the condensed version.

Oh, blogger.

I know, I know. I am dead to you.

That's all right, I'm dead to almost everybody else, too.

Oh man, let me see, how do I summarize the past...three months? Well. I survived my first semester in Graduate School and actually managed to rock a 4.0, much to everyone's eternal amazement. My mother taped my grades to the refrigerator...I am 28 years old.

I am 28 years old! My birthday happened! Some of you were there. :) That happened in Philadelphia, while I was home over the holidays -- I hit Philly and New York in rapid succession, which left me dizzy with booze and well-wishing, and I saw an ass-ton of family and friends in a very short period of time. I do not yet have pictures from most of these events, but...

Oh wait! A New Years photo!


I was very festive this year.

Christmas happened, as well, and my Uncle Mike was on-hand with his camera, and managed to post only the WORST pictures of me on Facebook. Here's one:


Yeah, I look like I'm about ready to burst, and Sean looks like she's about to say something dirty. But Dana looks nice! These were the Ellis guests at Christmas Dinner at my grandparents' house. It was all very exciting. I don't look excited -- but trust me, it was. See this? This is me -- unafraid -- fearless, posting horrible pictures in the face of ridicule. Judge me not.

So, right -- in chronological order (which I do not adhere to here, because as I am learning this semester -- linear is for PUSSIES!) we had Christmas, New Years, and my birthday. Eventually, I'll have pictures from that last adventure -- I think my mother has a few, at least one of the morning after, which is...well...probably better than the ones of the actual Night itself. There was much debauchery...and I did some dirty things, too.

Anyway, since returning to Singapore, there's been a LOT going on. Which is why I have been shirking my blog-related duties. My classes are like twice as much work suddenly, and I'm taking a free workshop on writing for children's animation (which could be a disaster, you know...ME...writing for kids?), which is really cool but just MORE work.

On top of all of this, we had the Next Reel Film Festival here which lasted a week, and disrupted everyone's zen. It was neat to have a bunch of international filmmakers running around, plus several Deans from NYU Tisch in New York who gave lectures, and Oliver Stone was kind of bopping around the campus glaring at people -- don't get me wrong, he's awesome, but he does sort of have a perpetual glare on his face. That's what happens when you think a lot in life. I may be doomed.

With ALL of these things going on, my homework has just piled and piled. But I'm still working on my science fiction screenplay, and my graverobbing full-length play, and I wrote a short piece about a woman dying of cancer who traps Death in a big cage, and that was fun. I'm busy busy, but it's all very interesting stuff and I couldn't be...okay, if I was sleeping more I'd be happier, but otherwise, everything is quite groovy.

And I'm in Singapore, which I know is what most of you care about, and as soon as I manage to spend some time IN Singapore, instead of in my apartment or on campus, I promise you will hear all about it. Oh wait -- I DID go to a concert last week, featuring XX and Florence + the Machine, which are both incredibly cool bands and I highly recommend everyone check them out. Apparently, it is rare for Singaporeans to rush the stage at a concert event, but they did! And we rejoiced.

This coming week! It is Chinese New Year. Fuck Valentine's Day. Year of the TIGER! It's kind of GOT to be my year, people. I'm so ready for it. Pictures of the upcoming pandemonium in Singapore on-coming.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!