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02-01-02 "Yet Another Lonely Month?!!!"

February has arrived and all is steady, not particularly good or particularly bad... just steady. Lori has all but forgotten me. My only connection to her seems to be an overdue library book I still have. Something I'm finding a bit difficult to part with for some strange reason. Maybe it represents one final tie I have with her.

Enough time has gone by that I'm beginning to realize that things with her would have always been rocky. I'll do a movie on it someday. It'll be called "Chocolate Cheesecake". I crave her and all she is but I know in my heart of hearts that she's 'fattening' or not good for me at all!

I wonder if only 'damaged chicks' are left for a guy like me? 'Damaged Chicks' comes from Darby's movie "One Unselfish Thing". I'm being credited as assistant director, director of photography, and editor. It's nearly complete and it's beginning to look pretty good! Basically 'damaged chicks' means woman with emotional difficulties that make them problematic to society as a whole.

Anyway, I've started looking into some dating services on the Internet. It's really my best chance at finding someone of similar interests. Things there are not as shiny as I'd have hoped either! Cripes! Am I to be the romantically lost artist/creator all my lonely life?

02-06-02 "Bad News On Tom's B-Day!!!"

That's right, today is Tom's birthday or at least this is the day I remember it being (I hope I'm right or I'll look a little foolish). That makes him about 34 or 35, wow, Tom's an old man already!! Anyway, it was on this day of our Lord 2002 when I received that letter that made me sadly rethink my destiny!

I had gone to Green Bay for Comedy City practice (which is going quite well, thanks for asking) so I didn't get home until late. Mom was already in bed but she was still awake. She wanted to hear the news, good or bad.

"There's a letter from the Film Festival on the table." She called from her bedroom.

Our notification from the Wisconsin Film Festival arrived in a bright orange envelope. I held the envelope in my hands for a good minute just staring at it. I tapped it into my palm as I thought. So much depended on this moment. If we were accepted it was truly newsworthy and all could be set into motion. In truth it opened a whole new bag of fears!

I've got a connection with the Appleton paper who's dying to get our story and this was the single event I was waiting for! I could already see the headlines, "Local Filmmakers Make Good!" or something to that effect.

The envelope wasn't very thick and I almost immediately identified that as being a bad sign. Surely if we were accepted there'd be a couple pages of information we'd still need to fill out. I was already anticipating the bad news. Come on!! Don't think that way!! We worked very hard on "The Hunt" and it was deserving! Believe me, I've seen projects at the festival that were far weaker! This was our first attempt and while it had plenty of weak spots it also had a lot of great things to offer! Besides, how much frickin rejection was I to take! There was already Lori and Herb Kohl who didn't want me as a part of their lives! Now was my chance... it had to be.

My heart stood still as I slowly tore it open. I knew what I was going to find there and no amount of pep talk was going to change that!

From the kitchen I quietly read out loud, "The Hunt was not selected for inclusion in the 2002 Wisconsin Film Festival."

"Oh Craig, I'm so sorry." Mom quietly replied.

02-10-02 "The New London Art Show!!!"

First off let me say that I've greatly ignored my artwork this year. I've been SO busy with the movie project that everything else just kind of got stuck in the wayside! Now with the New London show finally here I was caught with my pants down.

I did manage to frame one drawing I had done earlier in the year. A multi-colored pencil drawing of beautiful Marion Pond. I also spent a few late nights wrapping up a painting that symbolizes everything I had on my shoulders from September until December. Hence the title "Overloaded". I can't allow myself to let a year go by without at least one painting (I had made a nice watercolor for Lori but didn't feel right asking for it back, even if it was just for an art show).

I didn't think I had a chance at a ribbon with either of these two works but low and behold when I went to pick up my work on Sunday a first place blue ribbon greeted me by the door! I have a hard time containing myself when something like this happens. In contrast maybe that's why I am so devastated with The Hunt's rejection? Who could blame me though, I put a lot of myself in pretty much everything I do. If it's loved, then I am loved. If it's hated, then that's me too! That may seem odd to you but that is the way of an artist!?

