Went over to TPR studio’s last night to attend a rehearsal for an upcoming “Worth Repeating” program. I’ve been a storyboard member for a couple of years now after befriending the producer of the show at an event here in town.
As a storyboard member, I get to attend a table read - meet with a group of storytellers and then work with them in preparation for the final performance, in front of a live studio audience.
I actually got to be a storyteller last year and at some point I’ll share a little bit more about that experience…. but wanted to jot down something tonight about the power of getting to hear stories.
I didn’t get to attend table read last week… but was asked to work with someone over the weekend. My storyteller is going to tell a story about “finding” something. In his case, its a story about not knowing where his parents last will and testament was, but he has this moment in the middle of the night to go check a very specific place. It’s almost as if his father reached out from the other side to contact him. It’s a powerful story.
Last night I got to hear the 6 other stories.
On some days, the work day can really wear me down. Getting to sit in a room and hear 6 people share stories about how they were “found” or how they “found” something was really life affirming.
5/52
What is Cool?
Mentioned the other day that I wanted to attempt watching a movie every single day in 2026…. something I attempted to do about a decade ago but I kinda lost my mind and patience after 4 months.
My approach is a little different this year… however it’s a little too early to tell if I’m going to have my sanity in place in May.
What I can however impart today is that I’ve recently done a little plunge into the world of 007 movies. One of the things I wanted to commit to for my movie project, was to focus on movies I hadn’t seen before. That shouldn’t be too hard… there’s surely 365 movies I haven’t watched or don’t remember really watching all the way thru.
I’m fairly certain that at one point or another I watched 007 movies. I couldn’t tell you what Moonraker is about or Octopussy, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen them. I may however have played 007 Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 so much that I think I know what those movies or characters are all about.
As luck would have it - Netflix - worked something out with MGM and all the Bond movies are available to stream. I started my journey by watching the very first installment of 007 called - Dr. NO. The movie was originally released in 1962…. I believe its not the first book of the Bond series, but for whatever reason it was the first novel they wanted to adapt.
Much to my surprise, I ended up LOVING the movie. I went into thinking it was going to be super corny and out dated. I also had some preconceived opinions about Sean Connery playing to role of Bond. I wasn’t exactly far off on him being a womanizer…. I’ve never read a Bond book in my life, so I don’t know if he went out of his way to sleep with women like he does in the movies.
In the movie Dr. No - I believe that Bond killed three men and slept with 3 women. I didn’t sit down with a piece of paper to keep track of both body counts, but I remembered thinking that the number was kinda low. I feel like i’ve seen an afternoon of Mad Men episodes where Don Draper slept with twice as many women in the same amount of screen time.
But I digress…. another thing that surprised me about Bond was seeing so many people of color having key parts, playing key roles in the movie. This is years before Star Trek, which is often cited as a key program that showcased diversity.
Another thing nice about this early entry of Bond is that it wasn’t so product placement heavy. There wasn’t a plug for Rolex or Aston Martin. Those things follow very soon in subsequent movies…
All this made me think about a book of COOL that was gifted to me in my late teens. It’s a book that kinda helped me understand which were the “cool” albums to have in your music collection or which of the Bond movies were the “cool” ones to see and know.
This deep dive into Bond, is helping me understand how the character/franchise - went into a couple of stages. Bond was Cool… and then he was kinda Campy and then he became kinda Quaint.
4/52
Dispatches from Tampa
On the fifth floor of a hotel in Tampa, Florida, sits an exhausted ‘me’.
I’ve logged an obnoxious amount of hotel time the last 48 months…. Sitting in an empty hotel room after a long day, while on assignment is strangely familiar and terrifyingly comfortable.
When I’m i get to the middle part of the trip, I’ve been away from home long enough to kinda feel like my life at home is on pause. I’m also far enough away from leaving here that I can’t get excited about going back.
There’s really odd waves of “guilt”. It kinda starts with me missing my dog. Then I feel bad about being away from family and being disconnected from friends or loved ones.
Being on the road can re-program a person. It’s hard to articulate how that’s true and it’s kinda painful to sit down and easily expand on that thought.
Tampa is an interesting place. I learned today that they have a river walk. It’s nothing like the one in San Antonio. It isn’t really like the one in Chicago. It kinda reminded me of a waterfront in a few cities that I’ve been to, but Tampa’s downtown development is breathtaking.
Picked up a little bit on its history today too. I learned more about Ybor today and am looking forward to exploring that more tomorrow. I e been working there all week and have become acquainted with the roosters.
3/52
Ybor has a number of wild chickens and rosters that are protected species, roaming the streets
Third and final attempt
This is my third attempt to submit an entry this week. I lost the first one attempting to add a picture and not saving my work. I lost the second entry attempting to add a song…
I admittedly went thru the motions of just word vomiting on the page, so it may be a good thing that those half/hearted drafts have been lost forver.
To sum up some up some of the personal revelations. I lost another uncle last week. My college roommate lost his father and I attended that funeral yesterday.
All that internally coaxed me to phone up a friend to meet me up for a random happy hour. We hadn’t talked in ages, so it was a friendly catch up. It’s been a while since I’ve gone out of my way to engage with anyone.
I know that no man is an island, but I’m dangerously toying with the idea to see how far I could maybe take it.
I’d write more, but its late. This entry feels like an obligation and this is my third and final attempt. The next one will be of merit.
2/52
