Nov 6th,
Ok, so today was my first day feeling really really lonely. Its weird… at work, I always have something to do, and people to talk to. Everyone at the office is awesome. But now, throw me on a weekend by myself, in a new place to live, with no tv and no internet, where I don’t really know the other people around…. And OMG it’s an overwhelming feeling of loneliness.
I don’t know what it is. Maybe I’m just not really good at being by myself. Granted, I value my alone time, like most people do, but I value it most when I’ve been running around like crazy, and I just want to sit down and be mindless for a bit. Watch some tv. Rent a movie. But here… I can’t do that! Haha. It sucks how dependent on technology we are. I hate sitting around, with my mind swirling, going “what the hell am I going to do with myself now?” I mean, I had things to do, I had to go to the grocery store (that was interesting…), and I had to go and pick things up to try to get my room organized since I don’t have a dresser… but I don’t know.
I was fine grocery shopping. Happy actually. I woke up, had a slow start to the day, and grabbed my rolling suitcase to try to find the store. I didn’t know exactly where it was, but I heard it was back in the neighborhoods somewhere. Unfortunately, I took the most round-about way there possible, so it took me an extra 30 minutes or so. Fine on a beautiful day. Not when you have other things that you want to do (there was a rose festival going on… more on that later). So anyway, finally I make it to the store, go through my list and get some things that I needed. Should be enough for a bit. Its weird… I don’t really know how to grocery shop!! I don’t know how to plan meals, I don’t really know how to cook… and its not nearly as fun when you’re just doing it for yourself.
Anyway, I got what I needed (saved a decent amount), and headed back for the trek home. Then, I rushed to put things away, Carl the landlord came by, and still wasn’t able to connect the internet (they dropped off the wrong type of modem?), so anyway, he showed some other guys through the place to the open rooms, and I headed out. I was going to meet Matt and Carla at the Rose Festival on the other side of town. Unfortunately, since I took my sweet time this morning, and the grocery store turned into more of a grocery excursion, I got there way later than I wanted, so Matt and Carla were ready to go by the time I got there.
It was a nice festival though, the rose gardens are beautiful! And there was all kinds of food, crafts, booths, etc as well. Not to mention the fact that the park is just absolutely gorgeous! I love how scenic and green all the parks are. And I do mean ALL of them really. So anyway, I hung out there a while, Matt and Carla headed on to do the Auckland Museum, and I took photos of the park. Took my time, wandered through, and then once I left that, I decided I was going to find my way home, by taking other streets I had never been down. I had a nice little walk in the sunlight around Parnell. Its really nice over there. Nice homes, clean, quiet, and just beautiful. Expensive though it sounds. Maybe if Kyle comes we can look for a place out that way… though it’s a tad far from work. Ah well, who knows.
Anyway, I found my way back to Parnell road, wandered down there, and checked out some of the street shops. I want to get a book really bad. Something to read. Unfortunately, its like, $30+ to buy a book. Any book. Even on sale! I need to find a Library, or a second hand store or something. So this is about when I started to feel really lonely. Wandering through the city, by myself. Thank goodness it was a nice day, so I had a reason to be outside all of it pretty much. But still. I wandered through, and found Albert Park again. Started texting Mom on the way. Thank goodness I decided to do that. We had a little chat via text, and I told her I was feeling lonely, didn’t know what to do with myself. I sat down in Albert park in the sun while we texted back and forth. It was nice. She made me feel better, gave me some ideas of things to do on my own around town. But you know, I still teared up a bit. I miss everyone at home a lot. I’m still a little sad… like in that “I could cry at the drop of a hat” stage. I’m not used to being alone. Like, AT ALL really. At home, I always had something to do, or someone around. Whether it was work, or working out with Gen or Amy, or Heather, watching tv with Mom and Gary, running errands with them, going out to dinners with people, or just going out just to be out…but always WITH someone. It’s SO WEIRD being in a place where you only have a couple of friends. And even so, Matt and Carla are married, they have plenty of things they want to do on their own, just the two of them.
I think I’m a bit jealous of them. More like, that they have each other. Always someone there. After work, on the weekend, when you’re bored or lonely. I mean, I have Kyle too, but he’s so far away, and the time difference is proving to be a bit harder than I had hoped, being that right now, at almost 9:00 at night, he and everyone else at home are fast asleep. And I have no reason to feel this overwhelmingly lonely… its ONE DAY by myself. I don’t know. It’s hard for me for some reason. I think its just knowing I don’t have access to anyone, even if I wanted it.
On the positive side, I did meet some of the other people in this complex today. They seem alright. The one girl, Joanna, is actually really nice. She and I had a nice conversation when I came back from my second round of errands (after Albert Park, I went to get some stuff for my room at the Look Sharp Store), and she let me plug into their internet for a minute to check my email and upload a blog post. There is a party going on next door tonight (literally in the building attached to mine) that I have been invited to. No idea when that is happening, but right now people are eating and showering and whatnot. I made a salad. I was hungry… but not really anymore. I made it, and then sat down and went “well, its me with my salad. Nice.” Hahahaha. Its so funny how much I’m affected by this. I actually can’t wait for Monday when I can go back to work.
Maybe tonight will be fun, and the party next door will be cool, and I can really get to know more of the people here. Maybe they’ll be people I enjoy spending time with. Who knows. Joanna said everyone is really nice, and they’re all “sane,” haha, so we’ll see.
I know I say this in just about every post, but I hope that Kyle comes. I want to be a couple SO bad walking around the city. Its funny how overwhelming the feeling of wanting him here is. All the time too. I see things that make me think of him, I go places that I wish he was with me at. I want to go places, and I want him to go with me. Sucks. Well, its good but it sucks when I realize that might not happen. That I might be here alone for a year. It’s a little daunting right now. But I’m sure that everything will be fine and I will make more friends, and be overwhelmed with things to do, like I always seem to be.
I kind of just want to go to bed. I don’t even really want to go to the party. But I’m going to go anyway. Cause its probably good for me. And my lonely-ness. Haha.
Alright, enough for now. Guess I should eat my salad. I did walk a few miles to get it :-P !
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Nov 5th.... more. Yea, still no internet (all weekend)
Nov 5th
Yea, there are a couple of posts today. But today was a good day. Work was awesome. Seriously, even though it’s a bit stressful with the pressure of putting out some good animation…. I love it. Everyone is SO awesome. I must have met like, 4 or 5 more new people today, that introduced themselves to ME. Its awesome. People were shooting nurf guns across the room again, and this time I got in on a bit of the action. Honestly, that’s a place I wouldn’t mind working long hours. I don’t care to leave necessarily. Never felt that way about a company. I honestly like going to work. J
Warren, who I share the office with temporarily, is just so nice. We goof off and talk some of the afternoon. Its funny, sometimes I’m unproductive at work, because of my coworkers! Haha. Hilarious. Oh, and there’s no internet on the work computers. Which even though I thought it sucked at first… its fantastic. I had internet today cause I had my laptop at work… since again, we still don’t have internet. I’m going to start asking for some money back if we don’t get it soon. Ridiculous. Anyway, it means people are more social, and more productive overall if we don’t have internet access.
So yes, today was great. I ended up learning a lot today too, since Matt and I got handed some Layout shot fixes to help out with. Apparently the deadline was today, and they were a little short, so we jumped on it. Kinda cool! Learned some things about camera fields, and how to re-stage the camera. Little random more technical things. And we got everything done! I still have two shots I’m working on, and then two left to start. So still a bit behind I feel, but I’m not really sure. I’m being told I’ve been good keeping on top of things by some of the other animators, so who knows. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if I’m keeping up. I was working on that one with the elephant today, and it’s a bit hard! But fun. I was really enjoying figuring out how to make his trunk move. I think I tend to over-pose sometimes, adding in too many poses in one short period. But I’m learning. This is so good for my career. I love it!! SO happy. In case you didn’t notice.
