Tuesday, August 10, 2004 The past couple of days have been pretty busy, but busy with things that I enjoy doing (this is a delightful change from college and high school, when so much of the stuff I had to do was downright tiresome). And strangely, they were actual, bonafide, activities. I mean, think back. How many of the things you do on a regular basis have something to do with consumption, rather than action? Reading a book, seeing a movie, eating a nice dinner -- I'm a big fan of doing these things, but it's intake rather than output, being an audience rather than a participant. Well, to some degree. But on Sunday I volunteered with Project Chicken Soup, cutting up vegetables and packaging soup and chopping up watermelons. And then I went to a barbecue and made vegetable kebabs and played volleyball and Pictionary. And then I went home and worked on a screenplay outline... It's fun to make things, is what I'm saying. It's fun to knit a scarf while I watch TV (input balanced deliciously with output). It's fun to write, to take the things I read and use them to create more things. It's fun to cook, especially for other people. It's fun to write email, make phone calls, communicate. To not just participate passively with the world, but give back to it in some small way. Not to say that an evening alone with microwave popcorn, boxed wine, and a bad romantic comedy is anything short of bliss. It just depends on your mood and the cycles of the moon, I suppose. Me, I'm gonna go to the gym tonight, come home, and write the crap out of this screenplay outline. And maybe I'll listen to some music while I do it. | permalink blog • archives • photos • about • contact This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. All content © 2004.