Half way through November:

Two weeks. TWO WEEKS! Two weeks and November is history. Two weeks and I am staring back wondering where that time went. What did I do with those 14 days.  This semester has gone by too fast, but it was so much fun and so worth it. I have never met such a good group of friends as fast as I have down here. Even though I miss home and am excited to get back, I don't want to say goodbye. I want to leave for a few weeks and come back in January to see everybody once again. However, I know that wont be the case. So I making up for lost time. Doing the things that I have been wanting to do. I can't believe this semester is ending. I know the real world and the real L.A. is totally different from what I have been experiencing, but I am excited to see what it will be like. Where is my future headed? I don't know, that is in God's hands. Am I worried? I think not. I am more excited than anything.

It's the weekend today. I like weekends. No work, all play, and church. Gotta love the weekends. Tonight I am heading out a fancy event in Beverly Hills. It's like a networking dinner thing. I am really excited and can't wait to see who I will meet. But that is a few hours away. For now, I am relaxing with tea and reading a good book. Yay for reading! Tomorrow I am heading north to go to a sweet church. I am excited. Monday i start my last full week of the month of November. Kind of crazy.

I have made great advancements at my internship. I did full desk coverage of the "worst" desk on Friday. I was told these warnings: "expect to be yelled at." "It's insane." "Don't take anything personal." I experienced these things: "Joe you are awesome thanks for filling in!" "If Jon is sick Monday I don't want anyone to fill this desk other than you." I consider this a sign that I did a good job. Especially since everyone was surprised I didn't leave crying on Friday! Ha. I enjoyed it. It was intense and a lot of fun. I set up meetings with directors and talent and rolled calls to cell phones and the such. It was crazy. If I had to work at a desk anywhere, it would have to be in L.A. The reason? The people I call and the meetings I set up are awesome! It's fun calling Dreamworks and Fox. I like it. But we will see. Being a personal assistant is how you get started in this town, and so far it hasn't been that bad. Will I be moving back to this town? I don't know. But as every day passes I see that it is possible to make it down here. My future is open, only time will tell.

It is time for me to get ready for my day. So I will end this post with another thank you as I always do. All your support this semester has carried me on in ways you can't even imagine. Thanks for reading and encouraging me this semester. I look forward to seeing you all in the future!
Thanks,
-P.J.

A much overdue post:

Me and my roommate, Brent, waiting in line to meet the cast of Glee! 

  
  Where do I begin? So much has been happening lately I haven't even had time to process what has been going on. Perhaps the overwhelming about of craziness made me a tad homesick last week. FEAR NOT. That has all changed. I mean, I still miss home (and always will) but I have been coming to terms with the future and where I might be. During last week my ma and sister prayed for me earnestly that my spirit would be comforted. Let's just say, it worked.

    First, let me tell you about the way I think. I am a planner. I love to plan. Even though I know plans will change, and I am always up for a change in plans, I still can't truly relax if there isn't a plan. Not knowing my future has been the most stressful and unsettling thing I have ever had to think about. But as I have learned, my life isn't about me. So after last week and the craziness of school getting a tad busy all at once,  the dust has started to clear and the horizon can be slightly seen once again. I talked to one of my co-workers at work the other day and he gave me a ton of websites to go to for applying for jobs in the film industry. He also told me how he got his job at Anonymous. It was exciting because for once there was hope that life can exist down here. Graduation is just around the corner. I'm a free man as of December 9th. While that may be scary, it is also extremely exciting. So here is my tentative future schedule after graduation:
      First, I plan on producing a music album of some of my friends in Seattle. This is something I have always wanted to do. Also, it will be handy to have music that I have the rights to! I will let you all know about this project as it starts to come closer to reality.
      Second, i want to do at least one music video of a band in Seattle in Jan. During this time I will gather and find a crew that I like so I can direct at least one short. this is my Third plan.
     Third, as I stated above I want to direct a short film and enter it into the Seattle International Film Festival. This is something I have also wanted to do for a while. I have already started working on this and things are pretty exciting so far.
     Fourth, and this is truly tentative, I want to head over seas for some missions work for a month or so. One crazy plan that God has opened the doors to is Scotland. I have already been in contact with a few churches in Scotland and they are excited for some yanks to head over. Let me know if you want to hear that story, it's one of those it's too coincidental for reality stories.
     Five, and last, I plan on saving up some cash before returning to L.A.
I don't really know my future, and my plans are extremely tentative. But I am going to try. I am going to do something with my life. I just don't know exactly what it is right now, but I am ok with that. God has it all under control. Right? That is what I thought.

Me and Eric dressed up for Halloween. 

I am Denny Crane from Boston Legal, He is Jack from Lost. 

    Now that the preaching is over, it's time to get on with the fun stuff. One class is officially over. I have, in reality, only two classes left. EEK! What a fun semester to end on! My internship has been awesome as of late. I am really getting along with the people and I enjoy showing up every day. It's fun to do stuff related to film. I love it. This realization has come to me as of late. I love working in the film industry. It is just so cool.  I have only three weeks left at my internship so I am maximizing all that I can before I head out. I have made a lot of sweet contacts and hopefully they won't forget me! We will see. During my last day at work I was looking for jobs in the L.A area, and I found a few that peeked my interest. One such job was a paid internship at Sony Pictures for recent graduates. Hmmm....I liked it, and I meet all the requirements. Let's just say they will be receiving a resume from me soon.

