Jacob's Semi-Yearly Year's End Review of the Year- 2010

Well, kiddos...it's been a crazy year. Who's up for a little recap?

Way back in January, after a hiatus that was much longer than intended, I resumed work on The Girl and the Ghost.

As I animated that, Larry and the gang finished and premiered Dolly Oxem's Traveling Video Circus.

I worked right through February and in March, realized that at some point, the music video for Sex Love and Honey had snuck past 100,000 views without me noticing.

Mom and I took off to Toronto for a few days and attended a pair of amazing back-to-back Our Lady Peace concerts. (A blog entry for this trip is still coming. Really.)

A few days after getting back from the trip, we had The Meeting. The 4Reelz crew came together for a meeting which I consider to be the official start of the journey known as Four Tanks and a Healer.

As work on Ghost continued into April, the schedule for Four Tanks and a Healer began to sink in. I knew I couldn't handle them simultaneously, so I reluctantly put The Girl and the Ghost on hold once again and started animation on Four Tanks.

Toward the end of the month, I took in a fantastic concert by The Swell Season.

The summer was comprised of endless long hours of animation. By the time August rolled around, I was in massive need of a break. Mom and I swung up to Niagara Falls for a few days and saw Chantal & Raine play two shows at the Jackson-Triggs winery.

It was a great break and an unforgettable experience.

August also saw the release of my personal favorite movie of the year- Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. 112 minutes of pure movie fun.

Before the month was over, Superman paid us a visit.

Christopher Dennis, the Hollywood Boulevard Superman, was in town to film a scene for The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something with Larry. After filming, they stopped by my house. Not many people get surprises like that.

September got off to a bumpy start. A fun night out at the wine bar with Corey, Eric, and Beth ended with heavy rain basically frying my wheelchair's controls.

This left me stranded with a dead chair for my birthday and a couple weeks beyond. It sucked, but I got a lot of animation done.

Once my chair was semi-functional, Mom and I spent a day at the zoo. A weekday in late September is definitely the time to go. Everyone's at school and work and you pretty much have free reign of the place. It's pretty nice.

The work continued through October. When Halloween arrived, Matthew was ready. His love for Toy Story was apparent by his costume choice.

In early November, I allowed myself another little break and headed up to Niagara again with Mom. This was a very laid back trip consisting mostly of eating, drinking, and a Chantal concert. It was a short, but sweet getaway.

Upon returning, I buckled down for the home stretch and finally finished animating Four Tanks and a Healer after seven months.

In the following days, I re-learned how to relax just in time to enjoy Thanksgiving and Matthew's 3rd birthday. Still can't believe the little bugger's already three.

In December, I sat down and just wrote for the first time in months and it felt great. I now have a script for a brand new animated short film.

On the 18th, we all gathered at Pufferbelly in Kent for the wrap party for Four Tanks and a Healer and The Long, Slow Death of a Twenty-Something.

A few days later, it was time for Christmas and all the fun that comes with it.

Now, I'm sitting here in the early hours of 2011, just reflecting to myself on 2010 after spending New Year's Eve with Mom and Matthew. If I had to pick a word for the year, I guess it would be "strange." I spent most of the year with my nose in my laptop, racing toward the animation deadline. The working hours seemed to drag on forever and stressed me out to my wit's end. Oddly, that made the rest of the year fly by. I honestly barely even remember the summer. So, it was a productive year, but a strange one.

The highlight? Watching this butthead...

...grow into this butthead.

So, what's up for 2011? First and foremost, I'm jumping in and FINALLY finishing The Girl and the Ghost.

After that, I'll be tackling the new short, which I really think will be amazing. I'm extremely excited about this one.

And what of Four Tanks? Well, Larry has meetings scheduled with some big TV networks out in LA at the end of January, so we'll see.

Here's hoping 2011 is a great one. Happy New Year, guys!

Good Day, Sunshine

Imagine, if you will, spending months on end sitting in a small place all by yourself. Your only human contact being with family and any friends willing to brave harsh elements and unfavorable conditions to come and visit. The internet and TV are your main windows to the outside world. It's not terrible at first, but after a few months, you begin to crack. You go stir crazy. This, my friends, is a little something I like to call a Cleveland winter.

Yesterday I, and the rest of northeastern Ohio, got just what was needed: an early taste of summer. A 70 degree day on March 30th, absolutely glorious.

I wheeled myself out into the sun and just let it soak in. I swear, I'm like Superman in that respect, I'm a solar battery. Let the sun shine down on me and it charges me up in a most unbelievable way. I'm almost instantly ready to go and you can't stop me until the wee hours in the morning. Unless it's a 90 degree sunny day, forget that.

