Last Thursday

Here's the whole thing from Last Thursday. Enjoy.

Last Thursday from Dayn Arnold on Vimeo.

Ah Portland. Alberta Street on the last Thursday of the month is a feast for all the senses. Music, art, food, and characters all around.

12940

Fire Dancing

Went to Last Thursday last Thursday on Alberta Street. Incredibly Portlandy. More clips to come later. Enjoy.

Fire Dancers from Dayn Arnold on Vimeo.

It's been an interesting week. I have tallied the week's score for your information. It reads as follows:

Early last week my new video camera arrived. Awesome. (Score: Good things - 1, Bad things - 0) It uses special memory cards, so I had to install special drivers on my computer to read the cards. My computer slowed down, and eventually stopped booting altogether. (Good things - 1, Bad things - 1) So while I had everything backed up on another drive (an obsession I picked up a couple years back after nearly losing 3 months of work from one project) I couldn't use the computer. I had a wedding coming up that weekend and really needed to use it to offload footage as I took it with the camera. Computer problems began Tuesday night. Wednesday I took my new camera out for a spin, and it performed beautifully as I took in some nature shots from a ways out of town. (Good things - 2, Bad things - 1) Did a little time-lapse, some slow-motion. So great. Because I was already headed to Portland the next day, I arranged to meet the Apple people in Portland (I refuse to call them the Genius Bar, though that's their official title, because it's beyond pretentious.) Went to the Apple store, was given a quick fix, and I was back out the door, waiting to try the fix later. Well, the fix didn't work, (Good things - 2, Bad things - 2) so I had to make another appointment on Friday, the day before I needed it for shooting a wedding. Went in the next day, and they had to take my computer in for two days to fix it. (Good things - 2, Bad things - 3) That evening I went to play guitar at a party, for which I was being paid more than fairly for 2 hours of playing. By the end of the night, I had played 3.5 hours and was paid more than twice the original agreed amount. Also gave out some business cards to the woman who hired me because she wanted to recommend that service to her friends who also throw small events. (I didn't tell her I had never done this sort of thing before and that I was just making it up as I went along. Good things - 3, Bad things - 3) Next day didn't have the computer, which is a bummer because I needed to upload my footage onto a computer throughout the night. So I used the computer of my friend whom I hired to shoot with me. We got to the wedding and had just finished shooting the most important part, the ceremony, and discovered that one of the most important files from my friend's camera didn't transfer properly, and we ended up losing the shot. (A predicament which we know how to avoid in the future. Good things - 3, Bad things - 4) We were able to get some additional footage from the church's video camera, thanks to my obligatorily new best friend Jake. The rest of the evening went pretty well, and was an enjoyable event (Good things - 4, Bad things - 4), though with the two of us, I heard at least one comment about feeling like there were paparazzi skulking about. Also my friend Fritz, the photographer who got me both of the weekend's gigs (thanks Fritz!) let me use his fisheye lens, which gives a really unique effect when held in front of my camera.

The day after the wedding was a nice relaxed day, biked a bit in the heat, hung out with friends and fam, and it was really great. (Good things - 5, Bad things - 4) Also got to meet with CJ from my church, which was great. The next day I went and saw "UP" the new Pixar movie, in 3D, which was pretty stinking cool. ((Good things - 6, Bad things - 4) Then I had to head back to Bend, and on the way my car overheated. Actually, I forgot to mention it did the same thing on the way TO Portland, so I'm afraid the score is off by two. (Good things - 6, Bad things - 6) It was frustrating, but I made it home in one piece. I spent the evening reloading all my files onto my computer, and reinstalling the entire Adobe Creative Suite, which alone takes a couple hours. The next morning I had the computer working just fine, and decided to reinstall that camera card driver, which promptly sent my computer into a stalling and crashing trajectory. (Good things - 6, Bad things - 7) I managed to uninstall that driver and after a bit of research, found an updated driver that wouldn't do that to my poor computer. (Good things - 7, Bad things - 7) So now I could actually use my camera with my computer, and was all ready to take my loads of files from the wedding and get editing. Well, I discovered that the import process we used on my friend's computer put the files into a format unreadable by my computer. (Good things - 7, Bad things - 8) So 1.5 hours of research and $80 later I could actually read the files I needed to use and made some real headway with the footage. (Good things - 8, Bad things - 8) And from that point on, the editing has gone on relatively smoothly.