    Filming for the rest of the class has finished. You can feel the stress just disappear from everyone in one big sweep. This is really nice. We can finally start to relax and hang out again like we did at the beginning of the semester. I will be posting some pictures from my production as soon as I sort through them. Don't worry I have a few people bugging me about putting them up, so they will be up soon. This weekend was fun. I went onto the set of Candy, another film by my class, and took production photos for the crew. I got a lot of really cool shots. After taking a few snapshots of Candy on Saturday I headed over to the Grove and met the cast of Glee, the new show on that there television.

It was pretty cool getting to meet them and get their autographs. I had a lot of fun. That evening I went over to Maggie and Ellen's apartment where Maggie and her ma and sis made us all dinner! It was awesome, and so yummy. Sunday I went to a super awesome church in the morning. It was called Ecclesia, and it was led by pastor Joseph. Foreshadowing anyone? Let's just say I have considered being a pastor and I won't discard it. For now, I am trying out film. It was during this sermon that we heard stories of some short term mission trips and I came to the realization that I wanted to go another trip asap. And well, guess what, I am free next year. So I am going to try to maximize that year and do the most I can. That evening I went to Griffith Park to take more photos on the set of Candy. I started out just taking photos, then as the lights quickly disappeared I put down the camera and helped out on set. Ellen had to do all the make-up in the dark and it was crazy how she could still do a good job. There was much to be done but I helped out as best as I could. I still managed to get a ton of good photos off. I can't post them yet, as of request by the producers.

Monday I worked all day and had good future talks with fellow co-workers. It was comforting and exciting. I am starting to like it in L.A. and I have a ton of really good friends already. Hmm....Moving on. Monday night, this is last night for those of you who are wondering, I went to a concert. I love going to live shows, and this one was definitely one of the best I have been to since Radiohead. It was none other than Imogen Heap. If you haven't heard her music, look it up, you will all love it. Ellen and I went after work and it was the perfect way to finish off a busy weekend. Imogen was fantastic and she played for several hours! Amazing. I went to bed late and woke up early the next day. What is new right? Well, it just so happens that I woke up early so I could go to a taping of the Price is Right! I love Drew Carry and it was fun going to the show. People are crazy when you point a camera n their direction. I love it. It was fun watching all the craziness that goes on during the show. All the cameras, the lights, the grips, and the production designers fixing everything that breaks. My oh my, I love it. It didn't get on the stage, but I still had fun watching the show go on. It was pretty sweet.

Today, well today is relax day. I shall refer to one of my previous posts about how much I love Tuesdays. Read that to see where I am coming from. There is brief class tonight. Until then.  I am going to organize my calendar, clean my room, and contemplate dinner... I foresee tea in my near future.

    Life is great right now. This semester has been an emotional roller-coaster. But in reality no more than any other semester. This is just the first time I have ever written down what I am thinking on a regular basis. It is very therapeutic to write out what you do regularly. It has definitely helped me cope with everything that goes on in a 21 year old single male's mind. God is great and so is family. I just wanted to thank you all for your support and encouragement. I truly would not have been able to stay sane this semester without all your support. I am so fortunate to have friends and family that encourage me on a regular basis. If my future is to return to Los Angeles. I know it'll be alright because my support system is stronger than any steel bridge. Let me see what photos I can dig up so show off what I have been up to as of late.

These are from the set of Ginger:

This is the house we filmed at. It was awesome! 

I am a sound guy, I actually kind of love it. 

Seth and Eric discussing politics. 

Our leading actress standing in front of the world's "largest" ball of gum. 

Kelsey and Eric making that ball of gum the previous night. 

Typical behind the scenes photos. 

Brandon being an awesome Director of Photography. 

Full crew photo! 

VIDEO UPDATE:

 

Homesick Blues:

I try to deny it as best as much as I can, but there are times when it is too hard to hide. I miss home. This town isn't cutting it. At home I have the most adorable nephew and the most loving parents. Down here I have nothing. It's sunny, everyday, and that is about it. Sure there is fun film stuff here. But come on, film can happen anywhere. For some reason today the fact that home is so far away is just completely unbearable. I have spent the last hour just staring at my sisters blog staring the most adorable baby boy I have ever seen in my life. I finally understand why I am more homesick now than before. It's simple. The only new factor is Hudson. Becoming an uncle has changed me more that I ever thought it would. Seeing an innocent person and realizing that they get to go through all the same emotions and experiences as you is troublesome. I don't want Hudson to make the same mistakes I did. I know Katie will do an awesome job as a mother, and Jared is the best dad I have ever seen, apart from my own :). But still. As an uncle I will be a role model for Hudson. What scares me is the fear of being a bad role model.

But for now. In the present. Babies are innocent and adorable. I miss my nephew and my parents and my sister. There is nothing I want more than a hug from all of them right now.

In other news:
we finished filming our large group film last weekend! I did sound on set and will be assisting with sound editing later this month. It's pretty exciting. I took over 500 photographs, so look forward to seeing some soon. Keep in mind it will take me a while to sort through them...there are a lot!

Today is wednesday and that means the week is halfway over! I am looking forward to this weekend of taking photos on the set of Candy. It's another group film in my program. Think halloween horror fantasy in a cute way...so it looks cool. After that, well, my semester is nearing an end. This means I get to start thinking about moving home and begin saying goodbye to all the close friends I have made down here. That is a thought I want to ignore, but a tought I have to start coming to grips with. In just over a month I will have a degree! It's scary, but I am ready to be done with school.

Thanks for all your support as friends and family,
sincerely
-P.J.

Zombie Film

Here is my latest film. Enjoy.
It's partly a satire on the requirements we have to fulfill for class, so if the dialogue seems extremely over the top, well it is supposed to be that way.
Also, like last time, this blog tends to cut off the sides of the video so I will be posting a link to the you tube site HERE.

Here is the film: