Falling or soaring

Rendered insignificant
For Heaven has strung
Beyond the mortal coil
An invisible thread

Chance from destiny
Misery from bliss
Perfectly divided
By virtue of this thin line
Upon which we dance

—–

I wrote the first draft of this poem about three years ago. It was, a that time, a virtual tome. I believe it topped out at about three pages. It was utterly and completely incomprehesible.

Anyway, I’ve been transferring files over from our iMac to my iBook, and I came across it. I decided to sit down for a few minutes and plunk around with it. Upon revisiting it, I realized that the only problem was that there were about 1200 too many words! “It’s not a story, dummy!” I told myself, “It’s metaphorical imagery.” All that matters in the end is that the reader gets the image.

So I decided to take another whack at it. And, boy, did I whack! It is a perfect example of how often less is TRUE-ly more. I am interested to see whether it makes sense to any of you.

—–

PHOTO ALERT! I added two new pics to my photo album. A great headshot of Lynn and a photo of Action Jackson. Enjoy.

—–

Today I finally got the damned fence up in the back yard, so Elvis stops jumping into the neighbor’s yard. It’s a temporary affair, and it don’t look too pretty. I am hoping it makes life a lot easier, though, and helps put an end to his relieving himself in the basement. Ack!

Otherwise, it’s been a pretty low key day here. Lynn has been very tired today. I can’t blame her. The past few days have been so busy, I’m tuckered. Considering her condition, I can’t imagine how tired she must feel.

Speaking of being tired…I am going to cut this short today. I still have to read a script and repond to a questionaire that another screenwriter friend sent to me. Also, gotta get ready for life to start up again tomorrow. I think tomorrow’s going to be a big day, too…Will likely talk about it in the next few days here.

Talk to you later.

—–

YET…THIS JUST IN!

Check this out: http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4240826.html

I was just taking a peek, when I came across this story. It’s a list of “common” quotes attributed to Abraham Lincoln, but apparently he never actualy said. How odd. I thought the most humorous one was the one attributed to the guy who played him on “Star Trek.”

Okay…but he really did say, “Be excellent to each other…and PARTY ON, DUDES!” …Right?

Okay…I couldn’t sleep last night, so I got up at like 3:30 this morning and added the beginnings of a photo album and type lists to my journal.

The photos are pretty much just a hodge-podge. The lists are albums I’m listening to (how original!). The other two, however, are movies (complete with quick reviews) that I’ve watched lately, and then the movies I am planning to watch in the next couple of weeks. My hope is that people can use the reviews to choose wisely when casting their financial vote at the box office.

Yes, yes…I know that the movie lists are in the form of music lists. I am, however, still too stupid to do it any other way for now. Why didn’t these people think to pre-format a MOVIE list?!? Oh well, they will be educated some day.

Not certain how well I am going to be able to keep up the lists, but we’ll see. I will make it a priority to do so. For now, just enjoy (and hopefully use).

Running up to Cambridge again today. I am sure there will be a lot to write about tonight/tomorrow. See ya!

Today is the time in Shakespeare’s “Henry V”…the night before the battle.

Today is a slow motion montage where the main character ponders and waits.

Today is the minutes between waking and actually opening your eyes.

Today is a train rolling through gentle fields and towns, unfamiliar and yet familiar all at the same time, en route, but not yet having arrived.

Today is the waiting for a loved one and checking your watch, only to realize your hour means but five minutes in real time.

Today is a knot, a tangle, unresolved, but left for another day’s work.
—–

I both love and hate days like today. They’re a “real” day, yet not. The world, yet technically awake and functioning, really isn’t. It’s a day where people keep score, but, for the most part, look away when one is asleep in the middle of a play….most of the time. Not all the time, though.

I love the momentary respite, but I have a problem with the underlying feeling that I really should be DOING something on days like today. “Adding value,” perhaps? Ick… I love to have fun on these days, but the repose is short and time distorts in a really strange and (for me) uncomfortable fashion.

