Just Visiting

Got into Indy at about 6 A.M. , but I am just visiting. I am driving back home to Hollywood on May 31st...

My L.A. Butterfly

The chaos theory states, "The flapping of a single butterfly's wing today produces a tiny change in the state of the atmosphere. Over a period of time, what the atmosphere actually does diverges from what it would have done. So, in a month's time, a tornado that would have devastated the Indonesian coast doesn't happen. Or maybe one that wasn't going to happen, does." The following is the story of how giving up 3 summers to serve God at a summer camp got me a refrigerator for $50. In May 2000, Murphy and I drove 7 hours to the small town of Evart, Michigan to work at SpringHill summer camp for the next 12 weeks. While we were there, we met R. O. Smith who worked at the camp as the Jr. High camp director. A few years ago, R. O. left the camp and moved to Beverly Hills where he is the Jr. High Youth Pastor at Bel Air Presbyterian. When Murphy and I started making plans to move out to California, R. O. informed us about WestCoastRentals.com, as a service to find apartments. We joined the website and found some apartments to look at. On Monday, the first day looking, we found a place in Korea Town for $795 that we thought about getting. We talked to the manager, and she told us to go to the down town office and talk to them and look at other apartments. When we got to the office, a lady that worked there told us about an apartment off of Hollywood Blvd. that was going to be available on Thursday. We decided to head down to the apartment to check it out on our own. When we got there we were walking down the sidewalk and we asked a guy that passed us about the neighborhood. He told us about the huge apartment that he got, and that it was the best deal he found after looking for 3 weeks. We called his manager, and he told us about an apartment that he had available for $1025. We looked at it, and it was pretty big. It also has a fire place. *So back to camp. Also while we worked there, we met Dave Knight, who moved out to California a few years ago too. He is the Associate Pastor at Herman Free Methodist. He introduced us to a friend of his that was also looking for a place. So the three of us took the apartment. It sounds kind of cramped, but it will be bigger then the dorm room I stayed at in Elliot Hall at Ball State. And since we are sharing it, I am only paying $250 a month for my part. The apartment doesn't come with a refrigerator though. We asked Jimmy, the manager, and he told us about a tenant who was moving out, and was selling her year old fridge for $50. So to recap, if we never went to camp, we never would have met R. O. and would have probably never known about WestSideRentals, and would have probably never known about the apartment in Korea Town, and would have probably never known about the apartment off of Hollywood Blvd., and would have never met that guy on the street, and would have never known about his apartment, and would have probably not have gotten it if we didn't know Knight, or his friend, and would have never known about getting a fridge for only $50. So this can be attributed to some butterfly flapping its wings, but I am still going to hold on to Psalm 1:3..."and in all they do, they prosper."

Star Wars Episode III Revenge of the Sith

Just got back from Star Wars. I liked it. I think it is better to be seen in order, after Episode II and before Episode IV though. It is hard to judge a movie where you know what is going to happen. It would be like watching The Sixth Sense and knowing that Bruce Willis was dead the whole time. However, there is more to this story. While I was standing in line to get in I saw someone that I thought I recognized. But I didn't say anything to her, because you always hear interviews of stars that say they just want to be left alone at restaurants and stuff. Anyway, I was sitting in my assigned seat* and she walks in with her friends and sits right behind me. So I turn around and say, "Excuse me, I know you probably hear this all the time, but are you Alex?" (Alex Bornstein from "Mad TV" and the voice of Lois on "Family Guy") And it was. It was pretty cool. But the cool part was that she was just hanging out with friends, like normal people. And after the movie, I saw her pay for parking like a normal person, and walk to her car like a normal person. Just goes to show, that TV and Movie stars are just normal people. But it was cool. *The theater we were at gave you a seat to sit in like when you go to a concert or something. It was nice, because you didn't have to get there early to get a good seat.

A Day In The Life Of A Wall In Los Angeles

Nothing much happened today, we are just waiting to hear back from the apartment where we applied. We will find out either Thursday or Friday. The only bad thing about this, we really can't apply anywhere else because it cost $30 for each application we fill out. But, we need to get a place this week, we can't just drive out here without a place to live. I have faith though that we will get this place, so I have no worries. So tonight, I was walking down Hollywood Blvd., and as I passed a Starbucks I saw something that I guess I better get used to seeing. I won't go into too much detail, because there might be some ladies reading this, but I will go so far to say I saw a guy just staring at a wall. If you need to know more about what happened, you can read about it in I Samuel 25:22. That's all of anything interesting that happened today. So I will end this and get in bed, because tomorrow at 10 a.m., I will be watching "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith"!!!

I think we got it

Well, today we applied for an apartment off of Hollywood Blvd. We found a friend of a friend to share a 1 bedroom with. The rent is $1025 a month. That's every month. The last apartment I had was in Muncie, IN, and that was a 3 bedroom for $600 a month. This is a far way from there. So unless something terribly wrong happens, and they deny us the apartment, that is the one that we are going to get. And that was all that happened today.

