26 June 2012

Like I promised a short 4 weeks ago ...

...  my update on the happenings in the last year and a half. I think it's best to share in chunks.

Spring time in Aggieland ~
Some time in March I got the full video interview with DreamWorks Animation for the FX Challenge, which is essentially my dream job. It was a long antsy 2 months before I heard anything back. At that point I was told that I was on the border of whether they would take on another or not and it would be about a week before I hear any confirmation. Yeah, it's not stressing at all.

Summer summer time ~
In April, I bought a ticket to go back to Taiwan in late May to see my grandfather since he's been ill and going through surgeries. Mom was already in Taiwan by then. Shortly after I had gotten my ticket I received the news my grandfather has passed. Fortunately, I was coming to Taiwan in time for the funeral. It was good to go back. I realized I had not been back for ten years before this trip. The first week was all about the funeral. There were many prayer services beforehand that the family had to attend. This was also the first time I met my grandfather's lady friend. (My grandmother had passed a few years earlier.) Not many people were fond of the lady friend making the funeral business stressful and oddly entertaining.

The next two weeks of my stay in Taiwan I spent with my family eating a lot of really good food, checking out sites and museums, and the usual shopping at the night markets. One evening, 3 am local time in Taiwan, I got my call from DreamWorks with good news! They offered me the job! I remember after I got my call I couldn't stop smiling in addition to going back to bed from all the excitement. I told a small number of people I saw online at the moment, and then told them to keep their mouths shut until I get back to Texas.

On the way back from Taiwan I made a detour to Northern California to join my pal Brad and his family for a camping trip at Big Basin Park. Since I was going to be moving up in the area I started looking for places to stay. The combination of no car and short term planning deemed my house hunt unsuccessful. Luckily, Renee's friend had an empty room in her apartment and was willing to rent it out to me for super cheap rent. And this happened on the day I was flying back to Texas.

When I got back home I had a month and a half to find a sublet on a lease I renewed before I left the country and move out of the apartment by the end of July. The rest of the summer was week after week of trips. I went to Dallas to attend Adan's wedding. The next day, Joe and I was en route to Siggraph via plane to Seattle and bus ride to Vancouver. The return trip was pretty crazy -- 6 am bus back to Seattle and a full day walking tour with an 11:30 pm flight that landed us back to Dallas at 5 am. Then starts the drive to College Station to drop Joe off. I remember crashing on Camit's couch and hanging out with him before driving back to Austin.

Less than a week later, Eric (and his cats) and I were each doing a one week cross country drive to the SF Bay area. I brought along a couple of Jon's. :) This was a great group trip. I mapped out all the places I wanted to check out on the way -- Monument Valley, Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, and of course a stop in LA to see my friends there.

A few days later I was back in Austin to travel with my mom to the east coast for my cousin's wedding. It was pretty fabulous. Newport is one of those destination wedding spots. I swear I saw at least 4 weddings going on in that area. It also turned out that one of the groomsman in my cousin's wedding was also a groomsman for another wedding at the same venue the next day. I have to admit ... after all this travelling I got grumpy while checking out Boston with my mom. I felt really bad afterwards.

A week later I started my new J-O-B.

The FX Challenge til nowish ~
The challenge ... super fast, super crazy, super awesome. I learned so much from all this and got more and more excited about what was in store afterwards. At the end of the challenge James and I learned we were getting sent down to Glendale. I definitely do miss the Bay Area and everything because I never felt like I was quite done with the city. I also do love SoCal. The weather is really nice and most of my friends are here too. I haven't quite taken the time to check out The LA, but I'm always checking out new stuff around here.

So, there you go. The last year and a half. I'm definitely enjoying what I do and life in general.

mental note: need to pull pictures off of camera so there's less text :)

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