Side Note

I kind of miss doing my themed blogs. I might have to start that up again.

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

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