Jack Of Arts

March 15, 2012 – Thursday 9am – Nasiri Hill, Nasiri, Nabla Province

Tayaw clicked the video editing software and saved his work. "Done! WOOOOOO!" Tayaw declared and yelled loudly at the vast expanse in front of him.

He stretched his stiff muscles after hours of sitting on the cargo bed of his pick-up truck. Last night, when the band was done recording the soundtrack, they immediately pestered Tayaw to watch him edit the film. Tayaw wanting to avoid the disturbance, saved the recording to his computer, and snuck out at 2 am in the morning. He drove out to his spacious land in Nasiri where he spent his time editing until just now.

Tayaw then clicked another program to convert his final edit into a Digital Cinema Package (DCP), a collection of files like the images, sound, and subtitles. While the laptop went to work, Tayaw laid it down, grabbed his newly purchased scythe and hopped out of his truck. He then walked towards to the overgrown expanse of grass blanketing his land, and started swinging his scythe.

*Whoosh**shkkk**whoosh**shkk**Whoosh**shkk* It has been a while since Tayaw cut grass. Since he went to Ouigab for college almost a year and a half ago, this is the first time he held a scythe. Both in his current and his past life, once in two months, Tayaw would be the one in charge of removing the weeds growing on the front and backyard on his home in Okuba. During the rainy seasons, when the grass grows very quickly, he also cut the grass for their neighbors who are too old to do it themselves.

*Whoosh**shkkk**whoosh**shkk**Whoosh**shkk* The sound of the scythe's blade cutting the grass made Tayaw's mind enter a trance.

This state of mind is always what gave Tayaw the opportunity to come up with his best ideas in music. Out of the thousands of his written songs, the best 108 songs all came from when Tayaw entered a trance. And out of all the 108 songs, 36 of them gave him huge 'third level enhancements'. It is very difficult to stay in a trance state, but when he can, he is not always prepared to write songs.

Tayaw however did not always use the state of mind to always make music, so when he realized he entered a trance just now, he just used it to rest his mind and entertain some stray thoughts.

*Whoosh**shkkk**whoosh**shkk**Whoosh**shkk* Had it been any other filmmaker or editor, they would have taken less time editing than the filming process because of how simple the shots are, and the wide choices they have for soundtrack. But, Tayaw, choosing to make an original soundtrack, got his editing process delayed. The band after all, just finished recording the twelfth and final song for the soundtrack the previous night.

Had it also been any other film, Tayaw would have already finished the English subtitles himself while editing and he's done. 'September Ninth' however, being Tayaw's official submission to Sorrento Film Festival, had to be subtitled in Italian, so Tayaw had to hire a Teungebian – Italian film translator. Luckily for him, he was able to find a translator currently based in Teungeb and hired the man at the latter parts of the filming process. The translator, after 20 days of careful work, and under Tayaw's watch, was finally able to complete the translation.

*Whoosh**shkkk**whoosh**shkk**Whoosh**shkk* Tayaw's books are still popular especially 'The Halfling' which sold 9million copies in the month of February. In addition to the 1.9 million copies of his fairy tales, Tayaw earned a total of 47 million BGC after taxes. Calculating quickly, Tayaw realized that since he made his first big buck, he was able to earn a total of 300 million BGC until now after taxes; over half of it coming from the sales of 'The Halfling'.

Deducting his expenses from his investment on his two companies, his two houses, his huge land in Nasiri hill, and his movie expenses, he still has 207,000,000 BGC lying pretty in his bank account.

*Whoosh**shkkk*. "F*ck. Now that I think about it, I should have bought some buildings in South Ouigab instead. Tayaw, you dumb f*ck!" Tayaw chuckled. Tayaw realized that if South Ouigab will grow in the future because of the Express Highway Project, then South Ouigab itself will be the first one to be developed.

"I can't believe I didn't think of that sh*t. Oh well. I still got enough money." Tayaw after considering a lot in a short time, he decided to look for a plot of land or a good building in South Ouigab for him to buy. "I might even make it my headquarters in the future."

