Balancing Jobs, Vacations, Blogging, And Writing

Okay, I just want to start of telling you that I'm not going to try and lecture all of you out there on how to balance your busy life, because, let's face it, almost everybody in the world is busier than me. But not this summer! 

I have a lot planned this summer. I mean, my schedule sort of opened up because G. I. Joe 2 got pushed back to March next year. (At least...that's what I heard...The fact may be incorrect...) But that's about it. I have two week-long vacations planned, a couple camp outs, and maybe a trip to Moab/Yellowstone. 

But that's not all. No, sir. I'm also going to be balancing three jobs. 'Three jobs?' you say. Well, possibly three jobs. I know of a theater that's going to have a position available soon, and I'm really hoping I get that job. If not, I guess I'll mow lawns or something. Anyway, three jobs. 

1. A normal, minimum wage, real job. I've never had one of these before. It's going to be difficult and stressful because I have to be on time. -_-

2. Hydroseeding. Yeah, you probably have no idea what it means. Hydroseeding is where I spray green stuff on dirt and grass grows. I do it with my grandpa. In fact, I'm going to a job in about half an hour. There's usually one or two jobs a week. 

3. YouTube. Have I mentioned YouTube yet? Well I uploaded a video about a month ago and YouTube contacted me and said I can now monetize my videos. Being the idiot I am and having no idea what that meant, I looked it up. Well, let's just say I jumped for joy and screamed and called all my friends. I guess YouTube noticed me, and Google wants to start paying to place ads in my videos. :D I haven't actually gotten paid yet because I've been too busy to set up a Google AdSense account, but once that happens, the tiny amount of money, if any at all, that I get paid, will start slowly rolling in. 

Three jobs. I admit that making videos has really taken up my writing time. I can't really focus on writing. I'm either not interested in this story or my passion for writings scripts and making videos has trumped my passion for writing. That's highly unlikely, but who knows? 

So we've covered jobs and vacations. Now onto blogging. 

Dearest Blog, we've been together for almost four years, and I've never managed to maintain a healthy schedule for more than a month. So this is my goodbye to scheduling. Say hello to a post a day. 

Starting on June 3 I'm going to have a post a day. Ridiculous, ay? Yeah. It is. But that's the only schedule that I'll follow that you're getting out of me. 

These posts each day are going to focus more around writing than about my life. You guys want to read about writing, not about me! So this blog is sort of taking a direction not even I saw coming. I actually hadn't even planned the one a day thing till fifteen seconds ago....

There will be some days I miss. Either I'll be sick, or I'll have to start filming bright and early in the morning, but most days they'll be up. I'm trying to keep myself on a waking-up-at-seven type schedule. I just get so much more done. 

And writing. Well, I don't know about writing this summer. I'm definitely finishing my bagillionth draft of Vampire Dreams. And I'm hopefully going to write the short story that's been brewing in my mind for over three years - currently titled In Upon My Enemies. Writing isn't going to be a huge part of this summer. Reading is. Filming is. Jobbing...is. And Blogging is. But not Writing. Which I find slightly sad. 

And you know why I posted this today right? No? You have no idea? 

It was the last day of school today. Halle-freakin'-luya (I slaughtered the spelling of that nonexistent word.) 

Favorite Thing of the Week: Doctor Who.

And the acronym: TARDIS meaning Time and Relative Dimension(s) in Space. 


Until June 3,

-Jackson

Babble - Procrastination Station, Books, Movies, And Summer Bucket List

Monday's are Babble. Wednesday's are On Writing. And Friday's are A Many Things. There's seems to be a recurrence here...

Procrastination Station - I don't know where I got the title Procrastination Station. Probably came from Makoa or something, but that doesn't matter right now. The reason no post came up yesterday was because I'm sick. I have no idea with what. I have no fever, no shake, no headache, no cough. Nothing except for my inflamed, constantly painful throat.

Yeah, I can't swallow without wanting to cry. It hurst to eat everything, but to ease the pain I mostly stick with pudding, Jello, ice cream, and applesauce. Oh, yeah, plus I'm on a antibiotics....

Oh, wait. Maybe my throat hurts because I'm allergic to the antibiotics. That literally just clicked with me. See, blogging helps my brain work. Now my mom's telling me I can pretty much stay up all night so she can keep an eye on me in case I stop breathing. Scary.

