake JJ had brought for me at the writer’s support group. Thus the world’s shortest blog post last night!

- Saw the wonderful John Sweet for notes – my final UCLA obligation. He loved the script from the quarter. That’s good because we’re using it as a sample!

-Lastly, our former manager-producer officially declared he’s not going to pay us, or rather claims he can’t pay Jason and I the money we are owed on the two pilot scripts we separately wrote for him last winter. We got some money up front, but not the money due upon completion. There’s a signed contract, plenty of emails in our favor – all sorts of stuff. We just need to evaluate what it will take to get our money from him. He lives in $9000 a month condo with his fiance who owns four luxury day spas (invitation only) and guests on the Rachel Ray Show. He’s an actor on All My Children. I think he can afford $8,500 dollars (total amount owed.) We even offered a payment plan. He claims he doesn’t have the money. We’ll see. Sadly, this is a part of the film business and has to be endured. You do your best to avoid these situations or deals that will lead to these situations, but it happens.

More, when I know it!

Took the day, blissfully, off. There will be more than enough to do in the weeks ahead. I know it’s been light posting, but, well, you know it’s been a rather unique week that’s taken me a little bit away from the day to day routines.

As promised, here are the photos that I have of graduation:

On the outside are Cynthia and JJ from the writing group and my friend Megan is next to me. Those two sweet looking blondes are two of the raunchiest comedy writers you will meet. That's including all the comedy writer's I came to know at Second City. Material that, while hilarious, would make a hardened sailor blush and gasp.

Taken by my Dad, who shows a hidden talent for frame composition most directors would kill for.

For the record!

Meanwhile, waiting for the call to line-up I was capturing the moment with my iphone:

JJ. again, and friend Jason Molloy on the left.

The Playwrights! There are only three per year, so they tend to hang with the Screenwriters or MFA Actors. Jacob Bursten-Stern on the left and Adam Simon on the right. Jacob is the playwright I'll be relocating to a more affordable living situation with, and Adam's from Chicago. So they're good guys.

Good Lord, what have I done now?!?!?!

JJ, on the left, and Jason, on the right, just chillin'.

JJ, Jason and Cynthia. Three/Fifths of the 431.

The 431 (a.k.a. the writing group.) From L to R: Me, Cynthia, JJ, Ed, and Jason.

My friend Meghan, looking thoughtful

Then back to the event, and my Dad’s photos. Which are, in my opinion, much better than mine. (Good Job, Dad!)

The approach. As the saying goes: "There is no turning back now." That's my writing partner behind me with his hands raised to his family, who were the best cheering section by far on the day, in terms of volume and dedication. Well done Latshaws!

Moments from donning the mantel "Master of Fine Art."

There we are, waiting to be called up.

Crossing to shake Dean Terri Schwartz's (Producer, Sister Act) hand after being called.

Descending the fabled stairs at Dickson Court, a newly conferred M.F.A.

Stunned, elated, and exhausted, searching for my seat. Wondering, already, if I should get my M.F.A. in Playwriting to deter the inevitable.

The Graduate with his Father and Mother. Not sure about that look on my face. Shock, possibly?

There you have it! Enjoy.

…as a UCLA graduate student. Next stop? The real world and a career of some kind.

Been thinking of the wonderful souls who lifted me up along the way, most of all the years I spent bound and determined to fall. I am truly blessed soul who travels this world in the company of some fierce supporters, who couldn’t have helped me anymore than they have in my winding road to this beautiful point in my life. My gratitude to each and every one of you knows no bounds.

My folks are visiting for the first time since I moved out. We toured North Campus today, had lunch in W L.A. at John O’Groats, stopped by Urth Caffe in Beverly Hills for a late afternoon coffee drink, and then out to Santa Monica and Il Fornaio for dinner. It was a good day. Action packed, but good. UCLA’s campus size really seemed to blow them away, plus it was a beautiful day and there’s nothing quite like that campus on one of those postcard perfect afternoons. It’s some serious pretty.

To be honest, I’m seriously frazzled and can’t believe tomorrow is tomorrow and not a big ole day of rest. I think we should run Graduation like the NBA finals and put four or five days in between events. At least.

With that, I will bow out. One more parting thought, tuck it in your breast pocket so it stays close to your heart.

This week two very different, but equally dear, close, old friends of mine lost a parent, unexpectedly. Both were not terribly young or as healthy as they could be, but were young enough for each death to be a bit of a tragic surprise.

I share this in hopes that if you’re the praying kind, you’ll say a prayer for both. They’re largely on their own in dealing with all the arrangements and that’s a task I couldn’t imagine.

