Annnnd heres an update

Wow way behind.  So this week has been nuts, as I said before.  LOTS and lots of work.  Heres a quick recap (if that’s even possible).

Wednesday:
-got up early and went on a run with Ngaire.  Its been great running with her.  She is a perfect pace, and we went probably around 4 or 5 miles in total.  LOVE running in the morning. 

-Headed off to work, and continued trying to get my Secondary pass going.  Man, it was getting tough.  Not only that, but the nerf wars continued, which was a blast, but still… its definitely been distracting, and I was WAY behind.  Tried focusing, but you know, you want to participate. 

It also didn’t help my work load having two hour lunch breaks just to check out apartments.  I had a bunch I wanted to see, and just getting out there, looking at the place, and getting back, takes a shockingly long amount of time.

At the end of the day, I was excited because Ngaire was coming to pick me up so that we could cook and have dinner.  I helped her cook for her family’s Thanksgiving dinner, and man we cook FAST.  Got everything done in just about an hour or so.  Then we made dinner, and it was really nice.  Really chill.  I enjoy talking and hanging out with them a lot.  Kinda sad they are moving back to the US soon.  After they get married in February as far as I know.  SAD!  And they are moving out to Meadowbank shortly, probably this weekend, to stay with their family since their apartment is rented.  No good.  Happy for them though for sure J

Then I came home, and its been shockingly quiet around here all week.  Can’t complain.  Thank goodness cause my week was stressful.  Yeesh!

Thursday:

I was deciding whether or not to move into a house that is literally a 10 minute walk from work.  On Franklin road.  Gorgeous tree covered street I walk down every day.  I decided last minute (after talking to Kyle on the phone) not to take the room in the house.  Though the location is perfect, and the room mates were awesome.  Well, at first meet anyway.  The price was high though…. $320 a week all in all… and really its pretty far over my budget.  I was thinking, if theres two of us, we could afford it, but I had to take into account the fact that Kyle doesn’t have a job still at the moment, and we have no idea when he would have a job.  Not to mention, we are looking into buying a car for us to share.  So, in the end even though I wanted it, it was smarter not to.  Kyle gave me a lot of reassurance too, that he could handle where Im living just fine, and that we would look for place together when he gets here.  That will be really nice as well so that he can have an opinion on where he lives.  So I’m going to wait then.

Had another stressful day at work, I knew I was not going to finish even close to everything by the time the weekend came.  PANIC!

It was Thanksgiving too, and no, I didn’t do anything special.  It was just me, plus I worked late, and had no time to make any kind of spiffy dinner (not to mention I wouldn’t want to here, theres just not enough space), so I had pasta and went to bed.  Was kind of a sad day for me, but I tried to keep my mind off of it.  Nothing I can do about it.

Friday:

Friday was good.  STRESSFUL because of course I was way beind on work, and freaking out about that.  But it was also Thanksgiving at home.  J  My whole family was together, and luckily dinner time at home doubles with lunch time here, so I brought in my computer, and took my lunch break to Skype with the whole family in the kitchen of the office!!!!  It was great.  Haha, a little crazy cause there were so many people all at once, but it was so nice to see everyone.  It realy does make the distance seem so much shorter when you can see people almost whenever you want.  Really enjoyed seeing everyone.  I wish I had been able to be there.  Holiday time is hard away from family.  Just SO incredibly Thankful that Kyle will be here for Christmas.  Otherwise, I think it might have been a difficult Christmas. 

I also realized quite a bit this week, just how thankful I am for where I am in my life.  Really.  I think about it quite often actually, when I am walking to work in the mornings especially.  I just put on my ipod and kind of zone out on the way.  Really makes me think about how greatful I am to have what I have.  My amazing friends and family, a boyfriend that’s more than I ever could have asked for, and honestly, I thin I just have some luck sometimes.  And when I think about it… I did this trip on my own really.  I saved the money, I bought the plane ticket, paid for our stay in the hotel, paid for my apartment, paid for all my groceries and whatnot.  Ive never been able to do that before.  It was kind of a cool feeling.  Not to mention, once Mom left… its been up to me.  And I’ve been able to do it!  Been here over a month now, and its pretty cool to think about the fact that I am making it happen.  It makes me think that anything is possible.  The world is so much smaller now…in a good way.  Ive just been so greatful for the fact that everyone has been so supportive.  Its an amazing feeling to have your friends and family proud of you for what you have taken on.  J  Gives me a great feeling.  And I miss everyone so much, but Im definitely happy about my decision. 

Anyway, after Skype, I headed back down to continue working until we all headed out for Matt’s Birthday bar evening.  That was fun.  We have a great office.  Everyone gets along well and enjoys eachother’s company.  Had a great time.  Lots of drinks and lots of food.  REALLY expensive though ($24 for a burger… yeesh!), but it was worth it for a night out.  We stayed til around 11 or so, and then Mercedes and Sam dropped me off back at home.  Again…. A shockingly quiet night, especially for a Friday…

Saturday

Unfortunately, Saturday I had to go into work.  I just had so much to do, I couldn’t avoid it.  I had told Fraser that I was behind, and wanted to come in, and he said that was fine.  Said that I didn’t even need to come in really, that Myke was happy with what he was seeing from me thus far, and that if I wanted to take the weekend, and thought I could keep up with a new quota the following week, so just enjoy the weekend.  I didn’t think I could keep up with another full quota though, so to the office it was!  Got in around 8 or so, and got to work.  Worked for a couple of hours, and then I got to meet Tamir and his girlfriend Francesca downtown.  That was a really nice break.  I enjoyed hanging out with them, and finally meeting Tamir.  What a great guy.  Lots to talk about.  We went and had a drink at a coffee shop, then headed across the street to an art gallery.  Haha… most random thing ever too.. while we were at the gallery, two girls were outside literally beating eachother… like, pulling hair, throwing punches, etc.  CRAZY!  People on the street stopped and were calling the cops and all that.  Yelling and screaming at them.  They were totally fighting over drugs too.  One of them in the tussle dropped what looked likc a crack pipe… insane.  Definitely interesting.  Young girls too.  Sad.  So we got our excitement in for the afternoon for sure. 

