All This Busyness Business

Wow, it’s a busy week.

Sunday, Justin and I went to the aquarium with Lori, Kari, Eli, Wendy, and Danielle. It was a University of Baltimore event night. UB students got in for free; it was only $5 or $6 for Justin. Not bad, considering it’s normally $25 to go, and I don’t think they’re usually open at night. After walking around there for about an hour, and taking lots of pictures (*placeholder for pictures*), we went to ESPN Zone to eat and watch some of the All-Star game (for Lori, Wendy, and Eli) and Olympics. Then we went home. I had to go to bed early because I had to get up at…

7:30, or so, a.m. the next day. I have to work, so I walk Justin to his parking spot at Penn Station (because of the snow emergency in Maryland, there’s no guest parking at my apartment for the time being). He drives me back to the school, and we say goodbye. He goes home. I get my keys from the Public Safety desk and go across the street to the Business Center so I can clock in for work. Since I had a migraine the morning before, I haven’t finished my reading for class tonight. I work on it during any break I can get from work. It’s a pain.

I read at the desk; I read on lunch break; I read after work, at home, where I finally finish the reading. I finalize my writing assignment and print it out. I try to come up with a screenplay idea for my screenwriting class but get nothing. I make a sandwich for tonight since I won’t have much time for dinner because I have class from 5:30 to 10:45 p.m., with a fifteen-minute break between classes.

I go to screenwriting. It’s fun. We do a collaborative “screenplay idea” project, and my group actually comes up with a great idea. The professor has brought snacks, but ironically, this is the only class time in which we won’t watch any movie clips; and it’s because the snow day has caused us to cram material together.

In Experimental Forms, the professor says that he hadn’t contacted us during the snow break (no shit?) and that he decided we will just push everything forward a bit and try to fix the missing class later on. He couldn’t have told us that? So we didn’t break our backs trying to read the assigned reading, as well as finish the writing assignment from the class period that we lost? Oh well. Some of us hadn’t finished the reading anyway, but we all have the writing assignment done. Which we read next, out loud, one at a time. There are around twenty of us, so it takes most of class. One of us doesn’t read; she’s like that sometimes; she’s pretty shy. But she could at least give it a shot instead of saying, “My name is _____. I don’t want to read mine.” She’s the only one who doesn’t read. There’s no way she can keep this up and get a good participation grade. Then again, I’m not feeling so hot about my grade tonight either. I don’t speak much because of the nature of tonight’s class. I can’t comment on things read out loud to me (for the first time, at least), on the fly. I need to see it in front of me and have time for thoughts to fester. I’m not going to like these writing exercise classes. *sigh*

After class, I say goodnight to Mike and Lori and walk home with Kari. We say goodnight at the door and each go to our separate rooms. I come back out and pour some cereal. I eat while surfing the Internet—getting caught up on my YouTubes and checking my e-mail. I have a long e-mail to respond to but don’t have the energy or time tonight. I feel bad because I’ve been neglecting people today. Hélène had called during work, and I haven’t called her back yet. I realize I don’t have to work at 9 a.m. the next morning like I thought; I’m scheduled for noon. I stay up a bit longer, surfing, talking to Justin via IM. I get hungry again and eat some pretzels and Cheez-Its. I go to bed, trying to think of story ideas as I drift off to sleep.

I’m at work now—noon, not 9—writing this. I have to write a story for tomorrow’s Fiction class. I have an e-mail to write and a phone call to return. And a tax return to re-send, because I put the wrong zip code or something. I’m overwhelmed.

I’ll have class tomorrow evening. I’ll finish the story during the day (or not; he had said we don’t have to have them finished, per se). I’ll try to do the tax return, the e-mail, the phone call. I’ll relax at 9 p.m. with LOST on ABC. 🙂

I’ll try to remain sane.

I might succeed.

P. S. I want a Tivo. And a new camera, or two.

UPDATE: Sent the e-mail, finished the tax return. I’ll make the phone call soon. Then I’ll get caught up on my TV (still have to watch last week’s Supernatural and this week’s Life Unexpected), get dinner, and get ready for LOST.

Snow Update

All this snow was fun for a few days, but in the last couple of days, it has officially become a pain. Thursday, Kari and I spent about an hour digging her car out of the snow so she could go to a follow-up job interview the next morning. The wall/gate around the parking lot had fallen down on one side because of the snow. Some protection that was!

