#CineStory

A two & half hour drive turns into four & half - Los Angeles traffic.

A straight-ish roadway turns into a rollercoaster-like drive up a mountainside - CA-243 Highway.

Day's become night by the way; the drive is both torturous and beautiful - the city below... What a vista.

Then comes the pine trees, the sweet cool air, the utter darkness, save for the sparse cars coming in the opposite direction with their high beams on. Clogged ears. Did I mention a torturous drive?...

After a few lights flashed into the rearview mirror (by the motorists behind you) to pull over so they can wheeze past you like you're standing still on a one lane freeway to mars, a left turn occurs - Idyllwild, CA.

You crawl in the dark to a cluster of cabins called the Fireside Inn, and fight the urge to kiss the kind lady with the English accent (who could very well have stepped out of an English novel) waiting at the reception with her two grandsons and their three dogs, on a visit with her for the weekend - Idyllwild, CA.

You open the door to your cabin, drop your bags and breathe deep, wondering how on earth you're still in California. Or did you inadvertently time travel to Fall in upstate New York. That drive, afterall...

Your awesome, perky and yes, English (via Russia) roommate finally arrives and the settling in is complete. You are still in California, you are in a cabin in the woods, and at 8am, you'll begin a four day CineStory writer's retreat. Who would have thunk it? ;)

I recall being somewhat young when I picked up a notebook and a pencil and made a decision to write something down. I recall it vividly. I was sad. I sat on a box in my sparse room (this is Benin City, Nigeria, by the way) and felt the need to put how I was feeling down on paper. I wrote a poem instead. I guess that counts as putting down how you feel on paper.

Then I wanted to sing, but that pipe dream got swished pretty quickly. The painter one as well. At a long journey's end, I became an Engineer with a Literature degree to boot. Did I say long journey's end? I meant long journey's beginning :) Dabbled in modelling after losing my third corporate job -- I don't do too well in corporate and the recession wasn't helping my case. Next, I fell into acting and loved it -- Oh my dad..., always my biggest fan; though the man will tell you what he thinks! Then it was on to writing, and filmmaking - thanks again to my biggest fan, who tells you what he thinks!

So! I'm a writer... God help me.