Chapter 16: Final Projects Report

Alrighty! You know what time of year it is? It's final time and many projects to do. Well I know you all like pictures and video so I have something extra for you all. I'll be posting many videos and pictures for the next week. So check back from time to time to see something new.

I'm just so excited, I had my final film screening and at first I was nervous, but then I showed my film to the class and they liked it. My teacher was flipping out and his assistant just had a jaw drop expression, he was surprised that I this film was created in Beginning film class. I was happy to hear my teacher give me 5-stars! I also got people asking me how I did the blood. Answer: Blood was created with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Lol it looks like blood in black in white film. The best compliment was from a freshman, he said,"Why aren't you a film major, your really good at this." I had a smile on my face and thanked him.

Reason why I'm not a film major? Well I believe there aren't as many jobs available. Plus its very competitive career and that would kill the fun for me. I'll be happy creating motion picture animated films. I feel more comfortable creating children's films too. Right now I'm working on the batman animation and its looking quite good. Sometimes I get pissed a little, but for the most part its enjoyable. Right now I'm in my batman phase and I can't wait for the last movie, Dark Knight Rises. I should probably get my tickets for that soon. Coming out in July!

Yeah I just wanted to let you all know whats going on, if you wonder why I might not post for a bit. I hope you enjoy the pictures and video that is about to come. Let me know what you think. Later!

Meet the Team for "Tally Mark"...

Me!

Christian

Zach

 

Nate

Jake

 

Larissa

Al

Me directing a scene from Tally Mark

Christina loading Arri S

Christian cutting the suit

Trying to get a light meter reading at 1:00am

We only used on bottle of chocolate - blood scene

Al plays a Mob Leader

Christian has also appeared

, Quarter Pursuit.

Me being me

Fight Scene - choreographed by Me!

We were all very tired at the end.

Chapter 15: On the Rise

School is finishing up pretty soon and I feel like I haven't done anything. Well I guess I'm close to finishing my film about an inspired character who is locked up in a prison. Hmm it should be a great film for all you psychological thriller fans! Yeah I feel like time is flying by and I can't slow it down for just a bit. Last week I spent the weekend just gaming it up and chilling out with my bro and my friend playing some LoL. I guess I needed to the break, but its time to rise to the occasions and kick finals in the butt.

Exciting news to go along with my film, I just found out that we are moving into our new apartment soon. We live on the highest floor (which is only floor 3) and we have a perfect view of downtown Fargo. I'm really pumped and I can't wait to chill in the new pad. My roommate talked to me today about getting a snake today and I was fine with it, but the other guy we are living with hates snakes (haha we quoted Indiana Jones).

Indiana: There's a big snake in the plane, Jock!
Jock: Oh, that's just my pet snake Reggie.
Indiana: I hate snakes, Jock! I hate 'em!
Jock: Come on! Show a little backbone, will ya!

Well my roommate might just get a lizard or something, but hey I think he should still get the snake. The apartment is super nice. Big kitchen, big living room, big bathroom etc. I can't wait to stay up in Fargo this summer, besides the summer classes. I think it will be a good experience and I'll be able to enjoy myself. I applied for a couple of jobs, but I haven't heard from any of them yet. Had two interviews and I thought they went well, but we will see. Once I get my second job, I will be swimming in the money (well after I pay for rent, food and gas, then I'll be able to swim in the cash).

I still have a major final coming up though. I have this animated batman project that I'm working on (I don't know if I've told you before, but its fricken sweet). It has been frustrating, but life is not a breeze, its a freakin wind storm hitting you from all angles. That might be a little over the top, but hey the animation process is coming along and I have my batman rigged finally!!! :) I'm very proud of myself if you can see. I'm currently in the process of giving him movement and applying him to the high rise scene (buildings and skyscrapers, you know). It looks amazing, thats all I can say. Its due on may 5th I think, but I need to conquer it sooner. Thats why I left my weekend available.

I guess life is going good. I met up with a friend who wants to actually go out and get some yogurt this sunday. I'm super pumped and can't wait. She is a great friend and she really doesn't know how much I enjoy talking to her. She told me she wants to hangout this summer alot. Super pumped!!!

Life is on the rise and I'm working at being patient and not worrying so much. I think it helps to keep my life filled with things to do, then things to worry about. All I want to do now is to keep climbing the mountain of life and never give up. And like how Short Round says, "I keep telling you, you listen to me more, you live longer!"

