Advantage

Oh, Wednesday's. The famed Wednesday. I've been dressing up on Wednesday's for 6 years now and have been writing this blog for 4. Four years. There are 243 posts on this here blog, documenting the life of this random dude Mr. Morgan Lott. 243 Wednesday's that preserve memories that will last longer than I will be alive (if the internet sticks around, that is). Friends, I am in a rut. It's been 4 years and my drive to continue this blog is growing thin. Not to fear though, I will definitely be continuing this li''l' Wednesday tradition into my college graduation. The reason I say all this is for this reason: it's amazing how our passions change. I used to be passionate about this blog. I'd get super amped to write about the crazy shenanigans my friends and I would get into. I would write posts like this: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2010/12/story.html or this http://emliv.blogspot.com/2008/12/be-ready.html and I would be so jazzed to share it. I would look forward to Wednesday's because I knew I could think about the week and write absurdities about it, saving it on the interweb to look at 40 years from now. "It's Wednesday" created a great outlet outside of the lull of school and homework. Nothing else was going on. Fast forward to today and my passions have shifted. I am basically out of school, homework is minimal. Most my time is spent working on films, weddings, freelance. I have a girlfriend now, she's fantastic. I'm responsible for my food, my rent, my utilities, my house. My friends are always busy/unavailable/moved away and they typically aren't down to do super super random stuff like what I talked about last week: http://emliv.blogspot.com/2013/03/skipp.html. And, to be honest, neither am I. We've grown up, we've matured. Our passions lie other places. Now, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy a random adventure now and again, because they happen all the time. My priorities have shifted a tad, that's all.

So, ALL that to say, this blog has also experienced a shift. You faithful readers probably know what I'm talking about. Maybe not. Who knows.

How have your priorities changed in this last 5 years?


In other news, this last week has been a rollercoaster. I can't go into too much detail. I do have one story though:

I went to Temecula for a couple days with Ms. Morgan McGannon to visit her family. It was wonderful: swimming, enjoying the HEAT, food, food, food, getting work done (surprisingly), PF Changs with her brother and Oz the Great and Powerful with the rest of the fam. On Saturday night, we babysat three of the neighborhood kids: two sisters named Kassidy and Kaylin and the neighbor boy Shane. These three kids are all under the age of 7 and, in my opinion, the PERFECT age to have an absolute ball. The reason? They're old enough to carry on intelligent conversation, laugh at jokes and tell jokes back, run fast enough to where "freeze tag" is a workout, the list goes on. And they are NOT old enough to be "too cool" for imagination, for fun games, for burning energy, for being overly disrespectful. So, to say it lightly, it was a BLAST. Shane and I teamed up as "the boys" and we conquered a fort, making sure the girls didn't get it, because, well, boys rule, girls drool. But, the evil girls had the ball and we needed to get it. Good thing we had our invisible weapons though because without those the girls would have taken over our fort. The girls had a secret animal and always had secret meetings, so Shane and I grabbed some testosterone and RAGED. We ran around the house, threw stuff, lounged on the couch. Then we watched tv. Here's a pic Ms. Morgan McGannon snapped:

 

And then, once we settled down, Kassidy and Shane started gettin' all in each others bizness. Ms. Morgan McGannon has the play-by-play (read from the bottom).

Simply fantastic. It was a great weekend. So much learned. Holy cow, so much learned.

In other news, here are some social media snippets from the rest of the week:

Bam boom bing. HERE WE ARE. RIGHT NOW. 

Take advantage of every day. Every day is a new day. Every single day is a single new day. A unique day. A day never experienced before. A day that will never be repeated. A brand spankin' new set of 24 hours. 

Take advantage of it.

Finale

Today is the final Wednesday of the semester. Today is the final day of the semester. Today was the final day of the semester. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and realize "yesterday was the final day of the semester." Fall 2012 is TOAST and Spring 2013 is fresh bread waiting to be placed in the toaster. It's incredible to think I will NEVER be taking a general education class again, no more classes that I have to take to simply satisfy a requirement. If I choose to take classes ever again in my life, they will be intentionally and beneficially chosen for the sake of personal learning. None of this "oh, I HAVE to take one more science class because I HAVE to or I WILL NOT GRADUATE." None of that.

