48 Hour Film Project - I Survived!

Shooting a Road Movie!

It's over a week since I completed the 48 hour film project. I took off for a few days in Las Vegas to recooperate.

I can now reflect.

It was an insane 48 hours. I got about 5 hours of sleep in two days. I started becoming delirious...and yet I kept going. We only had 48 hours! So, it was utter insanity, but a lot of fun too. I'd recommend it to anyone. You should do it!

For those of you film buffs, we used a relatively cheap camcorder to shoot it, the format being mini-dv. It was edited on Final Cut Pro, but I'm sure even iMovie would have sufficed. There were a few groups that were more high budget. One had a crane shot, but they were in the minority.

As to how the 48 hours were broken up - writing took up most of the initial 48 hours on Friday night. Saturday was spent shooting all day. Since we had drawn "Road Movie" that meant using a car and shooting in empty parking lots and random locations. It took ALL day. Saturday night was reserved for editing into the wee hours of Sunday morning, with music being added in last of all on Sunday morning along with any final edits. It was an action packed weekend with barely any time to sleep, much less eat.

Our group finished about two hours early - that being when we dropped the tape off at the drop-off location. Success!

My opinion on how the film turned out? It's fun! The initial minute is the best of it and we should have kept that energy going, but overall I thought we did a good job, especially since none of us had done anything like it before. It's a cute little movie and I thought we used the required elements cleverly, but, then again, it is MY movie.

The time constraint is stressful, but fun. You HAVE to get it done! It's a great motivator if you have a tendency to procrastinate.

I would highly recommend it to any wannabe filmmaker. They even show it in a theater a few days later. I missed the screening because I was in Las Vegas, but the rest of my group went and had a great time.

So, if you're pondering the 48 hour film project in your city...just do it! It makes for an exciting, busy weekend! And, did I mention it's also fun?

48 hours to write, shoot, and edit a film

This may sound like a delusional blog, being that I'm writing it on 2 hours of sleep.

It's about 13 hours into the 48 hour film project. Everything is still quiet...for about another hour.

It was smooth sailing, at first. For those of you not in the know, the 48 hour film project is basically writing, shooting, and editing a film (with music!) in 48 hours. You get a genre, prop, line of dialogue, and a character at 7 pm Friday night and have until 7 pm Sunday to get it all together...somehow. It's scary, but sounded like a blast, so I was in and signed up!

So, it was Friday the 13th, 7 pm and I picked the genre - Road movie. Okay, that's do-able. It's better than western or historical biopic. I think. Although, musical would have been fun...probably until about 6 in the morning when we'd still be coming up with songs.

But, anyway, road movie!!!!! And, then there was the prop, the characters, and the line of dialogue that also had to be included into the film. The character - Ronald or Rhonda Donellson, game host. The prop - 3 or more potatoes. The line of dialogue - "Leave it to me, I'm a professional." Hilarious!

Now, to write a 4-7 minute film. The hard part. What in the world were we going to write about? And, potatoes???? 3 or more? Game host? What's a game host, exactly? Huh? Ahhhhh!!!! But, that's the point, right? It's FUN!!!!!

So, our team spent all last night into the wee hours of the morning writing a script and coming up with a concept, hoping it was funny and would translate into film...at least enough to make it watchable. I'm hoping it still makes sense today - the whole what sounded hilarious at 4:30 am deal.

I can barely believe that was last night...and it's now this morning. And, we have to shoot the whole thing. Am I going to make it?????? OF COURSE!

I could go into details on what the 6 fantastic writers of the film came up with after much debate, but I won't just yet. I'd rather show the film at the end of this process. Just know there was lots and lots of pizza and caffeine, much debate over witty lines of dialogue, punctuated with character impersonations, and lots and lots of laughter (probably much to the discontent of my roommates who were trying to sleep at 3 am...oops). Oh, and definitely some delirium in the wee hours - "Wait, we cut that line?" Yes, 2 seconds ago.

Ok, I need to go shoot a film. There's less than 36 hours left! At least I have the potatoes, that's what Ralphs is for at 6 am.... I wonder what went through the cashier's mind at my purchase - yes, it's 6 am! I must have potatoes. Geeesh.

On that random sleep deprived delirious tangent - it's time for me to go put together a film! Woo-hoo!

