Softball World Series

This weekend is the Women's College World Series (softball). Bryce's parents and sister are in town to watch the games, so naturally, that's what I've been doing to. Actually, since I have work and all, I really have only seen Friday's games. 

On Friday night we watched Washington play Arizona State University and we watched Florida play Missouri. I didn't care much about who won, but Bryce was rooting for ASU because that's where his mother went to school and he was rooting for Missouri both because they are in the Big Twelve conference with us and also because he hates Florida. Unfortunately, both teams we were rooting for lost. 

But they were great games. Both were extremely low-scoring games (0-1 both times), with the one score coming at almost the end of the game. There were also very few hits at all, which means that it was basically a pitcher's duel the entire time. And the teams that won were the teams with the stronger pictures and the teams who had gotten four or five hits during the game. 

I was very impressed with the huge turnout at both games. The bleachers were full all the way around (even in the outfield), and the crowds were always cheering and very into the game.

ESPN was also covering the game (live), which added an extra element of fun for myself, because I enjoyed watching the camera-men work. Covering sporting events means pretty basic work for the cameras-- at least for panning the crowds. Getting the action on camera does take more work, and it was fun to watch the remote-control camera (situated high above home plate) follow the hit balls and girls running. 

Friends

There are some people in this world that I really wish were my friends. But sadly, this is very unlikely to happen, because they either don't know I exist, only know me in a classroom setting, have graduated from college and moved on, or a combination of all three. Sad. There goes a lot of fun we could have had.

I sound like a creeper.

Wednesday

Today is Wednesday. Today is not Tuesday. Today is the day I should have started my internship, not tomorrow, which I thought was Wednesday.

I love long weekends, but they throw me off.

Lobster Shoulders

I just spent the weekend at the lake, and I am now coming to the very painful realization that tanning wont ever happen for me. It's either glaring white or Ouch! red. There is no in-between. 

Living With Guys

This summer, in order to save boatloads of money, I am living in the apartment of my boyfriend's brother free of charge (while he is in California for an internship). This means that I am currently sharing said apartment with two other guys. 

I had never shared a living space with guys before (besides my brother and dad, and that doesn't count because there were balancing female influences in the home), so I came into the situation with some ideas about what it would be like. And let me tell you, I was right. 

These boys are dirty, burp all the time (and never say "excuse me"), play X-Box constantly, and listen to their music so loud that the bass comes through the walls and shakes my toothbrush. They have contests to see who can string the most expletives together in one breath. Their carpet is so abused that there is no way they are getting out of there without paying for it to be replaced. They use a dishtowel to mop up a dirty floor and then two minutes later use the same towel to dry clean dishes. They drink their milk directly out of the jug. In order to even be able to walk into my bathroom, I had to bleach every surface. 

And yet, with all their less refined qualities, living with guys is actually a lot of fun. For example, we played X-Box games for hours last night after I got home from work (with plenty of trash-talking involved), and they were the perfect gentlemen and gave me the best team to play with. I still lost quite solidly at every game we played, but it was still fun.

Oh, and its also really nice to live with guys because they own things like super glue and duct tape and are very handy with a hammer. 

Heart Walk

Here is my newest OU YouTube video... Check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TClhFa9ZlTE

The Car Search

I am currently searching for a car. But not just any car. A used car under $5000, under 100K miles, that runs well, and is reliable and safe. This has become a remarkably hard car to come by. 

Well, let me take that back. I did find one... and then the dealership sold it to someone else. Dumb dealership. I left the dealership last night at 8:30 pm, after telling the salesman that yes, I was buying the car and that we'd finalize the finances the next day (today). The dealership closed at 9 pm. 

And wouldn't you know it... sometime between 8:30 and 9 pm last night, this couple came by, slapped down cash, and the dealership sold them my car. Dumb dealership. I understand that cash is a much more tempting (and sure) offer than my financing situation, but still... the guy knew I wanted the car. Really wanted the car. Dumb dealership. I am still angry. Unreasonably angry, I know. 

But angry nonetheless, because this means that my car-searching days are STILL not over. I am so sick of car searching. So, so done with this. I just want the perfect car to fall into my lap. I want someone to say, I have just the car for you. And I want that car to be so perfect that I take one look at it and say, Yes, that's mine. Viola. Finito. Done. 

Why can't it be that easy?

Alone... With Limited Options

So I thought my summer was going to be this great and glorious thing. And I'm sure it will be... in a couple weeks when my friends come back. Right now however, I am lonely and bored. And stuck with the unpleasant task of scouring the internet for used cars that meet my very selective criteria.

