Grasshopper Syndrome

Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.) Fables. The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.

The Ant and the Grasshopper

IN a field one summer’s day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart’s content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.	1
“Why not come and chat with me,” said the Grasshopper, “instead of toiling and moiling in that way?”	2
“I am helping to lay up food for the winter,” said the Ant, “and recommend you to do the same.”	3
“Why bother about winter?” said the Grasshopper; “we have got plenty of food at present.” But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When the winter came the Grasshopper had no food, and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer. Then the Grasshopper knew: “IT IS BEST TO PREPARE FOR THE DAYS OF NECESSITY.”	4

Skydiving

Ok so I know I am a little behind on my blogging compared to when all of this shit is happening but at least i am putting it out there. So I got into skydiving this summer thanks to my dad really. My dad turned 65 this summer and for his birthday he wanted to go skydiving. So thats what we did. If you go to my video section you can see the video from my jump. I actually jumped twice that day. I jumped once with my dad and then quickly threw done another 100 bucks and jumped again right away with my step brother. The video you see is actualy a combination of both jumps. The second time I jumped was a bit of a thriller. A small corner of our parachute got snagged and you can see in the video that we start spinning uncontrolablly. He had to release the main parachute and pull our reserve parachute. It was quite the ride let me tell you!!!I was instantly addicted though. I have since gone one more time. So I managed to squeeze in 3 jumps before the end of the jumping season there in Harbor Springs. I actually hope to continue this and getting into skydiving as a major hobby for myself. After 3 tandem jumps (which I have completed ) you can go on to train to jump solo which takes the necessary training and about 7 more semi tandem jumps. By semi tandem I mean you jump with someone but you are not attached to each other. You kind of jump holding hands and you have a radio on and you get coached through your jumps that way.So once again check out the video in my videos section. That is only a very short version of the video. I had to edit it down cause myspace could not hold the whole file. Oh and by the way I didn't pick the music that was edited in there for me by the guys running the operation. Oh well.Much love
Jax's Skydiving Video

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The Twenty

So here it is a little post to show you a few pics from the film shoot.
I was just up in Mackinac Island working for the summer and never expected to run into something like this at all. Thanks to my good friend Deb who sent me a email when she heard about this little project. I emailed David the producer and after a little bit of negotiation I was on the project as a Production Assistant.

The shoot was really split up between being right in Soo Saint Marie, Mi and Neebish Island which is just about 30 minutes south of the Soo and its famous Locks. People are not so familiar with Neebish Island as they are the Locks. However Neebish is a very interesting little place. The island is about 21 square miles and has maybe MAYBE a year round population of 66...that's from the Internet research I did (cause I am a dork). However having been there I have a feeling the population 16 in the winter. Mind you Mackinac Island is only 8.2 miles around and has a year round population of over 500. Neebish Island needless to say is very remote and rustic despite being as large as it is. We stayed in some amazing cabins on the island. Right on the St Mary's River. You see, the St Mary's River runs along both sides of the island. One side is the northbound side and the other is the southbound side. Why? cause that is the channels the freighters take to get to and from the locks in the first place. This channel may look wide at first glance but when you see a huge freighter passing through you are amazed it even fits through the channel. If you are standing on the shore the freighter is maybe 60 feet away from you. Check them out here:Neebish Island
( if you click on the picture during the slide show you can view descriptions that I may or may not have added)

Anyways...enough about that. This project was just so much fun it I can even describe it. The people I met and shared time with everyday were awesome. I should probably tell you about the movie huh?

"The Twenty" is a feature film written and directed by Chopper Bernet. The storyline: A struggling alcoholic seeks the origin of a mysterious message written on a twenty dollar bill believing the source will lead to his redemption. The journey reveals his own weaknesses and ultimately provides solitude.

The cast includes: Clancy Brown (Carnivale, Shawshank Redemption), Stephanie Niznik (Everwood), Rodney Scott (Dawson's Creek, NCIS), Laura Jordan (Brothers & Sisters), Lisa Darr (Strong Medicine), and Laraine Newman (7th Heaven, Saturday Night Live).