Chapter 14: Cut and Connect

I've been very busy lately and I haven't seen the keyboard for awhile now. I finally got my time to explain the stress this week, but its not about the stress, its about the experiences. I attended to my regular job campus and boy its gotta be more boring than visiting the nursing home. I would rather play cards with old people for same amount of time then sit on my butt and see listen to the humming of the vending machines outside of my work place. They are really irritating. I'm not really a big fan of this job because of two things. First, no one ever comes to my work for help or just to talk and second, I feel practically useless. I seriously don't do much except put more paper into the printer and rent out pool equipment. I don't really get my taste of satisfaction from this job.

The job I do get my satisfaction from is from Sober Drive. Yeah I drive drunks around and get paid to take them home or to another bar. You all probably think its weird, but hey if you were to see all the money I make from it, you would jump on this job too. I also get to hear weird stories and talk to some pretty "smashed" people. I can't help laughing at drunks sometimes. Ok, I've been waiting to tell you all an experience I had 2 weeks ago. We got a call to go pick some people up and when we get to this bar, the clients as I like to say were pissed off. One heavier guy was bleeding from the head. He said he was hit by a car. We rushed him to the hospital with his two other friends. That night I almost had to bail someone out of jail and the client gave me $550 to bail her out. Luckily she got let go with a warning. That night was super hectic, but defiantly worth the $125 I made in 4.5 hrs of work. Sometimes driving drunks gives me a thrill.

The big task this weekend was defiantly to edit my film project. I'm not a big fan of 16mm film, but when I saw the results of my film that I've been waiting for 2 weeks for, I was excited. Usually when you plan for something, it never happens the way you visualized it, but today was not one of those days. Everything was sharp and good exposure. I don't like to boast, but my film looks like it could pull in some awards this year. Soon I will be working on sound and then the final cut. When it comes to editing, you have to watch your footage first to get an idea of what your movie is about again. As a film student, we have to send our 16mm film to a processing company in Seattle. It takes about 2 weeks to get it back and when you get it back, its always nerve-racking when your about to open it up and see the results. Film is very different from video. The reasons why I like video more is because I can see the results now, I don't have to wait 2 weeks to get it back and its a pain to setup. The editing process is long because you have to cut your film, organize the film in order and then connect the film strips together with tape. If you stay focused and edit fast, it still takes roughly about 3 hrs to edit, I on the other hand, was editing for 8 hrs. Yeah weekend kinda of gone, but hey for once I was productive. If you can't tell I'm sort of impatient.

I've really notice this when it comes to organizing my weeks. I want to do so much, but I only have time to do things like work and school. I like to party and have fun, but sometimes you just gotta say no or say "next weekend I'll do something more crazy!" Yeah life is like one long movie, you have to cut and connect the things that really matter to you like work, school, friends and family. Sometimes its alright to leave out partying and drinking from your final schedule.

When I write, I don't feel stressed out. I write because my brain needs to let out all the things I may be thinking about at a particular time. Sometimes it just feels good to let someone know, sometimes its good to connect with people who will listen.

Chapter 13: Chasing the Skirt

Woke up this morning feeling crappy like always. Got ready for the day and headed off to my Animation Class. When I got there, my professor was using my final project last semester to show a student what we can do in this department, that made me very happy. Plus she was cute and looked like she enjoyed what she saw. Haha I'm just kidding, but hey she was cute. Yeah animation class is not too bad, but very frustrating from time to time. I want to create stuff like Pixar and Dreamworks, but I'm still learning. Well after 3 hours of very productive work, I left the classroom to go back to my room.

As I walked across my campus, I happened to see in the distance the girl that I liked and my friend. They were holding hands sadly and I tried to keep my head down, hoping they would not notice me. They noticed me of course because like in these kind of situations they always do. They both said hi to me and I had to say hi back. You know its polite to say hi back, lol well inside me I felt like a frickin war was about to begin. I just don't get how relationships spark or what I'm trying to say is how people know they want to start a relationship? To make sure I wasn't just assuming, I sent a text to my organization leader to see if he knew anything about it. The organization leader is actually the older brother of the guy who was holding hands with my secret crush. He sent a text back saying that they were and I should talk to him about my feelings sometime.

