Sunday, 4 May 2008

Enough Procrastination... onto the Land of Oz

Time to tie up loose ends (mafia-style).

I've talked about the course, my feelings, 24, screenwriting, my thoughts about the future and now the time has come to bring this seemingly endless journey to an end.

My grades have been good overall. From my images assignment through my narratives, and soon I will (hopefully) discover my audiences unit marks (script and essay). Its taken a bloody age to get this last essay back and I personally am running out of patience with the waiting (over a month and almost a half). So when those votes are in I shall know how this year has panned out for me. Have I improved? Have I grown as a person? Will I vote Tory? Blah, blah, blah. The trick is not what grades you get in the first year, but how you learn to improve from your mistakes the next time. I get that part of the learning process. It's why I came to uni. And I reckon it has been well worth the experience (maybe not the thirty grand) but certainly the people I've met, the advice I've been given and the confidence I have gained have been worth the price of admission.

The academic year is coming to a close - a lot of people dropped out, more than I was expecting, plus a few unexpected quitters - but ultimately when it came down to the nitty-gritty I put my effort in. However, on the images unit script into production, I suffered a grievous error in judgement. My group failed to hand in a finished film product to achieve 10% of the unit's weighting. I felt bad and took most of the responsibility for the group having failed, although I was saddled with people who were generally enthusiastic but fucking lazy. I include myself in that by the way. I did learn something more valuable, one could argue, from the whole experience; enthusiasm does not get the cake baked, nor after he falls off the wall does it put Humpty together again. So to redeem my actions of failure I have taken the initiative with my Summer Project Group (who have been enthusiastic AND proactive) by writing their material from pretty much the word go. That way we got a head start in the production and the project schedule. I wrote three scripts, all being produced and I am assisting with the production (in an actorly capacity) and with the website's content. If that's not an example of active redemption in action, then I don't know what is. I'm enjoying the collaborative process as it happens.

But the biggest thing going down for me right now is the fact that in a moment of impulsive insanity I booked a flight to Sydney, Australia. My friend Dicker, moved out there last month and invited me to stay anytime. I said I'd go at some point but never thought I really would. Then I was passing by Thomas Cook and just thought; "why the hell not?" Within an hour I had bought and paid for a return flight. I'm gonna be gone on the 25th of June to the 3rd of August. So I'll be missing the end of term by like one week. It's hit me how soon I am going - I have started getting my slow, hairy ass into gear. My workload is the priority this month - once I get the summer project finito'd by June 2nd I believe, then I'll complete my PDP stuff for a June 11th hand-in, kiss my peeps goodbye, bang the girl next door, and boom - I'm leaving on a jet plane and when I return I'll be a new man - ready for a second uni year, and this time I'm gonna kick some academic ass.

Part of me gets so attached to routines, I get sentimental when they come to an end - even when I hate them (like my old insurance job) but I always find the cathartic side to every long goodbye. To this blog, and to this year, farewell. You've been good to me and we shared a lot. Until we meet again....

Number of people who read this whole thing: (zero) but diaries should be private on public communication forums. Ha, see what I did there?

Peace out.

No comments: