I'm okay, I'm okay. Yeah, we had quite a little jolt last night - the biggest quake I've experienced since I moved here nine years ago - but there was absolutely no damage that I know of. It was amusing to come home afterwards and watch the TV news. They were so desperate for something exciting to talk about. They went on for several minutes about the sprinklers going off in the Walmart in Gilroy. That was the headline story.

At the time of the quake, I was in my screenwriting class, and the script of the next movie I'm working on was being read out loud by the class. The timing was perfect. In mid-sentence, there was a heavy jolt, as if a bus hit the building. And then a kind of rolling feeling moved through the floor, and the table kept shaking. The teacher, who'd been outside the door giving students feedback on their scripts, popped his head in and told us to get under the doorjam. But there was no way that fifteen of us were going to fit under the doorjam. The rolling had stopped, but we all filed out onto the street, just in case. My heart was racing. You never really know if it's going to be the big one or not. Especially when it lasts for ten or fifteen seconds.

Afterwards, the reading of the script felt like something of an anti-climax. It feels good to be moving ahead with it though. I'm collaborating with two guys from my class, and we've developed the beginnings of a good working relationship. Scott actually wrote the script, based on my story, and Jim's initial idea. The next step is to have another rewrite and then start to discuss who's going to do what, the budget, and the timeline. The bit I'm most looking forward to is casting. The script calls for:

"Nicky, 20's, Italian machismo oozing from pores as well as his tight jeans ..."

As I said, can't wait for the casting calls.

I continue to fight on a daily basis against depression. I have good days and bad days. And very bad days. Today is a bad day. I don't know why it is, but somedays the dark cloud is with me as soon as I awake, and nothing will dispel it. And, unfortunately, I now have a lot of free time in which to experience it, since the work project which has kept me busy since Christmas is finally over. So, once again, I have absolutely nothing to do at work. Normally, I'd relish that time, since it's time I can use to write and develop my film-making ideas. But I have tendonitis in my arms again, and have to limit my use of the computer as much as I can.

So my work days have been very strange. I go down to the galleria for a large cup of coffee. I read the paper.I stop by my friend Mark's office to gossip about how badly our company is doing (in the 5th month of our fiscal year, we're only at 8% of our annual sales target). I go for another cup of coffee (I'm drinking way too much coffee). I go shopping for tennis sneakers. Yesterday afternoon I spent an hour sitting in my chair finishing "Ambling Into History", a fascinating and personal account of one reporter's experience of the campaign trail with Bush. I thought of a reporter friend of mine who works for USA Today, and no longer envied him his job (hey Chris).