It is 2.05am 15th Feb, my birthday, hehe.

Some people might think its very SAD to not celebrate your own birthday but I guess I kind of accepted the situation I'm in already. Anyway, thinking I might not have the time for celebration today thought I'd at least blog to 'commemorate' what little memory I might have of today.

Hmm. I'm going to stay up to try and get my storyboard done for this story our teacher gave us about this woodcutter who finds a wounded crane in the forest. It's due on Monday and I've only done about 30 pages, which is slightly less than the half way mark, which is also why I don't think I will have the time to do anything tomorrow.

Anyway, what I particularly remember about this week was.. Friday! The 13th! I spent the whole of Thursday night decorating the sugar cut out cookies I baked and wrapping all the cookies. I lost a lot of sleep over that and while I was doing all that I really wondered whether there was something wrong with my brain for baking so many cookies. But in the end I was happy I did because when I went to school a lot of the girls brought cookies and cake and chocolates to give away so I had something to give in return. To backtrack on my baking history for the week, I baked banana choc chip muffins on Sunday and froze them, baked most of the cut out cookies on Wednesday and one batch of chocolate crinkle cookies (they taste exactly like brownies and have a really professional looking crinkled look but are real easy to make!). I bought a rabbit cookie cutter just for those cut out cookies and I realise how much work cut out cookies are to make! The dough has to be chilled to be firm enough to roll out, gets soft and sticky easily, and you can't bake too many at one go. So it took a lot of time just to finish baking all that dough, but they tasted nice annd buttery when done plus they were in cute rabbit shapes :). Okay and then on Thursday evening, I baked up the rest of the existing dough. Decided to frost the cut out cookies so I made a frosting, and with colored chocolate rice and chocolate icing pen I decorated the top of all the cut out cookies (There were so many!)

Okay so besides being all happily hyped over the giving and receiving of baked goods in class on Friday, I kind of enjoyed class and the teachers (weird way of saying but..). Had a really long talk with my Brazilian friend during lunchbreak about old cartoons and shows like Mighty Max and Scooby Doo and Batman and about European languages that made me really feel like studying some of them! He devoured the banana muffins (yes I thought they tasted deliciously banana-y too so I really wanted them to taste them too!)! The teacher we have on Friday mornings loves talking to him about European countries and stuff there like scenery and buildings and just stuff basically related to things like that. It's the same teacher who corrected the waves and stream for me, the same teacher I aspire to be if I could. His name is Hane sensei and I will promptly refer to him by that name from now for convenience. Anyway, I asked what they talked about and he told me the sensei loves Europe and has gone there a few times and he bikes to get around. And I thought wow, still so genki at this age! Haha.

Anyway, funny thing was, Hane sensei returned me my stream animation in class that day and somehow later during class, this guy from the Netherlands came to look-see (he was accompanied by a few of the sch staff) and Hane sensei wanted to show how the foreign students were coping with our work so he asked me back for the stream so he could have it run through the quickchecker for them to watch. Personally, I just find that there are some things not quite fanciful with the movement but the sensei had to say he thought it was good and he gave me an A for it. SENSEI! SHHH.

Speaking of Hane sensei, I gave him some cookies during breaktime and he asked me if they were manjyuu (japanese sweet pau) and I was like I'm really sorry, but I don't know how to make manjyuu. Haha. He seemed to be really nice that day, I was trying to understand the concept of the dog's skeletal structure on paper and he gave me some points even though I hadn't asked him anything. He even drew out some pictures for me which were pretty helpful. Actually, since the week when I openly said during Kinoshita sensei's class (the other movement teacher we have on the same day who happens to be really good buddies with Hane sensei) I aspire to be like Hane sensei, I've been getting some vibes that Hane sensei KNOWS. And that might be why he seems (I think!) to be a lot friendlier than what I remember. Which to me feels rather awkward, I really kind of wish he didn't know. Kinoshita sensei is such a siren!

Speaking of which, I'm still stuck doing his storyboard for the animation he wanted us to make; the one where I'm supposed to make the camera revolve a full circle around a guy serving tennis, which is so crappily hard. Again I wonder whats wrong with me for choosing such a difficult movement. Even a forehand would have been a lot easier even though tennis in general is prob really hard to do. I bought a tennis magazine a few weeks ago that had shots of tennis players movement meant for image training so that day I decided I'd really study the serve before I started drawing because I still couldn't visualise in 3D where each part was supposed to be at. I took notes too. Good thing the sensei was busy with something else and wasn' t there more than half the time as somehow I feel I can't concentrate with him walking around and peeping over my back. He is such a distraction!

Anyway, I had to pop off to the toilet at some point and when I returned, Horrors! The both of them were standing around my seat! I wondered what they were nosying at and Hane sensei started asking me what I was drawing, because he seemed to have noticed the tennis magazine there. He had to mention that he thought the magazine was really good material (he's so into collecting material useful for visualising movement and for designs). He previously asked whether I knew who Nishikori Kei was, and I realised after some checking up that he's the new Japanese tennis star who is said to have the potential to make it to the top 10. And he happened to be on the cover for that issue. Anyway, I felt kinda embarrassed they were there because my storyboard (also known in JApanese as an 'E Conte' no its not french) is so completely sucky and not near completion. I previously caught Kinoshita sensei looking through my Croquis book which wasn't even the one I use for Croquis, it was supposed to be for Mosha (where I look at existing images and try to duplicate them). And he was daringly sitting on my seat and flipping away without telling me anything! Sneaky! Keep your paws off my Croquis sensei! Haha. Maybe I should be happy he at least looked a bit because he's the one who tells us to draw lots of Croquis (like ten pages a day during winterbreak, hellooo?) and never asks to look at them.

