about the website

The Perfectly Rough Draft is a place on the 'net meant to serve as the following:

• A means of expressing myself through writing
• A compilation of my works, both complete and incomplete, for viewing out of sheer interest and/or boredom
• A portfolio for those who are looking for contributions in these areas in some fashion and would seek to contact me
• A way for potential employers to get to know a bit about me and access my resume online

Most of what I'm often doing is a work-in-progress, so some of the media I have here is rough, which, "coincidentally," happens to fall in much agreement with the title. And yes, there is a backstory and layers of meaning here. Read on if you so desire:

title

perfectionism
I have a perfectionist side to me, to an unfavorable degree in my opinion, which I have thankfully been able to gather better control over as time has passed. There is admittedly an intentional tongue-in-cheek tone meant by the title, directed at the prevalent emphasis on revising one's work, essentially, to as close to perfection as possible. And what's to strive for if not that? But over the years I have come to appreciate the rough edges of various phenomena in the world, be it artwork, the natural world that surrounds us, or people themselves.

Honestly, I often wonder, when someone criticizes an art piece or creation of some kind — thinking such criticism is objectively steering the work in the right direction — how much of this criticism stemmed out of the natural human desire pertaining to sheer novelty.

Finally, I just think there is something to be said about the true idiosyncrasies behind everything sweet in the world — the more candid, often the more delightful.

specifics
As someone who dabbles in screenwriting and songwriting, I can't help but feel a unique type of fondness toward that first, raw draft of a screenplay or first set of lyrics. More so the screenplay than lyrics (I've gawked in horror upon going back to review my own lyrics on many more occasions than I have at my own story-telling, so far). Also, it is a play on the title "Final Draft," the notorious screenwriting software (much praise to you, FD!).

life
Alright, I kid. But isn't that how the course of all essays or any kind of descriptive writing should unfold? Vague and/or ambiguous, then deeper, than whoa — let's talk about the meaning of life for the conclusion.

Sorta kidding at least. I liked the title more than anything because it actually makes me feel good when I contemplate it, since it connotes a sense of happiness with one's self, regardless of being far from polished. Close to perfection is always nice, but so are you, right now at this very moment. So give yourself a high five; you've earned it. No need to wait till you graduate from law school, or optometry school, or till you finally get to buy that Victorian house you've always dreamed of ;)

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who's that cat?

Among other constituents of this layout, the lovely and dazed feline you see at the lower right goes by the prestigious name (NEVER to be confused with the cat food brand) of Whiskas. It is so prestigious, in fact, that you will find me capitalizing her name far more often than I do my own. And that is saying a great deal, since a lowercase 'l' ("elle") runs the risk of being misconstrued as an uppercase 'I' ("eye"). A great deal indeed! Who would want to be named Ialena ("eye-alena")? Perhaps you, but that is beside the point...

also featured...

- One of my most prized possessions (and forgiving, might I add, as far as almost always making it through my klutzy episodes without a scratch): my super-marvelous Epiphone Hummingbird guitar.

- My messy bed. A messy bed is a lived-in bed, 'nuff said. And yes that is a dish cloth on it.

- A poor, abused, memory-infused tree that I came upon with a few friends during a trip to Lake Isabella in the summer of 2010. No, I don't know that Leah.

- The front page of my screenplay, "Sleep Travel." The closest thing to a decent feature-length I've ever written. You can't tell, though, because I had to remove all the text to make way for this text you're reading right at this very moment...