"The only way to relate to me is in coolness, and you don't have that"

So I have been meaning to write this post for some time now, just have either been too busy or too lazy. In all honesty, I am finally writing it right now because I know if I don't do it know, who knows when I will, because I could probably handle going to sleep right now....it is, after all, already 12:15 at night after a long but oh so fun day, but anyway, I digress, none of this has to do with anything! (ADD) So, Mosaic.

Mosaic is the name of the Church I have been going to whenever I can since i've moved to LA and was recommended to check it out. I could talk about my first couple experiences and blah blah blah, but it just boils down to, I love it. I find myself looking forward to going on Sunday mornings and never leaving without a feeling of contentment and joy. This holiday season Hank (one of the pastors whom I have come to really enjoy) has been preaching a series entitled Home for Christmas. A couple weeks ago he talked about building our house. Having us tell the people we sit around the name of our house...so for example I was Amy, house of Ergle. We live our lives making a name for ourselves and we sometimes forget that the choices we make show who we are and effect the household and family we are in or are trying to make (make good choices!). Last week Hank talked about finding peace, using Christ as a steady center and cornerstone to bring us peace. The theme for last week was 'no more gloom'. He made us repeat that aloud a few times and then spread that energy to anyone we encountered. There was to be "no more gloom!" because this was going to be the best christmas ever. The 'best Christmas ever' theme has kind of been carried along the whole time, including today. We went through and talked about all of the names Jesus was described as when He was first mentioned back in Isaiah...9 to be exact. The first word to ever describe Jesus was wonderful. He is wonderful. A counselor (our strategist), mighty God (worrier God, not a force that can knock him over), everlasting Father (protecting us and giving us everlasting souls and life), Prince of peace (brings peace inside of us, inside our soul), and He is not going anywhere. He also mentioned the zeal that He has for us...maybe even greater than love, a kind of passion that is unstoppable, a thing that when decided upon will get accomplished. Hearing all of these things today only solidifies the love He has for us and the trust I can completely put in Him. Hearing not only these little lessons but about how Christmas actually started and how the attitudes and actions of Christians really effect the view from the rest of the country's and world's point of view. I will stop myself before I go onto a tangent, but even as I wrote my last blog update about music (at mosaic), I have also come to look forward to the message just as much. ....although since I brought it up, Mosaic sure does know how to do Christmas music! I've never actually really loved the whole come to the service during Christmas time and sing nothing but Silent Night, etc. but by golly Mosaic has done it. I don't know if it is just this point in my life where I am finally appreciating some of these songs more by paying a little more attention, but I am getting into these Christmas songs! And last week the closing song was little drummer boy. They had a guy up on the stage drumming away on a drum, like from a drum line, and then all of the sudden the doors swing wide open behind me and a dang drum line comes marching in all drumming away! It was awesome. And the week before where they had this awesome string section set up on stage that played a BEAUTIFUL instrumental piece. Which brings me to today when I walked in and saw a choir in the choir robes on the side of the stage....lead by....who only, (hopefully not to sound offensive here) a black guy and girl. And it. was. awesome. After a couple songs Hank came up to let the choir and the lead singers know they were bringing the heat, but us as the congregation....not so much. He then went on to say that sometimes you can go to church...and then you can go to CHURCH (you know what i'm talking about) He encouraged us all to sway, even dance, if you will (...but only within the walls of our church, because we were, after all, white folk) So he made the 2 main singers lead us in a sway as we got back to bringin the house dzown. I could go on and on about the little things like that that happen every sunday that just bring a smile to my face. The way we all, as a congregation chant "No more gloom!" or tell the people next to us it is going to be the 'best christmas ever!' or I 'represent the house of Ergle'. The title of this post is an actual quote from Hank, which he thought as his 17 year old self in relation to his parents' He keeps the conversation honest and real....and funny. He makes us, as a group of believes, realize we need to be accountable for the view the rest of the world see's of us. And not that we are here to BE God or judge or use Him as the pedestal piece of an argument or political party, but to be the little piece of relief someone might need in their day, a group that has accepted the peace and love of God and is sharing it with the rest of the world. I know this has been long and there I things I could have left out but there has been even more that I already have, and I wanted to share this beautiful place with you all...if only just a little bit of the things that I have learned and observed from the little while I have been attending. I feel if more churches and people were like mosaic, we might have a better wrap as Christians, I don't know. But I do know that place is filled with love and joy and compassion and gratitude and I can't get enough.

