Nov 8th.

Wow, today was a good day!  Really.  Very good day.  I got up early, unfortunately didn’t get a workout in, but either way, got up, rode the bus early to work with Nia, and stopped off at the grocery store before heading into work to get some ingredients for dinner.  I decided to go through my cook book and find some good options for foods.  WOW is that thing amazing.  Seriously, so many healthy things!  And easy to make things.  Very excited to be doing some of this cooking.  Unfortunately, some of the ingredients I don’t have, so I may be running back and forth to the grocery store until I get a bit better about preparing things ahead of time, but oh well.

So got my groceries and made it into work just after 8.  Then, Mercedes made me, Matt, and other new Animator some espresso mochas.  MAN that was good.  No sugar needed.  She makes those very well.  So that was a nice wake up. 

Then I sat down and got to work.  I don’t know what it was, but I was on top of it today.  At least in terms of hitting marks pretty well.  I was animating the Elephant, Burt, and I showed what I had to Myke, and he was like “I am LOVING it!”  He said, “not only is it working…but you have really made the most of his appeal!!!”  Seriously.  I was SO SHOCKED, and SO HAPPY!  Omg.  Talk about making my morning!  And it was stellar cause then later, he came by the office and told me again in person that I was doing really good work.  * jumps up and down with happiness *  So needless to say, yes, fantastic morning. 

So after working on that shot for a while and getting it turned in, I then moved on to another acting shot with Skipper the Penguin.  That one was just a tad harder, which is funny because the elephant had a trunk to animate, which you would think would be so much harder!  But no, the Penguin was harder.  More because… it’s about getting a balance with Skipper.  They are poppy and quick moving, but there’s a fine line between also having too many poses / movements, and not having enough.  Also with having it be TOO snappy, or too flowy.  Hard to get that when you’re not completely familiar with the characters!  I seem to be doing ok though, because even though the shot with Skipper needed some adjustments (more than the elephant one), Myke still came in again later and told me I was doing a great job.  AND, he assigned me two more shots!  Haha.  I guess that’s good!  They are acting shots too, I have one with Maurice, and a culmination of the other characters, and then one with Marlene the otter, who is notoriously hard.  A lot of people don’t get to animate her as a featured character because she is difficult.  A lot more organic.  BUT… for some reason, I have a shot that features her acting… surrounded by another culmination of characters.  So yea.  Apparently I am moving right along I guess!  WHO would have thought?!  CRAZY!  I hope I can stay afloat.  I will do what I have to.  SO EXCITED THOUGH! 

Fantastic day at work. 

Then I headed home, and began making my dinner.  I made burritos from scratch!  Cooked the chicken, cooked onions with a Cajun spice, mixed with tomatoes and kidney beans.  Mixed it with corn, sour cream, and rice.  It was great.  Yum!!!  And I am actually really liking the people that I am living with.  They are all so friendly and welcoming.  So it was me and Nia, Scott and Kira were home as well, so we were all cooking in our very small kitchen, and then Alvaro and Ernesto (I remembered this time!) came home shortly after.  Its kind of fun, we are all right now chilling in the living room.  Nia rented a bunch of movies, so we have just been putting them on as background noise and hanging out.  Alvaro is so nice, he is learning English, he is one of the two from Chile.  He is a lawyer, and is here studying both English and law (I believe), so its cute, he’s always asking us for help pronouncing words and sentences.  Just very, very nice.  He’s studying English now and reading a book to help him practice.  Good for him!

I am just shocked at how well our group is bonding together… like…  I don’t know, I find it so funny and so cool that a group of people who had no idea who one another was a few days ago, could all live together WELL.  And so far, so good.  I definitely don’t mind coming back here now that I have gotten familiar with everyone a little bit more.  Its fun.  Reminds me of school.  So yea, this is turning out to be a good situation.  All noise and annoyances aside, it is really really nice to be here right now, not alone in an apartment, but socializing with people from all over the world.  Turns out Nia and Terry are from Wales, Kira is from Ireland, and Scott is from England, as well as the other two boys from Chile, and me from the US.  Nutso.  Pretty cool!  Extremely multi cultural.  We’ve had some really good discussions too.  Couldn’t have turned out better for the meantime.

Also to day I was looking into how to get Kyle over here, and was semi-successful.  Looking into Partnership Visas and what not.  He CAN come over off of my Visa, but there are a few stipulations we have to work through.  On another bright note though, Kyle did get a response back from a potential employer today!  YAY!  Unfortunately, he was sick as a dog it sounds like with a migraine, so he was unable to talk to the woman on the phone, but will get in touch with her again tomorrow.  Crossing fingers its something he wants, and someone who wants him.  We shall see! 

Anyway, still without internet and television, and all of us are getting annoyed at it, so HOPEFULLY we will get it tomorrow…?  At least I have access at work.  Just don’t want to be ON it at work of course. 

Well, time for bed for me.  Back to work tomorrow, powering through shots so that I can stay on my game I hope!

G’night.