Journal Update
School and many projects
Wednesday, October 10, 2012: Oakland, CA
Good grief I have been so remiss in updating my journal
entries. My last one was made in 2011 and here we are at nearly the end of
2012. Julia and I have both been very absorbed by school and other projects;
this is my only and best excuse.
Julia began her PhD at UC San Francisco in mid-2011. This, as
you can imagine, has been keeping her extremely busy. She has been working
seven days a week often ten hour days since she started. She did have a small
break when her dad and Jean came out from England to visit with us. They all
went to Lake Tahoe and hiked up hill and down dale. Jean had a fall while out
hiking and was hurt, but is fully recovered now.
Video of
John and Jean's visit with us
Julia had injured her knee in early 2011 and the hiking trip
to Lake Tahoe made it much worse. It got so bad that she had knee surgery last
month.
Here is a
video of Julia's knee surgery
She is doing really well now and on her way to a full
recovery.
I started film school late in 2011 and completed the first
year of their accelerated program then left in July. I got on the Dean's list
three times and was awarded a scholarship so I guess I was doing well. But I
just could not afford the time required to stay in the program as I have so
many projects I am working on. So I dropped out, only the second time I have
dropped out of school; oh maybe the third time.
Julia and I finished our first documentary
film and have just released it. Knowland is about the Oakland Zoo's expansion
into the irreplaceable and eco sensitive lands of Knowland Park. We are very
happy about our first effort in documentary film. The project was enlightening
on so many fronts for both of us. We have plans for several other films to
come.
Here is the Knowland web site
I started a short narrative film called
Table Talk when I commenced film school and have just completed it. It is a
short romantic comedy. It was great fun writing and directing this film. I
learnt how much fun it is to work with actors and a film crew; and how odd it
is to have other people reading your lines out loud; very strange experience.
Here is the Table Talk web site