The Emmaus House

Man, you dimwits.  I don’t know what’s happening.  I can’t sleep.  It’s 1:47 AM.  It’s raining.  Heavy thunderstorms and crashing lightening.  I have the windows opened.  There’s a nice breeze and it’s rather peaceful.  I like thunderstorms.  There’s probably some sort of metaphor in there to sum up my life.  Heavy thunderstorms and crashing lightening bring me peace.

Listen, I joke around a lot.  This is a humor blog primarily but sometimes you have to know when to put jokes aside.  This is one of those times.

I just wrote to some missionary friends of mine that are living in Haiti.  Sent them a message on Facebook at 12:48 AM.  The one gal responded immediately at exactly 1:00 AM.  What in the world is she doing up at 1:00 AM?  What possible reasons could there be for her to still be awake?  Probably for the same reasons as me.  She has a lot on her mind.

My friend Jillian and her husband Hunter are responsible for taking care of dozens of orphans in the city of Cap-Haitien.  Tragic cases.  Kids who lost their parents to earthquakes, kids who had their parents give them up because they can’t afford to feed them.  It’s a real mess.  It’s sad.  It would break your heart if you only knew their stories.

I know firsthand because I went on a food and medical relief trip to the Haitian orphanage back in March of 2012.  I paid for the trip myself.  I was doing well financially at the time and I didn’t feel comfortable asking people for money to fund my trip.  It’s just a weird thing with me.  I don’t like asking people for money if it’s for my sake.  I’d rather starve.

I was working on a movie at the time that just started gearing up.  When I returned from the mission trip, I had lost my job.  Budget cuts.  I didn’t make the cut.  The trip cost me thousands and thousands of dollars because of the lost work.  It’s partially why I’m in the hole so much right now, but I don’t care.  I’d do it all over again because my poverty is nothing like the poverty these poor kids have to go through.  I have a roof over my head and a soft pillow to fall asleep at night.

God, I’m actually tearing up right now as I’m typing this.  Honestly, I’m a mess.  I’m sober.  That’s the problem.  Sure, that’s it.  Knock yourself out with some whiskey, kid, but it doesn’t change certain things no matter how much you drink yourself silly.  I can’t get these beautiful Haitian kids off my mind.  And that’s a good thing on a stormy night for a wild insomniac like myself.  Compassion can go a long ways.

I don’t have money right now.  I’m honestly broke.  But what I do have is an small audience of people that are reading my stuff.  Writing is cool, the recent recognition is nice.  I’m honored that I’ve been able to connect with so many strangers through my words.  But to me the real gift and the real talent is what a person is willing to give back if they’ve been blessed with a certain talent.

I have a platform at the moment being that I was just Freshly Pressed.  That platform might not last long.  I’m busy working on another film project and it consumes all my time.  The blog is gonna take a hit. People move onto the next funny blog or the next interesting thing if you’re too idle.  People want entertainment, they expect performance.  Rightfully so.  That’s fair.  I won’t be performing much in the next few months I’m afraid, so I’ll lose some people along the way.

I’m tired as hell.  I haven’t slept much the past week.  Tomorrow, the clouds will lift and the feeling of peace will pass.  It’s gonna hurt like a sonofabitch.  I have to be up in a few hours.  But this is important.  One day or one week of my restlessness could mean a happy and joyful life for one of these Haitian kids.  No pressure.  I can’t sleep.  So I’m up late writing, asking you guys for help.

The following links I’m about to share are religious based.  I don’t care what your religious affiliation is or isn’t.  I’ll be honest.  I avoid talking about religion because I’ve never seen one topic divide so many people.  I’m not interested in dividing folks.  I’m interested in bringing people together if I have an opportunity to do so.  I have an opportunity.  Right now at 1:47 on a stormy night in Pittsburgh.  So please consider checking out these links and donating some money if you’re able.  You hear it all the time, but it’s true.  Any amount no matter how small will help.  And if you’re not able to donate or don’t feel moved to donate, that’s cool too.  I can’t donate either at the moment, but consider finding another way to help out people out if you’re able.  Be good, little dimwits.  Bless your hearts.

