Damn! So I was at the craziest fest last night, snapping endless photos: gay knights ballroom dancing, a truck filled with animated mummies shadowed by a flock of pigeons fluttering just above, a bawdy pub-room sing-a-long by the most colorful troupe of merry Renaissance types. I remember thinking, “Good thing I brought my camera, otherwise how could I ever share the amazing sights I’ve seen tonight?”
Then of course, reality struck and I woke up. Sigh, so much for the coolest blog post ever. Again, damn.
Actually, despite the initial disappointment of discovering I didn’t actually experience all these wonderful fantastical things , I remain delighted. As a child, I had exciting, whimsical dreams like this nearly every night – with good guys and bad guys, crazy adventures, and even scary moments, but always very fulfilling. Even the nightmares were somehow fun. When I woke up it felt like every day was to be a new adventure, and it usually was.
In recent years, bouts of insomnia have led to no dreams, forgetting dreams or, worse still, mundane nightmares. Sleep is such a luxury, especially when blessed with the added bonus of a magical dreamworld vacation. I can’t be sure, but I think I owe last night’s to being back in “writer mode.” Friend Natalie recently wrote a simple, but very real truth in an e-mail: “it’s the only real ‘high’; being creatively satisfied and fulfilled.”
I believe she’s hit the nail on the head. So many people seem so unhappy these days. It’s understandable. Times are tough. The economy’s in the crapper, morale is down, and for those of us in the biz of filmmaking – well, the grandscale picture’s a bit dismal to say the least.
Nonetheless, I can’t help but hearken back to my childhood days – before the Internet, before endless cable channels and Netflix, to a time when we used to have to “make our own fun.” Children have the time and freedom to do and be anything or anybody they want, their only limitation is their imagination. For some reason, most of us lose that freedom as adults. 
Perhaps that’s why I find such pleasure in writing. It’s no different than what we used to do in the backyard – travel to other worlds, invent crazy adventures and resolve them before bedtime where, hopefully, another new adventure would enthrall us in our sleep.
On that note, I have some writing to do before the eggnog begins to flow this eve. I hope everybody has delightful visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads tonight. Happy Dec. 24th!