Another fun thing: at 5pm every Friday (I think I mentioned this before, but I don’t rememer) there’s the “drink trolley” that comes by all the offices, with wine, beer, snacks, etc. for everyone. Like a mini happy hour. Everyone gets up and mingles for a bit and then most head back to work for a bit before heading home.
Now, the BEST part of the day: a huge group of us (around 10 or so) went out to dinner after work!!! It was GREAT. We had some fantastic food, and it was really reasonably priced! A big Sushi / Sashimi platter thing, for $18.00. Sounds comparable to home to me. And there were a lot of things that were good that were much cheaper too. Anyway, it was a blast! Kate, Nick, Cristina, Tiffany, Matt, Carla, Levi, another Matt, me, and Robin. Fantastic. We were all joking and enjoying good food. We must have been there almost 2 hours or more. It was great.
THEN, we headed out to go set off fireworks! No joke. Its “Guy Fox” (I think?) weekend, where apparently years ago, this guy named Guy tried to blow up Parliament? I’ll look up more details about it when I have internet. Anyway, so he tried to blow it up, but failed, and he was quartered… pretty gruesome. But they celebrate it, well, back then it was more of a reminder of not to attempt to blow up Parliament again. Haha. So over here, its more an excuse to be stupid with explosives. No joke. You’re not allowed to buy OR set off fireworks anywhere in New Zealand apparently except for this weekend. It makes sense… its surprising actually how reckless people here are, overall.
Anyway, so the group of us headed over to Tiffany and Matt’s place and picked up their big box of fireworks, ran by the office to get a couple of things we needed (like a bottle of water to put out the embers later), and said hi to a couple people there still working (around 10pm), took some photos of the group, and headed down to Victoria Park. Its like, a big open football field out there, and there were a bunch of others setting off fireworks as well. It was awesome. I got a ton of pictures, and we all just hung around, goofing off and enjoying one another’s company. It was a great night. SO glad I went to that dinner. I think these people are going to be a blast to hang out with. Everyone has a great sense of humor, and they’re all so nice.
So, now I am back at my place. Its now Nov 6th, and the fireworks are still going strong out around town. Apparently some of my room mates are awake.. I can hear them upstairs, but I have no idea what they are up to. This place is kinda noisy with people upstairs, so I will probably only be here a few weeks / month or so before looking for somewhere else to live. We shall see. Once I have INTERNET, I will find out what else I have available, but at least I don’t need to rush to find anywhere in the mean time.
Ok, off to bed.
Yea, there are a couple of posts today. But today was a good day. Work was awesome. Seriously, even though it’s a bit stressful with the pressure of putting out some good animation…. I love it. Everyone is SO awesome. I must have met like, 4 or 5 more new people today, that introduced themselves to ME. Its awesome. People were shooting nurf guns across the room again, and this time I got in on a bit of the action. Honestly, that’s a place I wouldn’t mind working long hours. I don’t care to leave necessarily. Never felt that way about a company. I honestly like going to work. J
Warren, who I share the office with temporarily, is just so nice. We goof off and talk some of the afternoon. Its funny, sometimes I’m unproductive at work, because of my coworkers! Haha. Hilarious. Oh, and there’s no internet on the work computers. Which even though I thought it sucked at first… its fantastic. I had internet today cause I had my laptop at work… since again, we still don’t have internet. I’m going to start asking for some money back if we don’t get it soon. Ridiculous. Anyway, it means people are more social, and more productive overall if we don’t have internet access.
So yes, today was great. I ended up learning a lot today too, since Matt and I got handed some Layout shot fixes to help out with. Apparently the deadline was today, and they were a little short, so we jumped on it. Kinda cool! Learned some things about camera fields, and how to re-stage the camera. Little random more technical things. And we got everything done! I still have two shots I’m working on, and then two left to start. So still a bit behind I feel, but I’m not really sure. I’m being told I’ve been good keeping on top of things by some of the other animators, so who knows. I guess I’ll find out soon enough if I’m keeping up. I was working on that one with the elephant today, and it’s a bit hard! But fun. I was really enjoying figuring out how to make his trunk move. I think I tend to over-pose sometimes, adding in too many poses in one short period. But I’m learning. This is so good for my career. I love it!! SO happy. In case you didn’t notice.
Another fun thing: at 5pm every Friday (I think I mentioned this before, but I don’t rememer) there’s the “drink trolley” that comes by all the offices, with wine, beer, snacks, etc. for everyone. Like a mini happy hour. Everyone gets up and mingles for a bit and then most head back to work for a bit before heading home.
Now, the BEST part of the day: a huge group of us (around 10 or so) went out to dinner after work!!! It was GREAT. We had some fantastic food, and it was really reasonably priced! A big Sushi / Sashimi platter thing, for $18.00. Sounds comparable to home to me. And there were a lot of things that were good that were much cheaper too. Anyway, it was a blast! Kate, Nick, Cristina, Tiffany, Matt, Carla, Levi, another Matt, me, and Robin. Fantastic. We were all joking and enjoying good food. We must have been there almost 2 hours or more. It was great.
THEN, we headed out to go set off fireworks! No joke. Its “Guy Fox” (I think?) weekend, where apparently years ago, this guy named Guy tried to blow up Parliament? I’ll look up more details about it when I have internet. Anyway, so he tried to blow it up, but failed, and he was quartered… pretty gruesome. But they celebrate it, well, back then it was more of a reminder of not to attempt to blow up Parliament again. Haha. So over here, its more an excuse to be stupid with explosives. No joke. You’re not allowed to buy OR set off fireworks anywhere in New Zealand apparently except for this weekend. It makes sense… its surprising actually how reckless people here are, overall.
Anyway, so the group of us headed over to Tiffany and Matt’s place and picked up their big box of fireworks, ran by the office to get a couple of things we needed (like a bottle of water to put out the embers later), and said hi to a couple people there still working (around 10pm), took some photos of the group, and headed down to Victoria Park. Its like, a big open football field out there, and there were a bunch of others setting off fireworks as well. It was awesome. I got a ton of pictures, and we all just hung around, goofing off and enjoying one another’s company. It was a great night. SO glad I went to that dinner. I think these people are going to be a blast to hang out with. Everyone has a great sense of humor, and they’re all so nice.
So, now I am back at my place. Its now Nov 6th, and the fireworks are still going strong out around town. Apparently some of my room mates are awake.. I can hear them upstairs, but I have no idea what they are up to. This place is kinda noisy with people upstairs, so I will probably only be here a few weeks / month or so before looking for somewhere else to live. We shall see. Once I have INTERNET, I will find out what else I have available, but at least I don’t need to rush to find anywhere in the mean time.
Ok, off to bed.
Friday, November 5, 2010
my current humble abode....
Nov 2 - 5
Nov 5
Ok, so I kind of missed posts the past two days because I was moving, and its been just a tiny bit stressful. Not bad, but you know, BUSY. I am trying to spend as much time in the studio as possible since I have all those shots, and they're taking me a substantial amount of time. I finally submitted one of the hardest (complexity wise) yesterday for review, so thats two down. The past two days at work have been good though! Got some good marks starting out on both of the shots Ive worked on, so thats definitely good news. AND, Ive been invited to a couple of events with people here! Its fantastic. Been invited out to Japanese for dinner tonight with people, then got invited to drinks out too... we'll see if I get to both :-). AND theres a big thing next weekend Ive been invited to with a bunch of animators, this big like, game / fun house place. Not sure what its about really, but we're all heading over together. And theres a party here on Friday for like, some big official thing about the studio in the news. We had photographers come by, and I was totall in the group photo! WEWT!
