Thinking Out Loud

Downtown Athens, Ohio

Part of the 18 mile bike path that goes through the University

Athens countryside

It's times like this when it would be nice to have a burning passion.  Too bad you can't just pick a passion...that it has to come to you.

Possible Passion, Film MFA. 
Three programs interested us enough to spend millions of hours filling out applications.  We spent November filling out Florida State,  January, filling out Ohio University and February, filling out City College of New York.  All of these programs are production oriented in a place that we wouldn't mind living and didn't require a GRE (my requirement).  Even with our ages on the applications, we made it through to the interview stage at Florida* and Ohio. We're thinking that City College may have lost our applications.  Flying, hotel, interview, new place, new people....the interview process in itself was an adventure.

Pretty Big News.  
Vince and I were just offered 2 of the 10 spots (126 applied) in the Ohio University MFA Film Program.  Until that phone call, my knees were the only things I really had to think about and now we have to decide, by April 24, if we want to live in Athens, Ohio for three years.   April 24th isn't all that far away and to add to the DD (decision difficulty), there are exactly the same number of pros as cons.
 
Top Eight Pros:
•It was hard to get in.
•The countryside surrounding Athens is our kind of countryside (tiny rolling country roads with little traffic, TONS of mountain bike and hiking trails, a 18 mile paved bike path, easy to get out of town into the country).
•The town is funky (coffee shops, old timey food co-op, vegetarian restaurants, brew pub).
•The faculty seems to love their jobs and to like us.
•The program is fairly renowned.
•It's a new environment.
•It would give us a structure.  Without the structure of being in school we doubt we would get around to producing a noteworthy film.  One that people could watch without us being there to explain it. :) I don't care about winning an Oscar but Vince wants to.
•It would be fun** and provide a real sense of accomplishment.

Top Eight Cons:
•It's not Paris, Portland, Madison, Bozeman or Amsterdam.
•It's three years and we're 55.  Do we want to spend what's left of our youth in school? (i.e. tied down)
•There is an off chance we would make a noteworthy film without being in school.
•It starts August 26th and we have to put the Plainfield property on the market, open up Cape Cod, close down Vermont, make sure my knees work etc.
•Max is 11.  Do we want to introduce him to another new environment? 
•I think the town is pretty run down (student rentals, depressed) Vince doesn't see it as run down.  Admittedly, when we were there, it was a pretty dreary day.
•Do we want to miss skiing in Craftsbury those winters?
•We kind of like what we're doing now.  (what are we doing now?)

We're not trying to chose between a couple different schools but between doing it and not doing it.  So I guess the big question is, "Do we want to do it more than anything?" because that would have to be the case.  

*Florida decided for us. (we're sure it was because of our age) but we'd already decided we didn't want to live in Tallahassee partly because the healthfood store didn't list all of the ingredients in the hot table foods and the one funky restaurant in town didn't have a single vegetarian entree'.  

**Almost nothing could have been more fun for us than having a copy of 'You're Not Cindy' (our first 'real' film) in the car with us at all times and showing it wherever/whenever.

I'm packed...with loose clothing and irrational fear.

Just before I took my knees for their last ski.  The guest bed will go here and it will be my convalescing space.  Very cheerful.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" asked my friend John today on the phone today in reference to my surgery and rehab.  I thought for a second then said, "I have a Netflix at the Post Office and I don't have a car.  Can you pick it up for me?"  He left work and rode his bike to the PO.  Knee surgery = Power.

Tomorrow. By early afternoon I'll be sitting in a hospital bed with two new knees which should make me feel good except I will have had to be inside all day and it's supposed to be 54 degrees and sunny.  Please make the forecast be wrong.

My new community is a very welcoming group of local 70+ knee replacement survivors.  They're advising and outfitting me for the procedure.  So far they've passed along, two CryoCuffs, a walker, a commode (yes, I'll be using a used commode), gel packs, phone numbers and good wishes.

Elinor was walking down the road next to the ski trail today. (Elinor has two new knees and is part of my new community) "How is it today?" she hollered when I skied by.  Well of course I thought she was asking about my knee and I went into this long boring scenario, comparing it to yesterday, how I think the boot/ski combination I have on is good...important stuff.   Then she said "I meant how is the skiing?" 

Today.  I skied for the last time with my old knees which was oddly sad.  OK, now I can say it.  I hated skiing so carefully (i.e. slowly) this winter.  I tried convincing myself that it was good enough just being out in the fresh air but was never totally committed to that theory as much as I'd wanted to be.  Next winter I'll be able to ski with my arms AND legs.  YIPPEE.

Coming soon...

NYC hotel

•NYC trip.  With my high school girlfriends.

In case you've ever wondered what it looked like behind the doors of one of those airport clubs

•Tallahassee trip.  Florida State University MFA film program interview.
•Athens, Ohio trip.  Ohio University MFA film program interview.

For Sale, One Seed-Sprouter

"I forgot to lock the car," said Vin as the plane's bulkhead door slammed shut. Our car was in the Bradley/Hartford airport parking lot with my passport and two heirloom diamond rings.  It would be there, unlocked, for a week while we were in Phoenix visiting my dad.  (Before you ask why I would keep diamond rings in the glove compartment...have you ever moved something from a place it's always been to a 'better' spot, never to see it again?)  I had just enough time, before I screwed up the planes navigation system with my cell phone to call the number of the Toyota dealer on our key chain.  Good news.  He said you could lock the car without the keys.  Now all we had to do is find someone who would drive two and a half hours to the airport to see if that was actually possible.  In the meantime our best bet was to point the automatic door locking gizmo at the car as we flew over the parking lot and push the lock button.  We were transferring in Charlotte and as soon as the plane landed I called Jay, one of our best friends ever, who thought the situation was epic/funny/typical enough to drive the two and a half hours to the airport to lock the car for us.  We told him that there was a chance it may already be locked which to him made the situation even more epic/funny/typical.*

I spent two entire days learning how to list a few things on ebay.  I figured out if I sold everything at the 'buy-it-now' price I would walk away with $46.97. 
Example: I had the starting bid for a 'seed-sprouter' (are you wondering what a 'seed-sprouter' is?) at $1.99 with a ' buy-it-now' price of $3.99.  It had 34 hits and 7 watchers (ebay language)....what I wondered was....why didn't someone just buy it for the $3.99?  In the end, no one bought it which was good because the amount I was charging for shipping was a lot less than it would actually cost me to ship it so for me to get rid of my 25 year old never-used 'seed sprouter', it would have cost me $2.40.   I'm taking a break from ebay for a while.

I remember 25 years ago, how excited I was, when I realized there was such a thing as a seed-sprouter.

Vin and I are applying to a few more film programs.  Florida State is the only application we've sent in so far.   The 'Statement of Purpose' (where I used the word 'thus' for the first time in my life) is the letter where you tell the people that require a 'Statement of Purpose' everything you've done in your life and how it relates to being the ideal film student.  Being 55, it was hard to keep my life to the 1000 word limit...the same number of words a 20 year old applicant is allowed.  How is that fair?

*Jay and Denise (Jay's wife) drove to the airport.  They found the car (they said "because it was the dirtiest one there") and it was unlocked.