Summer summer summer time

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Hello everybody! I thought I’d give you a run down of my summer – since it’s actually been pretty eventful (and I’m getting all homesick because you guys are ALL HANGING OUT WITHOUT ME :( ).

As (most of you) guys know I was home for about a month and a half. I spent it working on my film with Spencer and his friend Neil (plus the awesome help of Tacy, Maddy Fusco, Averee’s parents and Molly’s mom). After that Spencer and I went to Mount Vernon, IA to help with a friend from NYU’s senior thesis. We ended up leaving early because of a fiasco with bad weather (meaning a tornado), which was not very fun. Spencer ended up flying home to New Jersey early and I spent my time working for my mom. After that I flew to Portland for my family reunion. We were staying in Tillamook, which is right by the coast. We played a lot of board games, drank a lot of beer and I got to hold a lot of babies (sometimes all at once). It was amazing seeing my family and it was, overall, basically the best week ever. After I got to spend the day with Maddy in Portland – and we bought books and drank coffee, which was excellent.

I flew back to New Jersey on an overnight flight from Portland. I’ve been spending my time hanging out with Spencer’s friends (playing a lot of Cranium and D&D), catching up on Mad Men and reading. I’ve also helped Spencer with a couple film jobs. One was for this insane woman that Spencer’s worked for before named Diana. She had us do a photo shoot for diet and exercise women over fifty. It ended up entailing a lot of nudity on her part (in the middle of 5^th Ave in New York) and her weight lifting a python. I also helped Spencer’s friend, Adam, do a shoot for his work. Adam works for Princeton Tech, a headlamp company, doing brand imaging and videos. The shoot we worked on was about a group of cavers in Pennsylvania – so we actually got to go caving with them. It was really crazy – we had to wear headlamps and coveralls (its about 50 degrees in the cave year round) and we entered the cave through, what looks like, basically a manhole cover stuck into the earth. We slide down this little tube and then we were in a very tight cave. We had to climb our way down slippery rocks (that are pretty steep) until we reached a larger part of the cave – which had 30-foot ceilings. We could, then, climb around further into the cave. It was totally bizarre and unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. There were really strange tight spots – one called the Rabbit Hole – where we had to squeeze our bodies through – and there was one room filled with tiny clay sculptors made by previous cavers. We were down there for about eight hours – much longer than the regular caving expedition – and I got pretty caved out by the end. Adam’s girlfriend, Carrie, and I ended up leaving Spencer and Adam behind with the cavers and getting some food while they finished up. It was really fun because I’d never spent time with Carrie by myself. I used to find her really irritating (and kind of Cheyenne Goode-like – that’s kind of mean, sorry), but she’s chilled out a lot recently. It was really fun talking to her and it felt like we were actually pretty good friends. She knows a lot about my life here and it was cool talking to someone who has such a similar life to me (she and Adam are really serious about each other and moved in together last year). I’ve been thinking about asking her to do something else – that’s just her and me – but it might be kind of hard since Spencer is basically my ride everywhere (maybe her, Spencer and me??). Speaking of new friends, I recently became pretty close with a girl from school named Renee. We had a writing class together last semester and we talked a lot in class but hadn’t really hung out besides that until the last night. We ended up getting dinner before hand and then, after, getting drunk with a fellow classmate and going to see Big Wedding at midnight. It was such a blast and we’ve been texting a ton this summer. It’s weird because we haven’t really been hanging out but we talk so much that we feel like really close friends. She also has a pretty serious boyfriend and not a lot of female friends so we’re in sort of similar boats. She’s also really into fashion (she’s pretty wealthy, I’m gathering) and girly movies and all this stuff you don’t get when you hang out with only boys. It’s a bit of a bummer because she’s going to London next semester so I won’t see her but hopefully this continues into something cool.

Anyway, right now I’m on vacation with Spencer’s family in Wisconsin. We’re renting a cabin on a lake where Spencer’s aunt owns a cabin with her husband’s family. It’s been really fun – everyone’s really nice and we got to do a lot of cool stuff. We went to an Indian reservation (which was interesting but pretty sad), went kayaking, shot shotguns and hiked around on the island in the middle of the lake. We’re leaving tomorrow – which I’m more than ready for. I’m very done with traveling. When we get back Spencer and I are going to start looking for an apartment – and we will hopefully find one right away. I’m so excited to be moving in somewhere – to have a place to decorate and keep all of my things in one place (for the first time in a long time). Anyway – I think that’s about it. Let me know what’s up with you guys!

