6am, Fresh.

Lying in bed. Shifting hues of blue softly illuminate the room. Now is somewhat sacred. For with this hour, I am not closely acquainted. Normally, my awareness at this segment of a day is only that I am subconsciously in existence.

Over the past 1200 minutes I’ve pondered things of simplicity. One item probably of little significance to others, the word Sun-day; taken literally. A chaos of associations with the origination of the word have been dazzling around my synapses. For some reason, the one sticking out most to me, is the hunch I have that today is going to be quite sunny, not because it’s San Diego, but because it’s Sun-day.

Each moment that ends when the next begins, anxiety and excitement catch me by the arm. Will I continue this disposition of alertness and witness the instant the room segues from indigo into orange; or will I again slip fast into slumber?

A brief though my mind of dressing and venturing for a morning jog—or brisk walk-- depending on what my body would allow. I am weak. A morning 48 hours prior to this one, waking up was not so pleasant. Excruciating pain stemming from my eye pulsed and spread throughout my body. A trip to the center of ophthalmology and center of diseases and surgeries of the eye informed me of some not-so-fantastic news. A vision-threatening virus had entered and attacked my cornea, which also created a picky-back virus to reside in the rest of my body. Cute, it made itself a companion.

Ah ha! T’is orange! Orange. At 6:44am. It’s evident because the room is now in a neutrally lit stance. Its funny how on the color wheel, blue and orange are opposites. Like man and woman, like cats and dogs. For those of you non-art people, that means they cancel each other out, when placed side-by-side, the other pops. When mixed, they make brown. That was no accident. What an insanely creative artist the Man Upstairs is and how thoughtful. How our eyes were designed to react to such placements of various combinations of hues and to comprehend optical illusions as true. Often times I find myself counting the number of colors stacked on top of the pacific. Beginning from the bottom, up. Probably every time I reach the crossover from “Y” to “G” in “Roy G. BIV”, I get a little giddy. Like being first introduced to the creative acronym. Something about pastel lime in the sky gets me every time. I suppose because when considering the sunrise any other time of the day, “I love the green!” is not what most would say. Maybe its subtlety is what gets me. How slightly yellow slides up to blue, creating a short path of green. And how it somewhat, in a tricky placement of atmosphere from our perspective, seems to defy gravity; for the natural force pulls down, and yet the colors stretch upward and across the sky. I wonder if in heaven, people still have a favorite color?

Your life in a suitcase

They come in all shapes and sizes through words or maybe actions; goodbyes.
Some can be emotional and include great physical contact. Others are like a
cold-read from an actor who belongs behind the lens. Like suitcases, each one serves the same purpose: a place to carry belongings that are somehow essential to the owner. Patterns and sizes may vary but luggage is luggage.

Arrive at the gate, and then the wait. Staring at complete strangers becomes
acceptable and appropriately re-termed 'people watching'.

Everyone is coming or going and that's just a fact of life. A redirection of focus onto
others may mask personal anxiety but does not eliminate it. What
is he thinking? Who is she going to visit?

"flight 1284 service to
San Diego California will begin boarding 1st class at this time", is heard from above.

Were words spoken that needed to be? Was enough time granted to the
longtime land dwellers who potentially may get a one-way to be with
the lord upon your next arrival?

"passengers in all four zones may now board the plane"

why didn't I....

28a. Window seat. A catch 22. A great view and only one neighboring
seater. But passing on the 3rd water offer from the flight attendant
may be beneficial when the seemingly narcoleptic lady
passes out after two sips of her cocktail

Time for take off. Hold on, brace yourself for turbulence, and
pray you land safely at your next destination

This is What's up!