Anyway, its been good. I have random room mates too. Two of them are pretty cool! Nia is super sweet, and her boyfriend Terry is interesting, but also really nice. The three of us were joking around last night when we all got in. I made dinner, and we just talked. It was really reassuring. Terry works at a bar, so he left to do his night shift (11 - 6am roughly), and Nia works as a temp at another company dealing with animal conservation and whatnot. We rode the bus together to work this morning:-) haha.
My room is awesome, really big and spacious, but theres no dresser, and I have no hangers, so Im still living out of suitcases. But hopefully that will change. Im not sure how long I will stay at this place, since a few of the people smoke, but whatev, Im going to give it time and just see! Can't hurt. When I know if Kyle is coming for definite, I'll start searching for something else, when we know what price range we can do.
Still waiting for internet and tv connection at the place though..... its still not there. Im kind of annoyed at that, and it better be here by this weekend! I am at work right now on my laptop to do this. Didnt want to fall too far behind on posts since Ive been so good at it! Nia and I put the A-Team on their DVD player last night and watched it until we both fell asleep essentially, so I was too tired to write.
Well, things have been good. Busy, but good. Moving was a big pain, but Ngaire was a HUGE help on Wednesday. She came with her car, got me after work, we went to the hotel, loaded up most of my suitcases, and headed down to the place. Thats where I met a couple of the room mates for the first time, and made sure I had a desk in my room (wewt). Then she took me back, for my last night in the hotel. I went down to The Warehouse and got sheets (TOTALLY found those jersey sheets for my bed in black. The really soft ones!), and got a couple of pillows. Already have a duvet cover, but no duvet yet, I'll get that this weekend hopefully. But OMG was it noisy when I finally got to the room! Sheish. I duno what it is about Wednesday night that gets people going, but it was effing loud.
Next morning, I packed up EVERYTHING I had left, and went for the first shift to the house. I had groceries I didnt want to throw away, so I hopped a bus with all the groceries, sheets, and pillows, and went to drop them at the new house. That went alright, but I still had to make it back to the hotel to get my stuff for work, and the rest of my belongings. So I packed up, and trucked along with my suitcase and massive backpack. haha. Took all that to work, had a good day at work yesterday (not productive enough), and then walked back to the new place. OMG is it a walk! There is a HUGE hill up Franklin road, which is a gorgeous road, but seriousy.. its just a long long hill. It was a great little workout, considering I hvent had time lately. But still, a bit hard.
Once I got back, I started getting things set up, and then hung out with Nia and Terry. Not bad. Fortunately too, it was quiet in the room! Thank goodness. Very comfortable. I fell asleep, and for the first time, didn't wake up til the morning. The mattress is old, but it works. I need some more pillows though. But it was good. I hope this place works out for a little while. I cant WAIT to have intnernet. So sad Im so dependent on it, and I miss it so much. but really... its kinda important.
Haha, so I get into work this morning, after riding the bus with Nia, and the first thing that happens when I walkin the door? I get hit with a Nurf dart. Ahhh yes, the joys of working at an Animation Studio! WAHOO! haha, so that was fun. Matt comes in, and now has his OWN Nurf gun, and Im like, "DUDE, where'd you get that?!" And he said "oh, I just went down to the Warehouse and picked it up last night! Its an investment in my job." HAHAHAHAHA. Omg I love it. He said he went up to Carla and was like "well, Im leaving for work" and shoved the Nurf gun in his pants. Perfect. haha.
So far, I love my job. Now, I gotta get to it. Gotta make sure I get enough done so I can go out to dinner tonight with the crew! Maybe I'll come in this weekend a bit..... BUT, Matt and Carla invited me to the Parnell Rose fesitval, which Im totally going to, AND they're going to check out the museum, which they also invited me to. So I just gotta get groceries tomorrow, run a couple errands, and go have some Auckland fun. wewt!
Things are shaping up. Now, just need the boy to get here :-)
Later kids! (ps, I have photos of where Im living, I'll upload them while a work today!)
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Nov 2
Day #2 down at the office. Not bad, not bad. Unfortunately our “office” wasn’t ready, but we got put on temporary computers in the meantime to get things going. We have a LOT of work to do! 7 shots.. its not a lot, but it’s a lot. One of them is particularly hard. The rest, not so hard, so of course today, I started on the easiest of the 7, and then went to the hardest. I figured, spend the time on it while I have it. Then I can move on to the rest and knock them out. It’s really exciting! Theres so much to do though… the one shot Im worried about has a character running frantically through the scene, and another character hanging out, planting flowers and doddling. Needless to say, a 135fr shot, is not so easy when it has frantic things like that. I am looking forward to nailing it though, I really am anxious to see just how I get through it, and how it turns out. It’s gotta be good, that’s for sure!
Luckily we start with Primary Animation, so we go through the whole blocking stage. Then we go back through it in Secondary Animation, but you know… this is all supposed to be in one week… all 7 shots. Both Primary and Secondary. A LOT OF WORK! Its so cool though. I loved the random feeling I got today where I sat there, and all the sudden realized “hey… Im animating DREAMWORKS CHARACTERS… Like, FROM THE MOVIES!” Omg, it was so cool. Haha, so I felt better about that. Still nervous as hell to submit my work and get a review. I hope hope hope it goes well.
Anyway, aside from the work aspect, I already have friends at work!!!!!!!!!! This studio ROCKS. So I got put in an office with Warren, who is an asset finaler, and was really nice. We joked around a bit during the day, and had a nice conversation toward the end of the day. Its funny, Rob (who I believe owns the company) is a really nice, younger guy, and it turns out he lives around the corner from me! Well, at the place I will be in this weekend. Hilarious! AND, Warren lives with Myke, the Animation director, and they live in Ponsonby, around the corner from me too! Haha. So funny how things work out.
Sounds like there are going to be some fun events going on coming up too! There’s a party in the office on the 12th, and I was invited by Kate to an event with a bunch of other animators on the 14th! She walked in my office and we had a nice chat. Then Mercedes sent me an IM and officially invited me to the event. Im not sure what it is, but it sounds like this big game day, and a bunch of people are taxiing to it together. I’ll be joining the taxi group since I don’t have a car. Seriously, I can’t get over how nice people are. Robin, great guy, really really nice, has been voluntarily giving Matt and I advice. Of course we’ve been stressed and nervous getting settled, but he’s been so friendly. And then Levi is there that we knew, and Tiffany is really nice, she was helping me with some things today. I also met Andrew, who was super friendly. Chris, who is HILARIOUS, and I think he’s on management, though I’m not sure what he does. Then there’s another Chris who is the IT guy who helped get my computer set up. Seriously… everyone is just NICE. Thank goodness! I really think, once I get a handle on all of my work, and get up to speed, etc, that I am going to like it here very very much. I already do. I WANT to be in the office. For the first time. :-D I like it!
So yes, good day. Anxious to get back in tomorrow and keep working. I left tonight around 7:30, but I also got in late, and spent a decent portion of the day meeting and talking to other animators (can’t complain about that!). I have a lot of work to do, so I will be back in the office early tomorrow. Probably around 8am. :- ).
After work, I went and found a place to get a bottle of wine, and came back and cooked some pasta and bread with a glass of wine! Awesome. I packed up earlier this morning too, cause Ngaire is going to help me move my 3 heavy suitcases to my new home tomorrow after work. Thank goodness for that. Definitely appreciate that she is helping me with that! Talk about some good friends. Anyway, this will be interesting, cause two other people are moving in to the same unit tomorrow as well. SUPER nervous about who they might be, and what kind of people. SO keep your fingers crossed for me that we get along, and that they’re cool / chill people. Man, I hope so. Otherwise, I will be searching hard core for another place. But lets hope that’s not necessary right away. I can’t WAIT to be settled somewhere, and actually know where all of my clothes are.
