WINNER!?

It was April 30th, 11:50 PM and I had just finished the script that I was writing for the Scriptfrenzy challenge: write a 100 page script in 30 days. Unfortunately, my script came in at a whopping 98 pages. So with ten minutes to go I frantically started to add dialog to my script in order to reach the goal of 100 pages.

Using the wonderful celtx script writing software, the process of validating pages was as follows:

• type type type
• export the script as a PDF
• upload the PDF to the scriptfrenzy.org website
• freak out due to a low page count

Actually, it was during the export and upload steps that I was freaking out the most. When there is such a looming deadline, anything that only takes a second to accomplish feels as though it takes a minute or more.

At 12:05 AM on the morning of May 1st, I uploaded and validated a 99 page script. Hold on there tiger! How was I uploading a script after April 30th? Checking the homepage of the Scriptfrenzy site, I was informed that I had another 55 minutes until the challenge ends. Was the server on Alaska time? I didn't know, and honestly I didn't care. All I was concerned with was the extra 55 minutes with which I could write my script.

At 12:15 AM on the morning of May 1st, I uploaded and validated a 100 page script. Victory was mine, or was it?

After doing a bit of information gathering, I finally determined the root cause of the problem. I was cheating! Well perhaps that is a bit drastic. The reality is that my time was off and I had started the challenge at 1:00 AM April 1st and not at 12:00 AM on April 1st. The root cause of this discrepancy is that my time zone is UTC-8, unless we are in Daylight Saving Time, in which case my time zone is UTC-7.

Therefor, I fully place the blame on which ever Government entity is prohibiting the permanent change to Daylight Saving Time.

Now stop reading, and go do something that makes you miss your deadline. Oh, in that case, keep reading!

Disclaimer: I work for Scriptfrenzy, so take this entire posting with a grain of Mrs. Dash: sodium free seasoning. Hey, there are alternatives to salt, and no, I don't work for Mrs. Dash!