Back again!
Wow crazy crazy i haven’t blogged in forever but here’s what’s up with my life.
These days…. I’m busy running around as the Point TV Station manager, hosting ‘Loma Lovin’, taking a full course load, staying healthy and happy, working in the TV studio, etc etc etc. Oh yeah and somewhere in there trying to keep sane and have some sort of social life.
Throughout the week I’m pretty busy at Point Loma but I really enjoy getting back up to LA for the weekends to visit friends, fam, and my doggies at the shelter in Beverly Hills. It’s funny… San Diego is absolutely gorgeous and my school is conveniently on the beach—and yet my escape is to grungy, dirty, smoggy LA. To each their own right? It just goes to show you…no matter how great of a place you’re in, a change of scenery is always good for a change. I love LA because of the people who dwell in it. Although only 2 hours north of San Diego, it’s a completely different world up there; it’s probably safe to say a good 97% of the people who live in the heart of Los Angeles are not actually FROM there. People from California are generally not big fans of that city but, I love it for its artistic level and the crazy creative people dwelling on palm-lined streets.
Saturday morning I left PLNU at 7am for the trip north. I got into Beverly Hills and made my way to the Starbucks just north of Rodeo Drive. A lively part of town for a Saturday morning meant my desires for people watching were adequately met. Sitting out front enjoying a yummy java chip frap from, a kind man asked if I would watch his marvelous-looking Dalmatian, Luna. Of course! I would not own one, but I think they’re very pretty.
Following my Starbucks outing it was time to head over to The Amanda Foundation Dog Shelter where I’ve been volunteering on and off for the past year. When I first started working there, a dog name Cody completely stole my heart. He’s a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel mixed with a Pomeranian and absolutely adorable. He’s a little crazy feisty, but I love him nonetheless. I was greatly looking forward to walking him and spending time with the little dog but upon his return of a walk with one of the full-time employees, he was marked ‘walk by staff only’, considering he was the reason I came back there… I was incredibly disappointed. I played with him a bit before I left…and because doggies are good interpreters of human emotions… we were both sad. I’ll get him eventually!!
Saturday evening I hung out with friends for a birthday outing. We hit up The Hudson in West Hollywod for Happy Hour and then to Mao’s Kitchen on Melrose later that evening; fun times and good food!
Sunday morning I slept in (amazing) and when I stepped outside the warm air greeted me with this beautiful scenery. So pretty! I met up with Cousin Greg for bagels at a classy little joint near his place, very New York-like. Smoked salmon lox on a whole wheat bagel with cream cheese, YUM! It was good to catch up. We got to talk about life, love, dogs, food, film, and friends. Honestly, what else could you ask for?
Following brunch, it was time for church at my most favorite place ever, Reality LA (www.realityla.com) . And as always always always, it was absolutely fantastic. Pastor Tim talked about ‘Bending Without Breaking’, and dealing with disappointment without being destroyed. For an optimistic person who loves to plan and see goals met, this was an essential message for me to receive.
After church, Hani, Joe and I hit up my favorite Frozen Yogurt place, Yogurtland; the newer one on Sunset Blvd. It was good to catch up with my fellow LAFSC classmates and have amazing froyo. I got peppermint and choc twist=heaven. That was the last big event aside from meeting some fun people at Bed, Bath, and Beyond that evening. Sunset, and then the 2-hour drive back down south to my home at Lomaland Drive. El Fin. See you next time.

Catching You Up!