Ugh, gotta to laundry at the hotel at some point tomorrow too. We’ll see if that happens. Hopefully. I need to do it!
Well, the wine is kicking in from dinner, so I am going to hit it. Bed time.
OH, something that was SO nice: Chris, Ngaire’s fiancée, has a friend he got in touch with to help find Kyle a job here!!!! How nice is that?? So he sent his friend an e-mail, is name is Andrew, and they both sent me e-mails. Hopefully we can get moving on that job front for Kyle, and get his foot in the door with a little bit of help overseas. Otherwise, it sounds like Kyle might try to come over on top of my Visa, which would be epic. I CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE HIM HERE!!!!!! Oh my gosh, so exciting. Anyway, before getting ahead of ourselves, there’s a lot to be done if he does come, so this weekend I will be doing some research. And signing up for a Half marathon, and a couple of Tri’s!!!!!!! Haha. Saw a bunch of races advertised when I went on my run the other day. Looking forward do it!!!
Ok, bed time for real. Later everyone!
(PS, thanks so much for reading, it puts such a HUGE smile on my face every time I see that people have been reading and following my life / travels. You guys make me feel so loved and special. Thanks again!)
Ok, so I kind of missed posts the past two days because I was moving, and its been just a tiny bit stressful. Not bad, but you know, BUSY. I am trying to spend as much time in the studio as possible since I have all those shots, and they're taking me a substantial amount of time. I finally submitted one of the hardest (complexity wise) yesterday for review, so thats two down. The past two days at work have been good though! Got some good marks starting out on both of the shots Ive worked on, so thats definitely good news. AND, Ive been invited to a couple of events with people here! Its fantastic. Been invited out to Japanese for dinner tonight with people, then got invited to drinks out too... we'll see if I get to both :-). AND theres a big thing next weekend Ive been invited to with a bunch of animators, this big like, game / fun house place. Not sure what its about really, but we're all heading over together. And theres a party here on Friday for like, some big official thing about the studio in the news. We had photographers come by, and I was totall in the group photo! WEWT!
Anyway, its been good. I have random room mates too. Two of them are pretty cool! Nia is super sweet, and her boyfriend Terry is interesting, but also really nice. The three of us were joking around last night when we all got in. I made dinner, and we just talked. It was really reassuring. Terry works at a bar, so he left to do his night shift (11 - 6am roughly), and Nia works as a temp at another company dealing with animal conservation and whatnot. We rode the bus together to work this morning:-) haha.
My room is awesome, really big and spacious, but theres no dresser, and I have no hangers, so Im still living out of suitcases. But hopefully that will change. Im not sure how long I will stay at this place, since a few of the people smoke, but whatev, Im going to give it time and just see! Can't hurt. When I know if Kyle is coming for definite, I'll start searching for something else, when we know what price range we can do.
Still waiting for internet and tv connection at the place though..... its still not there. Im kind of annoyed at that, and it better be here by this weekend! I am at work right now on my laptop to do this. Didnt want to fall too far behind on posts since Ive been so good at it! Nia and I put the A-Team on their DVD player last night and watched it until we both fell asleep essentially, so I was too tired to write.
Well, things have been good. Busy, but good. Moving was a big pain, but Ngaire was a HUGE help on Wednesday. She came with her car, got me after work, we went to the hotel, loaded up most of my suitcases, and headed down to the place. Thats where I met a couple of the room mates for the first time, and made sure I had a desk in my room (wewt). Then she took me back, for my last night in the hotel. I went down to The Warehouse and got sheets (TOTALLY found those jersey sheets for my bed in black. The really soft ones!), and got a couple of pillows. Already have a duvet cover, but no duvet yet, I'll get that this weekend hopefully. But OMG was it noisy when I finally got to the room! Sheish. I duno what it is about Wednesday night that gets people going, but it was effing loud.
Next morning, I packed up EVERYTHING I had left, and went for the first shift to the house. I had groceries I didnt want to throw away, so I hopped a bus with all the groceries, sheets, and pillows, and went to drop them at the new house. That went alright, but I still had to make it back to the hotel to get my stuff for work, and the rest of my belongings. So I packed up, and trucked along with my suitcase and massive backpack. haha. Took all that to work, had a good day at work yesterday (not productive enough), and then walked back to the new place. OMG is it a walk! There is a HUGE hill up Franklin road, which is a gorgeous road, but seriousy.. its just a long long hill. It was a great little workout, considering I hvent had time lately. But still, a bit hard.
Once I got back, I started getting things set up, and then hung out with Nia and Terry. Not bad. Fortunately too, it was quiet in the room! Thank goodness. Very comfortable. I fell asleep, and for the first time, didn't wake up til the morning. The mattress is old, but it works. I need some more pillows though. But it was good. I hope this place works out for a little while. I cant WAIT to have intnernet. So sad Im so dependent on it, and I miss it so much. but really... its kinda important.
Haha, so I get into work this morning, after riding the bus with Nia, and the first thing that happens when I walkin the door? I get hit with a Nurf dart. Ahhh yes, the joys of working at an Animation Studio! WAHOO! haha, so that was fun. Matt comes in, and now has his OWN Nurf gun, and Im like, "DUDE, where'd you get that?!" And he said "oh, I just went down to the Warehouse and picked it up last night! Its an investment in my job." HAHAHAHAHA. Omg I love it. He said he went up to Carla and was like "well, Im leaving for work" and shoved the Nurf gun in his pants. Perfect. haha.
So far, I love my job. Now, I gotta get to it. Gotta make sure I get enough done so I can go out to dinner tonight with the crew! Maybe I'll come in this weekend a bit..... BUT, Matt and Carla invited me to the Parnell Rose fesitval, which Im totally going to, AND they're going to check out the museum, which they also invited me to. So I just gotta get groceries tomorrow, run a couple errands, and go have some Auckland fun. wewt!
Things are shaping up. Now, just need the boy to get here :-)
Later kids! (ps, I have photos of where Im living, I'll upload them while a work today!)
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Nov 2
Day #2 down at the office. Not bad, not bad. Unfortunately our “office” wasn’t ready, but we got put on temporary computers in the meantime to get things going. We have a LOT of work to do! 7 shots.. its not a lot, but it’s a lot. One of them is particularly hard. The rest, not so hard, so of course today, I started on the easiest of the 7, and then went to the hardest. I figured, spend the time on it while I have it. Then I can move on to the rest and knock them out. It’s really exciting! Theres so much to do though… the one shot Im worried about has a character running frantically through the scene, and another character hanging out, planting flowers and doddling. Needless to say, a 135fr shot, is not so easy when it has frantic things like that. I am looking forward to nailing it though, I really am anxious to see just how I get through it, and how it turns out. It’s gotta be good, that’s for sure!
Luckily we start with Primary Animation, so we go through the whole blocking stage. Then we go back through it in Secondary Animation, but you know… this is all supposed to be in one week… all 7 shots. Both Primary and Secondary. A LOT OF WORK! Its so cool though. I loved the random feeling I got today where I sat there, and all the sudden realized “hey… Im animating DREAMWORKS CHARACTERS… Like, FROM THE MOVIES!” Omg, it was so cool. Haha, so I felt better about that. Still nervous as hell to submit my work and get a review. I hope hope hope it goes well.
Anyway, aside from the work aspect, I already have friends at work!!!!!!!!!! This studio ROCKS. So I got put in an office with Warren, who is an asset finaler, and was really nice. We joked around a bit during the day, and had a nice conversation toward the end of the day. Its funny, Rob (who I believe owns the company) is a really nice, younger guy, and it turns out he lives around the corner from me! Well, at the place I will be in this weekend. Hilarious! AND, Warren lives with Myke, the Animation director, and they live in Ponsonby, around the corner from me too! Haha. So funny how things work out.
