I learned this morning that one of the early investors in jumping off bridges died suddenly last week.

When I first met him, through a friend of a friend, I brought my copy of the business plan and was ready to give him the whole dog and pony show of why our film was such a good investment and show him all our projections and schedules and strategies. We were down to our last dollar and stunt week was coming up and I didn't tell him this, but we needed him to believe in us. We needed a yes.

I never opened my neatly formatted, well prepared proposal folder.

Instead, we ate burgers and drank iced tea and he talked about his two boys and how he wanted to invest in things that mattered, like art and the environment. That day he told us he was investing in the film because "I like you girls" and because he trusted us. Then he called a friend and told him he should invest in us, too. And the friend supported us too.

I remember seeing him and his two boys on the day we did our stunts, sitting amid all the action of camera and lights and stormy skies, with big smiles on their faces. He came to our wrap party, our premiere, and our DVD release party.

I will miss seeing him.
I wish I had sat down and really talked with him at the release party, but there was no time for that, it was a talk fest and I had to move around and talk to everyone.
I just wish I could thank him one more time.

Our hearts go out to his family and his two boys.

Fourth Judicial District Court

We sold our first educational copy of jumping off bridges to the folks at the Fourth Judicial District Court in Minnesota. I came home after a long day and checked the mail and in it was a packet and in that was a check and when I realized it was for a film that we'd made...I had to read it a few times. I called Kat and told her and then, it was real. I knew this was coming, we've been working on getting the DVD out and making sales, and we've even sold home copies, but this feels real-er.

So, here we go. What an interesting ride...

Another fun meeting on The Worker tonight. We're doing crazy things with windows and daylight temperature bulbs.

Verve

The folks at verve creative put our new website online today. They are so good. They are also my dear friends. Check it out: www.jumpingoffbridges.com

boxes on the porch...and other surprises

It's already Friday, at least it will be in an hour and it's been a week. A solid, good week, a full, rich, week and ...well, the big news is...

The DVDs arrived!

I came home mid day on Wednesday and there were boxes all stacked up on my porch. 90 per box, there were about 550 DVDs total on the porch. At least one cat was perched on top of them. I took one box to our new office, mostly empty except for one castoff desk and assorted papers, and Kat and I did the high five dance for a bit. Then we opened one shrink wrapped package, took the DVD out, looked at it, and put it back. We were too excited to actually play it.

When I went back home after class last night, there was something else on the porch. It was....flowers from good friends.

Today, I came home midday again and there was a smaller box on the porch containing 1,000 postcards.

Inside, Cowgirl was crazy excited. She loves deliveries, it gives her something to bark at, to care about and a reason to stare out front window. (Not that she needs a reason, but I think she likes the anticipation of what she might see and this week has been exciting for her, too.)

Speaking of deliveries, my Fedex guy has been in on the jumping off bridges saga since we first shipped test rolls to Seattle for development. When he delivers something while I'm at home he always asks about the film and says something like, "that's a really hard thing to be an independent filmmaker" or "I think that's pretty cool what yall are doing", or even, "how is the film coming -- did you get distribution?" something like that. He notices.

Tonight we had auditions with our advanced class. It's always fun to see actors working. I love it and I'm really excited about the shoots.

All in all, a good week and it's not over...tomorrow I take Kat to Costco to shop for party snacks - should be interesting...

jumping off bridges DVD Release Party

You have no idea how excited, relieved, worn out and beside ourselves we are about finally having jumping off bridges on DVD. There are a few extras, photos, a discussion guide and subtitles. I'm not sure if subtitles truly count as extras, but I put the love into them when I typed them all in, so I think they do count this time.

Party news:

Sunday, October 6th
6pm - 9pm
Club Deville
Austin, TX

Free Lone Star Beer
Snacks

Lots of DVDs for sale.
Cast and crew in attendance.

It was a long road, friends and not without some hills and valleys. We had a lot of encouragement and help along the way, as well as some who said we should do other things with our time, energy, selves. Right now, we can say, to all those who were there for us, we did it, and thank you for believing in us.

