I've been missing... online... for a week. Dost naught a one give care?

Best Christmas score: LotR:RotKEE. And who got it for me? Well, due to a mix-up (which hopefully got cleared for next Christmas), I got it for me. So yay me. But all in all, a good Christmas.

So the two weeks which I had planned on doing nothing will now be spent working on a slideshow for my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary in January. The most difficult part is dealing with the clients (i.e. my aunt)' vision, and trying to filter the corny out of it, while still keeping the awwwww-factor in it. But my basic direction is, make it fun and make it touching. That's it. Easy, piece of cake. Now... anyone know where the "funny yet touching" filter on premiere is?

Actually, I have to say that the past two days have been spent doing very little. Robert finally visited me in Santa Monica yesterday, and we could've seen the city more if it wasn't raining. I guess my nap didn't completely let me recover from my opening shift cuz I was feeling out of it in the evening. Well, the carb-overload for dinner didn't help either. We watched a buncha episodes of "Invader Zim." Extra points to any of my readers (except Robert and Dave) that know what that series is about. It's just really weird.

I gotta be grateful to have a job in this nervous economy, but still... it just sucks working at 5 am. And the sad part? That's one of the better shifts. Erg.

Sleep or "City of Heroes"?

They can take away your land, they may even take away your lives, but they can't take away... your FREEDOM!!!!!
---butchered quote

So my final class of the Fall semester is over! It was a battle long hard fought, and I came away broken, bruised, but still clinging to my sanity by a thread. My 3D animation came out decent (got lots of compliments from my compatriots, which is always a plus) but with my 2D... well, I just kept going as long as I could until I ran out of time. I got someone to cover my shift this morning, and then thought I heard my phone ring at 5 am, panicked, checked and saw that it was just my imagination, and then proceeded to work on that final. The total running time of the piece is about 730 frames, though that doesn't include the very beginning setup. The last 80-ish frames were just keyframes and no in-betweens. So technically, I only made about 400 drawings, which is still under a ream of animation paper!

So I am dead tired, but I still have to work tomorrow, but it's good. I still need to work. This drat thing called money which I still need. Perhaps I should go about finding myself a wealthy patron, a la the Renaissance masters.

So what's left on my plate? Besides work (and Christmas shopping), I plan on spending the next couple of weeks working on a slide show for my grandparents' 65th wedding anniversary, cleaning my room, and getting a lot of sleep and playtime on City of Heroes. Falcon Girl has lain low far too long.

And then, I'm taking an acting class for the winter session (hey, good animation is good acting, so I need to learn), working on stuff for the Animation Club film, and perhaps even finishing up that darn 2D animation piece. I might even make up a story around it just so I can use it for a short film. (Hey, worked for Richard Williams.) (Who? What?) (He's the animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?) (Duh.)

Anyway, it looks like my plate is definitely full. I guess I like it better this way, though I do need down time. My problem is that I get burned out too easily.

Thanks for all your comments, y'all!

Robert's Recent Blog Entry

Friggin' a, Dominic Monaghan is on "Lost." That's why I started watching it, and then it turned out to be a good show. I mean, Merry is on the show! That's why I kept asking people if they were going to watch "Lost" cuz Merry was on it!

Anyway, I want to take a nap, but now I'm waiting for a call from my manager to see if I have to work tomorrow. Siiiiiiiiiigh.

One final down, one more to go.

Maybe it's old-fashioned me of to expect people to say what they mean and mean what they say. I mean, yes, I'm guity of saying "maybe" and meaning "no," but if I hear a "yes" in any shape or form, I expect that to be a yes. Perhaps it's foolish of me to expect people to keep their word. After all, it's nothing but a promise, and in this world, a promise is something to be broken all the time.

