Just a Day. Just An Ordinary Day...

Hello and a happy Tuesday evening to you all. 

I've come to realize: Putting hard work into something, rewards you in the end. In big and unexpected ways.

For the past year I've been working on a screenplay. Actually, it's a little past a year to the day that I started writing it. And now, a year and some-odd-days later, I have a final draft.

It's amazing to see how much it has changed from the first draft. It went from a random idea, to something I am extremely proud of. 


I can't imagine it being what it is without all of the support and feedback I got while I was writing it. Classmates, friends, professors. 


I've always enjoyed that part of writing: the collaboration. Getting critiques, hearing ideas, getting questioned about things I never thought about. I love it; all of it. I constantly learn from it, constantly become a better writer. And a better person.


I've noticed, when I'm writing, I tend to focus on what people say; how they speak. Writing has made me a better listener. 


I've found myself more sympathetic to, and interested in, situations I might not have even wondered about before. I'm finding what makes people tick more and more intriguing. I'm finding that every story can be worthwhile and every quirk is part of someone's history (though, sometimes annoying).

I was kind of in denial yesterday as I stood over that hunk-of-junk printer in Renshaw and watched as it (slowly) printed off all 111 pages. Today, I am a bit lost as I have so much time on my hands.

What's a girl to do? I feel like I should go celebrate, have a drink or two (or five), but here I am, broke and sleepy. That's alright, though, I'll just have a low-key celebration. 


Tonight, I think I'll pour myself a nice, tall glass of...water, plop down in front of the television, watch some Chelsea Lately and SVU and then go to bed.

As for tomorrow? I'll wake up and start thinking about my next writing project. 


I hope it'll take me on the same exhilarating ride.

And he said: 

"Take my hand; 

Live while you can.

Don't you see? 

Your dreams lie right in the palm of your hand."

Always,

Jamika

Title Song: 'Ordinary Day' - Vanessa Carlton

Shawty's Like a Melody in My Head That I Can't Keep Out

Got me singin' like,
"Na na na na" everyday.
It's like my iPod's stuck on replay.

Dear friends,
Here are some videos for your viewing pleasure:

Some thoughts from the past couple of weeks:


And who doesn't love outtakes?:


Yours in blog,
Jamika

Title Song: 'Replay' - Sean Kingston

It's Stupid, Contagious to Be Broke and Famous

Hey guys! Sorry I haven't posted all week. But, here I am now (and with a video)! It's a [Non]Fiction Friday vlog. Hopefully you guys enjoy it. I made another video, but it's not uploading at the moment, so I'll post it later.



[[EDIT]]

Here's the video:



So...there's that. I know, I'm a dork. Anyone notice the Victoria's Secret bag? I know I probably could have done more to differentiate between characters besides putting on a hat, but I was flying by the seat of my pants.

I got the idea when I was doing the the [Non]Fiction Friday video. I started off on a tangent about how the blurb on the back cover of the book has the feel of a movie trailer, so I made one. It was a good time. I messed up a lot. I mess up a lot in all of my videos--maybe I should post an "Outtakes" video.

Hope you all had a great Friday. Talk to you guys soon :)

Title Song: 'Punk Rock 101' - Bowling For Soup

Do Me a Favor: Call Me 'Jerk' One More Time

You're a jerk.
I know.

Here's the other video I was talking about. I wanted you guys to know what I deal with, so I had my brother sit down for a brief interview.



Obviously, the other to vlogs and this "interview" were done on the same night. Fun fact: I wasn't even dressed, really. I had been in my PJs shortly before I started filming. I put on a decent shirt and a necklace to give the illusion of being presentable. I had on blue sweats and just kind of lucked out that they didn't show in the video. Well, they did once, but that's the magic of editing.

Anyway, I hope you guys got some kind of kick out of that shit show, and I will talk to y'all later.

Title Song: 'You're a Jerk' - New Boyz

Just Lots of Good Will, and Maybe One Small Thrill

But there's nothin' dirty goin' on.