Amazing

For those of you that are like, WTF is this?!?!?! It's Maniac Mansion - another Lucasfilm game (like Monkey Island). And, this person solves it in NINE minutes!!!!! I never even FINISHED the game and I spent hours on it. Craziness. So, I just had to share.

And, maybe you can only appreciate it if you were an 80s/90s Lucasfilm videogame nerd, but hey, whatever. You can at least laugh at the graphics.





P.S. Funny enough, I can't even jump to the ending...to see how the game ends...because somewhere in the recesses of my mind is the thought - maybe I can still finish it, myself!

I'm a Winner!

Woo-hoo!

I'm a winner! I wrote a script in a month! I finished Script Frenzy! Woo-hoo!

I'm just taking a moment to gloat, being that I wrote 25 pages in the last few hours in order to try and finish my script tonight.

My thought for today: You can do anything you set your mind to!

Okay, it's time to go do some cartwheels. I've looked at the computer screen enough for today!

Monkey Island

Google is great! Every once in awhile, when I think of something long lost in the past, I do a google search and suddenly, there it is again!

I took a moment today to look up one of my all-time favorite video games, Monkey Island. I know I wrote a blog about it last year, but here I am thinking about it again. I was thinking about old school video games, having talked with friends about the fantastic documentary, "King of Kong." If you haven't seen it you should. It's about the World Champions of Donkey Kong. When you look back that far, I'm definitely a Ms. Pac Man girl. I'm even still pretty good at it. Still, when I look at absolute favorites, Monkey Island is at the top of the list. Although, runners up are definitely Zelda, Final Fantasy, Maniac Mansion, and even Ms. Pac Man, which was the first.

Anyway, I'll admit, I was curious to see if Monkey Island was somewhere online, uploaded, and play-able. That's the thing about "King of Kong" - it makes you want to go and PLAY video games. I don't even remember which computer system I played Monkey Island on ...that's how old it is...although, it WAS on floppy disk!

There's a lot of random information about the game, online, actually - from whikipedia to youtube.

The youtube footage was pretty funny and I just wanted to share some of that goodness whether you ever played the game...or not:

A German cartoon...Hilarious! Although, I don't understand a word:


It's funnier in German, but here it is in English:


This is the REAL game intro, for those of you that never played and wonder what the hell I'm talking about. This is what it actually looked like. The premise: Guybrush Threepwood wants to be a pirate. And, um, okay, it IS in Spanish. I also found German. Don't ask me why I couldn't find English, but if you watched the cartoon above, you already know what it's about anyway:


A band playing the theme song, live:


A movie trailer (using Pirates of the Carribean footage):


A high school play (this is part 1, but they have the whole thing up). Can I just say...wow, some teacher was a HUGE fan. How cool!!!!:

"Once" upon the Academy Awards...

Every once in awhile, at the Academy Awards, there is a moment of inspiration. A moment where you go, WOW, they totally deserved to win and not only did they deserve to win, but it makes YOU feel great that they won. Like maybe one day, you could do something that great in your life and have one of those moments too. In the past it's been people like Cuba Gooding Jr winning Best Supporting Actor in "Jerry McGuire" or Matt Damon and Ben Afleck winning Best Screenplay for "Good Will Hunting" or Roberto Benigni winning for "Life is Beautiful." This year it was Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova winning Best Song for "Once."

Marketa Irglova, particularly, touched me. She at first got cut off by the orchestra to (at least) my horror. I felt really bad for her. She was just trying to say "Thank you!" and got cut off! But then they let her back on. I am so glad! Especially since her speech was the most inspiring of the night! And, we almost missed it! Her words should be inspiring to anyone who has ever dared or even just wanted to dream: "The fact that we're standing here tonight, the fact that we're able to hold this, it's just proof that no matter how far out your dreams are, it's possible. And, you know, fair play to those who dare to dream, and don't give up. This song was written from the perspective of hope, and hope, at the end of the day, connects us all, no matter how different we are."

Wow, talk about an awesome acceptance speech. I almost cried.

Don't give up on your passions! They are important! And, you can achieve success! This story just goes to show you that you could be next...

Here's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova playing their song, "Falling Slowly" at the 80th Academy Awards yesterday:


And, their acceptance speeches when they won the Oscar:


And, for more reading, an article from Yahoo about it:
http://oscars.movies.yahoo.com/news/reuters/20080224/1714.html

It's Never Too Late

This is me, procrastinating. Ah, the fun of photobooth.

