It's one of those weeks where everything that potentially can happen, has happened, is happening, needs to happen, and will happen. The to-do list is absurd and unfortunately this blog isn't too high on that list. It is what it is.
Today is the last normal Wednesday of the semester. If you've been around a while, you know that this means the powder blue 1984 Los Angeles Olympics suit is pulled out and worn. This is a tradition that has held strong since mid-high school. This year is a little different, however. Somehow, someplace, sometime, the powder blue 1984 Los Angeles Olympics necktie disappeared somehow, someplace, sometime between leaving my house for the summer to arriving at Biola for the semester. This story is further, further detailed, in this blog post: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2011/09/backs-and-forths.html (aside: that's a pretty great blog post, super random stuff in that there week). So, that said, I ran around tie-less today. It was sad. I was on the verge of tears. This is a family heirloom and irreplaceable. I told my roommates I would pay up to $100 for a new powder blue 1984 Los Angeles Olympics necktie. I also told them I am going to write a hand written letter to Levi's (the official 1984 Los Angeles Olympics clothing sponsor) just to see what they can do. Seriously. Heart-breaking.
Know what isn't heart-breaking? Watching movies from your childhood, but let's start from the beginning. Last Friday, Mr. Austin Axen organized a fantastic family dinner and it was fantastic. I'm not quite sure what inspired it, but Mr. Axen has a knack for making normal things, like dinner at the caf, an event to remember. Thank you Austin. The annual Biola University Christmas Tree Lighting followed and boy, it never fails to be spectacular. Carols, the King, candlelight. Perhaps the highlight was the showing of this video and watching this "adorbs" couple light the massivity of a Christmas tree themselves. Enjoy:
And then, to top it all off, Mr. Kyle Norman and Mr. Scott Weir had this brilliant idea (an idea I was unintentionally unaware of) to invite all sorts of people to my apartment to watch the movie we grew up loving, continue to love, and will always love: SPACE JAM. I had talked to Kyle a few weeks ago, we talked about how great of a movie Space Jam is and then all of a sudden, people are at my house watching it. Because I did not organize, I do not have a clue how or why people showed up at my house, but BOOM here they and BOOM we proceed to watch the triple-Oscar winning film SPACE JAM featuring Academy Award winning actor Michael Jordan who has also won some other sort of basketball awards. Here was the group in alphabetical order: Mr. Austin Axen, Ms. Laura Cook, Ms. Sierra Falco, Ms. Sarah Hau, Mr. Ben Jacuk, Mr. Joel Limbauan, Ms. Melanie Lott, Ms. Sarah McAlpine, Ms. Melanie McLaughlin, Mr. Kyle Norman, Mr. Josh Suaverdez, Ms. Moe Tucker, Mr. Michael Warnecke, Mr. Scott Weir, two other guests (I'm embarrassed for not knowing their names), maybe one or two people I forgot, and then myself, Mr. Morgan Lott.
Following the movie, a game of charades broke out, spontaneity at its finest. Acting took place, laughing followed. Solid crew, solid film, solid good times. I've heard from a few people that Friday night was one of, if not THE best night of the semester. I'm not going to lie, friends, it was up there. When the Looney Tunes joins your party, it's a night to remember.
And now I have two random videos for you:
They are artsy, watch out:
And THAT, Ladies and Gentlemen, is the post for the last normal Wednesday of the semester. To think we start just a short few days ago... wow, time flies... as always.
Drink something for dinner you haven't tried in a while. Like cranberry juice with ice. Try it.
Back to the grind. Boom boom bam. We've got 3 weeks left total, 2 weeks of normal schedules, 2.5 weeks if you want to be specific. 2.5 weeks until the semester that feels like it started just the other day is complete. Shocking and perhaps disheartening. UNREAL! On the other hand, SO much has happened this semester, so many memories of anything and everything. When I think of an event that happened in the beginning of the semester, like Trop 205's first meal together, that seems like AGES ago. Living in Stewart seems like EONS ago. But yet, it feels like I was in high school just A WEEK ago. Weird how time works, perceptions of time works, reality of time works.
Getting older, getting wiser (hopefully).
Last week was Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is great for a number of reasons, but the fact that we typically spend it with family and friends, enjoying delicious food together, that may top the list. My Thanksgiving was pretty great, spending a couple days with one side of the extended family in Simi Valley, then traveling to Pismo Beach to live a couple days with the other side of the extended family. Lots of family, lots of greatness.
Then it got interesting. I'm not going to go into too much detail on this blog because it is all detailed out for you RIGHT HERE. Or if you like actual links, HERE IS THE STORY: http://nomogopro.virb.com
This experience was nutty, surprising, and off the wall. What. In. The. World. So, as you can see from the website, we'll see what happens! It sure would be great to get a second chance because, oh, it's so stinkin' unfortunate.
WOAH. It's TG. Thanksgiving. The big one. Time to eat. Is that what Thanksgiving's about? Sometimes, for some people. Is it about seeing family? Sometime, for some people. Is it about the settlers and the Indians?
In the United States, the modern Thanksgiving holiday tradition traces its origins to a 1621 celebration at Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. The initial thanksgiving observance at Virginia in 1619 was prompted by the colonists' leaders on the anniversary of the settlement. The 1621 Plymouth feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. In later years, the tradition was continued by civil leaders such as Governor Bradford who planned a thanksgiving celebration and fast in 1623. While initially, the Plymouth colony did not have enough food to feed half of the 102 colonists, the Wampanoag Native Americans helped the Pilgrims by providing seeds and teaching them to fish. The practice of holding an annual harvest festival like this did not become a regular affair in New England until the late 1660s.
I'm home for the holiday, it's pretty great, always great. Short and great. You know what else is short and great? Thanksgiving break from last year. Here's the recap. It's short and great:
And you know what else? Well, school stuff, most certainly.
See that? That's my schedule for next semester. Well, for the time being. Some aspects are still a lil up in the air, but for the most part, this is the scoop. I'm generally excited, should be interesting, very interesting. I'm going to have more time than I do now which will be interesting in itself, but knowing me, that "time" will be filled up immediately. Interesting. I'm excited though, we'll see what happens. There's no telling what kind of shenanigans will go down between now and then, what opportunities will come and pass, what friends and acquaintances will do in this same time of change. Change is scary, change is good, change is necessary. It's time. BOOM.
I've got some videos for you, some super fun ones.
The first? Well, it's one of the funniest videos I've EVER had the privilege to watch. Not only does it feature Mr. Bob Ross, the mastermind of a painter, but the video as a whole is simply hysterical. I absolutely love how he gets such a kick out of cleaning his brush, laughing as he goes. What a man.
Next, is a ridiculously great commercial. Let's just say, if I was young and immature (I'm not saying I'm not), I would have the Six Finger on my Sandy Claus list ASAP. Also, advertising sure has changed these last [fill in the blank] years. This stuff is QUALITY.
Thirdski: this video getscha. It's so happy, so joyous. This blind cat, Oskar, plays with toys for the first time, toys rigged with bells so Oskar can locate the ball and have an absolute ball in the process. Brings tears to my eyes.
Last is a spectacular stopmotion and pretty philosophically deep. The point is made and makes you feel. The emotion. Definitely worth a watch.