Sounds like there are going to be some fun events going on coming up too! There’s a party in the office on the 12th, and I was invited by Kate to an event with a bunch of other animators on the 14th! She walked in my office and we had a nice chat. Then Mercedes sent me an IM and officially invited me to the event. Im not sure what it is, but it sounds like this big game day, and a bunch of people are taxiing to it together. I’ll be joining the taxi group since I don’t have a car. Seriously, I can’t get over how nice people are. Robin, great guy, really really nice, has been voluntarily giving Matt and I advice. Of course we’ve been stressed and nervous getting settled, but he’s been so friendly. And then Levi is there that we knew, and Tiffany is really nice, she was helping me with some things today. I also met Andrew, who was super friendly. Chris, who is HILARIOUS, and I think he’s on management, though I’m not sure what he does. Then there’s another Chris who is the IT guy who helped get my computer set up. Seriously… everyone is just NICE. Thank goodness! I really think, once I get a handle on all of my work, and get up to speed, etc, that I am going to like it here very very much. I already do. I WANT to be in the office. For the first time. :-D I like it!
So yes, good day. Anxious to get back in tomorrow and keep working. I left tonight around 7:30, but I also got in late, and spent a decent portion of the day meeting and talking to other animators (can’t complain about that!). I have a lot of work to do, so I will be back in the office early tomorrow. Probably around 8am. :- ).
After work, I went and found a place to get a bottle of wine, and came back and cooked some pasta and bread with a glass of wine! Awesome. I packed up earlier this morning too, cause Ngaire is going to help me move my 3 heavy suitcases to my new home tomorrow after work. Thank goodness for that. Definitely appreciate that she is helping me with that! Talk about some good friends. Anyway, this will be interesting, cause two other people are moving in to the same unit tomorrow as well. SUPER nervous about who they might be, and what kind of people. SO keep your fingers crossed for me that we get along, and that they’re cool / chill people. Man, I hope so. Otherwise, I will be searching hard core for another place. But lets hope that’s not necessary right away. I can’t WAIT to be settled somewhere, and actually know where all of my clothes are.
Ugh, gotta to laundry at the hotel at some point tomorrow too. We’ll see if that happens. Hopefully. I need to do it!
Well, the wine is kicking in from dinner, so I am going to hit it. Bed time.
OH, something that was SO nice: Chris, Ngaire’s fiancée, has a friend he got in touch with to help find Kyle a job here!!!! How nice is that?? So he sent his friend an e-mail, is name is Andrew, and they both sent me e-mails. Hopefully we can get moving on that job front for Kyle, and get his foot in the door with a little bit of help overseas. Otherwise, it sounds like Kyle might try to come over on top of my Visa, which would be epic. I CAN’T WAIT TO HAVE HIM HERE!!!!!! Oh my gosh, so exciting. Anyway, before getting ahead of ourselves, there’s a lot to be done if he does come, so this weekend I will be doing some research. And signing up for a Half marathon, and a couple of Tri’s!!!!!!! Haha. Saw a bunch of races advertised when I went on my run the other day. Looking forward do it!!!
Ok, bed time for real. Later everyone!
(PS, thanks so much for reading, it puts such a HUGE smile on my face every time I see that people have been reading and following my life / travels. You guys make me feel so loved and special. Thanks again!)
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Funny things about New Zealand (Auckland at least):
-A red pepper is a Capsicum.
-A pickle is a Gherkin.
-Oatmeal is Porridge.
-A “restroom” is just considered a “toilet.”
-It is common for people walk around barefoot. This includes at the grocery store and down the street.
-It is legal to drink alcohol in parks and on beaches, as well as on the street, as long as there is no “liquor ban” sign posted (these do exist).
-“Sweet As” means “cool.”
-A “Paper” is actually a “Class” in University
-Ketchup is called “Tomato Sauce”.
-Cheddar Cheese is called “Tasty Cheese”
-In a restaurant, water is not served with ice.
-In their money, cash only goes to $5, and coins are in denominations of $1, $2, $0.50, $0.20, and $0.10. There is nothing smaller than $0.10.
-Their money is not made of cotton, but some kind of synthetic material that doesn’t really rip, and doesn’t get wet. It’s also very pretty.
-The New Zealand dollar is just that: a New Zealand Dollar.
-To use an outlet, you need to flip a switch that allows power to flow to it.
-Beer is far more expensive than Wine.
-Any name of a place that begins with a “Wh” is pronounced with an “F” sound.
-Rent is paid weekly.
-Two weeks is considered a Fortnight.
-Dial-up internet still exists.
-When you install internet, you are charged per GB of download / usage.
-In Auckland, 20% of the population is Asian. It is very apparent, as there are Asian food markets and restaurants EVERYWHERE.
-$17 for lunch is normal (per person), and $25 + for dinner is normal (in Auckland.)
-This area is very environmentally conscious. They recycle everything, the toilets all have water-conserving buttons on them, and the outlets have switches to conserve electricity.
-There is no heat or air conditioning in ANY living place. Or hotel for that matter.
-Movies are almost a year behind in release dates. I can still see Avatar in the movie theatre, as well as Inception.
-DVD’s cost $35.00, where a DVD player only costs $30.
-A common bottled water brand is called “Pump.”
-They drink espresso, not coffee.
-Starbucks still exists, but most things taste different.
-A “flat white” is espresso with milk, and a “long black” is espresso with more hot water. Closer to a typical coffee.
-Corn Syrup doesn’t exist here, as well as a lot of other food additives (high fructose corn syrup as well). Foods are overall more organically made.
-The yolk of an egg is actually orange, not yellow. As it’s supposed to be.
-Their main export is dairy… not wool.
-Words are spelled with “ou,” like harbour, colour, labour, etc.
-Yogurt is spelled “Yoghert.”
-Jewelry is “Jewellry”
-Aucklanders are very laid back for the most part, until they are behind the wheel of a car.
-A Highway is a “Motorway.”
-A Cell Phone is a “Mobile.”
-A pickle is a Gherkin.
-Oatmeal is Porridge.
-A “restroom” is just considered a “toilet.”
-It is common for people walk around barefoot. This includes at the grocery store and down the street.
-It is legal to drink alcohol in parks and on beaches, as well as on the street, as long as there is no “liquor ban” sign posted (these do exist).
-“Sweet As” means “cool.”
-A “Paper” is actually a “Class” in University
-Ketchup is called “Tomato Sauce”.
-Cheddar Cheese is called “Tasty Cheese”
-In a restaurant, water is not served with ice.
-In their money, cash only goes to $5, and coins are in denominations of $1, $2, $0.50, $0.20, and $0.10. There is nothing smaller than $0.10.
-Their money is not made of cotton, but some kind of synthetic material that doesn’t really rip, and doesn’t get wet. It’s also very pretty.
-The New Zealand dollar is just that: a New Zealand Dollar.
-To use an outlet, you need to flip a switch that allows power to flow to it.
-Beer is far more expensive than Wine.
-Any name of a place that begins with a “Wh” is pronounced with an “F” sound.
-Rent is paid weekly.
-Two weeks is considered a Fortnight.
-Dial-up internet still exists.
-When you install internet, you are charged per GB of download / usage.
-In Auckland, 20% of the population is Asian. It is very apparent, as there are Asian food markets and restaurants EVERYWHERE.
-$17 for lunch is normal (per person), and $25 + for dinner is normal (in Auckland.)
-This area is very environmentally conscious. They recycle everything, the toilets all have water-conserving buttons on them, and the outlets have switches to conserve electricity.
-There is no heat or air conditioning in ANY living place. Or hotel for that matter.
