"Oui allo Kino"

It's all up to me. All the natural office reflexes--answering the phone, buzzing in the FedEx man and signing for packages, slouching in swivel chairs--depend on me and me alone. By some marvelous luck, I find myself perfectly alone and perfectly in charge at the office today. And I can't help but notice that the music gets a bit louder, that my heart does the Running-Man dance in excitement, and that I speak with more confidence in French on the phone. One might assume that my inclination is to slack off when free from surveillance, and although I can't deny that I will to a certain extent, there's a certain devotion that comes with empowerment. When I worked at the University of Nebraska Press, I invested myself more fully when certain projects became mine. Ownership! There's no one to follow up behind you, so the project's success or failure brands itself across your forehead, and vice versa.

So what to do with my time? I'll make all those calls to the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and to Pascale and to Vues d'Afrique that I've avoided while my colleagues hoover around, noticing each slip of grammar or pronunciation. I'll work enthusiastically on the translation of the beefy government grant (the sort of task always done better to music--keeps the fingers moving across the keyboard), drink some coffee in the breakroom as I crown myself Kino Princess, permit myself a 10-second dance party for every 59 minutes and 50 seconds worked, answer the phone and take impeccable notes for my colleagues, noting as well (for my own record) how perfectly a conversation went, how I actually understand the accent, how capable I am of expressing myself and carrying on in French with suited hotshots from Montreal's major cultural seats.

In other news, I made a really good lunch for myself today: apple-onion-cheddar scrambled eggs, with a side of fresh beans sauteed in onions and garlic. If anything, it looks beautiful on a plate, all those colors luring me to partake! I'll pour a glass of orange juice that I find in the back of Kino's fridge and take bites at paragraph breaks in some French cinema magazine.

In other news x2, I've been noting all sorts of images and scenarios that I'd like to include in a screenplay. I've even purchased some screenplays written by my favorite directors, and I'm going to pretend I'm capable of actually producing something. This will require me to avoid my normal penchant for pre-editing, and thus never starting.