Bigger and Better Things

I wouldn't call myself an irrational person. I actually hate irrationality. But I would call myself impulsive. I think that may stem from my ADD. But more than just getting bored of things I think there comes a certain point when you have gotten all you need from something. You've learned what you need to learn and its time to move on. 

This is why I just quit my job.

Now I actually really enjoyed my job. I sold phones at Costco and made a decent living out of it. It wasn't too sales'y.. So people didn't feel a lot of pressure like buying a car...and it was in a reputable place, so it wasn't like the mall full of crazies. But more importantly I enjoyed the people I worked with. I had a good boss who wasn't too strict, and funny coworkers who were fun to work with. 

But things change. Things are never in a perpetual state of good. They may be good for awhile, but they begin to get stale. You get to a certain point where you need to make a choice. Is the staleness of this situation something that I need to endure through for a greater purpose, or is this more like a car stuck in neutral. Neither moving forward or backward. I think my car was put in neutral. 

Now in many instances I wouldn't mind that. In high school I wouldn't have minded just coasting along live, splurging my pay checks and having fun. But I'm not a teenager anymore. As much as I dread the responsibilities and mantle of adulthood, it's inevitable. I find myself making more and more choices that are less like what I would do even just a year ago. 

Now tied in with this mentality comes my tendencies. Because of the way I am, I can procrastinate and put things off to an excessive amount. But I've found a partial solution to that flaw. If I put myself in a situation that I literally MUST make a decision, then I'm extremely motivated. Probably for the same reason that a procrastinator does all of his homework last minute. So realizing I was in the work funk I did the only rational thing I could think of. Quit.

Ok maybe there are more rational things I could do, but I'm optimistic. I'm less afraid and more excited to explore a new opportunity. We all have an outrageous amount of potential, and I relish the idea of finding an exciting job that brings out that potential. Maybe that is starting my own business, maybe it's finding the right start-up, maybe its an internship. What I do know is that I have lots of options, and time to figure out what I want to do.

I'm also moving home for a bit. Just a month or so. I can make a quick dollar back home so that I can be on my feet when I get back to Utah. 

And if everything goes to hell and I end up being a server and barely making ends meat..then so be it. At least I tried. I feel like not everyone has the opportunity to do what I'm doing. They don't have the means, or they have some baggage that does not permit them to be ambitious or drastic. This is the best point in my life to try something bold. 

Maybe I'll sink. 

Maybe I'll be the next accidental millionaire. 

Maybe I'll come out better then I was

Maybe worse.

No matter what happens, I'm glad that I'm doing it .I'm glad that I'm taking the risk. And I hope you all are somehow aware of the journey, or apart of it.

More to come.

Crowning Glory

It's 3:36 AM right now.
What on earth am I doing awake?
Well I can't really sleep. Though you'd think I would be able to.

I've just spent the last 12 hours of my day editing this video for one of my classes.
12..straight..hours...
You wanna know what that looks like?

That. That is 12 hours of my life sucked away from me.

I feel like Wesley in the Princess Bride after he was tortured.

"I just sucked one year of your life."

It felt like a year.

What more annoying is that what I have to show for it isn't even that amazing. What ended up taking most of the time was the fact that I was forced to use the schools slooowwww macs to edit it. So any time I wanted to make a change to a particular scene I had to re-render it.

Rendering video is the worst thing ever. 

It just takes forever. And you can't really do much aside Facebook while it's going.

You just sit.

and wait.

So needless to say i've been doing a lot of sitting and waiting.

Not to mention your random technological errors that conveniently emerge when you least want them.

Not to mention when your roommate accidentally unplugs your hard drive while you are exporting your movie so you have to log in an extra hour of re-syncing your media.

Ok enough of the complaining, lets get on to the good stuff.