Cast and Crew
The Twenty
(once again if you click on the picture during the slide show you can view descriptions that I may have added to the pictures...click a second time to restart the show)

As a production assistant I pretty much did a lot of stuff to help out. I did a lot of work with Meg Bernet the Art Director and Choppers sister. Meg is now someone I consider to be a very dear friend of mine and I hope to see her soon. She is so fun and amazing.
There was lots of gopher work and playing security occasionally too. One night I spent 3 grueling hours playing "hangman" even. Its rough.

Well that is all I have to share in this post about this. If you want to hear more ask me sometime. I actually have about 350 more photos on my computer that I didn't put here.

Much love.

Summer 2006

Ok so I have been gone working on Mackinac Island all summer but how did I end up here. So I will give a quick run down on the events of the past 5 months of my life.

In June I got fired from Family Video. Which is fine by me. I was fine with it then and I am even more ok with it now. No one likes to get fired. Except in this case. Anyways...having just been fired I decided to take off up north to my dads for a little bit and visit and regroup. While I was up there I thought. "You know Jax you have been coming up here your whole life and you have never stayed here for a summer and worked. Why after all these years don't you give it a whirl." And so I did. I went home for a week packed up my stuff and headed to Mackinac Island for the summer. I was only on the island for 15 minutes and I found a job serving tables at a very popular restaurant on the island called the Pink Pony.

I was here by 4th of July. Which was very fun for me. I can't remember the last time I actually got to celebrate or do anything on the 4th since I have always been working on any holiday I might want to enjoy. This year I spent the 4th on a catamaran sailboat with a bunch of new friends watching the fireworks out on the water from 5 different cities: Mackinac Island, Mackinac City, St Ignace, Cedarville and Cheboygan!!!

Next came Yacht Races. The first was the Port Huron to Mackinac Yacht Races and the next weekend was the Chicago to Mackinac Yacht Races. The are a crazy bunch!! They want 3 things. 1) RUM 2) HEINEKEN 3) WOMEN
It really was a fun time to work and make some money although the bartenders are the ones who really rake in the cash and it was also a fun time to party. I learned more about sailing than I ever thought I would know as well.

July was a beautiful month and we had great weather into august too. I spent most of my days getting up and either taking a bike ride or running and laying out in the sun. July and August were really one big working vacation. I hang out in the sun all day and go to work for a little bit later. Make good money and not hate my life everytime I wake up in the morning.

August brought another great opportunity. I found out about a movie being shot in Soo Saint Marie MI by a group of great folks from LA. Long story short I ended up on board for the project!! I got the job to work on the film as a Production Assistant. The project started August 26 to September 6. So for about a week and a half I got to take off work and go actually shoot a movie for once. That was my New Years resolution this year too was to get off my ass and quit being scared and find a project to get on. It happened and WOW what an amazing time we had. The crew became fast friends and we had a fabulous time together. I will be honest I didn't know what to expect when I got into it but it was by far more than one of the best experiences of my life mainly because of the awesome people I met and became friends with while shooting that movie. I miss them. Maybe LA is in my future? I will keep you posted...
I will post an overview of the shoot soon with pics here so you can get a tasty taste of what I was up to.

September I found my new favorite drug of my life...Its called SKYDIVING!! My dad turned 65 in August and that is what he wanted to do for his birthday. So in September when I got back from the movie we went skydiving. Me, my dad and my step brother Karlton. I went twice in one day I loved it so much. I have video and a whole story to go with this as well. As soon as I get the movie shoot post done I will post my video of my skydive. I have since gone a third time in October. I have working on being certified to jump solo and have a training class and 7 more jumps to go before I am certified if I do everything right. However that may have to wait until next summer since skydiving doesn't happen in Michigan in the winter. Unless I follow my instuctor to Phoenix to try to keep up with this through the winter. Who knows maybe Phoenix is in my future? I could do this in LA as well...Who knows I will keep you posted.

Well it is now the end of October and it is really really cold on the island now and it is really slowing down. I have one week as of today until I am done here for the season. I am ready for it. I have Halloween to look forward too and of course just in case you need a reminder it is my birthday on October 30. The new Deftones album comes out on the 31st. I am taking my niece Mackenna trick or treating when I get home. I am going to be Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas this year myself. Then I am going to Chicago for a week from November 1-8 then I will be back in Grand Rapids for a bit.

So this is my blog now as well...If you want to check out what I am up to here is a good place to do it I guess.