Tools...

Okay it's been a while. You're saying: "Hey the guy gets a new doggie and drops out of sight?" What the hell have I been doing? I'd like to say that I've been very busy. I'd like to say that I've been accomplishing a lot. I'd like to say that I've met the most wonderful girl and we've been on "a tear" these past months. I'd love to say that I've just finished the most wonderful screenplay... But no. None of this has happened. Oh, I have met some wonderful new people. And yes, the dog is just the best friend/animal on the planet. Kind, smart. Attentive. Loving. What a gift.

I am writing two new screenplays... SLOWLY...VERY SLOWLY.

I've been in a bit of a rut. That's life. I'm moving along. Out of it, I hope.

Teaching at the Strasberg Institute now in NYC. A good friend put in a good word and they gave me a shot. Teaching is hard. Teaching screenwriting is harder than hard. Takes me back when I was in college. I was an Economics Major at the time. Entered my first econ math class. I remember the professor saying:

"I'm going to write an problem on the board. If you can't solve it very quickly you are gong to flunk this course. So get up and leave. Drop this course as soon as you can."

And he went on to chalk something that maybe an alien from another planet might understand. So 20 of us non math types (out of a class of 30) got up and ran for the exit.

Looking back the guy was smart. He didn't want to teach something half the class would never understand, so he weeded half the class out. I can't do that. I have 6 students. I have to teach them screenwriting. And I will. But it's hard. I don't believe you can teach someone to write or act well. You can only show them your best tools and they have to take it from there. So, I'm working on my tools. Finding my way. Slowing down. Trying to make myself as clear as I can. I write from someplace else. Don't know where I got my tools... I've always had them. Now I have to share them. Wish me luck.

How Much Is That..?

I week ago I went to work as always. It had been a cold night. I wasn't looking forward to this day. The car wash would be icy. The wind would be at my face the entire day. Monday was a clean up day at the wash. After a busy weekend, things had to be made right again for the coming week. I get there to find the place cleaner then usual. Too cold for folks to come and throw their garbage around. Wait...what's that? A dog? Running loose at a car wash? Must belong to a guy that searches through my dumpster for cans... Wait he's not here. Who does this dog belong too? I ask the few customers there. He doesn't belong to them. I ask the dog, he growls at me. Has he spent the night here? Later I see him laying in the sun. It's cold. I mean, it's cold. Looks to be a Pomeranian. They don't mind the cold so much. But I've got to get him out of here. More customers are coming in and he's growling at them...barking at them.

I call the dog catcher.

The dog catcher comes. Says: "Oh...he's in a bad way. Not an easy grab. You catch him and I'll take him. Otherwise..."

Wait...isn't that his job? To catch the dog? I mean...he's the dog catcher...right?

I go to the corner store and buy a box of small dog treats. I go back and temp the little dog with them. He's starving. Eating them if I give him distance. I try to coax him into a storage room... He's too smart for that. Doesn't like storage rooms. How about my car? (there go my clean car seats) He jumps in to get a treat...I close the door...I've got him. I get in. He gives me a look. An almost grateful look. I pet him. He's not so bad, just cold and scared.

I take him to the CT Humane Society. This dog is not abandoned...he's missing. I tell them the owner will probably be here by nightfall. The humane society won't take a stray dog. "Since when?"

A waitress and a dog lover at a diner up the street says she'll take the dog for a couple of nights until an owner comes.

She has two other dogs.

This little guy goes nuts in her house...bites her husband.

He's out. Back in my car.

I take him to my mother's house where I'm staying for a few days...the dog is an angel at my mother's house... He loves my mother. He loves my brother. He loves my aunt. He loves me.

I put up a sign--"dog found, ask for details..." Nobody asks. Nobody is coming to his rescue. This is the smartest dog I've ever seen. Nobody cares. I decide to keep him...name him Runi... He'll be with me...unless a teary-eyed family comes and asks this dog for his forgiveness...

Where's George Costanza When You Need Him?

I heard someone say the other day: "If everything you do is turning out wrong, then don't do that anymore." I guess it's like the old doctor joke: "Doc, it hurts when I do this..." And the doc replies: "Then don't do that..." It sounds simple enough. Basically if you don't like your life, chance it. Hmmm. It's true that my favorite Seinfeld episode is the one where George Costanza is so fed up with his life that he decides to do the opposite. And it worked!

To do the opposite to what we are used to actually takes work. It feels uncomfortable. I know I want to change for the better. I just have to break through the wall of uncertainty. Like the story of the two unborn babies in the womb. One says: "I can't wait to get out of here..." the other says: "Why? I like it here...three squares and a cot..." the other says: "But there must be a better place than this, I feel so cramped!!! and the other: "But what if in this other place...it's hell...and life is hard and there's less room then this..?" his brother says: "I'll take my chances...I have to grow..."

I have a lot of stories today. But stories are just stories. It's time to make the necessary changes for greater happiness and awareness. I mean, that's why we are here in the first place, isn't it? I should hope so. But I come from a long line of "womb dwellers," so it won't be as easy as I hope it will be. Or maybe it will...I mean, once I take away the excuses. Happy 2010 to all.