Hello and happy, happy Friday, friends. How're things treating you all? I don't have a [Non]Fiction Friday post for you guys, but I do have something else. Remember back in the day when I said I was going to do a video blog? Well... 





And: 





So, yeah. Hopefully those weren't too boring. I tried to keep them kind of short. There's another video I want to upload, but I have to finish editing it. I wanted to get these two up before the weekend since they should have been posted on Wednesday and Thursday. I was going to post them both yesterday, but they took about an hour or two (each) to upload to YouTube. It was super frustrating. 


I had a video for [Non]Fiction Friday, but it was late and I was too tired to edit it. So I probably won't post it. 


Well, kids, I hope your Friday is treating you with respect. Mine is going well. I'm getting ready to head over to my aunt's house for a bit, but maybe I'll come back so I can edit that video and post it. I think you guys will get a bit of a kick out of it.


Title Song: 'A Lil' Ole Bitty Country Place' - The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas

If I Could Give You the World On a Silver Platter...

Would it even matter? You'd still be mad at me.

So, to incorporate my new 'I've come to realize...' bit, I've renamed this day: 'Talk About it Tuesday'. Sorry for those of you who enjoyed 'Text & Twitter Tuesday'...it's gone into an early retirement. But, maybe it'll make a comeback a la Michael Jordan (but it'll be a good comeback. Like when he left to be a crappy baseball player, but then came back to the Bulls in a blaze of glory, managing a second 3-peat. Not the mistake-of-a-comeback when he bought, and then played for, the Wizards and his only stand-out 'achievement' was being the first 40-year-old to score 43 points in a NBA game [sorry for the long tangent]).

I'm going to be heading back to Mac-Town on Sunday. I love Jan-Term and I think I'll love it more this time, now that I won't have to worry about what grade I'm going to get. I'm so happy I'm done with doing homework. Fuck (excuse my French [and excuse me for blaming the French]) homework. Anyway, I'm also super excited because I'll be able to see the movies Miguel is screening for the scripts class. And the movies, Bree informed me, are: The Hurt Locker, Up in the Air, Precious and The Lovely Bones. I'm beyond ecstatic! All movies I want to see.

I don't think I ever wrote about my New Year's Eve. It was awesome. I spent it with the kiddies again. I think they had a really good time. I'll have to post some videos later. They're really funny. They're jerking and dancing to Thriller. I love it.

So I started writing this post on Tuesday, it's now Wednesday. I'm still going to post it as if it were a Tuesday. I got temporarily distracted. Meaning: I got a call from my aunt about a birthday party, and now, 8 hours later I'm back (slightly intoxicated) to finish this post. I'm dedicated. Fo sho. Anyway, I'm supposed to be doing this new 'Talk About it Tuesday' (BTW, Tuesday is a hard word to spell under the influence) so:

I've come to realize negativity is contagious.

I've noticed that I have friends who are extremely negative people. I love them a lot, but they constantly put others down, or point out others' shortcomings. I realize that when I'm with them, I fall into it, too. I don't like it. It makes me feel gross and petty afterwards. Tearing others down isn't what I want to be about, not at all. It takes a lot of effort to find reasons to hate on someone. Frankly, if I don't like someone, I don't want to spend time making them the center of my world by talking about them any chance I get, I want to forget them and move on. Spending time hating on someone isn't something I want to do, it's exhausting. I have better things to put my energy into. I'd rather do big things that cause someone else to hate on me; let those fools waste their energy wondering how I did what I did, and then let them sit around hating on the fact that I pulled it off (though, no one should hate on anyone for any reason).

