Today was beautiful. 85 degrees in Los Angeles. And you know how I hate sunny days, but I really couldn't complain. I had lunch with Michelle down in Manhattan Beach. She's working on a project for Jet Li with that producer I'd introduced her to, and I'm really hoping that it'll all work out. We were talking about destiny so here's a really cool little example of the cycle of fate:
1995--a classmate of mine, Jen Wu, invites me to her house to watch some Chinese Kung Fu movies. When I show up, we have a Jet Li marathon because she's "in love" with him. These were the first movies of his that I had ever seen. This is the beginning of our friendship, and we keep in touch during college.
2002-I take a UCLA writing class and when I show up, there's another Asian girl (Michelle)there and the only seat available is next to her. So when we go around introducing ourselves, I go first. I say, I grew up in the bay area, went to school at the U. of Michigan and now I'm out here writing. She's next. She says, "Well, this is going to sound weird, but I also grew up in the bay area and went to school at the U. of Michigan and am out here writing." Later, the class draws numbers for partnering up. Eerily, we draw the same number and are partners. Later, it turns out that her cousin is Jen Wu.
2004-I'm introduced to a producer by Taron, who was trying to give me a hard time in front of this guy (he tells him that I want to be an actress). I tell him I'm actually a writer and he says that he's a producer. I ask him what he's produced and he says, "The Hulk with Ang Lee." I tell him, "Holy cow, I know Ang Lee! I sat in on the first day of editing for Crouching Tiger!" So we start talking about Ang and his family and I ask him what he's working on now. He says that he's looking for a project for Jet Li. Immediately, I know that he needs to talk to Michelle because she has a psychological thriller with an Asian American protagonist and the project would be perfect for Jet. So I tell him about it and I get Michelle on the phone and we have a really good meeting the next day.
Today--So Michelle and I are eating lunch and we're talking about The One, one of Jet's more recent movies and about how they've changed the name of her script to the same name as Jet's new video game. Then I start laughing. I just realized that Michelle's script had been called, "The Next One." Jet makes The One, and Michelle writes, The Next One. It sounds like a sequel even though it's different and better.
It's funny how things unfold. Maybe life isn't so random.