At this point I have registered my assumed name with Minnesota. A business license isn’t really required since what I’m doing is more contract work than anything, but I just wanted some documentation in order to perhaps get some business perks with banks. This is the step I am currently at: searching around to find a financial institution that will be gentle on a fledgling sole proprietor such as myself. In all reality, the only reason I’m searching for a business account is because I am hoping to find one that might offer a little more in regards to credit limits/interest rates. Otherwise, I could just open a separate personal account considering I wont be doing any payroll to employees or anything. So we’ll see.

Even with the basic gear I will be needing a start-up of $2500. Which isn’t that much. But at the same time it is, when your monthly income just breaks 1k and you have no idea what hardships in life will occur when your student loan grace period ends. And this is all assuming continuing working off of my laptop. Ideally I’d drop another $2500 on a computer that can solely be used for some fast processing and editing. But I suppose to be wise I should first buy the gear that would bring in the profit, if I can suffice with the computer I currently have.

I spent a good two hours yesterday trying to figure all this out, and plenty more time today. And on top of that time, I also need to be working on the actual projects that are bringing me some of that start-up money. It’s a lot to juggle. but at the same time it’s also kind of thrilling; strategizing about how to make a service I am passionate about profitable, and risking some capital in an investment that would hopefully turn into a successful side business. I think my biggest struggle is deciding a price-point for my services that justifies/supports my purchase of equipment. Chances are I wont even pull in profit from Reel Space this summer, but rather use it to pay off my gear. Which is also good.

Who knows. It’s plenty to mull over, but I am confident that something good will come of it.

Summer and work are underway quite nicely. Between MarComm and Edina I’m working close to 40 hours a week, and that’s all I could ask for right out of graduating.

The floor is finally replaced in our apartment, so we’ll wait for the chemical smell of the sealant and new linoleum flooring to go away and reassess if our apartment stinks of cat pee. The new flooring should remove the worst of the stinky carpet, and our maintenance pulled back the carpet along some of the edges and corners in the living room to scrape and treat those spots. I’ll be happy if the place smells 80% less of cat pee, but if we still walk in the door and get hit by a wave of pee smell I’ll be requesting the whole carpet in the living room gets replaced. Fun stuff!

I recently took to setting up my stereo/record player to the T.V., but the volume on the amp began crackling and the record player is missing it’s needle. The needle is easy enough to replace, an Audio Technica stylus cost me $15 maybe. However, attempting to pull apart my stereo amp and clean the volume potentiometer proved fruitless. It’s going in the trash. So… If anyway in the cities has an old stereo they don’t need any longer, hit me up!

I haven’t mentioned it on my blog, but Alison and I will be walking in the Minnesota AIDS Walk this coming Sunday, and Ali’s going to live stream herself playing Zelda: Ocarina of Time from start to finish this Saturday to raise money and awareness. Granted she’s completed the game countless times, it’s no small feat to sit on your butt for 12+ hours trying to complete a video game all the way through. I think it’s pretty awesome, and I’m super proud to help her with it and have her as my partner. Last night I spent a considerable amount of time doing some online research for how to get Alison set up with her live stream. After much Googling, downloading, and Amazon purchasing, we’ve got some gear coming our way this week that will at least give people some sort of image to watch (we’ll see how quality is going to turn out). I purchased some A/V splitters so she can actually play her N64 on the T.V. while I capture it simultaneously to my computer, and I also bought a decent (note: better than Mac’s crappy iSight) webcam that will supply some video and audio of her/what’s going on in the room (since I’m sure we’ll have some people over). After that’s all set up, my job for the day is to make sure Ali stays healthy and nourished, because Lord knows she’s going to neglect getting up and walking around every hour or so.