Late Night Ramblings

Well, enough time has passed yet again to make another update….also, I have been without cable and the internet the past 2 days at the house and as it turns out, my computer is pretty useless to me without the internet so, figured I could give it a little love by at least typing up some sort of update. I really have no idea what to say given the fact that anyone that is going to read this already knows what I have been up to since the last update. (filming Daniel, going to Thailand and going home for Thanksgiving, all very fun and great experiences) I could go on about what I’ll be doing the rest of the year and/or looking back on the awesome second half of this year but, I already do that too much. I thought maybe tonight I could share with you something I read tonight. It is from the Jesus Calling devotional, which starts out: 

“I LOVE YOU with an everlasting Love, which flows out from the depths of eternity. Before you were born, I knew you. Ponder the awesome mystery of a Love that encompasses you from before birth to beyond the grave.”  

I love that. So often I go through living my life, not really thinking about God yet all the while still knowing and appreciating what he does for me. I know different people have different times and do different things that make them feel closest to God, but when I read and hear stuff like that, those are some of the times I feel closest to Him. I know I should spend time with him everyday, do I? No. I know I should read my bible everyday (or even often) do I? No. I know I should pray more than I do and be more charitable. And does knowing that I am failing in all of these areas make me feel bad? Well, yea. But that just blows my mind even more when I read things like that excerpt above. We (I) don’t do what we(I) are supposed to. We(I) are idiots. We (I) let God down. But in spite of all of that. In spite of our sin, in spite of us not talking to him, in spite of not pursuing a deeper relationship with Him, he still loves us with an everlasting love. A love that no matter what we do, He is always there for us. I wouldn’t say I’ve had a terrible life at all, but I have had a few bumps in the road and in those times, no matter how distant I thought I might have made myself from God, I could always feel him right there with me. No matter how lonely I got, there was always one consistent being with me the whole time shouting I LOVE YOU. There is nothing in the world more comforting to me than feeling those words. Yea, people can throw those 3 words around, and I have heard it said to me and questioned what exactly that meant. But when I sing it. When I read it. It takes over my being and gives me the contentness (not a word, but it is now) that can not be matched in this world. I know I could do my part more, and what I’m just about to say is partially up to me, but I really hope everyone in the world can get that chance, that feeling. The feeling of knowing how much they are loved, and no matter what ANYONE else says and no matter what they do or if they even believe it or not, that love will never go away. I’m sure I know it is a selfish thing of me crave, but I enjoy those moments during the Sunday morning worship service the most. When I can hear songs of His love and proclaim right back at him that He will always be the one I will run to, and despite my actions, the one I love. 

My 101st post!

I didn't realize until I went to make another update that my last one was my 100th post. Wow. I can't believe this thing has been going that long! I mean, I know there have been some dry spells, but i think i've kept it up rather frequently. ...given the fact that I post so much on Facebook so people pretty much know what I am up to, for the most part. ANYWAY, onto why I came on here in the first place.

After my last downloading of pictures from my camera to iPhoto, I realized there was so much stuff I have never uploaded to Facebook. Seeing as I am already so far behind, I figured I could just give my blog a sample. I have a bunch from just hanging out around town and then I have a different album for all the sets i've been on. I figured that since I talk about work rather frequently, I can now show some pics of those sets. So, let the fun begin! 

*Note: If you just click a picture, you can scroll through the full size images if you so choose.

Flare: The Hunt

...setting up for a behind the scenes interview.

We shot at an old, abandoned Sears building.

(Sitting in the interview seat)

Let the interview begin.

This was a cool set up. (I was controlling the fire ;) )

Short Term 12.

View from parking

lunch that reminded me of a Sunday night dinner ;) 

lighting set up

water gun scene. (Brie on the monitor) 

So, Brie had to smash the windows of an audie. yea.
The aftermath. 

This was also a beautiful day. (When we can eat the prop food...cupcakes, yumm)

Fun last day. Paaartaaay.

Cat Power

View from the back porch (I liked the bridge)

(View Again)

Naughty or Nice

Christmas Movie!!

Book of Esther

Stage

Slate. (I was second AC A few days, it was a lot of fun)

Set

Aaron had to be a nobelsmen. hahah that hat.

Sara and I where they did the still photos

Could've been a model ;) 

Trash Talk

Interviews

Very crazy day. Cool though.

