Sundance and Spontaneity
I like to make myself feel sometimes that I can make sudden decisions and go somewhere without extensive preemptive planning. This, oftentimes, is a way for me to bring myself out of a slump or just make an otherwise boring weekend seem worthwhile. I hadn’t been feeling myself lately so I figured that at some point, I’d see a couple opportunities out of the corner of my eye and I’d just go for them. This weekend, I went to Sundance.
Ok, so I didn’t actually go up to Park City and rub elbows with all the rich celebrities and wannabe indie-movie elitists. I heard from someone at work on Friday that Choke, the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, had been made into a movie and its last screening was that night at midnight at the Tower Theater in downtown Salt Lake City. Apparently, the theaters will usually sell to about 85% capacity, and say that it’s “sold out”. Then, on the night of the show, other people that didn’t plan ahead can line up and get wait-listed, which doesn’t necessarily guarantee them a spot to get in. But, if there is enough seats and your wait-list number is below that number, then BAM! You’ve got yourself a ticket.
Fortunately for me, I had nothing really planned for Friday night, and I had been dying to just jump in my car and do something spontaneous. So, I got a couple friends together and we drove down to 9th and 9th to stand in line in the cold from about 8:30 til 10 just to get a wait-list number. Let me tell you, Friday night was cold. Myself, I was wearing a hoodie beneath my new leather jacket, and I was still pretty freezing.
The movie itself was pretty darn good. It was extremely funny at parts and touching in the usual strange Palaniuk sense. It wasn’t Fight Club by any means, which isn’t at all what I went into the movie expecting, but it was good in its own right. It actually won an award at Sundance – Dramatic Special Jury Prize for “Work by an Ensemble Cast”.
Work on various side-projects has started heating up, and I’m starting to realize what sort of potential I have as a developer. Homework and school projects aside, these real-life applications and websites are a type of experience that really giving me a feel for life after school, and a couple of the ideas that we have might actually go somewhere. It’s really exciting.
I only hope that this semi-spontaneity keeps my motivation and inspiration moving forward. This is how it used to feel in the old days with Josh and Leon at Bridge, learning new things and getting excited about the future.