…And we’re back!
I’m gone one month and the world has changed without me.
I’m crying inside.
I’ve got loads of things to catch up on. Comic-con, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show, Generation Kill, Weeds, Middleman, Pokémon, Burn Notice, Mad Men, Rescue Me, Psych…and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-along
So much to do in 2 weeks!
That reminds me: I haven’t prepared yet my 2-week trip that is in 2 weeks.
Dammit.
I also need to finish this script thingy…
Oh and prepare the GRE…
Speaking of the GRE, I’ve been advises to take it as close as possible to my application, so I have a year to prepare for it instead of 5 months, nifty.
And I also need to read those blogs I keep hearing about.
You’re gone one month and the world turns.
Well I’m going off tommorow morning so this’ll be my last post for a while.
If a miracle happens and there’s a free wifi hot-spot available one day I’ll try to post (maybe about comic-con?).
If not, then you’ll hopefully see me back here in a month.
Enjoy your writing summer!
Meanwhile I’ll be trying to study and write.
Since I’m going off on a month-long vacation in a couple of days I’m starting to pack my suitcase. I won’t have Internet there since it’s the middle of nowhere.
That means hopefully no procrastination…Although there’s gonna be family there so who knows.
Anyway I’m packing a couple of books because I want to study and write whilst I’m under the sun. I also want to try out the 7-day screenplay method.
I’ll have loads of time to think in the car, 7-hour trip!
In other news I read last night the Caprica pilot, and I’ve got to say it’s looking pretty good.
Going on Jill Gollick’s footsteps, the structure of the (2-hour) Caprica pilot was:
Act One — 23 pages
Act Two — 13 pages
Act Three — 18 pages
Act Four — 15 pages
Act Five — 12 pages
Act Six — 6 pages
Act Seven — 6 pages
Act Eight — 9 pages
I was a huge Battlestar Galactica fan, and then season 3 happened, so I wasn’t really excited about Caprica, especially when I heard it was going to be Dallas in space. I read a couple of months ago what the basic story was going to be about, but I forgot about it.
Then last night I read the script and was completely blown away by the end of act one. Suffice to say if you don’t really know the story of the show, it’s going to blow you away too.
Anyway, the technology is also very advanced in Caprica, nothing like BSG, so I’m waiting to see what’s up with the CGI (although I’m sure it’s going to be good given what we have on BSG).
The basic mythology is well set-up but don’t expect to see much tie-ins with BSG.
Only a year to wait…
Since I’m in the GRE adventure alone (I’m talking vis à vis the real world), I also have to prepare myself alone. Therefore I bought a couple of books about the subject.
My main concern was ironically the vocab section of the test and there is one book in particular, regarding vocabulary in itself, that I find particularly helpful: Essential Words for the GRE. It has got basically 800 “essential” GRE words with exercises, definitions, etc.
As I’m normally going to pass the GRE test in late Nov/early Dec of this year, I made myself a little schedule to learn the new words by heart (roughly 10 every 2 days).
As you know by now I’m lazy and a great procrastinator, so I have not made it very far in my schedule, but I’m getting there…hopefully.
There’s also this math section that I thought would be easy but it turns out it’s much harder than I expected so I also have to prepare for it (this is where this book will come in handy).
Hard work will pay off, so if you are also working on your GRE, or SAT, or other tests of some sort, go work on them in the long term, not the short term. Do a schedule like mine…but do it!
‘Been Thinkin’ ‘Bout the Future…
‘Been lying on my bed awake all night, really.
Sometimes I’m that obsessed.
I was thinking of “what happens next”.
All my life I always planned goals and paths to acheive those goals (no, I’m not a character). Well in reality those goals were only steps to a bigger goal: “The World Wide Jump” (WWJ) of 2010, where Heaven (or is it Hell’A?) and Earth collide. Yeah it’s 2 years away, but a one-way trip from Paris to L.A. is one hell of a ride…
I basically gave myself two options. Either get into graduate school (USC or UCLA for example) or if I don’t get in, do the WWJ, although it will seem even wider.
Option two is basically gonna happen one way or the other, just that with option one the transition will be smoother. That and I’ll have friends (hopefully) in L.A.
Also there’s this “visa” problem I keep hearing about…
Anyhow, in order for either options to happen, several other goals need to also happen.
This fall I’m going to visit both schools and also take the Graduate Record Exam. If I fail at the latter I can always retake it around February 2009. Also in February ’09 I’ll pass the TOEFL exam, and in the summer should complete all my application requirements, which are comprised of numerous things that go from the basics (transcripts, recommendation letters) to the not-so-basic (essays, “creative challenges”).
Parallel to all this I have to get all my visa work going. For instance the 2010 Green Card lottery is this fall and I have to start praying. In case that doesn’t fall through, I have to prepare to alternatives, which are, let’s say, pretty complicated to get.
But why am I rumbling on about all this now?
Well it is merely intended to point out what purpose this blog will hopefully achieve. That is to help other struggling (international) writers out there in their daily, and not-so-daily problems. Additionally, I hope my trial and errors, like in the immigration department, will help show that nothing is impossible when you pour your heart and soul into it.