I've been procrastinating on writing this blog. I'm not quite sure why since I actually enjoy blogging. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I want this blog to become something different this year.

Last year, I had just started a blog and it was more about just writing something...well, anything of interest that I thought about. A lot of it was random. Some of it was just to share some interesting news articles or good movies or great books. This year, I hope to do something different, but I don't feel like I've found quite what that is yet. Over last summer, when I went to the BlogHer conference in Chicago, they stressed finding that "thing" that defines your blog. I don't feel I have quite found that "thing" yet and it unnerves me. It drives me crazy. So, I procrastinate. It's much easier to put things off. The problem with that is that my mind STILL won't let me stop thinking about it. Geesh! I mean, can't it see I'm trying to put it out of my mind?

Ah, procrastination.

I find that I do that a lot. Take going to the gym. I have procrastinated on going this year until just today - that means that for the first 27 days of 2008, I didn't go. Still, it's not too late - I went today. That's a first step and it's the same with blogging. It's a matter of getting into it again and getting rid of the urge to procrastinate because I'm unsure about what to write. I should just write SOMETHING. It's funny how unsureness leads to doing nothing...which doesn't make you more sure anyway!

So, this year, with this blog, I hope to find that "thing" that will define what I am writing about here and why I'm even writing it. That being said, I am going to start with what I think that thing could be and it's kind of ironic being that I'm writing a blog. I'm going to start with writing. It is the thing that is at the core of who I want to be, so I think that's a great place to start.

Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana IS The Best Of Both Worlds

Miley Cyrus is Hannah Montana at the SOLD OUT Staples Center last night!

I'll admit it. I had a good time at the Miley Cyrus/Hannah Montana concert. And, the Jonas Brothers were off the hook too! And, I'm not even in the target age group.

It was a sold out show, with fans screaming. I saw a lot of 8/9/10 year olds dressed in pink shirts and Hannah Montana emblazoned T-shirts. I also saw Blair Underwood and Sylvester Stalone walking around with their kids on the way to my seats.

The Jonas Brothers started the concert out. I was curious to see how popular they'd be (since they're less televised), but the young crowd seemed to know and love them already. Then Miley came out as Hannah Montana to thunderous high pitched screams. It was a good time to have ear plugs. She was bouncing with energy and her songs are catchy and easy to sing along with if you know them...and everyone there knew them. Hannah's set culminated in a duet with the Jonas Brothers, singing a song they sang together in a Hannah Montana television episode, "We Got The Party With Us." The screams were deafening at this pairing. The Jonas Brothers had a second set at this point, allowing Miley to change from Hannah Montana and come back as herself, Miley Cyrus. Miley's songs were catchy as well and the audience stayed rapt with attention. Amazing, if you consider children's attention spans. The last song she performed was a sort of digital duet with her Hannah Montana other side, singing along appropriately to "The Other Side of Me" to again deafening screams and applause from her young fans. The whole event was a little over two hours long with no break. It was a fun, energetic concert and the young fans seemed to know most of the songs and if they didn't, they were probably screaming anyway.

Take a look at some You Tube footage of Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) singing "Rock Star" at the opening of the Hannah Montana set. I'll admit it - I sang along too:

Ah, the romance....

I have a confession to make - I've been reading romance novels.

Want to know why? Click over to Literature Life and read on...

FIRE!!!!!

Ah, yes, the California fires are back. They've been on the news for days and although, I have not been affected directly by them, it's still an odd phenomenon to see the skies filled with never ending clouds of smoke and smell the distinct smell of burning on the air.

The video below is sort of what it has looked like here in the last few days (although, maybe not as bad as this - this video was shot 30 miles from the fires and I would guess that I am about that far as well):

Back to Blogging

It's much like back to school, I think - I'm coming back to the blog-osphere.

Wow, I really took some off. Perhaps it was the inundation of information, ironically, from BlogHer. Perhaps it was exhaustion and stress from work, spilling over into my blogging time. And, perhaps, I just needed some space.

Hopefully, I am back now for good and onto bigger and better things - like a blog theme!

The 3 Day Novel

Maybe this weekend I will write a novel that will become so popular that it gets its own "DO NOT OPEN UNTIL" box. And, what are you doing this weekend?

