Thoughts from July 6 & 30, 1995

July 6, 1995

Welcome to the winter of my circumvent. If avoidance is the spice of life, I’ve had a heaping bowl of that green stuff you get with Sushi. But enough about me. (Future note: This day’s thought was short and sweet. I will just add I am now fully aware the green stuff is called wasabi.)

July 30, 1995

I’m rewriting and finishing The Exchange (Johnny) story. As you can see from the current title, it’s under works. I originally started it out as a novel, but I’m reworking it into a screenplay. This creates an interesting challenge in trying to translate Johnny’s enormous internal dialogues into visual action and dialogue on the screen. As an example of how this works out, I am on page 8 of the screenplay, but have translated up to page 18 of the novel. What I’ve completed in the novel is almost over, so I’ll have to work purely from my outline for the rest of the story. I drew a simple sketch of Johnny on paper. My idea about him is that he is a smart kid who likes to read about foreign lands and is a smartass. (No relation to anyone I am.)

I can do small animations on my computer which gave me the idea of doing a kind of adventure game using pictures and animations. I could create a world where you could access various parts of it by hitting certain areas on the screen with the mouse. (Future note: I don’t know what I’m talking about here. My only excuse is this was the early days of computer games. I think I was referring to a game like Myst. If you don’t know what Myst is, it was a “graphic adventure/puzzle video game” that was awesome.) The Sound Blaster sound card came with a program to make games on the computer. I may use that along with pictures and animations to make simple games. Of course, it would be nice to create actual computer games for the market by using the Johnny story someday.

Creating computer games brings up the age-old question – what am I going to do with my life? What should I be doing to prove to someone with money and power that I have the creativity and talent to make money for them? Of course, someday I would like to be the someone with money and power so I could have more of a choice about what I produce and don’t produce. But first, as they say, I must start at the bottom.

I saw Pat last night in Pump Boys, an epic about four guys and two waitresses who sing country songs. Pat’s character got the largest laughter from the crowd. His character is basically a nerd who gets all the women he can because he has a farmer tan. The songs weren’t as annoyingly country as I thought they were going to be. I went with my dad, and he seemed to enjoy the production, especially Pat. The play got me thinking about two things. First, if Pat and I got together, we could do our own two nerd act. Second, I should do something like the Pump Boys. Not a country music revue, but something where I can develop and continue my talents. I can get into an acting class (like I’ve wanted to do for years now). I can just go for it and audition for some local plays.

Sorry to interrupt with reality, but I just found that I lost a button on my shirt. I need to see if I can find it. (Future note: I’m still looking for that button.)