Thank you!

I want to take a moment to thank some of the folks who worked with Kat and I to make the DVD release happen. While Storie Productions is a two person company, Kat and me, we have had great help from smart people, including our cast and crew.

There were others...

Many of them are listed in our credits and on our thank you page, here. The Food Angels brought food to our set including homemade lasagne, cookies, cakes, snacks, coffee, you name it. Each day on set one of them flew in on gilded wings and fed us. The Special Thanks people, they know what they did, and we couldn't have done it without them either. Our sponsors are the local businesses who gave us food, special deals, and even helped us find a pumpkin in July.

In addition to those fine folks, I'd like to thank:

Tracy Frazier and Leslie Langee - These two fine, smart ladies met with Kat and I each week as we planned our theatrical release. They helped us hone our list of cities, make connections, figure out where to screen. They were strategic helpers and they are both incredibly smart. They were part of the little engine that could, or as we called ourselves, the tiny tigers. (We got a little silly in our meetings, okay?)

Tai-San Choo came to the rescue as our intern. When my DVD burner burned out from overuse, Tai offered his. He is a techie geek like me and has been invaluable in helping me get our DVD bits finalized, proofing and checking and verifying and giving it another set of eyes. He also has mad photoshop skills and created the DVD menu design template for us. He's also very nice to work with.

Lori Walls designed our DVD cover, postcard and brochure for our release. We were best friends in high school and she's one of the reasons I landed in Austin in the first place. She is a great designer and works fast, too. She's a great one to have on your team and is very nice to work with.

Jillian is another intern who is helping us secure food for the party, set up screenings of the film and proofing the DVD. In addition to helping us, she is taking a full load of classes and has a job and helps Kat out at the Ann Richard's School. Like the others, she's very nice to work with and incredibly smart.


Thanks to all of you for your time and committment, we couldn't have gotten here without you.

JOB DVD is in Beta

job DVD beta version 1 is out and being tested. So there's time for a little breathing, but not too much.

It's similar to my days in book publishing and software. At the end, the final week, all the elements come together, there are problems, breaks in the code, trip ups and yet you sally forth and get everyone working and testing and then one day, a final copy is created that is ready. But, we're not there yet, we're still in Beta mode.
Back when I was in software, a program manager for the first Java language programming tool, we had "war rooms" where we'd list the bugs, rank them, assign teams and get cracking. We'd order in Thai food and give everyone coffee tickets and we'd work til we got it done. There was something crazy and yet really fun about those days. I wasn't a programmer, not by a long shot, I was the PM, the program manager, the one who stopped in and checked on progress, dealt with the upper management issues, deflected things, made priorities, encouraged, tried to move the roadblocks and keep us focused on the end goal. I also got to cross things off the list and sign off on the final product.

I was good at it, too.

We were a team and we were friends and this looming deadline that we always had to problem solve our way to get to wasn't such a bad thing. I'm not into workaholic schedules, but I do love working with people who CARE about what they do and where they spend their time. They can go home later and have a rich, full life, but passion makes work fun and interesting, even when the hours are long. Also, I love working with smart people.

Today we attended the Heroes in the Fight awards luncheon. jumping off brides won in the Media Professionals category. As I listened to stories of people who work with abused toddlers, find shelter for the homeless and work in the trenches of the mental health field, I just felt honored to be in the same room with all of them. Having worked with the homeless for awhile now, I'm very aware of the pitfalls and all the cracks people can fall through as they make their way through the maze of the system. There are many heroes in that fight, including the people who struggle with mental health issues and their families. I'm just honored to have been a big part of a film they can possibly use in their work. This makes the long days seem much more worth it.

Then after catchup meeting with Kat, we had our first Advanced film making class. This class of 10, is mostly full of people in midlife, along with 4 teens. It's an excellent group, talented, committed, fun people. Again, it's good to work with people who care.