Tonight my heart broke for this little lady… I was driving home from the gym which is 4 miles away, right by a Walmart, and close to a Starbucks, it’s extremely convenient—when you have a car. I turned right onto Laurel Canyon Blvd, the road I live on, and there was this little lady crossing and everything about it seemed odd. She was quite old, and didn’t walk very well. I thought to myself, “Goodness, she’s so small if you weren’t paying attention you could easily maul her, whew! Glad that didn’t just happen, why is she out this late anyway? 9pm”. She was carrying 2 heavily loaded grocery bags in each hand, each one read, “Walmart.” My heart sank. This poor woman walked all the way to Walmart and back, 4 miles each way. There’s a Ralph’s close but…the fact that she had to go all the way there meant there was clearly things she needed just from Walmart. Ah life. We spend so much time thinking about ourselves, (which yes, we cannot neglect our own well being) but we can’t let us block out the needs of others, and especially the needs of the poor.
"There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land." Deuteronomy 15:11
On the opposite end of the spectrum, I work at a film and acting camp where it’s pretty expensive for kids to spend a week, sometimes two, of their lives but completely worth it. A lot of ‘celebrity offspring’, as we call them are our students. Growing up in Ohio in a middle-class town was much different from the lives these kids are experiencing and often times it is quite comical to me. Especially when things like this are said, “Backstage Justin Bieber tickets were going for several thousands of dollars, my mom looked into it but we just got front row instead because those we could get for a thousand.” Really? A thousand? Duh. Of course that’s chump change. Yeesh haha.
MOVIE NEWS
SAW –
SEEING NEXT-
WILL SEE -
I absolutely love love LOVE….LOVE my job! I work with 9-13 year old acting and film students and they just bless me so much. I love their innocence, simplicity, and overall excitement towards life. “Oh my gosh, you should hear some of the things the slutty girls at my school teach me”. Why are there slutty girls at age 11? That part kind of saddens me but, that’s our fallen world for ya. Or when they say things that just should NOT be said aloud…. At a normal casual lunch time conversation,
”Oh my gosh! That guy with the afro totally has a boner!” one of my 11-yr olds said.
“Shhhh shh shh! It’s probably fake, just don’t say that okay.” –Me
“Wait wait, the boner is fake or the afro?” –another 11 yr old
“Okay okay, just stop saying that word. What was your favorite part about our workshop this morning?” –Me
“Oh!! When we played that one….”
Kids crack me up and… I love how their attention is so easily diverted. A lot of times that bothers people but, I look at it as a challenge, and as a game. Each student is so different, but ultimately they all need the same thing, to know they’re loved and to know they’re awesome. By getting to know each one personally allows me to understand what they need, how they learn, and how to discipline them—or in real terms- how to get them to do what I want them to/what they need to be doing.
In addition to working closely with the kids, the instructors are fantastic! One of the improve instructor’s (for those of you who don’t know, I used to coach Improv Comedy and I still love it!) was actually one of the main writers for Pee Wee’s Playhouse and starred in several episodes. He’s hands down, one of the funniest dudes on the planet; he was a great guy to work with too.

Another crazy-goofy story… one of the acting groups I had, there was 5 girls and 1 guy. The guy was a little weird, and hated Justin Bieber so of course all of the girls were mean to him… During one of the acting workshops, Cliff, the instructor said,
“Okay now John* envision your best friend in the world—what’s his name?”
“He doesn’t have friends! Hahaha he won’t have anyone to say!” – Amy*
“Mr. Krispy” –John
“Okay, um… now John, is Mr. Krispy a real person? Or no?”
“Mr. Krispy”-John (mind you, this kid is 13 and should be well past the invisible-friend stage)
“He can’t name one because he doesn’t’ have one! Baahh! Hahah.”
“Okay, Mr. Krispy it is. Moving on…” – Cliff
Oh man. These are the convos that keep my life entertaining.
This past week at film and acting camp we shot in “New York”, the back lot of Universal Studios. The kids filmed and acted in short films on the same set that “Back to the Future” was filmed on, this is ‘Courthouse Square’. In addition to this, a little bit over on the lot, this is the outside apt building from one of my fav movies, “Bruce Almighty”.


