of coffee and canucks

On Tuesday I met Lawrence (aka "Laurie"), aka "Webs," aka "the Guy With that 101 Blog" for almost two hours of face-time. Webs is Canadian but otherwise a decent-enough fellow. Turns out his mom lives approximately next door (10 miles away) here in bee-yootiful westside Houston adjacent, so when he found I was in this neck of the prairie, he dropped me an email and said "so... yawanna?"

Sure. Why not. So Starbucks again hosted my ass as I met an onliner live and in the flesh. It can sometimes be a bit awkward to meet a cyber-aquaintance for the first time -- "what if they aren't as interesting as they seem in text form?" ... "what if he tries to Amway me?"... "what turns out to be some sort of Canadian?"... -- but I'm still riding a nice lucky streak on that count, as Lawrence (or Lawrie or Webs or whatever I'm supposed to call him) seemed completely normal (well, aside from the Canadianism... and the fact that he's a RICE grad and therefore likely collects 9-digit prime numbers as a relaxing hobby... ).

As it turns out, we have a strange bit of synchronicity going: both of us are obsessed with getting some run for our scripts about specific true but obscure tales of WW2 era fighter pilots. So, we're both "plane guys," which likely marks us as a special type of nerd as surely as if we'd shown up in full Maximillian jousting armor or letter-perfect Starfleet uniforms. Still... given that I don't live in LA where hobnobbing with serious screenwriters is a ho-hum "did it twice while picking produce at the market" sort of everyday experience, it's always invigorating to spend a little time talking with anyone who understands what the hell you mean when you groan about "Second Act Difficulties" or "Readers Who Just Don't Get It" or "How Much It Sucks To See Huge Wads Of Cash Going To Everyone Except You." Good times. I'll likely throw my Fighter Pilot Scrript at him, and he'll likely do the same, and we'll both smile and quietly hate the other for doing something better than we thought to do it ourselves.

Such is life
.
.
.
still hoping for some lucky lightnin' to strike B

PS -- edited on 4/20 to fix stuff