Too Panicked To Care

Yeah, I’m actually in a rush right now, so as the title suggests I can’t really put in anything long or thoughtful.  But if there were a word to describe my situation right now, it would again be: hellish.  Yeah, cramming sucks, and I’m feeling the side-effects of having to rely on energy drinks to keep up.  Ugh.

If I collapse after 2 or 3 days, then it’s no surprise at this point.

Much Hand-Wringing Done

I have just one comment for myself: I suck.

Seriously.

The next few days… will be hellish.  Like cramming to the extreme.

 

 

Progress… Not Really

Things are moving along, but not really as fast as I would have liked.  And somehow… I’m getting the feeling that, while the screenplay is moving in the same general direction as the draft I submitted last term, it’s somehow turning into something completely different.  Or something like that anyway.

But hey, progress right?  Now if I could only keep it up for the rest of my stay tomorrow at the library.  Even getting to forty pages by Friday doesn’t sound so bad, since I’m aiming for a much more compact page count this time around (like around eighty-pages, single-spaced and unformatted).

Not Dancing Happily

It’s the third day of my LOA, and while I’m making progress, it’s not as much as I’d like.  Rewrites are tough, and even reimagining essentially the same scene, but with a little change in dialogue brings a whole lot of headaches.  On the bright side, I have a good idea of what parts to tinker with, and which parts of the screenplay I can more or less leave alone.  Now if I can only follow up on it…

Incidentally, I spent the day once again cooped up somewhere in the DLSU main library.  It’s a great place to actually do some work without distractions (unless you bring said distractions with you), though with the air conditioning going full blast it’s hard at times to keep awake.  Oh well.  Lets see where I end up in tomorrow, yes? 

 

First Day Out, Not Too Good

 

Although it’s technically the second day of my LOA, it was only today that I was actually able to take advantage of it.  I went to school, and pretty much stayed in the main library as planned, but the visit wasn’t exactly as fruitful as I’d liked.  At the most, I was only able to do some edits to the ten pages that I already had, and whats worse I actually had to cut out some of the existing lines. Ugh.

Let me tell you, it’s kind of hard to make up lines for ten-year-olds without them sounding five years older…

I really hope I can do better tomorrow, but for now I’ll have to see what more I can add tonight.  Time to break out the energy drinks, I guess.

As for other stuff… I just noticed how someone finally opened one of the two big bags of Oreos cookie sandwiches that was sitting in the fridge.  I think those cookies single-handedly put back my dieting efforts for the day, as a pair of the cookies apparently weigh in at whopping 140 calories.  And I think I ate five pairs over the course of ten minutes…  Darn my sweet tooth.

Anyway, lets see if I can actually do a better job tomorrow. Fight! Fight! Wooooh!

 

Last Stop Before Getting Serious

 

It’s kind of a waste for me to spend the first day of my LOA to just goof off, but that’s what I pretty much did.  I figured that it’s going to be good to let all of this out of my system, so I can properly focus on what I need to do from tomorrow onward (that is, rewriting the screenplay). 

Overeating aside, I was able to go with my father and sister to church in the morning for a change. I didn’t go straight home for lunch though, and instead made a brief detour to Makati (under the pretext of checking smartphone prices) to have myself weight on the machine at Mercury Drug.  And the verdict?  I have around 13 pounds to go my ideal weight.  If I focus on the dieting side more on top of the usual sessions at the gym, I might be able to knock off a few more before my sister’s wedding (which is fast approaching), though hopefully it won’t make my concentration suffer.  Kind of hard to write stuff when one is on an empty stomach.

So, what else is up for today?  Not much but hitting the sack at this point.  I’m heading straight to school tomorrow with my laptop (kind of hard to have distractions in the Library), and will likely repeat the routine for about four days.  Hopefully I’d have more than forty pages at least knocked out before Friday.

