Being the one for someone

I heard a line uttered by my good Kerri Van Auken this weekend that brought tears to my eyes when I looked back on it, and constantly has been echoing in my head as a wonderful reminder of support. In being asked where we'll move when and if we finally do, Kerri said to the asker (whom I don't remember), "Well, wherever Mars gets an animation job."

Wow. Now that's my baby. If she got a job in some other part of the world, or wanted to go out there, and got cast in something, I like to think I'd throw caution to the wind and go out there just as willingly. I don't think it'd be too hard for me to do, as I love moving... conceptually, of course. But to hear Kerri say that, while I'm not even participating in the conversation, just blows me away.

I mean, let's face it. I'm not the most passionate of data analysts, but I do it day in, day out, because I need to pay for my life, and save up for a dive into a deep end I've been staring at for years. That dive will take place this year, and that dive is not marriage. If I may digress for a moment, marrying Kerri is probably the easiest decision I've ever made. I have no inkling of cold feet whatsoever, no desire to be with any other woman, and we're talking springtime here, where women all over town show themselves off. Actually, the only way this is phasing me is by getting me completely excited for July.

However, the plunge I'm talking about is the plunge out of corporate office life and into the deep end of the creative industries, namely animation, as you may have guessed if you read regularly. I've known for quite some time that I want to be in a different career path, and now I've found an area that seems to make me happy, and immensely so, so I'm ready to commit to this being my future. However, maintaining a two-class schedule (which amounts to eight a year, on the quarter system), a job, and a heaping helping of improvising about town consistently with no break all takes its toll on a man.

I would never complain about lack of sleep or how I don't have any free time in my schedule whatsoever, but I don't think I'm giving my all to my portfolio and my classes, so I feel like I should be getting the heck out of this rat race and commit to being a full time student. That's the first of the plunges. It could be quite frightening to a future spouse to hear that she'll be marrying someone who'll be jobless soon, but I think I've thoroughly prepared her, and myself, for any turbulence that arises in our lives as a result of this change.

The great thing about this plunge is that along with it allowing me to allot more time to my schoolwork, it also allots me more time in which to take classes, with the intent of finishing early. So now we come full circle, to the second plunge. OK, I've finished school, now what? There's no good animation jobs in Chicago, and while I'd love to think that I could create my own self sustaining production company and animation house, I'm just not entirely sure if it's realistic. That's not to say I won't try, but I know that there's a lot more animation opportunities in California and British Columbia that I would potentially be a good candidate for. These are the main possibilities for building my earning potential back up after school.

We'll have to see where the future takes us, but think about all that unsureness and fogginess of a person's future, and ask if you'd want to be with them for the rest of your life.

Thanks, Kerri.

More to come.

Why I haven't been updating

Hmm, the thing about that, see, is that there is no real reason. I guess I've just been slacking a bit. However, here I am, so best to think about something to write about. I'm really at a loss here.

Wedding? Well, we got our engagement portrait taken yesterday. Our photographer is really cool, and a great find, I'd like to think. She's a lot of fun, has a unique pricing scheme, and is very welcoming, agreeable, and easy to get along with. She works in all digital too, so there's more opportunities to get those sweet moments where we look either uber-sexy (always), or cute and endearing (the rest of the time). We got about 300 shots taken of us yesterday, told you we were sexy or endearing quite often. She's going to put some up at her site, there'll be links here when I find out about it, until then, anyone in need of a photographer should
seriously check out www.angeleyesphotography.com.

Animation? Good lordy, quite a busy week. I'd love to go ahead and show some of the projects I'll be showing for midterms here, but there's no digital versions of these things yet. I do gotta say though, for the incredible amount of work that goes into an animation, the brief return is one of the coolest and most reassuring things I've ever experienced. I got some of the greatest thrills from seeing ten seconds that I've worked on for about 10 hours or so. Animators are INSANE.

Improv? Traffic and Weather has decided to take its future in its hands, based on the suggestions of our noble coach Brian Wilson. We're all looking at our involvement as a professional venture that deserves the time we put into it. Though that may sound pretty self explanatory, we've somewhat been cruising for a while on a rare balance of talent and chemistry that's allowed us to stay on the Improvolympic schedule this long. We're
buckling down as we approach our anniversary, and with our goals clearly in sight (a premium time slot), and our team re-dedicated (showing up early to chat and connect before rehearsals, sitting out of performances if we feel the need, and putting as much into supporting each other in whatever way we can), I can honestly say I've never been more thrilled to be a part of this group.

Yeehaw! So that's the cliffnotes. I'd love to ruminate more specifically, but content production is overtaking the priority of content quality these days.

More to come.

PS - Jen... that's alls I got right now.