This is gonna be fun!

Up early in the a.m. to help my photographer friend shoot a CD cover!

yay they're home!

I just picked Kat and Leslie up from the airport, they were a little bleary from a bumpy ride from Houston, but home they are. The Atlanta screening was a turning point for us in so many ways.

• First of all, it's a huge honor to meet a former President and First Lady and for them to watch your little film.
• The audience was packed with mental health professionals who could speak about the impact of mental health on individuals, on families, on, well, on all of us, and what we can all do about it.
• We will get a lot of new screening possibilities from this screening arranged by our own Leslie Langee.
  

I heard the highlights on the way home, and it jazzed me, even in my weary, over worked state.

You know that Celexa (sp?) ad where the depressed person is sitting in a dark kitchen, with her finger in her coffee, wearing a housecoat? It disturbs me as much as the characters on film and in TV who "go crazy" and do terrible things.

In reality, depression and mental illness are more insidious. They can sneak in and and cloud up your whole life, mess up your relationships, your ability to function and to feel. The sooner we get past the stigma, and tell the truth (raise your hand if you've ever been on meds, seen a therapist - or would have if you'd had good insurance - taken "herbal" remedies, drank too much, turned to illegal substances, just to feel good again...Yeah, that's pretty much everyone n the room.) It effects all of us, rich, poor, smart, not so smart, CEOs and homeless people.

Sadly, mental health issues are often not covered by insurance, the assumption being, I guess, that if you're physically healthy, that's all that matters. Tell that to some of my homeless friends who struggle to pay for their meds every month, or to someone who is uninsured and could really use a good therapist or a chance to get some blood work done to see if the reason they don't want to get out bed in the morning might have something to do with their brain chemistry.

I was on antidepressants several years ago. I usually temper that with, "everyone I knew in Seattle was on meds", or "it rained 67 days straight that year". But that's' not the point. I'm a good Mom and being depressed got in the way of continuing to be a good Mom. I was depressed and I had great insurance and the doc and I took care of it. I've since learned to take better care of myself, I exercise, I eat right, I moved back to Texas and sunshine, etc. and I haven't been on meds since, but I would never rule it out.

Since then, I've met others who sheepishly admit they are or were on medication for depression, anxiety, whatever it is.

Maybe one day we can stop feeling ashamed of being human and get the care we need when we need it.

Friday = Good News Day

It's been rough week, friends. I've been working non stop on various deadlines, having meetings, gathering notes, etc. etc.

• The great thing about working for yourself is you aren't "cubed", your time is your own, and you get to keep your own hours.,
• The not so great thing is that when the work comes in, you gotta pounce on it.
• The rule is that when you're busy, you will get busier. The trick is to pace it, stay a little ahead of the curve, but most of the time, I'm juggling deadlines.

Some Good News

• Some good news today on the Brain Brawl and Roadside projects. Can't say much, but it's good.
• More good news for jumping off bridges. We screened at the Carter Center, Jimmy and Rosalyn were there. They were there, they watched the movie and they took pictures with people. Rosalyn introduced it...this gives me chills in a good way.
• Humphrey, my neighbor's dog who came down with something this morning is just fine. He ate something he shouldn't and he's really working the sympathy, but he's okay. Chico is fasting again (except for dog biscuits).
• Keni went on a real walk today. It wasn't far, but he did just fine and wagged and even ran with me in the park a bit. He still gets lots of comments on his beauty, too, as he should.

Proud

A screening of the film, Jumping Off Bridges, will be held the night before the Rosalynn Carter Mental Health forum, on Thursday, May 17, 2007, at 7pm at The Carter Center Cecil B. Day Chapel. The film follows a group of adolescents and the impact a parental suicide has on their relationships. A panel discussion will accompany the film, which will be free of charge and open to the public. Please R.S.V.P for this event by calling (404) 420-3804. The film will also be screened during the Rosalynn Carter Georgia Mental Health Forum on May 18 at 10am.

