Sadness, prospects, and the new semester
So, I came back from Indy a few weeks ago to find that our landlords had discovered the kitties. We made an excuse; they made it clear: get the cats out. We looked for options, but no one here could house two cats (other than the animal shelter--no), and shipping them to Indianapolis by air was going to cost $440. So, Mike and I spent four days driving to Indy and back to settle them with my parents. On the one hand, I'm just grateful that they're safe, we don't have to hide them, and we get to keep our apartment. On the other, we lost a lot of time and--more importantly, with the wedding on the horizon--money.
Annnd, I really miss my kitties.
But again, they're safe and taken care of. They apparently killed a mouse in my parents' garage, so they're earning their keep. And as for the money, we've been able to repair the loss a little bit through some unexpected work from my old company. And it looks like we'll have some more projects coming in from them, maybe, which we didn't account for in our budget. So, I think this thing is going to happen. I've had to finally give up on a few wedding things that already looked improbable--photography, live music--but nothing that was truly a priority. I'm in the swing of planning things again. A trip to the El Paso David's Bridal with Ashly might be on the horizon for this weekend to help me decide on bridesmaid dresses. My mom let the secret slip regarding my birthday present--a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby for invitation supplies and, possibly, decorations. I think it'll be nice to start finalizing plans and getting things in order. So much was up in the air last semester as we tried to figure out the budget. So, we're started with less than we planned, but things are still getting checked off the list, one by one.
The semester has otherwise started out pretty well. I'm in a Melville class, which I kind of hate, but my fiction workshop is being taught by the director of the program, who is awesome, and I'm having an incredible time in my screenwriting class. It's been great to have a class where we all come in and get down to business; we've been "casting" our screenplays and listening to the reading since day one. The professor is really demanding and kind of intimidating, but he will tell you what's working, what's not, and how to make it work better without hesitation. It's a nice contrast to fiction workshop, where the focus is as much on everyone working to figure out how the mechanics of good fiction as it is on the individual writer's story. In screenwriting, we just seem to get to the point. It's also alerted me to a thing I want to work on in my fiction--It turns out I have kind of a filmic eye when I describe things or people in stories (because I don't like long descriptions). This is a good thing in some ways, because I tend to avoid dwelling on stuff that is useless to the story (who cares if the character has jeans on, unless it shows something about them), but I also sometimes focus on settings like sets and characters like actors, and I don't go into the kind of detail that helps the reader experience the story. So I'm learning stuff, and I'm not sure I totally opened myself up to new techniques and things to work on last semester--I was just kind of trying to hold on and hold my own. I feel much more comfortable this semester, even as I have a lot (a lot) more work to do.
That's pretty much what's going on...If I get swallowed by this semester and don't emerge for a while, I'll be looking forward to seeing people at Ami's wedding!
-Tracy
Annnd, I really miss my kitties.
But again, they're safe and taken care of. They apparently killed a mouse in my parents' garage, so they're earning their keep. And as for the money, we've been able to repair the loss a little bit through some unexpected work from my old company. And it looks like we'll have some more projects coming in from them, maybe, which we didn't account for in our budget. So, I think this thing is going to happen. I've had to finally give up on a few wedding things that already looked improbable--photography, live music--but nothing that was truly a priority. I'm in the swing of planning things again. A trip to the El Paso David's Bridal with Ashly might be on the horizon for this weekend to help me decide on bridesmaid dresses. My mom let the secret slip regarding my birthday present--a gift certificate to Hobby Lobby for invitation supplies and, possibly, decorations. I think it'll be nice to start finalizing plans and getting things in order. So much was up in the air last semester as we tried to figure out the budget. So, we're started with less than we planned, but things are still getting checked off the list, one by one.
The semester has otherwise started out pretty well. I'm in a Melville class, which I kind of hate, but my fiction workshop is being taught by the director of the program, who is awesome, and I'm having an incredible time in my screenwriting class. It's been great to have a class where we all come in and get down to business; we've been "casting" our screenplays and listening to the reading since day one. The professor is really demanding and kind of intimidating, but he will tell you what's working, what's not, and how to make it work better without hesitation. It's a nice contrast to fiction workshop, where the focus is as much on everyone working to figure out how the mechanics of good fiction as it is on the individual writer's story. In screenwriting, we just seem to get to the point. It's also alerted me to a thing I want to work on in my fiction--It turns out I have kind of a filmic eye when I describe things or people in stories (because I don't like long descriptions). This is a good thing in some ways, because I tend to avoid dwelling on stuff that is useless to the story (who cares if the character has jeans on, unless it shows something about them), but I also sometimes focus on settings like sets and characters like actors, and I don't go into the kind of detail that helps the reader experience the story. So I'm learning stuff, and I'm not sure I totally opened myself up to new techniques and things to work on last semester--I was just kind of trying to hold on and hold my own. I feel much more comfortable this semester, even as I have a lot (a lot) more work to do.
That's pretty much what's going on...If I get swallowed by this semester and don't emerge for a while, I'll be looking forward to seeing people at Ami's wedding!
-Tracy