Take this hour. It is 10:06 where I am right now. I am planning to leave work at noon to head out to a couple of movies and play some games with the family and Action Jackson. The passage of the time between now and then will feel as long as a year. Yet, at 10:06 tonight, I will have felt as if I have blinked, and I will wish for a “do over” because I don’t feel “rested” at all. Am I the only one who feels that way? Do those nice gentlemen in white coats need to fit me in that interesting jacket again?

—–

We had a really nice day yesterday. We went up to Cambridge and had dinner with Corky, Stacy, Stacy’s sister, Darcy, and her husband, Trevor. (that sentence was a cornucopia of commas…you should feel fortunate!) The company was great…we always have fun together. A lot of joking and horseplay, which is always a good diversion for me. And, I have to say, I ate what is probably the singularly best Thanksgiving dinners I have ever eaten.

I don’t even know how it worked out that way! By all means, it shouldn’t have. I made my garlic mashed potatoes, but I did it something like four hours before we ate and lugged them up to Cambridge in the back of the Jeep. I did the same thing with the yams, but I actually make the soufle up there. But I did it in such a hurried and extemporaneous and hurried manner as soon as we arrived (I had no idea just how much mashed up yams I had…the recipe called for 3 cups, and I guessed that I had about 1.75 times that amount), I thought the soufle would, well…suck. Finally, Stacy roasted her turkey in a manner that was completely foreign to me.

We sat down, and I was prepared to be underwhelmed. Instead, I was blown away. Man, it was good. High fives all the way around.

I did not, of course, get a chance to start re-reading my book (for the adaptation). I’m not certain when that’s going to happen. I promised a new screenwriter friend (he’s new to me and a new screenwriter) that I would read and critique his script this weekend, and I need to make good on that promise. Oh well, I will get to it in good time.

I DO, however, need to get a card for Jim and the author today. That CANNOT drop.

Must get to something today, so I will sign off. BTW — Lynn had a good time yesterday, too. I am still concerned about her. Her nausea is starting to come back, she has a wicked cough, and she’s tired a lot. I am still, however, not able to completely differentiate what’s jet lag and what’s related to cancer. I am keeping my eye on it over the next few days, though. It will be interesting what happens over the next three weeks in the space in between the appointment we had with her nurse practitioner and the appointment (and CT scan) we have scheduled on December 16 with her actual doctor. It will be even MORE interesting, of course, to see what result the scan yields and hear what the doctor suggests.

Hmmm….

Today is the space in between lovers: trembling, ardent, flush, and glowing…the moment before they kiss for the first time.

Talk to you later…

I was going to say that it’s all quite here in Casa de TRUE, but that’s now not the case. When I padded down here and plopped my butt in this chair, I was the only human awake in the house. Now, of course, Zach is awake because Elvis has a barking fit and woke him up. For some reason, he wants to be out in the kitchen reading olds Entertainment Weekly magazines while I sit in here and write. Huh..?

What an amazing thing this life is, wouldn’t you say? It’s painful and amazing and beautiful all at the same time, how it can jerk you this way and that way…up and down…”thither and yon” all in the course of a single day. And in the end, it’s always that magic thing called “attitude” that saves or slays you.

After I got done doing my “That Sucking Sound…” post, I decided that I needed to break out of my doldrums, and the only person that was going to do it was good ol’ me. I decided one thing that I could do is send out a couple of e-mails to the guys at Filberts Steps, to Tim McCann (our director), and to Craig Rice at the MN Film Board for all of their help in getting RUNAWAY BOYS as far as it’s gotten so far this year. I didn’t think that I would get any responses back because it was late in the afternoon, and I thought they would all be out of the office by that time. But most of them were still hacking away, like me, and I got some really great responses, especially from Al Klingenstein and Bernie DeLeo.

I am so glad that Al and I had the conversation we did last weekend. I honestly believe that, when the story is told about the making of RUNAWAY BOYS, that will be one of the pivotal–

Okay…Zach alert! He decided to NOT read EW in the kitchen, and now he’s sitting in here with me. He just asked the weirdest, cutest question: “Is is legal to use a blow dryer on a doggy?” HUH..? He’s playing with a blow dryer Lynn bought in China (it’s 220v, so we can’t use it here), flicking buttons, “shooting” things, spying at my through it like it was a spy glass. I ask him why, and he says, “Well, if we give him a bath, we should consider drying him with a blow dryer. It would go quicker.” Umm…good point. Then he suddenly pops up and says, “I’m going upstairs now.” Then he runs off.