Now as far as….LOOKING INSIDE…
A great personal theme for me this summer has been embracing change and things that are new. Just like in the 2 Corinthians, ““Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” I wanted this summer to be a great experience, inside and out. Both what is going on in my heart, and what is going on for any outsiders to see. I came back to Hollywood with an open mind but of course, there were still a few things I held near and dear to me that I was ready to revisit. Most of such things came in the form of relationships. Some of my ‘greatest friends’ I was stoked to spend the summer with!! But after some time had passed…things changed, I’d changed, etc etc. My cousins aside, the people I was looking forward to coming and seeing, some of them have slowly dwindled away. It’s unfortunate, but where something dies, there is new life right around the corner. Much of that new life I have found is through the people at my lovely church, Reality LA, and my awesome workplace, NYFA. I’ve been able to connect so well with these people in both places and I am entirely blessed to have them in my life! They’ve brought me laughter, love, support, perspective,comfort, their love reflections of Christ, their journeys. The latter of those, is one of my favorites. It is quite evident that I highly enjoy talking…but I believe I enjoy even more so, to listen. To learn and understand people, where they come from, and why they are the way they are, is a blessing. Everyone has a unique story and it brings me joy to see how God has used His gift of life in so many different ways <3

C.S Lewis once said, ““Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”

FAVORITE QUOTES OF THE WEEK!!
From Elyse Parks

“Smart People Love You”
From David Vandergriff

“Haha well you're alive, healthy, have a job with kids who wear pink and call you ke$ha and still get to go back for senior year of college and have a plan for the next year of your life”

WorKing in Hollywood

Welcome to a new world. A world I never dreamt I’d be a part of… a world I never even knew much about… ‘where stars are born’ and where magic on the big screen is made. It’s Hollywood. Today was my first day of work with the New York Film Academy, which if you are unaware, it is a very legitimate film school in LA. During my semester at LAFSC last fall I had the opportunity to work with some alums of NYFA and they were fantastic.
Today my job was to TA for a group of ‘tween’ aged kids. A lot of celebrity’s and people in the film and entertainment industry will send their kids to film and acting camps put on by NYFA. We shoot on the backlot of Universal Studios and today we were in “Europe”. So many movies have been shot here, it’s seriously insane. Here are just a few:
All Quiet on the Western Front (1929)
• Frankenstein (1931)
• Dracula (1931)
• The Hunchback of Notre Dame
• Voyagers (1982)
• Pirates of the Caribbean 1,2,3 (as Port Royal in the first film and Will's workshop)
• The Pink Panther (2006)
• Princess Diaries 2 (2004) [Genovia]
• Angel (TV)
• The Good German (2006)
• Heroes (TV) (as India)
• You Don't Mess with the Zohan (2008)
• Angels and Demons (2009)
Being there was somewhat surreal. To think, wow this is where Orlando was hanging out in his pirate gear, this is where history was made. The part that I was even MORE impressed with today was my group of young filmmakers. I had a 9-yr old girl, an 11-yr old boy, and 13-yr old girl. (*Changed names for privacy reasons). But these kids were insanely talented, knowledgeable, and wonderfully creative!! Myra, my 9-yr old, her mom is a big producer and this girl knew her stuff. She was so adorable, pleasant to be around, and the most film-efficient girl ever. She set up shots and angles and scenes better than people well beyond her years. Of course her parents play a great influence in this, and that’s how great filmmaker’s are made. These kids knew things that I had just learned in the past year!
In addition to that, my coworkers are a fun bunch. It’s a mostly male-dominated environment, (duh, it’s filmmaking) and the atmosphere is extremely laid back and sarcastic. I love it. It’s funny how much you can enjoy something you never pictured yourself doing. God is cool like that and knows us better than we even know ourselves .
That’s all for now. I’m spent.

Back to Hollywood --It's summer!