And that's it! The post! Happy Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for you. Yes, you. You're a reader/watcher and possibly an enjoyer of this here blog and that means the world to me. I'm thankful for you and her and him and us. I'm thankful for it all, life experiences, the good, the bad, the ugly. Most of all, I'm thankful for a Savior that takes the weight off of my shoulders and knows me inside out, for no reason at all but pure love. Without Him, I'm a goner, TOAST. Phew, I'm thankful.
As I'm writing, there's an 11:40am choir flashmob outside of Common Grounds. I'm sitting here with Mr. Karl Holmlund and Mr. Corey Scott and we are talking about the nature of flashmobs and how the expected flashmob is noon in the caf, while the unexpected is precisely 11:40am Commons.
Boom.
What a week, what a blog post this will be. We've got videos this week. Lots of videos.
This last Sunday was my birthday. I finished my 21st year on this earth and am now entering into my 22nd year; in other words, I turned 21 y/o. 21. That old adult age. I'm not a big fan of birthdays. I've had an interesting history with birthdays, specifically birthday parties, so my opinion of birthdays have been skewed. SO, with that, this birthday was good! Woke up the morning of the 13th, nothing going on. Nothing kept going on. So I had the immensely late idea to go to Pink's Hot Dogs, decided to invite a bunch of people, but due to the fact the idea was immesely late, people were naturally busy. Naturally! Hittin' Pinks with 1000 or 1, it's just a birthday. The group ended up consisting of my fam bam, two or my roommates Mr. Joel Limbauan and Mr. Ben Jacuk, and Mr. Kelii Miyata, my good buddy from high school who is rocking the USC. This is him busting a rhyme.
So the 13th? Good group, good dogs, good time. It was the 21st, 363 it will be the 22nd. Age. Getting older. Aging.
Boom.
I've got some video for you now. This first one? I absolutely got a 100% kick out of this guy. I don't know if I've ever seen or talked to someone as laid back as this dude. Just livin' life, lovin' life. Obviously, there's pros, cons, opinions, politics, etc. There's somethin' really really great about this gentleman's outlook on life. Let's learn from him.
This next video is ABSOLUTELY BREATHTAKING AND UNBELIEVABLE. I don't even know how to explain other that God's creation is UNFATHOMABLE and surprises are around each and every corner. Incredibly unreal.
Ever heard of Crocs? Yeah those stupidly ugly, nasty lookin' plastic shoes. Do you like them? Would you buy them? Watch this commericial. Crocs utilizes their ugliness, makes fun of them selves, and ends up making an effective ad that more than likely sells their shoes. Brilliant.
This one. WHAT?! Just watch. Creativity at it's finest. Crazy cool.
It's November 9th and it's crazy. It's November 9th and it's wild. It's November 9th and it's warm. And it's great. Something struck me this week: I turn 21 years of age on Sunday, the 13th of November. For the last three hundred sixty some days, I knew this day was coming, it's only natural. For some reason though, it took a turn for the important this week. 21 just seems so old, so mature, so theres-no-more-milestones-left-except-for-driving-with-permit-drivers. Turning 18 is big; you can play the lottery, you can buy cigarettes, you can get arrested. Turning 21 adds one solitary thing to this mix and that is the cause of the 1920 US prohibition: alcohol. That may or may not be a big deal, depends on who you ask. I think perhaps the bigger deal is just the fact that I'm another year older, another year farther from the delightful year 1990.
Speaking of alcohol, I watched a great video this week about a guy who had an idea and acted on it. That concept in and of itself is absolutely INCREDIBLE. To develop ideas and see them through completion, phew, if you can master that, you will be unstoppable.
Speaking of alcohol, I watched a great commercial this week about anti drunk-driving. This commercial's incredible in many many ways, including but not limited to the message, the accents, the editing, the music, the popularity on the interwebs. An anti drunk-driving ad that people are actually watching, enjoying, and sharing? Way to go NZ.
I've noticed something this week and it's embedded in this conversation:
"Hello!"
"Hi!"
"How are you?"
"Good! You?"
"Good!"
"Good! See you later!"
"Bye!"
Is there anything wrong with this conversation? Nope. Did you learn anything new about each other? Nope. I feel like this conversation happens hundreds of times a day between hundreds of people and it's to the point where it means absolutely nothing. Recently, I've been trying to be more honest in these conversations, responding to "how are you" with realistic words/phrases like "alright," "hangin' in there," "been better," "livin' life," "fantastic," "never been better," "incredible," the list goes on and on. Now that I'm taking a look at this list, I guess all that is happening is I'm being somewhat creative in my adjective choices. Even answering "how are you" with a tad-bit-more-realistic words, the investment is still light. It's the follow-up questions such as "Oh, why are you just alright?" or "Wow! Fantastic, huh? How come?" that take the conversation into the next level. A relationship is budding, conversation is exploding. But what happens if you are just in passing and the original conversation is the only exchange possible? Is it worth having? I say "of course!". I guess. As I'm writing this, I'm realizing I have no real clue what I'm talking about. And I don't have an answer. I don't know whats right, wrong, proper, improper, worth it, wasteful.
I guess the moral of the story is simply this: Be intentional in conversations. Learn something new.
Here's an aside:
I was walking on campus today and a woman wearing high-heals was walking next to me. Now, I have never personally experienced the phenomenon of wearing high-heals, I simply have not chosen that type of footwear as my footwear of choice (that might have something to do with culture and gender roles). I guess I understand the point of high-heels and why girls like to wear them, choose to wear them. But as I walked next to this woman in high-heels, I noticed something: the CLACK CLACK CLACK of EVERY SINGLE step she took. The extremely loud rhythmic sound, coinciding with each and every step taken. How do high-heel wearers put up with this!? I guess this phenomenon is similar in any hard sole situation, but it really struck me. Is it annoying? Do you just tune it out? Baffling. Truly. I was amazed at how loud these high-heels were on normal concrete and I was honestly amazed at how I reacted. Probably an overreaction. Nevertheless, an object of note.
And I think that may just be it. That's the end of this week's edition of "It's Wednesday!" I hope you enjoyed it. Kinda scatter-brained, but hey, who isn't?
Take a look around you. What do you see? Anything you haven't picked up in a while? Maybe a magazine you only read half of or an pseudo-empty box of cheez-its that's been sitting around for a week. Revisit these items and enjoy them.
Be intentional this week. Live with importance and make every minute worth your 60 seconds. It's not easy. I fail miserably 90% of the time. That doesn't mean you have to.
It's November 2nd. It's November 2nd? Yeah, it's November 2nd. Time is ticking away, tick, tick, ticking away. It's rather incredible: it's November which means it's almost December, so it's basically 2012. Before long, it's summer break, school will start up, and hey, it's November again. Time's flying fast and is only getting faster. Blink and you'll miss it.
This week has been rather exciting. Lots happened and I'll explain. It was great week, lots of out-of-the-ordinary, living life on the edge, taking risks, getting uncomfortable.
First, I wrote this intending for it to wind up on the blog. I can't exactly remember when it was written, but hey, it still applies. Pretty random, interesting, weird? Yeah, pretty weird subject material.