Then I headed back to the office,  showed Tamir where I worked, and he is super happy for me.  Really impressed to at what Im doing, and how the company is.  He said it sounds like a fantastic environment, and it really is.  One month in, and still loving it.  He offered to take me on a tour of Weta as well whenever I make it down to Wellington.  How awesome would that be?!  Kyle and I will have to take a trip out for sure. 

After that, I headed back to work and worked for most of the rest of the day.  Got a decent amount done, never as much as I want.  Then Kate got in touch with me, and she, Matt and Tiffany were headed out to Mission Bay for some ice cream.  I was starving cause I hadn’t had dinner, so I went and joined them.  I got a burger while they had their ice cream, and we went and sat outside.  A nice ending to a busy day.  I was going to go out with Mercedes, and was looking forward to it, but I was just so tired by the time I got home that I wasn’t up for it.  Instead, I ended up just chilling out and chatting with Alvaro and Ernesto.  Nia, Terry, Kira and Scott were all out of town for the weekend.  So the three of us were goofing off and talking about all kinds of different things, over a bottle of Pisco.  Haha, Pisco and cola.  YUM.  We killed the whole bottle between the three of us.  Yeesh!  I didn’t mean to do that!  It was fun though, and I sure slept well. 

Sunday

Went back into the office to get as much done as possible.  Finally got some shots submitted and was making some progress.  The Christmas parade was in the afternoon around 2 as well.. and I debated not going.  But I could hear all the sirens and whatnot from the office, so I decided at the last minute (around 1:50) that I was going to go.  It would be good to get out and enjoy some of the day at least, right? 

MAN what a crazy parade!!!!  I mean, dude, EVERYONE in the whole city must have been downtown.  Queen street was insane.  It was cool though for sure, not like any Christmas parade I had ever seen!!  It was like… a hybrid between Christmas, Halloween, and I don’t even know what!  Haha.  Lots of clowns, people on stilts in crazy costumes, marching bands, huge inflated balloons (hehe, there was one of a clown holding a ball in his hand… and this thing was MASSIVE… it was so big, that the balloon got caught on one of the light poles and ripped the balloon, and it started deflating right in front of me!!!  Haha, HILARIOUS!  Take a look at the photos)

Hahaha, and Kiwi to top it off.  :-D

So as I was watching the parade I decided to wander around some of the shops.  I wanted to find a little Christmas tree to put on my desk in the office.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t really get to the shops I wanted to go into to find one because of the parade.  Ah well.  It happens J  So anyway, I was browsing around throughout Queen street, and stumbled upon this clothing store called Jay Jays.  I decided to go in and just have a look around.  DUDE… they have affordable clothing there!!!  Not to mention they were having a sale, so I went in and got a bunch of shirts and tank tops to wear to work.  Some cute stuff!  I spent around $80 on like, 6 shirts and a couple of accessories.  Awesome!  Very very happy about that find!

After that, the parade was ending, so I decided to high-tail it back to the apartment.  I had to do laundry still, and I had pretty much worked as much as I was going to work for the weekend.  Came back, threw in the laundry and hung out watching some tv and surfing the internet.  Once the laundry was done, I actually sat down with a needle and thread and started fixing some clothes that I have that ended up with either tears or holes in them.  Seams broken, etc.  Man, I fixed like, 6 articles of clothing!  I bought this $2 pack of random thread colors, and I swear, I literally had every exact color I could have needed!  A bright pink, a lavender, a tan color, bright green, black... it was nuts.  And made me SO happy that now my clothes have no holes!!!!  And I was watching Happy feet with Nia and Terry as I fixed it all.  Awesome.  Made a sandwich for dinner, and just relaxed for the rest of the evening.  :-)  Twas a good Sunday.

 Monday was busy, I decided I needed to sit and focus on my work since I had gotten so far behind.  Luckily, they assigned me a smaller quota this week, so I should be able to catch up by Friday with my work.  Unfortunately we couldnt log in when I got to work because the internet was down... meaning we also couldnt even open our files through Maya, so I headed down to the Post Office real quick to get some stamps.  Figured those might be important.

Got back, and got to work.  I also got up and mentioned to everyone in the room, if we could kind of tone down the Nerf fights for the week.  Kate and I had both been in the office over the weekend (it was nice not to suffer alone ;-)), so clearly there was some issue with productivity.  Everyone seemed totally fine and in agreement with it, so fortunately, the whole day was really chill and quiet.  Everyone getting down to work.  It was really great actually.  I felt pretty productive because I was able to just straight up focus.

After work, Kate and I were going to head down to Kung Fu for some working out.  We left work a tad early (about 5:30) and headed out to get there.  Unfortunately, we didnt realize just how far it was, so we ended up missing the class.  Sucks, but at least we had a nice walk!  I think we're going to look into some other kind of martial arts or Kick Boxing to get into.  Excited about that for sure. 

