The Year in Review

Here it is, December 30, 2007. It's been a year of incredible highs and lows for me. It's been really, really busy, too. Hard to believe that it's almost done with.

In January, I won a contest to make a short film. You can read all about the process at my Unofficial Payoff Website. I did a crappy short film back in college, and it was a thrill to make a "real"movie.

At the same time, I was fighting to get a new job as P.R. director for a local theatre. I got the job in February, just after I shot my movie. I gave two months notice at my other job, so I put in about 60 hours a week in March and April. I also went to L.A. to edit the movie and to New York to tape a promotional piece for in-house use at MTV.

On April 24, my movie went live online and my dad passed away from cancer. Don't ever smoke. Cancer is a horrible way to die. Both my dad's parents died of cancer, too, and I really hope I don't get it. I don't smoke, but I figure I'm genetically predisposed to the disease. At least having the movie out there gave me something else to talk about besides how sad and miserable I was.

May 1, I went to work full-time at my new job. I was still depressed over my dad's death, and I found out that I really suck at sales, which is part of my job. Maybe I wouldn't be so bad at it if the economy were better. Just when my old employer advertised two producer positions, things got better at work. When the jobs were filled, I began to question my career change again.

In September, my mom and I took a firearms class at the Sheriff's Office and got our concealed weapons permits. I'm a really good shot! I haven't actually received my permit yet; I was born overseas, and I had to send them evidence that I'm really a U.S. citizen, so that's held things up.

End of October, I won a major prize in an online contest -- $10,000 and a trip to New York City. That was a great way to end the year. I took my college roomie to the Big Apple with me, and we saw three shows. I couldn't spend a whole lot, because we need a new roof, and I also want to go to England in Fall, 2008, to see Kenneth Branagh on stage in London and David Tennant on stage in Stratford. It's taken a full two-months for my husband to finally accept that we are going to England. Now, instead of rolling his eyes when I bring up the trip, he actually discusses it with me. That's gotta be worth something.

On Christmas Day, we continued our tradition of watching one of my favorite holiday movies, "Die Hard." Yes, it is a Christmas movie. It's set on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party. If I ever receive an automatic weapon for Christmas, I will happily use the line, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho, ho, ho."

On December 31, we will follow our other holiday tradition of ending the year by watching "When Harry Met Sally" on DVD. If you haven't seen the movie, it culminates at a New Year's Eve party. I'm sure I have a copy of "Peter's Friends" around here, as well. Another great movie about a holiday gathering. I'm sure it'll be especially poignant this year, since it also deals with loss of friends and family.

We don't have cable, haven't since Hurricane Ivan in 2004. We only watch DVDs. That's why I'd love to win a contest over at 5minutesformom.com -- it's a year's subscription to Netflix, which I have heard great things about, but never tried. One of the distribution centers is supposedly very nearby, so getting and returning movies is very quick by post. If you'd like to check out the contest, here are the related links:

http://www.5minutesformom.com/2755/netflix-orville-contest/
http://www.orville.com


Wishing you all a safe and happy 2008!!

Always Looking for a Handout

If you know me, you know I like entering contests and sweepstakes. I'm even entering one right now.

See, Wyclef Jean has a new CD coming out: Carnival Vol. II: Memoirs Of An Immigrant, in stores DEC 4.

I signed up at Sony and by blogging and telling my friends about the CD, I get a chance to win a trip to meet Wyclef plus a camcorder. I really want a camcorder.

Now I'm off to enter more sweepstakes. I'd really like to take that camcorder on a trip to England.

Ah, the Holidays....

It's been tough already this year and it's going to get worse, I'm afraid. First Thanksgiving without my Dad was okay, just a few weepy moments here and there. My aunt and uncle held their annual feast, but most of my Dad's other relatives weren't there this year, so I guess that made it a little easier. All his clan is getting together for Christmas on December 1, and Daddy's birthday is December 2. Then comes Christmas.

My new job shuts down for the week of Christmas, so I'm going to keep my mind off things by trying to write a screenplay. I had some experience this year, writing a short play in about four hours for "24 Hour Theatre." I also wrote a short screenplay, about five minutes in length, in a couple of hours, inspired by a contest on the website for "The Lot" TV series, but you had to actually make the film to enter the contest, and I didn't have time to shoot it. I tried to get a friend of mine to handle that part, but she was too busy, too. She still wants to make the film sometime. Anyway, I've been thinking about the characters and plot for a science fiction film for a long time, so I'm going to try to hammer out a first draft.

Of late, I've been reading the Mediterranean Nights series from Harlequin. I like a happy ending, but the books seem almost too short; I'm used to reading stand-alone titles I guess. The interesting thing about this series is that each author is adding an intriguing new bit to a mystery that, I'm assuming, will wrap up in the final book.

Here's another book that sounds intriguing. I've only read the excerpts on the author's website, but I love fantasy and romance, and this has the best of both:

ENCHANTING THE LADY
“The imagination of J.K. Rowling and the romance of Julie Garwood
all rolled up into one fabulous novel.”~Erin Grady, author of Whispers
Please visit: http://www.KathryneKennedy.com

Happy holidays! Hope Santa puts just what you want under the tree!