"I've realized something: I am not an initiator. In most situations, I simply do not initiate. I show up to a gathering of people, I am not one to go up to someone and start a conversation. It's difficult for me to initiate beginning projects; the beginning, getting started, is consistently, by far, the hardest part of any assignment, project, film, etc. I typically do not initiate objectives of greetings, such as a handshake, a hug, a high-five. I normally do not introduce myself to people I have not met before. In all of these situations, I generally wait for the other to initiate, which may or may not be a bad thing (as always, there are exceptions to the rule). As I'm thinking about it, I think this is why: when you initiate, you initiate by doing the thing you are most comfortable with. For instance, in a greeting, you may go in for the hug or extend your hand for a handshake based on what you like, are used to, were raised doing. I don't know what you're most comfortable with and, honestly, I'm comfortable with most anything. So when I wait for YOU to initiate, I assume you are going to initiate with the "greeting" you are most comfortable with. You want a high-five? I'll give you a big ol' high five. The one that every once in a while gets uncomfortable and somewhat awkward is my failure to introduce myself. I think the main reason for this is I'm pessimistic in the fact that: why meet someone if you're never going to see them again? If I notice I'm around somebody somewhat often, then yes, I will meet them and yes, I will remember their name. But if it's a random meeting, there's no way in the world I'm going to remember their name (I can just assume they won't remember mine), so why bother? Yes, I know, this is a terrible view to hold. I honestly am working on it and trying to be intentional with people, especially new people.
So with that, initiate with me. Test me me out."
Initiation. Take the first step, take the bow. With arms wide open.
This last Friday was Punk 'N' Pie, a HUGE annual Biola-wide talent show. Somehow, I was privileged to participate in two groups out of the 10-odd acts that had made the auditional cut.
The first act was the Punk'd Up Kids, a musical group made up of good friends Ms. Sarah Hau, Ms. Sarah McAlpine, Ms. Moe Tucker, Mr. Amir Girgis, and Mr. Kyle Norman. The first time I played cajon with these folks, I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the beautiful sheer talent that, for lack of better words, OOZED from their pores. I was truly honored to be part of this band! The performance went extremely well and the crowd's participation and enthusiasm honestly surprised me, let alone the GREAT response afterward. Let me present to you the Punk'd Up Kids playing renditions of "Poison & Wine" by the Civil Wars, "I'll Be" by Edwin McCain, and "You Raise Me Up" originally written by Brendan Graham.
After a redonkulous performance by Pidgeoto, who killed it with a hardcore punk rendition of "My Girl," it was time for round 2. Last year, I tried out with a group of friends, Ms. Ashley Emerson, Ms. Darlene Favenir, Ms. Joanna Xu, Mr. Ben Jacuk, Mr. Isaiah Pekary, and Mr. Michael Warnecke,for a on-campus worship band. Long story short, we didn't make it. Long story short, we wanted to play Punk N Pie. Now, for YEARS, Mr. Michael Warnecke, Mr. Ben Jacuk, Mr. Joel Limbauan, and myself enjoyed mimicking and laughing with the band we all know as Creed. Mr. Scott Stapp has a voice unlike any other, incomparable. Mr. Michael Warnecke's impression of Mr. Stapp is SPOT ON, so when we started discussing Punk N Pie ideas and a Creed cover came up, it HAD TO HAPPEN. At first, Michael was a tad unsure about it; after all, who would want to mimic one of the most laughable bands of our generation in front of a thousand college students? After a ton of laughing and consideration, Michael agreed to do it and he was PERFECT. We ended up putting together a 90's medley, using and restructuring the songs of our generation:
"With Arms Wide Open" - Creed
"It's Gonna Be Me" - *NSYNC
"...Baby One More Time" - Britney Spears
"I Want It That Way" - Backstreet Boys
Enjoy:
This was an absolute ball. The crowd was SO into it, I could hear the crowd singing along from behind my prison of a drum shield! If you don't believe me, refer to the last two songs of the video. Here's some fun facts: at 2:20, I snap a drumstick and then 10 seconds later, my first top falls over. You can see me trying to grab it, freaking out because, well, it's relatively important. Luckily, the beat never dropped and turns out, the majority of people didn't even notice. That pumps me up. Another fun fact: at 4:34, when I step out from behind my prison of a drum shield (during practice and rehearsal and dress rehearsal and without a drum shield, I came all the way out to the front to sing along with my boy band friends), I step on a 3 foot by 1 foot poster and it attaches to my foot. Naturally, I had to pull it off which ended up taking the majority of my 15 seconds of freedom from the prison of a drum shield. Oh well.
All in all, Punk N Pie was an absolute blast. Playing drums, in both cajon form and set form, in an enthusiastic manner was incredibly fun, makes me miss drumming all the more. Although we didn't place (congrats to The Beatles, Xopoc, and Rob Frampton), playing in Punk N Pie was oh so worth it, going down in history. And I must say, I NEVER thought we would actually play a Creed song seriously, let alone in front of a thousand people. WHAT. IN. THE. WORLD.
The party's not over.
The next night, Saturday night, turned into quite the night. So, as a film major at Biola, you have to participate in what is called the Biola film at least one time during your studies. Every semester, a Biola film is written, funded, shot, edited, and premiered and from what I've seen and heard, it's quite the experience from beginning to end. This years Biola film is called "Kids on the Run" and I am not officially a part of it. Here's the promo:
So Saturday night, the Kids on the Run folks needed a bunch of extras to do a wild party scene in the middle of the desert. Catch was it was from 1am to 9 am. That's all night long. That's a long time, especially when sleep sounds oh, so good. But hey, who remembers sleeping? I talked to a few people, found a ride and at 11pm headed out the door toward Lucerne Valley with driver Mr. Kris Yee and passengers Ms. Sierra Falco, Ms. Veronica Luckey, and Ms. Brittany Watts. After a solid two hour drive, a stop at a convenience store, and directions involving words like "once you get to the middle of nowhere, start looking for...," we arrived at our location. We joined probably 15 to 20 other extras, 15 to 20 crew members and a massive bonfire, it was a guaranteed good time. Now, the problem with the following 8 hours is that I am likely not supposed to tell you what happened for a number of reasons. I guess you'll just have to watch the finished film to find out. Basically we went BERSERK, we went APE, we went straight NUTTY, running around a fire, dancing around a fire, shooting fireworks around a fire...and other stuff... for 8 solid hours. And then we laid in the dirt for a while while the 40 degree frigid air surrounded us. While. Once we were frozen and the sun rose, we began to defrost as we headed home. We arrived back at Biola at approximately 10 am, covered in dirt, eyelids heavy.
Here's the best part about this entire event: In the time the majority of the world (hypothetically) is sleeping, 1,000,000 and a half things happened and they're all in the memory bank for good. It's absolutely incredible how much you can do in the time you're normally sleeping. But watch out, it's also absolutely incredible how much your body takes a toll after a night of extreme chaos and no sleep. Sleep, no matter how great it is NOT to get it, is decently important. Just a lil.
