Back At 'Er

My earliest memory of school, besides crying when my mom left, was looming posters commanding me to 'Stay In School'. Perhaps I heeded their advice too strongly.

Today was my first day back at college, finally doing something I find inspiring. It was kind of surreal. All the first years looked so scared. Was I like that back in 1998? Probably.

If it feels a tad odd to say I'm a student again, then it's fucking bizarre to start acting like one again. It's been a loooonng time since I've been in a classroom where I wasn't at the head of it teaching Asian people the difference between Present Perfect and Present Perfect Continuous sentences. I reverted back into my student ways like slipping into a warm bath. Slouching in my chair at the back of the room, doodling in the corner of my clean Hilroy notepaper. It felt like a homecoming.

In the morning all 160 MPP (Motion Picture Production) students gathered in a lecture theatre and were give our orientation packages, our schedules and an opportunity to be introduced to the instructors for the year. They all seemed friendly, if a little parochial. Oddly enough the most pedantic speaker was a guy who's crowning achievement was directing a straight-to-video action flick starring Michael Beihn. Ah, I shouldn't be such a dick. We all have to pay our dues and he's gotten a lot further in his career than I have.

At noon I stopped by the Cap Courier, the campus paper, offices to speak to some editors. Bust this: the Capilano College newspaper is one of the only, if not the only, CUP paper to pay its writers! I was fucking flabbergasted - who wouldn't want to do that? It's only like 35 bucks per article, but still. That's beer money. Time to dust off my well worn copy of 1001 Star Wars and Masturbation Jokes, because I think I'm coming out of retirement. I also looked over some volunteer opportunities and a signup sheet for intramural soccer. Maybe I should use this opportunity to reinvent myself as a persona who does things. Those cats always garner respect.

After lunch it was my real first class entitled 'Film Crafts'. Film 101. Seriously, that's what it was. Today was a lot of group building activities, for example six of us were put in random groups and we had to agree on and then draw up a house design for all of us assuming an unlimited budget and then a million dollar budget. Making a movie is a pretty collaborative process as I'm sure you know, so I guess it was a non-intrusive tests to make sure none of us were sociopaths. Most of the class seemed nice. I have made a real effort to be a confident, present student. Raising my hand, taking charge, speaking loudly and offering direction to strangers. All things, historically, I have avoided. I want to correct the errors of my previous jaunt through post-secondary and make the most of this. It's the only chance I got.

So, yeah. I'm a film student now. Tomorrow begins my first real hands-on day with Lighting and Camera in the morning and the Post-Production and Editing in the afternoon. People will assuredly ask me how it feels. But I'm not built that way. I rarely have ponderous realizations or summarizing reflection periods when I am immersed in something. Usually, when it's over and I look at it thorough the ruinous lens of nostalgia (as Michael Chabon would say) then I view it academically and am able to apply adjectives. I'm just trying to try hard and not fuck up, meet some cool, like-minded people and have as much fun as possible.

Me Talk You Soon.