Sunday, July 25, 2010

Nothing important happened today

I'm reading this amazing book, I don't remember if I told you that already, but it's called "Marble skin" and it's by Slavenka Drakulic. I'm loving every page of it so far, I'm on eighty out of a hundred and eighty-eight.

I worked in the indian restaurant last night, it was actually busy for once, but not in a good way. It was stressful, things went wrong, not big things like I'm used to from the previous place I waitressed in, but enough to be annoying. I also worked later than usually and missed the bus and the train that I usually take to get home when I've worked in this place, instead I had to take another bus, the tube and then a second bus, and of course there was lots of waiting and walking in the cold rain in-between those, which did wonders for the building cold I felt that previous morning, I can tell you. I was meant to work tonight as well, and I really should have because I really need the money (if I even get paid, which remains to be seen), but I sent my boss a text message and told him I felt too ill to come in, which was an exaggeration but not a complete lie, because I am feeling rather under weather, and last night undid the magic my last yoga session performed on my body and posture completely, and now my back and shoulders hurt again. Plus I woke up not too long ago and just finished making my coffee (the old-fashioned way, in a pot on the stove!) and if I were to work again tonight, I'd have to leave now, since it's Sunday and it'd take forever to get into town. And it still looks like rain. Not the refreshing kind, but the cold "I'm going to eat away your bone marrow" kind.

I also went to the theatre with my friend Min the other night, well the night before last actually, and saw "Inception" - I'd seen the posture of that film the night before and really didn't feel like I wanted to watch it, but when Min suggested it I figured there was hardly another movie showing that would be remotely better, and it did have two of my favourite actors in it (Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard) so I agreed to it -  and we were both pleasantly surprised, it was a lot better than we had anticipated! I especially loved the different levels to the story, and I'm not saying anything else because you I think you should watch it, it's entertaining if not nothing else, so you'll most likely enjoy it even if you don't think it's a masterpiece or anything. One thing though, towards the end, that I just didn't buy (not in terms of the actual story, more like the telling of it) and after you've seen it I'll tell you what and why...

When I got home from work, all shivery and miserable and aching, I didn't go to bed as I should have, I warmed up the meal the boys in the kitchen had made for me (I didn't even ask for it or remind them I was avegetarian this time, which I thought was really cool, they just made me something vegetarian and put it in take out containers and gave me the little bag before I was leaving.) and sat at my computer until seven this morning, watching Cesar's youtube clips and browsing facebook and blogs and my own pictures from my time in Vancouver, missing him and Ana and Mike and Emmanuel and Brett and Stephen and the good times in VFS, even some of the bad ones, and feeling generally nostalgic and lonely. That could have had something to do with today's morose pity party as well, I guess. I need a yoga session. And a place to live. And an original idea. And an acting gig. And a future.

Well, as always, this has been a rewarding conversation... what do I owe you for this session? Same time next week? Okay then.

P.S. obsessing over The X-files again. This is the fourth time around. Which means it definitely in the top five of the most recurring obsessions, still after seventeen years, that's quite cool, don't you think.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Script-writing and Flat hunting

The feature screenplay that I wrote and then decided wasn't really right and had to be made into two different stories and further developed and then written again, well I've written one of them now. So, again, I've written a feature screenplay. But it's not completely done because I'm still not sure if it should have a parallel narrative with past events, or if it should have actual flash backs, or just leave it to the dialogue in present time, actual dialogue and subtext, to tell the story of the past, the way it is now...  Basically, I don't know if I'm telling a "Beautiful Kate" or a "Margot at the wedding"...

Did I tell you I chopped my hair off?


Other things from the boring reality we're confined to:

The flat that Min and I thought we would get is no longer an option, which means we're both back to square one and potentially homeless come September. This situation is always fun. Never gets old. Really.

The job situation looks about the same way. The woman at Pocket Shop will get back to me in three weeks, when she gets back from her holiday, and I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for that, but that doesn't feed my bank account during the rest of the summer, though. So I'm going to head out with another batch of CV:s and see what happens.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Burning

I just put a pot of chickpeas to boil on the stove and forgot about them. And the people I live with discovered them before the smell of something burning reached my room. Quite embarassing. They joked about burning down the house now that we're not allowed live there for much longer, so they weren't angry or anything. Although I think I might have ruined their pot... I blame the heat. I can't think, let alone function in this sauna of a house, and I would go outside to cool off, if it was actually cool outside, which it's not.