What's funny is the fun isn't over! Monday was Halloween. What's funny is the least exciting part of this week was Halloween. I'm going to go into too much detail, but I went to party, ate some Halloween snacks, flailed my arms a lil, left, then went to the Blue Door and watched Sleepy Hollow, which was surprisingly bizarre. Came back to campus to pick up Mr. Preston Richardson who had nicely asked to crash at my apartment for the night, to which Trop 205 opened it's doors right up. It was good time, legit chattin the photo/video circuit. All in all, good night, decently eventful.
And THAT, my friends, was the last week. Take a deep breath because it's been quite the ride.
Now it's your turn. Make this next week memorable. Live life, go nuts, stay safe, be smart.
This last week. Woah. It's been a week of intensity. It's been a week of extremity. It's been a week of surprise. It's been a week of celebration. It's been a week of remembrance. It's been a week of emotion. It's been a week of assumption. It's been a week of danger. It's been a week of longevity. It's been a week since last Wednesday.
During the last week, one concept has stood out to me: LIFE IS A RIDE, so you'd better BUCKLE UP.
During this last week, one million and a half different past, present, and future events, experiences, thoughts, conversations, memories, aspirations, dreams and other "stuff" were revealed, uncovered, dug up from the mountain of my life. On Monday, while I was at work, it all hit me, like a baseball bat hitting a baseball, like a brick through a window, like an ice cream cone splatting onto the floor. So what did I do? I headed over to the fountain to "think" about it.
I was there five minutes.
On Monday afternoon, I wrote this on my facebook wall for all the world to see:
I sat down by the fountain to think about my future. "Since when did I
have control?" So I left & stopped thinking about it. #lifesaTRIP
Boom. That was it, completely stopped thinking about it. It was good feeling. Now, it's not that I've forgotten about it, these issues are still very present and very relevant. BUT, when stress and overwhelm-ation set in, boy, that's no good and it's not heading in a very good direction. Why mull around when I know for a 100% fact that God's in control? What happens, happens and, regardless good or bad, God has blessed me in that specific situation for a specific reason, an experience to learn by. I have absolutely no control over anything so WHY IN THE WORLD get so stressed out about it? Life's a trip and I'm just a long for the ride. Sure it get's bumpy, the oil needs to be changed every once in a while, but hey, it's a blast.
That ended on an optimistic note. The next video may change that. This video is INCREDIBLE. It's heartbreaking, personable, and hopeful. I don't know how to put it into words other than it's definitely worth a watch. (Disclaimer: there are a few "choice" words).
Unreal. I feel for this man and his love for his dog. There's something about this story that is so easy to relate to. We all desire unconditional love; regardless of situation, the love we crave never wavers and is always there for you. While I was watching this short film, the parallels between Oden and our Father in Heaven were incredible. The most notable difference? Christ's unconditional love is TRULY unconditional. He will never leave us, will never grow old, will not die out, and will always be there even if we can't feel it.
Unbelievable. The funny thing is we do not deserve it AT ALL.
The next video is an interview with Eliot Rausch, the director of "Last Minutes with ODEN." This man is truly inspiring, using his gifts to tell a story, an extremely real story. As I continue in my film studies, messing and fooling around with different subject matters, content, etc., I am learning more and more that I am intrigued with REAL life. Capturing life as it plays out with as little "Hollywood" influence as possible. That's a completely different topic though. Enjoy this interview, I know I did:
Speaking of filmic inspiration, I've been chugging through some fun little shorts. They're all short, under 1 minute each, and they're all happily unique, bizarre, and promotional, all in the same.
1. SPOOKTACULAR: This is a promo for HME's dance Spooktacular going on at the end of this month. I decided to act a little, this is what happened.
2. UP: THE MAN IN THE FLYING CHAIR: This is a promo for a theatre/film production directed by Mr. Ian Mayta. I very much enjoyed developing this idea of using stock footage as the main content. The opening video to the production will also be a video in this similar style, I'm excited to begin working on it.
3. ANIMAL FICTION: This is a promo for a short film directed by Mr. Zack Campbell that I will be editing in the near future. I'm PUMPED to be involved on this project.
Have a most excellent day today. Take a short brisk walk around the neighborhood. Say hello to a neighbor. Talk about something you've never talked about before.
It's been quite the week! It's difficult to put it into words, summaries are endless, these are just text-s on a screen. I've got to warn you, it's Torrey week here at Biola University, which means the schedule is completely gnarled up, meaning my schedule is a mess, meaning this blog post will more than likely be shorter than the norm. It's okay, it was meant to be.
The funny thing about this week is the stories that went down are not meant for this blog. Normally, and most always, I share with you stories, normally, and most always, in depth. These shared stories are meant to be public, i.e. you, can see, read, laugh, and ponder. The stories from this last week are on a more personal level and involve other people that may or may not want their stories posted on this here blog. That sentence makes this week sound SUPER INTENSE, I'll leave that up to you to make assumptions. The funny thing about blogs is it feels like a journal, scratch that, it IS a journal; I'm sitting here alone on my couch, writing to myself about my experiences, my thoughts, my dreams. No one is here looking over my shoulder, no one is here influencing what I write. So, naturally, anything and everything is fair game... well, it WAS. After getting into a number of sticky situations, I've learned that this blog is actually read by actual people and it is possible to offend, misinterpret, exaggerate, enunciate any and every word that I write.
So, that said, I'm going to describe the week in careful vagueness:
Last Wednesday: good conversation, learned some things.
Friday: GREAT, tried new things, enjoyed company, learned about each other, airplanes.
Saturday: Family, soccer, Trop 205 Restaurant style
Monday: Encouragement.
Tuesday: Change of plans. We'll see what happens.
Boom boom bam. There it is, that was the week in all it's vague glory, but in its ambiguity, it honestly was an INCREDIBLE week. Learned so many new things, had so many solid conversations, and went on a limb, took a risk, got adventurous, and Friday happened, for which I am very grateful. Mistakes were made, lessons were learned. Seems like the only way to learn things these days is to mess up in the process.
I talked to a friend of mine earlier this week about life experiences. For some reason, I was intrigued by the fact that memories are only contained within time. You went to the "best concert of your life," after the end of the concert, it's over, forever. There is no returning to the concert no matter how incredible it was. "Man, last night was so fun! I wish I never had to go to sleep!" Last night was last night and it will always be "last night." Unfortunately, you can never experience "last night" again. Luckily, through the joy of memory, we can remember details and, in a sense, "relive" the situation. But still, it went down in history and stays in history. So, for this reason, the term "carpe diem" applies consistently. Make EVERY DAY unique, individual; make it stand out amongst the rest of history. You're never going to be able to return to these moments, no matter how great they are, and if you can recognize this fact, you can treat every moment as a once in a lifetime opportunity.
So with that, LIVE IT UP today. Always be looking for that one moment that goes down in history as TODAY. Yesterday, Ms. Kylie Tyndall asked me what my "favorite part about today" was. I didn't have a good answer.
Take a look at the picture above. What do you notice? You might notice nothing. Mr. Scott Gamelson noticed something though: "What? That's not fancy enough for a Wednesday." It's not. Or is it? What's fancy? What's dressing up? This is the topic of conversation.