1st Day Looking

This was the first day out looking for a place to rent. After only the first day, I think we found a place. There are a couple of places we are looking at, we just have to decide which is the best one based on location, price, parking situation...stuff like that. Hopefully everything is going to work out, of course I could be like the Son of Man, "But Jesus replied, 'Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head'" Luke 9:58. And after all, isn't the goal of the Christian life to be more like Jesus? But actaully, I am sure it will be more like Matthew 6:32, "...Your Heavenly Father already knows all your needs, and he will give you all you need from day to day if you live for Him and make the Kingdom of God your primary concern." So I am not too worried. Even though today all we did was look for a place, I did win a free Whopper Jr. from Burger King in the Star Wars game. So it wasn't a complete waste. And as I am writing this, Terminator 3 is on TV, and I realized that in a few weeks, the Terminator is going to be my Govenator.

Home in L.A.

Ok, so after 2 hours of sleep at home, and about 2 hours of sleep on the plane, we arrived in Los Angeles. The rental car was a headache. We had to wait about 20 minutes for the shuttle to arrive to take us to the rental place. Then when we finally got there, the lady was completely rude. As we were heading to our car, she pointed right and said, "Your car is over there somewhere." After looking around, we went left and found our car on the other side of the lot. After that though, we met up with some old friends and met some new ones. The day was great after that. We went to Santa Monica, the the beach, and then to 3rd Street Promenade. We got some Jamba Juice, some sort of fruit smoothie. I thought it was rather delicious. To end the day, we saw production for a new move, "Material Girls", with Hillary Duff.

Fountain of Youth

Today I was a substitute teacher for 9th grade English. It was pretty easy. The teacher just had me show "Finding Forrester" every period. The only bad part about that is, the classes were only 50 minutes long, so I had to watch the first 50 minutes of the movie 6 times. I did show the ending of it in study hall, though. I like being in the High School more as opposed to Jr. High for a couple of reasons. One is that the High Schoolers are older and can carry on actual conversations. The main one is that even though I have been out of High School for 5 years, I still get confused as a High School student. I mean, that would make anyone feel good. But especially in an acting point of view, the longer I can stay young...the better.

Last Solid Rock

So this was my last night in Solid Rock. Solid Rock is my church's, The Indianapolis Baptist Temple, youth group where I have lead the band all year. I played guitar and sang. I really loved doing it. I also learned quite a bit about the guitar and music in general from just playing all year. This was my fourth year doing it. Not consecutively. I did it my senior year of high school - '98-'99, then in '00-'01, '01-'02, and '04-'05. Solid Rock doesn't go on during the summer, just the school year. The thing is though, the Church hasn't had a permanent building to use since February 13, 2001. So every week during those years, we would have to set up and tear down all the equipment. But, the Church finally secured a permanent building that will be ready sometime during the next several months. So next year there won't be the setting up and tearing down that I have done for several years, but I won't enjoy that, because I will be in L.A. I feel kind of like Moses who led the Children of Israel to the Promise Land, but was only able to look in at it. He was never allowed to enter. "Then Moses went to Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak, which is across from Jericho. And the Lord showed him the whole land...Then the Lord said to Moses, 'This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and I told them I would give it to their descendants. I have now allowed you to see it, but you will not enter the land.'" - Deuteronomy 34:1-4. But looking back, it was a great year.

Preparing...21 days left

Preparing for L. A.
This past week, I have been doing the final preparing for the move to L. A. I had a hitch attached to my '96 Ford Taurus in order to pull a trailer. (After I get to L. A., I want to buy one of those novelty propelers to put on the hitch.) I got new tires put on, and found out that I need to replace some kind of rod for $200. I have burnt all my favorite songs on to CDs for the drive out there. So far I am up to 25 discs. I hope that is enough. I have been looking online for apartments. On Sunday, May 15th, I am going to be flying out to L. A. to look at them and sign a lease. The latest thing I have done was to buy 6-mile Walkie-Talkies so I can keep in contact with my friend, David S. Murphy, as we drive out to California together on May 31, 2005. I am excited, but also scared out of my mind. So I keep saying to myself Psalm 1:1-3, "1. Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with scoffers. 2. But they delight in doing everything the Lord wants; day and night they think about his law. 3. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season without fail. Their leaves never wither, and in all they do, they prosper." (new living translation) I graduated from Ball State University with a degree in Film, Television, and Radio Production, so this is something that I kind of have to do. I guess I could stay in Indianapolis, but the only jobs I could really get would be in news. I am aiming more for the entertainment side of things. Plus, Hollywood offers a greater opportunity to fulfill my missions statement, "To Change The World Through Film And Television."