“Real Estate Confessions” #HairRaisingBarks #ReModeledBathrooms #OneWitness

I hate it when I’m all alone shooting a house that feels creepy.

You’re downstairs and you hear creaks upstairs.  It’s windy outside, so it could easily be the weather acting on the infrastructure of the house.

You leave the room and door closes behind you.  Hmm.  Perhaps the hinge was installed wrong so it’s leaning towards the door.

There’s always an explanation for anything that’s creepy in this world.

But when you’re all alone in a house, sometimes you lose the ability to logically dissect a situation.

Fear is overwhelmingly strong in these cases.

I have a theory, where fear is extremely potent wave of energy that is emitted from your body.  It tends to attract that which you fear the most.

You’re scared that someone might break-up with you, they break-up with you.

You’re scared of losing a basketball game, you lose the basketball game.

You’re afraid of making a mistake during a piano recital, your performance ends up being dry.

So when I hear things in a house, I’m not sure if fear is making me extra sensitive to normal creaks within the house …

Or that the negative energy (my fear) emitting from my body is causing the noise.

I remember watching a horror movie, where the family keeps on moving from one house to another assuming that the houses are all haunted.

In the end, they realize they’re son is the one that was possessed.  They assume the problem was the house, but the problem resided inside their own family.

That could relate to me too.  I’m the only common factor in all the haunted houses I’ve visited.

It could also relate to the next haunted house I shot.

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The Secret Behind Every Male Crying Scene

FB Status Update: Early Easter Surprise

Every Easter, I always notice the plastic eggs with treats inside of them.

I think it’s supposed to remind us of new life and how Jesus overcame death.

Perhaps, opening the plastic eggs alludes to how they opened the cave to Jesus’ tomb.

Well, today I received a really early easter surprise.

Don’t know what I ate, but I felt nature calling to me while I was waiting for Hoang at church.

Nature was yelling blatantly to me, “NUMBER TWOOOOO! NOWWW.”

Rushed into the men’s restroom and saw three stalls.

Naturally I’m not picky when I’m in a rush, because beggars can’t be choosers right?

The first two stalls were same size, but the last one was two times bigger.

You may not realize this, but spaciousness counts a lot in these type of situations.

With all the splashing and dunking that goes on, you want plenty of room to maneuver yourself around.

Don’t want to get yourself mixed up in the cross-fire.

Plus, a larger stall equals a larger air space which ultimately means better circulation.

Last time I checked, oxygen is pretty high on our basic human needs list.

So naturally, I skipped the first two stalls and reached for the third stall.

As, I closed into the third stall, I noticed the door was slightly open.

Thinking to myself, “This is so perfect. Door slightly open. Gotta be empty. Hopefully, the guy before me flushed and cleaned after himself. If so, I can make a smooth landing and unload all my cargo.”

I push the door open and hear someone say: “This stall’s occupied!”

I look up and see an old man, pants down, with hand over the restricted area.

A couple of thoughts just bounced crazily in my head:

“My virgin eyes! Why this? Why now?”

“Doesn’t this man know how to use the lock on the door?”

“Is there a dead animal in here?”

Realizing, I’ve been staring at him too long.

I say, “Ohhh sorry” and leave.

I contemplate going into the smaller stall, but find my brain still imprinted with the image of the old man on the toilet with his pants down.

Conflicted over the thought: “Argh! This is too awkward. I can’t be in the same restroom as this man. It feels so un-natural.”

I make a mad dash to the nearest restroom and do what I gotta do … in peace.

Later on, I realized that, “Hey! That experience represents Easter for me. Kids open a plastic egg and get a surprise. I open a stall door and get a surprise.”

But in my case, I really wished my egg was empty.

#SoWrongOnSoManyDifferentLevels
#NotAllSurprisesArePleasant
#MyVirginEyesAreTainted
#BeggarsCantBeChoosers
#PerhapsGodIsTellingMeSomething

Movie Reflections: Looper

(***Contains spoilers to the movie.)