This little success does offer a bit of reassurance after the rejections felt over the past few months. It also feels nice to have my skill as an artist recognized. If I had more time I'd certainly be creating more artwork (even though my movie work counts too). My students also got a first, a second, and a Third place ribbon in various categories along with two honorable mentions! Way to go kids!! Make me proud!

02-17-02 "Indie Club Meeting!!"

Tom and I met in Waupaca so we could share the ride to Wisconsin Dells for the first ever gathering of the South Central Wisconsin Independent Filmmakers Club. We were unsure as to what we were getting into but we figured 'what the hay, we'll try anything once!' We gathered at the Kalahari in Lake Dalton. It's quite an impressive place actually. Reminded me of Vegas, which I was to be seeing the upcoming week!

There were about ten filmmakers there when we finally started the meeting. My pals from Richland Center were there along with Chris Karbo who played the bartender in "One Unselfish Thing" in Green Bay. W all gave a quick three minutes on ourselves then sat back for two seminars on filmmaking. The first was on a thing called 'interlacing' and while it's too complicated to describe completely here, Tom and I got a pretty good understanding of it from the discussion. The second speaker was a First Assistant Director and he described to us all his duties on large sets and small. It too was very informative.

After that we got down to the dirt of the day with productions that we all had done. Tom and I played a clip from "The Hunt" and all were very surprised it wasn't accepted. It was our best clip though keep in mind. I got my hands on a cool little action short called "Edgerunners" and got to see "Lizard Of Death" again. Us guys in Wisconsin are making lots of good movies here, ya hey!

We discussed some group projects and while I'm certainly not going to let these group projects outweigh my own I'll gladly help out where I can. We gave out four pre-premiere copies of "The Hunt" this fine day and made a couple new pals!

02-21-02 "One Final Night In Wisconsin!!!"

I waited and waited for my rescuers to arrive and steal me away from this long day of "no-shows" that was our third quarter parent teacher conferences but they never made it there. Our trip to Milwaukee was going to have to wait until 6:30 when my time was officially up. We were on our way to Vegas and nothing, certainly no late parents, were going to keep me from our preplanned destination! It was now Thursday and while I still hadn't shaken the flu and cold that kept me out of school Monday and Tuesday, I was feeling a bit better and truth be told... I would have left with pneumonia if I'd have had it! We'd been waiting for this trip since Christmas when Dad and Babe had promised to buy our airline tickets and hotel rooms if we'd meet them in the City of Sin! Two months was a long time to hold back any kind of excitement and now it was time for it all our plans to come to a head! We loaded Barney, Big Les, Lumpy, and myself into my little blue cruiser van and headed to Neenah to pick up Brookie. Then off to Milwaukee for a night of sleep and a plane ride the following day! Vegas look out! The Knitt Brothers are on our way!!

02-22-02 to 02-25-02 "Viva Las Vegas!!!!"

Nobody slept very well in our single room in Milwaukee and when we finally got up and going it was a great relief. I'm sure between my log-sawing and the roof rattling snores of Lumpy no one got any sound sleep at all (not even Lumpy or myself)! The airport security was a thing to behold! Ever since the tragic events of September 11, 2001 we do all we can to maintain the same lifestyles and behaviors we are accustomed to... except for the airport. Both Lumpy and Barney were randomly chosen to go through each and every hoop along the way. They were given the old once over at least three times before they even got on the plane. We called them "Osama Bin Plumin'" and "Osama Bin Farmin'". A note to anyone traveling... be sure to arrive at the airport at least one to two days before your designated flight!

The flight to Vegas was hell! I sat right next to Lumpy and neither he nor I are small boys. I felt quite a bit like one of those little sardines in a can except that I didn't smell tasty or have a slick covering of oil.

Vegas at last! The air was warm and dry, very different from what we'd been breathing back home in Wisconsin. It'd do, I thought. We rented a van and headed for our casino, the Fitzgerald.

