My Dreams

So far I have connected with my dream of being a marine biologist and being a part of movies.  Here are the posts on how I did it and what I learned:

Sea Lion Training

When I was little I was going to be a Marine Biologist – when I wasn’t going to be an actress.  I loved everything about marine mammals, especially dolphins.  I ready every book I could get my hands on and looked up ways to become a marine biologist.  (This was pre-internet – I know – can you believe it there was a pre-internet?)  I’m not sure what happened to this dream, but we recently traveled to Alaska on a National Geographic Lindblad Expedition.  It was amazing and I met naturalists, who loved Marine Mammals – just like me.  My husband took this picture on our trip.  It hangs in my office now.  I absolutely love everything about it – especially the way this stellar sea lion climbed to the top and now sits exultant in the light.  Amazing.

 

About a year ago, I went to a mid day Sea Lion show at my local zoo – and low and behold – there was a Civilian up on stage.  Turns out there is a trainer-for-a-day program at our zoo.  Watching this woman get a sea lion kiss – I knew I had to do it and I did.  Here is a picture of me getting that same sea lion kiss.  It was amazing.

You know what was even more amazing? – all the friends and family came to support me in doing it!  I am so blessed to have had this encounter and to have people in my life that helped me do it.  After playing with sea lions, I posted some pictures on facebook.  It was fun hearing more about dreams my friends had connected to – which ultimately became the inspiration for this site.  I hope you enjoy it and contribute your own dreams! 

 

Screenwriting Camp

This summer I spent a week at the Cinestory Screenwriting Camp in Idyllwild, California.  As I may have mentioned, I have always loved movies and originally dreamed of being in them.  As this dream has changed over the course of my life – I decided recently that I really want to write movies.  And that’s where I met Meg.  She was just the right person at just the right time. 

 

So picture this – I spent months slaving away on a screenplay – pouring my heart into it – hoping desperately that it is good….and she hated it.    Ok – she didn’t say anything like that – but that is what I was afraid she meant.  What really happened was she had some wonderful insights into how I put the story together and what I needed to do to take my writing to the next level.  There was a lot to learn.

 

With her help, the first screen play taught me as much about my life as it did about writing.  Turns out I was writing stories where the women gave away their power.  Every time I wrote – I had someone else shoot the bad guy – metaphorically or not.  Here’s the kicker – I was doing that in real life too!  She just had the guts to tell me.  Amazing – now I could see it.

 

But all that was before Meg – now I don’t give anything away.  I can’t tell you how much I admire her no nonsense – cut through the BS attitude.  She has an amazing story of taking on the paparazzi – which I’ll leave up to her to tell if she wants to – but the bottom line is she inspires me.  What I learned from this – was that I didn’t have to start out perfect at something – hell I didn't have to be good at it!  But I found the right people to help me on my way. 

 

The people of Cinestory did something amazing – they delivered on a promise.  They said they built relationships and they do – not just with mentors, but also with fellow writers.  So I want to give a “shout out” to my fellow Cinestory alums and mentors to thank them for their support – Soo-Hyun, Jasmine, Neil, Chris, Cindy, Randall, Clea, Meg, Joe, and Barri.

 

Side note - Barri gave me a toothbrush.  You would have to be there to understand why – but more importantly she gave me the permission to write what I truly want to write.  How cool is that?   (There will be more about Barri and her ideas in later posts.)

 

So here goes – on this site – I am writing what I really want to write. 

My Big Dream 10/24/09

My Big Dream is this Site.  I want to create the “WikiHow” of Dreams.  I believe if we start small with things we know – we can all teach each other how to be dreamers – how to connect with our big dreams. I hope to use all that I am learning from this site to write a book on dreamers.  So each interview and post takes me one step closer to my dream and so does every one of yours.

Comments

[Hudson Harris]

I am SO proud of you big sister! You are an inspiration to me!