I had a great time on Sunday, I went to Min's parents house, and Min showed me, her friend Rasmus and her boyfriend Pedro how to make these Chinese dumplings, it was quite fun once you got the hang of it, very therapeutic, and then we ate them. Another one of Min's friends showed up as well, Becka, and together with Min's little brother Sean (I don't know if he spells it that way...) we all played a game of Kubb, and then we played charades for a long time. The girl's won, both games, obviously. Ha-ha.

And the couple that I live with currently came back from their holiday last night. They gave me a gift certificate for the movie theatre to say thank you for keeping their birds alive (it would have been bird and plants, but I actually managed to kill two of those, but thankfully they never mentioned it...)

I got a text message from the owner of the indian restaurant this morning, or afternoon, asking me to come in to work tomorrow. I really have a bad feeling about this job, especially since I told me brother and sister-in-law about it and my sister-in-law went all passionate about quitting it immediately because it seemed obvious I was being exploited... but I took some literature and lists with me home last time I worked, so I have to give those back anyway, and it doesn't feel right to show up and drop those off and not stay and work. Besides it's not like I have another summer job lined up, so I might as well, at least I'll get a bit of pocket change in tips and a free meal. And I can ask him if he doesn't need my bank info to be able to transfer me my wages and gauge his reaction to it. Maybe I'm being paranoid, I shouldn't jump to conclusions. But even if he pays me, I'm still not going to take responsibility for that bar of his that he wants to open, the whole thing is just too unprofessional and chaotic.

Friday, July 02, 2010

My words fly up, thoughts left on the ground

Yes. You heard me. It's that kind of day.

No, it could be worse. I'm just feeling under the weather and I have to go and serve posh(ish) people in this indian restaurant downtown. I had my first night yesterday and it went fine. I mean, every item on the menu is as good as gibberish to me, I have no idea what the difference between this and that is and which is milder or hotter, but there was enough people coming in so that it didn't get boring, and still not become stressful, and compared to my last experience as a waitress (/barista/shift supervisor/dish washer) it was heavenly. For one thing, we weren't out of ninety per cent of the items on the menu, in fact we weren't out of any items on the menu, and nothing broke down, no fridge, no freezer, no toilet, no employees...

So, yeah, it went okay. The boss said I did a good job and that I could come back tonight, he also told me what my wages are going to be and that in the summer I'll mainly be working extra, which means he'll call me up if someone gets sick (which is a little less okay) but toward the end of summer and especially in the autumn I'll be able to work loads (still not okay... because) I wanted it the other way round, work loads this summer, then extra when school starts.

Also I have this job interview for Pocket Shop on monday that I'm really excited about because I always wanted a day job working with either films or books! So if I get that, I won't be working in the restaurant at all, because the book shop is a more permanent position, either part- or full time. So I'm starting to feel a great amount of resistence to even bother with the waitress gig, especially since I don't know if he still considers me a trainee or whatever and if he's not planning to pay me until I know the menu by heart or something. We'll see, I guess. At least I'll get a free meal by the end of the night (That sounded just awful, like I'm toeing the edge of the cliff and am about to fall and hit rock bottom, and next I'll be dining with the Salvation Army or something... no offence to the homeless, but the day I have to pretend to accept Jesus as my saviour in order to get a hot meal from the Salvation Army, I'll consider myself sitting on the rock bottom, but that's just me.)

So the movie "Gerry" is really bloody cool. I watched it again last night or this morning or however you want to look at it and it's incredible. It's not even movie. It's an experience. I love when those films get made, because I'm so sick of everyone who've crammed themselves into this little box labelled "How to be a successful film maker" is throwing all these stupid rules at me about what I can and can't do, like I don't know how to build a commercially successful concept, like I haven't inadvertedly seen a thousand examples of it, I'll just pick a script at random and change the details, tadaa!, but it just so happens that I don't want to do that, call me pretentious or naïve, but I actually want to bring something a little different and a little new to the table, because otherwise, what's the point? So, Gus Van Sant, definitely an inspiration.

Off to refill my coffee mug. (Graduation gift from my mum, it's ceramic and it says "There's a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in", I thought it was perfect, and when I told Anja she loved it too, the quote I mean, and then I told Min and she frowned and said, "That only works if you were to break the mug and get a crack in it...", just a prime example of the difference of perspective between people! And that's why you need a Min to tell you're story ideas to, because if anyone is going to push you to know your story inside and out and be clear, it's her! I don't know if irony is somehow related to that, or if that's just my writing. Min has a hard time getting irony, it's really amazing, I've never met someone who doesn't pick up on irony before... it really keeps you on your toes in conversation, and it brings to your attention just how ironic and sarcastic you really are, and by you, I mean I.)