Since we knew we were going to miss it once we realized just how far off we were, we kind of meandered around down Richmond road.  Kind of a nice road!  I could live down there, and we actualy saw some apartments for rent.  Something to consider.  We also stopped into a local grocery store, and I was able to pick up some stuff I needed... including some desk accessories!!!!!  Found some Buzz and Woody action figures for the top of my monitor.  Made me very happy :-D.  Got some strawberries too which are YUMMY!  Im glad I had them at the time as well, because once we started walking again, I started to crash.  I think Im having some issues with regulating my blood sugar a bit.  I notice I end up with these funky pseudo light headed / dizzy spells every once in a while.  I am going to cut the caffeine out quite a bit from what I have been doing (I think I crash after a caffeine / sugar high in the afternoons, and I know I had just had some coffee shortly before we left work... Im sure i was crashing from that), cause its not a good feeling.   Epsecially since I walk around the city essentially by myself most of the time, the last thing I need is to pass out randomly in the street or something.  Ugh, scary thought.  So Im trying to be better about that.  Got myself on track to lose weight as well, been eating healthier.  Lots more protein, veggies and fruits, less carbs.  I think I'll be ok now :-).

Anyway, we had a really nice walk, and then I headed back home, and Kate headed up to the bus.  :-)  I think we're going to be great friends, Kate is awesome.  I think we're a lot alike in some ways.  Cool for sure.  So, got home, and had a chill night.

Today, I skipped my run cause Ngaire couldnt meet me, and decided to sleep in a tad, since I hadnt all weekend since I was working.  Had a good day at work though.  Another chill day for sure.  Had half a coffee, and a tea instead today, so already on teh track of less caffeine.  Was pretty productive too.  I think Im going to get all of my shots done this week, and not have to come in on the weekend!  YESS!  Hopefully theres some beach time in store for me this weekend... that would be amazing.  So yes, good day for sure.  Half way through I went into Mykes office to ask him about a shot I was getting ready to start on.  We ended up having a nice little chat.  he's really happy with the work Ive been doing still, which is such a relief.  He thinks its funny because I have been so worried about staying on task, and making sure my stuff is good enough, especially since this is my first pass at Secondary, and its a big deal to me.  This is the hard stuff!  Its so nice though because he keeps reinforcing that I am doing just fine, and not to worry.  Even though I feel behind, he mentioned something to Fraser about maybe cutting me a little bit of a break in the coming week because of some of the rigs Ive had to work with.  Its been a challenge for sure!!!!!  More just time consuming.  The Elephant trunk in two shots, multiple characters, and running in another shot, the snake in like 4 or 5 shots, and whatever else.  The Snake in itself was a hell of a challenge.  So they smiled and it sounds like I might get to relax a bit coming up.  Its so nice to hear that sometimes they take that into account.  Im not SURE about it, but we'll see.  At least this week wasn't at full quota so I can catch up.

Either way, the day was good.  Got some feedback from Myke, which was small really (thank goodness I keep getting only minor changes to shots... whew!), so I have some things to continue working on, and then tomorrow Im hoping to dive into some of the quota for THIS week finally, and be done with last weeks shots.  Gotta keep the ball rolling!  I stayed about 12 hours today, got home around 9.  Hung out for a bit with the roomies... and now I am WIPED, so Im heading to bed.  Going to get up way early to run with Ngaire tomorrow.  Should be good.  Im gona be tired though... haha, apparently I do pretty well without sleep lately... or well, without much of it.  Hopefully I can catch up this weekend and make it a point to sleep in.  I dont ever do that really.  Another good reason to have Kyle here... he makes me sleep in :-).

Anyway, bed time for me.  Sorry its been so long since an update!!!!!

wow what a week

Update more later, I promise.  What an insane week its been.  I worked both Saturday and today, and all of last week (of course) just trying to stay on top of things.  Secondary Animation is a killer, and I am moving WAY too slow.....  But I caught up a little this weekend (still have way too much booked for this coming week with work), so hopefully I can get things finished up by Friday.

I think the big killer was that I was apartment hunting during all of my lunch breaks, so I lost almost 2 hours some days between getting to the place, looking at it, and then getting back.  UGH.  So thats not happening anymore... at least not in such a rush.  Talked to Kyle, and he said its alright, that we will look when he gets here.  I think thats better anyway because then he has a say on where we live.  Plus, it makes it easier on me, cause if he doesnt start working a job right away, he can search while I work.  We've started looking into options for a car too, which is kind of exciting.  Hopefully we can find something that has enough space that maybe we could camp out of it?  That would be cool.  We'll see.

So yea, lots going on.  Not much exciting during the week, I mostly worked a lot and hunted for apartments, but there will be an update coming soon none the less. 

Tired now, attempting to get some sleep.  Kira has two friends over who are staying the night... and maybe tomorrow night... and they're all up chatting loudly, like Kira does.  *yeesh*.  Anyways, ear plugs time!

Goodnight.

Nov 22 and 23

Well, Im a bit tired, but I will try to catch up here before I get too behind!

So yesterday (Monday) was a decent day.  Ive been re-assigned ALL of my Primary shots in Secondary, which is nice.  Thank goodness because I really helped myself out in adding a lot of breakdowns in my Primary!  haha.  It was a good day at work, but sadly not all that productive.  Ugh, sucks sometimes. 

