Chipmunk Cheeks

As I mentioned before, I had my wisdom teeth pulled today. Everything went OK, and I'm not really in any pain right now. My biggest fear is that I'll have giant chipmunk cheeks during the next week. I imagine I'd look something like this:

Not at all attractive.

Music Minute #17

Image from http://rorymac666.deviantart.com/

Seeing as I will be drugged up and in no condition to do anything on account of having my wisdom teeth pulled, this seems like a perfect time to do a quick Music Minute. Give them a listen while I am no doubt passed out recovering.

- Alphabeat - "DJ (I Could be Dancing)"
- Alphabeat - "Hole in My Heart"
- Baby Bash feat. Marty James - "Fantasy Girl"
- Jamie Foxx feat. Justin Timberlake & T.I. - "Winner"
- Jusin Bieber - "Somebody To Love"

Don't Let Tomorrow Come

Tomorrow is the day; I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled. It's been a long time coming, and I am not at all looking forward to it. It's not the surgery itself I'm worried about, it's the fact that I'm going to need an IV, and the thought of having a needle in me for a prolonged amount of time freaks me out. I'm OK with shots, but this is not a shot. This is leaving a needle inside of me!

Ugh. Wish me luck and let's just get this over with.

Scared of Who I'm Becoming...

Something is occurring deep inside; I can feel something changing. It isn't anything that anyone else will notice, but I can feel it happening. I am changing.

My school and work schedule is forcing me to go to bed earlier, and soon my sleep schedule will adjust itself for going to bed at a decent hour and waking up early.

I fear that in a week's time, the change will be complete; I will soon no longer be a nightowl. It is said that change is good, but I'm scared of who I'm becoming.

Not the Usual Lunch

For the past seven quarters, I have had the good fortune on being on the Honor Roll at school. The only real perk of this is admittance to the Honors Luncheon, where the school provides a large lunch for the recipients. Every quarter, the restaurant that has catered the luncheon has been a great place called Todo Un Poco. This restaurant happened to be one of my favorite restaurants before I attended my first luncheon, so having them cater has been the cherry on top.

Every quarter, I look forward to attending this luncheon just so I can have a little bit of Todo Un Poco. Well, today was the luncheon for last quarter's grades, and there was no Todo Un Poco!

Now, I'm not complaining, because a free lunch is a free lunch, and we had delicious Chinese food instead, but I will admit that I was a little bummed. I guess that means I'll have to pay them a visit very soon.

In Memoriam

I was shocked when I read this article about Sony's decision to stop producing floppy disks. I had no idea they were still being made! I was under the impression that they had went extinct years ago. Shows how much I know. Read the article for yourself, here: The Floppy is Dead

In Memoriam. 1982 - 2010.

A Good Day

Today was a good day. The weather was perfect - warm, but with a nice breeze - which of course meant some friends and I HAD to have a soccer game. That was a lot of fun. I'm still out of shape, so I need to work on that. Still, I managed to have some moments where I shined, particularly when it came to defense and not allowing certain players get by me.

Afterward, my best bud and I met up with some other friends for food. I haven't seen them in a long time, so it was great hanging with them again. We had a lot of fun just sitting and talking. After going for some yogurt, we called it a day and went home.

All in all, a very good day. Now it's time for a little television and then a good night's rest.

Time for a New Obama

I was never really impressed with Fred Armisen's portrayal of Obama on SNL, but after seeing him do it again on tonight's episode, I really feel they need to have someone else take over the gig. I think even I could do a better job.

The Long Road Ahead

It's only Week 3 of the quarter, but I can already tell this quarter is going to be stressful beyond any before. Not only am I taking a full load of courses, but these classes are going to require tremendous amounts of work; both alone and with others, which is always stressful. Add to that my new job, and this is going to be a very stressful quarter.

I hope I can get through it.

