If you've been following Cindy and my Facebook pages, you probably already know the news. We're moving back to Bellingham! The decision came very quickly and unexpectedly, but it mainly boiled down to answering the question: What do we want out of life?
We can't seem to find the answer in LA. We came down here for a huge opportunity through my work. It was going to open a lot of doors, and I would be able to be regularly involved with the Industry. (Entertainment Industry, duh.) We already had Matt and Camille down here. At the time, it was the right decision. I was getting a significant pay raise. Cindy eventually found a really great job.
But we all know that the economy wasn't doing well. The writer's strike happened. Then the actor's negotiations, then really, nothing was happening in Hollywood. It spiraled out into every other industry in the area. It was like an earthquake with an epicenter in Hollywood. Everything was shaken up. Some businesses folded. Some shook off several of their employees in order to survive. Then, I got the shake.
Standing on ground zero, unemployed, none of my movie connections were hiring, and like so many other people like me, I asked: Now what? What am I now going to do with my life? For a career?
With a short stint of unemployment, I got hired with a VW dealership. Learned quickly about the cars, and started selling them. But it sucked up my life. The commute is terrible, and it seems no matter how successful I am in the car business, I still come home feeling empty.
More and more businesses leaving the State. Productions being shot in Arizona, Louisiana, New Mexico. Anyone in the biz is clamoring over the same positions. And movie distributors are struggling with their identity and business structure, asking how will we be profitable as technologies advance? How do we monetize these new things. Of course, that's if, and I mean IF, they even recognize the threat at all. A large number of distributors seem to be in a huge state of denial.
Production-wise, it seemed we Dead Gentlemen were doing it right the first time... we're just way better at it now, and know how to do more.
On top of all this, Cindy and I want to start on children soon. We asked the question, if we had the opportunity, where would we want to live to do that? Bellingham.
Suddenly, it's like the opportunity machine just turned on. With a leap of faith, we just decided to bite the bullet and make the commitment to moving there. And it is a leap of faith. Not everything is settled. But spiritually we feel pulled back there, we just know it's right. Somehow it will all work out. It's going to be tight. I don't even have employment yet. And there doesn't seem to be much in the way of it up there. But somehow God will provide.
And if confirmation was needed... Jeremy and Katy are having a baby and are making plans to move to the PNW. Matt's Journeyquest is getting off the ground. See his blog post here: The Quest Begins. Ben is up to his eyeballs in projects and opportunities. And I have finally received inspiration for my own project to develop.
Chapter 1: Growing up in Idaho
Chapter 2: The College Years at PLU in Tacoma
Chapter 3: Living and working in the PNW, from Bellingham to Tacoma
Chapter 4: The Big City - Los Angeles
Chapter 5: ??? buying a house and starting a family in Bellingham?