God, I love that kid. If, by the end of my life, I can even half-understand how that amazing mind works, I will color myself lucky.

Anyway…I was writing that I believe the conversation will be regarded as one of the pivotal moments that TRUE-ly propelled it closer to actually getting made. Now all I have to do is talk to Debi. I haven’t been keeping her in the dark about it, but we really need to sit down and have a long, uninterrupted conversation. In order to get the movie made, things are going to need to evolve, and we’re both going to have to be on board with that in order for it to work. In the end, I am confident we can work through it, though. She is an awesome and understanding partner (and a fire-cracker all at the same time…one of those people you walk away and say, “I’m glad she’s on MY side). So, I am waiting for that time…hopefully this weekend we will be able to get together. I am going to try to call her on Saturday morning and arrange a breakfast.

I did call her last night about the book thing. Honestly, I am still shaking from the news. Oh, yeah…I didn’t finish my previous thought. Well, I had just gotten the responses from the Filbert Boys, etc., and I was starting to feel better. It feels good to tell someone else you’re thankful for him or her…take the focus off yourself and your own self-centered mental churning for a few moments.

My spirits were definitely picking up. Not more than five minutes later, I get a call from my friend, Jim, who tells me he’s leaving for California for amonth next Tuesday, but he wanted to call me before he left. We chat for about 15-20 minutes about stuff. He talks about how he’s more busy now being retired than he ever was when he was working. I talk about Lynn and, of course, movie stuff (he’s one of our biggest supporters).

He’s a friend of the book’s author (whom I have never met), and he has been trying to get me a meeting with the guy for about a year now (it’s just never happened because of shedules and procrastination…you know, the usual). At this time, by the way, you have to know that I WORSHIP this writer, and the book is one of three books on my list of things I want to adapt into movies (an exclusive group!). Anyway, Jim gets done telling me that the guy isn’t feeling very well these days, so he’s not really feeling up to visitors. Okay, I think, kind of bummed out but understanding. Then, Jim says that he posed the question about whether the author would let me adapt his book.

SAY WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?

Gawd! I love that man! The great thing about Jim is he’s not only a great guy, but he’s extremely well-connected (because he loves people and loves to talk), and he’s not afraid to ask people anything.

So…he’s been apparently talking me up to the guy for over a year now–whether he’s seen anything I’ve writteb, though, I have no idea. Anyway, the author says, “Tell him to go ahead and write it. I look forward to reading it.”

Wow…

Tomorrow I am going to get a nice card for both Jim and the author. I am hoping that the author will be willing to correspond a little by e-mail (if face-to-faces are a concern for him now). I would like to thank him profusely, of course. I am hoping to get the permission a little more “documented”, too…mostly to make certain he knows that, even though I am going to write and develop the thing on spec (can you BELIEVE THAT?!?!?!?), I am going to take care of him in the end. Also, I know that I am going to have questions while I am putting things together. Anyway…I am getting ahead of myself.

Talk about stuff to be thankful for, huh? The guy didn’t need to do that. Hell, he doesn’t really even know me. You know what, though? It’s what I would do if I was in his position…and that’s the coolest thing of all. He really is a real and cool and genuine person, just as I always suspected.

And the best miracle of all yesterday? Lynn, the kids, Jackson, and I attended our pre-Thanksgiving service last night, and Lynn was just beaming. She had just gotten done qi-gonging, and her evergy was great. She felt and looked like a million bucks. Everyone flocked around her with loving and welcoming arms, and it was a sight-and-a-half to see. It’s good to have my sweetie home and feeling strong…for that I am truly grateful.

Well, this got a little longer than I envisioned. People are stirring now. I must go out and put up dog fence!

Take care, and have a great day, all.