Internship

I have yet to hear any news on the internship with KlickNation. However, after going to the Sacramento Game Developers Meet-Up tonight hosted by them, and seeing some of the people that work for them, I'm not so sure I want to get it. There are definitely some appeals to working there, but I'm just not sure if I'm right for them. Sure, I suppose I'd end up doing well there, but I don't know if I'd be passionate about it. At the end of the day, shouldn't you want to do something your passionate about. and wouldn't they want people that are passionate about working there?

If they don't offer it to me, that makes it easy. If they do, then I have some serious thinking to do...

Pixels

Keeping with the theme from yesterday of great videos that are short and sweet, but still show what a person can really do, here is another video. This one plays up the nerd factor more so than yesterday's, but is still really well made. Maybe even more so than yesterday's.

Panic Attack

My hope for when I graduate is to be able to produce something like this video. It's nothing extraordinarily amazing, but it shows what someone can do without a big studio. If I can produce something short and sweet like this, I won't have to worry about finding a job. My work will speak for itself and get me hired.

I Got the Job!

Yup, it's official - I got the student worker position at my school. The Director of Student Affairs called me this morning and informed me of the good news. I was half asleep when he called, so I hope I didn't say anything foolish, but I'm almost positive I didn't.

I'm so glad I got this job. Not only did I badly need one, but I really did feel this position would be perfect for me. I'm looking forward to getting started and making some changes.

Still no news on the internship, but I'll keep you posted as soon as I know. I'm not worried about it though, as this job was really the one I wanted.

Words About Me

I have an idea for a project, but in order to accomplish it, I'll need your help. I need you to list off as many words that describe me. Good, bad, adjective, noun, about my appearance, my personality, whatever. I'm going to need a lot of words, and I want words that describe who I AM, not who I THINK I am. A big part of who someone is based on how they're perceived.

While I hope most of you would have a decent amount of positive words to say, I definitely know I have a lot of faults, so feel free to speak your mind; I will not hold it against you in any way, shape or form. I want all sorts of words, so be honest and let's have it.

For those of you whom would like to remain anonymous, go to formspring.me and type your words where you would a question.

Also, feel free to bust out a dictionary or thesaurus to find some good words. Thanks. I look forward to seeing what words I get.

Music Minute #16

Image from http://2k00l4u.deviantart.com/

Music Minute time. Here are five more songs. Check them out.

- David Guetta feat. Chris Willis, Fergie & LMFAO - "Gettin' Over You"
- The Generals - "I Found You"
- Justin Bieber & Sean Kingston - "Eenie Meenie"
- Lil Jon feat. LMFAO - "Outta Your Mind"
- T-Pain - "Take Your Shirt Off"

Let's Make a Movie!

Looks like I'm going to end up making a short film in my 3D Camera Techniques that will be submitted to the Sacramento Film Festival. My program's academic director came into class today and talked to us for a bit about the class's new objective of creating a short film that incorporates live-action footage with 3D animation/camera work.

The aim is create something that's about a minute long, which isn't a long time at all, but if we make it short and sweet, it'll make a bigger impact than something longer and boring. I'm excited about this. This will be my program's first attempt at making something truly "professional" beyond just another school assignment.

The class has ten students and instead of all working on one film, we decided to break into two groups, and I'm excited about my group's idea. Unfortunately, we have a group member that I REALLY wish we didn't have, but him aside, I think I have a solid group. Hopefully that'll translate into a solid short film, as all of us are animators, not filmmakers.

Monotony

Nothing quite breaks up the monotony like going on a late night In-n-Out run with one of your best friends when you've been couped up all week. And for good measure, let's stop off at Wal-Mart for the hell of it. Sometimes, just hanging out with those certain people makes all the difference.

Two Interviews

The gods must have been smiling upon me today, because although I've been feeling like shit the last few days, I actually felt decent enough for both of my interviews today.

