This made me think back on my days at Academy. People ask me if it is a great school. Personally, any school is great as long as you make the best of it. No one is going to hold your hand and make you great. I do like the fact they usually have the most updated technology. That is a plus considering it is located in San Francisco. You need some kind of edge when you are competing with other art schools. I did consider going to a NY school or even a foreign art school. IF I had the money of course. Since I did not have the money, nor the smarts to attend a real college I chose Academy. Plus I was able to get grants every year. GO ME!
Most of the teachers there don't have a teaching credentials, but they have worked in the industry. Some were great, some were average, and some were just a waste of time. BAH! There was this one teacher, whom I've told people about many many times, who wanted to fail me. He would say, "You give me this? You don't want to get paid do you?!?!?!" It was my storyboarding class. He wanted all our storyboards to look super sexy like the MATRIX storyboards. Then he would shoot down any ideas I had. He couldn't critique anything well and was soo bitter about being a "teacher" and not an employee at a company. BAH! He also couldn't remember if my friend did his homework, which he didn't, and just marked an A where his supposed grade would be!!!! He would say, "Oh, oh yeah! I think I remember now." ... Inside I was screaming... "YOU LIAR!!! AHH!!!!"
I just hope they are not there anymore!!! Haha! But seriously, it was a wonderful experience and I connected with a lot of professionals while I went to school there.
Thanks AAU!
So recently I've been feeling very deficient. I guess in many ways. I want to loose weight, I want to know more, I want to finish projects, I want a better job, and etc etc etc. So to move to a more positive realm, Kyle, Johnny (Kyle's co-worker) and I will be heading down to SoCal for an Animation Industry Convention, or the CTN Animation Expo. They'll be recruiting for their company, while I want to make some industry connections. I don't feel very hopeful, but at least it will be an eye opening experience. It is the first of its kind, I believe, so I know I will get something out of it.
To get back to the title of this post and why I brought up the convention, I've been feeling rather lame. Not lame as in, pity me! but lame that I'm almost 30 and I don't have the career that I want. I have had odd jobs, contract stuff, but not my holy grail of jobs. I guess the 9-5 slave driver job at an animation studio. I know it isn't easy to get one unless you've interned or have known someone in the company, but I feel sooo lame that so many people I know have already, "been there and done that." Today I purchased some flash books to brush up on my flash animation. I'm looking through them and I'm like, "OMG" is this gibberish or something? I'm out of the loop for 2 years and I feel dumb. Just simply dumb. GARGH! I even picked up a "teach yourself visually" type of book and I feel even dumber for doing so.
I'll get over it, I know I do. My goal is to finish an Appley Rotten short before the convention. Just so I have something new on my portfolio site. *phew* There is one thing I pride myself with is I can learn something new very quickly and excel at it in a short amount of time.
Wish me luck and hope that I survive the next two weeks!
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Do you ever have one of those days where you want to be productive, you force yourself to get work done, and then it feels like nothing is happening? The work days seem to run into each other and are moving way too fast! It might also be because every minute of the day is planned now. In the morning I have breakfast, then check e-mail/news, do 15-20 minutes of aerobics, 45min to an hour of pilates, shower, work on animation/personal projects for at least 6-8 hours, have lunch and dinner somewhere within the 6-8 hours, take a walk around the neighborhood/park and at the end of the day sped some time with the Kyle. Oh and then sleep. haha!
In the morning I do it all over again. I also barely remember the last weekend we had to do nothing but just be. You know... lazyI
Not that I'm complaining. I would rather be busy than not be busy. I just feel like there should maybe be an extra hour or two in the day. Also, with the daylight savings time in effect, I feel like the evening is coming wayyy too soon.
I was downtown recently and noticed a lot of holiday decoration up. I mean not just in department stores but also on
Well that's all for today. Thanks for reading!
XOXO
How do you use the Internet to stay informed about the things that matter to you?
I use the internet to keep in touch with friends and family, read the news, get updates on blogs, find deals for things I need, networking with other industry professionals, and have fun. I usually use Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Google RSS/Gmail almost all day everyday. I usually use Google for my searching needs, my e-mail needs, and sometimes storage needs when I don't have a place to store files temporarily. I also play a lot of online games. This includes Super Pocus: Academy of Magic, Poupeegirl, and simple flash games you can find on many websites.
I guess that is my online life in a nutshell.
Well hello there fellow readers! It has been a long, long, long time since I've written a proper posting. Not a "question of the day" or advertisement for an upcoming event. I try to honestly update my friends and family as much as possible, but it seems in the era of Twitter and Facebook I've forgotten about the all important blog.
Where to start?
Well, this year has been a very crazy year. Can you believe it is already November? Soon it will be 2010 and I'll wonder what I've accomplished. I'm still looking for a more stable position, ie 9-5 job, and hoping to find that somewhere. One place we'll be going to is the CTN Animation Expo presented by the Creative Talent Network. I didn't hear about this till it popped up in a blog I was following in my RSS feeds. I am terribly excited about it, but all the work I want to do before I go is another question. I want to make my website look presentable and have at least one new animation on there to say, "Hey! I do stuff." Further, the animation I am currently working on is based on Kyle's Appley Rotten characters.
To continue, I'm hoping to have this animation done before November 20th so when people look at my portfolio they won't wonder what I've been doing for the last year or two... okay maybe 3. Haha. My work has kind of strayed away from animation since not landing that internship in 2004. I've been working more on prototyping and toys. Not that I don't like that, it isn't what I want to do for a living. But! I am going to rectify that soon! Or hopefully within the next year.
In other news, Kyle has landed himself a new job at Slide Inc. He finally has a job in the game industry. WOO! Currently he has been working on a game called Super Pocus: Academy of Magic. It is a online game/app that you can play through Facebook. Basically you raise your cute pet and have them go to the Academy of Magic, learn spells, and cast them on your friends that you are connected to. You can also purchase items to eat and stay healty, or items that you can decorate your home. More details can be found at the APP or here.
Some mundane news. Recently our Samsung flat screen tv has been giving us problems. We are having issues turning it on. We knew that these TVs don't last very long, but we've only had it for 2 years! We started getting pixel issues, then thin color bars, and now it took almost 2 hours for it to turn on! Today we are waiting for the Samsung repair guy to stop by, sometime between 9am - 1pm. I know the usual time frame for things to happen. Well, supposedly everyone is having this "power" problem. It isn't the issue we thought we would be expecting from this sort of TV. Oh well. (wait wait wait).
Well that is my update for now. Thanks for reading!
XOXO
Doing a FACEBOOK Fan giveaway raffle thingy. I'm going to put together 3 gift baggies and randomly choosing 3 people from my fan page at the end of the year/New Year. Sound good? Check it out and hope you win!
How do you enter? Just be a friend/fan before the end of the year! More details to come. Please comment on Facebook if you would like to be part of the free raffle/contest.www.facebook.com/catherinemaske
XOXO
-Cat
All Images are Copyright CJM 2009
All Rights Reserved
www.agreencat.com/copyrights
This is Wilberforce our new Mazda and the new Karen...slimmer, fitter and happier.
Do you have siblings? What's your relationship like with them? Bonus points if you share a photo!
When was the last time you received a hand-written letter in the mail? Who sent it?
My mom. It was a birthday card. =)
