Haiti Day 1 (2011)

Haiti Day 1
We left for Haiti today and are en route to Detroit. I was running behind as usual with camera stuff, but am pretty happy with how the rig turned out so far. We will see if it survives the week or not. I don’t have a proper screwdriver, but it is what it is.

My prayer for the hour is that I would stay out of the way and not be a distraction to the team and others. God give me the wisdom to know when to pick it up and put it down. It has been A long day so far, but I am trusting god to give me strength until we hit our temporary home. Hopefully I can nap on the airplane.

…I must have napped more then I thought. Everyone else is exhausted and I am ready for another hour or two. I already feel some tension among some of the team. Which is unfortunate but not unexpected. I may have hurt rachels feelings when I joked about the sunset not happening in the morning and it was completely unintentional. Help me not to make an enemy of Rachel or anyone else on the team. Show me how to reach out. I didn’t do interviews tonight…if I could go back and do it over I would grab interviews while we were waiting for supper. I need to just grab them when I can instead of waiting around. I didn’t eat very much for supper, but I know I will be fine for a while. Eventually I think we will have a chance to eat something significant.

I am not sure what I think about my purpose here…did I not listen to God and just go because I could?

Every thing I saw just reminded me of Nicaragua. It seemed a little worse I guess, but it is the same general theme.

I need to worry less about what people think of me…and more about what God has for me. I wish I knew what to do… I feel pretty alone and like I am bothering people.

Anyways Bob the founder shared a challenging message that I enjoyed.

Awake in the rain…

So tonight is our 18th night at shelter 127 and I haven’t gotten much sleep. Not sure if it’s the coke I drank before bed or just the insanely loud vehicles as they are passing by. It’s raining which may have something to do with it as well, but ultimately I am unsure.

All that to say that I am glad to be here. Even though I have not been getting nearly as much sleep as I was used to, and even though the bed is pretty much a slab of plywood. Even though it has been remarkably inconvenient at times.

I have not yet been to Haiti, and to be honest probably saw less of the earthquake on tv then most people, but I have seen enough to know that every little bit that I can do will help. When 1,000,000 people do not have safe homes or places to stay I feel like God is calling us to do something. For me this means giving up a few of the comforts of home to draw attention to the problem. Sacrificing some of my blessings to help rescue someone else from the physical poverty they are stuck in.

It’s as easy as $1. It’s the widows two pennies given joyfully! It’s seeing a need and meeting a need.

The United States has been blessed immensely. Even during our economic crisis we are still at the top of the world.

Lets imagine for a moment that you have several brothers and sisters. We will also imagine that your father has enough money to feed and clothe all of you but has left on a trip. Before he leaves he hands you enough money to support the family while he is gone. He is counting on you to take care of everyone at home.

When your dad comes back from his trip he discovers that you have a new wardrobe, an iPod, all the latest movies, even a bunch of movies that you don’t really like, 18 pairs of shoes, 8 new video games, an xbox, playstation, and wii, and a bunch of new CDs.

One of your brothers starved to death while he was gone…his bones are laying in a chair by the kitchen table. Your sister was too weak to bury him because she hasn’t had a good meal in weeks, and you were too busy playing Mario Kart.

Don’t worry though…your sister has been eating a little better since she started working for the neighborhood pimp. Sometimes she even gets to keep a little bit of the money that guys pay to use her. You don’t see her very much anymore, she is in high demand because she is only 14. You can always check up on her on the internet though, all sorts of people have posted videos.

Your father would be furious.

Do you think he really cares how many times you prestiged at Call of Duty while he was gone?

Go look up the economic statistics for African or Asian countries…read about how girls are being sold for sex by their families just so they can stay alive.

Then realize that we can change this. I know I can’t do much, but we can do alot together.

Father forgive me for how I have lived so far. Give me wisdom to do better.

Two Face

CONCEPT: The thought process for the video started on a Sunday afternoon and was shot on a Tuesday morning, so there wasn’t a lot of time spent thinking about this. I went to the high school lunch periods Monday morning with half a beard, and told everyone to check the video out later that week, but at that point had no idea what the actual video would look like, or even the feel or vibe that it would get.

PRODUCTION: This video was shot in a couple of hours on a Tuesday morning. I used 2 still cameras (the only cameras I have) and some tripods. All natural lighting, which I tried to use to my benefit and I think I was mostly successful. Audio was from camera mics, and mixed into the background, and the narration was done in 1 long take with a little punch in at the end. The whole process was completed by Friday afternoon, including voice over and music (which was my first attempt at playing keyboard).
THINGS I LEARNED: I wish had thought the process through before shaving my beard halfway, I could have shot the bearded scenes then gone back and reshot them after I had shaved, but by the time I thought of that it was too late. I feel like I lost some continuity at the end, and would fix that by making the “reveal” sooner. The whole turning to face the camera part also didn’t seem to work. A friend suggested that I look up into a mirror instead, and I think that would have been a better ending. During the editing process, I should have cut the audio during the car scenes…the music becomes distracting. I also think some of the cuts could have been placed more appropriately.

