Father/Daughter Summer Tour #7

Fiona:

General Tips for being on the road with the one and only Angry Filmmaker:

1. No car ride is long to my dad. You mention that an 8 hour drive is a long one? He'll smirk and tell you of all the times he drove 20 hours straight to get to a teaching gig in time.
2. Learn how to entertain yourself with road signs. They're easy to make fun of and incredibly hilarious if you do it right.
3. Don't get weirded out about sleeping in a different place almost every night. Seriously, it's not a big deal.
4. Be polite to all of his students, even if they all ask you the same questions and tend to be obnoxious and think they know more about film than anyone else. You will never see them again. You can deal with "what grade are you in?" and "so do you want to be a filmmaker too?" for 15 minutes. After that, you have every right to go hide in the back.
5. Get used to the smell of dog. Moses is always a good companion, but he can get a little stinky after what feels like a billion hours in the van.
6. Be a trooper. It's not always fun [okay so it is 95% of the time], but be helpful. It's an easy thing.
7. Don't be a tourist. It's just not cool. Hang with the locals. Act like a local.
8. Don't pack a lot. There are a lot of opportunities to do laundry if you stay with the right people. Plus its fewer bags you have to pack. Much easier when you end up leaving places at 6am.
9. Sleep in the car. It makes time go by faster.
10. Enjoy the experience. You do not live the life of my dad. Touring is not business as usual.

Kelley:

I am hot, tired and real sick of this heat! Tomorrow is my last day at the UFVA Conference in Denton and I have to say that the conference has been great! I have seen all sorts of old friends, made some new ones and had a pretty good time.

Here is the problem. Fiona is bored! I had been told by friends that there are usually some kids here at these conferences but apparently not this time! Fiona is stuck in a world of adults and I am feeling really bad. I need to go and meet people and network but there is nothing for her to do. She is bored and not happy and I can't blame her. She has been great for this whole trip and now I feel like all the fun that we have been having up to this point is about to fly away. As a parent this really beats me up. I am torn because I have things I need to do. As a filmmaker I need to meet people so that I can get more bookings. If I would have known that there was nothing for her to do here, I would have flown her home from Dallas a couple days ago. I feel really bad and I am hoping to make it up to her.

It has also been really hot for Moses. He can't really stay in the van so we have been bringing him in to the dorm room. Now I don't know if dogs are allowed in the dorms here, but I figure if I don't know either way then I'll err on the side of making Moses comfortable. He is sound a sleep on the cool linoleum floor. I think I need to crash as well.

Next day...

It is Friday evening and the conference is over for us. I took the afternoon off and Fiona and I cruised around Denton (such as it is) and checked the place out. I found a copy of the Re-make of Psycho at a local pawn shop so I bought it. Fiona checked out a used book and CD store where she picked up some music and then we got home made ice cream at a small store. We laughed about all sorts of stupid stuff. The afternoon was a lot of fun, and if I missed out on meeting a few more people to get some bookings so be it! I had fun with my kid. That will stay with me forever.

We are going to get some dinner and the plan is to head out really early in the morning. We have a day and a half to drive to get to Salt Lake City to see friends. We're both looking forward to that.

Talk later.