Joshua

Joshua was a student in my kindergarten class at T. Harry Garrett Elementary School in Augusta, Georgia. Joshua wasn't the smartest kid in the class, in fact he was just the opposite of that. He was a heavier set student and not the most well liked. I wouldn't consider him socially awkward because he did try very hard to achieve a good standing friendship with the students in my class, but he wasn't any ones best friend. Joshua always wore these khaki shorts that were always way too uncomfortably high above his knees and a polo shirt that was too big for him. I know we had a dress code at the school but when your kid is has grown out of his clothes then it's time to go shopping for some new ones, I don't care if it gets pricey.
Joshua was the first person I ever cussed at, in school or anywhere. It was a bright sunny day of school. It was a perfect day to go out during recess and just have fun with a group of my friends, Joshua felt the need to tag-along. We didn't usually mind because we were the good group of kids. My best friend Davis' mom was one of the two P.E. teachers and, secretly, I had a crush on his big sister who was in the fourth grade at the time. My other friend, his name escapes me, was a math wiz. I remember calling him one day and his dad forced him to recite his times tables from memory, surprising for a kindergartner but really at the time I didn't care at all.
So that day we went to play in the grass like we usually did. The way our playground was set up was that there was a jungle gym and a plain of grass on top of a hill on the right side of the playground. To get to the swings, sandbox, and slides we could have just walked down the hill or taken a flight of stairs. We usually played just at the bottom of that hill in a grassy area. As kids we used our imagination to create our own world, although our world seemed much like that of the show Dragonball Z.
As the tension of battle rose and I struck down the evil Joshua with my super blast of death I realized that he did not die. "I just killed you," I screamed in anger. "No you didn't I used my special force field that protects me from your blast," he explained. After some arguing I didn't like his reasoning so...I called him an asshole. When I said it everyone stopped talking and moving. They stared at me eyes and mouths wide open. Joshua said, "I'm telling" and all the kids went to tell on me. As I tried to stop them I caught up with Joshua and threw him to the ground. Davis and the others were too quick and they met up with the teacher at the top of the stairs. I was busted.

Just a regular group

This picture greatly represents my experience on sets. At any one time there could be two or three of us just standing behind one camera operator. Although sometimes it was considered a "professional" shoot our equipment was always very independent. We worked with a moderate sized tripod like the one shown hear and had the bags of those tripods on the floor behind us, ready for a change at a moments notice. In West Palm Beach the streets were always full of cars, or as I like to call them obstructions, that were tough to shoot around. The other crews would be in the background discussing their own issues while we were focused on our task, unfortunately we didn't always know what that was.

M-o-o-orning (Like Singin' In the Rain...get it?)

In the morning, I bike to get to English class. I usually don't bicycle to my second class because it is so close to my dorm and it would be inconvenient because I have to cross a street. Now I have to cross this same street to get to English class but it isn't as much of a hassle as it is in the afternoon to my second class. I know everyone reading this is thinking, "Big deal. You're in a college. The streets are made for students to cross all day long whenever they want." This isn't one of those streets.
I have to cross Tennessee Street. For those of you unaware of Tennessee Street, this is a main road that goes right above Florida State University. So as I get to that intersection I stand, I wait, and I stand some more. Cars come flying past me while DeGraff Hall looms overhead like a giant tower. I can look down the road to see how many cars are coming and just catch a glimpse of the sign for the club that reads "Dayglo Party". The wind hits me from every car and I can feel myself being thrust off of my bike but I hold steady so I don't look stupid to all of the other people, doing exactly what I was doing, sitting, and waiting.

Drafting A Masterpiece

Anne Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts," Lorrie Moore's "How to Become a Writer," and Gail Godwin's "The Watcher at the Gates" were all essays that encouraged writer's to continue writing past the obstacles at hand. "The Watcher at the Gates" and "Shitty First Drafts" really focused on letting go of what people, including yourself, tell you is not good or acceptable in your writing at its principle stages. Writers in their beginning stages should be attentive to getting their ideas down on paper before they worry about what people are going to say about it. If they write thinking what critics will say, it crushes their creative flow and makes it really difficult to get anything that they might really like in their final product down on paper. "How to Become a Writer" deals more with writing about whatever a writer feels like writing about. In other words, if I wanted to become a writer then I should go and write. It shouldn't matter to me how other people view my writing because in the end there are always some people who are just not going to like it. If I like it, then it is enough.

Lamott uses her life experiences to give advice on writing a first draft. She uses anecdotes to set the mood and comes off very much like a teacher or professor giving a lesson to students. She really tries to give her reader someone that they can relate to and say "Hey, she's a very smart writer and so are all of her colleagues. If they are like me with their first drafts, maybe I don't suck as much as I thought." Moore however uses her life, real or made up I'm not quite sure, to tell a story on challenges that writers will often face and have to overcome. She wants people to see the true, non glamorous life of a writer to show that if you are put down in your work you can't let it get you out of the game. Perseverance is the key in any job. Godwin writes like a informer. She wants others to realize that their creativity is being stifled by themselves, and that they can stop it. She gives helpful tips on crushing the "Watcher" and letting yourself be free of its scrutiny.

A Digital Me

Many things today can be done without ever needing to leave home. Websites for retail giants like Walmart and Costco make it very easy to order from home and have purchases ship directly. The internet has taken away the need for face to face conversation with another human being. Now people can just skype, oovoo, facebook, instant message, and email. Of course there are many more sites like the ones I just listed but those are the features and sites that I currently use.
I am careful to not let these things take over my life. The body thrives for actual, real life human contact and without it, some people can be at a large disadvantage. These can be amazing tools when businesses and personal lives are in a bind but it is not meant to disassociate you from the real world. 

New School

This isn't the first time I've been to a new school. Actually, recently, I haven't exactly been moving as much as I used to, so I guess it was a bit more new than expected. Being on my own is a great experience but I find myself thinking that it's not all it's wrapped up to be. I remember seeing movies where students would go off to college and as they enter the dorms there would be sexy girls flying down the hall and every guy in the place wanted to be the protagonists friend, and I guess inside I knew it would be nothing like that, but maybe I was hoping it would be, at least, somewhat similar.

I hear all the time to "Live college up". That college will be the "Best four years of your life". I'm sure eventually I'll enjoy college and what it has to offer me, but I can't seem to enjoy knowing how late I'll be up studying for exams and writing papers and reading 100 pages of material a night for an exam that may or may not have 2 questions on that chapter. If I had tried just a little bit harder in high school I may have gotten the grades I needed to get into the film school.

So now I'll have to push through to get straight A's and try to make myself noted by the teachers in and out of the film school. If I want to get in now is probably the only other chance I'll have. I have a hard time imagining how I will manage to schedule all of the classes and homework and a job and making time to create films that, from experience I know, takes a twelve hour day to get one scene shot. It is overwhelming but I think I can do it. ""I think I can. I think I can. I think I can."