Done (now we dance)

By the time you read this, I will have graduated from Grand Valley State University with a Bachelors of Science in Communication (Film and Video / Cinema Studies). I learned a ton of interesting and helpful things during my time at GVSU. In fact, to demonstrate my awesome mastery of the moving picture, I put together the following movie. It took several weeks, but I think you'll agree it was worth the effort. To see the film, press the play button.

You are NOT a victim

I understand that there are a lot of niave people in this world. Also, there are a lot of people that do not have what is considered "street smarts". I do think that there are more people that call themselves victims than need to be. I am going to briefly view two stories that have happened in the past couple of years.


First is a man named Thomas Patrick Remo. He decided to rent a storage unit, dress it up as a doctors office, put an ad in the paper for FREE gynecologist exam. If I saw this ad, I would not respond to it, but there were a number of women that did respond and received "exams" from him. Luckily, Thomas Patrick Remo is now behind bars on charges of practicing medicine without a license. Remo allegedly convinced unsuspecting women he was an ob-gyn while offering free medical exams out of a storage facility.

This next example is almost too much. Apparently, a 76 year old Florida man decided that he would try his hand (no pun intended) at door-to-door sales. But instead of steak knives or vacuum cleaners, he decided to give free breast exams. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not letting some guy come into my house to give me a free breast exam. Unfortunately, there were a few women that fell for his sales pitch and allowed him in.

C'mon people!!! Use the two brain cells that you haven't dowsed in PBR and think before you let some one OBVIOUSLY take advantage of you!!!

Working to be happy with me

According to the American BMI calculator I am overweight. In the American society where more is better, that may not surprise, but I am a person that generally watches what I eat and I exercise between 4-6 days a week. Granted the calculator does not take into count body frame size, but nevertheless, according to US standards, I am ‘fat’.

I came across this story today, and found myself having a strong reaction of envy for a person that could eat so much and not gain any weight. Once I read the entire article, and saw how many problems he has had over the years and how much of a struggle it is for him to live a ‘normal’ life, I obviously wasn’t ready to trade places with the guy. The release of envy for this person left me with a newfound awareness – I was not happy with myself, physically.

I have previously thought that I had a good self-image, but now know from my gut reaction I need to take a look at this part of me. I like learning, growing, and improving, and now that I have discovered an area of myself that is not as strong as I once thought, I am going to challenge myself to be the best person that I can be and be happy with the person that I am.

Do we even need humans anymore?

I know it's been a long time since my last post...I promise to TRY to write more.

I remember reading an article a few years ago about how science was in the process of perfecting the ability to fertilize ovarian eggs (through synthenic and frozen sperm). There was a lot of uproar as some groups (with mostly men as members) thought that they would no longer be needed.

Today it seems science has stepped forward again....in a different direction. Click here to read an article on a robot giving birth.

Most science fiction stories depict the world being taken over by machines. Looks like we are headed in the right direction.

Monkey Whistle

Almost done with school. 24 days until I officially graduate. I decided not to walk due to the length of ceremony (4 1/2 - 5 hours) and that I wouldn't even get to actually walk across the stage. I would just sit there while they read names.

The oddness of the thing is that so much of what I've been doing for the last 4 years has been rooted in school. My jobs have always been a means to an end. Video projects have almost exclusively been because of deadlines set by professors. Even my writing has been mandated by what I knew the Prof was looking for.

Whelp, now the end is here. I've accomplished my goal. I'm going to get my degree, so now what? I know I eventually want to get an MFA, but I want to take some serious time off. I want to earn my chops in the various technical and ideological aspects of the craft before I try to learn more. I want to find a job that is not only fulfilling, but pays well. I want to be rich and famous. I want to live in forest, off of solar-grids and hydroelectric power generators while simultaneously living in a small, cramped apartment in Manhattan. Ugh.

I'm sure things will sort themselves out, as they always do, but in the meantime this is more likely to be my working reality. I will move to China and take over this guy's job."Now can I be a director?"