I went to view an apartment too.  And let me tell you.... It was a NICE apartment.  Sadly, nothing is included in the rent (in terms of utilities), so instead of it being $330 a week like advertised, its actually around $550 a week.... WAY TOO MUCH.  Sucks cause it was in great condition and it was well furnished.  Definitely a small apartment, but it had a separate bedroom at least.  And big balcony.  It was also very close to the Vector Arena, which could mean very noisy.  I thought it would be farther into Parnell, but not at all.  It was definitely still downtown, so street noise could have been an issue.  Also no parking... at all.  SO it had its downsides, but looked really nice.  ARgh.  Oh well.  Keep looking! 

So unfortunately that took a little while longer than I had hoped on my lunch break.  Got back, did some more work, turned in and got another few shots approved, and then headed out with Mercedes.  We went back to her house (she lives with her mom at the moment), and proceeded to make dinner for the 4 of us (us two, her mom and Sam, her boyfriend), and do some baking for Matt's birthday!  He turned 23 today, so we figured we'd make some cookies and cupcakes for everyone to partake in.  That was really nice. 

I hung out there til we were done baking, and then they drove me home.  I was SO tired, so I headed straight to bed (thankfully the house was really quiet). 

Got up this morning early to go running with Ngaire.  GOT to lose these new pounds Ive gained... this is not allowed.  haha.  So anyway, we ended up running around 6 miles, which is AWESOME.  Up some hills and through a park over in Kingsland.  It was really nice!  She keeps a really good pace too, so we definitely had a good run.  Really enjoyed that.  I came home and was in a rush a bit, but whatever, the run was SO worth it.  I made myself some eggs and ham, which was FANTASTIC, made my lunch and rushed to get ready to work.  Made it in around 9am, got my coffee and was good to go.  I wasnt really motivated today though... even though in the end i got a good amount done.  We celebrated Matt's birthday too, which was nice.  Seems to me like he had a great birthday!  We got Carla to come early, and she went to pick out a cake with Kate and Tiffany.  Then we got a lot of the Animators in our office to sing and have cake :-)  It was nice!!!!  I think he really liked it.

I went to view another place to live today too during lunch.  This time, a house on Franklin road, which is about 10 minutes from my job walking.  Its a reall nice road, tree covered, and though its highly trafficked... its not downtown for sure.  I can deal with car noise, its people noise I can't.  It seems nice.  Good size house for sure.  Nice garden / back yard in the back.  Well kept.  HUGE tv, nice living room, good size kitchen.. two bathrooms.  There is a couple living there now, one is a chef, the other is a film student who just finished school (a married couple around 27 / 28 yrs old).  I didn't get to meet them, but I met Amy, the owner of the house.  She comes by often and helps to take care of the gargen and clean the house and whatnot.  She also uses the third downstairs room as a place to crash if she comes into town for one reason or another, since she lives around 40 minutes outside of town.  She was very nice, and I think this could be a good place to live.  Its relatively affordable, though its at about my MAX for spending on a place to live.  The bedroom is unfurnished too, but comes with a HUGE built in closet, storage, and a vanity area.  So I would need a bed and bedside table essentially.  Maybe a little tv considering it has a tv hook up in the bedroom.  A desk if I realy wanted it (which would likely be a good idea).  Furnishings wouldnt cost me a ton if I did things through Trademe as well, which is nice.  Its spacious enough.  Not a huge room, but also not tiny.  Just a bit of a downgrade from what I have now I think, but really not by much.  At least the rest of the house is furnished.  I need to make arrangements to meet the room mates sometime this week ideally.  Amy said she thinks I would get along with them really well (Kelly is the female tenant), which is good to hear.  She's become friends with them since renting it to them.  It sounds like a good scenario!  We will see.  I am going to hear from Mercedes tomorrow about what it might cost me to live with them in their house as well, so I can pick between the two.  The huge benefit here though is that this is 10 minutes from work.  Mercedes' place would be about 6 miles away or so, which is still not bad, but I would need alternative transport other than my two feet.  We will see for sure :-)

Anyway, once I got back to work, the day was alright.  I turned in two more shots in Primary, and started modifying a shot in Secondary.  Secondary makes me nervous... because this is the refining stage.  So this is what we would usually spend all the time on at AM, but now I have a week to do Secondary on 7 shots or so.  Its kind of quick, but I think I can pull it off..... I hope anyway.  This week is a hard one because I am juggling viewing apartments and working.  Luckily though, I already had in 100 hours in this pay period after today.  Only needed 90!  haha, 45 hrs a week.  Yea, last week was a busy one, so that helps to be able to take this week a bit more chill.  I still have just as much work though!  ACK! 

Anyways, the day was good.  I left around 8, even though I didnt work nearly that long.  I like hanging around there in the evenings.  Ive made a bunch of friends, so we end up hanging around and talking.  I usually stay at least an hour longer than I realy need to.  I'm ok with that :-).  Tomorrow will hopefully be more productive.   I'm running again in the morning with Ngaire, and then after work, she is going to pick me up and we are going to cook some Thanksgiving-esque dinner.  I believe she is cooking sides to take with her to a family gathering she and Chris are going to on Thursday for Thanksgiving.  She said we'd make dinner for the two of us as well.  Should be fun!

Unfortunately I probably wont be getting to celebrate Thanksgiving myself on Thursday, so I will just make Wednesday night with Ngaire my equivalent.  :-)  At least its something.

Missing everyone back home.  Hope you all are doing well!  Still trying to catch up on the communication with everyone.  My ipod died today too... its deciding that its not capable of picking up wifi connection anymore... Im not sure if this is a glitch or what.  Ive never had it happen til I got here, but its not a good thing at all, considering thats my only free messaging service to family and Kyle (aside from email which is harder for me to access). 