I find great amusement in stereotypes. Now before you discontinue reading or call me a jerk, let me explain. Tonight I went to Zumba. Normally when I go to Zumba, I’m stoked, ready, and full of energy. Tonight I was feeling extremely sick but, dancing generally makes life happier. I went to the Sherman Oaks 24 Hour Fitness tonight as opposed to the one in Panorama City. For those of you not from SoCal, it’s like this: Sherman Oaks is to Easton as Panorama City is to Whitehall. Anyway so I walked in and the teacher was white and not extremely fit, I knew that meant trouble. At the Panorama City location I go to Bettzy’s class. Clearly by the name, she is somewhat Latina. The definition is Zumba, “.. fuses hypnotic latin rhythms and easy to follow moves to create a dynamic fitness program”. When someone of the nationality of the origination of the dance teaches it, you can assume it will be a good time. Bettzy is amazing and on top of that she is EXTREMELY fit. This white girl Zumba instructor was TERRIBLE. I probably got more of a work out when I took the stairs instead of the elevator up to the gym. But I tried to have fun anyway. Here’s another stereotype, the girl in front of me, thankfully was black, so when the white instructor jacked up her moves I was confident in the lady’s skillz in front of me to follow. It was a good plan. I stereotyped her, and I was glad I did.
Another one, some say that people are stupid—it’s our humanity, we all do stupid things. I’ve been extremely sick lately which makes me tired, extremely forgetful, and unable to think. I accidentally stole the parking spot an old dude in an SUV was waiting to get into right in front of his eyes. So because we humans do things that are SO stupid, I always find myself capturing ‘Humanity’s Stupidities’ on camera so on future blogging sesh’s you can find pictures taken via my cell phone of stupid things people have done. If you stumble upon humoring and/or entertaining stupid acts, please send the photo to me at jessicabobik@gmail.com and I will post it.



What else what else? Well I’ve been back in Hollywood for three weeks now and have been going to my MOST FAV church ever www.realityla.com it’s seriously one of the best places ever!! For those of you who don’t know… normally during the summer I work at Christian summer camps such as www.campneosa.com and www.humelake.org/ but if you haven’t worked at a camp before, you should know that it is not only a very REWARDING summer while at the same time being one of the most difficult summers of your life. It’s not like a normal job when you work 9-5 and then go home and do whatever you want afterwards, often times it requires you being to work by 8:30am and working around the clock until the late hours of the night every day, six days a week. It gets tiring. But when you work for the LORD, He completely blesses it. They’ve been the greatest summers ever for me, but this summer God had some different plans for my life—I knew that this summer his keywords for me are LEARN and GROW. I was really excited when I realized this but also quite aware that learning and growing require a lot of work, heart, sweat, and tears. It fascinates me seriously, every single day how and who God shows up through. One of those people that come to mind right now is my cousin Greg. He is absolutely great. He’s young enough to still be hip and cool, but old enough to have great depth, knowledge of life, and wisdom. He’s a bff to me and like a second dad. You have those kind of people in your life, they are more precious than gold, never take that for granted; they are a GIFT.
That’s about it for now folks, I’m sleepy and definitely ready for bed and this was a completed with-no-editing-or-revision-blog so…hopefully it’s cohesive enough for ya. Peace and Blessings <3

