This was the moment I’d been waiting for.
Not just another excuse to dress up and attend a real live event. Thanks to the membership showcase, I saw my first short film, There’s Always Something, up on the big screen.
Additionally, this was the first time I’d met some other board members in real life after many monthly Zoom call meetings. We hugged one another like long lost friends.
After about 30 minutes of boozing and schmoozing in the lobby, we were finally ushered into the theatre.
Took everything in me not to take a picture of my film as it played. I didn’t catch anyone else doing such an uncouth thing, so I played it cool and restrained myself. Besides, the organization had a photographer going around and taking pictures throughout the evening. All I have to do now is be patient and wait for those pictures to be uploaded to the website…of course now that I going to be a part of the marketing committee since I’m no longer secretary, that my very well be my job.
Speaking of jobs, as much as I enjoy my newish full-time job, I think the concept of “full-time” should be no longer than six and a half hours a day. After all, we’re already working in shifts. Plus, with a desk job, even a lucrative work from home desk job, embracing more sedentary hours lead to higher blood pressure and diabetes. Not to mention a loss of time to advance creative projects such as filmmaking.
Technically, I made a second short film, yet this one was also not written by me. I’m still playing with the idea of making animated films out of something I’ve written. Something that can be done remotely and with an inexpensive app or two.
For now, I’m sticking to illustrating since the process is so relaxing, and podcasting. Like the two short films I made, I created two podcasts last year during the pandemic. I began with “CBD & Poetry,” thinking that I’d combine two of my interests just to get my podcasting feet wet.
Mission accomplished! For the first season, I interviewed friends who used CBD. I self-taught my way throughout the entire process and planned out dropping one episode a week as if I were programming a series. I even outlined and researched season two: CBD entrepreneurs.
Then, organically, I began interviewing my older relatives, starting with my mother for what eventually became known as “Strange Family Folklore” podcast. As I questioned Mom about how our family acquired land, that began a series of questions that deserved a series of podcast episodes. Unlike my first series, which I’ve put on an indefinite hold, this podcast is planned on the fly. I still edit it to the best of my abilities, but I don’t dare think of it in terms of “seasons,” but rather an on-going documentation of a part of my extended family.
In other words, I should have been that asshole who took a picture of my film on the big screen. I don’t know the next time I’ll get that chance again. Everything else I’m working on isn’t projectable.