This lovely Labor Day weekend, I am going to take the plunge...and write a 3 Day Novel. Yes, you read that correctly - a novel in 3 days. I'm taking part in the annual 3 Day Novel Contest.

Ok, so maybe I'm a little insane...but what if I win publication?!!?!?!?! Although, I actually think it's going to be a fun and memorable experience! On Sunday I may have changed my mind, but at this very moment, I'm really excited!!!

I will be off and racing sometime after midnight, Saturday. That means that I have seven hours left to ponder my story line...

Wish me luck!!!!!

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F.Y.I. for those who think I am insane and want more information:

I wrote a general posting about the 3 Day Novel Contest on the Literature Life website while I was still pondering this insane writing marathon - click here for that article.

Sick, Sneezing, and Tired

Like the title says, I am sick, sneezing, and tired...so my new breakthrough in blogging is going to have to wait a few days. There will be some new things to come...once I can think straight through the fog of cold medicine, airborne, and exhaustion.

Until then, I did manage to write a Literature Life blog in my delerium...hopefully it makes sense. Here's an excerpt, with a link:

It was 6 in the morning and I was in an airport in Phoenix, flying back from Chicago and Blogher 2007 just in time to make it into work at 9 am in California, when I saw it. I was bleary eyed from lack of sleep, my eyes were red, I was exhausted from waking up at 3 am to get to the airport, and I had been trying to stay awake to catch my next flight by perusing the airport stores. I was in the bookstore, where there's always a lot to look at, when I had a sudden surge of pure energy upon seeing one simple book on the bookshelf.

And, no it wasn't Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Although, that book is amazing in it's own right.

Continue reading "Literary Surprises" »

Blogher 2007 - Day 1 - Must Post Blog Before I Can Sleep

Although I am exhausted, I must post a blog, after all, I am in Chicago attending Blogher 2007 with my Literature Life podcast co-host, Caroline. For those of you not in the know, Blogher is a blogging conference, geared toward women. Funny enough, it’s the largest blogging conference, PERIOD, regardless of gender.

Although, I did see some men…even talked to a few. Hell, I took a picture of one. I admit it. They did exist at the conference, even if they were surrounded by women. Speaking of the women, there are an insane amount of mommy bloggers. It seems to be a real phenomenon. I had no idea. I also had no idea that pack horses should be brought to conferences. Why? Well, there is an amazing amount of swag that seems to be being given away – I have a bag full of things from T-shirts to oversized pens the size of my arm. And, yes, I will be taking it all home with me…somehow.

I just made it through day one and panels on self branding, public speaking, writing reviews in blogs, and a panel on blogging being more than words (aka in art or paintings or photographs).

The panels were extremely helpful and I will be spending some more time in the near future when I can think clearly pontificating about them and what should become of my blog site. I think some changes are in store! There are some great ideas out there and I plan on at the very least, ruminating over them.

The first session, about self branding, though, was the one that probably affected me most from this, day one. It is something I obviously have an issue with on this blog. What they mean by self branding, is basically, your “niche” in 3 to 4 words. I can’t describe this blog in 3 to 4 words at the moment, although I had a fantastic suggestion from a fellow blogger, Alison, about making this an LA girl blog…and, you know, that could almost work! It’s something to keep pondering - what is my niche that I want to talk about to the world? It’s a question I knew would eventually come knocking at my door, and it has…full force. What will I write about from this day forward? What is my brand?????

I came here looking for questions like that and the hopes of motivation to finding answers to them. I have definitely found that here. They say that the internet is so impersonal, but what I am coming to realize from this conference, is that through blogs the internet has also created a different sort of community, a community of strangers with similar interests, who are intimately sharing those interests with one another, when otherwise they would possibly never meet or share anything. How great is that?

Tune in for more, as Blogher continues…

My Thoughts on: Is There Anywhere to Hide From Harry Potter?

Check out my latest Literature Life blog - inspired by Anne and Band of Horses mixed with the Decemberists:

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It's July and Harry Potter is everywhere - on the Internet, in the news, on TV, in movie theaters, in bookstores.... You just can't get away from him! Normally, that's a good thing for me. I love the Harry Potter series and all things written and gossiped about him! I am super excited about the latest Harry Potter movie coming out this week! And, the new book - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out next week! Even more exciting!

And, worrisome.

Click here to read the rest of this most excellent Literature Life blog in it's entirety.......

My Thougths On: Less Than 5 Days Left of Script Frenzy

OMG!!!!!

