Celebrating my Birthday

Hello all,

Today's my birthday. I'm happy to report that I made it through another year. We live in a crazy world, where life can change in an instant (for better or worse). The older I get, the luckier I feel to have the blessing making it through another year on this earth.

This year, I decided I not to go all out. 31 just doesn't seem like I need to party like it's 1999. Maybe that will change for next year.

This weekend, I celebrated my birthday with Natalie Roy (her birthday was June 21st) at the Portuguese restaurant O'Porto, located in Hartford. The food was good, but our service was not. We had one waitress for 17 people, yes, hot mess! Later that night we found out the restaurant also had a party of 60, which is probably why our food took so long to come out, but I feel like the management should have been better prepared and informed of us the issue first hand. Since they did not, I have to say I won't be returning. Despite the lackluster service I still had a good time. It just goes to show you can make lemonade out of lemons.

Although I planned for a low-key birthday, my birthday week is anything but that . On Friday, I received word that my script After the Headlines was selected in the Action on Film (AOF), International Film Festival (as part of their screenwriters series), http://www.aoffest.com/. AOF has been tauted as one of the 25 best US film festivals worth the fees according to MovieMaker Magazine. The Festival runs from July 24 to July 31, 2009. Scenes from my screenplay have been filmed and will be played at the festival. I want to be there. Now I have to figure out how I'm going to work it into my already packed schedule. I need to find out when they are actually screening the scenes and try to get the time off from work.

On Thursday of this week I will be in Miami, Florida at the Nickelodeon Script Writer's Review. The review is part of the 13th Annual American Black Film Festival (ABFF), http://www.abff.com/, a premiere festival for Black filmmakers, writers, producers, and directors. Major sponsors include Allstate and HBO, Inc. The festival offers a variety of panel discussions, workshops, gala screenings, and networking opportunities. I will only be there for a day and half, but I hope to cash in on the networking opportunities. I feel so privileged to be a part of this event.

My writing is finally starting to take me places, I couldn't ask for a better birthday gift. It's proof that I just have to keep on writing. While I haven't written anything new or revised anything old in the last few weeks, I know I have to get back to the work. It's the time I spend alone creating stories, that makes the above opportunities possible. I can't forget that, I won't. Thanks for reading and the well wishes on my birthday:)