30. Become more confident when talking in front of crowds.

So, here I am. I managed to get to a Panera to post this entry. I wonder if anyone will notice that I didn't buy anything yet. Oh well, no matter. XD

I feel I've accomplished being more confident in front of crowds. Why? Because when I had my critique for the end of the year back in Boston, I actually felt pretty okay talking in front of everyone about my work. Normally I get REALLY nervous and forget everything I am going to say, but this time I didn't so much. I even had a couple of people tell me that I am a great public speaker. Talk about a huge change from last year when I could barely even introduce myself to strangers!

It feels great being more confident. I want to keep it up. Yes, I will still have my moments of shyness, but I feel more...normal, now, I guess. I don't freak out over everything I say and do, I don't feel as if everything is staring at me--it's like art school has completely started changing me for the better. Heck, I even have to credit a dumbass I've been talking to for the last few months at school too. 

It's weird, but it just really hit me I guess. 

I guess the most significant changes just hit you without warning.

And for once, I'm glad.

Current List of Things to do:

1) Survive my critique tomorrow.

2) Finish packing at least half of my room up today.

3) Get my scholarship paperwork in order.

4) Get back to work on sorting out AICAD paperwork over the summer.

Yaaaay. 

So It's Finally Winding Down Sort of

Let me just say I am RELIEVED that the semester is winding down now.  RELIEVED, I tell you. I spent so much more time on my work outside of class than I have...ever. To give you an idea, I spent about 20 hours working on my animation final just getting the actual drawings done for shooting. I love 2-d animation and I definitely love the results, but it is so time consuming. I honestly don't think I would do it as a day-to-day job. I would loose my mind and my wits and all of the above.

However, I do have more appreciation for animation now than I did before. It's not that I didn't, because I am a huge nerd like that, but appreciating animation and appreciating animation as an animator are really two completely different things. There are so many things that go into that one second of animation that you never realize until you are sitting there at the light table yourself.

I am definitely a better artist for it.

I wish I could say that same about my conceptual development class, but to be honest that assignment just came together today. Not a good habit, but at least that's my last assignment for that class and then I will never have anything to do with performance art again (outside of my dancing, which I actually care about).

I've been taking a break from drawing for a bit and practicing video editing. (Can you blame me after making about 500 different drawings for my animation final?) It led to this really pointless YouTube Poop and I also must note that I made a test run for my web series that I am going to film this summer. Both videos can be found at my Youtube Channel. The least you can do is take a peek in there, right? 

Tomorrow itself is going to be a long day I think, but it'll be over quickly once I'm in the middle of it. I have to present my animation final tomorrow, which I am kind of worried about because I suspect my DVD didn't burn the movie correctly (but there's nothing I can do about it now) and then I have my final critiques for Conceptual Development, including my final project for that class. Yaaaaaay.

Anyway, I'm going back to unwinding now. Enough blogging, it is requiring too much thinking! XD

Love

As is proper for my last entry for NaBloPoMo (I made it all 30 days by the way), I have another corny insight to share and to blog about for today's entry.

Today, I realized what love really is. 

It was after the art history exam today. A good friend of mine was getting ready to commute home on his bike and I somehow ended up following him over to the bike racks at the school next door. After struggling (and failing) to get up on his bike, he ended up doing a demo for me around the small quad where we were. 

What I felt at that moment was the best feeling in the world.

He had the biggest smile on his face as he sped around the quad...and I couldn't help but smile myself. 

Love isn't about being together and being in a relationship. It's not about vows. It's not about exchanging phone numbers or going out weekly on romantic walks. It's not about any of that.

It's about being happy.

He makes me happy, even with all of the crap I've put up with from him.

I just wish I could tell him that. 

Who I'd Be

One of the best songs I've heard in awhile...

...and it came from a musical adaptation of Shrek. How did this happen? Seriously, I'm flabbergasted--the musical sounds like it might actually be BETTER than the movie was in terms of character development (Shrek admitting he wants to be known for more than being an ogre to Donkey--that's deep stuff right there). 

I hate to admit it, but this song is kind of inspiring right about now. 

And now off to face another day of my hell week at school. 

93 degrees? .______.

Apparently it is supposed to be 93 degrees Fahrenheit in Cambridge/Boston today? I don't know if I will be able to stand it. The animation basement at school is already usually in the high 80s at the very least and we have no air conditioning down there...I guess I better bring my water and my deodorant down today if I want to stay smelling/feeling decent.

This is one of those times I wish I was near Caspian Lake in Greensboro, VT, as boring as that town is. At least when it was hot down there it was really cold by the lake so that the breeze was enough to cool you off. And dipping my toes in the water while chilling at the end of the dock at camp? The best. 

I guess a part of me must really miss my family if I am thinking about camp, which I really used to despise when I still lived there...

Bring on the summer break. I'm ready for the next couple of days (which are going to be the hardest this week)!

Dr Horrible's Sing Along Blog

If you have the internet and don't live under a rock, you have no doubt heard of Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog, starring the ever awesome Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion and Felicia Day. There is a reason I really want to write a short blurb about Dr. Horrible, however. Really, when you look at it, DHSB is really a work of genius.

The whole atmosphere of the piece gradually goes on a downward spiral. At first it looks like the entire piece is going to be light-hearted, with Dr. Horrible singing the happy-go-lucky sounding song "Freeze Ray", complaining about how he can't talk to the girl of his dreams. Everything is lighter in this first part--the songs, the sets, the jokes, even the acting is just a bit fluffier.

But then everything gradually starts growing darker until, without any spoilers, the very end of the show.

While some people have complained about this disjointed feeling, I think it actually serves to tell the story more fluidly. If Shakespeare could have some comedic moments in his tragedies, why can't Joss Whedon have this sort of downward spiral in Dr. Horrible?

Dr. Horrible is not the only one negatively affected by this downward spiral in the mood--the viewer is as well. It just makes the storytelling feel that much more human-like in the way that it unfolds. It's not that there haven't been other people who haven't attempted this method of storytelling (if you look at the Harry Potter series J.K. Rowling does the same sort of thing throughout the seven books), but some people just haven't nailed it as well as Whedon did with DHSB. 

Bravo, Joss Whedon. Bravo and thank you for the storytelling inspiration.