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I went to DV Expo West today. It was an interesting experience. There certainly is a lot of software as well as hardward for DV. Lots of spiffy things. The most spiffy was this cloth that reflected back green slight at all angles, so that anything draped with that could be green-screened out fairly easily. That was really neat. I sat through a demo of Avid Xpress, and for those of y'all that don't know, Avid is the computer program most used to edit films. It's a really high end, expensive program, stuff you can't really do on your desktop. Avid Xpress is for the average souped-up desktop. Oh boy, the program looked awesome. Geek talk. Sorry.

I'm soooo tired... yet again. Having woken up at 5:30 this morning is finally hitting me. Perhaps I need to get some caffeine. I can't stand vending machine coffee now, though. Well, not that bad, but basically it don't taste right. Two projects, one final to go....

I've turned out two opportunities to pick up extra hours last week. Yet, I feel pretty good about it.

Due to my misplacing the Babalu Music of I Love Lucy soundtrack, I have changed the music for my video project. It will be from O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, and I'm deciding between "Big Rock Candy Mountain," "Down to the River," and "I'll Fly Away." Humor-wise "Big Rock" is the best but quality-wise it's the worst, "Fly" has a better beat (and a pain to crop!) but "Down" has a pretty quality to it. I guess the thing is that I do humor better than somber (mainly cuz my somber tends to turn corny) so I guess I'm afraid to do "Down." That and I'm not sure if the final product will be as good as a more humorous piece.

And yes, I'm done babbling about stuff you don't care about. Hey, I forgot to mention that I won a free Alias shirt last week. No, not the TV show. It's the company that makes Maya, the premiere 3D program. And to be fair, they were here first. Okay, gotta go.

My schedule this week:

Mon -- school
Tue -- no work... 'cept homework!
Wed -- school (last day of Wed classes!)
Thu -- 6:30 to 10:30 am
Fri -- 5:45 am to 1:15 pm
Sat -- Work Holiday Party, then hanging out w/ friends
Sun -- church (pray I won't be late... again!), then 7:30 to 11:45 pm

Soooo tired... and procrastinating like crazy.

Wow, it's been awhile (for me at least) so I'll try to be as brief as possible:

I went to an Alias User's Group Meeting (basically 3D geeks) and listened to a presentation by a small studio as well as from Sony Imageworks and their spiel on The Haunted Mansion. Visually, it seems a spectacular movie. Main thing I learned, though, is not that there aren't enough jobs out there (though I think the large studios are going through a lot of down-sizing also), but that that there is more work than jobs out there. Basically, the typical work week of a 3D artist in the middle of a project is 10 to 12 hours a day 6 days a week, and right before a deadline, it's not uncommon for 48-hr work days. Which of course is making me wonder how the heck you fit 48 hrs in a 24-hr day. Anyway, so it's making me wonder. I love this stuff, but do I love it enough? I mean, while I was watching the Primetime special this past Thursday where they went on the set of pick-up shots for Return of the King, I was just going nuts (as you do when you're watching TV by yourself... it's lame, but y'know how some teenage girls go nuts when they see their fave boy band on the TV? I get that way about behind-the-scenes stuff of my favorite movies.) and wishing I could have been a part of it. I mean, it's gotta be passion (or ignorance) to want to be a part of it that much, right?

Anyway, so it was a bit of soul-searching to figure out if I'm willing to take the bad with the good. I asked one of my teachers who used to work at Sony Imageworks (the one who told me about the work schedule) how anybody has a life or sees their family. He looked at me and said, "They don't." Maybe my joking about how I'll never get married will come true.

I'll post my schedule tomorrow. I gotta be working on my project anyway. For the soundtrack, I'm thinking "We'll Build a Bungalow" though I'm not sure what to do about images. Should I get Lucy, Ricky, Fred, and Ethel, or do something completely different?

I told the assistant manager not to call me in for work today if it gets busy (like they normally do) just cuz I'm so tired. It worked. Lots of sleep. Though my recent paycheck showed the difference. But I worked enough in the past three months to qualify for stock investment options. Perhaps I'll get something for insurance sometime soon too. Though I wonder if it would be worth it to pay for medical insurance considering how little I used it when I did have it. 'course, I'm not as young and strong as I used to be. I'm even debating about whether dental would be worth it. I'll have to see. I mean, it's not like they've even offered it already.

I gotta say, as illnesses go, this one seems be easier than others. 'course, I did get a lot of sleep, but so far I only had to take medication to do stuff on only the first day. I even worked tonight without the need for drugs. Though... drugs are good. Just say yes. :)

I worked with Stickler-Lead again. She apologized for being off tonight due to an oncoming sickness. Well... my shift had never been easier. She has also started taking leftover pastries home now, so I got a nice batch tonight. Lots of muffins. My mom will be happy. Is it wrong to wish Stickler-Lead was sick more often?

The Italian Job. It's a pretty good movie. No need to stretch for Mark Wahlberg, which is a good thing. Seth Green was hilarious. I like Seth Green. I caught Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me on TV, and I forgot how funny he was during his short scenes.

Anybody want to join me for midnight showing of Return of the King on Dec 17th? (Well, technically night of Dec 16th to Dec 17th.)