BOO

1. I have two mid-term projects due at the beginning of this week. For the first, I have to develop a franchise based on a comic book character. This is what I chose:

Kind of really ridiculous, huh?

The second (due Tuesday) is a 1/2-hr comedy series that I have to pitch to my class of 30 and a panel of industry professionals. Holy crap. I think I'm going with my IT idea (to be titled 2000 because that's the help desk extension in the show), but I'm not totally sure just yet. I'll worry about that once I'm done developing my absurd cowboy.

2. I love finding new music. My latest discovery is Olafur Arnalds. There's no singing, it's all instrumental, which will boot out a lot of you right there. If you're curious, check out the song 3055.

3. If I can get enough work done (why am I blogging?!), Melissa and I are going to the West Hollywood carnival this evening. The current plan is to each dress as a rainbow and then together we'll be, yes, a double rainbow. Yep. I was pretty proud of that one. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, here's a link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQSNhk5ICTI

Midterm Week

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Gift wrapped

Allison: Universe, for my birthday I would like a connection at one of the networks.

Universe: Okay.

Allison: Really?

I was lazy yesterday for the first time since I started school. I got some work done, but very little. And I didn't take care of any of the errands I needed to. This included getting a smog test done on my car, which I have to get in order to request California plates this week (another story, albeit a boring one). So I forced myself out into the gross, rainy day we're having (yes, gross and rainy) and went to take care of this annoying task. There was someone already there, and her car was especially problematic and taking a long time. Also annoying, right? Um, not if that person is the assistant to the PRESIDENT OF FOX and super SWEET AND FRIENDLY, AND someone who wants to hook me up with a PAID INTERNSHIP. It might be too early to be excited about this, but I don't care. I'm excited.

I just keep getting older.

That's it.

[sigh]

The below is from Friday afternoon while I was waiting on an assignment at my internship:

I added up how many hours of baseline work I have per week. 65. This does not include projects, additional assignments, tracking Hollywood news, watching TV/movies or showering. I've made it through two full weeks of school and it might be several more before I settle into the pace. (For those of you who know me well, I can tell you I've become someone who eats out of necessity and not enjoyment, which, let's be honest, is the most shocking thing I've said so far.) There is not one minute of the day that I'm not working on something or feeling guilty for not working on something. There is not one class I don't feel behind in already. That's a lie. There's one class I don't feel behind in. But that's it. And no matter how much I kill myself during the week, I still haven't managed to build up enough of a foundation in movie news/knowledge to confidently join class discussions. BUT. But I'm not drowning. Not yet anyway. It does make me feel better that I'm part of the overachieving half of the class (the people with full course loads and internships)...granted I might be the lowest performing of that half. And I have no idea how these people are doing it. Magic? Hermoine's clock from Harry Potter and the Something, Something? It's truly mystifying. When are these people going to the grocery store? I've essentially been out of food for a full week now but haven't even been able to do anything about it. (My diet today has consisted of four granola bars and half of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich because I only had one piece of bread left.).

I was going to wrap this up, but now that I've scanned back over the above, I feel like I need to balance it out because Ikinda sound like a suicide risk. There's a lot of good stuff, too, I promise. I still have huge friend crushes on most of my classmates and I'm meeting new people all the time. And I've already learned so much-- more than I could have imagined, honestly. I feel really lucky to be here. As one of my professors said, "You made it into UCLA's film school. You've already won." (My other favorite line from him was, "It's TV, we're not curing cancer here. Let's keep some perspective.")

I'd also like to take a moment to apologize to those of you who have not received a phone call/email from me in far too long (or to those of you who've had to deal with my stressed, not always nice evil twin). Thank you for bearing with me and loving me anyway...assuming you do still love me, but I wouldn't know for sure because I probably haven't called you.

I hope you don't have abandonment issues

I promise I'll give an update this weekend. Gold stars for you if you're still checking my sorry excuse for a blog, by the way.