And, yes, I sound like a teenager, but it's pretty appropriate in relation to how I feel at the moment.

I am at approximately 5,000 words (of 20,000)...with less than 5 days left of Script Frenzy. Can I write 15,000 words in less than 5 days? That's over 3,000 words a day....in addition to my full time job and well, sleeping.

Wow, I have my work cut out for me.

I mean, this is June! The month of mud runs! And trips! And exhaustion! And, whole scripts being written (still in theory)! Can I actually do it all?

Luckily, the Script Frenzy people sent out a VERY inspiring email this weekend and it definitely inspired me because I'm about to undertake this crazy feat. I WANT to finish Script Frenzy before midnight, July 1st.

And, a guy at work has already told me that I can't do it...which makes me want to do it all the more. We all want to do the impossible, don't we? Even if it's just to say "Ha! See - if you stay up for 3 days straight, you too can write an entire script in a matter of days!" and then I'll collapse. Sounds pretty romantically perfect in my mind.

I mean, Sylvester Stalone wrote Rocky in 3 days and that won best picture! So, surely I can write SOMETHING legible in 5 days.....right?

Well, I have 5 days...so I'm about to find out. Wish me luck...as I start to type in a frenzy...

I will leave you with the inspiring words of the people from Script Frenzy:

Greetings Comrades,

Here on the precipice of Week Four, I think it's time to talk about one of the classic plot points in a three-act story. It goes by many names: The Nadir, The Defeat, The Crisis. Essentially, it is the lowest, darkest, most hopeless point in the hero's journey. It's when E.T.'s heart fades from lively pink to deathly gray; when Kathy Bates shotgun-blasts the rescuing sheriff in "Misery"; when Marty McFly begins fading from his own photograph. Amidst the four weddings, it's the funeral.

Some of us know exactly how this dark moment feels, because we're right at that point with our scripts. We're at 2,500 words with only eight days left, and we can't possibly imagine coming up with 17,500 more. Or we've made it all the way to 14,000 but have to attend two weddings, go in for surgery, take a Latin final, fly to a conference in Iceland, and memorize pi to 8,902 places. Our spirits are broken, our fingers are numb, our capacity for invention dulled by lack of sleep and non-frozen foods.

But before you even think of curling up in a ball and calling it quits, I ask you to think back to all those dark points you've seen on the big screen. Did the sad music swell and the credits roll? No! Backed into a corner, thrown into a snake pit, left holding the Kryptonite, the hero digs deep inside to discover an unknown tenacity. Something changes that can never be undone, and from this Turning Point on, no matter how formidable the obstacles, the triumphs of Act III are certain.

Ask your amazing colleagues who've already completed their scripts and they'll testify to the many victorious moments that lie ahead: typing that 20,000th word, receiving your Winner's Certificate, showing off your Winner's-ribbon-bedecked profile to friends, family, and prospective dates. Add in the Script Frenzy Wrap Parties that will be rocking the planet on July 1, and there's a ridiculous amount of fun and glory that awaits you in only one more week.

But as the winners can also tell you, the greatest achievement in the hero-writer journey isn't reaching The End. It's getting past the Crisis and reaching the Turning Point. Winning feels absolutely fabulous, but realizing you can overcome despair, doubt, frustration, and procrastination through sheer force of will? You'll never be the same writer---or person---again.

Even if you can't reach 20,000, that's okay. But still get to that Turning Point. Don't walk away from Script Frenzy with the sense that you couldn't do it. Sit down and push through until you realize that you really have a hidden creative wellspring inside you. Next year, you'll start Script Frenzy knowing that you absolutely can make it to the end.

For those of us shooting for the Winner's Circle, I leave you with the words of hobbit Samwise Gamgee, "Folk in these stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going because they were holding on to something."

Hold on to your goal of writing a screenplay, your dreams of writing a stage play. Don't stop writing. Don't turn back.

I'll celebrate with you on July 1.

Kristina
Script Frenzy
11,038 words

My Thoughts On: The Camp Pendleton Mudrun

Camp Pendleton Mud Run: The Starting Line

My first thought upon finishing the Camp Pendleton Mudrun: Ohmigawd, I DID it!!!!!!!! Woo-hoo!!!! Followed by nirvana.

It was extremely fun! I would highly recommend for people to do it!