"Dressing up" is an interesting action. When do we dress up? Well, for me, I dress up every Wednesday and whenever I feel like it's appropriate, which, honestly, is most situations. I personally enjoy dressing up, I enjoy a suit and tie, I enjoy getting fancy. Other people don't. Other people do not enjoy dressing up, enjoy a t-shirt and sweats, and don't ever want to get fancy. There's nothing wrong with this, I enjoy a t-shirt and sweats an incredible amount, but there's something beautiful about the act of dressing up because of the situation deserving the respect. For example, back in the day (I think), when people went out for a social event, when people went to town for the evening, they took the time to prepare themselves for a nice time. They dressed to the occasion and treated social events with importance. It might just be me, but it's not quite like that anymore. In general, it doesn't seem like people care about social interaction the way they used to. I feel like, especially for gentleman, the art of dressing up is taking a hike in the backwards direction. I can't tell you how many times guys have asked me if I could tie their tie for the them. I feel embarrassed for them. It's time to learn how to tie ties, gentleman. Speaking of tying ties, the "real" bow tie is almost completely extinct. Well, maybe. The trend of the "hipster" is toying with the idea of getting "into" bow ties again. I guess we'll see what happens.
All this to say, I enjoy dressing up and I feel like our generation is on the downhill, dressing up isn't near as important and perhaps fun as it used to be. And just a disclaimer, everything written on this blog is opinion written in the moment. It's not meant to offend, it's not meant to prove, it's merely meant to express my random thoughts with a virtual audience.
And all THAT to say, I dressed "down" on purpose today, to speak to this issue. I guess that's a whole nother issue entirely: getting used to me dressing up on Wednesdays. There's an expectation that I dress up every Wednesday, an expectation that in no way shape or form NEEDS to happen, it just has happened, well, for the last 3+ years. And it's been a great 3+ years.
So, two Thursday's ago, the 29th of September, I was given the opportunity to film and photograph the madness we know as SWAGTACULAR. Hungry Mind Entertainment partnered up with House of Blues to throw this party full of swag and boy, was it an experience. I'm not going to get to detailed, but I learned a ton about myself that night, in all sorts of different ways, and in the end, it was well worth it and a spectacular learning experience. As I was working on the video, I was absolutely amazed to see my Hume Lake influence show up. I can honestly attribute most, if not all, my video editing skills to Hume Lake Christian Camps and the immense amount of practice I was blessed with during the summer of 2010. Seriously. Every stylistic decision that was made throughout this video somehow stemmed from something I learned and tried a Hume two summers ago. It got me PUMPED and I am so so grateful for that summer two short years ago. Here's the video, for your enjoyment:
Four months ago, my roommate Mr. Joel Limbauan began training for a half-marathon. As far as I know, there was no major major cause for this, it was simple curiosity, perseverance, and drive. Four months later, last Sunday rolled around, and entire apartment: Mr. Joel Limbuan, Mr. Ben Jacuk, Mr. Michael Warnecke, and myself, took off in the wee hours of the morning to go support our friend and housemate. Here is the videographic proof:
WHAT. A. DAY! Joel's the man, the straight up man. Telling yourself you want to run a half-marathon and then actually doing it? That's WILD.
And that, my friends, is the end. I hope you enjoyed it. If not, it's just Wednesday.
Drink a fruit smoothie relatively soon. Try something you've never tried before.
It's raining and rain is the worst (to put it heavily), I dislike it (to put it lightly). A lot of people disagree with me, they LOVE the rain. I cannot fathom why. Here's my argument. I say to them "Yes, I LOVE the rain too. It's important to water the earth. It's necessary. I LOVE it when I have NOTHING to do and I'm sitting with a cup of hot chocolate in front of the warmth of a fire. In that situation or anything other situation that involves sitting around, rain is the greatest. But when you have to do ANYTHING else, rain is the absolute pits. It makes everything more difficult, it's hard to travel, people drive like 5 year olds, there are accidents, mudslides, your clothes get wet, you can't see because water is getting in your eyeballs, it's cold, it's uncomfortable. How can you say you LOVE that?!" I'm seriously baffled. It makes everything so hard, everything a chore. Going to class is no easy task, it involves protecting your stuff from getting wet, trying to get there without getting soaked, and then sitting through class where everybody is damp in some sense and the musty scent of wet clothes hangs in the air.
I've got one word: yuck.
Just a word: in the end, this is just a rant. Obviously, the rain replenishes our earth, gives an opportunity to harvest, provides clean water, and ultimately is a gift from God. For that, I am grateful.
Well, it's another week. Another week. Another week. Time's flying. Another week. I've been training myself not to blink because I just know that the next time I blink, I'm going to be hanging out in a senior citizens home, recollecting memories from my 83 years of life. Just like *snap*.
It's been made apparent to me lately that I enjoy stories, all sorts of stories, telling stories, listening to stories. There is something about a story that just makes the world go round, and it's wonderful. We've all had the experience of sitting in a dull history class, listening to a lecture, when all of a sudden Mr. Boredom himself begins the story of his sophomore year in college when he snuck into the Natural History Museum in order to complete a class project. It is at this point when we start listening. Why do we start listening? Because Mr. Boredom is passionate about his illegal venture. Mr. Boredom is NOT passionate about history. History is FULL of stories, but if the person telling them is not passionate, well, why would we listen intently? Passion seems to be a pretty important part of storytelling. Every once in a while, I take a look through the records of this blog. I enjoy using the "Random Post of the Refresh" button in the upper right corner to re-discover the stories of past. In doing this, I've realized a couple of things. 1st: our memories are INCREDIBLE. Yes, we cannot recall any life experience at anytime. But, with a trigger, you can recall any situation like it happened yesterday. I've learned that this blog serves as an EXCELLENT trigger. At the time of writing, the stories don't seem that significant, because they just happened. But let me tell you, there's nothing better than returning to a story from 2 years back, getting drilled with details, and reliving the situation. And then you share. You remind others of this situation, regardless if they were there with you or not. You tell the story.
I have some stories for you.
I revisited this story from May the 9th: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2011/05/high-five-for-first-kiss-birth-of-viral.html. This story just makes me laugh, I still can't believe it happened this way and I got a front row seat to the power of the viral internet. A GREAT learning experience, a TON of bewilderment, and a FANTASTIC story. Enjoy!
And now some wedding stories, fresh off the press!
These are good stories. So is this one: I saw this video the other day. I was intrigued to say the least. If this were at all legal, this is how I would travel. Just imagine a road trip with a group of musicians. Can you say "not-only-would-this-be-awesome-to-see-while-on-the-freeway-but-I-would-have-a-BALL-on-a-road-trip-like-that?" I can.
Makes me laugh, each and every time. JAM ON.
Well, that's the post. Hoop, there it is.
Go tell someone a story. Tell them a funny story. Then a sad story. Then a surprising story. Then, listen to their funny story. Listen to their sad story. Listen to their surprising story.
It's been an interesting week. Ups and downs, backs and forths, simple all-over-the-place fun. This is directly reflected through my clothing selections for today. In fact, it's so closely related, we'll treat this like a rhetorical question and you can figure out how and why it's connected on your own. I will explain one thing though; the lack of tie has great significance and that is, well, somehow, somewhere, one of my suits, charcoal in color, along with approximately 15 ties (half of my tie collection) went missing. Don't know the details, don't know how it happened, wish I did, wish this didn't happen. I put up a classified ad on Biola's network and here's a link to it:
This is a pretty significant loss, it's going to be difficult to recover and, in some situations, impossible to recover. It's brutal, but hey, it is what it is, live goes on, and we're good. Boom boom bam, let's go.