Happy Earthqu--EASTER! - Filming IN PROGRESS

Do you love Easter?
I do!! It struck me as interesting that for the third consecutive year, I’ve been in a different state, away from the fam. But last year I was with my brother so that was coolio. First I was in Florida (with Elyse and friends :) ), then last year in South Carolina, and this year California. Each year for this lovely holiday I participated in activities very cliché for that state so I figured hey, I’m in California this year so obviously that means I should go visit the Pacific at one of my favorite spots, Sunset Cliffs! I planned on doing this from 3pm to 430pm, and I decided on this time frame at 2pm. It got to be around 230 and I had this overwhelming feeling… I was like you know what? Going to the cliffs, I’m going to be alone anyway and…I really just want to and spend this day with God and worship him through song… after all, it is Easter and my favorite day to sing to God. (And record myself on my laptop just to make sure it sounds okay haha.) At 3:30pm I decided it was time to shower for the day. No actually…you know what sounded better? Putting my clothes away…I had a LOT of clothes to put away.
3:40pm
What is that rattling outside? Geeze it must be windy, those branches are hitting the window and making an odd sound—It’s getting louder! Oh my gosh… did someone just push me? What am I thinking? Oh my gosh, why am I losing my balance. The shelves are shaking, my books are about to fall!! Oh my gosh, this is AN EARTHQUAKE!! I’m screaming! Can anyone hear me? Wait , I can’t hear me… Wait can I? Screams inside can be more terrifying than those heard a loud. Oh my gosh.. I need to talk to someone… Dave. Dave will answer. He’s used to me calling and freaking out. No answer. Melissa? Yeah! She’ll answer for sure! How crazy of a call to receive—“There’s an earthquake, RIGHT NOW!”
___________________________________________________
Isn’t it something….. to know…that you’re loved? To know you’re loved by a God who knew exactly what was going to be happening at 3:40pm. He who put the idea in your head to sit and chill with Him in your room and NOT go visit the ALREADY unstable cliffs near the ocean during a 7.2 on the Richter scale [The Haiti earthquake was a 7.0, killed 230,000 ppl], natural disaster? Or to say hey, maybe you should put your clothes away and then go shower. Being in a shower during an earthquake could have caused serious injury and an even more terrifying experience. An earthquake is something I’ve always been like ‘Yeah! I want to be in one, that’d be sick!” Though when it happened…I was just hoping it wasn’t going to last long. Whew. Praise God for His goodness.
_____________________________________________________
SHORT FILMS AND FUN!!!
My friend Andrew and I are shooting our film THIS Saturday, April 10th, and I am INSANELY excited!! We’ve had a ton of preproduction time ( a producer’s dream come true ) and I think we’re going to pull it off!! If you want to help the day of the shoot, you would be AMAZING, so just let me know if you’re interested :). I really need someone to take photos, (ahem Nikki Jimenez you’d be amazing lol).

It’s about a lonely Bigfoot who snatches a pretty girl to be his new BFF in life and she whines for him to go get her puppy who’s tied to a tree and of course he wants her to be happy so he does.
She ends up being ridiculously obnoxious and awful AND starts falling for Bigfoot. He sees that she’s a nutcase and kicks her out of his house and steals her puppy! The end. The man playing Bigfoot is a professional actor, who is 6’3 275 lbs and will be made-up by a professional Cinema FX Make-Up artist, Haylee McFarland. The lady playing the role of the annoying girl has a rocking South African accent and is absolutely hilarious. And the puppy is going to be one like my best doggie I had, a West Highland White Terrier :) <3. We also have a FANTASTIC location set up, it’s going to be absolutely insane. God has blessed this project so, I’d be super excited for anyone who’d be interested in helping :). If not, you’ll def have to watch the final product!! :)
________________________________________________
--- QUOTE TIME!! --
This is one of my favorite segments because… I just love funny people and the funny things they say.

(Context: Initial SKYPE call with Matt on Easter Sunday)

“WOAAAAAAHHHHh YOU obviously didn’t go to church this morning!!” (LOL)
-Matthew Barnes


“Long story short, but this 25+ girl was hitting on me….Jess, tell me…could she be a German Shepard?!” -Brandon Morales


“If I was a girl…I’d definitely be the one dancing up on the bar… wait, that and crossed with the one playing pool.” -Josh Marble


“It's okay to be smitten. We don’t need to fix that. You need to redefine ‘problem’.” -Dave Vandergriff


(Context: Mimicking one’s non-verbals during a conversation) “Oh my gosh yeah, my mom can’t watch kissing in movies, she says she mocks their puckering while she’s watching it.” -Anonymous


“Wait so… he was nervous and tried to blow you off but he couldn’t? Just saying lol” -Denise Rodriguez


“Wait….WHAT? How does HUETH know?” -Nicole Andelfinger
________________________________________________________
- My Favorite Facebook Photo -


*Courtesy of Chris Alexander's page* ___________________________________________________
That is all, my dear friends, I love you and have a great day, you deserve it :)