Tough drive to NJ

It's Sunday morning & I look puffy & re-eyed. The stress has been tremendous. Starting Thursday morning. I drove DS12 to school, and the hot light came on. It was only 2 miles! I pulled into a service station. The coolant resevour was empty. bought some antifreeze & filled it. Went to my mechanic. Another 2 miles. Resevour was dry again. Yikes! The car was leaking fast & I was driving a thousand miles the next day. And I had to get there, because it was the twin's (my niece & nephew) bar & bat mitzvah. Mechanic got his overnight guy to work on it. It was finieshed 11 pm. Cost $680. Shiz! Friday morning, the day I'm driving, I got up & walked 2 miles in 35 degree weather. I was miserable. Feeling sorry for myself. Only consolation was that this happened at home, instead of on the road. Imagine stranded on the road, in dark & cold with kids & dog. More miserable.

So Friday I got a late start. I got lost twice. Missed my exit. Also stopped too much for food/gas/bathroom/dog/coffee. When I stopped, I jogged around the building without my jacket. 1am I stopped for an hour nap. 3am I was nodding & drifting. Got off the road, got coffee at dunin donuts. got in at 4:30, slept to 8, then off to B'nai Mitzvah driving hour & half.

Dog stress is another. Gotta talk about, take you back to 6pm. I called my friend who was watching Jersey, my yellow lab while we're at services, and the party after. I called & her young son answered, I asked for her & he told me she's in the hospital with emotional trauma. Yikes! My friend had (I thought) a nervous breakdown. What do I do with Jersey? OK turns out, my friend's daughter was sick, the family all left for the hospital. Left the confused little kid home, giving confused info.

Sat morning, drove to services. Got there a little late, but on time for the important part. The twins did a great job, so proud of them. Saw DS18, and DH. Lunch was great. I took a nap after services, like 1 to 4. DH got the 411 on my friend. What a relief! He took Jersey to their house. After nap, Got ready for the party. I followed thru on no alcohol. Good party. I danced, talked, etc.

Another event today. Brunch with all the family. I plan to get what I usually eat for breakfast. I want to pick up the dog.

Chicks, Man!

Last weekend was finally warm, not just above freezing, but actually warm. So I decided to wash all the windows and vacuum the screens. So I took down the curtains in my room and I'm vacuuming all the nasty cobwebs off the screens, and I don't even notice that the vacuum sucked up the curtain, ruining the curtain, busting the vacuum fan belt, and leaving a burning rubber smell in my bedroom. So today I go to the store to get a new belt, and what are they selling there? Chicks, man! Real, live cute little fluffy baby chickens. I'm such a wussy baby, I could never kill a chicken and eat it. Give me my meat anonamously wrapped in plastic in the grocery store.

Zombie movie & cold feet, or ban the beige

Just write a screenplay this summer, I thought, a fun zombie movie, just the thing to distract myself from the economy flushing down the crapper. And it worked, I was actually giddy every time I thought about it, talked about it. My friends & family loved the idea, especially my kids. We talked & laughed; we added scenes. Friends started saying, wow, can I be in it? No, it's just a screenplay, I'm not making a movie. But, then the offers to help, to edit. But it wouldn't be that hard, 10 hours shooting for a 20 minute movie. Then I saw the call for entries in the Zombie short film fest. And it started to look doable. I started to ask people to work on the movie. Hey, I know someone in the theatre department who lives 2 doors down. Wow, he does fight scenes, his wife does zombie make-up. Hey, the kids in karate could be in a fight scene. We'll write in July, shoot in Aug, edit in Sept and submit to the filmfest on Oct 1. I can direct it, and star in it, too. There's a famous actor/director among my family; it's in my genes. It was all so: hey kids, let's put on a show in the barn.

Now, the giddiness is fading, cold reality sets in. I have to organize this movie shoot; call the golf course & ask if we can shoot; get props, supplies & tons of make-up; and the dreaded task of setting up a shooting schedule. And the fear grips me: I've directed many photo shoots, never a movie. What if it's totally Ed Woods, or worse Terror of Tiny Town. We have all these kids, it's going to look like a mom & pop zombie movie, like a haunted house at elementary school. I don't want to be beige, bland, and mediocre. I dream of being great.

So, it's 4am, on the last day of July, and I can't sleep. Tomorrow is Aug. I have to decide if I should go forward with the movie, or be satisfied with a screenplay. Everyone would understand if I backed out. My husband even said it was a pipedream, which makes me mad, and I want to go ahead & make my movie, prove something. Do I give up or go all in?

