Blog Neglect

I've been horribly neglectful of my blog for a good long while. I've attempted to post stuff, but then nothing comes out when I sit down at the keyboard to type. I'm thinking it's a case of I have too much stuff going on and my brain is going in a million and one directions at once.

I suppose let's start from the film festival back in May. I met some cool people, I got frustrated with a lot of people I know and I left Mid America Filmmakers. I was tired of them not wanting to match my drive for putting out a good project and I was tired of not being taken seriously as an officer, let alone listened to so I ended up quitting. It's still a sore spot for me because every so often I'll hear inklings or recieve an email about crap going on. I'm trying to adopt a "I don't give a crap" attitude, but I hate seeing people fail. The truth of the matter, though, is they only have themselves to blame. Casey and I blazed on ahead and have since completed 2 projects since I left in May, which is honestly more than most members would accomplish in 2 years. I am, however, happy to see some of the members following my lead, though. It seems that I started something there and Casey and I have been in touch with a handful of people from MAF and we're working on several projects together.

Our latest project is actually the winner of the Mid America Filmmakers Screenplay competition. David Boyer, a very talented writer, came up with a script entitled "5 cm Peter" which is quite funny (and lewd) and I agreed back when I was VP, to help him get it done. So, my little rag-tag team and I are plowing ahead with his project (despite wanting to continuously beat our collective heads against the wall). We film on September 5th. I can honestly say I'll be happy to be done with it.

Lily just completed a project as well. The film bug is in full swing in our family. Lily, however, was acting. I'm looking forward to seeing the outcome. I didn't think this was ever going to get done, simply because it was one tragedy after another when it came to her film. Literally. The director's father passed away and then, two weeks later his mother passed away. It was like the film gods didn't want this thing done! But just last week, Lily wrapped filming, two months and a piece after we began.

Family news. Yesterday, I took my mom to the airport. She is off to Panama for one month. I miss her terribly. It's very odd for me not to talk with her at least every other day. We have a decent relationship, despite getting on each others' nerves on a constant basis. I hope she enjoys her trip and I can't wait to pick her up at the airport, just to get the latest gossip from home. She was so funny when she called last night! I answer the phone and she said "Jessica! I'm HOME!!!!" and proceeded to laugh like she was 12 or something. It was good to hear her in a good mood because she had left feeling a little frazzled and wondering if she was going to make it. This was the first time she had traveled by herself since she was in college (which was a loooooooooong time ago), so she was a bit nervous.

Casey just finally got the go ahead to work overtime this week. It's been very...stressful around here. Well, not so stressful, but we have been worrying a bit. His company, while they have had work, we didn't know how long that work was going to last. I've been trying to do my best to find him alternative work in the film/tv field but that would also mean a significant hit to our income if he did switch. It's almost like we're stuck between a rock and a hard place. I want him out of construction as much as he does, and yet if we were to jump we would lose free gas and a company truck, which is a significant boon in the current jobs favor. Casey is quite overwhelmed with lots of film projects and has very little free time, which I'm afraid I monopolize with family stuff. We're still trying to find a balance for everything and we haven't quite gotten there yet.

Lily finished all of her summer programs on Thursday. We skipped friday due to our trip to the airport. She is now free to enjoy her summer (well, what remains of it) and this afternoon we're going to start guitar lessons. A certain someone finally came through with that guitar he had been promising for years. Lily is thrilled beyond belief, so that's what counts. She is growing like a weed and is turning into quite the young lady. She is hedging tween territory. It frightens me a bit.

Jackson is also growing like crazy. He's getting more and more adventurous and he's been testing his boundaries. We are heading straight toward the terrible 2's at full speed. The other day he discovered the fun that is running through a sprinkler. I still have issues getting Lily to run through a sprinkler (even though she knows it's fun) and there was Jack... He walked straight up to it and was instantly amused. There was a massive temper tantrum when I took him back inside to take a bath (he was caked in mud). He's talking more and more and says please and thank you and this morning I even heard him copy me saying "You're welcome!" He's becoming a bit of a parrot and while we sometimes have to have him repeat what he says, his vocabulary is expanding and getting more and more understandable by the day. Sometimes it's like he picks up new words by the hour. He's truly an amazing little dude.

I think that covers it all. I'm sure I'll come up with a billion other things to write about as soon as I click publish, but I really want to clean up the kitchen before Casey gets home and it's about lunch time, too.