The first interview with KlickNation was ended up being a group interview with two other classmates. I knew they were being interviewed as well, but I thought it would be individually. Having two other familiar faces there ended up being really good. And since there are multiple internship positions, it wasn't like we were competing against each other and trying to sabotage the other. Richard, the Brand Development Director from KlickNation was really easy going and honestly sold me a little more about possibly working there. It still wouldn't want to be my end job, but I wouldn't mind having the experience there. Because the whole thing was so last minute, the work I had to show wasn't the best I could do, but he looked at it and said that he could see it fitting in to what they're doing and what they want, so that's good. I have to email him some follow-up stuff by Monday, so hopefully I'll hear something soon after that.

The second interview at my school for the Student Worker position was pretty straight-forward. I talked with the director many times before, so it was really just another conversation between us; maybe with a little more questions on his end. He mentioned that a lot of people applied for this position, so although I think my chances are good, I can't really be certain. He hopes to make a decision soon, so hopefully it'll be good news.

Two interviews in one day, and I think they both went well-enough. Of course, I've been wrong about these things many times before, so only time will tell.

Wish Me Luck

I'm not quite over my illness, not by a long shot, but I am definitely better. Let's just hope I'm even better tomorrow, since I have not one, but TWO job interviews.

The first is with KlickNation, a local game studio that specializes in games for social networks, such as Superhero City; which if you read my blog as religiously as I pretend you do, you've already heard about. The interview is for an unpaid internship, which I'm not too thrilled with, and I was notified about this interview VERY last minute, as in only a few hours ago, so I don't have an actual portfolio of the kind of work they're looking for to show them. Throw in the fact that this isn't even really the type of career I want to go into, and you're left with many reasons why I'm not too worried about not getting the position. Don't get me wrong, it'd definitely be great experience and could even turn into something paid down the line, but unless I have that certainty, I'm not gonna let it affect me.

The second interview was with my school for a Student Worker position in Student Affairs. This position IS paid, and I really feel is right up my alley. I've already tried hard on my own to set up events and make changes at the school on behalf of my fellow students, so imagine how much I could do if it's actually my job. This is the one I'm hoping for.

All in all, I have two big opportunities tomorrow, and I'd be lucky to snag either. Honestly, I'm hoping for both, would be more than happy with just the school position, would be shocked if I only got the KlickNation position, but would OK as long as I got one. Wish me luck tomorrow, and Tylenol, don't let me down.

Sick

So, I have some good news and I have some bad news.

The good news is that I've figured out why I was so cold and lethargic yesterday. The bad news is that the reason is because I'm sick. I don't mean an annoying cold sick; I'm talking about I have a fever and I'm pretty sure I have strep throat sick.

Damn, I need to stop kissing random girls...

So Tired, So Cold...

I do not know what it's been, but all day I've been freezing and absolutely exhausted. No matter what I do - put on a sweater, turn on the heater, or get under a blanket - I keep shivering, and I've had no energy to do anything. It's not like I woke up super early, because I actually slept a decent amount; I'm just so lethargic. It's only about 9:30 PM, and I'm already sleepy!

I hope I just need a good night's rest and that when I wake up in the morning, I'll be good to go.

Oh, Tina

I love me some Tina Fey.

She makes me weak in the knees. =]

School on Fridays

Yesterday I wrote about how my class schedule on Thursdays is going to have me at school from 8 AM until 9:30 PM, and how although that at first seemed insane, it was actually rather fun. Well, life has a sick way of being cruel because today's schedule, while only consisting of one class, felt longer than all three of my Thursday classes put together.

I'm not sure what it was, but I could not wait to get out of there. Hopefully today's class was an isolated event and the rest of the Fridays this quarter will be more bearable, otherwise it's going to be a long 10 weeks.

150 Posts / School on Thursdays

It was brought to my attention a while ago that I never did anything special or even acknowledge when I hit 100 posts. Well, in an attempt to make up for that, this is my special double-sized 150th post.

OK, it's not really double-sized. It's just another regular post, but I am at least acknowledging it this time. Now onto the actual post.

...............