I also don't like the negativity of judging. I mean, we all judge people to a certain degree. But it bugs me that people judge on things that don't even matter. I have an eclectic taste in a lot of different things: music, movies, art, TV shows, extra-curricular activities, etc. But if there's a certain something I don't like, I don't automatically judge someone who does (I mean, unless it's murder or animal sacrifice or something major, you know?). I might give a friend a hard time, but I don't take me seriously. I'm talking about people who constantly judge. The worst part about it is, they want to turn around and say, "Don't judge me." It's so stupid--you can't be exempt from judgment if all you do is judge (pot, meet kettle). Judge someone on things that will really effect a friendship, not whether or not they like Marilyn Manson.

Really, I hope you guys get what I mean. Negativity spreads and spreads. If a group of people is in a good mood and one person comes up and starts to spread negativity and hate, it brings everyone down. Don't fall into the negativity trap. It's a hard one to come out of.

Stop judging others on things that don't matter. But, Jamika, you're probably thinking. How can I like someone who likes things that I don't like--someone that is doing the things they want to do instead of living by my expectations? Simple. Just do it.  There would be a lot less negativity if we stopped worrying about others. What everyone needs to do, as Katt Williams said, is get in tune with your star player. Your star player = you. Figure out yourself and stop hating on others. The world would be a much better place without the constant hating and negativity from bitter people. Let me get slangy for a minute: If it ain't puttin you in any danger, why you trippin, girl?

Okay, my rant is over. Hopefully you guys took something from this (ahem) influenced speech. Happy Tuesday (yes, I know it's officially Wednesday, STFU).

Title Song: 'Hate On Me' - Jill Scott

100 Things: Bienvenido a la Escuela de J. Cordelia

New additions to the list are in boldface.

1. I like knowing the title of TV show episodes so I can figure out why the writers named it so. Most of the time it's easy to see, sometimes it makes no sense and other times it's a bit abstract and can be taken many ways.

2. I like to read my horoscope at the end of the day to see if it was right. I don't like to read it beforehand on account of that thing called, "the self-fulfilling prophecy."

3. I frequently have deja vu.

4. I constantly run through dialogues in my head (sometimes out loud). I like to remember what people say and how they phrase certain things. If something particularly stands out to me, I'll write it down and use it in something I write. So, a lot of you have been quoted in my writing, FYI.

5. I have a lucky sports bra.

6. I published poetry years ago using a meaningless nom de plume (pseudonym, pen name, what have you). I will never tell you what that name is, or the titles of any of the poems, because the poems are cheesy and I'm somewhat (aka extremely) embarrassed that I wrote them.

7. On the subject of pen names, I've been trying to come up with another one (for quite some time now) that is meaningful, in the event that I have to use one again. I've narrowed it down to a few, but nothing is set in stone yet.

8. I've still got my wisdom teeth. They have pretty much completely grown in.

9. I love walking down the laundry detergent aisle at supermarkets, it's one of my favorite smells.

10. Speaking of supermarkets, one of my favorite shows used to be Supermarket Sweep.

11. If I use a bathroom other than my own and the toilet paper roll is under instead of over, I'll switch it before I use it.

12. If I could choose a skill to excel at, it would be tap dancing.

13. I've kept every journal I've ever written in since the 6th grade, with the exception of one. It was a particularly bad year, so I burned it.

14. I've recently started naming my journals. The one I'm writing in now is named Sidra and it means 'star born'. The one before that was named Deirdre, which means 'sad one'.

15. I love sunflower seeds. Always have. My favorite brand is David Sunflower Seeds.


16. I have a list, an actual list, of funny women I want to be friends with. The list includes:  Chelsea Handler, Regina King, Tina Fey, and Sandra Bullock. 


17. I'm super reclusive. I'm surprised I have friends.


18. My favorite candies are Sugar Babies, Haribo Gold Gummy Bears and Peanut Butter Twix.


19. At some point, in the last couple of weeks, I've started to use the word 'super' again. I feel like a nerd. 


20. I had more guys buy (not pick from their neighbor's yard) me flowers in elementary school than I have since I started "dating".


21. One of my favorite shows to watch when I was younger: NewsRadio.


22. I miss the days of good TV show theme songs.