It's Blabberin' Time

My life has consisted mostly of frames, keyframes, and tweening for these last few weeks. The Girl and the Ghost has been eating up a ton of my time lately (I've even put in a couple 10 hour days) and honestly, I'm really happy about it. It's still pretty far from finished, but I get more and more excited as it continues to take shape. I really feel like I'm accomplishing something special, even if it's only on a personal level.

I normally tend to shy away from watching animated films while I'm animating, to avoid intimidation, but that seems to have changed this time around. I re-watched Princess Mononoke a couple weeks ago and actually energized rather than inferior. Sure, my designs aren't as intricate and I don't have the dynamic action scenes, but they had hundreds of people working on that film. I'm just one and I feel my project is already looking pretty impressive. I'm excited.

Okay, enough blowing smoke.

I visited my old high school again a couple weeks ago to say hello to the remaining people there. So many people have retired since I graduated seven years ago. It's strange going in there and not recognizing most of the faculty. It's also strange to think I've been out of school for seven years.

I'm old.

Everyone there seems to be doing well. It was great seeing familiar friendly faces. It felt amazing to tell them what I've been doing with myself these last couple years.

Before leaving, I had to head down and visit my old spot under the stairs.

2000/2007

Mom and I went and saw Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer on Friday. I had such high hopes for the first Fantastic Four movie and felt so let down when I finally saw it. So, naturally when I started seeing trailers and clips for Rise of the Silver Surfer and thought it looked cool, I couldn't help but be a bit wary. I was looking forward to it, but didn't want to feel that same disappointment again.

I didn't.

I know the movie isn't Oscar material (though the Silver Surfer effects may be), but I had such a blast watching it. Sitting in that theater, I felt relaxed, entertained, and totally de-stressed for the first time in I don't know how long. It was a fun ride of a movie.
The only real remaining annoyance from the first movie was the lame interpretation of Dr Doom, who didn't really need to be there at all. And that voice...if you're using a villain who wears a mask, at least use an actor with a somewhat intimidating voice.

Yesterday was Jeff's high school graduation party. It was a good time just chilling outside in the perfect weather while eating good food and visiting.
I can't believe Jeff is out of high school.

I'm old.

Back to animating for me. Happy Father's Day, y'all.

Flashback

What a day. I got news that a few teachers and faculty members from my old schools were retiring, so I figured it was time to go back and visit my old stomping grounds.
The day began with a visit to my high school. It’s really hard to believe it’s already been five years since I graduated, it seems like it was just yesterday I was roaming those halls. It really hasn’t changed very much, the halls seem brighter and there’s now an ATM in the commons, which I found odd, but that’s about it. It was great seeing everybody again, it was also surprising to see how many new faces were there. The highlight was seeing my art teacher, Mrs. Vaughan.
I heard a shriek from a crowd of teachers and turned to see Mrs. Vaughan tossing aside what she was carrying and running up to hug me. We talked for a while and got caught up on what’s been going on, it was really nice. I also told her about the site, so if you’re reading this, howdy!
I saw my vice principal (who became principal after I graduated) and got to wish her a happy retirement on her last day, which was pretty cool. I saw so many people I used to see daily, it was nice to catch up.
From there my day led me to my old elementary school. This was a real flip out. Everything seemed so small. The halls looked shorter, the ceilings looked lower, the classrooms looked tinier. The weirdest thing though, was noticing how many of the teachers were so young. I’ll admit it, there were some rather hot teachers. Hey, I’m only human.
The highlight of this visit was seeing Mrs. Groene and congratulating her on her retirement. She was the nurse I had grown up with, over the years she became part of the family, so I absolutely had to visit her. We just sat, talked, and reminisced, it was great.
I then wandered next door to the middle school and bumped into Mrs. Smith, my health teacher. It was great to see she hasn’t lost any of her spunk that made her class so enjoyable.
Before leaving, I headed out to the playground behind the elementary school to take a ride down the hill that would give me such a thrill when I was younger. Yes, the hill seemed smaller too. I wouldn’t even classify it as a hill nowadays, but it still gave me a thrill, if only because I got to relive a little bit of my childhood. If you haven’t, I’d suggest you guys go visit your old school, it’s nice to take a trip to the past every so often.

-Jacob