Sponsor Spotlight

I wanted to give a special thanks to Moonfish Productions Ltd. for being my first sponsors! Their very kind donation is helping to jump-start funding toward my trip to Tanzania. Thanks again!

UPDATE: I was unable to secure funding due to the state of the economy. Thanks for your support and stay tuned for more adventures!

A Universal First

I wanted to share an awesome experience that I was able to have this weekend. I am currently going to film school at the New York Film Academy (don’t be fooled, it’s also in LA) in the evenings. Last Saturday I had the opportunity to shoot short films with my class on the Universal Studios backlot. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been on the Studio Tour, wishing that I could venture around. And now I finally did! We had a great time working with each other and actors from the school. I can’t wait till my next opportunity to do something like this. I may not be ready for the Oscars yet…but sometimes you have to start small to get a grasp on something big.

Click here to see Behind the Scenes Photos.

Books to Africa…

Today I learned the beauty of the Flat Rate Box at the post office. I have been collecting children’s books and textbooks to send over to some schools in Tanzania. I’m happy because now I have my friend Jacob, who is in the Peace Corps, over there to help me figure out what they need and where to send it.

Anyway, back to the Flat Rate Box. I go to the post office lugging multiple boxes full of about 75 books all together. I have never sent anything to foreign countries, so I was a little nervous to see how much books, the weight of bricks, would cost to send. So I approach the poor, innocent postal worker who was very happy and pleasant (it was almost the end of his shift) until I tried to explain where the boxes were going. As a slight look of confusion swept over his face, he took my smallest box to weigh it. $85! And I’m talking about a small box. I gave the very nice man my best “Help me!” look….

And that’s where my new, favorite box came in. It’s amazing how much you can cram into a little white box when you’re desperate. I filled three and ended up with only slightly bulgy boxes. The postal lady who had taken over the “helping the book-sending woman project”, wrapped a whole bunch of tape around each of the boxes to either A) prevent the rounded boxes from opening, or B) she felt sorry for me and was trying to make the box look “thinner” so that they could actually accept it.

Finally, after over an hour at the post office, I carried the rest of the books home, content that I had basically accomplished my mission. I’m still looking around for more text books to send. It’ll be funny to see the poor postal workers faces next time I walk in with a bunch of boxes….

The Beginning of a Journey

So this is the beginning of a long journey. For the next year I will be preparing to travel to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania, where I will be volunteering through Cross-Cultural Solutions. I am soooo excited! I have started to learn Swahili, as well as begin my search for sponsorship. I have several ongoing projects that will assist me in my preparation, as well as others that are just for personal enrichment. I will talk about those projects as they come up. Farewell!

UPDATE: I was unable to secure funding due to the state of the economy. Thanks for your support and stay tuned for more adventures!