Please be sure to check out the stream this Saturday starting around 7AM Central, and feel free to support and donate to our team (click on the Home page, go to Donate, and Search Jake Johnson)

As of Saturday I am officially finished with my higher education. I have earned my bachelor’s degree in film production. It was a pretty fantastic day, and weekend for that matter. For starters, my best friend–and for all intents and purposes sister–Katie came down to visit for the entirety of the weekend. Alison and I had a blast hanging out with her and showing her a little bit of our city life. Friday we grocery shopped at Trader Joe’s (which Ali and I are incredibly addicted to) and made dinner at home. Saturday was quite an eventful day: first I walked and got that handshake and fancy diploma, then went our for lunch with my family at Town Hall Brewery, after attended Alison’s department’s reception, and finished off the day with bowling and arcade games in Uptown. Our friend Alan also joined us for our evening adventures, and we all had a grand time.

Apart from all that graduation jazz, plenty else has been going on. Alison and I moved into our apartment on the 1st; we’re now residing in St. Louis Park. Everything about our apartment and location is awesome. We’ve got a great building, fantastic management, and all the local amenities you could dream of (see Trader Joe’s above). Everything makes this the best living situation I’ve had to date, except one minor detail: the place reeks of cat urine. Apparently the previous tenant didn’t pay much mind to his cat, and as a result it just peed on the dining room carpet. It’s awful. You walk in the door and this wave of stench just hits you like a ton of bricks. I luckily don’t have as sharpened sense of smell as Alison, but needless to say the unpleasant smell and knowledge that renovations already need to take place added greatly to the move-in stresses. Thankfully we have the greatest management ever, and we’re getting laminate flooring down as soon as next week.

Now that the big person world is mine for the taking, I need to be ever focused on my current and potential careers. What will you do with the film major Jake? I’m sure you’ve asked yourself. Well, for the summer I am set. I will remain working with the Marketing and Communications office at Augsburg for the duration of the summer, and recently began my internship doing video production for the City of Edina. Apart from that, my side venture of property listing videos is traveling along at a nice pace. There are two clients lined up to get some videos in the very near future, and I’ve got a functioning website for the business (check it out: www.reelspacemn.com). As far as “real jobs” go, I’ve recently applied with Hennepin County for their Public Affairs Officer. That’s basically their fancy title for a multi-media/video specialist. It would be everything I’m doing at Edina, except with full-time hours and benefits. So fingers crossed on an interview there!

That’s really all there is to update on currently. As the summer progresses, I’m certain more interesting things will happen, and then you will have all the cool things to read about.

So anyway, there’s obviously plenty to write about in my two month absence. The two biggest events in recent memory are my 21st birthday and my potential business endeavor.

First, the birthday. I’m a big boy. Now I can drink alcohol. (As if I really cared to in the first place.) If anything I’m just happy to have the ability to enjoy a beer with dinner.

Alison planned a majority of my birthday (which spanned TWO days), and it was awesome. First, we ate at a hibachi restaurant with our friends, the Chamberlains. My first legal drinks were a Sapporo beer and some sake. It was a great start to the evening. After, Alison and I went to Cupcake Inc. and got a half-dozen cupcakes (2 PB & Chocolate, 1 Chai, 1 Red Velvet, 1 Kahlua, 1 Chocolate Cheesecake… in case you were wondering). We went to the Town Hall Brewery, and I enjoyed a wide variety of their home brews as friends came and went. Their oatmeal stout they brew is phenomenal. We were home at a decent time.

The next day, Alan Juell joined us and we went to Moto-i to eat MORE Japanese food. After that, we went next door and bowled 2 games at Bryant Lake. That’s a neat place, self-scoring and all. And damn does Surly make a yummy IPA.

The birthday celebrations were awesome, and I didn’t puke or get hung over.

Oh, and did I mention what Alison got me for my birthday? WE’RE GOING SKYDIVING THIS SUMMER! How freakin’ sweet is that!?

So that was the birthday. The second big thing I’ve got going on in my life currently is a possible business adventure.

During all of my recent apartment searching, I was amazed that some of the ads on Craigslist got by without having pictures. I suppose if you’re in an urban area you really don’t have to worry about your apartment sitting vacant, but I still thought it was common sense that if you don’t include pictures with your listing you’re asking for people to skip right over it. Viola, my idea was born: quick and easy apartment listing videos. Sometimes even pictures can be misleading as to the layout of an apartment, but a video would be something that gives you a good feel for the space before you make that decision to go see it yourself.