Anyway, the reason I'm on antibiotics is because of my ingrown toenail, which you might have put together with the last post. Yeah, my life sorta sucks right now. So I guess I didn't procrastinate this post. I've been asleep since I got home from school, and when I woke up two hours ago I mowed the lawn.

Books - I'm finally reading The Throne of Fire by Rick Riordan. It's taken me long enough to get to it... I've now picked out the books that I'm going to read on my way to, there, and my way back from San Diego next week.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan.

Beautiful Chaos by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl.

Albrek's Tomb by M. L. Forman.

Lockdown: Escape From Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith.

Variant by Robison Wells.

Chronicles of the Red King: The Secret Kingdom by Jenny Nimmo.

Surrender by Elana Johnson.

I also plan on finishing writing a book. Aw, yeah! A lot planned for this vacation!

Movies - I finally saw Men In Black for the first time ever. That's one darn good movie. I've only seen Will Smith in a couple of things, but he's one of those actors that you gotta love. The movie was really good. I see why it made half a billion dollars.

 Summer Bucket List -

Start TheJacksonPorterShow.

Reboot Under The Stars. (YouTube thing)

Write a book! :D

Read up to eight of The Wheel of Time Books.

Lego Harry Potter Wii Marathon.

Build my bookshelf.

Visit Texas.

Film The Hitman in HD. (YouTube thing)

Read The Lord of the Rings.

Read The Sword of Shannarah Trilogy.

FINISH ALL TO-READ BOOKS! (by July)

Sounds good? I think so. 

Favorite Video of the Week: 007: Skyfall - Official Teaser Trailer: 

QOTP: 'I don't believe in help. I believe that if you can't do it by yourself then it's not worth doing at all.' -Jackson Porter (Obviously I don't believe in this post, I was just trying to get out of help. It didn't work....

Until next time,

-Jackson

A Many Things - Character, KK5, And Writing

I changed Friday's from pure reviews to 'A Many Things'. Which will include reviews and a little bit of writing stuff. 

First order of business: my review of Kingdom Keepers 5: Shell Game by Ridley Pearson. 

The book is the longest in the series, so it took me a while to get through, but it was good. The editing was, if I may say, pretty annoying. Pearson would switch point of views in the middle of paragraphs. Incomplete sentences riddled the book. There's even one on the back of the book. 'With Finn at the bottom.' He's still an awesome writer, he writes beautifully, but the editing could be better. 

The one thing that really bugged me though was how the DHI's just walked around the ship pretending to be employees, and the employees NEVER NOTICED they were DHI's. I mean, they're legitimate Disney characters in those books, and the employees don't recognize them? I didn't understand that part. 

Anyway, the book was well-paced, the plotting genius, and the action pretty captivating. I love how we're finally getting to see the characters for real. I mean, we've been with them for four books up to this point, but in this book they really begin to develop. Love triangles are everywhere. And Philby is annoying! I love it! It's all genius! 

I love how it kept me guessing through the whole thing. Books like those are good. I have to admit though, the ending was the best part. He wrote it so well it was like I was reading it in slow motion. It was awesome. And that ending! Oh! So many theories! 

All in all, I really enjoyed this book. Totally worth the wait. 

Second order of business. I've never based a character in one of my books off someone in real life. Sure, I'll steal a name, or an attribute, but never a whole personality. But there's this guy named Bob who went through some really tough stuff this year. And I'm not talking being bullied or anything, it was, in fact, worse than that. I mean, he went through some really tough stuff. Anyway, I sat next to him in one of my classes, and when he came back to school a couple of months after that tough stuff happened, yeah, he was sad and quiet. But now, a couple months later, he's the coolest guy I know. 

I don't know him well, and he's a senior, so I won't get to know him that well. Which is disappointing. Anyway, he is now the funniest, coolest kid I've met. He's one of those people who, when they walk into the room, brighten everybody's spirit. He's the joker of the crowd. The fun guy of the group. I can't really explain him well, so I hope I'm doing him justice. Anyway, considering all the stuff he went through it's so inspiring that he is now this happy, hilarious guy. So, the only thing I know to do is to put him in one of my books. 

I don't really know why I'm talking about this, I guess it's just a very big step in my writing technique. 

And now for the third order of business: my writing. I'm gonna make this quick so I don't bore you. The Eighth Day is split into five parts, also called "books". Each book/part focuses around a different goal. Not an entirely different goal, a similar, yet different goal. As I was riding the bus to school, listening to my music, the James Bond theme came on my iPod, and a scene immediately popped into my head of the characters in The Eighth Day in a bank setting, ready to rob a vault. 