Would you let a teenager choose your career?

Would you let a teenager choose your career? If you went to college, that's basically what you did. And what I did, too. At 17, I wanted to be a marine biologist. then at 19, I changed my mind & became a graphic designer. I'm so happy being a designer, I can't even imagine how different my life would be, if I stayed with biology major.

Now, I'm a mom. And I see it from a different angle. My first son was a mechanical engineer major. But the rigors of college, combined with late night video gaming with friends, led to a dead end. Switching majors to forensic chemistry, at an easier school, has been a good move for him. he's working in a chem lab over summer, and enjoys the work, which indicates for me that this is the right direction.

Middle son is a senior. He's smart, tests well, works hard, etc. But he's changed his mind about majors a few times: neurology, bioengineering, mathematics, with a computer science minor, or a music minor. I really want him to go into college undecided, and find out what he loves to do, and pursue it.

cheap glasses!

Check it out! I got these prescription glasses & sunglasses from Zenni Optical for about $15 each. That's frames, tinting, & shipping. So, if you're broke or cheap, you can still take care of your vision. Or if you're loaded, you can have glasses to go with every outfit you own.

You can thank me for it later!

Zombie Golf Lodge

I was reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a delightful adaptation of Jane Austin's classic costume drama, lifting the text whole cloth, and inserting brain-eating zombies! And it really works. Anyway, I'm reading this & I had a vivid dream about zombies, golf, making commercials for dental floss, and a rock band. Thus Zombie Golf Lodge was born. I talked it over with my family & they thought is was a rocking idea, we talked characters, scenes, dialog, jokes, even the movie poster. And started a super, double secret blog to collaborate on the project. I wasn't sure about the secrecy issue, since I felt anonymity was a greater threat than plagiarism.

Imagine my surprise & delight when I learned this morning that there's a Zombie Short Film Festival call for entries!

From Boingboing:
Talented Toronto writers & filmmakers, Jim Taylor & Cory Laffin, have announced the first and are calling for submissions. The festival will be held in Toronto, at the glorious Revue Cinema (in my friendly neighbourhood Parkdale) on October 30th. The criteria for submissions is pretty straight forward: 1) It must be a short film with a maximum running time of 20 minutes; and 2) It must involve zombies. Further details can be found on their web site."

So anyway, I asked Teressa at work if she could help me on this. She's produced tons of newscasts and even written a screenplay which garnered recognition. Teressa loved the concept, and had great ideas to add. Her husband can be the sleazy bartender that makes a great flaming zombie!

Also talked to Jessica at work, & she knows a local metal band who might want to be in it.

I"m so pumped for this project!!!!!

I want a macaw!

Sunday, we went the bird show in Peoria. This wasn't like the one in Cahokia Mounds, where trained wild birds of prey displayed their tricks for bits of rat meat, swooping inches over the audience's heads, all sharp beaks & talons. This was like the dog show, but with birds.

A large room was lined with tables displaying cages of birds, or bird accessories. I looked for an African Grey, like Alex, from the book "Alex and Me," a parrot that learned language, not just copying sounds, but the meaning & use of words. Not that I was going to get a bird, but it was something I was interested in.

There were many kinds of birds for sale, but I fell in love a little bit with a scarlet macaw. On three large natural wood perches, almost as tall as me, stood 3 macaws. They were intimidating with their beady eyes and huge beaks! But I put out my hand to the the center one, and he latched his beak on my diamond ring! He pinched my knuckle and the ring, so stong was his grip, stronger than a clothes pin, I struggled with him, and pulled free. Michael came over to see what the racket was, and the bird, put it foot out to him, and touched his arm. It reminded me of when we got our cat Joy from the pound, when she put her paw out through the cage door and petted me. Joy picked me. And this bird picked Michael.

Michael put out his arm to him, and he stepped up. He explored Micheal, biting the hair on his arm, his beard, and hair. Mike pet his back, and let him climb all over. You can see this in the picture. The bird talked, too. When he bit Michael, and Mike said "No" the bird said "Oh brother!" And the bird snuggled up under his chin, and said "I love you." And he chuckled, too.

We all took turns holding the bird. He was so friendly, and looking for affection. He was like a nippy pup. The other birds just stood on their perches. This one had big personality. I wanted him. The seller came over. He could see how we all played with him, and this was fine with him, he likes his birds socialized. I saw him cup his hands around the bird's ear and whisper, "I love you." So that's how he taught him! The bird was 19 months old (they live to 50!) And he was selling him for $1900. OK, I don't want him that much. Although it's a fair price, considering.