But also, as a gentle reminder, in life we all know there are many beginnings and endings, but we don’t always see either coming. So, if your near someone you love, as I know many of my UCLA friends reading this are this weekend, take a minute to cherish their presence and hold that memory of cherishing them for those days when you won’t be able to.

My heart and prayers go out to both souls of the dearly departed, and to their two wonderful children who grieve their sudden departure.

Yikes. Had a long couple of days and feel pretty wiped out. Can’t believe we’re only halfway through this week.

So, I’m all but there – at the finish line. My play was initially due today; but because I wasn’t getting read, Hanay graciously told me to bring a hard copy by his office tomorrow, late afternoon. So, I will drop that off and have my 434 one on one with John Sweet. At that point, I will be absolutely done.

The extra day came in quite handy. I spent all of day, rewriting the piece. Let me just say, it was a much more tedious rewrite than I initially envisioned. There’s still a bunch of work to be done, but it’s finally in a cohesive place that hangs together well and makes sense. So, onward and upward.

Time now for sleep. More tomorrow.

It SEEEMS to slow down.

The pressure appears to lift.

The too much to do crunch-crunch-crunch of sleeplessness, constant doing, phone vibrating, emails flooding in quiets.

But, you know. You just know that it’s just the eye that we’ve slipped into. A lull, if you will, before the next wave. In the corner with the Cut Man and Trainer, shaking off the last round, getting ready for the bell.

At least that’s how I feel today, which was an unexpected lost day. Sure, I pushed my play around like a young tyke pushes his carrots and peas around his plate, hoping they’ll just eat themselves.

Part of this stemmed from the late news today that I won’t be getting read on Tuesday with the actual MFA Playwrights in the final class. That was the current in the final push – to not be embarrassed in front of the Playwrights and the Theater Faculty as my full-length is read out loud. The stakes would’ve noticeably higher, basically. I’m actually good with not getting read. I feel strong about the play and I know its in an early developmental phase, still incubating essentially, subjecting it to the rigors of a harried workshop read with non-performers reading and no prep. This definitely encourage notes and opinions which most certainly would’ve clouded the forward progress of future rewrites. Instead, I’ll polish for clarity and continuity tomorrow and hand it in on Tuesday, or possibly before. Hanay will be happy with the effort throughout and the quality of the work. I will launch into a true rewrite later in the week.

With SKEET in the bag after Jason’s quick, excellent work with tightening the new version and emphasizing some key emotional turns I only glanced at in my draft, we now are looking at a TV pilot we’ve had to wait on a bit (for me to clear some head space and time) which we can attack and Jason’s take on a script of mine SUNGATE, which I’m really excited about and am trying real hard to remain patient for! From there we have the Serial Killer/Procedural and a rewrite of the CHINATOWN/INDIAN CASINO script and then….whatever we dream up next.

To be certain, we have quite a back catalog of scripts and ideas that need to be addressed, so there’s no real shortage here. I don’t mean to sound arrogant, but we’re both writers who don’t really heal to the idea of writer’s block. We’re sit down, roll up the sleeves, and chisel away until it starts working writers. Which adds to the strength of the partnership. I don’t believe writer’s block exists. I just don’t. You have to give yourself permission to fail (ah, there’s that word again.) You have to encourage yourself to write poorly, as much as you encourage yourself to write well.

And with that, I realize I’m getting off topic. Which means I’ll take this opportunity to reign it in a bit, and get to what I initially wanted to hit upon, which is we are entering a period where we’ll be writing for ourselves You always are to some degree, but the deadlines hovering over from the projects worked on will all be of our own making and policing. It’s a different sort of pressure, for sure. One that I’ve been five years removed from. Should be fun. Might actually get back to a more sane work load of only tackling one or two projects at a time.

Ahhh, who am I kidding?

So much to gab about, so little time tonight to gab about it. So, without further ado, let’s hit it:

-I’m hesitant to say anything about the Cardinals at the moment. (Did you see tonight’s box score, Dad? Not bad. Not bad at all.) Let’s just simply say: YAY! And leave it at that.

- Mouth? Still sore. But, starting to settle in. Body? Still discombobulated. Though I think that’s more from the 48 hour write-a-thon I found myself in, before the final 434 on Thursday. BTW, that script is looking quite sharp. It was a rewrite of one of Jason’s – a spare, dark psychological thriller. Near my sweet spot, so to speak. He did a pass, after I wrapped up on Thursday and the script sparkles in my opinion. Truly sparkles. I want to see this movie. See what a director could do with it.