Spring into the Semester

Hey guys! Thought I'd update you a little on my life. I'm currently makin' mac and cheese to take up to Tisch to eat dinner with Spencer while he's working. We started working on pre production for a webseries so we're going to discuss writing it tonight I think. 

Ok I actually paused (DRAMATIC SUSPENSE) writing this so now I am at Tisch waiting for Spencer while he helps someone (he works at the post production center which is the desk where you'd check out editing suites and stuff). I just went to Kmart and spent like 30 dollars on snacks. I feel bad but also....I ain't even mad bro.

I got off work about two hours ago and have just been making dinner and transporting myself around. It always takes forever to get anywhere in New York. Work is amazing. All I do is read and write about what I read. No answering phones, no going on runs. I love the people I work with - they're all really nice and interesting. It's a super easy going office and nobody seems to care if I'm late or need to miss work. I work Mondays and Wednesdays and Wednesdays they have an office meeting for everybody. There's only about five people in our department (with more on the west coast). They just talk about ideas of films - writers and authors they're meeting with, what projects they could purchase, what's worth developing, etc. It's heaven. Today they just talked about whether or not a network show could feasibly be about incest. Though I love working there, it is the first job I've ever had that I actually really care about - which sounds like a good thing. It's actually terrifying. I care so much that I don't know what to do. I just freak out and want to do my best all the time. I'm constantly worried they don't like me or whatever. It's so nerve wracking. Also I asked my boss for some screenplays to read and he gave me one that's being currently produced in Hollywood. It's called "Saving Mr. Banks" and it's about the author of Mary Poppins working with Walt Disney to make the film. It was fantastic (and currently being released next Christmas with Emma Thompson and Tom Hanks).

Anyway, besides work I have some classes. I'm taking a three day schedule (with one class on Thursday) so I'm always tired and always busy. I get a long weekend but that goes by so quickly that I'm usually just tired again. I'm taking a class on Irish Studies that is pretty interesting but the professor is a harsh grader and I have 0 enthusiasm for doing the work. I'm also taking American Cinema 1960 - Present, Developing the Screenplay (with an amazing writing professor) and a Stern (that's our business school) class called Entertainment Media Industry. They're all ok but I'm so busy working on my own things and being interested in my internship that I'm feeling sorta over school.

I babysit to some weekends because I'm extremely poor at the moment (probably because of my Kmart snack binges). The kids are really cute (they're named Tristan and Clio - how cute is that) and the family's apartment is awesome. I get to eat all their fancy delicious snacks and watch movies when the kids go to bed. I love it. Babysitting is really the best job.

I don't really have friends I hang out with at school which is a bummer. I have general people I know but I don't really feel close with. I'm too lazy to try to get to know them well or I just feel uncomfortable. I hang out with Spencer mostly and that's fun but I really miss girl time. I want to talk about feelings and relationships and go shopping :( :( Also Hannah and Kaitlin are abroad this semester and they're just really bad at staying in contact. I don't think it really means anything but it just makes me feel shitty. I know they're flaky but it just makes me feel like I'm a responsibility to them not just someone they like talking to, if that makes sense. It's also just frustrating because they're so into being Hannah and Kaitlin (like their inside jokes, what they think is funny, what they're doing) that it makes it hard to be close with them - and it makes it a lot less fun even when you are.

Besides that, I'm just working on writing some projects which has been amazing. I really really wish I had more free time though. I wish someone would just go ahead and pay me to write. And pay me to watch Friends reruns and eat candy. As for the summer I have no idea what I'm doing. My parents are putting the movie production on hold so that puts my summer up in the air. Part of me wants to be home because this is my (most likely) last chance to ever be in Iowa for a significant amount of time but I know this is impractical. I might intern - but that makes me worried about being able to pay for everything. I'd love to keep working for Random House but it's an academic internship and I don't want to pay for credits. I also just sort of want to take the summer to write but that still brings up the question of where I would stay. I could stay at Spencer's but I'd feel so bad just hanging out when my parents are home being sad I'm not there. I'm also taking next semester part time. I only need 8 credits - which I could take all as night classes - and work full time during the days. This is equally terrifying. I'd love to be able to do that - but the idea of getting hired anywhere is so scary. 

Planning for the future sends me into total crisis almost everyday (I was inspired by Molly's blog). What're you guys planning?