1.  Emmaus House – A blurb from Hunter & Jillian’s website:  “A home to transition young adults from Cap Haitien Children’s Home to independent living. To provide life skills, professional skills, and education to afford them the opportunity to be faithful, strong, knowledgeable, followers of Christ and able to spread the gospel in Haiti.”

2.  Jillian’s Blog – Jillian shares confessions of what it’s like to be a missionary.  Honest, powerful read.  Check it out.  Tell Jillian the Dimwit sent you, and give her a hard time.  And tell her to go to bed!  1:00 AM?  Crazy talk.

3.  The Emmaus House Facebook Page – Lots of updates, stories and profiles on the kids, and other cool stuff.  Give it a Like please.

4.  Hunter’s Photography Site – Hunter’s the man!  C’mon, his name is Hunter.  He takes great photos and let’s you experience Haiti through the lens of his camera.  Give his blog a look and a follow.  He’s a big nerd, and gets all juiced up about those sorts of things like most of us tend to do.

Okay, well I think I can rest peacefully now and catch a few hours of sleep.  I just really needed to do this.  It’s been on my mind for a while now.  Hunter and Jillian are such great people, and the life of a missionary is not an easy one.

I kid you not, the rain just stopped.  There’s another metaphor in there or something.  Time for bed, but not before I leave you with a few photos from my trip.  I have a lot more but this will do for now.

Take care dimwits.  Thanks for being awesome.

Freshly Pressed – SMACK!

My, my, my.  Would you lookie here.  Seems things just got mighty fresh up in this crazy madhouse.  I’ve just been Freshly Pressed for the first time.  Let’s hope it goes a little better than another first time of mine that ended up with a lot of crying and a swift slap to the face.  SMACK!  You pig!  How was I supposed to know that girls don’t like it when a person makes oinking noises just as the mood starts to turn romantic?  I was only trying to keep things loose and fun.

My, my, my.  Freshly Pressed.  Pretty stinking fresh all right.

I was told to dust off the welcome mat and be prepared for a lot of new readers.   I just started working on a new TV pilot and it’s been kicking my ass.  70 hours of work in the past 5 days.   My apologies, but I didn’t have a whole lot of time to prepare.  I’ve barely had time to eat or to sleep, but of course I did make time for a few tall glasses of whiskey last night.  I got rip roaring drunk with my former room mate, and we had a grand, old time from the parts of the evening that I can remember.  It made for a very fun 14 hours of work today.  And that is why I’m the dimmest of all the dimwits.  A real, genuine, dingaling ding dong to the max.  Better get used to it.

For you newbies, I’d advise you to read the post I just did called “Chris Hinton’s Pathway To Success.”  It’s as good a place to start as any.  If you make it through that one, well, then you’re just the sorta company we like to keep around here.   Crazy and mad and fun, and plenty of oinking noises to go around for everyone.  SMACK!  It’s a real nice crew of diverse folks, and I think you’ll all get along just fine if you choose to stick around.

Welp, you dimwits.  I’m tired and I have a long day ahead of me tomorrow.  I was just gonna leave it at thank you, but as is the case with me, a simple thank you is never quite enough to show my appreciation.

Freshly Pressed is recycling an old post, so thought I’d go ahead and do some recycling of my own.  So how’s about an old photo of me wearing a sleeveless fur sweater that I bought from the women’s section of the thrift store, showing off the chest hairs a little bit for a sexy, fresh photo shoot I did for a Brut by Fabergé men’s cologne ad.  It’s autographed for you and everything, so feel free to pin it to your fridge or hang it in your cubicle at work.  For you my fellow dimwits.  A big thank you.

I’ll be replying to comments, mixing it up a bit with you rowdy, kind folks whenever I get some time.  It might be a while.  But for now, I have to polish off a tall glass of Franzia boxed wine to cap off a very successful day.  Let’s hope I don’t spill it all over my bed like the last time.  Wine is impossible to get out of your sheets, and it looks like a crime scene took place in my bed.  This is probably a bad time to mention to the new readers that I’m single.  Screw it.  I’m going with it and letting ‘er rip.  Gotta run.  Welcome.