My First Feature Film!

... as an extra. Which is still fairly exciting to me! It was the new "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel" movie. Booya. And I'm not kidding about the "Squeakquel" part. It kind of frustrates me how Alvin gets all the attention. Why is that? Just cause he has some sweet hoodie now? I don't like it. Not one bit. I have a feeling Simon and Theodore will eventually revolt or just become heavily addicted to some life altering substance... as will Alvin. It's sad, really.

Anyway, I won't tell you all the good secrets (like I know any), but I will tell you that the chipmunks have made it to high school! Alvin is of course doing great. Voted "Most Popular," class president, prom king, etc. Simon is goth. And Theodore is flunking out and got his girlfriend pregnant. Just kidding about the majority of those statements... I hope. All I really know is that I got paid to sit around on a beautiful sunny day for 8 hours in the quad-like area on the campus of Cal State with snacks and a full lunch and then go sit in a high school auditorium for 4 hours and pretend I was watching imaginary chipmunks perform. Seriously?!?! Yes... seriously. I did this along with 350 other extras. 350 x $8/hour x 14 hours (including overtime) + catering = $40,000 (approximately... and thats not including SAG extras who get double the pay of non-union extras). Wow. I hadn't thought about that until just now as I typed it all out. Thats insane.

It really was a fun day, though. My new friend Phillip was also booked as an extra, so we hung out most of the day and ended up having a really great conversation with a girl who was an atheist. It's so cool/frustrating to see that we as humans can do nothing to draw others to Christ. We can present the message of who He is and what He's done for us, but He has to be the one to open their hearts to that truth. I'm not sure how our conversation will impact the girl (her name was Kara), but I really do hope the Lord softens her heart. She was a really sweet girl. Sadly, I haven't taken many opportunities like that to share my faith, but it was so great! It's definitely good to have your faith challenged to really think about what you believe and why you believe it. I was really convicted to hide the Word in my heart more and be more intentional about sharing with others. I have no doubt He'll provide plenty of opportunities!

More exciting news... I booked work to stand-in for Neil Patrick Harris, which means that I'll literally stand-in for him on scenes when the crew is setting up lighting and shots so that Neil doesn't have to be there doing that tedious stuff. I am SO thankful to have gotten this position because it pays a good bit more than extra work, and I definitely need the money to cover my bills. As far as I know I'll only be booked for that one day (this coming Monday), but I guess there's a chance they might use me again for other work Neil does. That would be so great!

I'm also beginning a shoot for a student film tonight. We're filming it in a grocery store tonight and tomorrow night from 10pm to 4am. Crazy, I know. I'll just have to sleep during the day for the next two days! It's going to be a really fun shoot, and the story line is hilarious. Hopefully I'll be able to post the final video on here or something. The basic outline of the story is that 3 people are going to have a all out battle for the last remaining bottle of chocolate syrup. Should be interesting.

I still have moments of extreme homesickness and gut fears wondering what I'm doing out here, but as I've said so many times the Lord has been SO incredibly faithful to show me that this is definitely where I'm supposed to be for now. I have no doubt that He has a plan, and even though I don't know where His plan is leading I'm following as best I can. He is good. So good.

Love and miss you all... unless I don't know you... or if I don't like you (but there's very few of those people out there, and I doubt they're reading this blog),
Robby