I love my Thursday classes this quarter. This is the first week of the new quarter, and when I found out I would be taking three classes in one day, which meant I would have to be at school from 8 AM to 9:20 PM, I was NOT looking forward to it. Granted, I was looking forward to the individual classes, but all at once?! Not so much. However, after going to each, I can genuinely say I've very excited about Thursdays this quarter.

First up is Compositing, which is where we are going to take separate elements - such as film, green screen footage, 3D models, special effects - and combine them into a single composition. This is going to be a fun class. Next up is Intermediate Motion Graphics, which focuses on the artistic and design side of creating things such as title sequences as well as all the fancy flourishes and visual elements used in things like commercials. Finally, there's 3D Visual Effects, which deals with recreating the science - such as collisions, fluids, particles, etc. - of real life in a 3D scene. All in all, I expect to do a lot of fun stuff.

Of course, I can already tell that each is going to have a lot of work. That means an exponential amount of homework due on the same day. So, I may be excited right now, but ask me again in a few weeks when the homework catches up with me; I may not be so excited then.

...............

So, there you have it; my special double-sized 150th post. Or not. Oh, well. Here's to another 150. Thanks for reading.

Music Minute #15

Image from http://esword.deviantart.com/

If I am not mistaken, I do believe it is time for another Music Minute. Here are some of my favorite songs of the moment. Give them a listen and maybe they'll become some of yours, too.

- Aleks Syntek - "Loca"
- Black Eyed Peas - "Grapes"
- Lil Jon feat. Pitbull - "Work It Out"
- Travie McCoy feat. Bruno Mars - "Billionaire"
- Usher feat. will.i.am - "OMG"

Redemption

Redemption.

From any fears, from any worries.
From never making a move.
From feeling powerless.

Redemption.

A new ending has been written.
Now, as she climbs out of bed,
Only one thing remains:

Redemption.

Perfect Timing

Tomorrow is my first day of the new quarter, and I woke up today with a cold. Just great. I already felt like this was going to be the quarter from Hell, and this just proved it. Hopefully, I'll wake up magically cured. I doubt it, but here's to hoping...

365 in 2010: March Completed

March was by by far the most difficult month so far in which to continuously post. A lot of things contributed to making it not only difficult to physically be able to post, but also to find the desire to even want to. However, March saw not only the one year anniversary of my blog, but also a variety of decent posts that I think contributed to it somewhat being a success. Hopefully, April will be even better.

Three months down, nine more to go.

Days Completed: 90
Days to Go: 275

Weekend in San Francisco, Day 2

My first experience with waking up in San Francisco was very slow. We three of us woke up around 7 AM, and one of us wanted to get out of bed, so we stayed in another hour or so. Unfortunately, we knew we had to eventually get up, if only to move the car.

Let me take this moment to say that parking in San Francisco sucks. There are no parking spaces anywhere, and when you do finally find one, they're only two hours spots, so you have to move it way too soon anyway. We were lucky enough to be able to park Lil's car in front of Sara's driveway overnight, but we needed to move it in the morning.

After a 15 minute search for a new spot, we hiked back to Sara's apartment where I made omelettes for breakfast. Both Lil & Sara woke up feeling like they were catching a cold, so they weren't really in the mood to do anything too extensive, so we ended up just walking around town for a bit. When it was time for lunch, we ate a tiny Vietnamese place, which was alright. Not the best Vietnamese I've had, but it hit the spot.

By the time we were finished, we had to move the car. Again. So, we just drove back to the apartment. Lil and I decided to head back to Sacramento in order to beat traffic, so packed up our things and started walking to the car. Unfortunately, Lil closed the door behind everybody and realized that the door was locked...with the keys inside. Great. We can't leave and let Sara try to find a way back in by herself.

We tried to break in through the back door for maybe 10 minutes with no success. However, we realized that the keys were on the table about 7 ft. in front of one of the windows. Luckily, the window was unlocked, but it didn't open more than maybe 5 in. I grabbed a broom, reach through the window and carefully edged the keys to the edge of the table closest to me. Once I could move them no further, I reached in and was just barely able to reach the keys. Once again, Jason to the rescue.