I'm very proud of this screening and while I would love to be there, I went to almost every screening we had last fall and this will be Kat's night to shine and be proud and even tear up a bit. The film is the culmination of so much hard work and the talent of so many good people, to be able to screen it for Rosalynn Carter, well, that's grace.

(Kat has promised to try to get me Rosalyn's autograph, she's someone I'd like to meet one day, have a cup of tea with, ask her questions, and talk about our daughters.)

We received our official welcome letter from New Day films.

Jumping off bridges will soon be in distribution .

(Damn, it feels good to write that. It feels good to know we've done all we can to keep our word to our cast, our crew, our investors and ourselves that their work will be seen, noticed and felt.)

We have a screening this month at the Carter (as in Jimmy) center.

(I won't be attending as I'll be completing a ton of work I have right now and prepping for my two week trip to France. In France I'll visit the D-Day beaches, see a chateau or two, see some prehistoric caves, and hang out in Paris and visit the museums, and bond with my amazing daughter while being somewhere we've never been together. But, I digress...)

I love New Day films. I love that I've already gotten emails from my new buddies there. We have a catalog buddy, a launch buddy, a DVD buddy, you name, it we have a buddy and buddies are cool.

Annalise is home and the house is full of her stuff as it's being unpacked and sorted. I hear her singing as she walks around. She rarely walks around without singing. One of the things I enjoy about having her home.

jumping off bridges - Best of Fest 2006 - GreenCine

Jonathan Marlow of Greencine lists jumping off bridges as 1 of 20 Worthy Undistributed Films from 2006.

Congrats also to Bryan, Jake and Megan, Cassidy Kids and Todd, The Guatemalan Handshake).

We're crossing our fingers and toes that Todd will be bringing The Guatemalan Handshake to Austin next Spring.

what's going on....

We continue to work our selves crazy arranging screenings and playing the self-distribution game. jumping off bridges will be traveling quite a bit in the coming weeks, and so will some of the Storie Girls.

One of our associate producers, Leslie, has been working on a deal in DC all summer. Note that each screening requires numerous phone calls, emails and followups along with lots of luck and persistance. There are no guarentees, there are lots of false starts, and there are days you feel like you will never get one nailed down. Well, today was a day of victory for our dear Leslie. We learned our film will be sponsored by the NIH, the National Institute of Health, a huge government agency with lots of contacts, connections and cache.
This is huge and will get our film in front of huge, important, national counseling organizations.

Their email said, "Everyone agreed at the meeting that your group has created a film that is needed by the mental health professional community."
Pretty nice to hear that you're needed.

I'm tired today, woke early for coffee with a friend, dashed to an interview than to Trinity and then home to work and mail screeners everywhere and then a Storie meeting. It's time to curl up on the couch with project runway and go to bed early and start all over again. Tomorrow I'm doing a radio interview at 9 a.m. and then Tracy and I rock over to an hour with Matt Daley at KOOP, and then, well something else happens...busy times.

I sense our hard work will pay off...


and now a funny car story...

I took my car in to a body shop for some minor body repair, after a minor fender bender. I picked up my car and noticed a bad noise, grindy noises are never something you ignore, I learned that long ago. I took my car back to the body shop and asked the guy if there was possibly something that was too tight, not tight enough, not quite at spec, etc. He said, that was impossible. He was incredulous. How silly I was to think such a thing, how little I knew about cars, in fact, he didn't even hear any noise from my engine at all.

I told him the noise wasn't present until I picked up my car. He just said, "huh, well, it wasn't anything we did, it's just not possible." Then he gave me a smile that said, "I know more about cars than you do, and that will always be true. I'm right, you're wrong."

I drove away, not happy, a bit steamed and I drove right to the Honda guys where my service manager checked in the car. I got my run in by running back home which chilled me out and put this all in perspective a bit, it's a good thing because later that afternoon, I got a phone call from the Honda guys. It seems that someone, like the body shop guys maybe, had left a big wrench inside my car, somewhere between the transmission and the stabilizer thinymajig (I paraphrase). There was no damage to my car, they just thought it was kind of odd.