*Whoosh**shkkk**CLANG!!!**SNAP!*

"F.U.C.K!" Tayaw could not help but curse out when he accidentally hit a huge stone with his scythe. With his immense strength, the wooden handle broke and the scythe's blade rolled a few meters away. He shook his head at what happened and looked around to see his work. He was surprised though when he saw how clear the land now is. He did not realize that he already cleared around two acres in only half an hour.

"Well. That was quick. HA-HA!" Tayaw said as he picked up, with one hand, the rock that he hit and casually flung. The rock flew a few tens of meters away. After picking up the scythe blade, he saw that the blade is already damaged, dented and chipped, definitely will be an annoyance to use. Tayaw could not help but stop his work and go back to his truck.

After entering his truck, he saw that his laptop was finally done making the DCP. Tayaw then opened Sorrento Film Festival's website and filled out an online entry form. The deadline for a full feature film to the festival is on March 31st, but considering the shipping time from Teungeb to Sorrento, he decided to submit early to be sure it makes it in time.

After submitting his form online, Tayaw also took a spare computer hard drive plugged it in and copied the DCP file. He also pulled out a VHS size case that is already labeled with the name of the movie. Inside the case, aside from the foam where the hard drive containing the DCP will be secured on, there's a photo of Steven and Diwaya holding up an alarm clock; it will be the tentative movie poster for now. The back of the photo also contains the premise of the movie.

He then drove to the nearest branch of one of the best courier services in the world. "Hello. I need to send a package." Tayaw said to the employee of the courier service. "Here. Fill these out." The employee said as he passed Tayaw some forms. After filling them out, paying the fees, and hard drive packed by the employee, Tayaw took a deep breath.

"Miss. How long will it take for the package to arrive at Sorrento?" Tayaw could not help but be paranoid that his movie will not make it in time even though it's still 11 days before the deadline. "Wait a minute." The employee started typing in her computer and a few seconds later, "The earliest arrival will be on the 24th and if there are delays, it will arrive on the 29th" the employee informed Tayaw. "Thank you very much." Tayaw said and walked out of the building.

He drove to the nearest hardware store and bought three more scythes to continue his work back in his land at Nasiri hill. He has nothing better to do anyway, and after almost two months of working on the movie, he needed to rest. His body and mind are still sharp as ever, but somehow, he feels tired somewhere else. "Is it what grandpa calls an exhausted spirit?" Tayaw could not help but chuckle remembering his grandpa's habit of saying cryptic stuff.

Arriving back to Nasiri, Tayaw assembled his scythes immediately. This time, he wants to be more careful to avoid breaking the scythes. He did not however, start swinging immediately, and started to try something. After making sure that no one is around, Tayaw crouched and after feeling his leg and abdominal muscles contract, he pushed himself off the ground.

*Crunch* the grass under his shoes were crushed as he launched himself to the air. Tayaw was shocked as he kept rising in the air. When he reached about 9 or 10 meters above the ground, Tayaw felt more nervous as he stopped rising and realized how high he jumped. With a jump that he put almost all the strength of his leg muscles in, he rose to a height of a two story building.

His throat and stomach also started to twitch up when he started falling. He knows that he has a strong body but he is not confident that he will not be injured from falling at this height. He hurriedly fixed his posture mid-air as preparation to land. When he landed, he felt his heart sink. It is the feeling he gets when he makes a misstep while walking down a flight of stairs. It is the same feeling when one mistakes the floor for the bottom most stair.

Tayaw then fell on his butt and in the next moment "HAHAHAHAHA! HOLY SH*T!" he laughed out loud in relief. He was not injured at all. He even over prepared his landing that he lost his balance and tripped. "Man. I don't care anymore. With all the mysterious sh*t that has already happened, jumping like a mythological being is like, normal now." Tayaw said to himself. He also could not help but be pleased at how strong his body has become.

"Whatever, let's get back to work." Tayaw said as he started swinging his scythe again.