Criminal activity finished, we all said our farewells and Lil & I made our way back to Sacramento. The weekend may have started off gloomy, but as we drove back, we had nothing but clear skies. A great ending to a great weekend.

Weekend in San Francisco, Day 1

On April 1st, I posted what I said was going to be my last post for a while. Well, in case you didn't catch on, that was simply a lame April's Fool prank. Don't worry my three faithful readers, my blog will unfortunately continue.

As you may or may not have noticed, I did not post anything yesterday. The reason for this is simple: I was in San Francisco and had no internet access. Worry not, for I shall fill you in on my time there.

My friend Lil invited to go with her to visit her childhood friend, Sara, who just recently moved to San Francisco. I was very hesitant to go, knowing that being stuck out of town with someone I don't know could potentially be very awkward. However, I was feeling adventurous and eventually decided to go. I am so glad I did.

The drive there included cloudy skies, steady rain and lots of traffic, so it wasn't the best, but it also wasn't bad at all. It gave Lil and I a chance to get to know each other a lot better, and having someone to chat with made the trip go by so much faster. When we arrived, we picked up Sara from work and drove back to her apartment. Right away, I could tell Sara was a cool girl, so I knew this would be a fun weekend. Unfortunately, it was still raining, so we weren't quite sure what to do, but we eventually decided to go out for dinner and decide from there. What we ended up doing was bar hopping.

The first bar we went to was called the Kozy Kar, and this place was crazy. The interior was decorated with lots of car parts - such as grills, car seats, etc. - AS WELL AS lots of pictures of nude centerfolds. All along the floors and the walls were collages of centerfolds. I didn't go into the bathroom, but Lil did and she said the collages extended into there, too. The fun doesn't stop there, thought, because this place was also equipped with waterbeds. That's right; waterbeds. There were three spots in this place that had waterbeds instead of seats. Lil, Sara & I climbed into one and chilled there for a while. Such a weird experience, but also a lot of fun.

Eventually, we decided to leave because the drinks were a little expensive and we found our way into another bar whose name escapes me. This place was a lot slower and not nearly as decorative, but it was still an experience. The bartender there was an Asian woman with a strong accent. I felt like I was ordering drinks from Ms. Swan of MadTV fame. I ordered a round of drinks for us, and she responded with a series of questions I barely understood to which I simply agreed with. We got what I wanted, so I guess saying yes was the way to go. There was a couple there playing pool, and Sara and I decided to challenge them to a game. Unfortunately we lost, but only by one ball. That doesn't matter though, because I played for fun, not to win. I am not at all a pool player.

After our game, we went to another bar called The Hydeout that had bored games. We grabbed Rummikub, ordered some drinks and went upstairs to play. By the time we were done with our two rounds of shots, added to the drinks we've already had at the other bars, we were all feeling good. We kept joking around and talking about all sorts of inappropriate matters that we never really finished our game, but who cares; I would've won anyway.

After buying some six-packs of booze, we made our way back to Sara's apartment, and continued the fun. We went out back and hula hooped, which I have not even tried since maybe 4th grade. Surprisingly, I was able to do it for a decent amount of time, even though I probably looked like a fool doing it. I guess that thrusting motion that just comes naturally to me.

Eventually, we all started getting tired, so we changed into our PJs. Sara's only sleeping surface is a bed, which her and Lil decided to share. I was fine sleeping on the floor, but they weren't having it and insisted I climbed into bed with them. And that's how I choose to end the story of that night. I'll write about the next day in my next post.

Farewell

As some of you may have noticed from reading some of my more recent posts, I've been going through some personal issues at the moment; all of which have left me with no desire to keep posting in the blog. So, I've simply decided to stop posting for the time being. I know I set out to post something everyday for a year, but I only want to do that if my heart is in it, and the truth is that I simply do not have the desire to do so right now.

I do want to say that it's been a lot of fun having this blog for the last year. Hopefully I'll come back soon, but if not, take care and April's Fools.