And my mind began whirring. Part 1 focuses on everyday paranormal stuff, you know? Part 2 is historical. Part 3 is James Bond themed. Part 4 is superhero themed. And part 5 is apocalyptic themed. I can't wait to write Part 3 and 4. Those will be so much fun to write. 

Also, I added a scene in The Eighth Day Part 1 that wasn't planned at all. And I asked myself, "Why is that scene in there?" I didn't delete it, because it fit and I thought it was cool. But a couple days ago at school, I was plotting out book 3, when I realized that that unplanned scene in part one fit perfectly for what I needed to happen in part 3. In fact, that unplanned scene was necessary to the story line of the whole book! Later that day, the exact same thing happened but with a sentence instead. 

So what makes that happen? How come I wrote a scene that was unplanned, yet it played into the book PERFECTLY later? The subconscious. I believe a lot of writing is actually done by the subconscious. I believe it plots out the story for you, but as you write you begin to discover more of the world. 

That's why I'm a discovery writer. 

Favorite (Most Painful) Thing of the Post: Ingrown toenails. (picture not posted for obvious reason).

Oh, yeah! I had my re-ingrown toenail removed by a doctor yesterday. Though it was painful, it was actually a really cool experience. I'll probably put it in one of my books. 

QOTP: 'So an American told me today that my imitation of a US accent actually sounds legit.' -Nick Hight. 

I was that American.

Until next time,

-Jackson

On Writing - Death Foreshadowed

As I promised, here's an 'On Writing' post. 

I have this abnormal bump in the back of my head. I've never seen it on anybody else because its usually not as big. But it's where my spine comes to an end. A prominent bump. This also gives me the excuse not to ever shave my head. :) 

So why am I mentioning this? Because there's only one plausible reason why I have a prominent spine-ending bone in the back of my head - it's how I'm going to die. Okay, I don't believe this 100%, but I do believe it a little. I could slip on a wet floor, fall backwards, and die. Literally, the bone isn't noticeable by eyes because I have pretty shaggy hair, but if you feel it...it's big. 

It scares me. Is it going to be the death of me? Maybe. I have no idea. I've never really given much thought to how I would die. But I would bet my money on the bone in the back of my head. 

Has God foreshadowed my death? Possibly. 

If you're going to kill of one of your characters it's always fun to add a bit of foreshadowing. In my book the eighth day the pivotal death in the story isn't foreshadowed at all, because it's meant to be random. It's meant to shock you like it does the protagonist. 

How can you foreshadow their deaths? 

1. Focus on their character. If they're a relatively minor character this may not work, but if they're a main character give them more focus in the story the closer it gets to their deaths. This will rip your readers' hearts out. They'll say, "Oh, I was just beginning to like that guy." Or. "Oh, I really liked that guy." I think a perfect example of this is - SPOILER OF THE TV SHOW ONCE UPON A TIME. Highlight the following blank spot for the text - Graham from Once Upon A Time. He's a perfect example. He starts out as the cool sheriff, but the episode where he dies, he stars as the main character. When he was killed off, the fans of the show sorta threw a fit, because, 'They were just beginning to like that guy.' 

2. Foreshadow by words. Have you ever been reading a book when a line pops out at you and you instantly sense that something is off? I have, multiple times. But the first example that pops into my mind comes from Harry Potter. 

If you haven't read Harry Potter then...well you're way, way, way behind in the world. In POA, Professor Trelawney prophecies that if thirteen people meet, gather, or eat together, the first one to leave dies. In Order of the Phoenix, right at the beginning when Harry's at Sirius' house, Sirius is the first to leave a table of thirteen. He later dies in the book. 

And in Deathly Hallows, when they're all gathered at the Burrow, Lupin is the first to leave a table of thirteen. He later dies in the book. 

Curious, isn't it? (NOTE: I know this for a fact, but I may have gotten the setting wrong).

3. Fear. If you want a quick foreshadow, have the character you're going to kill fear their approaching death. I usually go with this one, because you can also tie it into #1. 

4. False ends. Have the character almost die multiple times before they actually do. This has been done many, many times. 

Yeah. I wrote this post because I think my death is foreshadowed. Pretty messed up, isn't it? 

This post and last post probably make me sound like a really weird guy...

Favorite Song of the Week: Dramatic Song by Tobuscus. 

QOTP: 'We need a new plague.' -D Quinten Seegmiller

Until next time,

-Jackson

(Yes!)