-Movies are almost a year behind in release dates. I can still see Avatar in the movie theatre, as well as Inception.
-DVD’s cost $35.00, where a DVD player only costs $30.
-A common bottled water brand is called “Pump.”
-They drink espresso, not coffee.
-Starbucks still exists, but most things taste different.
-A “flat white” is espresso with milk, and a “long black” is espresso with more hot water. Closer to a typical coffee.
-Corn Syrup doesn’t exist here, as well as a lot of other food additives (high fructose corn syrup as well). Foods are overall more organically made.
-The yolk of an egg is actually orange, not yellow. As it’s supposed to be.
-Their main export is dairy… not wool.
-Words are spelled with “ou,” like harbour, colour, labour, etc.
-Yogurt is spelled “Yoghert.”
-Jewelry is “Jewellry”
-Aucklanders are very laid back for the most part, until they are behind the wheel of a car.
-A Highway is a “Motorway.”
-A Cell Phone is a “Mobile.”
Oct 31 - Nov 1, and all about my first day at Oktobor!
“I’m an Animator now!”
Nov 1.
Well. What a great day. I have to say. It couldn’t have gone better. Lets start with the beginning of the day.
So I woke up around 7am, a little later than I wanted, but I was tired. Got my things together for work, and then got dressed for my first Auckland run. I decided rather than toting around a map and trying to figure my way somewhere I had never been, to head out in the direction of Mission Bay instead, and see how far I could make it. Walked from the hotel out to the end of the road, and hopped on the bike path along the coast. Talk about a great run. Just about 5 miles. Didn’t quite make it to Mission Bay, but that’s ok.
Maybe a mile into the run, I had this awesome moment of clarity. I was running up a hill, in the bright sunshine, perfect weather, feeling great, headed toward where the path meets the water and follows the coast… and I just thought to myself: wow. I am in another country, and I am starting to make a life here. One that I could like. I haven’t even settled in anywhere yet, or started my job really, but it was just such a GOOD feeling. I know, I’m kind of alone in a big city, very far away from home, and with little communication to those at home at the moment, but man, really… I was just thinking… I’m proud of myself for doing this. For really, ACTUALLY achieving a few goals that I have had, all in one go.
I wanted to become an Animator. Really become an Animator. Check.
I wanted to travel to somewhere really cool. Check.
I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and prove that I can do something with my life. Check.
I wanted to prove to myself that I can take an opportunity even when it seems scary. Check.
I mean really, how many people get to do this? Not many. And I was HANDED the opportunity, I didn’t even really go out and seek it to be honest. It was a total fluke that I applied to the job in the first place. Thinking to myself, “they’ll never hire me, I’m all the way from the States. That’s way too far.” WRONG.
It was just such a cool moment. And the first time that I have really, genuinely been happy with the decision I have made. And there was no basis for the sudden happyness. I think that a few things just finally clicked, and now I can really be happy about this. So many things are not even set in stone yet: my place to live, how I like my job, whether or not I’m GOOD at my job, if I can make FRIENDS here… But really, I don’t care. I’m here, and I took the leap, and I am going to work my ass off here and prove that I deserved to come, even if it means working extra hours, or struggling for a bit.
Anyway, after this wonderful run, I took my time getting ready for work, and walked over to the studio with Matt and Carla. We went in late, around 11am because we were told our computers and whatnot wouldn’t be ready til then. Unfortunately (well, fortunately in a way) for us, nothing was prepared because there had been some miscommunication with the finishing of our office. Oh well. So we spent the afternoon watching examples of good shows and bad shows, getting acquainted with the Penguins themselves as characters, paying attention to little nuances (like how poppy their movements are, how they waddle, how squashy or stretchy to make them, etc), and learning really just about the show in general. We went through the Layout Pass, the Primary Animation Pass, and the Secondary Animation Pass, and learned what is expected in each. The coolest part about this in a way for the Animators is: we literally have to stick exactly to the Layout Pass in terms of posing for our Primary Animation Pass. This means, that the main poses are given to us, and we get to be creative and work within those poses to give the characters life. Frustrating, but also good, especially starting out.
It is going to be a lot of Animation in a short time, that is for sure. But if I can stay on top of my game, I think I will be ok really. Its cool too, cause they’re set up like a studio should be: You open your file through a task manager, and everything opens already with cameras, lights, characters where they should be, Layout already in place, and it creates a whole file system. There’s more to it, but I can’t explain it here very well. But the main part: I have to do NOTHING in terms of setting up my scene.
“Wait, you mean, I just have to Animate?!” Yup. That’s it. That IS my job. Amazing. I have made it! Well, at least in one aspect. Now I get to prove myself. Great. Haha. Anyway, it was nice, we got to take our time, and we got a small handle on some of their in-studio software setup (they use Maya 2008 since the show was locked down in that version, which is NICE since I am familiar with it, but of course they had some slightly different things in their pipeline to learn). And we use all of the Nickelodeon Animation tools, which is pretty neat!
I have been assigned 7 shots so far. A bit scary, but hopefully I can get a handle on it. I have two segments essentially, that are 3 – 4 shots in each one. One involves Skipper the Penguin and Bert the Elephant, which is kind of cool. Another involves Maurice the Lemur, and Private the Penguin. Not sure I can give more information than that, since its obviously not released yet, but that’s all you need to know for now! So, unfortunately we didn’t have a ready office or any machines set up to actually begin animation and start learning the rigs, but that will all be for tomorrow. * deep breath * Ready to dive in, head first.
So, after work, Ngaire and Chris had invited me for dinner. I walked up the street to the New World grocery store, and met her. We walked out to Kingsland where they live, and let me tell you, it is a little bit of a walk, but a nice walk. I think its great that she walks to work that distance (over a mile). I will be doing the same, but I will be closer. Anyway, I got to their place, which is very very nice, they live underneath of a home owned by a man and his partner. They have a beautiful back yard that is maintained by the owner, and she said its been great! It’s small, but spacious. Great for a couple. Just like a small apartment. And when I say small this time, I mean small like at home. Not small like what I had seen downtown, which was like two people sharing a closet. Yeesh. Anyway, very cute place that they live. They made dinner for all of us, and we had a great time! They are so nice. I am SO glad that Joanna set me up with them when I moved. Ngaire was telling me about all these different places I have to go, and mentioned that I should come to her “hen party,” the NZ equivalent of a Bachelorette party (odd that its called a hen party, isn’t it? The men’s is still Bachelor Party, sorry). She is doing it out at some of the wineries further north it sounds like. Very, very excited about that, and I will DEFINITELY go.
We had a great dinner and were talking and joking around, and then they took me out to get ice cream, and up to the top of Mt Eden!! It was GORGEOUS, and of course dark since it was after dinner. We could see the city all lit up. Amazing. To all of you who have been to JMU and been to the top of Reddish Knob, that’s what the top of Mt Eden reminded me of. WAY high up, with a little paved parking lot at the top. Not quite as high as Reddish, but much more city and bright lights to see. Beautiful. Mt. Eden, to those who don’t know, is one of the 14 volcanoes in Auckland. Obviously all of them are dormant, but it’s so neat to stand at the top of one, and look out, and see the rest, hanging out in the middle of a city! You could tell which ones were volcanoes because there were no lights on them. Just big black masses in the dark. Cool! I will be running out there during the day time sometime (maybe later this week?), and I will be sure to take my camera for some photos. Unfortunately I didn’t have it for today (yes, for the second day since I’ve been here, I failed at taking my daily photo! I promise to be better).
Anyway, now I am back in the room, and about to head to sleep for a much more intense work day tomorrow. Another late start, going in about 11am again, which is great, but its going to be a tad overwhelming I have a feeling.
Well, here goes nothing!