This sent a thrill through me. Kat drove me to pick up my car and we stopped by the body shop on the way. I waved the guy over to my window and told him there was a vise grip with his name on it at the Honda place.

Getting your car fixed: Cost of the deductible
Driving around to find about the noise: slightly frustrating
Telling the body shop guy he left his vice grip in my car: priceless!

file under film, life in general

New Mexico

Sky and clouds, mountains in the distance and more sky, more clouds. The air is cool, feels clean and smells sweet. The people are very nice, when I stopped to get a paper yesterday and accidently honked my horn when the car locked an old man looked at me, surprised and a bit offended. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to." and he smiled "no problem." I don' think that happens much around here.

The first screening went well. We had people from the suicide prevention coalition and the Jason foundation in addition to our sponsors, the Agora Crisis Center. There was a red carpet and a display of painted handprints that represent all the suicides in the state last year. Before the screening we had a series of little talks and one included a college girl, barely 19, who lost her boyfriend to suicide last year. He'd become withdrawn, isolated himself, stopped talking to her and she didn't know he was depressed, didn't know the last time he called her would be the last time he called her.

People don't like to talk about these losses, and to many people suicide is one of those topics, you just never discuss. We have to talk about it. We have to listen to each other. The more we talk, the more we can try to share the burden a bit. People don't need to walk around carrying so much on their own.

We've made a tough film and it's getting people talking about a tough subject.

In other news: I knew Ann Richards was ill, but I was not prepared for her to go so quickly. She was a bright, intelligent and honest soul who cared deeply and who worked incredibly hard. She did much good work for Texas and she cared for people that many poltiicans forget about, people who can't or don't vote as much: kids and convicts. She did some amazing work in education. She worked on programs for recovery from additiction and for prison rehabilitation.
When Annalise was a baby we campaigned for Ann, I strolled Annalise around or carried her in a little front pack and we walked around and gave people fliers and tried to get out the vote. We saw her last December at bookpeople, while we were Christmas shopping, and I told Annalise "that's Ann Richards". I didn't go up to her, I thought maybe she needed some peace. I wish I'd just said Hi and introduced Annalise to Ann.
Rest in Peace, Anne. We won't forget your work.

file under: film, life in general, jumping off bridges

settled in and happy

today I crossed from the Pacific NW leaving from the Mapleleaf neighborhood in Seattle, to the airport, through the sky to Salt Lake City, down again and up again across the Southwest to Albuquerque, and down again. Then I drove from Albuqueque through the mountains to Las Vegas, walked around took pictures, walked some more, drove around, drove out to see the World School, met two amazing lecturers there and took more pictures, went to a little peace chapel with windows made of prisms and saw the evening NM light refracted all blue and gold into the room. I went back out to Las Vegas and am now settled in Coralles NM at a place called the chocolate turtle. I'm telling you I have the best job in the world, I don't get paid much, but damn do I have some kick ass adventures! I haven't even begun to describe today, I'm just happy and tired. Tomorrow I have a meeting on set then a drive to Sante Fe, then the screening.
And now, it's time for sleep.

file under: jumping off bridges, life in general

Seattle and beyond...

Wow it was great to be back in Seattle even for a day and a half. Annalise and I moved to Seattle in 92 and stayed for 7 years before heading back to Texas in 99. The last winter there was the rainiest on record and I just couldn't take it. I still love it though. Seattle is almost always lush and green and growing, the water, ferries, coffee shops and bookstories, it's a great town to get lost in. I got lost a few times, but I was mostly just seeing my old haunts and visiting old friends.
My old house looks good, my nextdoor neighbors are still next door too.

The first day I had lunch with one friend before going off to admire another friend's new baby. Then I had dinner with Meg and her brand new husband. I also go to see one of my fave dogs, Leo. He was one of the ice storm puppies that I bottlefed. I shipped him up to Meg three years ago, she's about the only person on the planet I could have given him up to. He seemed to remember me and and he's very happy.