BEWARE: This post contains much rambling and no personal gain. You may skip to the bottom where you see a list of five things. 

I'm going to talk a little bit about random stuff, plans, (I seem to talk about those a lot) and what I'm most looking forward to. 

Plans: Schools becoming less stressful, summers on its way - along with the soon upcoming release of Surrender by Elana Johnson. (sequel to Possession.) And my vacation to San Diego. Now what are my plans: New plans to finish my 250,000 word novel The Eighth Day - may split it up into a series but that's unimportant - by the end of this year. I'm already about 60k of the way through it, so that's exciting. Also, this summer I'm going to be working on a project with Morgan Ramsey (who currently does not have a blog but will soon). More information will be disclosed come later times. 

Also, we'll (yes, multiple people) be announcing something very fun coming up this summer. It's going to be a very big, exciting announcement that you guys will hopefully be excited about, too. I know I just revealed absolutely nothing, but more announcements will come later, don't fret. 

And in the blogging world I plan to begin blogging thrice a week. Once on Monday, once on Wednesday, and once on Friday. Monday's will be me just babbling, because I like to babble a lot. Wednesday will be 'On Writing' posts. (I have a lot planned, but as you can see I love to procrastinate.) And Friday will be reviews. 

Which reminds me, I saw Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and Dream House last night. Loved 'em both. I should probably see the first three Mission: Impossibles though.... AND I saw The Others, which pretty much blew my mind. Yes, if you're a writer, then you should see all three of those movies. Great movies. 

More of my plans: If any of you follow my YouTube videos we're having four big projects this summer: We're remaking a video I once made a long time ago called How To Take Down A Zombie. We're doing a Modern Warfare parody titled Modern Housefare. A short film called The Hitman we'll hopefully be up by the end of summer. And then we're going to release something in October which is currently under the title of The October Project. I'm excited for all of these projects. We'll also be relaunching a series we once filmed titled Under the Stars. And yes, if I ever become a famous screenwriter, I may just have to make a TV series out of it. 

So those are my plans. But the biggest plan of all is: Visit all your guys' blogs. I'm bad at that. And I have gotten better since I said I would, huh? I'll get even more better. (Not good grammar). 

I accomplished something on Friday that made me very, very motivated and happy. If you guys know me at all you'll know I love TV series. I love them almost more than books. I don't know why. There's just some genius behind a lot of them that I envy. Anyway, ever since 24 - first TV series I fell in love with - I've wanted to write a TV series. And when I discovered Psych I decided I wanted to write a comedy. And when I discovered The Office and Parks and Recreation, I decided I want to do a mockumentary. I just feel that a mockumentary is easiest to watch, and it's fun to write. You connect with characters better, I think.

Now, for those of you who don't know: A mockumentary is what the genre says it is. A mocking of a documentary. It just means a documentary of something that doesn't exist. I.e. The Office. Anyway, an idea hit me for a TV series while I was hydroseeding in Centerville the other day. 

I'm not gonna tell you what it is, frankly, because I don't want this idea stolen. So at school Friday I mapped out all the characters, and when I got home on Friday I sat down and wrote the pilot script of the TV series. 

When I was finished I got one of those great feelings. It wasn't as powerful a feeling as finishing a book, but it was close. I have one more scene to add in Act Two, and then its revising and then I'm gonna start mapping out the whole first season. In five years, when I'm hopefully working as one of the writers on a TV series, I'll pitch my idea to a studio and see if they take it. 

The idea's slightly depressing, you know? Waiting five years and all, but that's what has to happen. 

Anyway, that really motivated me, and it's all of I've been able to think about lately. 

Also, my dad came to me with an idea the other day. He said, "Jackson, can I have your old iPad, (first generation, named Superman after I dropped it from a tall height and it didn't break) if I pay half for the iPad 3." 

And I was like, "Sure!" 

Which sadly means that mine and Superman's time together is coming to an end. Yeah, my iPad is literally my life. If I lost it I'd be okay, but it has so much stuff on it its not even funny. And it's my connection to the internet in places without computers. 

So I may be getting an iPad 3 this week, which gets me really excited. 

Which brings me to the point of this whole post: What should I inscribe on the back of the new iPad 3. On this iPad it's simply "Jackson Porter". But I'd like this inscription to include:

1. My name.

2. 24.