Speaking of "let's go," last Friday night's events were up in the air. There were three different options, all of which were undetermined. Long story short, I ended up committing to go to a Future of Forestry, Lovelite, and Reveal concert with Ms. Sierra Falco, Ms. Amber Agron, and Amber's boyfriend Mr. Preston Richardson. I was excited, they were excited, we were all excited. Before long, it's time to go and Preston, who was photographing the concert and was scheduled to come pick us up from Biola, was struggling to get his car started. It was at this point I knew we were in for a treat. We needed to figure out what to do and decided upon driving Amber's car, a big ol' Bronco. There was a problem though, Amber's arm is injured, rendering her unable to drive. Well, the smell of adventure was in the air, so I volunteered to put my driver's license to good use. I was warned immediately, old big vehicles can be fussy, there are little tricks and whistles one needs to master before it will drive well. Sure enough, the first five minutes were absolutely BRUTAL. The brakes were SUPER touchy and the gas required quite the punch. Luckily, we humans are made to adapt, so after quite the interesting 5 minutes, it was like I had been driving this bad boy for years.
So, we're on the freeway, just cruising, looking for exit 90 something in midst of traffic, and all of a sudden, a realization is made: we were going the wrong way on the freeway, and not only that, we had been going the wrong way for a good half an hour. This is the moment that plagues my life, the great moment of realizing you're in the wrong place. Now, if there's anything I've learned in my lifetime, it's that I ALWAYS get lost, and when I get lost, it's ALWAYS an adventure. BIG memories are waiting to be made. Never fails. Ever. So it's at this moment, I just start laughing, realize this trip has just become the trip of lifetime, and the story of this trip will be told for years. It was time to turn around.
So we did. And our less than 30 minute trip quickly turned into a 2 hour trip. And we enjoyed ourselves. We chatted about all sorts of nice things, including but not limited to in-depth conversations about two intense topics dreams and cancer. We had time, lots of it, and hey, when you stick people in a situation where all they can do is talk to each other, boom, that's what you do. That's my idea of a good time. So, FINALLY, we arrive at Crossline Church. After struggling to find the entrance, we make it in, quickly realizing we had missed the first two bands, Lovelite and Reveal, but hey, we made it. Future of Forestry absolutely killed it, those guys know how to jam and know how to put on a show! There were definitely a few of those moments where the only response worthy is a *gasp,* there's no other response suitable, it's just too too good. I couldn't help but yelp "SO DOPE" at one point, givin' me chills. Know what was also great? Seeing old friends like Mr. Grant Gunther and Mr. Louie Huesmann, among others from Hume. Reunions are the best.
And then we left. Presten's vehicle was still out of commission, so we left from Crossline with an one more passenger than we had come with, thought outside the bun and stopped by Taco Bell for a late night snack, and headed out. And guess how long the trip home took? Let's just say 25 minutes, just a tad bit shorter than the 2 hours it took to get there. Good, quick ride home.
All in all, the idea that "half the fun is getting there" rings brilliantly true, and in this case, it may as well read "three quarters of the fun is getting there." Through my experience with getting lost in virtually every driving situation I'm in, I've learned a few things:
It's incredibly easy and tempting to become stressed, flustered, and concerned. It's very easy to get plastered by a wave of negativity and potentially ruin the rest of the trip. These aren't necessarily bad things, they just threatening. This happens to everyone, it's natural.
If you can help it, be optimistic about the situation. Believe it or not, getting lost happened to you for a reason, probably reasons you will never know. I'll give you an example: my grandpa was scheduled to board a boat. For whatever reason, he accidentally did not make it on that boat and what happens? The boat sinks. You never know what's going to happen.
Utilize your extra time you gain from getting lost. Time and time again, getting lost creates lots of laughs about getting back on track and relearning where you are going. Time and time again, conversation and experiences have taken place during that time that never would have had a chance if you hadn't lost your place.
Make it fun. Laugh about it, have a blast. You might as well. It's a bad situation, turn it into a good situation. Make it a memory that will last a lifetime. And you know what happens with memories? They become stories, great stories. And what do you do with stories? You tell them. And hey, every time you're in a car, you can tell your co-car-riders the story of "that one time you got lost." THE BEST.
And that's the story about that one time I got lost with Amber and Sierra. It's in the memory bank for good.
Now, I've got three strange topics to talk about.
First, bad breath. I feel like bad breath is one of the strangest, nastiest, troubling accidents on the face of this earth, an accident we all struggle with in some form. When you're talking to someone with terrible breath, it's revolting, you can't stand it. But what do you? More often than not, you don't do anything. Now, I'm not quite sure why we don't say anything. Perhaps it's embarrassing. You feel bad for telling someone "Hey, sorry to bring this up, but you need a breathmint, your breath...well, it's bad." Not only is it hard for you to say, but how are they going to feel? We feel embarrassed. If you're the one with bad breath, how do you feel? I'm speaking from personal experience right now. If someone tells me, "Woah, take a swig of Listerine or something," I think immediately "YIKES, bad breath is nasty" and then immediately think "how long have I had this repulsing stench fuming from my mouth, how many people have been devoured by this scent, been disgusted, and not said anything." In my opinion, if my breath has even a hint of "bad," I would love for it to be pointed out, that way it can be fixed from the get-go and it won't have to get embarrassing for either party when my breath is killing the plants I walk by.
Second, the wave. I recently had two different converstaions with two separate sets of people about waving, and now, as I'm writing this, I'm realizing this will be very difficult to describe in words without showing with my own two hands. Bascially, we came to the realization that men and women wave differently. More often than not, a man will either just stick his hand in the air, or maybe do one simple "swipe." A women kind of hits the whole spectrum, ranging throughout all sorts of different varieties of waves. I'm going to cut this conversation right now because it's literally impossible to describe all the variations of waves, plus it's much more fun to demonstarte. Ask me sometime about it. One last note though, during the first conversation about waves, we agreed that a notable wave that is feminite and maybe a tad annoying is the finger wave, where you kind of have your fingers pointed at your subject and move your fingers in a wave pattern. The funny thing about it is since we talked about this, I have caught myself over and over and over again waving in this extremely awkward and strange way of waving. I just can't help but laugh. Out of all the ways to wave we talked about, that's the one my phyche chose to naturally do (at least for this week). Strange.
Lastly, social experimentation. Do you ever do little things to see how people react? Whether that's something you say, not speaking up when you would normally, choosing to do certain things that wouldn't normally do, but for the sake of reaction, you do them anyway, or, similarly, not doing or saying things you normally would? I guess we all do this kind of stuff, just involuntary. Recently though, I've been having some fun with it. My absolute favorite is not speaking up with there's an awkward silence. It's quiet and uncomfortable and getting worse by the second. You feel the urge to do something, whether that is speak up, chuckle, or do the hand motion that, in my opinion, is the greatest symbol of the loss of social skills among our generation, the awkward turtle. I LOVE not breaking this silence and just seeing what happens. Every time the results are different and it's so interesting to see how people react to awkward silence and in there end, how they break it. It's almost like taking a seat and watching the drama play out. Just good clean fun.