Oh well.  Hopefully I can fix it..... I was able to last time.  No idea.  ARgh.

Anyway, bed time.  Running early!

A little catching up to do.... again.

Well, I guess its a good thing that I havent been able to update the past couple days just from being busy!  Haha.  You all know me... I love being busy.  It makes that down time so much more valuable.  Well, lets get started.

The rest of Friday was great.  I was able to get not only all of my shots finished AND submitted, BUT I got through ALL of my revisions and notes too!  How AWESOME is that?!  So I left at the end of Friday (btw, I was done by like, 5:30 that night with all the work) with all of my shots in my task manager colored Green.  Green is goooood.  Green means go.  haha.  Throughout the day I bounced a couple back and forth to Myke, small changes each time.  I was nervous I wouldn't finish, but I got better reviews on my stuff than I had anticipated, so that was nice.

We even had a break for a nerf fight!  And let me tell you, it was an epic one.  During lunch, a bunch of the guys in the Assets team had gotten Nerfs because there was a massive sale going on at the Warehouse (the smaller ones we mostly all have are usually $25 I think, and they were on sale for $15).  Of course we see this happening as they walk in with their guns (they got the bigger ones too), so we immediately made an alliance with the group of Animators that sit on the opposite side of the office (Assets is in the middle..... a dangerous place to be!), and began scheming.  We got everyone rounded up, and fired a warning shot over to them.  And then it was ON!  We must have had a 20 minute nurf fight, Animators vs Assets.  SO much fun!  We outnumbered them hugely, because only like, 4 people had gotten nerfs, and we have probably 15 of us on the Animator side that have them!  WIN!  It was awesome.  SO much fun.  Apparently Im not a bad shot with a nerf either!  It actually went on so intensely and for so long that Fraser had to come out and call a cease fire, because apparently we were making too much noise for the people upstairs.  Lame.  AWESOME though. 

Once the end of the day came around, I was feeling really good about all those shots turning green as the "Trolley of Dreams" made its way around the office.  Beer and wine for all!  (Yes, this is ever Friday).  After the food and drink were consumed, I was just waiting on one more shot to be approved before heading home, so I hung around a while.  Finally, that last one was all set to go.. but I still stayed and hung out.  LOVE my office.  So we had yet ANOTHER nerf fight.  Awesome. 

Finally I packed up and was chatting with Warren who was also getting ready to go.  Then Myke came over, and gave me another "congrats on the great work" compliment (yay!), and then I told him that I was so excited because all my shots were done and approved... and he was like "really?!  All of them?!"  Apparently that is not common for someone on the newer end of things... and even people that have been there a while, to get ALL of their shots, and all of their revisions done by the deadline.  Especially since we only require 80% of the Primary Animated shots to be done before we submit it to Nick.  haha, AWESOME!  Apparently I am doing better than anticipated.... all around!  How epic is that!?  What a good feeling.  Man, the good things just keep coming at work.  Myke is just telling me to be confident, cause I have to say, when I got in in the morning, I was worried about getting everything done.  Apparently there was no need!  Next week will be interesting because I have been assigned to do now all of the Secondary on all of my previous Primary shots.  SO COOL!  Apparently that does not always happen either.  WOOHoO!  ROCKIN!

So, I ended up finally leaving the studio probably around 7:30 or so, and I walked back with Warren and Myke.  They are so great.  Had a nice little chat on our way home.  They took me a different way, which is great cause it might actually be quicker than the way I take now.  :-)  They're so nice.  I love the people I work with!  Then I got home, and it was a shockingly quiet evening for a Friday!  THANK goodness because I was wiped after such a long week. 

SATURDAY

Saturday was a busy busy day.  I finally got up the motivation to go on a run around 8:30am, especially since now I can TELL I am gaining weight for sure (this stops now).  Ran around 3.5 miles or so, just went out around the neighborhoods.  I wanted to go out to Mt Eden, but I must have taken a wrong turn somewhere cause I ended up going away from it rather than toward it.  Either way, discovered some more shopping centers and stuff.  Then I came home, and rushed to get showered and dressed to go and view another apartment in Kingsland.  It was a bit more of a walk away than I thought, and I wasnt really sure where I was going.  So Im on my way, now granted, I didnt eat anything between run and walking to this apartment... so I get like, two streets away, TOTALLY running late, and I end up starting to feel REALLY faint.  My eyes went all nuts like I was going to pass out, I got dizzy, light headed, and my heart was RACING.  And I mean racing, like... I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  So I quickly sat down on the corner of the street in front of a convenience store to try to calm down.  Finally I felt ok, but debated turning home... and then decided to continue on.  I NEED another apartment, and they all get taken up really fast around here.

Anyway, so I kept going, and it was a hell of a walk!  A solid half hour.  TOO far from work... that'd be over an hour walk away!  It was an alright apartment anyway.  Nice size bathroom, good open living room, decent size bedroom, but the area just was not ideal.  Plus it had no internet connection installed, so I would have to do that separate... and the price was already a tad high for what I got.  So afterward, I headed home.  I still have the place as a back up, but I want to view another place in Parnell that is closer, and thats scheduled for Monday during my lunch break. 

So I headed home, got a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and an umbrella cause there were some massive dark clouds coming over, and set out again to head downtown.  Was going to try to catch one of our coworkers jumping off the sky tower, but the apartment viewing made me too late.  Ah well.  Headed downtown anyway... but as I left the house, I didnt even make it to the corner of the street before again, I got REALLY dizzy, and thought I was going to pass out.  This time, the racing heart was much worse.  I seriously thought I was experiencing a heart attack or something.  It was so weird, and so scary.  Especially cause I was alone, and no one knew where I was or where I was heading.  No good.  Finally it subsided, so I kept walking, but much slower, and relaxed.  Just kind of went on a stroll.  Text Ngaire to see what doctors were available and whatnot in case I had to go. 

