Strangely Normal

How's that for an oxymoron? The water trick has worked for the past 5 nights now, but the dreams are not very clear. There's usually a sense of urgency or a somber tone attached. I haven't seen her smile in a dream since the one that occurred on my birthday back in May. I think I'll try talking to my dad tonight.

What is different is that I have a sense of Samantha's presence again. It is a feeling that has come and gone over the past 3 months. Tends to get rather frustrating when it's not there. Crazy. "I hear old widder Todd talks to his dead wife all the time..." That's me: the guy with the menagerie of pets and an overgrown lawn, talking to his dead wife. Not that I particularly give a rat's ass what other people think. But it is kind of a pathetic image.

Steve came over yesterday and I showed him Sam's memorial DVD. It's some powerful stuff, and the good news is I'm still moved by it. No emotional callouses here. We lightened the mood with some classic Looney Tunes, for which Caleb joined us.

The guinea pig is fine, the fish are fine. Punky hates us for bringing that large dog-thing into her house, but she'll have to adjust. Just like the rest of us adjust to situations outside our control. Speaking of giant dog-things, Wiley came home from his overnight at the vet. He's a bit sore in his happy place, but that's to be expected. He has a daily pain med which I give him with butter - he gulps it right down. The stitches come out next week.

Beginning the process of regaining momentum on the Duo film project. Not an easy task. Our lead female is in England for the summer, our main supporting male is leaving for L.A. in September, and our main con chick is in France until January. Impossible, you say? Well it's looking like we will go back to preproduction in the fall, get everything ironed out logistically. It's an administrative feat anyway. One of the producers is a jetabout anyway, always on the road pimping his juggling skills, or his award-winning documentary, Flight From Death. This extra time will give us some breathing room in which to get out schedule tight and raise more funds for production. We'll aim for spring again, and fly our L.A. back for weekend shoots.

I need to talk to David Choi about what's going on with the GRAV project. In the meantime, I have finished a 10-page treatment for another little film project. The only other person I've shown is JD Green, since he is pitching in some great concepts for it.

Time to hit the showers. Have a 10AM meeting with the artistic director from Twelfth Night Productions, and the kids have their hospice grief counselor coming after lunch.