Along that note, the other night I was talking with Ms. Sierra Falco and Ms. Jenette Hatch about the topic of hugs. Now, hugs are a funny business. A hug is what? The in between between a handshake and a full on kiss? There is a level of intimacy in a hug that does not exist in a handshake and it's this intmacy that catches me off guard. People enjoy the feeling of touch. I'm not sure how to explain it, but there's something about touch that hits us hard and we were designed by our Creator that way. That said, the variety of a hug is intriguing. First you have the side hug, the supposed awkward cousin to the "real" hug. Personally, I don't have a problem with it. To me, it's not awkward or weird; yes, it is less intimate (don't you love that word?) than a full hug, but why does the side hug get a bad rap? Don't know. Then you have the "real" hug, a straight up greeting of meaningful proportions. Sierra and Jenette called it, they said the reason a real hug is absolutely necessary is the feeling of being surrounded, encircled in the other persons arms, a feeling that a side hug can never offer. Now here's something else, what happened to that hug/kiss on the cheek thing? I don't know what it's called, but I've noticed that older people and Europeans in general tend to use this greeting when greeting a member of the opposite sex. I know virtually nothing about this type of greeting so I'm going to stop talking about it. I just thought it is either an interesting twist on cliche American greetings or it's just gone out of style...or something.
And lastly, I have one video for you. My apartmentmate, Mr. Michael Warnecke, showed me this video last night and it's the epitome of JAMMING.
The drummer is having the absolute time of his life. JAMMING JAMMING JAMMING. I can't put it into words, I just can't. I can't get over the absolute greatness of the BEAST of a drummer. So incredibly good. In the pocket, in the groove, mmmm, GORGEOUS.
And that's the post! Lots of words today. I'm always a fan of words.
Go tell someone else some words, have a good, meaningful conversation.
It's to the point where I feel like it's Wednesday everyday. Days feel like hours, weeks feel like days, months feel like weeks, years feel like months, decades feel like years, centuries feel like decades, millenniums feel like centuries. Time is cruise, cruise, cruising along, not waiting along for stragglers. All that to say, life's nuts and it's just getting nuttier.
I'll prove it to you. Are you familiar with the Sleep Talk 100 project? If you aren't, I've been recording my sleep talking each and every night and posting the results here: sleeptalk100.tumblr.com. Anyway, take a listen to last night's words:
I don't want to claim I know what I'm referring too, but it just might relate to the intensity of LIFE.
If you have been a consistent reader, for which I am very grateful, you will remember that last semester was ridiculous, a DOOZY, if you will. It was testing, difficult, and immensely challenging, but served as an INCREDIBLE learning experience, for which I am also grateful. However, for the majority of the semester, work was #1. There was no time for relaxation, sleep, or a social life.
Yikes.
So, that said, this semester, I intentionally signed up for less units, and, more importantly, less studio classes (film + art classes). BUT, because I'm me, I'm still unbelievably busy. Imagine that. Here's what's cool though: the busyness finally includes a social factor, doing things with other human beings. Before, it was "I've got four hours to complete 3 projects." Now, it is "I've got four hours to complete one project and hang out with some peeps." Do you know what this means? More stories, more memories, two of my favorite things. I'll prove more to you: last week, stories were the name of the game. Here's the post if you haven't seen it:
Stories. Lots of them. Memories. Lots of them. This is how it should be. And last week is was. And it was excellent, most excellent. Be spontaneous. Seriously. Last year, the loads of work got in the way of spontaneity. This year, making memories is on the agenda, and last week shows it's an attainable goal.
Now, more than ever, this blog feels like a diary. I feel like I got all emotional and stuff and spilled my guts to the world. I hope you enjoy gut spilling. Sometimes it's necessary. And sometimes it fun.
And with that, there's not much more to say.
But there's more to watch.
First, on May 20th, 2011, the day before the hoax-of-a-claim of the return of Christ, Mr. Kyle Dietz, Mr. Scott Weir, Mr. Connor Cabalka, and myself flew through the air at the speed of gravity. We sky dove. It was incredible. It was fantastic. And now there's a video, a video of which is decently long so if you want to, skip the middle part; the beginning and end are definitely worth a watch:
Secondly, I ran across a filmmaker who has become in the last week one of my biggest inspirations. He is a one man jam and his work is absolutely incredible. And the best part? He is using his gifts to spread the love of Christ. Breath=taken.
And finally, live performence music video by the ridiculosity of a band, Sleigh Bells. The reason I share this is not for the performance in itself, but in the video production. The editing BEAUTIFULLY reflects the chaotic nature of Sleigh Bells' music and their absurd live shows. Naturally, I'm a fan.
And that's the post. I gave a shout out earlier to all the consistent readers. I really am grateful for you, regardless if I know you. In the beginning stages of this blog, it was all about records, recording events in the life of Morgan Lott to be remembered. Technically, it still is around for that purpose BUT, even through the urges to quit, it's great to be able to share current happenings, interesting findings, and everything else under the sun to the internet community. To those of you I know personally, I want to thank you for reading and investing some time in this bizarre dude you know. To those of you I don't know personally, I want to thank you for reading and investing some time in this bizarre dude you don't know.
Invest your time wisely. Invest your money wisely. Invest your relationships wisely. Invest your life wisely.
Let's start from the beginning. On Thursday, the 6th, my good friend Mr. Sean Cook informs me he is playing a free show with the band Press Play in Long Beach. Naturally, I have to go. I start talking to people, trying to get a group to go. I start with the Simi people, people who would be interested in chillin' with Sean regardless of the concert. No luck. Then I started asking people who just seemed like they would want to go. No luck. EVERYBODY I talked (or tried to talk to) either wanted to go but couldn't, didn't want to go, or just straight up sick. FINALLY, an hour before I was hoping to leave, I found two people to come with me. I was ECSTATIC not only because friends were able to go, but because there was a vehicle that was able to go. Over the next 45 minutes, however, the tides turned. Both people turned down the chance of a lifetime. I was bummed. SO CLOSE! I was in a pickle, I still wanted to go. Should I go alone? I don't see why not? But... who goes to concerts alone? Seems, I don't know, a little gutsy. Plus, I didn't have a car...
BUT, I just had to go. I found a car last second, asked my roommates if they wanted to go one last time and then headed out by myself.
Naturally, I took a camera.
Guys, this was just great. Not only was the experience as a whole great, but going to worship God with the community of Christ at a place I had never been before was GREAT. Press Play is impacting the world and it was incredible to see that first hand. I've discovered over the years that I enjoy spontaneity a whole lot. Spontaneous events are nothing but a big bundle of surprise and, honestly, it never fails for a good time. Even in situations that may not seem "fun" or "worthwhile," 100% of the time, it makes for a good memory. Stories that begin "Remember that time?" are consistently GREAT stories. Click the links below for some incredible spontaneous stories from my life. I cannot express to you how great these memories are:
The story of a car accident, a white elephant gift exchange and a wedding: CLICK
The story of crashing the uncrashable sweet 16 party: CLICK
The story of the photographs, getting caught in a ditch, and flipping a coin: CLICK
(Mr. Scott Weir seems to be the spontaneous helper)
Be spontaneous. Do random stuff at random times. These are the best days of our lives.