This is what I have been up to at work. the end. :)

A place to live, a place to work, and friends that made it happen

Well it has come to my attention that I hadn’t updated in a while, so I figured now was as good a time as any to update. As many of you know, I’ve been looking for housing for the past couple weeks because it just was not workin out in Sunland. Sara (a PA that I met while working on Short Term 12 and now a great friend of mine) told me her roommate was working in New Orleans and that I could probably stay at her place while I was looking for a new place to live. I am happy to report that I now have a place to unload my clothes again! ...and it is in the same room I’ve been staying in the past 13 days, haha. Turns out her roommate is still going to look for work outside of LA so she is going to sublease her room to me. Yay! 

Alright, got that out of the way. Anyway, I guess since my last update we have since wrapped Short Term 12...wait, did I ever even mention on here that I started this great movie called Short Term 12? Oh well, if you are my friend on Facebook (which you are) then you've heard me talk about it, haha. But seriously though, that was a really great experience and I was able to work with Aaron again and meet Sara so, that alone could make working the movie worth while ;) AND the little movies I am now working on until November 3rd, I get to be working with them again...well, sara will be leaving us the 18th but, at least we'll have her till then, haha. What we are working on right now are 2 of those Sunday School movies, the first being Queen Ester based on the book of Ester and the second being Daniel in the lions din...which will be filmed with real lions so, that should add some excitement to that shoot! haha. 

So I feel I talk about them enough that I should probably introduce my blog readers to Aaron and Sara. They are the best things that have happened to me since i've moved to LA. I first met Aaron my second week here (oh, on my birthday actually! haha) when I went to shadow Jared on Geography Club and then ended up working for 3 days there. Since then we have worked together on Ten Cent Pistol, Short Term 12, and now these two movies. Just to save time, we like and dislike the same foods and he loves to travel so, i'm pretty sure he's my soul mate. ;) aaaand me, him, and his friend (and now my friend) Edwin are going to San Francisco next weekend!! woo hoo! i'm pumped. So anyway, that is Aaron and I already mentioned I met Sara on Short Term 12 so, now you know my 3 closest peeps here in LA. (The third being Edwin who I bonded with on July 4th over the both of us being socially awkward in the very same situation we were in at the time.) 

And now it's time to unpack and organize my belongings a bit...and tryyy to go to bed at a reasonable time since my call time is 6am after all... -__-

The funny thing is, neither have you

I came across this picture tonight and that is just like me. Although I don't believe the people sitting next to me on purpose wishing i'd talk to them is applicable to me, a lot of this is. I have somewhat recently come to the realization that maybe i'm not the best at meeting new people because I, for some reason or another, am convinced that almost no matter who I meet, they don't like me or might think i'm annoying. I most of the time pride myself on the fact that I really don't care what people think about me, but when I stop and think about it...it looks like I actually do. Almost any instance when I would be thrown into a situation with a big group of people that I don't know, I can tell you I would be over in the corner by myself not talking to a single sole. Why? Well...I don't really know. It is true I like to keep to myself and I hate bugging people, so I figure it is just easier to not try to initiate conversation. Maybe i'm afraid of rejection? I really don't know. Maybe i'm not just a huge fan of humans to begin with, haha. But anyway, reading this made me realize I really need to start working on this aspect of myself. When I read "don't go around thinking nobody likes you and that you're not loved" I knew that is exactly what I need to start doing. Why do I always assume people don't like me? I mean, is there something so wrong or annoying with me that upon first meeting I would be so dislikable? I would hope not, but then again, who knows with people these days. Anyway, it is getting late compared to when I have to be at work, so I should call this rant to its end, but I felt like sharing, if even getting it out somewhere just for myself. Amy, not EVERYONE hates you. You are a great person and whoever you meet is lucky to get to know you. Don't always assume the worst and give people the chance to get to know you. (The advice from myself I should probably listen to...although knowing me, I won't, haha) 

Hellooo September!

Coming on here I just realized my last update was exactly a month ago today. Oops. All I can say is, i've been busy.