I finally got downtown and got some food asap.  Called Mom as well, which was so nice to talk to her.  I told her what was happening, and she said it was probably a combination of the wrong diet (which is so true.  I have been eating WAY more carbs and less protein than I am used to), dehydration (also true, I drank probably 3 massive bottles of water that day), and low blood sugar.  Haha, makes sense since I hadn't eaten more than a PB&J sandwich when the episodes happened.  After I ate lunch I felt much better, and we chatted a bit.  Mom gave me a good grocery list, and was helping me kind of figure out what to do.  Im not so good about grocery shopping alone.  Never have been.  It was nice going with my roommates in college, I could kind of see the impression of what they were buying and making, and follow suit.  Haha, I dont have that here.  Anyway, I think I have it down now, I know what my problems are.  That was just SO scary. 

After that, I ran into Matt and Carla on Queen street, and they were headed to a shop... I can't remember the name of it now... but think like a Macys.  Nicer clothes, a little more expensive than what we're used to at home, but more affordable than usual I guess.  They were looking for a small Christmas tree since their families had sent them some ornaments in the mail.  So sweet!  I want a little Christmas tree!!!!  Haha, so I was there with them checking out ornaments, and I found this ADORABLE one that I got.  Not going to reveal what it is cause its for Kyle ;-)  But its awesome.  Now, I just need a tree.  But I am going to wait until I have an apartment.  So the goal is: new apartment before Christmas so I can decorate it, have a tree, AND make some kind of Christmas dinner.  Yes, you heard me: CHRISTMAS DINNER.  haha.  I have no idea how to do it, especially the whole turkey part, but how cool would that be?!  So yes, I must have these things.  If I can't be with my whole family on Christmas, I have to do it myself.  :-D

Anyway, then I headed back to the house to drop what was left of my food and my ornament, and try to make some of the Grey Lynn Festival.  Luckily I got about an hour of it... but SHEISH let me tell you... a festival like that is just an excuse for young people to get together in a big green field and smoke and drink until they drop.  Literally.  Cigarettes, weed, there were rock bands playing, booze EVERYWHERE.. obnixious teenagers.... omg.  New Zealand is WAY different from home (to me) in that respect.  I think its cause of the whole 18 yr drinking age and whatnot.  Ew.  Haha.  So it was....interesting to say the least.  I enjoyed walking through it a little bit, cept trying to avoid the drunkards stumbling everywhere.  There were big craft tents and stuff... wish I had gotten to go through those more.  I was with Alvaro and Ernesto though, and they wanted to go sit, so since we wnt as a group, I just ran thru them and went to sit.  Ah well.

Around an hour later, Mercedes came and picked me up to go to the Taste of Auckland festival.  That was interestng, and fun.  Much more low key.  Also much more expensive, but I got lucky because she had a friend working there who got us in for free.  We had to purchase "crowns" though to buy food and taste drinks, etc.  It was fun!  Lots of cheeses, wines, olive oils, everything.  We had a good time.  I got a re-usable coffee cup (in black and Lime Green!) with the crowns I had left over... and I LOVE it.  So me.  hahaha.  The girl who sold it too was like "ah Ive never seen that color combo before, I love it!'  :-)

After THAT, she dropped me off to meet Kate, Tiff and Matt for some food before seeing Harry Potter.  That was fun.  There were 10 of us from the office who met up to see the movie.  Love it!  I love the group, we honestly all have so much fun.  Thats exactly what I wanted to do that night.  Though I had been invited out by Ngaire, and I do wish I had been able to go to that.  I love her, that would have been fun.  But, I had already bought my tickets, so another time :-D. 

The movie was realy good.  I realized that apparently I have missed one or two of the movies before this one (woops!), but I still enjoyed it quite a bit.  After the movie, which ended around 11:30, I walked home since the buses had stopped.  Lame.  Haha, but it wasn't bad at all.  There are almost always people out and about on the way, so that was reassuring.  Made it home, and of course, people were out and being rowdy again.  I was so tired and ready for bed... but I just sucked it up and went outside to hang out anyway.  It was alright.  Caved and finally went to bed around 1:45 am.  Ugh.  Had an alright time, they're just kind of obnoxious and drunk.  Haha.  Thats all.  I did enjoy talking with a few people though.  :-)

SUNDAY

Anyway, headed to bed, then slept in some this morning before searching for apartments... in bed :-).  Hehe.  The kitchen was an absolute wreck this morning, so I kind of waited in my room and did research until the hooligans came and cleaned it.  haha!  It worked!  Chatted with Andy for a bit, looked for some apartments, and then made myself some decent breakfast, and got ready to walk to the store.  Found this Asian Market that Nia had mentioned, and OMG ITS SO CHEAP!  I love it!  $40 for an epic amount of produce.  Fantastic!!!!!  So now the fridge is full of produce.  I still need more things (gotta get protein!), so Nia and Terry and I are going to head out to the store in a minute to finish the shopping.  Sounds good to me!  Been a chill Sunday.  We're going to make Carbonara tonight.  Looking forward to it. :-)  THESE are the things I like about living here.  The rest is just a neusance.

Anyway,  Im out.  LATER

Time to hit the store.  Later!

