This
day saw my return to school after being closed for two days because of the super
storm Sandy that swept the east coast. I
can’t say that I was happy or upset to return as my time at the school only
takes up about four hours out of my day.
I woke up and resolved to do two things; go to my classes and do my
reading. The first was easy but I again
slacked on the reading department distracted again by a videogame I mentioned
yesterday. I did get some of the reading
done but not nearly enough and I again find myself thinking that I could do
better but I could also do worse.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
10/30/12 Journal Entry
Seeing as how the storm ensured that
my classes were canceled, I decided to spend the day playing a new video game
that come out today. One that takes
place before and during the American Revolution so the timing is strange when I
think about my American Lit. class and my history class. So I guess I did all I wanted to do, but can’t
honestly say that it was much.
Monday, October 29, 2012
10/29/12 Journal Entry
Due to the weather that has been
hitting the east coast, I set out to do only two things this day. The first was to finish editing and post the
video I mentioned in the last two entries and to spend an hour and a half studying. But like yesterday, today was a mixed
bag. I managed to finish said video and
posted it and the person I was working with on it loved the way it turned
out. I personally am indifferent towards
it, mainly because I’ve been watching it over and over again over the past few
days but from a technical standpoint this is easily the best of the three
videos that we have done, primarily because of a new video editing program I obtained
in-between videos.
In my second task, I again only
studied for about 45 minutes and I don’t know why it took me so long to figure
out but the reason for my lax studying is that I choose to tackle it so late at
night, often right before posting this entry and going to bed. I’m glad that I found the root cause of this
because now I can deal with it.
Sunday, October 28, 2012
10/28/12 Journal Entry
On
this day I set out to do three things.
The first was to continue editing the video I mentioned in the last
entry. The second was to spend an hour
and a half studying and to do my art history homework. I was able to do a great deal of the video
and almost have it complete and finished my homework so I was successful in
those regards. Unfortunately, I was
distracted by my editing so much to where I only got about forty-five minutes
of studying in. So all around, I had two
hits and a miss. A downgrade from
yesterday to be sure, but certainly could have been worse.
Saturday, October 27, 2012
10/27/12 Journal Entry
When
I finished my morning routines, there were six things that I was intent on
doing before the dawn came the next day, (I have irregular sleeping habits),
for the bettering of myself and those around me. One was that I would take an hour and a half
to study my various subjects for school for my grade benefits. The second was that I would take three to
four hours editing a review video that a friend of mine had me direct and edit which
would have been to both of our benefits; I obtaining practice with the skills
and testing of a new editing program and he in his attempts to get an ongoing
web series with a large following. The third
was to wash the dishes in my kitchen which had grown out of control in number
and to spend an hour writing out a new project that I have been planning for
far too long and have yet to do anything on.
The fifth and sixth things were to post Best Self and this article on
this blog.
My
fifth goal I accomplished without much effort and considering that you are
reading this the sixth was accomplished as well. The other goals, however, were a little more challenging
to complete then I anticipated. What was
originally supposed to be four hours of video editing turned into eight; the
first four and a half at once and the other three and a half spread out throughout
the day and ended up dominating at almost at the expense of my other goals. While I do feel that I spent way too much
time on said video, I do not regret spending so much time on it as accomplished
more on it then I expected to. During
one of my breaks from editing I made my way into the kitchen, filled up the
sink, let the dishes soak, and washed the majority of them. Not as many as I originally intended but more
then I honestly expected myself to do.
My
hour and a half of studying, however, was pushed back several hours and I didn’t
finish this until around 1:10 A.M. on October 28, 2012. It was done, but much later then it should
have been. The only thing that I failed
to do was to start writing the project that I mentioned earlier and I am upset
that I failed in this. All around, it
was a good day and one that was not wasted.
But I am positive that I can do better.
Best Self
The
Best Self and How He Will Flourish
Trey
Griffeth
Many
people do not seem to know what their best self is. They don’t seem to know what they want in
life or allow people to try to steer them in the direction that said person
wants them to go in. I on the other hand
have had a taste of my best self and am fully aware of the direction I want to
go as this person and where I don’t want to go.
Certain people want to use this person to further their own ambitions
while dragging me into a mediocrity that I wish to avoid while others want me
to leave this person behind all together and join them in making slightly above
minimum wage doing back breaking labor while spending most of my off time in an
intoxicated stupor. These are things
that I vow that I will not do and will allow my best self to flourish away from
these people’s ideas of what I should do.
My best self, as of right now, is
the one who works on his short films. He
is the person who doesn’t get distracted by trivial things. He is the person who keeps on writing his
script despite the temptation of other indulgences. He is the person who keeps on editing despite
the lure of video games and amusing YouTube videos. He is the person who spends a good chunk of
his money on better equipment despite his financial situation for the bettering
of the film. He is a person who is able
remain oblivious to the distracting activities that are going on right outside
his room and is able to work though anything.
He is a person who is able to adapt to the situations based on what the
“actors” think should be done and how the environment and situations change. Above all, he is a person who is able to
start and finish his short films and do them to the best of his abilities and available
resources.
My ideal self of the future is one
who is able to fore fill his dreams in ways that will satisfy me; and expanded
version of my current best self if you will.
He is a person who is able to complete scripts for full length feature
films and is able to rewrite them and accept constructive criticism of them
until they are perfect to be put on screen that will please audiences and
critics alike. He is also someone who is
able to effectively produce and direct.
He is a person who is able to execute his job flawlessly and is able to
circumnavigate the other producers in order to achieve the vision that he is
looking for but is still able to please their demands. He is a person who won’t sell out but is able
to make the film in a way that the executives will have faith in his abilities
to make them money. He is also a person
who is able to command the respect and obedience of those who work under him
but at the same time is someone who knows when he should listen to someone and
when they should be ignored as opposed to someone who listens only to himself
and cares nothing for the opinions of others.
But how and where does this person
flourish? The honest answer to this
question is that I don’t know. For my
best self in the present different places and attitudes seem to be more
effective than others. When writing an initial
draft of a script and editing a rough cut of a short film together it is best
to be in isolation; to be completely disconnected from other people until the
process is done. Unfortunately this has
a very negative effect on the other parts of what I consider to be my best self
and this isolationist style is unacceptable for the person I wish to
become. As of right now and where I am
this person will probably never flourish due to the environment I live in; one
that is full of people with no ambition and wish for me to conform to the same
level of mediocrity that they wish to maintain, while criticizing everything
that I do to prove that I am not like them.
While I would never call the place I live at a cesspool, it is a place
that does not allow for my best self to flourish and only allows him to appear
once a blue moon.
I honestly do not know where this
person will flourish but I do know it is away from where I’m at right now. In order for this person to flourish, I will
need to be around likeminded people; ones who share my ambitions and needs to
break away from the levels of what I consider mediocrity. In order to become this person I must also
find some way to balance the isolationist with the social butterfly to achieve
the best self of my future. He must be
someone who is able to isolate himself from the world on a temporary basis in
order to achive certain parts of his projects but is able to slip out of this
person into the person who is able to listen to others and is able to command
their respect.
As to how I am going to become this
person, as I’ve said the first step is to break free of the environment that I
am currently in. The first step in this
road seems to be one final year at the school that I am currently at and will
hopefully be followed by a few at a film school with people who share my
ambitions. From there on, I honestly do
not know where my road leads or where this best self will flourish. All that I know is that my best self is
person who writes, films and edits short films and the one of the future will
do the same on a much larger scale. I
also am aware that this best self is unable to flourish where I am currently at
and that a I will need a change in order for this person to come out and fully
become what I hope for him to be.
Friday, October 5, 2012
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