Some days things fall apart... and some days, everything comes together
It's an incredible feeling to sit and watch as the universe seems to quite literally be unfolding a path for you. You look behind yourself and the path is smooth--already made... with peaks and valleys, and it looks like the path has always been that way. And then you look back ahead of yourself and see events being set into motion and possible paths you could take... I'm getting too into this metaphor, aren't I? Perhaps I should start at the beginning.
The beginning finds me sitting on my futon, checking the Chicago Reader classified ads for jobs. Brief sidenote: There is an ad that I absolutely LOVE... which I'll include here. And I quote: "WINDOW CLEANERS WANTED. Growing company. Great pay. Full and part-time. Professional experience only" And I know that they probably need window washers for the high-rise buildings down town... but please, "professionals only"? "Can I have a job?"; "Have you washed windows for money before?"; "No, but I am quite good"; "Sorry, we're only looking for professional window cleaners... thank you."
Where was I? Oh yes, I was looking through the Reader... and I happened to be checking my email at the same time (I can multi-task! I'm almost as good as a woman at it, but not quite... close at all, not really all that close what-so-ever). I got an email today from the director of my writing five show Mankind: And Other Oxymorons, MT. She forwarded us an email from a friend (... ? I'm assuming a friend) in England who works for Cartoon Network Europe (yeah... I guess they have their own Cartoon Network in Europe now). This woman who works at Cartoon Network Europe is looking for freelance writers to write cartoons for CNE! So I tossed her back an email saying I was interested. I was just thinking about how cool it would be to be a writer and set my own hours and be able to watch movies and t.v. and call it "research." So I was totally psyched about that. And then, I got an email from The Second City. They're offering an Intro to Writing for Film and Television class next term... and it's only open to people who have completed the writing program. Why, that's me! AND it's on Tuesday nights, so if I had gotten my first conservatory class choice (Tuesday nights), I wouldn't be able to take this class. Cue the spooky music please! How weird is all this?! Come on! It's pretty freakin' weird. And that's not all...

Wednesday night I went and saw the first ever "Second City Scenes You Should Know." The Second City is finally opening up its archived footage to the training center students... and this was the first installment. I showed up about two minutes late and they had already started... the audio quality is sub-par... and the video was only a little better, but it was neat to get ideas for scenes from.
After that, I went in to register for classes. The guy in the office was Ted Howard, whose wife, Rachel, is in "Sweet Pumpkin Pie..." with me. So I asked him about the show, and if he was coming... and then I told him I wanted to get into the Intro to Writing for Film and Television class, and I wanted to know what I would need to submit (since the email I mentioned above said that you had to submit something to make it into the class). But Ted said, "Don't worry about it, I just put you in. So you're all set." I was like WOW! COOL! How could this day get any better? Everything seems to be falling into place!
And, as I left the office and was unzipping my backpack at the top of the stairs to put the receipt in my backpack, I heard someone yell "John!" I looked around the lounge area, and there was Kim, sitting at a table with a few other people. I walked over and she wanted to know what I was doing, etc... but the whole time I was only thinking "she didn't HAVE to acknowledge that I was even here. Maybe she actually doesn't know when she'll have free time to see a movie! And I was just projecting my insecurities again..." So we chatted for a bit and I didn't bring up the movie thing and neither did she. So that wasn't BAD... it was probably more on the good side of the spectrum, if anything. So yeah... sweet.
After that, I went to Borders to pick up a couple books. One of the books I picked up was called "Story" by Robert McKee. It's basically a screenwriting work-book kind of book. It's basically the screen writer's Bible... and it's huge. I'm excited to dig my teeth into the soft underbelly of this book (WHAT?). Today I'll leave you with something that McKee says at the end of the book that resonated with me (I checked the end to see how many pages... over 400!):
"For above all else, beyond imagination and skill, what the world asks of you is courage, courage to risk rejection, ridicule and failure."