HR has to do a background check and formally approve, but apparently that's mostly just a technicality (since I haven't killed anyone or anything) - starting November first I will have an actual, grown-up, salaried with benefits, real job at the library! 

OMG LOL FALL RIVER MADE THE SEMIFINALS AT AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL WTF.

They just called me.  That means it's in the top 20 out of 4,400 submissions.  Guess who's flying back to Austin next month?  I guess actual "industry professionals" read the script at this point for judging, and if anyone likes it, even if it doesn't make it to the finals/wins they still talk to you and stuff.  So this is pretty much going to be my best bet of finding representation.

I still find it hilarious that Fall River didn't do shit in any other competition.  I mean, it didn't even get a "p.s. at least one judge didn't think this totally sucked" note from Nicholl.  It really does all depend on who reads it.  Laura is theorizing that it landed in the hands of some true crime fans.  "Hey she wrote the part about the pigeons!  Neato!"

ENDORPHINS OMG YOU GUYS MY INSIDES FEEL ALL FLUTTERY.

I am a finalist!  I have been checking this website constantly, especially since they claimed they would post the results in August.  Laura has also been in on this, and checked at 1:00 am last night and it still hadn't been posted.  (They sent the email at 1:26.) 

I'm very excited!

Dude, you guys. Remember when, at the last minute, I decided to enter another screenplay competition? And I was all, help, which one should I submit? And then I submitted both - I was only going to submit Fall River, but decided to throw Flesh and Blood in there at the last minute.

I hadn't ever heard back, and I remembered today that they were supposed to announce quarterfinalists in June. So I thought I'd check the website. There it was, the list of quarterfinalists, and I figured that since I didn't get an email that was that.

Except not!

Man, I'm glad I entered Flesh and Blood, you guys. That's two major competitions now that it's advanced in. That's REALLY GOOD. (Ugh, I wish it had made Scriptapalooza's quarterfinals; that would have been really awesome.) So now I'm waiting on Austin Film Festival. (Please please please please.)

I am feeling really confident about this script now. I mean, I was before, but this is different; this is, like, independent confirmation that it's a good script. It's hard to be objective about something you wrote yourself. It would be great if I got some contacts out of this, since these competitions either send out information or make it available for agents who request it; but if I don't, I'll have some good things to include in my query letter.

I've spent the last half-hour or so reading this, and it's been awhile since something reduced me to the kind of weak-kneed tears you have to just put your head down and weather: MetaFilter commenters in DC and New York club together to save a pair of visiting Russian students from falling into the hands of sex-traffickers. I can't imagine what it would have felt like to have followed this thread in real-time yesterday. (I was relating this story to Sarah and choked up again just talking about it.)

Also, this may not seem like it belongs in the same post, but it DOES, because this post is about JOY. Glee Cast - "Bad Romance"

So we've got, like, eight different bitching and whining threads on the boards, right? Which is fine, because Lord knows I love to bitch and whine. But Laura and I just finished watching Happy-Go-Lucky, and it made me think that there's really something to enjoying life as much as you can, even if it's just being aware of the little things, and not taking anything for granted.

Here is a brief list of things that have made me happy recently. I am going to try to do this on a more regular basis.

1. Basketball. Not just KU playing and winning, but the tournament as a whole. Every year, Laura and my dad and I look forward to it, and fill out brackets, and listen to sports talk, and watch all the games, and it's just a great three weeks.

2. Star Trek, if only for moments like this:





3. Finishing my script.

4. Spring. Even though we've had a bit of a cold relapse, even that's not too bad because I know we're almost out of the woods. The grass is turning green, the trees are budding out, the air smells wonderful, like a greenhouse.

5. Eating some really good chocolate yesterday.

Things that have made me happy this past week:

-Christmas music! We have an entire music channel that's just traditional holiday music; none of this awful contemporary pop crap.

-Grilling outside at 6:00pm, already pitch-black, hands and face numb; there is nothing that tastes better once you come in to eat.

-Hot cocoa from scratch.



-Playing with Jack in my Grandpa's backyard, as he runs through the piles of leaves that come up to his head; at one point, he ran so fast he fell down and rolled completely over, then jumped up and barked at me with such great insistence I too became convinced the fall was somehow my fault.

-Putting a quilt and a comforter on my bed. At the same time.

-My first peppermint mocha at Starbucks this year.

-Making the banner up above, starting The Silmarillion, realizing they start principal photography on The Hobbit next year, exactly ten years after they began photography on The Lord of the Rings.

Two weeks ago I applied to the ABC Television Production Internship Program, which is essentally a one-year job with health benefits in TV with the opportunity to advance. I got called today for an interview, so I'll be flying to Burbank on May 10 for that.

YAY. IT IS TO BE HAPPY.

AND, I just finished the preliminary stage of my thesis yesterday, sent it off to my readers to get notes back for a polish and edit before I turn it in to the Tower.

It's funny, how both happy and sad can make you want to eat a whole thing of candy beans.