 

Saturday Slacking

While I can’t say that the last few days have been fruitful with regards to my screenplay rewrite (the usual things preventing me from concentrating apply), our class today was another matter entirely.  We had a special guest fore our lecture: Chris Martinez, screenwriter and director of One Hundred, Babae sa Septic Tank, Caregiver, Here Comes the Bride, Kimidori, and many other movies (including the upcoming I Do Be Do Be Doo).  Mr. Martinez was nice enough to give us a bit of his time (he was supposed to be overseeing the rehearsal in I Do Be Do Be Doo) and answer some of our questions regarding screenplay writing.

First off, let me say that, compared to some of us in the class, the guy is a monster, in both finding inspiration for his scripts (One Hundred was inspired by his musings on mortality; Babae sa Septic Tank was due to the reactions of international festival watchers of One Hundred), as well as the pace at which he writes says scripts: while he mentioned that the longest time he’s spent was about a year, he normally is able to finish a screenplay for a full-length production in less than three weeks.  Some local writers can do the same in less time of course, but for someone like me, who’s struggling with even five pages a day, it’s very impressive.

Mr. Martinez was candid throughout the time he was with the class, and answered what he could of our questions (which, not surprisingly, were just a few, given how my classmates have a propensity for clamming up whenever they’re put on the spot). And, yeah, it was kind of expected that he sympathized with how hard it was to do a rewrite after pouring everything out on one’s first draft.

The rest of the class was spent on the nitty gritty of what we’re expected to submit after the Holy Week.  On the plus side, no need for Hollywood-style formatting, or keeping to the expected eighty-to-one-hundred page limit.  On the down side, by naming a final submission date the pressure I’ve been feeling over the past few days was ramped even more. Darnit.

Anyway, I have the rest of the week off to finally focus on the rewrite properly, so it’ll help move things along.  Being a reserved LOA though my salary by the next payday will take a hit, but it’s worth it, I guess.

As for other things, my sister’s wedding (on the 15th of April) is fast approaching.  While I’ve somehow managed to slim down to the point where I can squeeze into my old jeans again, I’m still not sure I can comfortably wear the ensemble she’s going to have us wear for the occasion.  And frustratingly enough, my weight hasn’t moved a single bit from where it was at the start of the month. 

I think it’s now time to apply the pressure on the dieting side of things on top of the usual exercise.

Progress Report Again: For Saturday

Progress: Minor.

Temperament: Desperate.

I’d like to say that I was able to work on my rewrite today, but the going is slow, to say the least.  I really can’t concentrate while I’m at home.  It’s either there’s too many distractions in my room alone (and my willpower failing me at resisting said distractions), and what’s more, it’s freaking hot.  Really, it was like the weather suddenly decided to drop summer, in all its humid glory, upon us, despite the fact that it was actually cold because of the rain yesterday.  Sheesh.

Anyway, tomorrow I’m supposed to submit the ‘best’ set of dialogue from my screenplay for reading… The thing is, I’m not sure if there’s any dialogue in the draft that could be considered even remotely presentable.  Mmph.  With the rewrite bogged down as it is though, it looks like I have no choice but to use a chunk from the draft and hope that it isn’t heckled to heck and back.

On other stuff, I was finally able to have my teeth cleaned, after what’s probably four months since my  scheduled session.  Funny how not having enough money makes you prioritize stuff huh?  I wasn’t able to have my retainers adjusted while I was at it though, as I left them at home (since I went to the gym before visiting the clinic, and I don’t like carrying it around).  Oh well, next time I suppose.

I technically have the whole week off next week, since it was my approved LOA. I better put it to good use.

Another Progress Report: Endweek

Progress: Virtually Nonexistent.

Temperament: Lethargic.

What can I say, I’m not feeling particularly driven today.  It was raining, I overate, and am feeling generally… lousy.

On the bright side, it’s my day off tomorrow.  I can devote all of it to just writing… something.

Yet Another Progress Report: Past Midweek

Progress:  Minimal.

Feeling: Tired.

Was just the usual day at work.  Which is to say, no CS calls, but with the boss following up on the issues experienced by the team, those times might end soon.  Ah, it was good that it lasted as long as it did though.  Still felt tired at the end though. Sleep debt again.  I passed on going to the gym today, and slept in instead.

Still not in panic mode, but it’s still going to be tough.