going, going, gone

I am brain dead. But before I got to being that way, I had a great, if not busy, last week.

Last week, I screened my short for friends and family and the turnout was really good. Also, I think they liked it. No one walked out or was particularly obnoxious. People were interested, commenting, asking questions on the technicals, plot points and the ending. I suppose the worse thing for any work is to be ignored so thanks from the bottom of my heart. I’ve also been asked about a sequel. Not that I’ve ever heard of a sequel for a short film. But you know, with the way it ended, it’s not such an out-of-this-world idea… Still I don’t know. There’s a part of me that wants to move on to other stories and there’s another part that’s just easy to tempt.

Anyway, after the midweek screening, there was this legendary, ”industry” party hosted by one of the top post-prod houses last Friday. That was crazy. It was like 1999 all over again. And the thing with this industry where it’s okay to come to work in a t-shirt and a pair of sneakers is that nobody really gets violent. Sure there’s backstabbing, pirating and lowballing, but hey, we still like to party and go home in one piece. No nightclub shootings or parking lot scuffles for the creative types.

Also, a high school buddy got hitched last night. They had a Chinese Lauriat at the reception. Scallops, steamed fish, prawn salad, peking duck ang mango sago! High fives! But the MSG got to me, and I was knocked out pretty quick.

I woke up to today, where I had a postponed pre-prod meeting, a short, relatively easy shoot, and where I’ll have the rescheduled pre-prod meeting after dinner. I’m in a coffee shop right now, drinking just water, because the house is an Internet-less black hole. And the madness that is the rush hour, Yultide season, low-priced gas traffic just makes it plain nuts to go back and forth.

I’m sitting here, my day not quite done, and I’m taking stock of my week ahead.

There’s my full day video shoot tomorrow, which will be capped by a possibly late night, long-haul shoot for an advertising buddy. I’m actually going to try to get that late night shoot moved. Only because, Wednesday, I have to be in the airport by 7AM for a three-day Iloilo travel feature. That’s actually something I’ve been looking forward to (and I still do) but the thought that I’ll be flying in on a Friday night, get through Friday-night traffic during the Christmas season, to get to either a rehearsal for this concert I’m producing videos for, a high school reunion, or that late-night shoot I want to cancel is just killing me in already. Who said foresight was going to save you?

So there, just sitting here, sipping water, thinking how sad it is to start liking the microwaved, hot food of a coffee chain, trying not to remember the comfort of my bed, or the joy of re-reading The Three Musketeers, while waiting for a pre-prod meeting to get going two hours from now, I am brain dead.