This led me to start researching the market. I just started calling landlords and property holding companies to see what sort of interest there would be, and turns out there’s a lot! Just off of research cold calls I got three potential clients, two of which I’m meeting with to discuss trial videos in the next couple weeks.

So that has been quite a bit of fun. I’ve never considered myself much of an entrepreneur, but this has me excited.

Life at college is soon wrapping up. Only five weeks until graduation, and a lot still needs to happen in the time. I’m close to wrapping up my music video for Strange Names/my independent study, Friday is my last day interning at MNFilmTV (Edina starts soon), the final project for Film 2 is right around the corner, and plenty of reading and projects for the Honors Keystone will still be happening.

It’s a busy time, but it’s exciting! All is well.

First I should explain a bit of family background (which will be incredibly difficult to make concise, so I will try to limit it to just Gran E). My Gran E was a very large part of my childhood, since my mother had me at such a young age. She did a lot of my care-taking until I moved away from East Grand Forks in grade school, and even after that I visited her often. As I grew older and moved further away I visited her less, but we still talked on the phone often. She remembers these phone conversations well, but I remembering often dreading them because they would inevitably be long (and felt more like a guilt trip to my pre-teen mind).

I spent a couple of weeks at my Gran E’s the summer between my 8th and 9th grade, which ended up being the catalyst that aided my decision to move in with my dad. Long story short: my Gran E and I tried to get my mom into treatment for what I suspected was alcoholism and possible drug use, but she was able to finagle out of it, blamed me intensely, and I opted to live with my dad. From there on out, I lost a lot of contact with my mother’s side of the family, Gran E included. Perhaps it was because I selfishly wanted to avoid confrontation, or perhaps I just needed that time to heal; whatever the reason, I chose to have very minimal contact with the Nelson half of my last name (in case you didn’t know I have two last names).

But that changed this Christmas when I felt extremely convicted to get in touch with Gran E after what was probably 3 or 4 years of no contact. All of a sudden the words of intense loneliness she used to express (and what I interpreted as guilt-tripping) came rushing into my mind, and I knew I had to call her. So I did. And on top of that, I gave her my attention for every minute of that phone call. And on top of that, I made sure to be entirely honest with her every step of the way. And when I got off the phone that night, I felt great. I had finally dealt with one of the major stressors that  has subconsciously haunted me for a majority of the past 6+ years.

And really, I didn’t feel great just because I tackled one of my own major problems; I felt great because I finally made contact with another human being that is often in desperate need of friendship, a person that will truly listen to me, and a family member that cared for me and loved me unconditionally more than I can actively recall. To rekindle that bond was extremely fulfilling.

I have talked to my Gran E twice since Christmas, and both of those times have also been over an hour long. I may not always be able to talk with her for that amount of time, but I’m so incredibly happy that I can bravely pick up the phone and chat with my grandma–compared to all those years I tried to hide from those phone calls. So maybe the guilt-tripping worked, but I can’t say I’m complaining.

I’m quite excited for my last semester; my classes are as follows: Golf, Honors Senior Seminar, Film 2, Independent Study, and an Internship.

Honors Senior Seminar is going to be about class structure and inequality in America, which I am interested in given our recent Occupy movements happening in our country. Film 2 will be a continuation of making short film projects like in Film 1, however this semester I will be using color negative stock (a.k.a. what HD tries to be) which is very exciting. My independent study is going to be the production and distribution of two music videos for the band Strange Names; they are currently only in the planning stages, but should be awesome. Golf is basically a free hour at the driving range three days a week. Last but not least, my internship is an 80-hour stint with MNFilmTV.