Nov 19th

OMG, so yesterday Kyle had sent me a text at work, but we kept missing eachother with the whole text for free thing that I have on my ipod touch, since I dont have internet in my part of the office.  So to check if I have a text, I have to go out into the hallway.  Anyway, he said "GUESS WHAT," and I kept trying to hear back from him.... but I wake up this morning FINALLY with a response:

KYLE GOT HIS VISA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  AND IT ONLY TOOK HIM TWO DAYS!!!!!!!!!

AHHHH I AM SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!! 

Omg, this is fantastic!!!!

I am SO freaking excited!  YESS!!!!  And I am going apartment hunting this weekend possibly.  I hope so.  I will be checking out one for sure.  I hope to God I find something good, and affordable.  A few of them look really nice, but are out of my price range if I am paying for them myself.  If Kyle is here though... we can afford it, but still.  Its about $110 more a month than I want to be spending if its just me for a while.  BUT, the bright side is: if he comes for Christmas, there are only like 35 days left!!!!!  YESS!  Amazing.

I kind of feel right now like someone is watching over me while I am over here.  Everything, with the exception of minor annoyances, is really turning out to be exactly what I had hoped for...... and more really.   Especially in terms of being in the office.  And now, my living sitution is beginning to shape up, especially when Kyle gets here.  OMG I am so excited for the next couple of months!

Haha, well, anyway, I am up for work, and should start getting ready to go since I am going to walk again.  I like walking in the morning, its really nice, though its a tad cloudy today.

More later on!

Nov 18th

Ummm wow...talk about an AMAZING day.  Really fantastic honestly.  It was so productive!  More than I expected, so that is always a good thing.

I rode the bus in, got there around 8:30 again, and just got my nose into working!  I was able to crank out ALL of the shots I was still missing and get them submitted for the first round of feedback...and they were all with Savio and Julien.  AWESOME.  I have feedback on almost all of them... but its really small stuff.  Thank goodness!  Savio is getting a tad easier and more predictable every time I work with him, which is fantastic.  I still have one shot where I have to counter-animate him on ever frame... but its just the nature of the shot really.  Not too much I can do about that one unfortunately.  Everything else though has been alright so far with him.  Myke really liked what I had with Savio so far, just some adjustments because I have 4 shots back to back with him where I need to make sure he hooks up in between each shot.  Not too bad though. 

I also did my very first shot with Julien today.  I have one left, but it hasn't been assigned yet until next week.  OMG did that go well!  Wow.  I was so nervous about it.  Julien is so animated and crazy... I wasnt sure how good I would be at making him work.  Haha... so my feedback was:  "this is FANTASTIC!"  LOL....  How cool is that?!  I have a change at the end with how he leaves the scene, but I just mis interpreted how he hooks up to the next scene, so I will make that change today, no biggid.  But still OMG.  How awesome is it to get feedback like that on a shot I was so unsure of!!!!!!!!!!!

I had a little talk with Myke that night too before I left which was really nice.  Every time I sit and talk with him, I feel like I gain more confidence, which is exactly what I was hoping for.  He always tells me how well I am doing, and that I should continue to do what I'm doing.  He said that he had given me the shot with Julien, as well as the snake ones, to really see what I could do.  I have had 8 or 9 different characters on the show now to work with, and apparently its because he trusts me more and more with each shot he hands me, to do what it is that he wants to see.  It feels so cool to have your superior say something like that about you.  He also said how nice it was to see such a good impression of me right off of the bat.  Haha, so hard work does pay off!

So maybe Im actually pretty good at this whole Animation thing!  I was joking and saying how I was so excited that I would have a really awesome reel after working on this show, and he was like "Oh it'll be more than really nice!"  HA!  SO COOL!  Ahh man, that was a great way to end the day.  Really REALLY was.  I had another 12 hours in the office, but man, I don't regret staying so long each day this week for a second.  Hard work pays off, thats for damn sure.  And at this point.. this makes me so excited because it could mean that I really can make it to where I want to be in my Animation Career.  What an epic thought that is.  Just... really really cool.  Apparently I really did come here for a reason!  And its paying off more than I ever expected it to (and thats JUST in the career sense!).  Wicked. 

Well, after the day had ended again at 8:45, I headed home.  It was nice actually, I get home, and everyone is hanging out.  No loud parties.  Not insane drinking.  Just chilling watching tv and talking.  I like that.  So I made some fried rice (Thanks Amy, I followed your advice on how to make it!!!!), which was pretty good, and then chilled with them for a while before heading to bed.  :-)

Great day.

Nov 16th and 17th

So last night / this morning I was too tired to write, sooo I am lumping the two days together.  haha.

Yesterday I walked to work again.  Which I really kind of enjoy.  Nice fresh air, and its great to get out and walk.  Considering I am failing at any other type of exercise lately (no, I never succeeded at running.. ugh.. hard to get a routine around here), its really nice to be walking everywhere.  I've been taking my camera around with me FINALLY now that I remembered.  Trying to keep up with that whole photo-a-day thing, though it is hard at the moment.  I want to edit the photos, some of them end up really washed out, but oh well.  At least I have them :-).  Take a look, heres some from my walk to work yesterday:

 I walk down this hill (and back up it) every day.  This is Franklin road.  BEAUTIFUL. 

 Saw these today hanging over a brick wall.  Pretty!

-This is right across the street from work.  Just noticed it today.

So yes, glad to be taking Photos :-)  Will try to make it a routine for sure.

