Welcome to Term 6!

Hey everybody, happy new year! I hope you had wonderful and joyous holidays...I know I did! To everyone I visited, stayed with, and got to see...thank you SO much for making my trip and time off from school an absolute blast! For those of you I didn't get to see...I'm so sorry it didn't work out, but I know we'll see each other on another adventure. And to those of you who read this...either regularly or from time to time, thank you! There are far more people reading than I thought, and it's nice to know you generally enjoy my ramblings. I'm sorry I don't write more often...but please, if there's some question you have for me, feel free to post it or email me.

For now, I've just started term 6...the LAST term in the program, and the one where you focus on one final project and your portfolio. Eek!! Soon I'll be job hunting again! I have my final project picked out...it's an animation created by a UCLA student that is about 2.5 minutes long. He gave me permission to rework the sound as a portfolio piece. I really like the look and story of it, so I hope I do the piece justice with my sound design! I won't say much more now, because I'm just plain nervous. It happens. I've got a full year of training behind me, and I know I can do it...but it's nerve-wracking all the same. Part way through the term, we present it to an instructor panel for feedback, and then to an industry panel. The industry panel are people working in the film, tv, and game audio fields (and probably others)...and they have been known to offer jobs to people based on what they see! Of course, it's harder for an American to do that thanks to darn immigration and work laws...sigh...but it's still good to make a good impression!

Many people ask what I'm doing next...and I honestly don't know. I'll be here for a month after graduation to wait for better driving weather. If I get a job...I'll move in that direction (and believe me, my job search is WIDE open!)...if not, I'll go back home, at least for a little while. I also have to fulfill a promise I made to speak about my new training at my old high school. That's a pretty cool invitation (and an intimidating one at the same time). At least I really enjoy what I'm studying, and certainly enjoy talking about the more exciting aspects.

Needless to say, it will be a very busy term, but in some ways, it might be easier . there aren't really any new classes, and instead of working on several projects, it's just this one. Last term I added projects to my agenda, and that made things tough, but it was so worthwhile. It's good to challenge yourself. And I'll be keeping that theme as I tie up the loose ends here. Job hunting is certainly it's own crazy challenge!

I hope to post some pictures from my trip...there are a LOT of cat pictures as I realized everywhere I stayed, there were pets! These are second only to pictures of my niece and other adorable kids, but I'll be more selfish with those photos. ;)