2002 Xmas
I had a great spring semester. Most of my classes were great and the new curriculum I wrote during the semester (bit of a challenge, that) was very successful. I modified the AppleWorks portion of it as I taught it, and did so to a certain extent with the HyperStudio portion.
In April I discovered a leak in the living room; there was no rain the next month or so and as soon as school was out, Gene, a very good friend, came by and repaired the leak in the roof and the hole it caused in the living room ceiling He then started cutting down some dead trees he'd noticed in the front yard; we BOTH tripped over some of the branches that we had left in the yard and his trip was harmless; mine was not; I cut my cheek; bruised my right ankle and badly twisted my left foot. My friend Sutton (who's in Indiana the next 2 years, finishing her PhD) dropped off some Advil and a pair of crutches and gave me a ride to the doctor (I already had a physical scheduled).
For the followup appointment ten days later, my regular doc was out of town; the replacement doc was called away on an emergency!!! A third doc was able to see me and she was great (I switched to her as my regular doc - still my doctor in 2020). There was nondisplaced fracture through the bases of the second & third metatarsal; I was on crutches 3 weeks and had very limited mobility another 3 weeks; it healed slowly and I did PT for about four months.
I worked on a film most weekends during school. I spent countless hours on "The Perfect Man Contest" from late January to mid-May. I was Jesus's disciple #5 in this mockumentary, invited for the part by the writer/director and took about 1300 photos with my digital camera (and got screen credit for the photos).
In March I got to work on my first TV movie: "Warning: Parental Advisory" which aired in May on VH-1. I played a photographer and am briefly visible in two scenes. I got paid for this part, which was filmed in the Capitol. Also, I got work on it for two new friends, Marta and Sana. After working on the film I got to see Jesse Jackson deliver a speech
For "Jesse's Closet" I had a small part as an extra, but also got to be a boom operator (holding the mike) for one scene, as well as finding a composer for the film. When the film was shown I received screen credit as "Casting by Dan Eggleston".
For "Manhood is Dead" I was scheduled to be in several scenes, but the foot injury reduced my role to mainly a scene as a liquor store clerk.
"McLife" got me screen credit as still photographer. It also played at the Deep Ellum Film Festival in Dallas. "A Yeti in the City" was shot in Austin Studios (using green screen – the background added by computer later) and I got to be a blind prophet. "My Name is Buttons" (started summer 2000) was finished and selected for the Austin Film Festival. I was visible in three scenes. "The New Guy"(filmed two years ago) finally opened in May; I was surprised that I was visible in one scene.
In August I was paid to be a TV cameraman for "Screen Door Jesus." All told I worked on 22 films this year. I have written detailed accounts of my experience on these films. You can read the details at ; click on "subscribe" to receive future accounts. (Yahoo deleted these in late 2019) I took about 5000 photos on the films I was in, posting them all at Ofoto. Links to the photos are at the URL about my movies. (Ofoto started charging a few years later deleted all my photos ther.)
Next year I will get to be the head of a monastery for "Ex Libris" and the devil in "Leviticus." We did a photo shoot for the latter which was great fun. It took an hour to get my hair into horns. (sadly, the latter never got made)
I bought a new digital camera in January, replacing the one that I'd accidentally broken in October. In April I replaced my Macintosh with a new iMac. It's a very cool machine and I'm delighted with it. I needed a new scanner for the Mac and picked up a great one at a very low price.
I saw about 30 plays; "The Laramie Project" was one of the best I've ever seen; a great play and a wonderful production. Another wonderful play was "Vigil."
Ed and Sandy flew to SA to see Thelma in August and I drove down for a weekend family reunion. I hadn't seen them in six years, so we did a lot of catching up.
Got to see Kat Eggleston, a great folk singer from the northwest (not related)
As usual, I've gotten to see and/or meet some celebrities. Robert Caro has been one of my all-time favorite writers since I read his amazing "The Power Broker" in 1978. He's just published part 3 of his bio of LBJ (Master of The Senate, yet another fantastic book). It was a thrill not only to see him, but to have him know who I was (from letters I'd sent and having spoken to his wife). Got to see him again at the Texas Book Festival in November.
Harvey Schmidt visited UT and gave a great talk/Q&A. He is best known as the composer of "The Fantasticks." (which closed last year after running for 42 years!) I took a photo with him and he asked me to send him a print of it; this month I received an 83- page booklet, of his visit to UT for his class's 50th reunion, fully illustrated with lots of photos, including mine!!
Other celebs were David Halberstam, (another great writer), Ray Benson (the head of Asleep at the Wheel), Peter Bogdanovich (the movie director) Graham Nash (of Crosby Stills Nash &Young), Leonard Nimoy (Spock), Werner Herzog (German director), Jim Brown (the great running back), Spike Lee (director) (all in person including photos) and (by mail) Henry Winkler
My little red Toyota was starting to leak oil and Ron patched it up, but it was going to need further work (and $), so in mid-December I bought a new car (after 13 and one-half years and 90,000 miles). It is a Honda Civic Hybrid (gasoline/electric).
Lots of cool features I've never had are standard. (I had A.C. on my first car, but not since). It has cruise control, power windows, power steering, a AM/FM/CD player – with 4 speakers, remote controlled exterior mirrors, rear window defroster, airbags, anti-lock braking, remote trunk/gas tank opener, and a theft deterrent system. When I unlock the door at night with the remote, the interior lights come on. The dash shows my current MPG (47 so far – but I got 47 in town and 55 on the highway) and what it's currently getting - when the electric part takes over, the gauge jumps up as high as 120 mpg); it's very responsive and has lots of power; I hit 80 mpg easily on I35. The battery recharges as I drive.
I read some great books (just under 200 for the year), the best of which include (besides the Caro) The River's Tale (E. Gargan) an account of a reporter's trip from Tibet to Viet Nam on the Mekong River, Between Silk and Cyanide (L. Marks) an amazing account of a leading Brit code breaker during WW II, The Eyre Affair (J Fforde) (wonderful Hitchhiker's Guide type adventure), Seabiscuit (L Hillenbrand) (account of the greatest race horse of the 20th century – the movie is in the works), Sandy Koufax (Jane Leavy – got to see her speak about the book), Strip City (Lily Burana) and River Town: Two Years On The Yangtze (Peter Hessler – first peace corps volunteer in China).
In December I bought an iPod (a portable MP3 player) which I love. I've been doing so much walking, it's great to have music along the way. So far I've got 20 hours on it and it's only about 10% filled.
In spite of the limitations imposed by my injury, I managed to walk about 2150 miles this year, averaging almost 6 miles a day.
When the fall semester started I had two math and three computer classes. After one week, however, I had to drop one computer class and take over a difficult 8th grade math class. Thus I have one 7th grade math, one 7th/8th grade math lab (kids who failed the TAAS test last year), one 6th grade computer, and one 7th/8th grade computer. It's been a difficult semester with so many preparations.
My Austin casting list has grown from 1400 to 2300 in the past year, and I now have 6200 on the various lists. I was able to take a free acting class due to the list and have met many people and made some very dear friends as a result.
Hope all is well with you and that you have a wonderful 2003.