_________________________________________________________________________________
“Halloween on the beach”
Oct 31st
Well, Happy Halloween! One of my favorite holidays, that I didn’t really get to celebrate this year. Except of course for the pumpkins that Kyle and I carved before I left. It would have been hard to celebrate anyway considering I don’t really know many people here. Interestingly enough though, I spent part of my Halloween on the beach this morning! Haha. Went and showed Carla and Matt Mission Beach, which was fun. The weather was perfect, if a little chilly. We got there early, being here has made me an early riser for sure, which I hope I can continue with, but that was nice considering few people were there, and the tide was out. So you know what that means: Seashells.
Carla and I wandered around the sand for a while, picking up lots of neat seashells. Love doing that. A lot of them were these HUGE scallop shells, which is pretty neat. Cant say Ive found much of that anywhere else. We were talking about how funny it was to be celebrating Halloween in the warm weather, on a beach no less. Especially the fact that Christmas will be around when some of their longest days of summer are. Maybe I can celebrate part of Christmas on the beach too : -).
There was a Marathon going on there too, along the bike trail, so we stopped to check out some of it. Pretty cool! Glad to be done with mine. Anxious to start triathlon training though.. yet it’s a little hard to do without a bike or a pool to swim in. I will have to start looking into that. Tomorrow morning I am going to get up and go run. See if I can make my way over to the Auckland Domain, which is a big scenic park. Dunno how far of a run that will be, but considering I haven’t run since the Marathon, Im sure anything will be good with these hills. I need to start losing weight. I think I’ve started putting it on from being stressed out, saying all the “good-byes” at home, and eating out a lot. Not a fan. I hate that its so easy to fall into that. I miss how I was when I was training hard core for Tri. I really want to do this 4-race series going on… just not sure I’ll have a bike. Eh, who knows, I’ll figure out something. My goal is to walk all over the city as much as possible too, and not use the bus systems unless I have to. Looking forward to that for sure.
Anyway, the rest of the day was kind of slow. Matt, Carla and I wandered to the building they have chosen to live in, but weren’t able to see their room since its still rented by someone else. The lobby and little café areas are ritzy for sure, which is cool. I really hope that works out for them. I showed them Albert Park too, which I love. Showed them the “Look Sharp” store, which is going to be amazing for cheap shopping, and then we wandered up the street to a big Indian festival that’s going on. Mom and I had gone to it yesterday to wander through, so I thought they might be interested in checking it out. Haha, I don’t think it was quite their thing, but it was interesting for sure. I enjoyed it. Its called the Diwali festival. Apparently the “Festival of Lights” for them? That’s what the woman handing out the schedules said anyway. There was supposed to be a fireworks display at 9 tonight, but we were all wiped by the time it came around. Me included.
We stopped and had dinner at the Occidental. We’ve been there a few times, the food is really good. I have a frequent card there, which accumulates 3% of every bill, and apparently I have already accumulated $18 on it!! Crazy! I mean, we’ve eaten there a few times, but only maybe 3 or 4. Haha. Well that was well worth it! I gotta stop eating out though. Its hard when I want to be out and socialize, but I want to eat better. I end up choosing the socializing instead.
It’s lonely here a bit. I realized I’m not good (right now) at being by myself much. Being self-motivated to decide what I want to do with my time is hard. My Gemini qualities sabotage me quite a bit in that respect. I have a lot of trouble making up my own mind. Hopefully I can get better about it, and start venturing out on my own more. Be more confident about things. I will have to, especially if Kyle can’t come over here. Theres just something about wanting to share experiences with someone though… I don’t know, that’s always been something that is important to me. Well, I guess we will see. It all starts with a morning run tomorrow. Hopefully this goes over well!
Tomorrow I start my first day at work. Wicked nervous. Matt’s right though, there’s nothing I can do about it at this point, but take a deep breath and dive in. So funny how this is exactly what I had wanted, a job that I wanted, doing what I was studying. But now that I have it, I’m terrified that I won’t be able to keep up. I really hope I can.
Anyway, tired now, so off to bed. Hopefully tonight will be quieter than last night.
Nov 1.
Well. What a great day. I have to say. It couldn’t have gone better. Lets start with the beginning of the day.
So I woke up around 7am, a little later than I wanted, but I was tired. Got my things together for work, and then got dressed for my first Auckland run. I decided rather than toting around a map and trying to figure my way somewhere I had never been, to head out in the direction of Mission Bay instead, and see how far I could make it. Walked from the hotel out to the end of the road, and hopped on the bike path along the coast. Talk about a great run. Just about 5 miles. Didn’t quite make it to Mission Bay, but that’s ok.
Maybe a mile into the run, I had this awesome moment of clarity. I was running up a hill, in the bright sunshine, perfect weather, feeling great, headed toward where the path meets the water and follows the coast… and I just thought to myself: wow. I am in another country, and I am starting to make a life here. One that I could like. I haven’t even settled in anywhere yet, or started my job really, but it was just such a GOOD feeling. I know, I’m kind of alone in a big city, very far away from home, and with little communication to those at home at the moment, but man, really… I was just thinking… I’m proud of myself for doing this. For really, ACTUALLY achieving a few goals that I have had, all in one go.
I wanted to become an Animator. Really become an Animator. Check.
I wanted to travel to somewhere really cool. Check.
I wanted to step out of my comfort zone, and prove that I can do something with my life. Check.
I wanted to prove to myself that I can take an opportunity even when it seems scary. Check.
I mean really, how many people get to do this? Not many. And I was HANDED the opportunity, I didn’t even really go out and seek it to be honest. It was a total fluke that I applied to the job in the first place. Thinking to myself, “they’ll never hire me, I’m all the way from the States. That’s way too far.” WRONG.
It was just such a cool moment. And the first time that I have really, genuinely been happy with the decision I have made. And there was no basis for the sudden happyness. I think that a few things just finally clicked, and now I can really be happy about this. So many things are not even set in stone yet: my place to live, how I like my job, whether or not I’m GOOD at my job, if I can make FRIENDS here… But really, I don’t care. I’m here, and I took the leap, and I am going to work my ass off here and prove that I deserved to come, even if it means working extra hours, or struggling for a bit.
Anyway, after this wonderful run, I took my time getting ready for work, and walked over to the studio with Matt and Carla. We went in late, around 11am because we were told our computers and whatnot wouldn’t be ready til then. Unfortunately (well, fortunately in a way) for us, nothing was prepared because there had been some miscommunication with the finishing of our office. Oh well. So we spent the afternoon watching examples of good shows and bad shows, getting acquainted with the Penguins themselves as characters, paying attention to little nuances (like how poppy their movements are, how they waddle, how squashy or stretchy to make them, etc), and learning really just about the show in general. We went through the Layout Pass, the Primary Animation Pass, and the Secondary Animation Pass, and learned what is expected in each. The coolest part about this in a way for the Animators is: we literally have to stick exactly to the Layout Pass in terms of posing for our Primary Animation Pass. This means, that the main poses are given to us, and we get to be creative and work within those poses to give the characters life. Frustrating, but also good, especially starting out.
It is going to be a lot of Animation in a short time, that is for sure. But if I can stay on top of my game, I think I will be ok really. Its cool too, cause they’re set up like a studio should be: You open your file through a task manager, and everything opens already with cameras, lights, characters where they should be, Layout already in place, and it creates a whole file system. There’s more to it, but I can’t explain it here very well. But the main part: I have to do NOTHING in terms of setting up my scene.
“Wait, you mean, I just have to Animate?!” Yup. That’s it. That IS my job. Amazing. I have made it! Well, at least in one aspect. Now I get to prove myself. Great. Haha. Anyway, it was nice, we got to take our time, and we got a small handle on some of their in-studio software setup (they use Maya 2008 since the show was locked down in that version, which is NICE since I am familiar with it, but of course they had some slightly different things in their pipeline to learn). And we use all of the Nickelodeon Animation tools, which is pretty neat!