So, after a minute, I decided to ride around the yard and test out my new chair to see how it handles driving in the grass. It's a bit bumpy, but nothing I can't handle. I darted up and down the street a bit, then my trusty sidekick and driver (or as I like to call her, Mom) was ready and we headed for the comic book shop.

Curse my weakness for the work of Alex Ross. I spent money I really shouldn't have spent on action figures based on painter Alex Ross' renditions of Superman, Bizarro, and The Flash. A bit expensive, but damn, they're cool looking.

Our next target was...Target. As we wandered past the DVD section, I heard the cries of a toddler who was either really really hungry or having a religious argument with his dear mommy. His screams were so passionate I couldn't quite make out the words, but I'm fairly sure he was yelling either "I want bacon!" or "I'm a Pagan!" Whichever it was, good luck to ya, kid. Now I'm hungry. Pagan bacon...mmm...
Anyway, I found a Wonder Woman figure I've been looking for for months. Score. Yeah, I have nerdish tendencies, shut up.

After a quick and uneventful sweep of Wal Mart, we dined at my personal favorite, Anthony's Family Restaurant. Great food, good prices, and cute waitresses. What's not to love?

About as full as we could get without actually exploding, we made our way home for American Idol, the only reality TV show I'll watch. Well, okay, I'm a sucker for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a show that actually does good things. Plus it's slightly amusing to predict at which point Mom's going to cry. For the record, it's usually about 1.5 seconds after "Bus driver, move that bus!" Back to Idol. As usual, they eliminated the wrong one in my opinion. Doesn't matter though, I think Bo's going all the way.

What a day, what a day. I top it off by sitting here in the wee hours of the morning typing all about it. I need more days like this. Sadly, they're already predicting more snow this weekend. It won't be long til summer's here, but it sure would be nice if it'd hurry up a bit.

-Jacob

Rollin' On

For those site visitors who may not know, I'm disabled and in a wheelchair, hence the title of my blog. I've had this last chair for a whopping twelve years. They don't even make this kind of chair anymore. Vintage, baby. I've bonded with the chair, we've gone a lot of places together and done a lot of things, but the fact is she's getting old. As much as I hate to retire her, it's time to bring in some new wheels.

Back in October we set things in motion to get me a new ride. We met with the folks at the wheelchair place, discussed what I needed, chose a chair model, and most importantly, chose the color. Midnight blue, ooh yeah. They put the case into the system and said they'd call us in four to six months.

A few weeks ago we got the call. A mix of excitement and dread came over me. I tried to let the excitement win out, but it wasn't that easy. Past experiences gave dread the edge. When getting past wheelchairs, my family and I have spent literally all day there as I was fitted and the chairs were customized. I wasn't in the mood for that again.

Three weeks ago I went for the first fitting. It was eight hours of doing our best to get this chair customized to my body. Seven of those eight hours were spent trying to get the back support right. After those seven hours they finally actually listened to me and tried the arrangement I suggested. What a surprise, it worked. At the end of the day there was a lot left to do, so we had to schedule a second fitting.

Monday we went back for part two. It was a short day, only seven hours. It was actually a fairly smooth day, we got the seat, supports, and controls set up as best we could and they let me leave with the new chair. It was the only true test for the chair, to see how I could function in my daily life with it. After we left, Mom and I decided to take it for a test drive at Target. Let me tell you, this thing moves like a bat out of hell and turns on a dime. Day one was a success. The following days were not quite as smooth.

The next day it felt like someone had messed with everything in the chair, though that wasn't the case. Everything about it was uncomfortable and I couldn't even sit in it.

Wednesday I decided to suck it up and head out in the chair again to give it another try. This is when it dawned on me that nobody must actually test these designs very thoroughly. The chair is designed to help take bumps easier. The front wheels are mounted on little arms that raise em when they hit a bump so that the big center wheels can take the brunt of it. Brilliant idea! The only problem? The motor is mounted so low on the chair the entire thing scraped across the bump! Talk about canceling out a great idea. The rest of the day went well as I went to the Cleveland International Film Festival, you can read more about that in my next blog.

Yesterday I did my best to compile a list of what all needs to be fixed. After fifteen hours of work, it's frustrating to have so many things still need to be fixed, but the fact is I should be more comfortable in the new chair, not in more pain. We've got to get it right. For the thousands of dollars chairs like this cost, there's no reason for this much discomfort and struggle. Mentally I'm not ready to go back for more work, but I've got to do what I've got to do. Wish me luck, gang.

And now, though it's a day late, here's a little cartoon by yours truly. Enjoy!



-Jacob