What I've Been Up To Lately...

One day as I was walking through the student lounge, a kid I know called me over to sit with him. Typically, the entire place is full of the same 20 or so people, who are either playing Magic the Gathering or something similar, and not being a fan of this, I do not hang out there (That's another story I guess, it seems like the typical taboo "dork" area of campus)...But anyway, the kid was sitting there, called me over, and asked me to take a look at some of his sketches. He wanted me to make the pieces he had designed, and make them into a wearable costume. As we sat there, and he reached into his bag, his eyes got really big, and he looked at me strangely. Come to find out he had quite a large bag of the ol' grass stashed in the bottom of his backpack, and he had forgot to take it out before going to school that day.

And on the topic of bringing things to school you shouldn't, another strange thing that happened recently was the last day of finals, when a guy in his late 30's brought the professor a bottle of Jack for Christmas. He told him merry Christmas, and I heard the professor make some weird noises. He then walked to the front, looked at me and stated that it was campus policy to not bring anything, and he was going to pretend he didn't see anything. LOL.

Additionally, a kid I know started wearing Victorian clothes this semester, including top hats, spectacles, and canes. One day the above mentioned artist/toker stopped both us, and started talking about cane the dude had. He eventually unscrewed the handle, only to reveal a 3 foot blade. The dude was bringing sword canes to school the entire time. XD

I had a friend who'd pay me in alcohol for helping him with tests and projects. We were both in a hurry one day so he stuck paper shopping bags on the ends of a case of beer and shoved it under his desk when he came in. He didn't do a good job of concealing it so everyone could tell what it was. The professor didn't say anything but there was a lot of murmuring in class about it.

There was this one stoner in high school who came to class so drunk he could barely walk with a thick haze about him and a joint tucked behind his ear. He got tossed from class but his parents were big boosters so he didn't get in trouble.

In college, a friend of mine got himself into a bad situation with a few different girls. More to the point, he got himself in a bad situation with these girls' boyfriends. He started carrying a hammer in his book bag for protection. He never had a chance to put his hammering skills to the test.

LOL! A hammer? I'll have to remember that!!!! I always tend to be attracted the ladies who have boyfriends, so this may come in handy...

Oh, and grades are in for this semester, and because the college goes off the last Fall semester for graduation, with my 4.0 I will graduate summa cum laude!

Way to go!

Thanks man! :D

I thought I'd update everyone on my newest project...In the college's theater guild, it is always a big deal what the next semester's play is going to be, and no one usually knows what it will be aside from the professor over the department, his daughter, a few people in the college's PR department,etc. When the last Spring play, "Pirates to the Rescue!", was written all I really knew was that I had inspired the play, and that Captain Jack Sparrow was the lead. However, in the program for that play, the professor also announced the next play, and it was A Christmas Carol. It's always a big deal who finds out what the next play will be and stuff.

So let's fast forward to Christmas Day this year. I hadn't spoken to my professor since the 14th of Decemeber (the last day of class), so I texted him asking him how he was, and wishing him a merry Christmas. He then texted me back telling me he was good, and returned the well wishes. That was that. Then 5 minutes lates I recieved a lengthy text from him asking me what I thought about his idea on the next play, which was to have some school students get sucked into a storybook. I told him I liked the idea, and he then started picking my brain about what fairytales the students might travel to.

And the end of the conversation, he asked me if I might like to co-write it with him, and if I would like to meet with him in a few days to exchange ideas further, and see what we could come up with. Needless to say, I was very excited, and by that night I had written a synopsis of what I thought the story should be. A few days later, I had completed the dialogue for the Alice in Wonderland scene I had came up with. I then met with him, and he said it was very good, and that I might consider writing more of the play, or even just writing the entire thing.

Well, last night...I finished page 45 of my script, and called it done! I ended up using my original synopsis as my "bible" to go by, and sure enough, it all seemed to just flow right together. I can't tell anyone locally, aside from my close family members, as it is a closely gaurded secret, but I had to share this with you guys! I'm just too stoked not to!!! :D

That's awesome Jodo! I've got a bunch of friends who are in theater, but none have moved to the writing side. And if you knocked it out in a few weeks time, it must come naturally. Congrats!

Thanks man!!! It's been a weird short little 10 day journey, hahaha! :p I read through it just a bit ago, and added a few pieces of dialogue here and there, but I'd say it's still done.

...Maybe I'll do a longer "writer's cut" sometime. XD

That's great! I wish I had more time to write. I'm in the middle of several stories now and just can't get the time to finish any of them.

What type of stories are they BR?

Before I started on the play, I had actually just written some monologues for stand-up. I enjoy writing a great deal, and I absolutely love comedy. I usually have to credit my first English professor with giving me the drive write. After the first paper assignment was due in his class, he stoop up and told the class of about 25 people that everyone did well overall, but that my paper really stood out from the rest. He went on to ask if anyone wanted to read it, with my permission, he would let them...However I always think that it may honestly go all the way back to GH, and you guys hassling me as a kid to improve my grammar and spelling. :p

General fiction right now, as well as cleaning up some of my stories & poems from college. Of the new stuff, one's about a priest which I started writing a couple years ago but I keep losing time to finish. Another's a general mystery story (something I've never tried before). If I get it right it should turn out pretty great. I'm also kicking around the idea of a story about a couple monks, the central conflict of which will revolve around their vow of silence and a misunderstanding that results from it. This one isn't a religious story per se, but came about just from an idea I had the other day about how to deal with a story with two people living in close quarters but who aren't able to effectively communicate with one another. I have a few other things that I've started and stopped over the last couple years, but I'm not ready to get back to those. I've been trying to get some writing done over the past year as part of a gift I was planning on giving to a friend but the new baby derailed things entirely. I managed to crank out 8-10 pages a couple weeks ago so I'm hoping that helps get me back on track.