Serenity Anticipation Fest

For those of you who might be interested... the trailer is here:
Serenity: The Official Movie Website

My Kung Fu Sista Kicks Ass - Part 2

JB and I spent the weekend in San Diego at a Kung Fu competition where my Kick Ass Sista... well, kicked some ass.

JB described her as "this really sweet girl" who transformed out there into a wailin' machine-o-punches-and-kicks.

We got to see her do Techniques, Forms, and Sparring. Okay. I was impressed by the techniques.

Then I was blown away by the forms (it's like this 5-minute long dance of awesomeness with a couple of invisible partners who are getting the hootenanny beat out of them). Some guy at the edge of the mat totally recoiled when she charged his way (even though she was maybe 8 feet away from him) THAT'S how intimidating my sweet little sister was.

THEN we got to see her do something called the "double-dagger form" which included (this might come as a shock, brace yourselves) two daggers. Right. Who is this creature and how am I related to her again? And can I learn this, please?

But all of that was my sister alone on the mat. What really REALLY got me was watching her spar. She fought a woman who looked to be about a foot taller than her, but my sister was a bulldog, totally uninhibited and wailing on this other lady like she's been doing this her whole life. Okay, we "fought" as kids, but it was NOTHING like this. (I'm so glad we're past the "rough-housing" phase of our sister-ness.)

All in all it was amazing and inspiring. I can't wait to see her do this again next year.

Episode III

After being burned by Episode I, by which I mean JB and I got tickets for the 2:00 AM show on opening night at Mann's Chinese Theatre (or is it back to Gromann's now?), JB and I will be attending the much more reasonable showtime of 8:00 tonight for Episode III. I know it's not opening night, not really, since it screened starting at mid-night last night. Right? Also, we had the hook-up and did not actually have to battle for tickets ourselves.

The only thing I wish: I wish I hadn't heard any good reviews. Because I want to expect the same quality of movie as Episode I and Episode II and then be blown away if it's even a LITTLE BIT better. But now I have this tiny little buried hope that I keep trying to dig out and expose to the withering sunlight of reason that this movie is going to rival the first trilogy.

I just don't know if I can handle that kind of disappointment again.

Sweet Kitty

Luna was very sweet this morning. She came and sat on my legs as I wrote, then curled up next to me and fell deeply asleep. She's so pretty. Sometimes she looks like a lion with her big paws ready to kill something, and sometimes she looks like a little piece of fluff all curled up in a ball.

Dinner Break

I waited so long for daylight savings to come so I would have a few hours of sunlight after work. Now it's daylight savings, and I work the night shift. But I guess I get lots of morning sunlight, so it all evens out in the wash.

Which isn't to say I don't see any daylight during the day, but when it's "on the clock" daylight it somehow doesn't count.

I used to have this job where I had everything in the office so organized (and I should point out here that when I was hired I was replacing TWO PEOPLE) that I would work from 9:00 AM to about 11:00 AM or - on a really busy day - noon. Then I would write at my desk for the rest of the day. I wrote my first 4 screenplays this way. Then I went to USC, studied for 3 years, graduated, and now I have another day job that pays slightly more but offers no during-the-day time to write.

I'm on my "lunch" break, only it's 9:00 PM so it really feels like dinner.

Pressure

Do you ever have those moments where you think, "this (object, experience, etc...) will make my life so much (easier, more fulfilling, ect...) I must get it."

I'm having that feeling about a Pressure Cooker. I'm not sure why. What would I cook with a pressure cooker that I can't cook now? Wild rice - but really fast? James' Puerco Pibil? I don't know, can you cook up oatmeal (not the instant stuff, but the stuff that's supposed to be really good for you) in a pressure cooker? And what happens if your pressure cooker malfunctions? Can you die if it explodes in your face? Do I want to risk that?

Hm.

I Yogaed-Up My Spine

I have a new shift at work. I go in at 1:00 PM and work until (unless someone lights the building on fire and I have to go find the extinguisher...(that's a metaphorical "fire", dad, and yes a security guy walks me to my car after my shift)) 10:00 PM. Can I just say: THIS IS THE GREATEST SHIFT EVER. Why-o-why does it have to end?

I have mornings and even noon-ings to write. I get to get up, do some yoga***, have some breakfast, make some New Mexico Pinon Coffee, and break out the laptop. Then it's anywhere from 2-4 hours of writing before going in to the D.A.Y. J.O.B. (which I am so much more thankful for now that it doesn't feel like it's burning through my most precious and creative-oriented time of day.)

Amazing how much my outlook has changed in 4 short days.

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*** So, Yoga. Seriously, people, I am only doing the very first little stretchy sun-salutations thingy and I feel like someone's stuck rusty nails into my lower spine. I have been in pain for 4 days. I keep thinking that this is just the working-the-kinks-out phase, and soon I will be limber like I was when I was actually doing the whole 2 hour ordeal a couple of times a week. And yet the pain continues, unabated. YOGA. Yoga is supposed to make you feel BETTER. I move around like an octogenarian. I can barely put my socks on in the mornings. Luna throws herself on the carpet with her I'm-too-cute-to-not-pet-aren't-I? face and as I try to bend over to scratch her, the GROAN of pain that escapes me scares her away. Then I have to try to STRAIGHTEN UP again.

Did I mention how happy I am about this new shift at work?