The strip was amazing and completely indescribable! I could have ridden down its course fifty times and still not gathered all it had to offer! The Eiffel Tower, Napoleon's Arch, A Pirate's Cove, The Stratosphere, New York, A Pyramid, gorillas, roller coasters, lights, sounds, and plenty of beautiful girls everywhere! I was in awe!! That alone was worth the trip!

We met up with Dad and Babe at the Fitz and headed to the only planned destination of the entire weekend, Hoover Dam! Now, once again, there was a ton of security that usually wasn't there but because of the events on September 11, 2002 things had changed! Lumpy had planned on us all taking the 'hard hat tour'. Not possible. All that was available was the old standard tour and it too was less than what he had remembered. Regardless, it was unbelievable! The size and height of the dam cannot be understood until you are actually there and actually stare down its sheer concrete edge. I've heard some horrible stories of guys who've ended it all by jumping over. The thought of what would be left of a body when it's grinding fall had finally stopped makes even the toughest cowboy wince a bit!

I loved the landscape out there. Everything looked so close to you but in reality it was many miles away! Back home in Wisconsin we could just about walk as far as you could see in a couple hours. Here it'd take all day! What great movies I could make using this landscape!

Back at the Fitzgerald for the night where we could walk around under the canopy of lights and watch as other Midwesterners tossed away their nickels in this city of glamour! Kid yourself not, I too was mesmerized by all I was seeing! I also got a $100.00 lap dance that left me feeling confused and ripped off. Unfortunately my understanding of strip club practices is nonexistent and like an idiot I just said 'ok' to the little fat girl while everybody else said 'one one'! Thankfully I pulled over a hundred bucks off a blackjack table back at the Fitz so all was still good in the world!

Barney and Big Les stayed out later than the rest but my flu and lack of sleep made me crash earlier than I would have otherwise.

The early night did me a world of good as I went down for breakfast and met with Ma, Polly, and Kevin. I didn't mention it before but Ma actually went out there a day before we did! She went out with her traveling partners and was staying in the room directly across from my Dad and Babe. While I was sure Ma could handle this situation I was a little less sure about my dad. He still doesn't know how to deal with my Ma even though it was him that walked out on her those fifteen plus years ago. Since then I've come to learn that my dad and my mom are both wonderful people in their own regards but they aren't meant to be together. They're too different. For the longest time I was judging my dad through my mom's eyes. I've seen my dad interact with people my mom would disregard and my mom interact with people my dad would ignore but they are both well liked in their circles of friends. I've actually learned to be rather proud of my dad and his way with people. I hope some of that has rubbed off on me! As far as Mom is concerned... I've always been proud of my mom.

Anyway, that said, here we all were in Vegas. Together, whether we liked it or not, and certainly that wasn't going to effect our good time! Today was devoted to something different than family turmoil; today was devoted to Lisa! She had sent me pictures via email but they couldn't have readied me for how much she remained the same. The same as I'd always remembered her! She said the same of me but she must have been drunk because there's almost nothing left of my high school appearance other than an occasional zit here and there!

We pulled up to her hotel as she was getting ready to come to find me. Our eyes locked from across the parking lot. She immediately recognized me. A huge smile grew across my face as we jumped from our vehicles and hugged each other tight, like two people who hadn't seen each other in almost twenty years, which was the truth! She was as beautiful as she'd always been. A little tanner but she was still the same Lisa I remembered. I met her daughter and the daughter's friend and off we went for a day of adventures!

Dad and the gang followed as we headed for our first destination, Mandalay Bay. Here we checked out a sculptured wall of boobies (which Les particularly liked) and the shark tour, which had a lot of the same fish I saw in the Bahamas last July! I also got this image of myself engraved inside a piece of crystal. I'm always looking for new things for my kids to see and this process struck me as something very new. The lady who ran the business said it was only a few weeks old. Computer images and lasers were used to etch Mr. Knitt's image inside a small block of crystal... pretty cool!

