An Insomniac's "Midnight Quote Therapy"

These just about sum up my current mindset:

"I'm not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship."
-Louisa May Alcott

"You are not in business to be popular."
-Kirstie Alley

"If you just set out to be liked, you would be prepared to compromise on anything at any time, and you would achieve nothing."
-Margaret Thatcher

"Aerodynamically the bumblebee shouldn't be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn't know that so it goes on flying anyway."
-Mary Kay Ash

"The penalty of success is to be bored by people who used to snub you."
-Nancy Astor

"Work is either fun or drudgery; it depends on your attitude. I like fun."
-Colleen C. Barrett

"We are not what we know, but what we are willing to learn."
-Mary Catherine Bateson

"Invest in the human soul. Who knows, it might be a diamond in the rough."
-Mary McLeod Bethune

"There are two ways of meeting difficulties. You alter the difficulties or you alter yourself to meet them."
-Phyllis Bottome

"If what I do prove well, it won't advance.
They'll say it's stolen, or else it was by chance."
-Anne Bradstreet

"Authority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge; fitter to bruise than to polish."
-Anne Bradstreet

"Striving for excellence motivates you; striving for perfection is demoralizing."
-Harriet Braiker

"Look twice befoer you leap."
-Charlotte Bronte

"A strong, positive self-image is the best possible preparation for success."
-Dr. Joyce Brothers

"Truth is always exciting. Speak it, then; life is dull without it."
-Pearl S. Buck

"If human beings are perceived as potentials rather than problems, as possessing strengths instead of weaknessess, as unlimited rather than dull & unresponsive, then they thrive and grow to their capabilities."
-Barbara Bush

"You just don't luck into things as much as you'd like to think you do. You build step by step, whether it's friendships or opportunities."
-Barbara Bush

"Common sense is perhaps the most equally divided, but surely the most underemployed, talent in the world."
-Christiane Collage

"To have a good enemy, choose a friend; he knows where to strike."
-Diane de Poitiers

"You can stand tall without standing on someone. You can be a victor without having victims."
-Harriet Woods

"If you do not tell the truth about yourself, you cannot tell it about other people."
-Virginia Woolf

"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong."
-Ella Fitzgerald

"The worst part of success is to try to find someone who is happy for you."
-Bette Midler

"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition."
-Indira Gandhi

"Don't wait for your ship to come in, and feel angry & cheated when it doesn't. Get going with something small."
-Irene Kassorla

"I cannot and will not cut my conscience to fit this year's fashions."
-Lillian Hellman

"The one thing that doesn't abide by majority rule is a person's conscience."
-Harper Lee

"With increased opportunity comes increased stress. The stress comes from multiple conflicting demands and very little in the way of role models."
-Madeline Hemmings

"Security is not the meaning of my life. Great opportunities are worth the risk."
-Shirley Hufstedler

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow talent to the dark place where it leads."
-Erica Jong

"Do not follow where the path may lead. Go, instead, where there is no path and leave a trail."
-Muriel Strode

"You can't build a reputation on what you intend to do."
-Liz Smith

"Just go out there and do what you have to do."
-Martina Navratilova

"Life is what we make it; always has been, always will be."
-Grandma Moses

"I'm tough, ambitious and I know exactly what I want."
-Madonna

...and that, as they say, is that! =)

Magical Moments...and other updates!

I haven't been "on site" in a while - life has been a little hectic and crazy lately (but more on that later)...

Last weekend, I took my children + one of my daughter's friends to Disneyland for the day. It was the friend's first visit, ever, to "the parks", and it was a delight to see her reactions to things. Every ride, from Pinnochio (the first ride of the day) to Peter Pan (the final ride of the night) was greeted with the questions "Does it go fast?" - "Does it go high?" (thank goodness she never asked "Does it have any big drops?" or I could have never gotten her on Splash Mountain!) Everything was fresh and new, and wonderful to her, and "seeing things through her eyes", for the first time in a while I didn't even notice the chipped paint from handrails, and the trash accumulated in the shrubs or stashed in odd corners of the queue lines. It didn't phase me that I was congested beyond reason, or that I was a little woozy from my cold medicine - we arrived at 9:15 in the morning, and left at 11:52 that night. We packed in with all of the other "cattle" to get a good viewing spot for the fireworks show (celebrating the 50 years of magic that Disneyland has provided) - and I had tears in my eyes as I allowed that magic to sweep me up and carry me along on it's shoulders. I have so many wonderful memories, from my childhood and from taking my own children to the parks over the years, that are wrapped up in a bright "Disney" bow - it is totally geeky, and also totally cool!

On the work front - things are (overal) really good. My department is understaffed right now, so that means loads of extra work for myself, and the person that I split the daily responsibilities with - but we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and should be able to breath a little easier within a few weeks (I hope!). I've also started on my first official Producer gig - working with an amazingly talented group of individuals to create our own independent animated short. Again, it means loading on more work, but it is SO worth it. I can't say much about it yet - but we may do a blog or website to track the progress (stay tuned...)

I'm reading (actually re-starting to read, for the 3rd time) William Goldman's book "Adventures in the Screen Trade" - what a great gem of a resource for insight on the machinations (both good and bad) of the industry. It is a little dated (written and published in the early 80's) but so much of the information is still relevant today. I keep picking it up, and then getting distracted 1/3 of the way through - but I am determined to finally finish it this time! I love Goldman's quip about "Nobody Knows Anything" - basically that there is no way to truly predict what is going to be a hit, and what is going to sink lower & faster than the Titanic. Audiences are fickle, and they are smart (a fact that seems to get lost in the melee of dumbed down, FX driven crap that gets churned out over and over). Big Star plus Big Budget does NOT alway equal Big Box Office (a fact that I believe some studios are finally starting to acknowledge).

My husband forwarded me a link to a great article/blog in 2 parts over at - http://artfulwriter.com/ - "A Widening Chasm, Part 1" and "A Widening Chasm, Part II" that has caused a bit of a ruckus with up and coming/hopeful writers. It's worth a read, so if you have the time, please check it out. It's a really interesting article on the widely varied perspectives that agents, writers, unions and studios have for how this business is, and potentially should, be working.

That's it for now - my mind is a bit muddled these days, but I hope that everything gets sorted very soon!

Quote for the day: "If I'm not always happy, that doesn't mean I'm doing something wrong; it means I am doing something real"
-Laurie Seligman