A good day gone bad, hmmm nah I don't feel like talking. I knew I wanted to know if they were dating, but I just didn't want to hear "yes they are". I wanted to beat the crap out of something, but I decided to relax and chill. I feel like chasing skirts never gets me anywhere. What do I mean by "chasing skirts?" I mean that chasing girls always ends up breaking my heart or there's. Its a killer to find out that someone else has been selected to buy her food and take her out to nice places. I feel like I'm super negative right now and I probably am, I'm tired of getting second place or friend zoned.

I scroll through the list of girls that have done this to me:
(I'm giving nickname's to the girls to keep their identities secret.)

1. Curly Curls - She was heartbroken at the time I met her. I liked her and she liked me, I think because she just wanted to find someone who wouldn't break her heart. I decided to take things slow and not push things to quickly. At the time one of my friends went behind my back and screwed her. Lets just say we are not friends anymore.

2. 18 Cutie - She was nice to me. She would text me every night, which sometimes got annoying. She was cute and she was 18. She liked me for who I was. Only thing she forgot to tell me was that she liked to jump around a lot. She had her fun with me and visited from time to time, till she got married and had a kid.

3. Goodie Good - She was smart, nice and a Christian girl. We hungout with each other, I visited her at work sometimes and she would do the same. She was funny and awesome! She just wanted to be friends, but I was trying to go to fast. Kissed her and she just decided we needed to have time apart. She got an actual boyfriend and they recently broke up. Now she bugs me and I don't know what to say. Feelings have kind of past.

There are a couple of girls later, but nothing worth mentioning about. I'm like a mirror when someone throws a rock at it. I'm a shattered heart and confused mind. My feelings take hold of me and I just get burned. Have you seen the movie, Hitch? He gets other people into relationships, but he can't get into his own. I'm sort of like that. Maybe I'll get my break soon, maybe I just need to be Solo man for awhile.

Chapter 12: Solo Man

So I planned to shoot my final film for class the other day. We have to use a camera called an arri s. Very old camera and it shoots in black and white. Very hard to control and you need lots of patience. Well we got most of the movie shot, its called Tally Mark. Anyways its a psychological thriller on a man who remembers the first man he killed. You know that creepy stuff. Well the last reel of film did not process right because it didn't run through the camera properly, so 3 hrs wasted. On top of that, we lost a battery belt and one of the lights fell and broke. Just what I needed right? Something to piss me off.

The film department helped me find the battery pack and I was told that the light bulb blew out. Both so reassuring and my professor told me that I could use the film footage that i shot and edit a new story with it. So its worth a try, but I won't get to see it for another week or so. Things were getting better and I got back everything I lost.

After 3 Months of tae kwon do, I finally got my orange belt!!! Yes no I'm ready to fight crime and all that, Lol I'm just messin with yah. Its a fun activity and I really enjoy myself. Sure the bruises and scars hurt, but its worth it. I also met with one of my favorite friends today. Truth be told I kind like her a lot, anyways I met up with her and another friend of ours. We talked about how we would make a new video for the organization that we are in announcing the new MCs. I like to plan out stuff like this, I really do enjoy making movies and seeing something that I've made. We plan on doing something with superheros so it should be awesome!

After we were done and they left, I took some time for myself to just relax and drink my Gatorade that I got at the local on campus shop. I took in all the sounds around me and shut my eyes slightly, I felt at peace and at ease. It was like 10 mins of relaxation. You know the type where your trying to let your mind catch up with the rest of your body. It needed a good 10 mins off. I recognized a friend working in the building I was relaxing in and started to talk to her while she put on her fake smile.

The smile, a type of smile that makes you think you could do better, but then you realize you can't and you say its fake. Well it was a huge smile, but friendly and we caught up with each other. I told her that I like the girl that I was talking to and she said that her boyfriend was sitting with us, when we had the meeting. My mind went for a twirl and smacked on the floor of my skull. What? When? Why didn't anyone let me know? No way!? Questions just took a ride on my brain and they finally came to a halt. Smiley friend said she caught them holding hands once. I told her that it could have been a friendly hold, but now I'm not to sure. He's too young for her, why is she thinking about him?

I question sometimes why people don't flat out tell me that they are dating someone, so I don't need to put too much of an interest in them. Life is not fair and I've been walking on that block of life for way too long. When will I get my break and find the girl I've been missing? Why won't she just tell me? My return back has not been a safe landing, but its ok, I survived the disaster and now its time to forget. Someone once told me there are plenty of fish in the sea and I usually return with, "yeah and those ones are all normal or ugly". I faced the big fact about girls, the hot ones are mean and the cute ones are taken. Leaving me a solo man with nothing.