After Six Days of Nothing, This is What I Write?

It has been approximately 5 days and 23 hours since I last wrote here. I'm feeling a little rusty, so I thought I would jot down a couple of things I've down over the last few days. Let's see, I

> attended my first Script Frenzy write-in. That happened last Wednesday at Mission City Coffee in Santa Clara. There were half a dozen of us working away at our screenplays. A couple of tables away, a group of actors were practicing their lines for an upcoming production. Part of me wished I had printed a page or two of my script for them to perform. Seeing the lameness brought to life would have been humbling, but awesome.

> watched over four hours of How I Met Your Mother. If I had to describe the show as an A meets B, I would say it is Friends meets Two Guys and a Girl. It's one of the funniest shows on television today; right up there with The Office. Of course, I wasn't just watching it for fun. I was watching it for the sake of research. Edutainment, if you will. I was trying to see how the writers used recurring jokes, flashbacks, and narration for maximum comedic effect.

> watched part of the French Open. I must admit that I was rooting for Roger Federer to finally beat Rafael Nadal, who is invincible on the clay courts of Roland Garros. For the third year in a row, Nadal crushed Federer. It was a match and rivalry worth watching, even if it meant getting up early on Sunday to see it. (Okay, not that early. I missed the first set, which started at 6 a.m., but I did catch the rest of the match.) I read on ESPN that over the past four years, Federer has a win-loss record of 277-19. Of those 19 losses, 7 have been to Nadal. Those are just incredible statistics. Nadal is only 21 years old and still on the rise, which makes one wonders if he'll soon begin beating Federer on other surfaces.

> went on a four-mile test walk to break in my backpacking gear. In a couple of weeks, I'll be going on my first backpacking trip. I wanted to see how everything fit in the pack (sleeping bag, pad, tent, food, clothing, etc.) and see how the pack felt on my back. We went over to the Coyote Creek Trail to try it out. The trail is flat and paved, which is completely opposite of the conditions I'll be on, but it was a good first outing nonetheless. This weekend, I'll probably venture over to Henry Coe to try it out on steeper terrain. Yesterday, the pack only weighed 25 pounds, which is roughly ten pounds less than the final weight I'll be carrying. A couple of articles recommended hiking with a lighter pack the first time and increasing the weight on subsequent hikes. The good news is that everything felt fine. My shoulders felt a little sore and my legs were a little tired afterwards, but I feel fine today. I can't wait to go!