Warning: Insufficient postage

Just a word to the faithful of the Church of the Holy (Late, Lamented) Dachshund:

Due to some temporarily increased work responsibilities (read: due to my boss's vacation) and an upcoming journalism conference, blog posts may be scarce for the next two weeks or so.

That said, I'll probably wind up posting in the next 48 hours, just because I've gone and warned you I won't be.

Apologies. You know how work gets. Well, maybe you don't, given the vague cloak of secrecy I've draped over my job. But trust me, it's going to be an ugly week and change.

Then I'll be in Hawaii for a week. I know, rough gig, a work conference in Hawaii - hey, I had to pay my own way, so don't be too envious. I'm excited anyway. I like new places.

Don't say I didn't warn you.

The premiere! Awesome!

Or, as my inner child put it so eloquently, moviemunkeeyay!

The premiere for "Dead Hunt" was Saturday night, and more than 100 people were at the first show.

And the movie was great. The experience was even greater.

For one thing, it was great seeing everybody again - everyone from the cast and crew made it! Every single one. And I think I got them all to sign my poster! (It wasn't nearly as awkward as I'd feared, since everybody was going around signing each other's stuff.)

And second, the movie just rocked. I hadn't seen the whole thing, only about the first half of the edit, without all the bells and whistles like computer effects and music and so on. It was really terrific. Tight, tense, funny where it should be, sad or scary where it should be. Exciting. A great little B-movie.

Joe Ripple, the (co-)director, gave me a nice introduction (among other people), too. It was a nice little ego boost, made even nicer because my parents were sitting right there with me to share it. Funny how that matters more as I get older - I used to love the cheers in drama, just because it made me psyched. But by the time I gave my speech at graduation, it mattered almost as much that they were there to hear people cheer. I didn't think they'd like the movie, but I felt like they deserved to be there to share the experience. They're the ones who always encouraged me and paid for school so I could study screenwriting instead of something more lucrative, and who believed in me from Day 1.

And the effects, while excellent, didn't gross them out too much. That was clutch.

Yes, I took my parents to a horror movie. Hey, they wanted to go. I warned them. But they really had a good time and were really proud of me, and that may have been most exciting of all.

Well, seeing my name on screen (sole screenwriting credit!) may have been the most exciting. But one of the two.

My buddy Ed liked it, too. He went along and we hung out all weekend. We were college roommates and writers/journalists together so it was nice to share the experience with him. (Hopefully I didn't make him too jealous. He's writing a script right now.)

And it was really, really great to see the movie with an audience. I mean, maybe every straight-to-DVD movie gets a premiere, I don't know. But it was just great to hear the audience react - even if they laughed a couple of times when they weren't supposed to. There were lots of gasps and yells and a few cheers and whistles and stuff. Everybody in the cast and crew seemed to feel the same way, really dig it. And I got lots of compliments on my writing. That was nice. I'm glad I could do the cast and crew's talents justice and justify the risk Timewarp took on me.

It was really a great time. One of the greatest nights of my life. What a perfect cap to the whole experience. I told somebody, if the movie had stunk I still wouldn't have traded the experience for anything, but the fact that it's really great is really the perfect ending. Beginning. Whatever.

And yeah, I got excited about things. Pretty much the second the lights went out and the film started. I'm probably still high on the experience. I know, I'm a goof. Deal.

So thank you to everyone out there associated with Timewarp Films, particularly Joe Ripple and Don Dohler, of course. And everyone associated with "Dead Hunt." Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can't say it enough. The whole adventure has been one of the greatest of my life. I'll never forget it, no matter how long I live or whatever else I do.

And remember, my faithful readers, when the movie hits DVD later this year (hopehopehope), I expect you all to buy a copy! If you're nice to me, I'll even autograph 'em!

The big day... why am I so blah?

Tomorrow's the movie premiere, down in Maryland. Just about exactly 24 hours from now, my name's going to scroll across the credits of a real live B-movie.

I feel very strange about it today. I'm not like super-excited giddy, which I think everyone expects me to be. The thing is, I am, just inside, I think. I mean, I'm really excited, but I think in a way it feels like the end of a great journey, not the start of something. So I guess there's some sadness in there.

Maybe it's nerves. My parents will be there, despite being somewhat squeamish about these things. Ed's going to be there, but that's not it, either. I mean, he's my bud, and he was on set the one day, so it's not like he doesn't know what to expect.

It's not the drive to Maryland. Heck, I was in D.C. last week.

And it's not fear that the movie will suck. I've seen half of it, and it rocked. I mean, I suppose there's always a chance the world-at-large will hate it, but I'm not nervous about that.

And I am definitely looking forward to seeing everyone from the cast and crew - and getting my poster signed! I'll be running around like a senior with a yearbook in the half-hour before the show, methinks! And that may be part of the nerves. I hate stuff like that, it's part of the reason I gave up on reporting, and part of the reason I suck at picking up girls. The approach has never been my strong suit.

Stewie asked me once about how come I, the reporter, often take a back seat to him when we're at the cons trolling for screeners, and I said it was because he has no hesitation about walking up to someone and chatting with them, whereas when I lack the power of a press behind me ("Hi, I'm Ace, with the XXX newspaper...") I am not nearly so brave. Part of that shyness thing my therapist used to tell me about, I guess. It's not that I lack courage, I don't think, I just lack that kind of courage.

I think part of it, too, is fear of being late. The show starts PROMPTLY at 7 p.m., or so I'm told. And y'all know I'm late for everything, even when, as today's lunch date, it wasn't really my fault. Last week, on the ride back, I spent an hour making the 15 minute drive across Delaware, thanks to some ugly traffic.

(And maybe the nerves of trying to date a girl in general, and a somewhat mysterious one on top of that, with the pressure of getting set up, are getting to the rest of my life, too? Who knows. With all the pressures of the New Work Order on top of that, anything is possible.)

But as for the lateness, well, I'm meeting my folks for dinner beforehand, so I've got a window of screw-upped-ness. They're used to me being late anyway.

I'm pretty sure tomorrow I'll be giddy and goofy and pumped and psyched. (And probably thus spending three hours making Ed wish he wasn't trapped in a car with me.) I just want to get there. It's been a long week at work, even though it was a short week. And it's not over yet (don't tell!). It'll be a relief to get through it, but then I'll probably wish it went on forever.

So to sum up, yeah, I'm excited. Delighted. Thrilled. I'm just not showing it yet. Maybe, since I wear my emotions on my sleeve so much, the very best things I like to keep inside. Just for me. I'm sure when I go to bed tonight, it's all I'll think about.

Besides, screaming and dancing and jumping up and down at work is usually considered poor form.

Mood: One part confused in general, one part tired and working, one part conspiratorially giddy about my freakin' movie premiere!!!!!

See, already I'm getting psyched. Just thinking about it. Yay! Munkee!

(And evidently my last post should've read Mood: Forgetful since I forgot my little mood tag. D'oh!)