Better than unemployment...

So, news, everyone!  After much debate and budget legerdemain, Crest has decided they can't live without me and has agreed to keep me on as their in-house Layout guy.  The Alpha movie still isn't finished through blocking and they have a Direct-to-DVD project for Universal underway at the same time.  The DVD is nothing special but the turnaround is ridiculous.  Both films are to be delivered by Dec-Jan.  And then whatever they are trying to line up as a new feature before the Fall.  So, I have two weeks left before I get to go home for vacation and some man-cave.  We have a family vacation planned in July for us and Bren's sister's family to meet in Branson, MO for some outdoorsy fun.  I do not care if we don't set one foot in the town except for a dinner date.  No shows, no folk troupes, no Yakov Smirnov.  Just us and the lake and the woods for almost a week over my birthday. Woo Hoo! 

Two weeks left to finish Alpha and keep the directors at bay and not let them get all creative.  Not ideal, I like getting creative.  But there's not a lot of time and theirs around 50 shots left and the boss needs to review stuff as well and he'll be in India for the week.  Luckily, the stuff's gone through Indian blocking but I don't know how complex the fixes will be.  Hopefully better than the last sequence which traveled through all three RLO artists before it was finally conquered and approved Friday.  Two days late.  Well, a month and two days.  We were supposed to be finished with the movie back in May but BWAHAAAAHhahahaHAHAHAHH.  no.

I'll be driving home for the vacation because I need to get the car inspected back in Texas.  And wouldn't you know it.  Things are going pift inside.  Two weeks ago, the car dies on my way home and had to get a tow to this garage in SilverLake.  Replace Distributor Cap - Check.  This week, Check Engine light pops on.  could be anything.  Gas cap on tight - check.  Get diagnostic at EZLube: Oxygen sensor.  OK.  Back to garage.  Not Oxygen Sensor - faulty Distributor cap OR catalytic converter.  I am stranded this weekend while they continue to flush out the problem.  Granted the car is old and I don't know what or hasn't been done to the car but I'm worried that this is the tipping point where things start falling like dominoes.  Better now than on the freeway in Death Valley, right?

<<Haunted by death of Neon>>

Once more into the Breach...

Been swamped at work for awhile now. Getting near the inevitable. Trying to worm my way into sticking around a little longer. "The Little Engine" is underway and needs help but no money. No Layout. Still in character design. Animatics are being produced and then we'll see. It's suposed to be delivered sometime the end of/beginning of the year. A Feature length DVD for $4Mil. Quite the cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Patrick Warburton. Had Elle Fanning, Dakota's little sister but she got canned.

Crest wants me back for "the next project" whenever that will be. Demo Reel Production has begun. Couple clips from AO and clip from Simpsons. First 5 will go to Pixar, Lucas, Omation, Nick and ReelFX. Back to the Job Boards and recruiter calls. Sometime soon I plan on getting back home. There is a family vacation in July that we've been planning for months. Just a matter of if I fly home or drive home. Will need to get the car back to the state line for registration sometime this summer. Not real sure how it going to play out yet.