I have a black eye.

And an unexplainable black eye at that. Been irritated the past couple days, was afraid of infection, or worse, pink eye. Started throbbing today, and upon looking in the mirror, noticed the lid was swelling near my nose. Can't figure out where it came from, or how I got it. Recall running into a door several days ago, but where I hit my head was no where near my eye or nose. Lucky I wear sunglasses.

Difficult to deal with at the moment, doing my best. Have been putting off posting here a little bit -- recently made headway on the Letter-writing screenplay [Re: Untitled Short] in the usual way -- sleep deprived myself well into the next morning until inspiration struck moments before giving up. Wish desperately my mind didn't insist on this on such dramatic timing.

Final product turned out to be 3-5 pages of a sort of outline/note hybrid -- not at all an odd thing for me, all considerably better than anything I'd come up with earlier in the week. Looks to be two-to-three major characters, and a time jump between the opening and the end of the opening credits -- of roughly a year. Showing the quick progression of time has always been a problem for me, but I'm optimistic about this. It seems easy, and controllable.

I've mentioned before I often cannibalize other things for new projects. I've decided to dig "Eddie" back out, a White Trash Nation character [Re: Sweet Home] who popped up in the play I wrote back at Bennington called "Mall Sequitur." Yes, that title makes me cringe, but that also the reason I find it mildly redeemable. Eddie is a character a lot of people know -- that sort of obnoxious co-worker who's your age, and you could almost see calling a friend if they were an absolute doucebag. Nevertheless, Eddies populate the world, and for my purposes, he fits well within the confines of this project [Re: Untitled Short].

So does this mean I'm integrating the short into my "Living Dead" mythos, like "SULK" and "Sweet Home?" I don't know. Admittedly, Eddie never appeared in any of the "Living Dead" work I did outside of the play, but when I was doing initial notes and outlines for "Sweet Home," I had him pencilled in for a minor role -- something which likely kept him present enough in my mind for me to notice how perfect the character would fit into this short. Still, finding other places for "Sweet Home" characters has happened before -- the ex-girlfriend in the vampire script [Re: The Familiar] was a White Trash Nation character who I was trying to fit into the story with a hammer -- but somehow she blended right in with the new screenplay, and was promptly not needed anymore for White Trash Nation. The same could happen here. It's also entirely plausible nothing will come of the short, and Eddie will be back home. Or, hell, maybe despite the city vs suburbs settings of the two different works, Eddie has managed to eek out a living as a sleezeball in not one, but two places.

Twenty-somethings are like checkers -- really no rules on how to move them around.

So that's the gist of the work on the short. Should be cranking out real pages soon. Like everything I start, the middle is a little funny, but the beginning and end are clear enough in my mind to carry on. Talked to Kyle [Re: Kyle Christian Quinn...sorry, I just love the dude's name], and he's had a few more ideas, some very similar to this one -- he's intensely interested in the idea of people's inner thoughts becoming public in private ways... which is a little waspish, and pretty much perfect for high drama. Also, since the ideas in his head are all pretty much in the same vein right now as the one I'm working on, it gives a lot of possibilities for expansions. Likely, this short will be over 20 pages, but still far from a feature length... still, if things go by my outline, it would [as I keep saying] make a great framework for a "Slacker"-like ensemble piece. It's welcome enthusiasm.

But the first and most important thing is getting the first piece done, and capable of standing on its own.

Writing this has made me realize I should probably do a blog about "The Living Dead." Explain that, too. Make it all the more hilarious if I never achieve anything, but still have all this laid out like I'm being interviewed by Wizard.

Grandma went to the hospital today -- her potassium was too high, but she made it back home in a couple of hours. Worrying, mostly because of her insistence to not take her time, and get the problem fixed -- was more hung up on leaving home than getting better. That scares me. Too few people in my life these days to want to lose one of them from stubbornness.

Spent the evening on the earlier entry -- was spurred on mostly because I felt very trapped, and out of control. Writing up how my doldrums play out helped some. Felt better when I was done, posted it here, and on Facebook. Too long to believe anyone will actually read it. Amazingly masturbatory -- even by my standards.

A lot of my friends have stopped watching television -- only noteworthy really because it comes up regularly, likely because I watch as much as I do. The funny thing is, I can't really defend my position -- while I know there are good shows on TV, things like "Monk," "Chuck," "South Park," "The Simpsons," "Pushing Daisies," "Californication," and a lot of other things, I don't really watch them religiously enough to take up a banner in defense of television. Honestly, I guess it's a personal choice, though I could no more stop watching television than I could stop reading books or watching movies. Storytelling interests me too much, and I can't honestly believe that any medium that participates in storytelling is completely without merit -- and I can say that just from periodic viewings of "House" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia." Also starting to catch re-runs of "King of the Hill" on FX -- I'm surprised by how funny I find it. Like all things Mike Judge, it just takes me a little while to come around.

Realize my problem in arguments today -- often time I could win more easily if I just kept my head, and stuck to short responses. Though I can't explain it, I prefer to try and reason it out with the person -- a useless endeavour. John says it's easier to attack than defend -- absolutely. Should settle for being clever, rather than being smart.

Check out the New Town [Re: Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name]. Toned and everything. Justin's great... I just hope he doesn't mind my notes.

Another realization about myself today -- would like confirmation, if possible. Vocabulary is no longer so impressive to me anymore. I remember when I was younger, using big words as power against kids who would ridicule me, to make myself feel better and smarter. Doubt I'm more secure, but I'm more interested in words now -- I use the ones I like, and use them excessively. Like to bring back dead phrases, and pick up what others might consider ridiculous colloquialisms. Don't feel arrogant about it anymore, hardly notice I do it. Not a crutch anymore, they're an actual enthusiasm of mine, something I exercise without thinking how it'll strike other people. This is in some ways a flaw. But I do think this is one of those ways I've grown, because I can't think anything but pretension when I see someone else write "dramaturgy," on their myspace page, yet still think it might be a fun word to work into my day-to-day. I can use "hubris" and "bangin'."

Likely, none of this makes any sense.

My eye is throbbing. I think I'm done.

Shalom.