Sacrifices, part 2

I'm beginning to think God had bigger plans for me than the Create Here grant would have allowed. When I got my rejection letter, my mom said, "that just tells me that there's something bigger or better out there for you." I knew she was trying to comfort me and I knew she believed what she was saying, but it did little in the way of taking away the sting of rejection.

But now here I sit, 196 movies poorer and 1200 dollars richer. I can't help but feel that I've been rewarded for stepping out in faith. I've declared my priorities, my passion, and my desire, and the money which I made from the initial sale of movies doubled in less than 24 hours. And then 20 extra dollars came forth. And now, the very fine Rick Hardaway (who plays General Rhodes), having heard all this, has promised another 100 dollars to the fund.

So I'm doing it again. Or still. Or . . . actually I'm not sure what tense to use, but tomorrow I'm taking in all my graphic novels and trade paper backs. Good-bye Spider-Man, Superman, Wolverine, and Batman. We'll meet again, I'm sure. But right now I'd rather be making movies and telling stories than stockpiling your old tales.

Just as with the movies, there are a couple I'm holding onto. But right now I'm looking at nine grocery bags full of hardback books that I'm trading in for cold, hard cash. Because I'm committed to this. I was created for and called to a very specific purpose and I'm not going to let something as petty as money get in the way.

UPDATE: Made $275.23 from my 92 books.

Which means we now have $1478.51
Which means we're 72% there!

If you have that other 28%, or a portion of that 28% and would like to help, do let me know!

Sacrifices

We applied for the Create Here grant and didn't get it. Apparently the "winners" of the grant were more established Chattanooga artists. I suppose I can understand that. If I was giving away a lot of money, I'd want to think I was giving it someone who would use it wisely -- and who else can you trust but people who have already proven themselves as trustworthy and who have already made a name for themselves without your help?

Though, I do also have to admit, I'd be less excited about helping someone who already owned their own studio. I know what they're going to do with the money. I'd like to help some no-name up 'n' comer who needs a boost up. But that's neither here nor there.

We don't have any money and we need equipment. We could continue to beg, borrow, and steal equipment from our wealthier friends, but I'd rather reserve those called-in favors for more dire needs (like for a steadicam sequence or what-have-you).

Hence the title of this blog: Sacrifices. I've known people, and continue to be friends with people, who are big dreamers but not big doers. They talk about all these wonderful things, but don't really seem to ever do anything to actually get themselves closer to accomplishing their dreams. I'm not going to be one of those people.

Step 1 in getting closer to the dream is selling my DVD's and Blu-Rays. I want you to understand what this means. I have upwards of 500 DVD's and Blu-Rays. I haven't counted them in a while, but I was definitely close to that last time I did (I have been downsizing, though, so I'm probably hovering much lower nowadays). This is a finely tuned and sculpted collection I've been working on for that past 10 years. I love movies. I love owning movies. But I'm not going to let my library of movies get in the way of my dreams. I'm taking them into McKay today and selling them. Whatever I make on these movies, I'm putting towards a camera.

It's a sad day. It's a scary day. It's also a thrilling, exciting, I'm about-to-step-off-the-ledge day. So here goes. I hope, like Indiana Jones, there's an invisible bridge to catch me.

UPDATE: I made $583.28 from 196 movies.

UPDATE 2: After reading this blog, an anonymous donor gave me $20, pushing the grand total to 603.28. Thanks, Anonymous!