Yes, I am being very cynical. How could I not be. After all, I haven't been to any church activity, fellowship or study-wise, for over three months. Sure, it's just a holiday party... where I signed up to bring something (good thing it was napkins and not food items) and I already bought a gift for the gift exchange, already wrapped with the price tag removed. I mean, it was foolish of me to expect a "most likely yes" to be a last-minute "sorry I can't." When I worked at cafe at Berkeley, it was expected that once you took a shift, it was your responsibility to find someone else if you couldn't make it.

So I will go to church this Sunday, where, as usual, someone will say, "We missed you at women's bible study/baby shower/bridal shower/[insert activity here]." I mean, yes, it's difficult to make it to these things when I usually work on Saturdays and I live an hour away. How foolish of me to think that for once, I can actually make it to an event.

I'm tired. Not just physically.

Soooooo tired.....

One final down, two more left. In theory, I should've been done with everything tonight, but of course, I'm not, so instead I'm working 'til the very last deadline and hopefully won't end up failing Character Animation (or even 3D Animation) class. Anybody know where I can host movie files so you guys can finally see them? Cuz otherwise, they exist only in my computer....

Nobody wondered why I have an image of Falcon Girl's head in my previous entry?

head 

Take a look inside the mind of a highly functional geek!

Well, my friend finally got a blog. Or more like, he's had one (with one crappy entry which he has deleted) for years and he's reactivated it. So yay, more ways for me to procrastinate in class. :)

I had a really short shift today, and I'm tired and want to take a nap, but the call of the Tivo was too strong. It is evil, EEEEEEVIL! Just watching those old "Deep Space Nine" episodes, though. Brings back memories.

My dad was in the hospital again, and as usual, they can't find anything wrong with him, other than he has diabetes, high cholesterol, and a slightly high blood pressure. He's playing with fire, I think, not taking his health more seriously. I know, he's busy, but he's going to work himself to death if he doesn't take it easier and force himself to eat right and exercise productively. It's frustrating because it's a dilemma that many people face. I may be an adult in the eyes of the law, but to him, I'm still his kid and therefore he still knows better. And he's from a generation, at least in Korea, where going to the doctor was expensive, people routinely died soon after 60, and people just kept going trying their best to survive without thought to the future. I think the mentality was, you just had to live long enough to raise your kids to adulthood, and living long enough to see your grandkids grow up was just pudding. I know my parents are going to die sometime, but I would prefer it be later than sooner and it would be nice to have them see me achieve some sort of success. And at my current rate, it's going to be awhile until they do. (*sigh)

Time for a nap.

"The Lord has given unto you fifteen [crash as a tablet falls to the ground into pieces] ten, ten commandments!"

Note to self: Set alarm before taking a nap.

"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

Matthew 7:21-27 NKJV


Siiiiiiiiiiigh. Not even time to contemplate the fate of my soul.

New quasi-celebrity serving: yesterday, it was Mark Valley again (I think he's getting more notice cuz he's on Boston Legal or something), and then today it was Rachel Blanchard. The girl from the Clueless TV show (based on the movie but not starring Alicia Silverstone), and more recently on Seventh Heaven (the writing gone way downhill on that show, from what I hear). I gotta say, I almost didn't recognize her because she looked much thinner that on TV. Either she's lost weight (after all, I haven't seen Seventh Heaven in over two years) or else the camera does add ten pounds.

I've been sleeping oddly. I got plenty of sleep on Sunday night cuz I had Monday off, and then in the middle of the day, I started working on my animation homework and promptly fell asleep (I think I have some sort of mental block against it), so I was wide awake come nightfall. So I only slept 2.5 hours before my opening shift, but I felt fine. But afterwards, I decided to take a nap so I can be awake for the rest of the day. Well, I hit the pillow around 10:45 am, and then woke up at 4:45 pm. Yeah, I was late to class and completely disoriented. So, to avoid a repeat performance, I slept a little earlier last night (but not that much earlier) and I'm all hopped up on caffeine to avoid taking a nap at all today (or else I'll take a short one later, with my alarm on!). So... to summarize, my sleep rhythm is off. Erg.

Homework calls. Maybe this time I'll listen.