Happy Halloween!

Sorry for not blogging much, but I've been kind of busy. With what? With this:



Let the screams begin!!!

So THAT'S What it Feels Like?!

My sense of wonder may seem strange to some. I'm not saying I'm weird or anything, but maybe I am. Okay, how about this? Have you ever wondered when someone knew, without a shadow of a doubt, they were destined to be [blank]? Insert whatever you want in the [blank] part of that question. For instance, when Chuck Yeager first played with a balsa wood airplane, did he knew he was going to be a pilot?  Or when Stevie Wonder first put a harmonica to his lips, did he KNOW he was going to be involved with music?  Those are kind of extreme examples.  How about this one?  My sister, Angie, is a college professor.  Everything she did, willingly or not, all led her to her eventually becoming a teacher of some kind.  She LOVES school and everything about it and she's had a 4.0 GPA since birth.  But WHEN did she KNOW she was going to be a college professor?  Probably not the first time she got straight A's, or the first time she graduated with honors.  I'm guessing it was possibly after she went to college and met that one professor who inspired her and then she realized why The Universe's Grand Plan was for her to become a college professor.

After this past weekend, I now KNOW I was meant to be involved in film. All the choices I've made in my life would eventually lead me to this moment of realization. I'm destined to be a filmmaker or involved in the movie making process for the rest of my life. Kind of like how Chuck Yeager realized he was going to be a pilot the first time he did a barrel roll on a solo flight, or how Stevie Wonder realized he was meant to be a musician when he heard and felt people applauding and cheering to a song he just finished singing.  It is these moments where you say to yourself, everything I've learned and experienced and have lived through is for me to be a...

...filmmaker

Of course, NOW it all makes perfect sense.  I've always loved movies.  The first film I remember ever watching?  Star Wars.  The first time I remember crying in a movie was E.T.  Everything about movie making amazes me.  Logic would dictate at some point in time, I would be directly involved in making movies in some form of official capacity.  Not saying, I haven't been doing that for years now, but I've officially traversed the line where my dream is becoming reality.  And it isn't done for fame and fortune, but just for the sheer joy of doing it.

Yes...I am happy.

Still Playing With Picnik

A while ago, I blogged about a cool "cloud" app called Picnik. Well, it still gives me pleasure, and here's a few more pics I've picnik'd...

Another sky:


EVIL!


Bearing the burden...I'm going to burn for a lot worse than this...trust me:


This is a cool pic taken by a co-worker, Bryan's brother-in-law who works for NASA. It's of the Ares I-X test rocket and I put some Picnik stank on it:


Keep creating you crazy kids!

When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Writer/Director!

And here's one of the reasons why:

Find Your Wild Side

As I get older, memories of my childhood become more faint. I can recall specific incidents in vivid detail, but I can't remember everything. The realities of growing up seem to shove the innocence of you being a child out of the way. It is the natural progression of maturity. Eventually, you give up almost all of your childish ways to make room for responsibility, rules and taxes. It sucks actually.

Jemara and I watched Where the Wild Things Are, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I gracefully bow to Spike Jonze's vision and ability to thrust me back to the magical time of my childhood. When my waking hours were limited only by my imagination. When instead of using punctuation when telling stories, sentences were joined by the word "and". When I could be an astronaut and I was launched into space on a special spaceship and I got pulled into a black hole and I went to the other side of the galaxy and I crash landed on a planet made of cheesecake and I ate the cheesecake because I was hungry but the aliens on the planet got angry because I was eating their homes and I tried to apologize and they were cool and I asked them if I could use their bathroom because I had to pee bad because I held it since I left earth and they said we don't have bathrooms and I said well I gotta pee and they said what's pee and I said it's pee and I couldn't hold it anymore so I peed on the ground but the ground was cheesecake and it was like special to them so they got mad again and I ran but the cheesecake ground was sticking to my feet and they were like you peed on our ground and that's not cool and I said I was sorry again and I gave them the gold I brought with me because I took like a lot of gold with me from earth so I could take it to space but it was heavy and that's why I got pulled into the black hole in the first place.

As the movie ended, the experience of me reliving my childhood also ended and I realized just how much I missed certain aspects of it. Kudos Mr. Jonze. Go remember what it's like to be a kid and watch Where the Wild Things Are.



Jemara LOVED the movie, by the way. In her words, "My new favorite best movie ever." Before Where the Wild Things Are, her favorite movie was Disney's Aladdin. Looks like she's growing up too.

Was it a Hoax?

So, there's speculation the "Balloon Boy" incident, involving the Heene family, was an elaborate hoax. Check out this hip-hop video Papa Heene did with his family and you tell me if the whole balloon event was staged:

You say, "In the attic." I say, "Behind the sofa."

Stop me if you've heard this one. A family of five, who's been on Wife Swap a couple times, decide to make a big mylar balloon as a family experiment and somehow it flies away...

So, they find the son in the attic. Five hour search across 50 miles with a huge number of eyes looking for him. The military had a Kiowa in the air and they were getting a Blackhawk ready to join the search. Yes, the same helicopter in Blackhawk Down. They had a military chopper with it's own movie in the search...and they found him in the attic. Countless man and woman hours, gas for vehicles, and donuts were invested in the search for this kid. A crazy amount of tax dollars spent looking...and they found him in the attic. I'm not even including the hours wasted across the country as people were glued to their TV's or the internet watching the live news reports of this silver, UFO-ish balloon floating across cool autumn air of Colorado. When you add in that parameter, the scope and scale of this search and rescue effort is immeasurable. Probably priceless.

And they found him in the attic.

Am I upset? Not at all. If anything, I'm jealous because the same thing happened to me when I was about his age, but my search didn't get as much noteriety. Before I start this story, let me turn back the clock to when it occurs:



When I was 5-6 years old we were living at Scott Air Force Base in Illinois. One day I decided to hide from my mom. I didn't mean any harm. I was a kid and kids do harmless things purely because they make us giggle. And boy was I giggling as I hid behind that sofa, a little after lunch. My mom was doing mom stuff and I was going to hide until the perfect moment. [giggle] I'd wait here patiently and eventually she'll call my name. "Willie?" But I wouldn't answer. [giggle] No I won't. [giggle giggle] I'll wait until she gets a little frantic, almost screaming and THEN I'll pop out. [giggle yawn] That's what I'll do and it'll be awesome to see her face as I surprise her. [giggle yawn yawn] And then she'll be shocked and she'll scream in fear at first [yawn] but then she'll be happy to see me. [gigaYAWN yaaaaaawn] And then she'll give me ice cream [yawn] for being so silly and fun. I just have to make myself a little [yawn] more [yawn] comfortable. Zzzzzzzzzzzz.

When I woke up it was nighttime and a stranger in a military police uniform was shaking me awake as others pulled away the sofa. The living room was completely filled with people and all of them were looking at me. My mother screamed alright. She screamed and rushed towards me and held me tighter than I've ever been held. And then I think she whipped my butt. I'm pretty sure after the hugging and the love and the magic of the reunion wore off, there was some butt whuppins.

Turns out I took an excitement-from-hiding-induced nap for over six hours. Totally true story. Next time my mom is in town, she'll be happy to confirm it. When ever we relive this story, we both laugh so hard we're always brought to tears. Both out of the re-experience and because it was the best possible outcome during those very punishing hours for my family. Those six, very short, hours of my life must have been several lifetimes for my parents. Sorry, mom and dad.

So, I tip my hat to Falcon Heene. He definitely showed me up.