And I had to skip The Vampire Diaries (while we were digging) and Supernatural (while I was making myself some dinner) because of it. I just watched 30 Rock at 9:30 while I ate. I plan on getting caught up today.

Last night, Justin came over, and it was annoying finding a place for him to park. The parking lots are, of course, not plowed very well, so people were just parking wherever they could find room. So that’s what he did, too. We considered going over to Lori’s to hang out with her and Mike and Kari, but as we had just found a parking space and hadn’t seen each other in over a week because of the snow, we decided to stay in.

I’ve been staying up until 4 a.m. and sleeping until around 11—this snow has messed up my schedule—so it was nice that Justin had to leave early this morning to be back in time for a dress fitting. I think he’s done with this particular freelance job. On to the next one! Anyway, I got up about 9:30 today, so I’m hoping that will get me back on track. By the end of today, I plan to get caught up on The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, and The Office, as well as finish reading The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, for class. I pretty much hate it. Everything in my Experimental Forms class has been difficult to get through. *sigh*

Oh well. Another requirement down, after this semester (two actually, plus an elective). In three months, I’ll have a year of my program done. If I think about it like that, it’s going a little too fast (but we still have summer)! I guess that’s why we are planning as many events as possible while we’re here—me, Lori, Kari, Mike, Danielle, Wendy, Eli, Tykia, and some others, plus Justin for some of them. We might go to the aquarium tomorrow (there’s something special there on Valentine’s Day), but Justin and I will probably go to dinner or something to have some alone time.

I guess I should get to work on my plans for today. Vampire Diaries, here I come!

P.S. If you couldn’t tell, Justin and I are still dating and are official (have been for over a month at this point). I apologize for the confusion, if you care enough to be confused (LOL), but I had to wait until after I was fully out to my family, which happened over Christmas break. Finally.

Open for Friday?

Apparently, the University is going to be open tomorrow, officially, but liberal leave is in effect, so a lot of classes probably won’t happen (thankfully, I don’t have any classes after Wednesday anyway). Phase II of the Snow Emergency Plan for Baltimore City is still in effect for Friday, so cars will be towed if they are blocking snow emergency routes. Free parking for all University of Baltimore members at the Fitzgerald Garage “on Friday and through 8 p.m. on Sunday.” What that means is anyone’s guess; it’s kind of ambiguous.

So, seriously? We’re really going to open for one day?

And we’re supposed to get more snow next Monday. I wonder how that will go.

For now, I’ve finally started reading for Monday’s class, just in case, and I’d like to get most of it done by tomorrow so I can work on my writing for Monday and Wednesday. But on top of all that, I’m watching Ugly Betty, The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural, The Office, 30 Rock, and Smallville this weekend. And I’d like to get caught up on Nip/Tuck (I’m SO close!).

Out on the (Mid)Town (and Mount Vernon)

After LOST last night, Kari and I made the trek across Howard Street and down a few blocks to Chase Street, where we met up with Eli, Tykia, and Jared at a bar called Dougherty’s. Well, after passing it and having to turn around once, but that’s beside the point. We hung out there for a while, talking, even played some pool, and then we walked (down the middle of the deserted, snowy streets) to Brewer’s Art to find some food, throwing snowballs and laughing the whole way, the girls talking in British accents sporadically; but when we got to Brewer’s Art, they were closing.

We went to see if the Owl Bar was open, but the Belvedere was locked, so we couldn’t get in. Was this normal? It was about 1 or 1:30 a.m. Surely the bar was open, and it was just the hotel itself that was locked, right? Anyway, we decided to call in some pizza at Nino’s, because they’re apparently open until 2 a.m. on Christmas, and then we took it to Jared’s apartment and ate while watching Quest for Camelot and making fun of it. Such a fun movie to watch when you’ve been drinking! Well, I imagine, as I never (feel the need to) drink enough for it to affect me very much. But everyone else was pretty toasted.

Afterwards, Kari, Eli, Tykia, and I went to Tykia’s place to visit Bruce, the cat. Then we walked to Howard Street, where we parted ways at about 3 a.m.

And now it’s morning, and the blizzard is back in full force, with high winds and snow drifts. It’s supposed to keep going until late tonight or sometime tomorrow. We’re probably going to end up with anywhere from 38 to 50 inches by the time it’s over. Really high winds expected tomorrow. They’re calling for snow again on Monday.

What happened with that groundhog?

Lazy Snow Day Blues

It’s snowing again. We’re supposed to get another 10 inches or so, for a total of about 38.

