My Grade on Orchid...

The end of the semester is in three days.  Things are finally starting to wind down.  Two papers and a final edit of my final video project are all that stand between me and extra hours at work (and the gym...I promised myself I'd get back into the swing of things and quit feeling so damn lethargic).

Normally I'm scheduled to work Mondays until 3.  Today I was scheduled till 2.  Not like I am complaining.

So I went straight to school.  Changed in the parking garage.  I learned this past semester that I am incredibly adept at changing pants in the front seat of an Oldsmobile Ninety Eight.

As I finished a final draft for my Short Script class, the suspense started hitting me full force.  Not quite diarrhea-inducing suspense, but close.

I tried anything and everything to pass the time.  I had three hours to kill and no money to eat a full meal.  Just enough for a Diet Dew...then later a Dew Throwback (and a bottle of water, in case all the caffeine I consumed today started turning me into Cornholio).

Finally class came.  And since there weren't cops waiting for me at the door wanting to arrest me for my gory death scenes, I knew I'd be all right.

My instructor came in with a big honking' stack of scripts in his arms.  Probably 30 pounds of paper.

And he handed them out, with his critique tucked into it neatly (and my classmate's, since he emailed his).

And...

I...

GOT AN A!

I wanted to jump up and dance.  But I knew that never ends pretty.

I did lose points for typos/format problems (he wrote a paper on how we are not supposed to use "is/are" phrases...and I used them).  But whatever...I still got an A.

Lemme pull out his critique and plaster some quotes like review excerpts.

"Your homage to Giallo is really working.  And as a mystery it works pretty well."

"You open with the murder of...(spoiler deleted)...and did a real good suspense thing by delaying it a bit."

"The surprise ending worked and I liked the double surprise, which is also kind of expected in a giallo.  Good job there."

"This is definitely an A project...I hope you'll continue working on it and enter it in contests."


I am feeling good right now.  Like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

I've spent all semester (heck, all year) working on Orchid.  Sure, the majority of the actual script was written in four days.  But I've spent all this time incubating this little kernel of an idea and nurturing it into a full-fledged script...and the first screenplay I've completed in 11 years.

Couldn't have done it without your support.

Thank you.

Now, if you'll excuse me, the season finale of RuPaul's Drag Race is about to come on.

Later.
-Justin