- The delightful Ms. Antone is in town for the weekend from Prescott, AZ. Always a major league treat! We hustled out to see a play at the Pasadena Playhouse. It’s called boom by Furious Theater Company. It was not the best thing we’ve seen. A little annoying. Tough to say if it was the direction, though, or just the play itself. Overall, I’d say the production was quite well done – acting and set design. But the story turned on a rather trivial and tired joke at the end, with far too much wackiness before that to really hinge on something so – plain. One notable to the evening is that this production featured Julia Duffy, mostly known for her work as a series regular on the funny and endearing sitcom, Newhart .

-Tonight, my niece, Ellen, had her high school graduation party. I wish I could’ve been there, or, more importantly, there on Sunday when she graduates. She’ll be off to Saint Mary’s of Notre Dame, in South Bend, next fall. Congrats, Ellen!

- I’m just glad Ellen made it home, safe and sound from her senior trip – a mission trip to Guatemala that some students do as their senior project. All the students do some sort of aid work as their senior project. This particular trip took place this past week. Which meant that they were trapped in Guatemala after the volcanic eruption and then tropical storm. You can read about it here.

-Always makes me a little melancholy when someone I love, who’s heart is still full of wonder and isn’t hardened to the roughness and inexplicably tragic in the world quite only to get a random glimpse of it before they should. I made choices that I’m not so proud of when I was quite young, lead an extremely reckless and self-destructive life when I was in high school, college, and my 20s. This life brought me out into that rough and inexplicably tragic world far sooner than I should’ve been. When I look back on some of those things, string them together in their proper context, and look at them again in clear eyes, I wouldn’t wish that for anyone’s teenage years. Not what I saw. Not what I did. Not what I learned – about myself, about others, and about the world.

-I have three days to rewrite the play. Should actually be a mellow experience. A nice victory lap on my MFA career.

-I’ve made the decision to search for a 2bd/2ba apartment with my buddy Jacob Bursten-Stern, a fine playwright, former HS basketball star, and good guy. I’ve known Jacob for the full three years of school. We both worked together, as well, at the UCLA Film Archive during our first year. We go to lunch every few weeks, talk shop, etc.. He’s also a very good friend of Tiffany’s, a playwrights who plays poker, has good taste in TV shows and – with Tiffany – kept me in it to win it with playwriting this year. We’ve been discussing this, after Tiffany suggested it, for a couple of weeks. Kind of amiably considering it. Bottom line came down for both of us, at different times, this week and the fact of the matter is that we can find a place in Culver City that’s big and will go for $1300 to $1500. Split that in two, plus split the bills and all of a sudden, I cut my monthly by a third, which is nothing to sneeze at. So, for July 1st as the target date. I hate to give up living alone. But, I’ll have plenty of time for that later. Need to stay in the hunt and this will help that – tremendously.

-Been a frustrating week on the business side of things. That’s all I’ll say for now. It is what it is. Suffice to say, this business is not a very above board, say what you mean style of business. Deciphering the different layers of “I said this, but really meant this.” Or, “I agree to this, but what I really wanted was this.” Is a major pain, most all the time. But, it’s also par for the course, unfortunately, and you just have to grin and bear it. Best advice? Keep writing.

- YAY REDBIRDS!

-Coach John Wooden, The Wizard Of Westwood, passed today. He was considered not only one of, if not the, greatest basketball coach/es. More than that, though, he was a teacher, a mentor, a molder of men. As Vin Scully said: “He is a genius in his ability to inspire There are a few giants who walk among us. He was truly one of them.” Coach Wooden’s spirit pervades all of Westwood. Not just in a basketball sense, but in an inspirational success. One of my favorite Wooden quotes:

“Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts.”

Below is an brief video from UCLA’s tribute page for Coach Wooden. In it he talks further about failure:

“In life there will be peaks and valleys. The strength of a person’s character depends on their ability to accept both success and failure. Gonna have both.”

That is a lesson former Sony Pictures Head and famed Producer, Peter Guber, who will speak at graduation on Friday, taught quite eloquently in his opening lecture for his class ‘Navigating A Narrative World.” I believe he mentioned that he had learned it from Coach Wooden, but I’m not sure. It is, I feel, the core lesson that UCLA teaches and a resounding truth to life that is all too often overlooked. In all things and in all lives there will be peaks and valleys, you must reconcile that in your heart, have faith and learn to grow from both.

At the end of the tribute, Coach Wooden intones a beautiful poem on letting go of the fear of dying.

God Bless and Good Night.

It’s the last week of the quarter. Well, the last week of the last quarter. So, I’ve been crazy busy, trying to bring the projects home on time. Had an immense weight lifted today. I finished my last 434 script and handed it in to my awesome professor, John Sweet (The Affair of the Necklace.) I haven’t slept much in the past two days, but I got it done and in. So, now all I have left is the rewrite of my play for next Tuesday. Then school will be done.