3. The Office. 

4. Writing. 

5. Video-making. 

Something like, "Jackson "Bauer" Porter. Seven-Time Enthusiast of "The Office". Aspiring Writer. District-Acclaimed Director." 

Something along those lines. 

P.S. "There are many times I go by Jackson Bauer Porter. Weird, aren't I? There are many times I go just as Jack Bauer. Like, when I'm signing up for newsletters or somebody asks me to sign something, I just sign Jack Bauer. Does that make me even weirder? Yeah, probably...

So if you have reached this point I congratulate you highly. This post contains zero personal gain, so you obviously have faith in me. Thank you! :)

Favorite Thing of the Week: Writing Excuses 7.19: http://www.writingexcuses.com/2012/05/06/writing-excuses-7-19-qa-at-uvu/

and the word modicum, meaning "a small amount of". 

QOTP: 'I don't believe in cleaning. I believe the way your house looks without cleaning is a representation of who you really are. By cleaning you're living behind a façade of lies.' -Jackson Porter.

Yes, I do quote myself sometimes. No I do not believe in all of the things I quote myself on. Like the one above.

Until next time,

-Jackson

Watched, Read, Thoughted

My aunt has been begging me to come over to her house and have an Office marathon with her for some time now. Finally, our schedules matched and I had the chance to do so. I watched season 2 in one night, all seven seasons in 28 days. Let's just say I laughed my butt off, cried my butt off, and had my butt inspired off. That is a freaking genius show. The writers handle it with such...care and perfection. They know their characters so well that it makes the story so real. There's something just spectacular about the writing of that show that I can't place. 

Yeah, my favorite character: Well, it's really a mix. I love all the characters, they're all incredible, but overall I think it'd come down to Jim. Probably because Jim reminds me so much of me. I love Michael and Dwight, though. Michael's character is very layered, and so is Dwight's. Dwight's hiding behind a facade. That's what I probably love most about Dwight (though everything else about his character is utterly hilarious!). 

Pam. Mm, Pam. I love Pam. If you aged her down to my age I would definitely be chasing her. I'll actually have a post on Pam coming up. Nothing creepy or weird, it's just a term I use. P.S. Pam and Jim inspired the current secret project I am working on. 

It was fun watching the characters develop and the company plunder and rise. It was fun laughing at Michael's stupidity, Dwight's ridiculousness, and Jim's genius pranks. It was fun growing jealous of the writers and their talents, and staying up way late at night just to watch one more episode. 

Towards the end of season 7 I was bawling my eyes out. And if you've seen that you'll know what I'm talking about. SPOILER! PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS NEXT PART IF YOU HAVE NOT WATCHED THE OFFICE: I cried from the moment all of the employees of the Dunder Mifflin Scranton branch sung their song to Michael for his last Dundies, to the moment we saw Michael's plane flying away. The three parts that got me the most were: 1) Michael's letter of recommendation to Dwight. 2) When Pam and Michael said goodbye and their dialogue was muted. 3) (cried the hardest) When Jim said goodbye to Michael. I loved how shaken up Jim was. It was unexpected. Made me bawl my eyes out. 

And now I'm impatiently waiting for season 8. Took me a total of 28 days to watch the first seven seasons. 

Pictured left to right (Ryan. Pam. Michael. Jim. Andy. Dwight)

Okay. Now, onto what I read. The Fire Ascending by Chris d'Lacey. 

This is the seventh book in the Last Dragon Chronicles. I picked up The Fire Withing (first book in series) back in elementary school, so I've been following this series for a long time. I really didn't get heavily interested in this series until the sixth book: Fire World. That book was incredible. 

I read this book within the time I usually read really good books: 48- hours. This book, I don't want to spoil it for any of you, was weird. Heck, the whole series is weird. But that's what I love about it. This book blew me away. Mr. d'Lacey mentioned in the Q&A session in the back that he didn't plot out the series. He just let the story take him where it wanted to go. That's probably what I love so much about this series. It's not so much the author telling the story, it's the story telling itself. 

Anyway, story was incredible, writing was fantastic, ending was perfect. I won't say anymore about this wonderful book. 

Now, onto what I "thoughted". 

Matt (mentioned again...*sigh) texted me just yesterday saying that apparently there is now a May NaNoWriMo. Now, I know there's the original NaNoWriMo (November), and CampNaNoWriMo (July & August), but I had no idea there was a May NaNoWriMo! So a thought occurred to me: Why not, for the next 4 NaNoWriMo's (May, July, August, November) finish up The Eighth Day?! :D

Now, for those of you who don't know, The Eighth Day is the 50,000 word YA Action/Adventure time traveling novel I wrote for 2011's November NaNoWriMo. The idea had manifested itself in my head years earlier, and I finally got it down on paper.

