Sometimes you disappear.

I did. Oops. My wonderful friend Sarah Smith sent me a little message today saying that "the people" demand a new blog post, so here it is. Honestly, I wasn't aware that there were any people who still read this mess, but I guess I've been proven wrong. There's at least one. Sarah. And if she wants a blog post... she gets a blog post.

I last left you with the wonderful images of our housewarming party which included great friends, food, and a fantastic pinata filled with glorious treats. That was 2.5 months ago. Wow. I have been gone awhile, haven't I? Quick update on the little things:
- I've gone to 3 weddings since we parted last. One in Peoria, IL, one in Zionsville, IN, and one in Birmingham, AL. All of them were great.
- I worked a lot at Buca Di Beppo
- I went to Holiday World in Santa Claus, IN, and it was hilarious. Pretty awful, but hilarious.
- I got a new car and sold my old one. It was just time.
- I buzzed my hair... again.
- I am now a faithful fan of the Hollywood softball team that our friend Lauren plays with here in Nashville. They're pretty amazing.
- I got a Tennessee license.
- I went to Cedar Point and rode about 7 rides. Note: Don't go to Cedar Point when winds are 25+ mph because they will shut everything down. We still had an amazing time, though, and laughed a lot... and danced like idiots down the street while a parade was following behind us. And we might have danced in the Johnny Rocket's restaurant, too.

The past month or so has been a whirlwind of experiences. I'm not even really sure how to process or explain it. God has been teaching me so much, and I've been humbled and overwhelmed by His goodness and strength. I've met some amazing people who have become my "Nashville Family," and they've really helped Nashville begin to feel like home. One interesting event that I was able to take part in with some of my Nashville Fam was helping to set up for a 5 year old's birthday party. I know... you're wondering why I would bring this up. Well, it was no ordinary birthday party. This was the most incredible birthday party I've ever seen in my entire life. My friend Shelley works for the interior design company that decorates for these parties, and her sister Carly nannies the little boy who was having the party, so thats how I got in on this little adventure. It was a Jurassic Park themed party complete with roaring, moving replicas of some of the most famous dinosaurs, a huge "dig site" where kids could dig up fossils and bones, a giant inflatable play place, a dinosaur ride, and many various arts and crafts. It was insane. Here's a few pics from that experience:





Needless to say, I couldn't believe what was happening before my eyes. It was unreal. The little boy's entire family was so friendly and hospitable, though, and it was a really fun experience. Hopefully I'll get to take part in the festivities again next year. I can't even imagine what they'll come up with.

As of late, my life has been consumed with a new job I've been working. I'm part of the Art Department thats working on the feature film "Firebird" shooting here in Nashville, and when I say my life is consumed by it, I'm not kidding. We've been working 12+ hour days for the past 2 weeks straight, and I'm exhausted. Though I get super tired of the long hours and some of the frustrations of working on a film, it really has been a good experience, and I'm thankful for the opportunity. I'm not gonna lie, though... it'll be nice when filming wraps. Considering we still have 3 or 4 weeks of shooting left, I can't really start looking toward that quite yet. The main responsibility of the Art Department is to take the shooting locations that are selected and make them look as authentic and true to life as possible. They get furniture, paintings, photos, knick-knacks, rugs, curtains, signs, etc to dress a set or location before shooting at that location begins. For example... we had to transform a prison thats been shut down for over 20 years into a modern, working prison. We scraped paint, painted walls, replaced windows, brought in tons of workout equipment for the rec yard, and repaired fencing to make the place ready for the shoot we had this past Saturday. It's unreal the amount of work that goes into a feature film. We also filmed at a farm outside of Nashville that was beautiful. Here's some pictures of the farm and the prison:




Everything you see in this image was carefully placed by the Art Dept. Again... it's amazing what goes into this stuff:


They filmed parts of "The Green Mile" and all of "The Castle" at this prison:


This is the cell where James Earl Ray was kept (he shot Martin Luther King, Jr.). The bars to the cell are currently in some museum:


Here's part of the set from "The Green Mile" that they left:


This is where the electric chair (Nicknamed "Old Smokey") used to be. Thats obviously not the original chair:



Prison is terrifying and depressing. I pray I never have to go there for real. Plus, I just don't look happy in prison:


They remainder of shooting is sure to have many ups and downs, and I just pray that the Lord gives me the strength to keep going. Life is hard, and there's so many things I struggle with, but God is still God through it all. He knows what He's doing, and I pray that every single day I'll grow to trust Him more and take joy in Him and His plan for my life. Honestly, I don't know where He's leading me at this point or what He's trying to teach me, but all I can do is seek Him and things will fall into place. Working with this film has reminded me why I left Los Angeles and the film industry and moved to Nashville, though. I miss music and performing. I pray Christ brings those back into my life soon.

I hope "the people" are happy to have an update. I'm thankful to those who encourage me to keep this thing going. It really is therapeutic. Hopefully I'll be back soon with some good stories.

Workin' like a mad man and learning a lot,
Robby