I have been assigned 7 shots so far. A bit scary, but hopefully I can get a handle on it. I have two segments essentially, that are 3 – 4 shots in each one. One involves Skipper the Penguin and Bert the Elephant, which is kind of cool. Another involves Maurice the Lemur, and Private the Penguin. Not sure I can give more information than that, since its obviously not released yet, but that’s all you need to know for now! So, unfortunately we didn’t have a ready office or any machines set up to actually begin animation and start learning the rigs, but that will all be for tomorrow. * deep breath * Ready to dive in, head first.
So, after work, Ngaire and Chris had invited me for dinner. I walked up the street to the New World grocery store, and met her. We walked out to Kingsland where they live, and let me tell you, it is a little bit of a walk, but a nice walk. I think its great that she walks to work that distance (over a mile). I will be doing the same, but I will be closer. Anyway, I got to their place, which is very very nice, they live underneath of a home owned by a man and his partner. They have a beautiful back yard that is maintained by the owner, and she said its been great! It’s small, but spacious. Great for a couple. Just like a small apartment. And when I say small this time, I mean small like at home. Not small like what I had seen downtown, which was like two people sharing a closet. Yeesh. Anyway, very cute place that they live. They made dinner for all of us, and we had a great time! They are so nice. I am SO glad that Joanna set me up with them when I moved. Ngaire was telling me about all these different places I have to go, and mentioned that I should come to her “hen party,” the NZ equivalent of a Bachelorette party (odd that its called a hen party, isn’t it? The men’s is still Bachelor Party, sorry). She is doing it out at some of the wineries further north it sounds like. Very, very excited about that, and I will DEFINITELY go.
We had a great dinner and were talking and joking around, and then they took me out to get ice cream, and up to the top of Mt Eden!! It was GORGEOUS, and of course dark since it was after dinner. We could see the city all lit up. Amazing. To all of you who have been to JMU and been to the top of Reddish Knob, that’s what the top of Mt Eden reminded me of. WAY high up, with a little paved parking lot at the top. Not quite as high as Reddish, but much more city and bright lights to see. Beautiful. Mt. Eden, to those who don’t know, is one of the 14 volcanoes in Auckland. Obviously all of them are dormant, but it’s so neat to stand at the top of one, and look out, and see the rest, hanging out in the middle of a city! You could tell which ones were volcanoes because there were no lights on them. Just big black masses in the dark. Cool! I will be running out there during the day time sometime (maybe later this week?), and I will be sure to take my camera for some photos. Unfortunately I didn’t have it for today (yes, for the second day since I’ve been here, I failed at taking my daily photo! I promise to be better).
Anyway, now I am back in the room, and about to head to sleep for a much more intense work day tomorrow. Another late start, going in about 11am again, which is great, but its going to be a tad overwhelming I have a feeling.
Well, here goes nothing!
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“Halloween on the beach”
Oct 31st
Well, Happy Halloween! One of my favorite holidays, that I didn’t really get to celebrate this year. Except of course for the pumpkins that Kyle and I carved before I left. It would have been hard to celebrate anyway considering I don’t really know many people here. Interestingly enough though, I spent part of my Halloween on the beach this morning! Haha. Went and showed Carla and Matt Mission Beach, which was fun. The weather was perfect, if a little chilly. We got there early, being here has made me an early riser for sure, which I hope I can continue with, but that was nice considering few people were there, and the tide was out. So you know what that means: Seashells.
Carla and I wandered around the sand for a while, picking up lots of neat seashells. Love doing that. A lot of them were these HUGE scallop shells, which is pretty neat. Cant say Ive found much of that anywhere else. We were talking about how funny it was to be celebrating Halloween in the warm weather, on a beach no less. Especially the fact that Christmas will be around when some of their longest days of summer are. Maybe I can celebrate part of Christmas on the beach too : -).
There was a Marathon going on there too, along the bike trail, so we stopped to check out some of it. Pretty cool! Glad to be done with mine. Anxious to start triathlon training though.. yet it’s a little hard to do without a bike or a pool to swim in. I will have to start looking into that. Tomorrow morning I am going to get up and go run. See if I can make my way over to the Auckland Domain, which is a big scenic park. Dunno how far of a run that will be, but considering I haven’t run since the Marathon, Im sure anything will be good with these hills. I need to start losing weight. I think I’ve started putting it on from being stressed out, saying all the “good-byes” at home, and eating out a lot. Not a fan. I hate that its so easy to fall into that. I miss how I was when I was training hard core for Tri. I really want to do this 4-race series going on… just not sure I’ll have a bike. Eh, who knows, I’ll figure out something. My goal is to walk all over the city as much as possible too, and not use the bus systems unless I have to. Looking forward to that for sure.
Anyway, the rest of the day was kind of slow. Matt, Carla and I wandered to the building they have chosen to live in, but weren’t able to see their room since its still rented by someone else. The lobby and little café areas are ritzy for sure, which is cool. I really hope that works out for them. I showed them Albert Park too, which I love. Showed them the “Look Sharp” store, which is going to be amazing for cheap shopping, and then we wandered up the street to a big Indian festival that’s going on. Mom and I had gone to it yesterday to wander through, so I thought they might be interested in checking it out. Haha, I don’t think it was quite their thing, but it was interesting for sure. I enjoyed it. Its called the Diwali festival. Apparently the “Festival of Lights” for them? That’s what the woman handing out the schedules said anyway. There was supposed to be a fireworks display at 9 tonight, but we were all wiped by the time it came around. Me included.
We stopped and had dinner at the Occidental. We’ve been there a few times, the food is really good. I have a frequent card there, which accumulates 3% of every bill, and apparently I have already accumulated $18 on it!! Crazy! I mean, we’ve eaten there a few times, but only maybe 3 or 4. Haha. Well that was well worth it! I gotta stop eating out though. Its hard when I want to be out and socialize, but I want to eat better. I end up choosing the socializing instead.
It’s lonely here a bit. I realized I’m not good (right now) at being by myself much. Being self-motivated to decide what I want to do with my time is hard. My Gemini qualities sabotage me quite a bit in that respect. I have a lot of trouble making up my own mind. Hopefully I can get better about it, and start venturing out on my own more. Be more confident about things. I will have to, especially if Kyle can’t come over here. Theres just something about wanting to share experiences with someone though… I don’t know, that’s always been something that is important to me. Well, I guess we will see. It all starts with a morning run tomorrow. Hopefully this goes over well!
Tomorrow I start my first day at work. Wicked nervous. Matt’s right though, there’s nothing I can do about it at this point, but take a deep breath and dive in. So funny how this is exactly what I had wanted, a job that I wanted, doing what I was studying. But now that I have it, I’m terrified that I won’t be able to keep up. I really hope I can.
Anyway, tired now, so off to bed. Hopefully tonight will be quieter than last night.
Sunday, October 31, 2010
Oct 31
Ok, so I have started a poster for later on today, but let me just start off with: It takes way too long to upload photos to this blog in the internet cafe with limited time. SO, oddly enough Facebook was faster... hence, if you would like a photographic tour of what I have seen and where I have been, please refer to facebook :-). The photos are all in some kind of relative order that corresponds to the posts, so until I move into where I'll be living and can add photos INTO blog postings, check facebook for some gorgeous parts of Auckland!
Thanks guys, and appreciate that you all actually read this. I know Im a tad long-winded sometimes (or more than a tad).
Enjoy!
<3
Thanks guys, and appreciate that you all actually read this. I know Im a tad long-winded sometimes (or more than a tad).
Enjoy!
<3
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