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From watching the movie Looper, I gather one common theme.

Everyone is willing to kill someone else, in order for someone they love.

Bruce Willis is willing to kill 3 different kids in order to protect his love.

The Rainmaker is willing to kill all loopers in order to avenge his mother’s death.

Joseph Gordon-Lovett is willing to kill Bruce Willis in order to protect himself.

Everyone is out to get someone.

This common trend changes in the end.

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Joseph Gordon-Lovett plays present day Joe.

Bruce Willis plays 30 years in the future Joe.

If Bruce Willis dies, it means Joseph Gordon-Lovett will also die in 30 years.

But if Joseph Gordon-Lovett dies, it means Bruce Willis will immediately cease to exist.

With no present day Joe alive, there is no one to age 30 years into the future.

Willis cannot kill Gordon-Lovett, but Gordon-Lovett can kill Willis.

And he does kill Willis, but without really doing anything to Willis.

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In the future, there exists a horrible being called the Rainmaker.

The Rainmaker is responsible for destroying the world and ruling over it with violence.

Bruce Willis goes back in time to kill the Rainmaker while he is still small and vulnerable.

Bruce Willis wishes to prevent the Rainmaker from killing his wife who dies in the future.

Joseph Gordon-Lovett quickly befriends the child Rainmaker.

Soon, we find out why the child is called Rainmaker.

He can make other human beings explode leaving a rain a blood that showers the earth.

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Towards the end of the movie, Bruce Willis catches up to the child Rainmaker.

Bruce Willis is ready to kill the kid, but the Rainmaker’s mother is standing in the way.

She yells for the kid to run away while she blocks the path of the gun shot.

Joseph Gordon-Lovett runs to scene only to helplessly witness this from afar.

Suddenly, he see’s the cycle of deaths.

He see’s Bruce Willis killing the Rainmaker’s mother.

He see’s the Rainmaker escaping, hurt and bitter.

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He see’s the Rainmaker growing up and taking out his anger on the whole world.

He see’s the Rainmaker once again killing Bruce Willis’s wife.

He see’s Bruce Willis once again going back in time to kill the child Rainmaker again.

Joseph Gordon-Lovett see’s how futile Bruce Willis’ actions are.

Bruce Willis’ action to kill the Rainmaker causes the Rainmaker grows without a mother.

He will grow into a vengeful, hateful being with a uncontrollable power.

Bruce Willis’ need to kill someone, ensures that someone will eventually kill his wife.

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If you spread hate, hate will one day come back for you.

If you kill someone to protect your own, someday someone will kill someone you cherish to protect their own.

How can you blame them for doing the exact same thing you did?

Joseph Gordon-Lovett realized this just before Bruce Willis was going to shoot the mother.

He realized the only way to prevent a chaotic future, was to stop the cycle of hate and violence.

He took the gun in his hand, spun it around so that it pointed at his own heart.

And he squeezed the trigger, ending his own life.

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He knew he couldn’t stop Bruce Willis in time, but he knew if he died his future self would also die.

By killing himself, he made sure that Bruce Willis could not exist anymore.

Everyone is always busy trying to kill someone else to protect the one they love.

Rarely does anyone see that the problem perhaps could exist within oneself.

And even rarer is to find someone willing to sacrifice himself for the good of others.

Joseph Gordon-Lovett made this decision at the end of the movie.

He ensured the Rainmaker’s mother would live to raise the child with plenty of love.

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Most of us seek to solve problems by putting the blame on others.

You despise them, you spread rumors, and perhaps even get into verbal and physical conflict with them.

You end up creating bad karma, that one day will come back for you with a vengeance.

I believe that all the solutions to our problems can be found by looking inside instead of outside.

By looking inside, we then focus on the one thing we do have control over.

Perhaps then we would be able to sacrifice a part of ourselves for the benefit of others.

In every moment, you can choose to be like Bruce Willis or Joseph Gordon-Lovett.