Regular posting should resume tomorrow. I’m taking a long night on the couch to regroup, before the final push. Plus, Jason and I have a few things we have to get cracking on. On top of all that, I had my dental appointment on Tuesday. What was supposed to be a 3-4 appointment turned into an 8 and 1/2 hour marathon. 8 of those hours were solid work. The 1/2 hour was interspersed throughout the day in ten minute increments for breaks. It was unexpected and wiped me out. I still haven’t completely recouped my forward momentum. I lost an entire day to it. I came home and tried to work and couldn’t. It was a rough one. Roughest I’ve ever had – terrible back pain in the chair in the morning, countless shots throughout the day  to numb the area consistently that they were working on, six teeth in total were addressed, an allergic reaction to the slow-setting material they used for my first round of impressions. It was grueling. I’m thrilled it’s over and I don’t know how else it could’ve been done, but I never want to endure that again.

So tonight, some TV, some pasta, some Ice Cream, and some sleep. Tomorrow’s another day.

Not a good day, by any stretch of means. Just got out of a notes session on the desert script. Let’s get right down to brass tacks. I’m tired and feel a little beat up. These days happen. This too shall pass. Doc shall rise again.

- The notes session. Overall, I guess we survived. There were definitely some good notes and the talking it out that happened around that notes will, most likely, prove quiet positive. That being said, it’s never fun, as a writer, to watch as work you were responsible for get completely shredded. Work that you invested in, stood by, and believed in. It happens. It’s happened plenty before and it’ll happen again; but going through that tonight was not fun. Especially when you felt those sequences (not even scenes – entire sequences!) were just called flat and “not doing it”, but had been misread. You flip open the script the exec/producer has written all over and across whole pages, multiple pages, are big red X’s from corner to corner. Sure, I’m venting here, because I couldn’t in the meeting. Sure, I know I have to take it and, hey, it’s clear I didn’t do my job. But, that doesn’t make the pill of it all easier to swallow. Not that the scenes need to be unanimously adored or loved, I guess it’s just that they were tossed completely out. It’s the worst kind of strike out. The one that makes you look foolish, most of all to yourself. Thank God Jason was there. Otherwise that would’ve gone much, much worse.

-For some reason, it’s like a sauna in my apartment. I checked the heater and it’s not on. I kind of don’t know what the deal is. It’s not all that hot out and it usually doesn’t get that hot in the apartment, ever. (No direct sunlight, really)

-I’ve got Dave, an awesome cocker spaniel, with me for the weekend. I’m watching him for a friend, who had a job in New York over the weekend. He’s about ten. Really happy go lucky. A super sweet dog and has taken quite a liking to his stay at Camp Doc where the treats flow steadily and the walks are plentiful, dinner’s always on time, and we sleep in late when the spirit moves us!

-Though I am looking down the barrel of a seventy-two hour lockdown in the apartment. Got a ton of writing and even more rewriting to do. Mainly for school this weekend. It is the final push.

-I’ve slowly become a Trader Joe’s shopper, for the most part, over other stores. I think it’s more cost effective, but I’m not so sure, yet. It’s keeping me out of Whole Foods, which is good.

- Finally watched the Lovely Bones last night. Didn’t I first mention it almost two weeks ago? I haven’t seen a movie that so thoroughly misunderstood the novel it was adapted from in a long, long time. I mean, we’re talking BONFIRE OF THE VANITIES missed the boat. It was rather stunning to watch. I don’t recommend it, though, for fans of the book. In addition, the film was so wildly self-aware of itself, it almost seemed like an exercise in Douglas Sirk styled melodrama.

-Early Tuesday morning, I’m to have a long procedure done on my teeth at the dentist. I won’t get into the cost, or what it is, it would probably bore most all of you. Suffice to say, it represents the end of the decade long endeavor to overcome a condition I was born with – a not uncommon problem, but still difficult to manage without extensive work on your teeth. Work that, in the end, costs as much as a nice mid-market sedan. I will be thrilled to be done. My gifted and talented dentist, Dr. Grace Ahn, will be thrilled as well. My amazing dentist in Chicago, Dr. Scott Stiffler, would be amazed if he knew. It’s been a long road. Especially with no dental insurance to speak of through most of it.

- Man, it’s hot in this apartment!

-Dave sure does love watching HGTV and his rawhide bone.

-Cards beat the Cubs. That helps. A lot.

That’s all I got. Have a safe and fun Memorial Day Weekend.