And work was good, another 12 hour day.  Long week this week, but thats ok.  Thank goodness I love my job.  I honestly just like being in the studio.  I would rather be in the studio than at home!  But thats just how it is.  Haha.  Anyways, the work has been hard but good.  Submitted another shot, and then got to trying my hand at the dreaded Savio the Snake.  And let me tell you... he is a MESS of a rig!  SO hard to work with.  I have seen some great results with him, but I have no idea how whoever did it is achieving them!  They're not from our studio, thats for sure.

Struggled with him quite a bit, re-animated him a few times, and left at the end of the evening (around 8:45) having SOMETHING at least.  I think I have to re-do the shot though... after trying another one today, I think there may be a different / potentially better way to do it?  Not sure.  We shall see tomorrow (Thursday).  Hopefully I can get something going.

Ugh, now the crappy part.  So I got home from work to what was supposed to just be a chill BBQ that was going on at the neighbor's for someones birthday.  However, it ended up being this obnoxious party with loud music, people yelling, singing, and getting wasted.  On a TUESDAY.  Ridiculous.  So anyway, that was obnoxious, not to mention the place was kind of a mess when I got home.  Kira and Scott are just messy.  Seriously.. messy.  Everyone else seems to be ok.  Nia was annoyed at it too when I got home.  And of course, there were NO clean dishes, so I had to wash some to make my dinner, which I had carried home with me after stopping by the store around 9:00pm after work.

Anyway, the party went on until 2:00AM almost..... ugh.  I swear.  Its like no one works.. or cares about those who do.  And after a long day at work both Mon and Tues, I was not happy AT ALL.  Luckily, Nia is awesome, and she and I sat down with Alvaro and Ernesto and were goofing off in the living room, trying to avoid the loud noise outside.  Which was not easy.  But we had fun!  We were teaching them english words / phrases, and vice versa.  That was a good time.  Then Terry got home way early, and Nia and I were talking.  Apparently Terry is trying to learn Welsh (even though hes from Wales, the area he's from does not speak it), and Nia had gotten some CDs of audio for him to learn it.  She asked if I could put them on my computer, so he could possibly load them to his ipod (they dont have computers).  I said sure if it would work, and sure enough it did!  The coolest part:  I could totally learn Welsh if I wanted to!  haha.  So neat.  I have no idea what it sounds like, but Im kind of excited to try!  We shall see.  Anyway, it was nice hanging with them.  Nia and I seem to feel the same about some of the crazyness that goes on here.  So it was good to have someone to talk to.  She will be here for a while, and I just don't think that I want to be.  Its nice to have some people around, but still..... I would really like some personal alone time after work.  

Well, so once the party died down, I went to bed.  and PASSED out until waking up around 7am to get to work again.  Nia and I rode the bus, and I got into work later than normal, I figured after Monday and Tuesday that it was fine, which it was.  Today was Savio day.  ALL day.  Thats all I worked on.  Trying to figure out that rig.... ugh.  Anyways, its interesting trying to work through it, a challenge for sure.  But.. sometimes you just want something to work the first time :-).

I went from the one (possibly the hardest shot with Savio) to another one after a while.  THAT one I think I may have finally gotten down alright.  Took a while, but not terrible.  So that one I submitted for review tonight before leaving work.

Ok, I love work.  We have random nurf fights EVERY day it seems.  And its SO much fun.  I know I rave and rave about it, but I really do love it.  I love the work, even when its hard, love the people, environment, etc.  Fantastic.  :-)  So yes, work was frustrating, but good.  Kate and I had a really nice chat today too.  SO glad she finally moved into our office.  We were weary that they may not move her, but very glad they did.  She's a blast, and I am definitely looking forward to hanging out with her and everyone else a lot more.  We all actually started making a list of outings that we would like to set up to take.  Paintball, a beach trip, a skiing trip, hiking, mountain biking, horseback riding..... etc.  SO excited about these possibilities.  I hope they happen! 

OH, and back to the rig for a second.......we have been trying to ask Nickelodeon what to do about Savio the past few days.  They came back today with something along the lines of: "he needs a completely new set up / re-rig, but that just isn't feasable at this point in production of the current show, so have the animators try to do the best they can until we can hopefully find a solution later down the line."  haha.  I knew that would happen.  And its true, he does need a total re-rig.  I mean, Im no rigger at all, but I just could not seem to make easy sense of that rig.  So we were animating, re-animating, asking questions back and forth... its just a time sucker really.  I could have powered through a few of those shots (more than just the two) if the rig had been more logical. 

Anyway, that aside, I feel I did alright with it for today.  Headed out around 6, which was nice, and headed up to the Pub (Albion) up the road for $10 steak night.  Nick got all the ladies a round of drinks which was nice, and we hung out and had our steaks :-).

Then, stuffed with steak, I walked home, and luckily, found the place quiet.  Everyone home, but quiet.  THANK GOODNESS.  So Nia and I hung out for a while.  She's such a sweetheart.  She doesn't want me to move out.  Thats really sweet of her.  And if it was just her and Terry I was living with, I would be perfectly happy and fine.  Its the crowd of everyone, and the parties and the nutso-ness of everyone else that I am not a fan of.  Too bad it has to happen like that.

Anyway, had a nice relaxed evening.  Took some nice photos of the sunset on the way home too, take a look:

 -Above was walking down the hill from the pub toward my office.

 -SOOO pretty.

-And this, on the left, is where I live...just I live in the lower room.   This was right outside the unit when I got back tonight.

So yes, quite the nice walk home.

And now, it is 10:30pm, and I am headed to bed.  SO excited.  I am wiped.

Goodnight!