Today I worked a bit more on the wedding footage, and worked a bit for my boss here in Bend. He told me to bring my older video camera along to see if a friend of his would want to buy it from me, which would be a huge blessing, and money I can put toward the new camera. So tomorrow I'll be picking up a check for my old camera, thank you Jesus! (Good things - 9, Bad things - 8) So the last week has been just a shade above neutral. Actually, one more thing I forgot (forget editing what I write, I don't feel like updating every score just for a bit of continuity). I think I have a place to stay in Portland, possibly for free. More on that later. So it looks like the score is officially Good things - 10, Bad things - 8. So all turned out well, but what a crazy week. I think I need a nap.

12851

Craziness...

Does anyone else think "craziness" look strange because of the "i" where the "y" should be? Also, does anyone else want me to continue using "quotation marks" willy-nilly "throughout" the "rest of" this blog"?" If so, "you" need to read "this other blog."

This last weekend I went to Portland, had a great time with nice sunny and warm weather, including a picnic with all of my siblings and their spouse or soon-to-be-spouse. (Drew's getting married in less than a month to a lovely girl named Ashleigh.) I got to hang out with quite a few of my really good friends, and received serious affirmation that I should be moving back to Portland as soon as I can. Which brings me to my next point.

On Sunday in Portland I got a chance to meet with my friend Laki, a fellow videographer to whom I'm connected through Mandi. Laki and his brother are getting serious about their videography, investing in all sorts of amazing equipment, and getting ready to make their mark on the Portland filmmaking scene. The thing with people in filmmaking is that so many of them have enormous egos, an intensely pretentious lot. Those kind of people can be hard to work with, the kind of people I don't really want to work with. Laki feels the same way, and so it's looking like I'm going to join forces with him and his brother, at least some of the time. I just ordered that nice new camera I have been praying about (thanks in part to a generous loan from Pioneers) and will also be offering my services as a solo videographer. Here's where you come in.

I need work anywhere in the Northwest (unless willing to pay airfare, in which case the sky's the limit.) If you know anyone getting married within the next few months, and I can be there, please recommend my services to them. I'm not often a shameless (or shameful, for that matter) self-promoter, but I really need to secure as much work as I can handle over the next few months. Don't worry, my blog won't become a festering wound of self-advertising, but right now I kind of have to be. My email and phone number are fair-game to anyone, and I'm working on getting a simple website up, I'll let you know when that's online. Thanks for your help with this. I'm taking a bit of a step in faith with all this, but I'm excited at the potential.

So yeah, right now pray for work to come in, and pray I'll keep my eyes on Christ and the great things He has in store for me. Thanks everybody.

Cheers.

12684

Work is Good, Prayer is Better

Hey everybody!

So I haven't written in a week and a half or so, and for that I make a very weak apology. Very weak.

I've been very busy the last couple weeks with PAYING work, something that doesn't happen all that often. I'm learning about specific prayer, and praying for work has proven God faithful. Which brings me to my next couple of points. I've been thinking and praying more about moving back to Portland, and ask you all to pray with me. My desire is to get hooked up with videographers and photographers in Portland, see if I can work on multiple wedding videos this summer. Please help me pray about making the right connections. I have two weddings lined up already, and if you know anyone near Portland or Bend who's getting married this summer and needs a videographer, please let me know. I'm also praying about procuring some new videography equipment, the most significant of which is a new video camera which will be perfect for my future work with Pioneers. (In case you're curious to know which camera I'm hoping for, it's Sony's PMW-EX1) It's a spendy piece of gear, but will give me a great tool for telling stories in a transparent way. Recently I invested in a software package that is freeing me up to be creative in media, another huge blessing. Check out my little experiment using the new software. http://www.vimeo.com/4578426

This past week I was offered a chance to speak to a group of people from my dad's church. I didn't intend to talk for an hour straight, but there were many questions and I was feeling talkative. It was a really great time, perhaps a foreshadowing of what Mandi and I hope to do later this summer, a kind of house-party tour. I put together a bit of my footage from Thailand to show as well. I know the people there now have a really good idea of how they can pray for me, and it was a time of refreshing as my thoughts came out my mouth and helped me to more fully understand what it is that God is calling me to do. It was great. Special thanks to Bob and Colleen for being such gracious and generous supporters, even inviting me to their house to talk to a Bible study group.

