In My Absence: Part III

The Sky Is the Limit, or the amount your body and mind can take, given disease and sleep deprivation.

So I’ve been trying to keep it together and so far so good.  I’m tired and my skin is showing the results of drinking Rockstar, but otherwise, I’m doing well.

I guess my main complaint would be that I don’t feel as competent as I’d like in any area of my life right now.  There’s a point in any job or class that you want to feel like things are just smooth sailing.  And for me, even though it’s getting close to smooth sailing, I’m still on bumpy turf.  This morning for instance, I’m working at Gnomon School of Visual Effects.  The person that trains me is out for the day.  So I’m having to ask everyone else how to do everything.  Granted, I’m learning way more this way by doing, but I’d rather it be that I just felt comfortable, you know?  Even answering the phone, because I haven’t done it all that much, still feels awkward.

Zbrush class is starting to get a little more fun now that I know my way around the program a little bit better.  At the same token however, it still feels foreign and I have to re-read my notes and google questions that I have for most things with the program.  I’m also having to watch Zbrush tutorials for refreshing.  But I’m loving the program and just wish all I had to do was live and breath Zbrush for a while.  This weekend I’m going to give my 3D character my all since mid-terms are coming up.  Depending on how it goes, I may post it.  :)

The bowling alley is another story.  I am getting better at it but boy is it hard work.  I never realized that working there would be so tough.  I really thought that I’d have very little to do.  So I’d rather have it be tough and busy so that I actually make money than have me just standing around.  Time goes faster when you’re busy too.  On Mondays I wait on Leagues back to back.  I don’t know how many leagues I wait on, but I have tables too.  I’m guessing since I have 10 lanes and each lane has around 5 people, that I’m potentially waiting on 50 people, give or take because not everyone orders.  But if you can imagine, 50 people, plus other tables, it can get quite busy sometimes.  And I wait on one league and then another.  So I’m constantly putting in orders, memorizing names and drinks.  It’s much more difficult that I could have ever imagined.  But I am enjoying it now that I’m getting to know people and their drinks a little bit better.  On Tuesdays, the other server can’t come in until 7.  So from 5 till 7 I wait on 24 lanes, one of them being a league.  Sometimes it’s not as difficult as it sounds and sometimes it’s REALLY difficult.  This past Tuesday took the cake.  I was exhausted!  My feet simply couldn’t move fast enough for everyone’s orders.

But what else is new?  Well, I’ve joined twitter officially.  And that means I’m posting frequently.  I am in charge of marketing the studio that I work for.  And this past week I’ve decided to take the studio into twitter world.  And doing so, I realized that I needed to tweet more often too.  So I’m double tweeting…  tweeting for me and tweeting for the studio.  I like it,but it’s a whole new world that I know nothing about.

And of course, keeping everything straight in my head is a challenge.  I find that answering the phone for Gnomon School is probably the most difficult, given that for the past almost 5 years, I’ve been answering the phone (and still do) for S4 Studios.  So every time I pick up that phone, my head literally says, “‘Don’t say S4 Studios’, Say ‘good morning gnomon'”  Since I’m only at Gnomon two days a week and I don’t always answer the phone, it’s something I haven’t been able to turn into a habit yet.  You would think out of everything I do, this would be the easiest task, but it’s quite the opposite.  OMG and transferring calls is another task I’m just not used to.  Oh well, I will get it eventually.  I was told I won’t be feeling comfortable with all the ins and outs of this internship until the second semester.

With all of that, I’ve been debating whether I should do a couple more things.  Like I should add anything more to my schedule, right?  Well, the two things are these.  First, I was asked if I’d like to work a Sunday bar-tending shift for now on.  I told the manager that I would have to think about it.  Normally I would say no.  But in reality, I think bar-tending is a pretty good skill to learn for living in Los Angeles as a female.  Female bartenders can make a lot of money at some places.  And although I probably wouldn’t make all that much here, it would give me a chance to really learn how to bar-tend.  So I’m leaning towards asking if I can alternate Sundays, that way every other Sunday I will have a break.  That’s what I think I’ve decided.  Stay tuned and I’ll let you know how that goes.

The other thing I’ve been debating is becoming a vendor at Venice Beach.  I was thinking of doing portrait sketches, as well as selling paintings.  The only problem here is that you have to be there by 5 a.m.  Any later than that, and there’s no chance of getting a spot.  I’ve heard that the money potential is fantastic.  Not only that, but it would give me a day at the beach, more exposure as an artist, more practice as an artist, and it would help simply get my name and S4 Studio’s name out there.  But late nights plus a 5 am. morning Sat and/or Sunday would be really difficult.  So I’m having a tough time trying to figure out how to wing it.  I currently have all the supplies ready to go.  So I’m prepared to do it, I just have to try.  Stay tuned and I’ll let you know if I give that a shot this weekend.

Can my plate be more full?  Probably not but don’t freak out.  I’ve always been this way.  Having RA has really slowed me down, or at least it has made me slow down.  I’m finally getting back to feeling like my normal self again, grabbing the bull by its horns and going for it.  For the past five years I’ve worked really hard at finding the answers for my RA.  I won’t say that I’ve found the answers exactly, but I will say that after all these years of research, my daily supplement routine has finally made it possible that I can do what I’m doing now.  I wish you all the best success that life has to offer.  Thank you for your support!

Oh and one more thing!  Wish me luck on getting the RA scholarship that I’m hoping for, from http://reachbeyondra.com  I hope they give it to me so I can pursue 3D animation and modeling with a vengeance!