The internship has so far been a lot of fun. It’s a very laid-back office space in North Loop/Downtown Minneapolis, and my main task right now is cataloguing news clippings from 1980-on into respective movie production files. Sounds boring, but it’s not when you get to read about the buzz Minneapolis had around the time of Purple Rain, Grumpy Old Men, Fargo, etc. Plus the files themselves have tons of production files from these movies (cast and crew call sheets, location sheets, budget breakdowns, etc.), all of which are entirely enthralling for a film major such as myself to flip through. As of now I am quite contented with getting course credit for this internship.

Speaking of internships, I’m also beginning the process of planning to apply for the Creative Art Director position for the Lucky 13 internship Campbell Mithun offers in the summer. I already have been accepted for the City of Edina’s Video Production Intern position and am decently positive I have a position with Augsburg’s Marketing and Communication Dept. for the summer as well, but the prospect of a 40+ hour a week paid internship at the largest ad agency in Minneapolis isn’t an opportunity I want to just let slide by. It’s a very interesting application process, in that they require you to submit it via 13 tweets between February 13-25th (13 days). Over 400 applicants applied last year, and they only accept six. I can’t say I’m confident I have a strong résumé for marketing specifically, but if I do get the internship I would pursue that to the best of my ability. Alison is applying as well, and we’ve enjoyed sharing some of our strategies with each other. Thankfully, it hasn’t turned in to a competition… yet.

That’s how life is sailing along now. My last semester seems pretty easy, but much of my success will depend on my own productivity and self-set deadlines. Life has been very good to me thus far, and I hope to keep riding on that grace as far as I can. I can’t complain.

I personally have a strong will, and I believe it would take huge circumstances to seek charity so publicly. That being said I do not find asking for charity to be shameful, I simply am keen to try and solve and sustain things on my own. I find it very difficult to imagine myself in that individual’s shoes.

Often times I try to discern what brought that person there. Usually I think I can see in their actions whether they’ve been there before or if this is as difficult for them as it would be for me, but before I judge too far I try and remind myself that they are standing there all the same. Their sign won’t tell you what got them there or what they’ll spend the money on, and I don’t think it should matter. I think what does matter is their willingness to sacrifice much of their image in our society to seek compassion.

I’ve heard people from my old church complain about fundraising for an overseas mission trip when there are people in need in our own town or county. Sure, there are plenty of ways to help those in need; I can go to foreign lands to help with my own hands or I can volunteer at a local food shelf. Even one-on-one counsel, however long or extensive, is a voluntary act of giving. But at the end of the day, there is some value to all of it; whether it is the canned vegetable I bought, the $3,000 I raised to travel, or the free labor I offered for another, there is an act that cost me time, energy, or resources to some degree. Because of this, I believe giving is giving, no matter the outlet or amount.

For these reasons, I try to give whenever I can to those holding cardboard signs on the side of the road I encounter. I don’t make a lot of money yet in life, but if I can justify many of the leisure purchases I do on my budget then I shouldn’t be one to complain if I am to give some away.

At the end of the day, why does it matter what got them there or the nature of the interaction? They are a human being that is reaching out for help. Since I’m not rushing to hop on a plane or volunteer at a soup kitchen, I believe this is a basic way I can make a difference.

Even though she was only gone for five days, I’m elated as all get out. I could not wipe the smile off my face as I went to get her at the airport, and it has hardly left since then. We’re soon approaching our first year together (March 10th), and I wouldn’t ask for a minute of it back. If you told either of us at “The Big Show” a year ago where we’d be today I think we’d call you crazy, but it’s amazing what it has become. I love sharing my life with this woman, and I hope to continue to.

That is all really. Have a great day!

And for a good laugh:

Carl asked me to do a blog for him today, so I said sure. I’ll transcribe as best I can, but my long-haired breed dialect is a little rusty.

Today, something amazing happened.

It started off like any old day, I woke up Second Master by meowing incessantly until he poured my daily first meal portion in my bowl (afterward he went back to sleep). I ate my food, took my usual morning poop (I didn’t cover it of course, I love making either Master smell it and have to cover it for me) and all was well, but I didn’t want to go back to sleep.