From there we went to the casino called New York, New York. A whole day could have been spent there! Most of the gang went for a ride on the roller coaster including Lumpy who later complained that it hurt his shoulders quite a bit but also said, "Craig! You've gotta do that! I'll go on it again! You've gotta do that!" Thank God I was able to convince him that I really didn't need to do that!! I had a tasty drink from a sour fox with a great body at the Coyote Ugly bar just before dad ran into some people he knew. Weird as heck, you come all the way to Vegas and the old man is still running into people he knows!

From there we headed to the MGM where we saw the lions and I was able to get Lisa a shot glass for her collection. An exhausting hour later we were all resting up at the bar with the little black bartender who talked with Lumpy about hunting in Canada. If that guy didn't know what he was talking about he sure faked it well! The day was beginning to get long. The time was somehow escaping us. We headed for the Stratosphere so Lumpy could take his 'death dip'! That's right... ever since he'd been to Vegas years ago he'd always spoken of the Stratosphere and it's legendary needle drop! Now he was going to conquer it.

Unfortunately the "Big Shot" had been closed that day because of the wind. I swore I could detect a slight sigh of relief coming from his direction. We did get to go up there though and the view was worth twice the admission fee. It was also worth stepping through yet another metal detector. We stayed up there for a good half hour, snapping pictures that were sure to never turn out and dreaming about what a great way it would be to propose to your special someone by having the words "marry me" written with flaming letters in that empty lot down below. From there our next destination looked only a stone's throw away.

We hurried to the Rio for the "All-you-can-eat" seafood dinner. Unfortunately there was absolutely no getting in if we hoped to catch the show we had already bought tickets for that evening. We ended up eating at the in-casino steak house and dad picked up the tab on everyone (easily over $200.00). From there I said my good-bye's to Lisa and her little family. I wasn't sure when I was to see her again. She mentioned that I should come by their hotel later on that evening. I wanted to but the thought of her without her "new fiancé" along and me with my lusts and wanton ways... things might have gotten a bit fiery. I had no right to do that to her even if she wanted me to.

Penn and Teller were great!! They did a bit with knife throwing. It didn't have anything to do with magic but it couldn't have been funnier! Everyone enjoyed their act quite a bit. Brooke and I got our picture taken with each of them after the show and I bought Teller's new book, which he autographed.

From the hotel room that night I called Lisa and thanked her for the great day. It was wonderful seeing her again. Her fiancé is a lucky guy. I was completely wiped out with all the exercise of the day (and my flu) so that night it wasn't far from the pillow to sleep.

Lisa called that morning to let me know she had a great time and that she still had Big Les's camera (Lumpy and Big Les are my brothers if that hasn't been established anywhere yet. No one around here has any kind of normal name other than me. My nickname is 'Mr. Knitt' and it somehow fits, my being a teacher and all). Day three was to be a lazy day as Saturday (Day Two) had taken its toll on all of us (Dad especially, how he kept up with us is beyond me but he did)! We spent some time out on the Fitzgerald's balcony where all the folks from Wisconsin seemed to gather. We met at least five other people from our beloved state there. It was also the best place to watch the light show in my opinion! We said our good-byes to Ma as she was flying home and then found the energy for more adventures.

This time we headed down the strip to the luxurious Venetian casino. Inside it appeared to be an Italian village at dusk complete with gondolas and singing oarsmen. We went to their food court for a bite to eat and it drove me nuts how everyone was content with burger and fries. Damn it! We were in Vegas and you guys are eating burgers and fries?! Not me brother! I sampled the seafood, savored the sushi, and enjoyed the shrimp cocktails! Heck, I'd have tried the Goat's Nuts soup if it were available! Here were choices by the armload yet my gang wants nothing more than burgers and fries. Oh well, you can take the cat out of the barn but you can't take the barn out of that old Barncat!!

