I Have A Dream

I always seem to get pretty good creative inspiration halfway between consciousness and dreaming. I know I am not dreaming because I am aware of my thoughts and am fairly certain that I can open my eyes at any point. These revelations of creative grandeur occur either when I am waking or falling asleep, thought mostly when I am falling asleep and usually pass by until I remember them again. I prefer to have them when I am waking so that I can wake and write them down. As I am the laziest person alive, when I am falling asleep, it better be a pretty damn good idea for me to get back up and write it down before I forget it. That's how I usually weed out the terrible ideas. If it's good enough to remember, it'll be waiting right behind my eyelids when I wake. However, this is probably why I've started falling asleep with my computer right by my face every night. I use the excuse of playing music, but it's mostly an exercise in memory.

Mostly my creative ideas include funny ideas for characters, or poetry (which has caused me to sit up and flow), or short stories (one which I am currently working on), or even ideas of things I want to draw or paint. I usually don't like to draw or paint from scratch. I like to copy works. But I've had some pretty fresh ideas for stuff in the past. I had one idea which turned out pretty well in the sketching stages of a painting for my mom's office of two children reading. Since her old office burned down and she lost all her old artwork, I promised to create her something new. Two years later, here I am with that same little pencil sketch....remember I said I was lazy...I should write this down before I forget.

Well just recently I had this idea right before I woke up that I wanted to write a script. I've written a couple scripts in the past that I've liked, but nothing that was really serious. I like to write scripts about things that I know or experiences that I've had with fictionalized characters and embellished elements. I feel like the best stories are the ones you've lived. The short story I'm writing has a gay protagonist with a plot not far from my own life, and the last two original art pieces have been composed around a young African American male. Since I've been dying to write a script which I could direct, have only acted, I feel like I may have stumbled on a pretty good idea for a comedy. I am going to write about my experiences at the 'Beez. I've come across some pretty colorful characters in my months working there, and think it could actually work. From my managers, the cooks, my fellow servers, the hosts, and most importantly the guests, I have a solid base for character structure, and of course, my own life would serve as inspiration for the plot line. It would absolutely be a comedy, and probably be designed for the stage (black box) in one act.

I'd love to put it on at some point, perhaps at Dartmouth. Maybe one day it'll come to pass. Maybe one day all of my projects will actually pan out.

now off to sleep, kiddies, i have work to do.