I Dreamed a Dream

"None of us are innocent."

Today, I was telling my Dad about all of the places I'm going to travel before I die. I was so excited in my storytelling that I didn't notice until later that he was laughing at me. Apparently, it is unacceptable for me to assume I'll be able to travel everywhere that I would like to. I, of course, was not amused with his "logic" and told him that his thinking was not supportive and that I would not be sending him any postcards from any of the places I had mentioned unless he changed his attitude between now and then.

For the record: I, Rebekah Jayne Andrews, being of sound mind and body, do hereby proclaim that I will travel everywhere that I've ever wanted to travel before I perish. So, there.

Later on in the day, I was reading my new book: Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting when my Dad walks in and asks me if I really spent money on such a book. Now, this book was written by Syd Field so I know it was legit. So, I say to my Dad, "How do you think I'm going to win an Oscar if I don't do the proper research?" To which, of course, he bursts out laughing.

I don't understand what is so funny about all of this. If I want to go see the freaking Great Wall of China or ride the blasted Chunnel, well then I will. And if I decide that I want to write a movie better than the poop Hollywood has been spewing out for years, then I will. If I decide for some ungodly reason that I want to become President, I'll be the freaking President! I wouldn't want to do that though because I'm a woman and I can't afford to age ten years in a week. No, thanks.

Attitudes like this are what is wrong with everyone. People think that it's ridiculous to dream, anymore! What the heck is up with that? Do these people not watch Disney movies? For crying out loud, what is the world coming to?

Yeah, I get the fact that it pretty much sucks pretty much everywhere. Every Saturday in South Africa, the whole country closes down because everyone is attending funerals all day of people who have died from AIDS. Mexican immigrants can't dare to hope for a better life because people in Arizona are going all Rambo on anyone who wants to come to America and do the jobs that our spoiled asses don't want to do. Pretty much, if you're a country that produces oil, you're S.O.L. And don't even get me started on all the shit India puts up with.

Maybe if everyone dreamed a little more or dared to hope and believe that one day good things would happen, maybe one day they actually would. If we all cared a little bit more about things like love, and hope, and honor, and doing the right thing, and friendship, and selflessness, and PEOPLE... well, maybe things wouldn't suck so bad.

So yeah, my spoiled American ass is daring to dream about travelling the world and writing a kickass screenplay and a world where the people in power give a crap about the little guy. Call it stupidity, call it naivety, call it whatever you want. But whenever it comes time for me to find a date for the Oscars, well let's just say I won't be choosing any naysayers or people who told me that I was "ridiculous". Your choice, bitches.

"My task . . . is to make you hear, to make you feel-- and, above all, to make you see. That is all, and it is everything." - Joseph Conrad

("I Dreamed a Dream", Les Miserables. Original Cast, not Susan Boyle. As much as I love Susan, there's more umph in the original.)