My Seattle friends are doing well. They are falling in love and having babies and buying log cabins in the mountains. I love it and it fits right in with all my own transitions. I love knowing people who I might not see for years but fall right into step with when we meet again.

file under: friends, jumping off bridges, life in general

The day of the screening I slept in later than planned as I'd stayed up the night before talking with old friends. So, I didn't go to greenlake park to run, I just ran around my friend's Jeff and Shelly's neighborhood. It was chilly and people were out walking in their polar fleece as I ran past in my tanktop and shorts. It was cool, but it felt amazing.

Later I headed out to visit with my old neighbor and we caught up over coffee, then I saw another old friend before heading back to the Hall to get ready for the screening.

We had a small, devoted crowed. It was one of the first cool nights of the season and it was rainy and messy, and a Wednesday night. Our audience included some film folks, some friends and some we found at the universities and suicide prevention groups. It was a good screening and will lead to more screenings.

This a.m. I was up at 4:15 to make it to the airport for an early flight to Albuquerque via Salt Lake City. I got into ALB around 1:00 and then headed north to Las Vegas for some scouting.
Here I sit in a little coffee shop in downtown Las Vegas, NM that has free wifi and great cookies.

I'm tired, a little bit fuzzy headed, but the cool air is clearing things up. It's pretty, too. Different than Seattle, as different as geography can be from Seattle, still pretty and very friendly. I'm off to go scout around before heading back to my B&B tonight and then getting up in the a.m. and continuing the adventure!

long weekend

A nice long weekend. Today, after a long run and then a quick meeting with the Storie team, in which I told them I'm freaked about Seattle and Albuqueque screenings, feeling the pressure of impending travel and Q&As and well, other things I won't go in to here, I got to hang out at Chadwick's most of the day with little Ella Bo Bella. Wendy is doing a play, Chadwick is doing our color correction and conform and I was there to watch Ella, confer with Chadwick, throw the ball for Roscoe and make myself useful.

While I didn't get much on my to personal little to-do list done, I'm convinced the world will go on anyway, just fine. Ella showed me how to lie on my back on their hammock and stare up at the sky through the leaves of a giant sycamore tree. (I don't know that it was a sycamore, I just know that the light dappeled through the leaves and it was a lovely big old tree, a wise tree.) That time staring into the distance made my day, just looking up through leaves at a cloudy, soft sky.

I guess I'm not all that hard to please at all, am I?

I hope everyone is having a weekend with some of that in it.

getting on with things

At tonight's weekly storie meeting, we stopped for a moment to realize we have now set up 17 screenings in cities across the country, there are 8 screenings almost locked and 5 more film festival screenings to go.

Not bad, eh?

The cool thing is, our strategy is simple: We work hard and we don't take no for an answer. It's kind of amazing that four nice, hard headed, ladies all converged into our tight little storie productions ship, but happen it did. When we start our tour in a few short weeks, we'll finally get a chance to get our film on the road and show off some fine Austin talent.

If you know anyone in Seattle or Albuquerque, make sure they come to our screenings. (Tell them to come up and say Hi, too. )


9/13, Seattle, WA
Broadway Performance Hall
7:30 p.m.
Tickets available through ticket window online.

9/15, Albuquerque, NM
Southwest Film Center, 7pm
Sponsored by the Agora Crisis Center

9/16, Albuquerque, NM
Southwest Film Center, 1pm, 4pm, 7pm
Sponsored by the Agora Crisis Center

jumping off into what's next

So, the past few weeks have all seemed like one really long week. So much has happened and we've gotten a lot of work down.

• We had two more screenings of jumping off bridges.
• We've confirmed two more dates for other screenings.
  
• We're hard at work on publicity for Seattle and Albuquerque (spelling?).
• We've come up with a brand new cut, a new ending, and soon we'll have Justin and Chadwick do their thing with sound and color and there will be a new film.