The Venetian interested me because it offered fine art to its casino patrons. I was actually impressed with the collection on exhibit! A Henri Rousseau painting that I've talked about in my classes was right there in front of my face. It made me smile along with the pretty girl by my side. Why I didn't ask her what she thought was so funny I'll never know!! Maybe I just passed up my one true crack at happiness right there and I'll never be the wiser! I also saw a few Picassos (one in which wasn't his particular style... it was actually pretty good!) and many others including Mattisse and a guy named Franz. No VanGogh's though. They were all VanGone! Damn I'm funny! Big Les, Barney and Dad went to the motorcycle exhibit on the other side of the casino.

We stood outside the Venetian for a while and watched as the world passed before our eyes. There should be a law against that many beautiful girls in one town at one time! I looked over at Lumpy and he looked at me. In unison we said, "Man, there's a lot of good looking girls here!" This made us both laugh. I wanted to cross the street to check out the Pirate's Cove but I could tell that everyone was on their last licks and wanted to just get comfortable somewhere for a while. I had to comply; my own legs were betraying me too.

That night was quiet and calming. We met up as a group for some photos in front of the Fitzgerald before we all disbanded. Big Les and Barney went off in search of their own adventure. They discovered three-card poker and were busy becoming sharks. Neither one was satisfied with the amount of "naughty naughty" they got to see and they were hoping to make up for it! Brook and Lumpy were off doing their own thing (although Brook did go to a sushi bar with me... thanks Brookie!). I was left to fend for myself.

I decided to relax for a bit then head to the room for a good night's rest. On my way through the casino I decided to drop the last bit of change I had into a quarter slot machine. I'd already won about $50.00 on the slots that morning so I wasn't anticipating any big win here. My third pull offered up about $45.00. I immediately cashed out getting two twenties and five dollar tokens. On my way to the dollar slots I plunked in the last of my quarters and with the second pull I hit $65.00. I immediately cashed out getting three twenties and five dollar tokens. I then headed to the dollar slots where I dropped them into the machine two at a time. I hit on something that paid out twenty bucks. I immediately cashed out and got four five-dollar tokens for the big machines. I dropped in two and pulled the lever. Nothing! I rubbed the last two together before I finally dropped them into the machine. I squeezed my hands together then pressed the "max bet" button. I exhaled. A bar appeared... right where it needed to be! Another came to rest right beside the first! Holy Crap! This is it!! The final bar stopped just below the pay line. It took a second for my adrenaline to ease up. Wow! More than a $1000.00 would have been mine if that last bar had only stopped one half second sooner! Maybe that's to be my story... always a half second too late?! Oh well, I had just made about a hundred bucks with an initial investment of about $2.50. Not bad for a novice! Overall I spent like a fool so the trip was costly but I came out ahead on the gambling!

Sleep took a bit longer to arrive this night as my mind was whirling with all that had happened to us in such a short time! Seeing Lisa again... remembering all we had seen! I decided this vacation was good for me. A much deserved break from an increasingly stressful job back in Wisconsin. I checked the channels on the casino TV. We could get movies that weren't even out on DVD yet?! How was that possible?! What kept people from dubbing them, I thought? Then I drifted to sleep once again.

Dad and Babe were waiting for us in the lobby. They had arranged a ride for us to the airport and were going to head homeward when we were on our way (they had driven to Vegas). Barney and Big Les had everybody a bit stressed as they were running late (probably playing Weasel in the shower). We thanked Dad and Babe for all they had done for us. They knew we had a blast but it's always good to hear it.

The airport had a bit of a line but with a little patience all went well. Their security was pretty good but not as thorough as it had been in Wisconsin. I guess they're thinking, "Oh ya, some terrorist is gonna blow up a bunch of cows?!"

The flight home was much better than the one to Vegas had been. I got an aisle seat that allowed for more space. Big Les and Barney got to sit together and play cribbage all the way home. (They got four games of cribbage in between Vegas and Milwaukee. Forevermore two games of Cribbage will be known as 'half way to Vegas' in our books!)

We stopped at a really nice restaurant on the other side of Milwaukee, then drove into the night until home. Jody and the family were awaiting our return. They wanted all the details but the truth of the matter is that no matter how much you tell... there'll always be some you missed. Hence is Vegas. Am I ever going back? You better believe it!

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