Hi All,
Many if not most of you know me as a SysAdmin who has worked alongside the Virtualmin team for several years. This community has been a core pillar in my journey of building an international footprint having installed Virtualmin across countless servers on behalf of some of the most amazing people within the community.
THE GENESIS
Back in April I started a new journey (while I’m still very much a SysAdmin) into taking time to research my origin story, one that I tried for so many years to forget due to a lot of trauma and early bad decisions.
While those early years often haunt my dreams and bring back some rather disturbing memories, I have decided to embrace the bad to form a path of good for the youth of today.
Some of the topics I will be focusing on include:
- living in foster care or a group home
- trauma brought on by your biological family
- negative decision that lead to criminal behavior
- changing the outcome of your life when things seem stacked against you
Having been in the trenches, I know first hand the trauma this can have on a person, and hope to share the blueprints which created a 180 degree turn in my life leading to the person you know today.
So far, I have written to the local government, and received a positive response indicating my advice to improve the system is sound and motivating. The next step is breaking into the system and getting my message in front of the children and teens who will be able to learn from my own experiences.
A REFLECTION AND PERSONAL MISSION
At the start of May I was out volunteering at a youth conference, something I enjoy doing as I watch youth make some transformational lifestyle decisions.
That weekend I had a moment of reflection which lead to my wanting to become “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger” within my life. You see I realized that due to life situations, the constant negativity promoted in the media, and chaos the world had been facing over the past several years that I had at times become caught up in the drama. I needed change for me.
FROM A PERSONAL MISSION TO A MANIFESTO
Shortly after making the commitment to myself to make a positive change, I was put to the test with a financial crisis that would last about half of the month due to an administrative error that had to be worked out.
During this time, after an initial meltdown (the old me) I decided to put this time to good use, volunteered at some meaningful events, and when an opportunity came up, I actually helped another person going through their own financial crisis despite being in one myself. It was definitely risky, but the following day my own crisis started to resolve itself allowing me to get back to work making money.
What came from this difficult time was a manifesto I drafted while taking a walk around a 4 km block as my car was in the shop getting a flat tire addressed.
The title of the document is called:
Gratitude to Action
You can read it at:
GRATITUDE IN ACTION
Around the end of May, for fun I started drafting up a “concept” for a feature film, and within a month I had what seemed like an interesting idea. Okay, so let me remind you, I’m not a screenwriter, director, producer or otherwise a filmmaker. So, as fun as this exercise was, what would happen next was completely out of character for me.
I remembered I had a friend who was an established indie film producer, so I thought what the heck, why not send the idea over to her to see what she thought. I knew I’d get an honest opinion, and really had no real expectations other then it’d likely sit on her desk for several weeks, and I’d likely get told the idea wasn’t all that interesting.
The same day I sent the “concept” piece over to her, within 30 minutes she responded with “this looks interesting”…
Interesting??? Whoa!
We agreed to have a meeting within a few weeks, and she asked me for some additional supporting documents to see whether the idea could be pitched, reminding me that studios don’t by “concepts” but completed scripts, and would likely require an established writer to be signed on to be taken serious.
THE MIRACLE PIVOT
After realizing the deadline was a bit too soon for what I had put together, and looking at an opportunity to get some “skin in the game” to prove what I was worth to the industry, I decided to make pivot.
I wrote a 5 minute screenplay for a “short”, “proof of concept” piece. I pitched the idea to the actor community here in British Columbia (aka Hollywood North) and to my shock (in the best way) I recruited 5 actors who were interested in taking part in the short.
While there were a few bumps in the road, I managed to put together both directly and indirectly a cast + crew of about 20 plus individuals.
There were 4 questions I asked myself when doing the above.
- Would the story be interesting enough?
- Would I represent another persons culture that I am not part of with respect and authenticity?
- Would I create two female characters with dignity and respect?
- Would anyone volunteer their time and work for FREE?
What came out of this project is that all of the above criteria were met with absolutely flying colors.
We filmed the 5 minute short at an office who offered their space for FREE, had some top talent working on the project, and from what I’ve seen so far the footage is outstanding!
The film is presently in post production, being put together by a professional editor, and will soon be passed over to our audio engineer and composer.
Honestly, I feel like I’m still in a dream state, as I never in a million years imagined I would now be able to tell all of you I am now a “Filmmaker”.
- Creator
- Screenwriter
- Producer
- Creative EP / EP
THE FUTURE
This project sparked a greater mission of inclusion, diversity, and representing the underdogs in society. The current short and future feature film is rooted in the Philippines. It’s intended to expose the positive nature of the Filipino people and show how regardless of being in a developing nation or a first world nation, we have so many similarites. EVERYONE MATTERS!
We’re aiming to submit the short into a local film festival in October, after which I’m looking forward to making it generally available to the public. Stay tuned.
*** If you’ve read this far, wow, I absolutely want to thank you for allowing me to bring this message to you and hope you’ll follow and show your support for this new venture and journey I’m on to build a better world. ***
https://www.instagram.com/pilipittwisted
*** the pages above may appear a bit bare, so please bookmark them and check back as content is posted, we’re working through this as quickly as possible. ***
This is the amazing team I worked with, can you spot me in the middle?
Pilipit literally translates to Twisted from Tagalog the primary language in the Philippines.