I guess at the beginning of August I was still working on the independent feature Ten Cent Pistol, which i'm sure you've read about. From there I worked a few days on The Voice helping out with the auditions and that was super fun! After that I helped out on a couple days on another indie feature, but that was rather sketchy, had a way smaller budget than the other indie's I had worked on and come to find out, they never ended up sending me a call sheet for the rest of the shoot (which I am A-OK with since they never even paid me for the 2 days that I did work, when they said they would.) Anyway, so when I thought I had 2 days off from that shoot (come to find out, they weren't days off, I just stopped working with them, haha) I was helping out on a thesis film for a grad student at USC. The first day we were filming about an hour into the Angeles National Forest and it was super pretty and a lot of fun. After realizing I wasn't going back on the other movie, I worked as long as I could on the thesis where we went camping out in the San Bernardino National forest...it was so much fun and the rest of the crew was great, so it was really a blessing that the other movie was a flake cause then I would've missed out on this fun camping adventure. For those that were wondering, it actually is a short. It was based on a true story of a gay couple that was camping in the woods when two guys that were also out in the woods shot at both of them and ended up killing one of them. Now I know everyone has different beliefs and trust me I am ok with that, but when we have come to the point in society when the amount of hate in the world is accepted and people go around bragging about it, posting pictures of the long lines at Chick-fil-A and furthering the disgusted attitude toward a group of people and harboring intolerance  it's enough to make me a little concerned when I go out on hiking trips myself. So did you ever hear about this story of two women going for a camping trip and one returning dead? Me either, because everyone was too busy in line at Chick-fil-A, scoffing at the gays and clapping for the gunman eliminating the sinners.

Rant over.

Anyway, so I ended up leaving the camping trip a day early and the shoot a couple days early to work on another short entitled Cat Power. It was a short written by a husband and wife who are industry professionals. The wife is an editor and the husband is a director and the crew in general was great. A lot of the crew I ended up working with were also industry professionals so I was able to make a few really good connections with people that said they would work with me again and send out my resume to their network. It was great fun. So I ended up leaving a day early on that as well to work on a web series pilot entitled Flare, about the world after the light is completely gone. I saw where the first AD from the movie I very first helped with when I got here (Geography Club) was looking for PA's, so I messaged him and be brought me along! Seeing as it is set in a world with no light, all our locations were deserted areas and we had 2 overnight shoots. The concept of this web series is pretty cool. They shot a bunch of behind the scenes, (of which I helped out with the behind the scenes interviews) and with as many as 8 cameras. At some point of the episode they are going to have split screen videos going and then e-mail you another video to be watching at the same time and then a separate video that can be playing on your phone of a different angel or viewpoint at the same time. Anyway, it sounds cool so I am pretty excited to see the finished product.

So anyway folks, that is what I was up to for the month of August. I don't think I was even planning on writing my whole entire August schedule when I came on here but, looks like that just happened and that is long enough so, i'll save any other topics for next time. Dang, I can't believe it is already September, where in the world has the time gone?! Oh yea, I guess I know...

"Always be nice to PAs, they'll be your boss one day"

It always makes me kind of uncomfortable when I have to talk about myself in a certain light, so I try not to make posts about this kind of stuff, but I thought this was a pretty cool complement so it goes for sharing. Yesterday at lunch I was eating with the transpo guy and the second AD and he was asking me what I wanted to do. I told him I wasn't 100% sure yet, I thought maybe I would take the AD route which is looking more and more plausible. He told me that whatever I end up deciding on I will be successful (after telling me earlier that week I have been doing "a hell of a job.") So anyway, the script supervisor was also sitting to my right and I guess she overheard our conversation so she jumped in and was saying all of this stuff about me that she had noticed. How I worked and how perceptive I was with everything that was going on around me. I was really flattered with all of the nice things she was saying, that I was going to go far in this business. A little later after lunch I was in video village (the area of set where all of the monitors and directors chairs are set up) and she told me she was talking with Michael (the director) that I was someone to watch and that I would be in charge of all of them in 5 years. I told her, well I don't know about that. And she was like, yea, i'm serious. I said if you want it hard enough and are willing to work hard for it. She agreed and said I still fit the bill. After being PA of the day on Friday, having Joe tell me on Sunday or one of the days how good I was doing and then after my conversations yesterday, it makes me feel really good that other people in the industry believe in me and are noticing the hard work and dedication I put into this. I don't have all the experience in the world, but when I am on set I want people to know they can count on me and for them to want to have me work with them. In this industry the hours are crazy and the some of the job duties are odd and monotonous, but I would really not want to be working anywhere else. I finally feel like this is exactly where i'm supposed to be.