We're growing up. People are graduating. School is done. School. That thing we've gone to most weekdays of our entire lives up this point. A professor put it this way: "You're about to be fired from your full time job of 18 years." We've been full-time academics, spending our time in schools, in studies, in educational practices. That world is about to be vanquished, kaput, straight toasted. We're about to enter into this thing called the "workforce." Sounds terrififying. But you know what else it sounds like? ADVENTURE. Time's only moving forward.

To all my fellow Biolan's who are graduating, the world is yours for the taking. You have the opportunity to literally, figuratively, and spiritually change this planet if you take the skills you have learned through this point in your life and utilize them. Biola's a good school, they're relevant. You're ready to make an impact on this thing called the "workforce" for Jesus. Let's go. I'm rooting for you. I'll see you in the "workforce" in 6 months. Pumped to hear the stories.

In other news, here's a fantastic .gif:

 

In other news, here's one of my favorite blog posts of all time. SO RIDICULOUS.

http://emliv.blogspot.com/2011/05/high-five-for-first-kiss-birth-of-viral.html

In other news, here's my families Christmas card:

In other news, here's a fantastic video:

In other news, this week has been ABSOLUTE INSANITY. It's finals week, projects are due. I decided to go above and beyond on a specific Graphic Design book assignment and it ATE my time like a juicy cheeseburger. I've spent probably upwards of 30 hours in the Art Lab, the famed 82, in the last 4 days. And then Ms. Morgan McGannon has just been a twinkle in my eye. She's fantastic. 

Here's a few tweets from the week. They're pretty vague. In fact, some are VERY vague, possibly so vague I won't know what they are referring to in the years to come. So, future Morgan Lott, these tweets were somewhat significant this week. BAM.

The joys of social media.

Okay, well, I'm out. I'm taking this girl out of the town tonight. This girl, the one in this picture.

Go outside right now. Look at the sky and how vast it is. IT IS UNBELIEVABLE. The sky goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on. Think about that for a second.

thisisBIG

This picture is symbolic.

See that palette, how it's shattered? It's symbolic.

Yesterday was HUGE and I didn't even realize it until it happened. I'll show you why. WATCH:

thisisstuttering :: official teaser trailer from Morgan Lott on Vimeo.

This is the teaser trailer for my documentary, thisisstuttering. This is a project that has been in the works for months (or if you want to get specific, 22 years). thisisstuttering deals directly with my own speech impediment, a stutter that has plagued me for years. The film documents that progress made during the summer of 2012 as I went through another round of speech therapy.

We've been working on it a while, the content is not new. I've seen it all, been editing it, talking about it, working through it. We produced this teaser and it turned out great. I was excited to release it. And then the moment came to make it public. I released the teaser and shared it on facebook, and then IT HAPPENED. At the moment, I became mentally disheveled. I could never have expected what happened and I will attempt to explain it through words. When a person "suffers" from a speech impediment, the automatic instinct is to hide it, to mask it, to deal with it any way possible to prevent people from noticing. We stutterers develop habits to get around certain words, to push through blocks, to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Since I was a kid, I decided I would not let my stutter control me, I would not let it stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Obviously, having a stutter made things difficult, but I tried to push through as best I could. Nevertheless, I never introduced myself as a stutterer, I never associated myself with the problem. People would notice when they noticed and I didn't point it out.

When I released this teaser, a made a MASSIVE realization: I am letting the entire world know I have a stutter, a quality of myself I have been trying to hide with all my might for 18+ years. Unreal. I flipped out, I had to play drums real real loud for a long long time. I laid on the ground. I sighed a whole bunch. My heart was beating nonstop for 3+ hours. And the weirdest part about it was it was COMPLETELY unexpected. Even in the moment of realization, I feel like it was my subconscious freaking out. There are so many complex incricacies to this speech impediemtn that have formed my character and who I am today, many of which I have never processed. The release of this teaser is the beginning of the process of process.

I don't know if my words do the feeling justice. No idea.

When the teaser was made public, I immediately headed to facebook to tell the world. The responses shocked me:

I can't explain the significance of these comments. The response to this project has been simply unblieveable, I'm overhwelmed. The fact so many people are intrigued/interested/curious/loving a topic that is socially so frustrating/confusing/embarrassing/mocked is INCREDIBLE.