Thanks to all of you who continue to join me in prayer. It's a huge blessing and a great source of humility. Goodness knows I need a generous helping of humility now and again.

11802

I love working with kids

So on Monday I got to work in a class of special kids. One little gem of a girl (4 years old, I think) is on the Autism Spectrum, not engaging socially with others in the same way as a lot of other kids. Somehow we made a little connection, as we were about to leave the gym after the class had finished running around like mad. She filed into line just like everyone else, an accomplishment on its own, looked back at me with a half-turn and gave me a cool thumb-up. So cute, especially because her Autism can make that sort of social engaging difficult or impossible.

Then she topped herself by turning again and giving me a huge face-scrunching wink. Awesome.

10264

Dut, Dut, Doose

Got to work as an assistant in a preschool speech-therapy class today. Guess what game we played...

7500

Mandi Eats a Grasshopper

There are markets everywhere in Chiang Mai. Cheap produce, cookware, clothing, you name it, you can get it within a 10 or 15 minute walk.

This video was at the Sunday Walking Street Market, a large-scale weekly market that blocks off drivers from several streets, making for (what felt like) miles upon miles of Thai goodies. I'm not a huge market person, as I'm very much a goal-oriented shopper. I have to know what I want, get in and get out. Markets don't cater well to someone such as myself. But I can enjoy them for a short time. Or tolerate them for a slightly longer time.

And don't worry, I ate a grasshopper right after Mandi, but I neglected to tape myself doing so. If you don't believe me, ask Mandi or Jason. And they're right, it's not bad at all, aside from some strange textures, though I wouldn't go so far as to say it's similar to chicken. Chicken doesn't have tiny legs that can get stuck in your teeth. Unless you have an enormous mouth.

6440

Sweet Juicy Clarification

Yesterday I had a wonderful video conference with the PI communications people in Orlando. It's been a long time since we all have spoken, a bit too long, actually. Having been in Chiang Mai recently, a lot of questions and thoughts have been lingering on the tip of my brain, and I wanted to get them out before they disappeared into the recesses of my brain.

Actually, yesterday was just a great day overall. I went to bed early and got up at 5:00, (Hopefully it won't be happening again anytime soon. Thanks jet-lag!!!) spent a long while thinking about the questions I had, and then went on a 40 minute walk in the crisp Central Oregon air, smelling faintly of juniper. I've discovered recently that I do some of my best thinking while walking, so I spent a while praying, truly grateful to my creator for his answers to prayer. So when I got back home, I was ready for our conversation, despite it being at 7am Pacific time.

It was wonderful having the time to really process through my thoughts and questions, though it meant Matt and Caryn would get a bit of an earful of substantial questions. They were able to give me significant clarification on some issues, and not as much on others, though they weren't even aware these were things to ponder before I asked them. It was a great conversation, and I was totally energized afterward. Not all of my questions were answered, but the turbid waters of my poor little brain experienced a small stream of clarity, sweet juicy clarity.

This morning I got an email explaining my stint in Orlando before heading to the field. It will be a time to "get a taste of what happens from the mobilization end of things, and also get a greater idea of the intended audiences for the pieces [I'll] be creating." I'm excited at the prospect of spending time in Orlando with purpose, and this is such a great reason for staying in there for a bit. Feeling a couple steps closer to the field, I had begun to feel like time in Orlando was going to be a bit of a waste of time, one more thing to keep me from the field, but now I'm excited about the prospect. Thank God for the wisdom of others. So now I'll be in Orlando for as little as 2 months with purpose and direction. Woo hoo! And now you're all caught up and the various goings on of the last hour.

Cheers.

6033

New Pics Online!!!

Hey, I posted a bunch of photos of our trip to Thailand on Facebook. Check them out right here!

5885