And, the lowdown to those that are anxious and thinking, but I've never run a 10K...and it's through mud and obstacles and hills?!?!?!?! Are you CRAZY? Again, I repeat - it's a lot of fun! I was sooo anxious the week before the race. I didn't know what to expect. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't think anything except - what have I gotten myself into? Would I disappoint my team? What if I had to walk? Would I even survive it to the end? I had never run a race. EVER. Much less a 6.2 mile CRAZY race. I force fed myself carbs and gatorade and watched the minutes pass by until race day....completely freaked out!

But you know what? Many people were there just to have a good time! Now, you should train to be able to handle the 6.2 miles that comprise a 10K, but most people there were there to have fun. People walked portions of it...and it was no big deal. It was all in the spirit of doing the run and having a blast!!!! The marines just kept cheering you on!

In the spirit of fun - there were people in team T-shirts, many with funny slogans. There were girls wearing playboy bunny ears and appropriate attire. One girl was dressed all in white, with a veil, surrounded by male teammates...in full suits! I heard there were 2 marines who did it in full gear with 75 pound packs...in fact, they ran faster than we did!

Our team made it in 1 hour and 42 minutes. Not too bad. The earliest person came in at about 40 minutes (they must have had wings!) and the last at about 2 hours and 37 minutes. We didn't do at all bad, really.

So, what's it like? Well....here goes:

It starts off in a corral of lots and lots and lots of people (about 3000 people ran the race when I did). The gun goes off and you start to run! And, then you stop...because there's so many people, you have to walk for a few minutes until people spread out.

The first thing to hit you is fire hoses...and they feel refreshing! You don't even mind so much that you're now soaking wet and your shoes are kind of squishing with water.

Then you run through a patch of forest and a few muddy streams and some sand. You think - wow, this is kind of nice....

Until you start going uphill. That was really the hardest part of the whole thing. It goes on and on and on for what seems like a really long time. You think it might soon be over and it just keeps on going up. There is a small hay bale obstacle and, after a few more hills, a tire obstacle. Both are just all in good fun.

After eons, you finally start to descend the hill. Thank gawd! And, that's when you encounter the first mudpit and wall. It's definitely muddy. You'll get almost completely covered in mud. But, it's all in good fun! Even if the mud is kinda stinky. It IS a mudrun after all!

It's quickly followed by a rinse in the lake. This was actually kind of relaxing and enjoyable and very serene.

After this point, the marines start yelling that you're almost there! Only a mile left! Yeah. It seems like a little more than a mile.

Then there's another mudpit and wall. Tons of fun again! I fell on this one...but luckily didn't land face first....like other people. I do not envy that.

Then there's a tunnel you have to crawl through. Not too bad...you just have to watch your knees.

And, then it's the slippery hill. It sure lives up to it's name - it's definitely slippery!!!!!! And, muddy and wet. People were falling all over each other at this one. It was kind of funny, really.

Finally, it's the last stretch - the REAL last mile left...or less.

There's one last mudpit...where you crawl to the end under ropes. If you're not completely dirty before then...you will be after this mudpit. I made sure to smile for the photographers. Hopefully in a few days I'll have a nice picture of me covered in mud!

And, then it's a 100 yards to the end!

We were in a team and had to lock arms and that was it! The euphoria of finishing a daunting run set in and it was fantastic! Woo-hoo! I did it!

It was ALL worth it! Every minute!

And, when you get done, there's towels and showers and beer and food! It was a great race and a really good time!

There's another mudrun in October! Anybody care to join me?

My Thoughts On: How To Distract One's Self From Things Like Impending Mudruns

Okay, so I'm really anxious about this mudrun. In the last two days...sleeping is becoming weird. I have this crazy, nervous energy and I want to run around and do things, when I should just go to sleep. I've been waking up in the middle of the night. My mind is in a frenzied whirl.

It's time to CALM DOWN. I have 2 days to go STILL, after all. And, as much as I tell myself that it's all in good fun and I'm doing it to do it and just going for finishing around the 2 hour mark....it's still nerve wracking! It's something insane! And, I've never done it before. I've never even run an organized race before! I used to hate running the mile in high school! And, I don't think I'm quite prepared.

Yes, I need some positive thinking...obviously.

