Ah, twenty days of roses n' thorns to catch up on... Let me think.
Rose
The thirty seconds of "give yourselves a big pat on the back" and "this really works for us" comments from our producers.
Thorn
An exhausting 10+ hours of meetings to dissect every noun, verb and adjective.
Rose
A few new moments Jim n' I came up with while writing. A couple of them are really good, which I suppose goes to show how the script gets better with every draft. (Even though we often lose a few good moments with every rewrite too... so really, I guess it balances out.)
Thorn
Debates. To our producers' credits, they have about four or five other projects on their plates, so they can't always remember every little detail of our story like we do, such as how a specific action in one scene plays into other scenes and covers plot holes.
At the same time, it's all these frustrating debates that really made those 10+ hours of our meetings so very draining. It's extremely important to Jim n' I that we protect the integrity of our story, and every decision we made was done with purpose. So constantly defending our rationale of why we wrote this or that is... well... pretty tiresome, to put it politely.
On the smoother side of this thorn, we eventually won almost every debate, which felt really good... except maybe a couple situations where les producers were able to convince us that something really wasn't all that important. (Of course, we'll see what armchair critics on IMDB are saying two years from now when they point out these minor missing details...)
Rose
Despite the scathing review written by some prude on Castanet entitled, "Stale, Filthy, Cheap", I thought the Norm McDonald show was actually pretty funny last weekend. The reviewer highlighted a healthy sampling of some of his darkest jokes or references, taking them completely out of context and really making it sound like the worst show eva. Not so.
I mean, some of the humour was definitely dark, but I wouldn't say filthy. And while I wasn't totally busting a gut like some of my friends -- then again, I'm not a real 'lol' sort of gal, I'd say 50% of my laughter is usually on the inside -- I still enjoyed the show.
The one thing I did like in her review was her mention of the local opening act, Rob Balson. I guess I have low expectations for opening acts, especially when they're local. But this guy was tres funny. I would totally pay to see him again.
Thorn
Because the lawyers have been on holidays and haven't reviewed the payment agreements yet, we haven't been paid for all this work we've been doing over the last month n' a half. And because we've been so swamped with script nonsense, we haven't had the capacity to take on much contract work. So in that regard, lately our biweekly paychecks have been slim to none. Les producers were thoughtfully stressing out about this, but we told them not to worry... we haven't been evicted yet. ;)
Actually, I should clarify that we're not really in dire straights. Our bills are up to date n' all that. We've just been a lil' more frugal and well... that's what a line of credit is for. Emergencies like this. Even though it hardly feels like an emergency. We should hopefully get our next funding installment next week and can finally reimburse ourselves. Then we'll be able to float until production payments start rollin' in late summer/early fall.
Ah yes, independent filmmaking... so glamorous, no?
Rose
In my protest against soup (which I really do love, but only when it's a matter of choice and not a time-saving requirement), I've been exploring other quick meal options and have really fallen in love with this super easy chickpea sandwich spread. (How pathetic is my life that this is one of my highlights of the last three weeks? Ha.)
Anyhow, you just mash up a can of chickpeas with some chopped celery and/or onion. Then add some mayo or ranch dressing, lemon juice, mustard and dill. Salt n' pepper too if you like. Put it on a sammich or a pita pocket with cheese, sprouts, tomato, avocado n' cucumber. (Or whatever... that's just what I use.) Yum, yum. So tasty and filling.
At least it's a better option than soup n' a bun...
Thorn
St. Pat's was kind of a drag. Since it landed on a Wednesday, Jim n' I were in the midst of our exhausting meetings and feeling pretty battered n' bruised. So we convinced ourselves that we deserved a break and could go out for some sort of green beverage and be around crowds of cheerful spirits. Hopefully some of it would rub off on us.
Jim is my legitimate 'in' as he tells me he's half Irish, so I don't feel like I'm totally bandwagon jumping... and even if I were, I don't care. Do you really need to be Irish to enjoy a colourful beer in the middle of March? Of course not.
Anyhow, naturally by the time we finally pulled ourselves away from our work, it was after 5:00 and every pub worth going to was packed to the rafters. Jeez... even Docs was charging a $5.00 cover to just get in and stand around. (As there were obviously no tables left.)
So, we ended up going to Boston Pizza instead. And not the good one either. The crappy old one near downtown. The place was depressingly dead, except for a couple families with cranky kids.
Then, because my day wasn't irritating enough, the waitress accidentally screwed up my order and gave me fries instead of salad. I shook my head to Jim, managed a laugh and figured I'd just eat them anyway. But when I went to put some malt vinegar on them, I soon realized that it was actually soya sauce meant for Jim's stir fry. Blegh. Soya sauce fries. That's when I decided to politely send them back to get what I had actually ordered...
We ended up sitting in silence through most of our meal, just feeling totally beaten down after another day of being dragged through the mud. (Although I kept likening it to being dragged through gravel, because it was much more rough n' painful.)
So yeah... it kinda sucked. Oh well... I'm not Irish anyway.
Rose
I went out for a run with my friend Lara last Thursday. Our meeting had been postponed for the day, so Jim n' I got a much needed reprieve and were in better spirits than we were on Wednesday night.
Anyhow, it was my first run of the season, and it felt really good to get my blood flowin'. Also, on one particularly hard day, I exhausted my frustrations by working out with my weights n' whatnot for the first time in probably a month. Yes, I was sore the next day... but again, it felt really good, especially since I've felt like such a fat sloth over these last few weeks. (And yes, I know, I know.... I'm not fat. But I'm definitely not feeling too fit either.)
Whatever happened to my new year's goal to work out three times a week? Sheesh... I sure dropped the ball on that one. (Is it just me or is this rose starting to sound more like a thorn?)
Thorn
I scraped my top knuckle on my middle finger and I don't know how. I realized it the other day when I was washing my hands, and I was like, "Ouch. How'd that happen?" It was right after I had finished with my morning routine, so I think I might've scraped it against my tooth while flossing or something. I don't know. Anyhow, it was one of those stingy hurts that you're constantly aware of for a couple days.
Okay, these thorns are totally pathetic. Then again, so were my roses. Really, I've had nothing goin' on over these last few weeks except sitting in my PJ's with a mini ironing board across our laps. (Because it makes it easier to share the laptop.)
And noooooow, I'm going to get the hell off this thing and go do something productive, like clean out that spare room before you catch me on an episode of hoarders. Actually, earlier this week when we took a break from writing, I jumped into reorganizing it. You know writing is really becoming a chore, when cleaning becomes a fun alternative.
Ciao.
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