What's in a Lunch

Spent time today with special friends I made nine years ago, while taking the Digital Video Intensive course at San Francisco State.  Nine years--good grief.  I've only been in semi-regular touch with one of those people and after the lunch today I'm really thinking, why on earth did I let those terrific relationships fade?

The eight of us bonded as a group, very quickly, and had loads of fun during the 16 weeks of all-day training.  They taught us every aspect of making digital videos (not that all of it can be taught in 16 weeks--but they did a great job at covering each aspect of making a film--if not in exhaustive thoroughness, at least, in a fair amount of depth.  And at the same time we learned (at least I learned, or had the message brought home to me once again) that "intensive" is the best way to approach any new field of study.  Just go all out.  Eat and drink the stuff, day and night, whatever it is.  Try to learn everything there is to learn in 16 weeks...then keep doing it for another 16, and another...

If you don't approach something with that degree of devotion and passion, you're not likely to make your mark in that chosen field.  That is--if you don't approach it that way for a good four or five years (not just 16 weeks).  Four years, times 3,650 hours (assuming you've worked 10 hours a day) is about what it takes.  Just to start doing something interesting.

But yes...we all need a balanced life...

I say that with a fair degree of irony of course.  Because a BIG part of me would have loved to have spent the last eight or nine years immersed in filmmaking and writing (I see them as part of the same whole).  Let's throw in some music-making for good measure...A big part of me would have loved to have spent the last nine years immersed in crafting good stories, whether in documentary videos, in writing, or in music.

But what I was reminded of, today at lunch with my old buddies, is what it feels like to hang out with others who share the same sort of dreams...and, damn it, what it feels like to dream.  I'd lost that for a little while.