I DO know that I can make it 6 miles. (Yes, 6 miles uphill, through obstacles, and mud - that remains to be seen. It will definitely be a test of endurance. But I'm being POSITIVE here.) And, I know that my teammates will be supportive and egg me on. And, I know there's adrenaline the day of the race (I am praying for a nice 2 hour adrenaline rush, like the ones where people pick up cars off pinned children to save their lives - that would work for me). And, I've been thinking that, at least I won't be BORED running. There will be stuff to do! So, there - I'm being positive...kind of :) and trying to keep other thoughts at bay.

But, enough of this nervousness and anxiety that I am exuding. I need to focus on other things, and get my mind OFF the mudrun (where it's been for the last 2 weeks) - that's what this blog is about - so, what should I get my mind on? What about Script Frenzy!?!?!?! I am so behind! I have a little over 1000 words...and it's half way in!!!!! This is what I should panic about! I need to write 19,000 more words this month.

So, I'm going to put my nervous mud run energy to some use and write a script. It'll take my mind off things...that is...unless my characters suddenly embark on some crazy delusional idea of doing a 10k in mud?????? Nah...... Like THAT'S really believable?

So, here's to Script Frenzy...1000 words and counting up, up, and away!!!!

Let the typing begin! Anyone care to join me? We still have 16 days left!

My Thoughts On: The Mudrun LOOMING

I've mentioned the Mudrun before...and it's coming!!!!!! Ahhhh!!!!!!

I am running the Camp Pendelton Mudrun this Saturday. That's a 10K in MUD and....lots more!!!!

It's starting to freak me out!!!! I don't feel prepared enough, but my teammates tell me it's all in good fun! Um, yeah.... HAVE YOU SEEN WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT IT?!?!?!?!?!?

Look at what these people have written about it and see WHAT you think:

Here's Camp Pendelton's Map of the course:
http://www.camppendletonraces.com/mudmap.htm

This one pretty much told me what I should expect:
http://forums.runnersworld.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/944106038/m/347103988

This one just reaffirmed the one above, but with a guy, who was obviously ready for the run since he did awesome AND was injured:
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=21773806&blogID=274765898&Mytoken=85A0A0B8-5D14-456F-AF74E6E4F2D9DD584103559

This one has PICTURES, but it's ceased to work, since the first time I looked at it, freaked out - weeeeeeeeeird:
http://www.bourbonrocks.com

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Will I chicken out? Will I finish the race? Will I finish the race victorious in under 2 hrs 45 min? Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

Just freaking out a little. Breeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaathhhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeeee.

We'll see......

Wish me luck...and bravery....and energy. :)

----------------------------

I wrote that earlier today. Since then, I've talked to friends who have all said: "But it'll be fun!!!!" True...it does sound fun...which is why I signed up. It sounds like a longer version of a Double Dare race course. I LOVED Double Dare. Even my teammate reminded me that I told her that it was all for fun...which made HER stop worrying about it!

And, then the logical side of me kicked in and I pulled up my computer's calculator. If I go REALLY, REALLY slow and use up my 2hrs and 45 minutes....going 6.2 miles (that's how long a 10K is in miles)...well, the average miles per minute turns out to be about 1 mile per 27 minutes. That's like WALKING the whole thing. Ok...I can handle that.

So....I'm feeling more optimistic. Still a little freaked, but more optimistic.

Wish me luck!

It's Been Awhile....

It's been quite awhile since my last post. I had a crisis of blogging. That's the only way to explain it. To blog or not to blog was the question. Do I want to put myself out on the internet for everyone to read? But, wait...isn't that the point of blogging? What do I want? Is it weird to blog? Should I not blog anymore? Why am I blogging? YEAH, a crisis over blogging.

And, I still don't have the answers to all those questions, but I DO have the answer to one.

It's been 1 month since my last posting. And, I've missed posting, quite a lot, actually.

Over the last month, I have seen countless articles I ached to remark upon...IMing (and annoying) friends with them instead) and I've had numerous things happen - that I could have blogged about - like the bird that flew into my bedroom last night.

(Yes, a bird REALLY did fly into my bedroom last night. I think it fell down through the chimney. I chased it out with a rolled up poster. It didn't like being chased and proceeded to fly crazily everywhere except for the door out of the house. At one point it even made it into my closet...upon which I made the mental note to shut all doors not in route to the great outdoors. Good idea - the bird finally flew outside. Good times.)

Anyway, the gist of all that was, was - that I have desperately missed blogging.

So, I'm back. Enjoy!