Viva Las Vegas!

Between Monday and Wednesday, I was able to cross 6 things off my Adventure List!

026. Go to an aquarium

Yes, I have gone 21 years without ever setting foot in an aquarium, until Tuesday that is, when I went with some friends to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. It was fantastic. A part of it (the part where you get to see all the sharks!) is a “sunken ship” which was awesome. There were parts of the floor that were glass, so you could see what was swimming under you and there were also parts of the ceiling like that. There was this huge, Marlin-like shark (it’s got a really long, really sharp, pointy nose? What are those called? Anyone?) that swam over us. I geeked out. A lot.

106. Learn to walk in high heels.

Another part of the grand Las Vegas Adventure. Our first night there, we went to Lavo’s at the Palazzo. It definitely lived up to all the hype and expectation, the food was phenomenal! Since it was kind of a dressy looking place, I donned my heels in an attempt to dress up my jeans a bit. What I hadn’t realized was we were leaving the Palazzo immediately after and walking the Strip. I figured it would be ok—big mistake. We walked a mile up the Strip from the Venetian to the Cosmopolitan. And then we walked a mile back. That’s two miles in high heels. My feet were killing me and blistered up pretty bad, but it was worth it. I can now walk in high heels without breaking my neck and, as an added bonus, I discovered the wonder that is Fast Flats. The wonderful people at Dr. Scholl’s and the CVS at the Venetian were my best friends that night.

136. Tie a cherry stem with my tongue.

Yes, I realize there is an incredibly sexual connotation behind this one, but just get your minds out of the gutter, this had nothing to do with that. While at a restaurant with a great drinks special, my friend ordered a drink that had maraschino cherries in it, so I stole one of the cherries (I love them for some strange reason) and proceeded to tie the stem into a knot with my tongue. It was surprisingly easy (get your minds out of the gutter!)

151. Go to Las Vegas.

Went to Veags. Stayed at the Venetian. Did lots of cool stuff. That’s all you need to know.

152. Play the slots at least once (preferably while in Vegas) just to say I have.

Played slots at the Cosmopolitan and Treasure Island. They were just penny slots for the most part—I’m such a big spender! Ha.

157. Put the lemon in play.

Took some great photos of The Traveling Lemon for the Lemons and Landmarks project. It took a surprising amount of effort and hunting to actually find a lemon to put into play. Las Vegas is very stingy with its citrus fruits for some reason, but eventually I did find one (a very photogenic one) and snapped a couple of photos of it at the Venetian, Paris Las Vegas, McCarran International Airport, and the plane back to Phoenix. I’m a geek, I embrace that fact.

I’m Insane (Or, I’m a Writer)

I’ve come to the conclusion that I am mad.

Absolutely, completely, and utterly mad.  Round the bend. Mental. Insane.

Actually, I came to this conclusion some time ago, but my finals sort of reaffirmed my self-diagnosis.  It’s the only explanation I can conceive that would explain why I would willingly put myself through the hell of writing a full length feature film script and an original comedy pilot for a mini-series.  At the same time.

In case you’re wondering, gentle readers, that’s about 170 pages worth of writing right there (really it should be 200, but I skimped on the mini-series pages and turned it into an hour-long show instead.)

On the bright side, I used that to my advantage in Script Frenzy this year.  In the past, my motivations for completing Script Frenzy and it’s older, meaner antecedent NaNoWriMo were based on things like music, books, food, and clothes.  “If I write X amount of words/pages today, I’ll be that much closer to winning Y CD/Book/Chocolate/Tee…”

This year, my motivation was in the form of a mantra, “If you don’t complete this project by the end of the month, you’ll fail the class.” 

It was a wonderful motivator, as you can imagine.

I still can’t understand what compelled me to think working on both projects simultaneously was a good idea.  I could have just done a research project or a presentation of some kind instead of the comedy pilot, but I chose the pilot.

Why?

I am absolutely, completely, and utterly mad.  Round the bend. Mental. Insane.

I suppose that’s a good thing, considering I want to be a screenwriter.  Hopefully my month of maddening writing will have proved useful for something.  Time management, maybe.