So if you know me, and I'll assume you know me to at least some degree... You know that I can be, at times, a ridiculous person. Whether thats being loud, obnoxious, adventurous, or just plain stupid. I put myself out there. I like to entertain others. It doesn't matter at who's expense..even if its at my own. So consequently I end up making this ridiculous videos that have me doing something probably embarrassing  . But I don't really mind it. I'm a compulsive person, and usually decisions to make these kinds of things are done in the moment.

Lets go back to the beginning of this video adventure. It starts off in a class: Motion Picture Making - taught by Paul Nibley. Mr. Nibley (yes he's related) is kind of a grouch. Him and I never really got off on a good foot with each other. Oh well. He worked on smokey and the bandit and some other low budget things. And at the end of the year we are to write a script and then compose a film as the final project. Not a full length film.. and 8 minute film. I hate time limits. 

Now I felt that I had a pretty good script. It was an action movie where basically a kid gets hold of some sensitive information and is tracked down by these big corporations who it might harm, but ends up outsmarting them in the end. That what they call a "log line" in the 'biz'. But no matter how good my script was it wasn't really good enough for Mr. Nibs. So in the end (we are in a group at this point) we decided to go with a script about a beauty pageant at UVU. This girl had actually competed in this pageant so she had some first hand experience. But me being me and all wasn't really satisfied with a movie about some girls beautify pageant..I wanted to mix things up. I suggested that we make it a comedy and make it about guys competing for a MR. UVU pageant. They like it. We went with that instead. 

So we churn out the script and figure out the logistics..but as we loom closer to the film date we get a little nervous. We aren't very confident in our actors..and we weren't able to lock down a location to film (specifically a stage). One day Morgan (in the group) and I take a walk to the nearby middle school to ask if they would be keen on letting us use their facility. They weren't. But the trip wasn't a complete bust. I recommended an idea to Morgan that might solve at least 1 of our problems. See we had friends and acquaintances lined up to fill the parts in our movie..but none of them have ever really acted before. On top of that it would be extremely difficult to get 6 different guys with different schedules all to meet at one place for hours at a time. So me being me suggests another idea. I remember that my brother one time had made a movie where at one point in the movie he has a little dance routine with himself. In the scene you saw 4 different Brents all doing different things but all in the same scene. I think you know where I am going with this. 

Hey Morgan..I've done videos like this before.. and I think you trust me as an actor...so..how about...I mean..What if I just played..all the parts...

She loved it. We wouldn't have to bother anyone, we could do all the filming very easily and if we needed to fix anything I literally was always available. It was an ideal scenario.

Dane Hampton - The pretty boy

And..I guess it all worked out in the end. I mean it's not a bad video. Its ridiculous. So I guess it fits right in with me. The actual filming process was kind of a mess as well. One of the locations we had planned on filming at had, at the last minute, decided to fix all the lights in the gym. We ended up having to go up to Heber (30 mins into the mountains) to film at Morgans home church building. We did all of the filming in one day.

One. Long. Freaking. Day.

Keep in mind that I'm playing 7 different parts, all with different accents, mannerisms, costumes and lines. It was exhausting to say the least.

Marcus Cornelius... The Thesbian that no one likes.

And that gets us to now. The post production process. Editing. Usually it's my favorite part, because I am in control of everything.. but because of the lack of speed and time, it just became stressful and obnoxious.

Maybe not quite as annoying as Doug Jenkins - the fat nerd

But alas.. It is complete.

It is now on YouTube to forever immortalize my ridiculousness. I'm sure i'll get enough slack from my friends telling me how un-funny I am.. but I had a lot of fun doing it. I wish you could see the whole thing, 8 minutes doesn't really do it justice. If I had time or really just cared more I would make an extended edition... but I think i'm ready to be done with Crowning Glory.

Was it worth it? Absolutely.

Will you enjoy it? Probably. Its entertaining enough.

Will you judge me? Good chance.

It is time to wrap up this blog post?

Absolutely. 

(Seriously? Look how Emo Alan Hendrix looks)

Here is the link to the video my friends.