Speaking of spontaneity, the fun doesn't end.
On Saturday, I was given the opportunity to shoot photographs at a wedding. Mr. Austin Axen asked me if I would like to help him in an extremely relaxed, stress-free environment. I was hesitant at first, but just couldn't turn it down. I was BLOWN AWAY by how different shooting photographs at a wedding is from shooting video at a wedding, not to mention that is was really REALLY hard. I was definitely stretched throughout the day and it was the perfect "practicing" situation because I wasn't expected to perform and produce professional images. I must say though, Mr. Austin Axen is a G when it comes to photography. His shots were consistently incredible. He's got the eye and I'm pumped to see where he goes. Here's a few images for your enjoyment.
Then, that night, Mr. Scott Weir called me up and invited me to join him and others to go to this wild place called Guppy's. Supposedly, Guppy's is just a tea house just down the road. But of course, when you stick me and Mr. Scott Weir in the same vehicle, something crazy is going to go down. So, of course, we get lost. We always get lost. After a decent amount of laughs, we arrive. So, I guess this place Guppy's is famous for like shave ice or something. We take a look at the menu, discover the shave ice is pretty expensive, and get the largest one. And let me tell you, it was MASSIVE. Here's a photo of the mayhem courtesy of Ms. Sierra Falco.
Gigantic clam-shaped bowl filled with mounds of shave ice, pretty much a whole fruit tree, and softball-sized icecream scoops. Let's just say we didn't finish it. Yeah, didn't have a chance.
Then, the next night, it was time to celebrate Ms. Laura Cook's birthday. I'm not going to get too much into this, but when you stick 15-20 well dressed (as per Laura's request) people around a table at Elephant Bar, the term "good time" just fits. It was an evening full of good friends, good conversations, and good food, which, in my opinion, is one of the best combinations you can ever have. Definitely a good night, stickin' in the memory bank for good.
So, all in all, EXCELLENT week. One of the best in my recent memory.
AND GUESS WHAT! You may not have noticed, but the last few weeks, I have mentioned the tour of the apartment and I have mentioned it simply can't happen that particular week. Here's the deal, everything that I said was going to happen "eventually" still hasn't happened. So you know what this means? You get the tour of the not-quite-completed Tropicana 205 apartment!
So without further ado, I present to you 205.
I encourage you, enjoy the tour. If you would ever like to stop, please let the tram driver know and we will wait for you. Our tour guide has led African safaris for 15 years so he is understanding if you want to take picture or two.
Here we are! Tropicana. If you look forward, you will notice the vintage
apartment building that is Tropicana. This is the entrance to the
building leading to the numerous apartments inside. Let's go inside!
Okay, we've just made our way up the stairs and are now looking out from the second level over the "hole" if you will in the middle of the apartment complex. If you peer across the gap, you will see a door that reads "205." That's we are headed. If you look below, you will notice there is a considerable body of water. This is the Tropicana pool, a pool that has been used by all kinds of people including party-goers, volleyball players, competitive swimmers, and the normal pool-goer. This pool is the home of fun.
Let's move across to the other side.
We have made it to our destination. If you take a look at the handle you will notice the "Krill Egg." This egg has been stolen by numerous critters including raccoons, squirrels, and crows. Somehow, it has survived the years and still resides on the door handle of our residence. It is one of those irreplaceable amenities.
Please watch your head and take a step inside.
Welcome to Tropicana 205! Like I said, it is still in the working stage, but we're making progress! Immediately you will notice the ficus and the flags. The ficus is one of the most notable aspects of the apartments as you can see it from almost anywhere in the complex. It also creates a jungle-like atmosphere which is always great. You will also notice the flags, representing the communities (from left to right) Oklahoma, Alaska, the Philippines, and Hawaii. We are mulch-cultural in 205.
In the front of the living room, you will notice the "Call Police" sign which has always been notable and often the conversation starter with many types of people. You will also notice the "Skyline" and "S'us b'ilt" signs, two treasures from my summer at Hume Lake Christian Camps. Those two words/sayings bring back multitudes of memories and make me smile. Rep the skyline. You will also notice the entertainment system. It's been fun. See that white box in the corner? If that ground is shaking, well, you can blame that guy.
Take a right and you'll see our dining room. Right now it is home to housemate Mr. Ben Jacuk's materials after that beast of man stayed up through the night studying. Remarkable. This is where we eat meals every day, no matter how good or bad they happen to be.
This is the kitchen, where food is made, where food is stored. Take a look inside the refrigerator if you dare. I may as well mention the snack bar that you will be able to purchase food from once this tour has finished. "Serving Tour Food since 1990."
Okay, next stop are the rooms. Head down the hallway and look left. This is where I and my roommate Joel live. What you see here is Joel's area, including the unfortunate Phillies flag. It seems like all they do is win. Joel's clean. I'm not.
This is an interesting area of the room. You'll see a number of ties on the ground. This is because I have not found a place to store them which has become quite the problem. I'm sure a solution will present itself soon. I hope a solution will present itself soon.
This is my desk. It is a mess. I'm sorry. Like I said, I'm still moving in. Kind of. This is unacceptable and embarrassing.
This is the mural. You may recognize it from years past. I rescued him from the Royal High School dumpster my senior year. It was part of a set for a drama production, and no, Ms. Melanie Lott and Mr. Kyle Dietz had nothing to do with the creation of the painting. I expect this painting to grace my home for years to come.
If you take a look at the ground, you'll see the rest of the materials that need to be hung on the walls. This includes posters, comic strips, and other goodies that have been collected thorughout the year. Perhaps the most notable object in this sad pile is the picture of my pal, mentor, and inspiration, Mr. Rudy Campos. You see, Rudy Campos is a Video Production Professional and when I acquired this gem in high school, I aspired to be just like him, a video production professional.
Here is a SECRET spot in the room. This is the where the Sleep Talk 100 (http://sleeptalk100.tumblr.com) is recorded. If you know what that means, you might say "woah" or something. I don't know how you'll react, I just sleep there. But there you, Behind-The-Scenes to the MAX.
This is Mr. Michael Warnecke and Mr. Ben Jacuk's room. With respect to privacy, I politley ask you not to look in there. I have no authority over their room.
We're almost done with the tour! We have one last stop. As you head toward the front door, take a look at the wall separating the door and the window.
This is our Santa. Yes, he's creepy. Yes, he's red. Yes, he's in a train. Yes, the dude in the onesie just received coal in his stocking. Yes, this is a magazine cut-out. Yes, it's provided for a number of great laughs. Yes, you can see a close-up.
And that concludes the 2011 tour of the Tropicana 205! I hope you enjoyed your trip, learned some interesting facts to be used in trivia games, and leave feeling refreshed and encouraged. Enjoy the rest of your stay in Tropicana and have a great day! Please be sure to visit, you're always welcome. Buh-bye now!
Friends. That concludes this Wednesday's edition of "It's Wednesday!" I must say, this one is one for the ages. Lots of good content. It may or may not make it onto the Top 5 list, I'm leaning towards not.
