June 9, 1997

Forgotten Funny Anecdotes

How could I have forgotten to mention this?

How into the whole Gardening thing am I getting? It's not the gardening books, it's not the figuring out the watering controls, it's not buying gardening tools. No, no: it's that I've turned on and watched the Home and Garden TV Network. Good thing I've never collected any cool points, because I would have just spent them all.

I forgot to mention the best thing about dinner last night. We had dinner at the Market Street Cafe (San Fernando Street in beautiful downtown Burbank, a few blocks from the Media Center, next to the theatres and Ben and Jerry's). Mj ordered a cafe mocha, which came with a plate containing: a dish of chocolate chips, a dish of raw sugar cubes, and a dish of coffee-chocolate discs not unlike M&Ms.

We spent a while (during which we munched on the chips and discs) trying to come up with a name for this; we decided on "accessory plate," so that you could accessorize your cafe mocha as you chose.

I also forgot to mention the funniest thing that happened on Saturday when Fernando came over. We had lunch, then stopped in at the Good Guys because Fernando wanted to look at the DVD selection. Since we were there, I mentioned to Darin that we should look for a new answering machine for his office. He went to look at the answering machines and didn't see any he liked -- we got a digital Sony answering machine a few years ago and none of the machines he's tried since can compare.

Then we saw a combination Sony phone/answering machine.

            DARIN
        Let's get one of those
        and put it upstairs in
        the kitchen, and I'll take
        the kitchen one to my office.
        
            DIANE
        Okay.

Darin finally found a salesman who would take two seconds to notice us. He asked if that machine was in stock.

            SALESMAN
        The Panasonic one is the
        same price and offers even
        more features.
        
            DARIN
        I want the Sony. I don't
        want those other features,
        and I know I'll be 
        satisfied with the Sony.
        
            SALESMAN
        All digital answering
        machines are the same.

This was the wrong thing to say. No, Darin said (very slowly), they are not the same. He'd tried out quite a few and hadn't found one that he liked. Most were outright annoying. The Sony was what he wanted.

Then the salesman started trying to sell him the extended warranty. Darin kept saying no, no, no, and the salesman said, "I have to tell you about this." Darin said later what he should have said was, "Do you want to sell me this machine or not?"

I wandered away. I found a wrist "rest" pad for my Powerbook, picked it up, couldn't find a price. I tried to find a salesman. It took a while. Finally the saleswoman I found typed in the code, and discovered the computer thought that the product didn't exist (or, at least, the store didn't have any). She asked me to wait while she went to get a manager to override the store computer.

            DIANE
        That's okay. I'll buy
        this somewhere else.
        
            SALESWOMAN
        It'll just be a second.
        
            DIANE
        This is ridiculous. I'll
        buy it somewhere else.

The saleswoman backed down, rang up my purchase, and permitted me to give her money.

What the heck are they teaching at these stores, anyhow? Hey, do you want to make money or what?

An employer looking for a reference from a former co-worker of Darin's called this morning. At a few minutes to 8. Happy Monday. Immediately following was another call, this time from one of Darin's clients. I managed to fall back to sleep, but only until 10am.

I spent today updating my journal pages a bit -- I've changed my list of journals from a catch-all type list to a list of journals only a year old.

I also spent quite a while scribbling down bits and pieces of a movie idea that kept me awake last night (why I didn't make my life easier and just scribble it down last night I have no idea). It's based on an idea that I've worked on before, only this time with a new angle.

When I read the screenplay to Scream yesterday, I also read the interview with the screenwriter, Kevin Williamson (Scenario always puts the interviews after the screenplay). Scream was his second screenplay; his first was also optioned; he's been at this a whole two years. (As Mj pointed out, this guy was really connected, having worked in film production.) These instantaneous success stories really bum me out. I know, this isn't supposed to be a competitive sport, but please, we all know better than that.