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.