I only have one thing to say: I can honestly say I do not have a clue what is going to happen with thisisstuttering. It feels like a volcano getting ready to erupt, it's impossible to know how wide an impact this is going to make. I'm immensely excited and dangerously frightened to see this film take shape.

If you want to keep up to date with thisisstuttering, please visit http://thisisstuttering.com and "like" on facebook.com/thisisstuttering

You'll be hearing a lot about this is the coming months, so GET READY. Unreal.


There are a few other reasons why this week is immensely important, but unfortunately, I can't quite share with public ears.

I'll give you a screenshot and keep it vague, the same why I kept vague on the twitter-sphere.

 

And here's just a vague phrase to help trigger my memory in the future days/months/years:

Wait 6 months, read, FINALLY, that was easy #mf

And there you have it.

THE BLOG POST OF DECEMBER 5, 2012. 

This week be cray, y'all.

Take a trip to somewhere you don't normally go. Hike to the top of a hill. Walk in a ditch. Roll in the mud. Jump on a trampoline. Use a pay phone. 

Skip-skip

WOAH folks! Wednesday came and gone. Wednesday came and gone without a blog post. This is not the first time it's happened. It's still "not good" though.

BUT, here's why. Yesterday (and the day before), I spend the day(s) at the Paramount Studio Lot in Hollywood, prepping and working at the Annual Billabong Design For Humanity event. I'll tell you about it, but I need you do something for me first. Mawwiage Films (mawwiagefilms.com) has just engulfed the world of Twitter, so please follow us! You won't regret it, not one bit.

Follow @mawwiagefilms

Back to the story.  One of my professors, Mr. Daniel Chang, presented his students with an opportunity to volunteer at the Billabong event, so naturally, I snatched up the chance.  What followed was long long hours of unpacking, preparing, arranging, rearranging, measuring, and hanging 70+ pieces of art in a makeshift gallery space.  It was a good time, a mighty good time.  And let me tell you, figuring out the order to place the diverse art on the walls was one of the most complicated things I've ever been a part of.  Figuring value, significance, medium, and flow into the precise placement of every piece of art is no easy task.  All that to say, we eventually got the Art Auction ready for auctioning.  We were ready to roll.

The event itself on Wednesday went rather smoothly. I, along with Ms. Vanessa Watts, worked with Mr. Morgan Maassen to help promote and sell his photography.  Check out his work at http://www.morganmaassen.com.  I enjoyed working in this small space, the people watching was incredible.  If you want specifics, ask me in person.  I have one good story though.  Mr. Morgan Maassen is a 20 year old male.  Mr. Morgan Lott is a 20 year old male.  Mr. Morgan Maassen was in and out, mostly out, of his gallery while Mr. Morgan Lott was always in his gallery.  A number of people walked up to Mr. Morgan Lott and asked "Hi, are you Morgan?" to which I would normally answer "Yes."  This situation, however, was different.  I could not answer "Yes" no matter how much I wanted to.  This was an interested dealing with honesty.  Is it honest to say "Yes, I am Morgan?" Well, I am telling the truth, I am indeed Morgan, but am I THE Morgan they're looking for? No. I would be deceiving them. DISHONESTY.  Is it honest to say "No, I am not Morgan?" Well, I am lying, I am indeed Morgan, but am  I THE Morgan they're looking for? No. I would be telling the truth.  DISHONESTY.  All that to say, I got a kick out of it.  Through the fashion show, the art auction, Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros, and approximately 4000 people attending, the 2011 Design For Humanity was a ball.

And then it was time to clean up.  After packaging up the art that was sold, packaging up the art that was not sold (I love how the complexity of such a task can be so easily stated in a simple sentence), it was 3 AM.  And what happens at 3 AM? Well, you head to Denny's.  We enjoyed a late night meal together to finish out the night.  And then, a typical "Morgan Lott Moment." On the way out, I somehow missed the freeway entrance, I drove right passed it. So I kept driving. All of a sudden, I was in residential area, and I cleverly thought "I don't think I'm going the right way." I didn't assume I had missed the freeway, I assumed I had went the wrong way in the first place.  So, I started driving, I started exploring.  After about 15 minutes, I realized I was in what I think was Thai Town.  It was at this point that this driving around looking for the freeway was not fun and games anymore.  Frustration began to set in.  Luckily, somehow, by the Grace of God, I found the 101-N minutes later and set on my merry way home.  I proceeded to write "I just added "Getting lost, alone, in Hollywood at 4 am for 30 mins" to my list of things I never want to do again."  It's true.