I don’t like this because it’s making me lazy! I need to do homework, even though I don’t have class this week. Can’t fall behind.

UPDATE: I have lost track of how many inches we have gotten (and are supposed to get). It’s ridiculous here!

Bollywood’s “FIRST” Gay Love Story

When I first saw this, I was a little shocked. Hadn’t there already been gay characters (and kissing) in Indian cinema? Fire was released in 1996, and it features two women who befriend each other and, ultimately, fall in love. It is pretty low-key but still homosexual/bisexual. I’m not sure why it doesn’t count. Maybe it doesn’t count as a Bollywood film.

In any case, Dunno Y…Na Jaane Kyun will be released this May, under the Bollywood banner, about 16 months after the Indian government abolished the archaic anti-gay law. This movie centers around a young Indian man who goes to Mumbai, seeking fame and fortune but instead finding love…with a man. It sounds pretty standard, almost clichéd on a very basic level, but I think the Indian angle will add a lot to it. I hope, anyway. I’d be interested to see how it compares to Fire, which I need to watch again; I haven’t seen it since about 2005.

In other news, we don’t have class today because of the snowstorm; I don’t know about tomorrow yet. They’re still cleaning off the streets and sidewalks. It’s supposed to snow again Tuesday and Wednesday, apparently 10 inches. I may not have class this week, which means I need to keep myself on task!

Pictures at Midtown and Bolton Hill

Look at the damage after the snowstorm the other day. It’s so pretty. 🙂

Baltimore Blizzard Bastard; Second Semester Starts; Sorry, So Sorry

*Sorry I haven’t been updating you. It’s been hectic. But maybe that’s not an excuse. Anyway, I wrote this as an e-mail to a family member and thought it was actually perfect for a blog entry. So here you go, blog reader(s)! A slight adaptation of a family e-mail. Pry away into my private life, gentle readers!

Hello,

I’ve been busy with school starting back up. Last week was my second week of class; this week will be the third—assuming we have class, that is. I love it, but there’s a lot going on.

I’m taking a screenwriting class this semester (along with a fiction workshop and a class on experimental writing, called Experimental Forms). It’s neat that part of my work for class is to watch movies and TV shows, and then analyze scripts! Exciting. In fact, I just finished reading the screenwriting textbook for that course a couple of hours ago. It’s really interesting to me, so I decided to just read it all. Besides, I thought it would be good to have read and annotated it already so I can just use it to refer back to while I’m working on my script ideas. That frees up larger blocks of time later on, even though it took longer than I expected to read the book initially! Now I can just refresh my memory real quick on those days where I’m supposed to have read a section (he assigned it in 4 large chunks, to be spaced out between early February and late March, after which time we are going to be writing our scripts), and then I can focus on my ideas and perfecting my writing craft and document styles.

This is the closest I’ve ever been to what I want to do with my life. It’s shaping up to be an exciting, productive, educational semester for me.

As for the Baltimore snow, yeah, we apparently got about 28 inches of snow Friday/Saturday. It’s pretty crazy here. I live close to campus, though. It’s just a couple of blocks away. We don’t have campus housing at UBalt. Baltimore’s not really equipped for that, I guess, or perhaps it’s just UBalt that has that issue. There’s barely enough room for the class buildings! Haha. We have partnerships with a few of the local apartment buildings, though; mine is one of them. It’s called Sutton Place. Actually, I can look out my kitchen window and see the Student Center—big glass building, can’t miss it.

Kari and I have a great view, here at our apartment. It looks especially pretty right now, with all the snow. I should take pictures if I can remember to.

Speaking of pictures, I need to save for a new camera, eventually; this one’s about had it. After being spoiled with expensive/nice video cameras and learning a lot about manual controls in my video production class at Wabash last spring, I now want a still camera that is more up-to-date and has more creative control than my ailing Nikon Coolpix 3200. Nikon’s D5000—the one on Amazon with 2 VR kit lenses, one at 18-55mm and the other at 55-200mm—looks pretty great for a first-timer, with manual controls and everything, but it’s expensive. Not even a priority right now. I need to read more about photography anyway so I know what I’m doing with it if/when I finally get one! And then there’s the worry that I won’t actually use it enough to warrant buying. I certainly don’t use my current camera that often (I use my iPhone camera more!), but maybe I would use a newer one more. Who knows?

Ah, I’m starting to babble. I supposed I should go to bed.

Stay warm, Baltimoreans et al.!

Best,

Roger