1 Week-ish

I will be returning to Los Angeles in just over a week from tonight. I am still excited to return, which is good. I am still scared to return, which is to be expected. I am going to be sad to leave my family behind again.

God has answered my prayer and I have really enjoyed my time here the last couple weeks. I have mostly not thought about LA or my impending job hunt. The result was a wonderful Christmas. I got great presents and gave in kind, but most important for me was the time I have spent with my extended family.

My family is very close and being able to spend one last Christmas at my grandpa's farm was a wonderful experience and one that I will sorely miss.

I will spend the next week seeing everyone I can and being with my family because after January 7th I am flying west to a new life. Hopefully this blog will be more interesting then.

"Home"

I am currently at my parents house in good old Shoreview, MN. It feels so weird to be visiting my own house. But I am encouraged by the feelings I have. I am happy to be home and glad to see everyone again but I can not wait to return to my new apartment in Burbank. Slowly but surely, Los Angeles has become home in my mind and now I miss it more than I missed Minnesota in August. It's a strange feeling leaving home to visit "home".

My prayer these next 3 weeks is that I can live in the moment and enjoy my time here without being distracted by thoughts of sunny California or the friends I have there. "Keep your concentration here and now where it belongs", as Qui-Gon Jinn once said. Before I know it, I'll be on a plane back to CA and missing my friends and family here again.

If you read this, I hope I'll see you sometime during these 3 weeks! Let the games begin!

Blessings

The last day and a half has more or less been a vacation for me here in lovely Burbank, CA. I haven't really had any obligations, or responsibilities and I've been free to just relax. I haven't really, but I've been free to.

The great news of the day is that I have an apartment lined up for January. I'll be moving in on the 7th officially. It is in Burbank and in a excellent location so I couldn't have asked for more really. I also found a place to store my car for free so blessings abound at the moment.

I fly home tomorrow so I'm sorting through my things to find what I want to bring with me. I'm excited to be home (sad to be leaving my computer though) and see my family again. But those 3 weeks will go by quickly and I'm extremely excited to have a place to come home to when I get back out here.

Moved Out

I am officially moved out from Park La Brea and now reside in the apartment of one Kevin Horton (that's right, THE Kevin Horton). I am pretty exhausted from all the cleaning and packing and moving. I will be meeting a friend for a LATE lunch soon and then I will hopefully head over to church one last time before I leave this wonderful city for 3 1/2 weeks. I will be able to upload pictures finally while I'm home so that you all can finally see what my life in LA has been like in 2 megapixels.

I leave for Minnesota Monday afternoon and my eta in MSP is 10:25 pm (CST of course).

Right now I just want to crash but I can't yet. I am working on securing a living situation for when I return. I have some promising leads and will post more when I have something more concrete. But right now I feel like I finished a marathon only to find out that the finish line is actually over there at the end of the next block. :P

Hopefully will have an update again before I leave. I am moving out here in a month so this is certainly not my last entry. I will most likely continue posting while I'm at home too.

Final Week Update

Last night was the premier event for all of the HPW films made this semester. We showed Little, Copies and Coffee: A Musical, Ginger, Candy and our film Two Hours. They were pretty well received and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards there was an after party and we all hung out and basked in our collective glow. Good times were had by all.

This morning has been work time. While I don't move out until Saturday, one of my roommates is checking out today so he can get back to his graduation tomorrow afternoon. So as a result we all have to have this place completely spick and span. It is a lot of hard work but I don't really mind because tonight...Buca's on City Walk!

Even I am a little surprised at just how excited I am for Buca's tonight. It's one of my favorite restaurants so that is part of it but it's a lot more than that. Anyways, no point dwelling on it.

Also get to have a big Christmas party with my American Humane pals tomorrow night. That will be fun as it is the last time I will see them for a long time (for those that I do see again). It's been a good run at AHA and I will recommend it to the next semester if I get the chance.

Anyways, enough lolligagging. Back to cleaning!

Finished (Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Enjoy a Crazy Week)

The most intense and busy week of my life has come to a peaceful resolution. This week saw me have a project/presentation due Monday, a cut of sound for our short film due Wednesday, a 6 page paper, several internship assignments (including another short paper) and my screenplay due Thursday, and the FINAL cut of sound for my short film due this morning at 10 am.

The sound of course was the toughest part because it required the most amount of work in a small space, but also because every other assignment took time away from that. Quite frankly, if I hadn't finished my screenplay last Friday, I would have had an extremely impossible week. Instead, it was merely quite challenging.

One of the most important things I've learned in this program is just how much I am capable of when I am pushed. Even a week or two ago, I never thought I'd get even the most important things done, much less everything. I learned I can surprise myself still and that's a nice gift to have.

Sound went well, though it cost me all of last night. It was tons of fun in a masochistic kind of way. I feel it's important to stay up all night every once in a while to remind yourself that you still can. The feeling of accomplishment still hasn't set in yet, maybe that's more out of fear of what this means: My work here is done (for now).

The LAFSC semester is over in under a week, and I am officially done with all my class related work. Internship is done, all my assignments turned in. Nothing to do now but sit back and enjoy the next week or so before I move out.

For those who do not know, I will be in Minnesota on the 14th (though late) for Christmas and a semester debriefing. I have so much I want to do. But I only have 3 1/2 weeks to do it as I return to Los Angeles on January 7th. It's a slightly terrifying thought but I am excited as well. It's the start of a new life.

That is all the thinking I want to do for now. Still unwinding from my sound work, and may need a full 48 hours of brain burning to recover. To the video game machine!