Well, this post feels like a long way coming. I guess you could say that this is a status report of the semester at good ol’ SFSU. For the most part, it’s been GREAT! I’ve written a lot of short stuff. 3 one-minutes, A TON of 10’s, and will be workshopping a longer one-act today. I got another 30-40 minute one-act in the hopper and a full-length ready to have dialogue and characters poured in.
Oh, I also found out that I am a runner-up award winner for the Jim Highsmith Playwriting Award. It’s a scholarship for a play of any length portraying an aspect of LGBT reality. I guess, reality, could be the same word as experience, but reality is more real. I have no clue why I wrote that, but, especially since it’s been so long that I’ve written in here, I’m riding my stream. (hmmm… interesting title). Anyhu, the runner-up award is $200, so I’m pretty stoked about it. It’s a 10-minute too so I wasn’t really sure if it would have won. I’m hoping that my friend turned her’s in because it IS worth the $2000 grand prize. And that’s like a 30 minute play. But getting back to me, the money is really needed.
Speaking of which, I’m poor. Like Grad Student POOR! And to reiterate that point, my old boss, whom I truly love, which is a word that’s kinda taboo for calling any boss that nowadays (but he is) offered me a chance to interview for an opening at a company. It would have provided me so much more wiggle room to creak by, but I turned it down. 1) the job, had I earned it, is almost 2 hours away with traffic. and 2) I would have to work there full-time. This isn’t a total killer… actually it is, because in order to keep my financial aid, I have to maintain a full-time status. I’m committed to finishing what I started.
Now, THAT being said, I’m a screw up. There’s nobody to blame but myself because I’ve been putting behind a play that I NEED to write and the more unfortunate thing is that I didn’t give myself the chance to work with an awesome playwright on the project. I’ve been blaming time for my misfortune. And I am a self-professed time-management FAILURE! I know it’s “not cool” to put yourself down, but this is a momentary thing (the self-deprecating label), as I tend to change my ways after such labeling. But maybe taking 15 units while having a part-time job wasn’t such a bright idea. I’m doing well in the other 4 classes… wait, did I just take FIVE classes… but trying to carve out time to actually write down another full-length? In honesty, I have been thinking about it the entire semester, but still not the same thing.
Roy, I’m sorry.
Leaving the EGO at the Door
Well, I’m in a crummy mood. *sigh* At any rate, the show must go on and I’m off to a “rehearsal” of a show that my AAS 352 Filipina/o American Literature, Culture, and Art Class is putting on December 3rd at Bindlestiff. Glad to contribute what I can (wrote 1st 30 page rough draft) which will have it’s first read through today. I would say the experience of working on this would possibly equate to what goes on in the writers room of a tv show. We got a group together to hash out an outline; wrote down the scenes on index cards; arranged them on a wall; give it to a writer to write. I’ll let my ego talk for a sec, yeah, the first draft were all my words, (the second is over) but EVERYONE contributed to the telling of the story we came up with together. We’ll see how everything goes and what needs to be rewritten. I’m way beyond being nervous or apprehensive about the reading… which is weird, cuz I always used to be, but guess that’s one of the perks of being a self-proclaimed playwright. Maturity and experience tells me that all of this is a part of the process.
Anyways, I miss this. I miss writing to myself. I miss collecting my run-on assorted menagerie (yes, I used menagerie without truly knowing what it means) of thoughts and putting it down for me to read later. Oh, if you’re reading this without it being me, uhh… hi?
Okidokes, hopefully my next entry won’t be separated by the same length of time as my previous one.
Word of the day: Perpetuity