Nothing really...

Here I am, with my terrified son, in Wekiwa Springs.

beginnings and endings

Happy new year, everyone.

So strange how death seems to be floating around lately. 5 days before Christmas, my aunt died, unexpectedly, in her sleep. She was a truly wonderful person and she will be missed.

Also, I just found out that one of my old MTSU college roommates died. Jennifer Ranish. She passed away from ovarian cancer about 6 weeks after she was diagnosed, at the age of 29. She died in February of 2003. I'm so sad that I didn't find out about it until now.

Jennifer was cheap. Jennifer was a pain in the ass. Jennifer was my friend. Together, we listened to "Once" by Pearl Jam, over & over, until we got the words right...then we sang them at the top of our lungs. We also camped out overnight for tickets when Pearl Jam played MTSU. We came up with hilarious skits about squirrels and girl scout cookie farms. She dated my best friend. She delivered some of the best cut-downs ever dished out by anyone. She moved to Florida with me when I went. We dreamed of making movies and tv shows together and, even though, I hadn't seen her since she moved back to Tennessee from Florida in '95 (when she and Randy broke up), I still thought about her a lot.

Now, when it seems like everything is falling into place for me...I find out that everything has stopped for her, at least here. I wish things had been different. I wish I had known she was sick. I wish I could have been there for her.

But, hindsight is always 20/20. We always think we have unimited time to reconnect with someone from the past, unlimted chances to ask them the questions we wanted the answers to, unlimited chances to say - thanks for being a friend. But, we don't.

So, this movie I'm doing will be dedicated to her. She was in the car on the Spring Break trip to Florida, when we came up with the idea. It's all I've got to offer her. She should have been here, too.

Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun
-- Pink Floyd, 'Time'

For Nancy

'TIS past: dear venerable shade, farewel!
Thy blameless life thy peaceful death shall tell.
Clear to the last thy setting orb has run;
Pure, bright, and healthy like a frosty sun:




extraction from "On the Death of Mrs. Jennings." by Anna Lætitia Barbauld (1743 - 1825)

Sigh...

Damn technology

So, my laptop crashed with all of my pictures and music on it. Now, it is at the computer hospital with the Geek Squad doctors, in the middle of an attempted data recovery surgery that might not work (so I've been told).

All of my pictures from Vegas are on it. All of them. Damn it.

But, other than that, things are moving...

I've gotten a director for my latest script. Stan Dragoti, who directed Love at First Bite, The Man with One Red Shoe, and Mr. Mom, among other films, has taken on the challenge of working with me and my writer's ego, lol.

We are currently working on the second draft of the script and should have everything completed by the end of December.

Actor Patrick Warburton (Puddy on Seinfeld and the voice of Brock Samson on Adult Swim's The Veture Bros.) - whom we'd love to play the lead role - has read the script and his manager
says he's excited about it so, I hope that works out, too.

Check out the myspace pages I have for the company and the film:
myspace.com/realitygroupinc
myspace.com/kingreturnsmovie

Leave me a comment or send me a message. I'd love to hear from you!