Laminar Flow

Do you know what lucid dreams are? In short, they are dreams in which you are aware that you are dreaming. Some people have them often; some will never have them in their life. I had my first one last week, and it was bizarre and fascinating. In my dream, I was sleeping. I heard the whir of skateboard wheels outside my window and then the outside door opening, and then my bedroom door opening…and someone saying hello. The phantom intruder said hello a few more times, and somehow when, in my dream, I awoke there was a shift from a vivid chimera to a cognizant experience. In reality I did not wake up, but I knew I was dreaming. I could control my wraithlike doppelganger like a video game protagonist. It’s wish fulfillment, if you want to be eight feet high, or sleep with Scarlett Johansson or fly to Mozambique you can do it as the speed of thought.

From controlling a dream to living one, we had our third and final for-school shoot on Friday. It was the best fucking set I’ve ever been on. I can’t wait for you to see it. We were fully on schedule (as AD, it was my job to ensure this) the director cared a lot about my story and the actors brought their A-game and were well taken care of on the chilly set. It was an exterior night shoot and involved the poor-ass performers lying on damp cement for hours, Laena, Kurt, Rina…you are troopers all.

One of the highlights was a scene where a woman attacks a rapist with a two-by-four (I’m not sure why my stories always have to be so grim, I’m a generally sunny guy), there was a happy accident produced on location when we found out we could obscure Kurt’s head with a nearby bush, and place sandbags beside it so Laena could swing full-force at his noggin, with his body still in the frame, and not hurt him. It looks so real and I know will make the audience cringe, yeah, I’m editing it with Tim and it’s all I can think about. A wonderful way to ease out of the semester. And by ease out, I mean, get crushed by constant homework assignments and final exams.

Speaking of duties that have nothing to do with film, we had a class on conflict resolution give by a guest speaker who was eerily akin to Greg Kinnear’s character in Little Miss Sunshine. Let me bust the précis: people at times climb Anger Mountain, to assuage their wrath you should always paraphrase what they say to signal to them that you are listening and empathetic. I don’t know about you, but nothing would infuriate me more, if I was already angry, than some twerp repeating everything I said with a sympathetic, Bill Clinton-frown on his face. But what do I know? Maybe I’m just bitter: according to the little personality exercise he put us through, my strongest ability is to compromise…that was a little depressing to learn.

It snowed last night and is continuing to come down today. Big, ultra-white flakes, sticking perfectly for snowballs and snow people. We had a little battle last night after my second shoot of the weekend. I was acting in my friend Kelly’s project. I had to play a sleaze ball card player named Vince. It was fun, and emboldening, being on their poorly run set (which is not a slight against Kelly, her fellow crewmates were the fuck-ups) – I felt even better about our production afterwards.

I’m going to finish my laundry, go spend the money I got for my birthday on things I don’t need and put off my homework until 11pm. I love you all, and feel like saying that.