C's update

Hey!

I don't know who came up with this wacky idea that I should singlehandedly produce a feature film AND go to grad school at the same time but when I find that idiot I will -- uh -- never mind.... Anyhow, I have been so incredibly busy lately that I haven't had time to blog and people are starting to ask, so... I don't have many pictures but here is what I do most of the time lately (note the blue heeler):

I am NOT too big to be a lap dog. I am NOT.

First of all, Raul thinks you'd all like to know that I won a scholarship for the summer semester; it's not a lot of money but it is prestigious; what it means is that I am the "top graduate student" (my department head's exact words) in the entire Fine Arts department, which includes Media Production and Studies (film/animation), Music, Theatre, Interdisciplinary Studies, and Visual Arts (painting, drawing, ceramics, intermedia, etc.). I was blown away!!!

Secondly, I have been invited to be the keynote speaker at an international film festival in Helsinki, Finland, and to run a couple of workshops! They're paying about $1000 and putting me up for a week. I'm hoping to get a little more financial support from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research here at the U of R to help cover the costs of the second week of the trip, during which I will be traveling around on trains and buses to remote villages like Kuhmo on the Russian border to do research for the film I am making for my thesis project. I will be gone from April 10-26 and I will miss the puppies and the kitten, and of course being away from Raul will be really hard, especially since we've been able to spend so much time together since we've been here. Even Regina is growing on me. It looks kinda quaint, doesn't it? This is the main strip downtown.

I will be shooting in the late summer. If anyone is interested in checking out my new website, which includes some aspects of where my project is at this point, drop by sometime!

Meanwhile, I am still hammering away at the script, auditioning, and workshopping the script in a lab setting with actors. I will start soon on the actual storyboards, and am still trying every day to think of ways to get some funding help. There have been some interesting developments in that department but nothing remotely resembling a commitment. I don't want to jinx anything, so that's all I will say on that topic for the moment.

Oh, and I think I cracked a couple of ribs on Wednesday night. I was wearing cowboy boots in the fresh snow, which was sitting on a layer of ice from when things melted then froze, and carrying a large metal crash box on a shoulder strap, just like this one:

Believe me, at nearly two feet tall, this is bigger and harder than it looks...

Anyhow, I slipped and fell forward at the top of a flight of stairs, with tons of momentum, and landed REALLY hard on my sternum on the corner of the crash box. Now the only activity that doesn't hurt is - uh - actually, even breathing hurts, so it's pretty much constant. I just hope it heals in time for all that backpacking and train riding I'll be doing in a month.

Well, that's it in a nutshell. My life couldn't be more interesting and more busy. I can't say the same for the pets...

"Aaah... Just another day in paradise..."

"zzzzzzzzzzz...."

Until next time, adventure!