I tried entertaining myself with all my toys, but they just weren’t cutting it. In the end, I did what I always do when I’m bored: I try to tip my water bowl over. I don’t know, something about the way the water sparkles when I bat at it just fascinates me. But this made Second Master mad, so much that he even swatted my butt! Needless to say I was quite displeased. So of course, I did it a few other times just to spite him and get him to finally wake up.

Second Master did play with me a little before he got ready for his day, but it’s substantially more boring without First Master around. I wonder where she could be? Second Master put some strange device that emitted lights up to my face last night, and I could swear I heard First Master’s voice in it, but this scared me more than anything. Eventually Second Master left into the hallway and I napped again.

Now here’s where things got interesting; when Second Master got back he was carrying a bunch of white, crinkly sacks. This is nothing new, every so often the Masters come home with them, and usually they are filled with very good smelling things until they get put into the giant white box. But today, the first thing he pulled out of a crinkly sack was a giant, scary black dish. It had clanky, metal noise when he pulled it out of the crinkle sack, and a rubber ring around the base of the dish. He took away my food and water bowl and set this horrible looking thing in their place.

This dish holds two silver bowls in it, and Second Master put my food and water in each. How unsettling this change of setting was! As if I am supposed to all of a sudden just eat out of whatever is placed in front of me? I was quite accustomed to my old bowls, thank you! And on top of that, I had an entirely irrational, fear-induced anxiety attack from this new feeding system. So much so, that I wouldn’t eat unless Second Master came and layed next to me during the process.

I finally ate my meal and was able to drink from the other bowl as well (giving my forehead it’s usual bath when I lap up my water). All in all, the experience wasn’t too terrible, aside from the fact that I can’t push this bowl around. I stayed awake a while longer to sniff around the meal Second Master made for himself. I’m not sure what it was (he said something like, “steak and sautéed mushrooms and onions”), but it sure smelled delicious, even after I had eaten!

My day was hectic. Changes are not easy for a cat. But I think in the end, I may get used to this bowl.

At this point in the conversation Carl became distracted by Humbert the hamster. When he finished, I asked him if he had any final thoughts, but he simply jumped up on the bed and curled up for a nap.

Yeah, I just wrote a blog for a cat. I’m cool.

Lately for me it’s been going out to get coffee, specifically at Spyhouse on Hennepin. Alison first introduced me to this location (I’d already been to the one on Lyndale a couple of times), and something about this place is really comfortable and helps me stay focused. Plus the coffee is awesome; their dark roast is the perfect equivalent of bitter crude oil I love.

I’m usually pretty OK being away from my significant other. Often I know I’ll figure out something to make the time pass, and it will be over before we know it. But for some reason I’ve been having some pretty big downs with Ali in Hawaii. I’ve noticed just a general lack of motivation in even the past couple of days not having that interaction with someone who’s such a very large part of my everyday life.

If I really think about it though, I contribute it to my valuing life experiences; while Alison is off enjoying the awesome environment of Hawaii, I’m stuck here with winter weather (sort of) and a quiet apartment/everyday life. That’s pretty difficult to not have get to me. Last night it got to the point where I just wanted bedtime to roll around so another boring day would be over, and I would hopefully not fail at doing something productive the next.

Luckily last night I cheered up a little thanks to Carl, and today has been a pretty great day. Carl snuggled with me while I took a nap late yesterday afternoon, and at one point while I was laying playing video games, he climbed onto my chest and began affectionately rubbing his cheeks on mine as I pet him. It was a pretty great pet-knows-your-bummed-and-comes-along-at-the-right-time moment. Today I got to sleep in and wake up to awesome 45 degree weather, and the prospect to go get some good coffee and get working.

So here I sit, drinking some sludge and writing this out. Project for the today and weekend of no Alison: complete the two videos I’ve desperately procrastinated on for my friends. I feel like quite the schmuck putting them off, as one is call for social change for a friend whose mother recently passed and the other is my friend’s wedding video (which I’m being paid for!) Needless to say this is no way to run a business.

So I’ll stop writing about it and actually get it done. Stop by if you’re bored, I’ll be parked here for quite some time :)