Critical Mass

This week in Body Mechanics at AnimationMentor.com our assignment was to do a heavy push up an incline. I looked forward to the assignment with glee. (No really, I was excited to get started). Of course, we are oft advised by our lecturers and mentors not to just jump in and start animating. First we must plan out our shot. A long time ago I delivered pizza's part-time for Domino's; they always told us to look on the big map on the wall and know where we were going before we left for a delivery. Same kind of thing.

So the first thing I did is I went outside and, wearing my Napoleon Dynamite ringer t-shirt, captured some reference of myself pushing an object. Again I used my Nikon 880 digital, which takes great photos but is crappy for video. It's all I got, so 15fps 320x240 heavily compressed video had to do. I posted a clip of my reference on the AM message boards, and later in my workspace on campus. I enjoyed getting comments from fellow students, most of whom enjoyed the footage. If anyone found it useful or amusing I'm happy.

Later I sat down and studied what I'd filmed (even though it's not film, we still say it that way), and drew thumbnails for the important poses. It took quite a while to block out the shot once I got into Maya, but it came together much more readily than my previous assignment had. Still, I wanted to do more with it, come up with some additional "business" as it's often called, and make it more entertaining. Without the time or the skill with Maya, I had to keep it pretty plain. I was kinda bummed.

Speaking of bummers, a cloud is looming on the horizon. The credit card I use to pay for school has just about reached critical mass, the point at which any increase in the balance will raise the minimum monthly payment beyond my ability to pay it. At that point I will have a decision to make; either to drop out of Animation Mentor or figure out some way to pay down my debt.

Job? Any decent paying job would do. It wouldn't be that tough to come up with the $2,000 in tuition every three months with regular full or even part-time employment. Compared to no job, that is. Unfortunately, for the past few years even a part-time job has not been even remotely feasible for me. It's just not possible for me to work away from home while taking care of my parents 24/7, even part time. And this past year I've had to give up all but the tiniest freelance assignments because it is impossible to predict my availability. I do have a job, as caregiver, just not a paying one. Don't know what I will do to stay in school so I'm just trying not to get too discouraged.

Luckily, my mom has been in better health and spirits in recent weeks. So much so that I have had to reconsider placing her in custodial care. She really improved that much! This past weekend, however, some other issues came up. I'm hoping those are now under control or at least manageable. Regardless, my mom's improvement in wellness and mood is no small thing...it has been the longest stretch in many months that she's had more than 1 good day in a row. Even with the other things that have come up, that is an enormous relief and I am immensely thankful for it.