I'm very proud of this cut of the film. It just works. Kat will spend the week working on cutting a trailer and getting Justin and Chadwick squared away and by the time I get back from Nashville, we'll be close to done. Then it will be time to hit other items on our growing list of todos.

Brain Brawl is proceeding as well. I'll be headed back to FL soon for more meetings..

This weekend Annalise had her little going away sushi/cupcake bash. It was nice to see friends and family. I did something really Momish and had everyone write notes to her in a little book that she can read later.

We start on our road trip to Nashville on Wednesday morning. We have planned stop overs in Memphis to see Graceland and hang out on Beale street. Next we head to Birmingham to see some relatives and my Grandparents old lake house outside of town. They don't live there any more, but the house has still got a lot of them in it, and I haven't been back in way too long. We go back to Nashville on Friday and we'll go to the Opry, then on Sat. a.m. it's time to check her into university. There's some kind of parent night thing on Saturday and then I'll start heading home, to arrive sometime on Sunday. Hopefully by then, the distance between here and her new home won't seem as far as it does right now. It's all just geography anyway, we're close and we care about each other which is more than a lot of families have.

Still, even with Roy Bean's neurotic barking, it's gonna be quiet around here.

from dallas to the flatlands...

The Dallas screening went wonderfully. I'm always so nervous before a screening. I pace and smile at everyone and wonder if they are going to like it. I can't sit through the film anymore, I can only linger in the hall outside the theatre, knowing exactly when it's time to go back in. (I like to come in right before the Sufjan Stevens song near the end.)

As the credits rolled and the lights came up, I was motioned to the front for the Q&A. People responded well to the film and several people who said they were too shy to ask questions during the Q&A came up afterwards and told me how much they loved the film. (I'm the same way, I almost never ever raise my hand in a Q&A.)
Here I am with jumping A.D. Tracy Frazier and Fox News anchor Heather Hays. Heather wrote a book on surviving suicide, after her former fiance died of suicide.


After the screening, I had a drink with my old buddy James at an "Irish Pub" in the nice new shopping center near the Angelika. I downed three perriers to James 2 Bass Ales and we talked about old times. He says he's saved things I wrote him back in the days of the letter. It's nice to know someone for a long time and to still think they are one of the nicest people you know.

I spent the night in Fort Worth with my best buddy Maggie. We drank wine and watched the repeat of Project Runway. Thursday, I got to catch up with the DFW boys, James, David and Yen. They are the kind of guys I wished I'd known in high school and college, really smart and really sweet. Then I picked up Ace and we drove back to Austin. Those short trips are the ones that exhaust me the most.

Friday morning, Kat and I met up for a run around the lake, our usual 7 miles was cut to 4.5 due to the heightened security measures at the airport. (We had to get our run in, get showered and get Kat to the airport by 8:30 a.m.)

I like running super early. It's still hot and humid, we can't escape that for another few weeks. But it's also just almost dark and everything seems to be gently waking up. We drive over the Pflugger bridge to the trail and it looks almost like it did when we shot that scene in the film about a year ago. We run over the trestle bridge and it's barely light, just like the night we had the helium lights floating above the water to look like moonlight. Mostly, it's just quiet, and as we run down the path, I see the homeless curled up on benches and tucked into nooks and I remind myself, I've got to come early early with my camera one day.

Kat reported from Lubbock that the screening there went beautifully. People say it feels "real" and they "went through that". They find it hopeful, in an authentic, peel off the layers and see what's there kind of way. I'm very proud of it and I'm very happy to be working with Kat.

This weekend is the weekend Annalise and I have to get ready for her leaving. Much of it will be spent on the to do list. But that is just an excuse to hang out and spend time together and start the goodbye part.

It was 18 years and a few months ago that I realized I was going to have a baby and since that time, I guess I always knew there would be a day when she went to college, it just seemed so far away.

As they say, life is a short movie.