Entropy is a killer…

Entropy can be loosely described as the measure of “disorder” in a system. It is also a measurement of how much energy has been “lost” to the universe. Now physical laws state that energy can not be created or destroyed, only changed in form. When the concept of entropy states that energy is “lost” forever, the energy has simply become so disordered, that the energy can no longer be harnessed. It is “lost” to the system.

Spontaneous changes result in an increase in entropy.

Entropy is an increase in disorder.

Entropy also makes it clear that things can not create themselves. Spontaneous changes can not result in a system that is more ordered.

Unguided events increase entropy.

To create order, energy has to be expended, and something has to guide the process.

Many times the process of creating order is guided by physical laws…such as gravity…things fall, or other physical rules like…when you compress something, its releases energy in the form of heat. There are millions of examples.

The concept of entropy is particularly notable as it is applied across physics, information theory and mathematics.

The concept of entropy can also be applied to our minds and lives.

Without expending energy, and something guiding you…you can not make your life ordered.

You can not release bitterness and begin healing until you accept that you have to work at it.

You can only become smarter by exercising your mind… by expending energy teaching yourself new things.

You can only love people more by expending energy. You can love people more by doing things that are hard. You can love people more by being forgiving, by not being easily offended, by being patient and gentle and kind.

You can only have a better relationship with someone by working at it. You can not simply expect them to do the work for you.

You can only have a better relationship with God…by working at it.

Please forgive me Lord…I repent of what I have done.

25 Random Things

1. I am an expert ninja…just without any ninja related skills.

2. I have walked in on(and stopped) 2 different attempts to steal things where I work.

3. I used to ride my bike 5 miles to bible study, because I had no other way to get there. Its incredible what you will do if you’re lonely and don’t have many friends.

4. I have a bad habit of sitting on top of large speakers. Of course it is important to note that we are talking about musical speakers…not public speakers. I have never sat on top of a public speaker, that would be ackward.

5. I am a 47 year old trapped in a 24 year old body.

6. Just like Dwight (from “The Office”) I carry pepper spray at work. I hope I never have to use it.

7. I have many various random skills…During my second (and last) visit to a local youth center, a staff member locked themself out of their office. The ONLY key was inside. Apparently they needed into the office pretty badly, I jokingly offered to break in, and they said go ahead. 20 minutes later they were inside the office. I was also capable of opening most of the locked doors in the old high school. Never fear…I only use my powers for good, not evil.

8. You know how they tell you not to actually go meet people that you only know from the internet? Well…I think thats probably a good idea. I met a girl from Butler once who I had only talked to on the internet, we played Clue. Unfortunately I was pretty nervous and not really paying attention to the game. It ended up looking like I had cheated. I have never been able to play Clue since.

9. I used to own a truck that did not have a working fuel gauge. I ran out of gas often. As a result I would often end up walking to various places. I have walked over 7 miles to get home, and I have also walked 5 miles barefoot on dirt roads.

10. Some friends of mine stole my truck once. They proceeded to get it stuck in the middle of nowhere. It was the night before Christmas eve. On the night before my truck got stolen and stuck…I was up all night with 2 other friends who decided that survival camping was a good idea. I felt like I needed to keep them from dying, so I went along. I had to work the next morning. Needless to say…those 2 days were pretty fun.

11. I work at a bowling alley…but do not bowl.

12. I have never been to Boston in the fall.

13. I have walked around town after midnight with a friend who did not know where she was or what she was doing…all she wanted was a cigarrette. Several hours later I finally convinced her to go home. To this day…she doesn’t remember any of it.

14. I love PIXAR. They make great movies, which in turn usually make great bible studies. 😉

15. I would rather watch a cartoon then a live action drama. The drama is too dramatic. I get enough “drama” at work.

16. I do not like mashed potatoes. I do not like them on a bus. I do not like them without fuss. I do not like them on a plane, I do not like them with anything!

17. The fanciest restaurant I can remember being in was Biaggi’s. That was today.

18. I own a suit. I have worn it once. I have no plans to wear it again.

19. I kinda really like music alot. No one is ever interested in performing with me though. Perhaps they are afraid I would steal the spotlight. 😉

20. I am 24 years old and can honestly say that I have never smoked, drank, or even kissed a girl. Why hurry? I have, however, been to a bar 3 times. Flyleaf was the best concert of my life!

21. I am a Star Wars geek…not so much the new movies…but the expanded universe is pretty great. I particularly like Micheal Stackpole’s tilt on Star Wars.

22. Many people think of me as patient. Others think of me as lazy or unmotivated. I am still trying to decide which is true.

23. I like running professional sound (like at concerts). I hope one day to do so full time.

24. I find it hard to talk about anything serious or that I am passionate about when more then one person is around.

25. I really like to read…in fact…I am going to go home and read as soon as I am done with this. “The Shepherd of the Hills” is a my favorite book, with “The Harvester” coming in as a close second. Sadly they remind me too much of my life, and I currently can not bring myself to read them.

26. I can’t count very well.