My predicament: no Norman friends and no car. Which means that on a day like today, when Bryce has another social engagement for the evening, I am stuck with a very limited range of activities to do by myself. 

I do have a bike, so I can bike to OU or to Campus Corner (thank goodness I live close enough). OU has the library... Campus Corner has a couple coffee shops, restaurants and clothing boutiques. I don't have the funds at the moment for clothes and there'd be no point in going to a restaurant alone (also low funds issue here). Which leaves me with the library and a coffee shop. Today I chose a coffee shop (the only one with free wireless). 

Its much better than staying home alone, where I was going crazy. And its much easier to write in a coffee shop... something about the atmosphere. It was a good choice for today... but what do I do about tomorrow?

Summer

I officially celebrated the beginning of summer by deep-cleaning my new apartment and baking self-rising bread. Aaaaah the joys of summer life. 

My First of Many

I completed my first one-act play today, which means I am officially a playwright!

I am actually very happy with how it turned out. It's a romantic comedy about a girl who is a crazy feminist and a hippie guy who plays guitar who meet in a coffee shop.

Writing comedy is extremely hard to do. I think that's why there are more good dramas out there than good comedies (and by good, I do not mean the Will Ferrel kind). Its all about characters, dialogue, TIMING. 

While I can't say I know a lot about writing comedy yet (this was my first attempt), I have learned romantic comedy structure in class, and it is extremely useful to know.

The key to writing great romantic plays (and screenplays) is having great romantic structure. This structure not only applies to traditional romance films, but also the buddy films. 

Romantic Structure:

1. the characters have to "meet cute"

2. they must reverse roles

3. they then adapt to their new roles

4. they fall in love

5. they must part

6. they must reunite and then continue on together (while retaining their individuality). 

It's a very basic structure, and lots of great films follow it. Tootsie, Kramer vs. Kramer, The Holiday, When Harry Met Sally-- just to name a few. 

Because I Know

I know I am in the right major when I find learning about film fascinating. 

When not studying, I think of this...

I wonder why famous Hollywood people are always putting their names and/or faces on jars of pasta sauce. An odd industry to break into, me thinks.

Finals Week

Finals Week has begun. And what better way to usher in the eventful week than to stay up until five in the morning writing papers! Joy! 

I guess I haven't written much in a while, and this blog only serves to say that I wont be saying much for the next few more days. It's crunch time. 

My List of Things This Week:

1. Write two three-page papers for Film History 1945-present. (one down, one to go)

2. Write another ten pages of my first screenplay. (shouldn't be difficult)

3. Eat lots of fruit snacks, little applesauces, and chocolate-peanut butter granola bars. Drink lots of coffee and tea. (Plan to work out next week.)

4. Finish my thirty-page stage play. (not nearly as finished as I would like)

5. Adapt that stage play into the first ten pages of another screenplay. (almost finished)

6. Get a haircut (Madison, Valerie and I are all going to go together. Haircut date!)

7. Study for French (This test isn't even anywhere on my radar.)

8. Study for Freedom in Rome (which will require a great deal of my attention, but happily, the test is not until Friday)

9. Pack up my entire bedroom and move into my apartment for the summer. 

Integrity

"The highest courage is to dare to be yourself in the face of adversity. Travel the path of integrity without looking back, for there is never a wrong time to do the right thing."

--Unknown

A Famous Oklahoman

I just found out that Ron Howard was born in Duncan, OK and graduated from the University of Oklahoma (as a Drama major)!

For those of you who don't know who he is, Ron Howard played Opie on The Andy Griffith Show and Richie Cunningham on Happy Days.

He then retired from acting, and began directing films. Ron Howard directed Parenthood, Far and Away, Apollo 13 (nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning two), The Grinch, A Beautiful Mind (for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director), Cinderella Man, The Da Vinci Code, and Frost/Nixon.

See... Oklahoma can produce some pretty famous people!

To All Writers

Here is an excerpt from William Faulkner's Acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize of Literature, 1947. 

". . . The young man or woman writing today has forgotten the problems of the human heart in conflict with itself which alone can make good writing because only that is worth writing about, worth the agony and the sweat. 

He must learn them again. He must teach himself that the basest of all things is to be afraid; and, teaching himself that, forget it forever, leaving no room in his workshop for anything but the old verities and truths of the heart, the old universal truths lacking which any story is ephemereal and doomed-- love and honor and pity and pride and compassion and sacrifice. Until he does so, he labors under a curse. He writes not of love but of lust, of defeats in which nobody loses anything of value, of victories without hope and, worst of all, without pity or compassion. His griefs grieve of no universal bones, leaving no scars. He writes not of the heart but of the glands."