The idea, I decided quickly after finishing, was much too big to fit into one novel. So I plotted it out into five books. The series is titled The Eighth Day Chronicles, respectively. And the title of the first book is simply "The Eighth Day: Twilight". 

...

Okay. I'm kidding. It's actually titled "The Eighth Day: Time". The title fits perfectly considering there really isn't anything else I can call it. 

So I have begun work on the second one. "The Eighth Day: Time Fleet". It's difficult writing this one, because in "Time" I focused on five main characters: Lincoln, Cassidy, Charles, Guy, and Jared. But "Time Fleet" focuses on three different main characters: Thomas, Desmond, and Tyler. So jumping main characters has been a challenge thus far. But I'll make it through it. :) 

So I will hopefully have "Time Fleet" finished by the end of May. And then I'll tackle the rest of the series later this year. 

I'm seriously trying to get better at blogging. It's just The Office and The Fire Ascending came up. I'll get better at it...hopefully....

Favorite Video of the Week is Agents of Secret Stuff: 

(Contains swear words, a couple "Hell's" 1 "Damn" and many uses of the "A" word, though it is not used in the context of swearing.)

QOTP: 'I hitched my wagon to a horse with no legs.' -Dwight Shrute (The Office)

May the Fourth be with you, 

-Jackson

On Writing - Limitless

As I was scrolling through my Shadow Co. page on Facebook, I saw a picture of The Gnome Project and Deception, and a thought occurred to me.

Both ideas are so relatively different, how is it that we came up with those two ideas? I mean, they're completely different. And it just blew my mind. Stories. They're anything you want them to be. You can do anything you want with them. Create anything, do anything, write anything. There are no laws, there are no limits, anything can happen.

Isn't that just cool to think about? I mean, there's absolutely no limit. You can create what ever you want. It's something awesome think about, isn't it? When I thought about that, I was inspired, I realized that nothing is impossible. I could go on about this forever, but I will not. 

Well, today's post was short, because the topic I wanted to discuss really didn't hold much discussion. Life's going good, if you care. I just got back from a very cold vacation, and I just submitted a video which I will talk about in the post below. 

Recently, I've been working on a secret project and a "key" high fantasy novel. I call it my "key" high fantasy novel because the title has the word key in it, and it's a very long title, so I never feel like spelling it out. Anyway, currently work is being put off on the "key" high fantasy novel, and I'm instead focusing on my secret project. 

I've told very few people about this book I'm working on, because it's a new thing I'm trying, and I'm pretty excited for it. I'm about 5,000 words into it, but I'm behind a good 3,000, which means I have some catching up to do. 

The Office is great. I just started season 6. I'm currently reading Beautiful Darkness by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Last week I finished Beautiful Creatures, and I realized it had taken me six months to read the whole thing. It was good, don't get me wrong, I liked it, it just took me forever. 

I guess I can't complain, The Eye of the World has taken me over a year and I love that book. (I'm still not finished). I'm close, though...

Anyway, if any of you have heard of EFY, great, if you haven't, then I'll explain it best I can. I haven't been, so don't trust me too much on this. EFY stands for Especially for Youth and it's a youth program set up every summer by the Mormon church. I haven't been yet, so I don't know exactly what they do there, but that's not important. What's important is that they hosted a video contest this year, and I entered. 

The rules were simple: incorporate a garden gnome and the phrases "did you hear that" and "arise and shine forth". So we did. We only had one night to film it due to scheduling conflicts, and that night it happened to be raining, so we had to film it indoors. 

And right now I'm going to ask you a pretty big favor. Could you please go to the link posted below, watch the video (if you wish), and press the thumbs up or "Like" button just below it. The top three videos with the most "Likes" wins. And it goes on into the second round. It'd be really helpful if you could do that.

You can view the video HERE.

I promise I'm getting to your blog. I have a lot going on what with the end of the school year and all that nonsense. But I promise I'll get around to following and commenting on all of your blogs. 

Favorite Thing of the Post: 

the word: Mephistophelian meaning devilish. 

QOTP: 'PERISH YOU MEPHISTOPHELIAN MEPHISTOPHELES!' (from the N-A-C.2 script/third script I've ever completed). 

Until next time,

-Jackson