All in all though, an excellent two days.  I am grateful for the opportunity and seeing the event become a success? I'm always a fan.  Makes the hard work pay off.




So now, I have a video for you. I give you: Mr. and Mrs. Adam and Karielle Rivadeneyra!  Mawwiage Films had the pleasure of capturing the special day of these two and now it's your turn to experience the marvelous occasion!

http://www.mawwiagefilms.com/rivadeneyra 

Adam & Karielle Rivadeneyra from Mawwiage Films on Vimeo.

Follow @mawwiagefilms

And then one more video.  This guy has been around for a few weeks now and I've been meaning to post it on this blog for a few weeks now, as well.  Now's the time.



This little guy is simply a sport.  He's the boss.  He's an inspiration to us all.  If we all approach our obstacles based on this dude's encouraging words, the sky isn't even the limit.

Let's change the world.





Have a great day today.  You should read a random sentence out of random book.  And then write your favorite phrase out of that sentence.  On the refrigerator.  With refrigerator magnets.

Snaps

I'm back at school, just like *snap* that.  I'm taking a Spanish class, I'm three days in.  It should be good, it's basically immersion.  Which is a good thing, all I think about most of the day is Spanish.  Every day, constant Spanish throughout the week.  It's a good thing, but the class is very long.  Four hours a day, it feels like it get longer every day.  It's the first week though, it will speed up and feel short as the days go by.  Interterm is interterm.  It's bad in a good way.  I'm enjoying myself, there's so much work to be done.  So much work.  It's quite remarkable.


Because of this, I have little time to construct this Wednesday's post.  Sorry, I hope it doesn't produce negative emotions.


I have a couple announcements:

I had some fun designing this last week!  Hooray!  I completely redesigned my twitter profile as well as my myspace profile.  Here's something ironic, twitter is perhaps the most recent, biggest social media website, and myspace is perhaps the least, on the decline form of social media.  Here's the thing, I still dig myspace, I'd be on it every single day if it wasn't for nobody else wants to use it, I don't understand why.  At least from a designer's point of view, myspace destroys facebook, at least it did until myspace 3.0 came out.  It's all relative.  Here are your links:

http://twitter.com/morganlott

http://myspace.com/edwardmorganlottiv

Fun fun fun.



Here's something, while I was at Hume Lake during the summer, I shot two rolls of Kodak T-Max 400 film.  I had a good time, captured some good moments, and now they are online for you, you can now have a good time, you can capture some of those good moments.

Below is the link that links to the live album on my Facebook profile:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=328961&id=714162753&l=110166da35

Here are two shots:

Fun fun fun.




You know what else is fun?


VIDEO(s)



First up, there's this beatboxer called Beardyman and he took his talent to unsuspectors, I dig I dig.




In the spirit of skating, I took a trip back to yesteryear and remembered Rodney Mullen.  Remember Rodney Mullen?  One word: NUTTY.  Revolutionized skateboarding without his style becoming wildly popular.



Have you heard of Pogo?  If you don't recognize the name, you probably would recognize some of his work.  Here's his latest:

"This is remix of sights and sounds that I filmed around the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. This marks the beginning of my World Remix project!"

Super sick, super classic, check it:



Lastly, for all you vocal buffs out there, this video surfaced the other day.  Yesterday, when I found it, it had around 500,000 views.  Now, as I write this, it has 5,393,300 views.  That's quite a difference in a day.  Super super rad.  This homeless man has an incredible voice and he....well I'll just let him tell the story.

Currently, people all over are joining together to help this guy out, get him a job, get his life back together, and it might just work.  I wish him the best.




UPDATE:

This is a great reason why the internet is rockin'. So great. So great.





Incredible.






And that's it folks.  Video heavy, media heavy, not word heavy.  It's a good thing every once in a while, yeah?  Fun fun fun for everyone.





Have a fun-filled day today.  Take a walk outside, feel the temperature, imagine what 20 degrees colder would feel like, and then imagine was 20 degrees warmer would feel like.  If you had to choose one, 20° warmer, 20° colder, or where you are right now, which one would you pick?


I must say, I'd be SO down for 87 degrees right now.  SOOOOO down.