Kinoshita sensei had to give us another one of his speeches just before class ended that day and he asked us how many of us were actually thinking of looking for jobs in the studio because lots of people didn't really seem to be serious with their work and I guess he was wondering whether they weren't that serious about it all. I guess the crux of his speech that day was that he wanted to tell us to be more decisive and to actually think about things and more importantly decide and make our own conclusions. It is okay to still be in the midst of deciding what we want to do but he said, we will really have to make our decision after summerbreak in our second year. Not only is time wasted when we can't decide whether we want to do something and therefore not put in effort during class, but its also troublesome for the teachers and for people in the studios because when the students can't decide they tend to drag their feet and not follow through properly and everyone's time and effort is being wasted. He had to add that he used to be like that until an experience changed the way he taught. He asked us to guess what it was (and no it wasn't a life-threatening situation) and he said it was something that all of us were going to experience in time to come. Nobody could be bothered to guess, haha, not surprisingly I know I wouldn't have been able to guessed it either, but he said in the end, it was about Love relationships. And I was like... Hmmmmmm... I see, kinda thing. Interesting. And he told us to write down what we think were our strengths and weaknesses and ask our friends to evaluate them casually, which I thought was another interesting part of his speech. He said at the place where he used to work part-time, the boss had told him to do the same and when he showed the boss, he said he felt his weaknesses were his strengths and what he thought were his strengths were his weaknesses. Hmmm... Interesting. I always think Kinoshita sensei's speeches are interesting and always impart some important points. Even though I'd say that everyody thinks different and lives by their philosophy I like how he's someone who thinks about things and shares about his experiences. I mean, how many japanese people are willing to tell you what they REALLY think?

(It's 3.30am now!)
Okay! So that was Friday! Can't believe I long-winded Friday now I have no time and energy to talk about anything else. Let's see.. (in summary)

1. I bought a Chocolate Fondue set a few days ago! I think it's really cute, it's red and comes with everything, candles, piercing forks, spatula, and even 2 bars of milk chocolate! I invited a friend the other day and we had chocolate fondue! But I realise I don't like eating fruit with chocolate! And it's way heaty and unhealthy eating so much chocolate at one go. Terrible for health. Maybe I should try eating something healthier with the set. I really like the idea of whatevers in the pot being kept nice and warm over a candle flame. Maybe I can try eating warm oatmeal or wheatbix with fruit, haha, while watching TV! Keeps the mixture warm while I eat intermittently! Haha! Lame! Sorry! But will try one of these days probably, before the weather turns warmer.

2. Had another friend over for dinner and desert today! She's also Singaporean and studies in the same course. But she's graduating soon and going back to sg, boohoo. She's prob the only one I can talk to about what happens in class because she knows the teachers too and she's also studying Animation, while the rest of the peeps I know who speak English prob wont have the patience to listen to me talking about what funny things the senseis did. She bought cake and they tasted so heavenly good! Nothing like the cream cakes in Singapore! In fact you can't begin to compare because they're completely on a different level. She bought them at a shop near school so we agreed we'd go buy cake together after school one of these days and enjoy our cake! Yay!

3. After chocolate fondue, I decided my eating habits have been getting way out of hand and I need to control them better. Which is actually hard to, because eating out of anxiety is just such a naturally human thing to do and you can't not eat when you're with company because they'd feel weird and then there wouldn't be anything to talk about. Plus, you just tend to eat more when you live alone precisely because there's no one else to eat the leftovers! Pah! Let's manage ourselves better! Poor digestive system, just hang on there a coupla weeks more and I promise I will eat good properly healthy meals three times a day, exercise, and drink lots of water T.T

Okay it's 3.50am! Horrors, and still left with more than half of the E Conte and a very full stomach from dinner and cake. Going to take a nap and wake up and hopefully work on my E Conte. Oh yea it's my birthday, haha. zZZz!

I think this week ended off really lazily; I feel like I've been slacking off towards the end. I started Sunday and Monday night sleeping only 6 hrs in total trying to finish this illustration on Photoshop that was supposed to be due Monday. Next time I'm not going to care and just submit it within the week since there doesn't seem to be any problem even if we go over the deadline.



TUESDAY
Anyway, it wasn't so smart to deprive the body of sleep because I woke up Tuesday morning with my head spinning (and I REALLY mean spinning) and I had to put myself back into bed as it would've been too dangerous to go to school in that state. So I went to school late on Tuesday, in time for the second half of lessons. We had to draw our bedroom, in proper perspective and proportion and draw in two people -one sitting one standing. Well, I sleep in the living room so, I can't really remember the no. of tatami mats made up the floor size (they measure floorspace by tatami mats in Japan). I know the two bedrooms are 5.5 and 6 in the apartment I live but the living room.. Ah well, decided to heck it and go by feeling and the rough draft I did the night before:

WEDNESDAY
Wednesday sketching class, the teacher had a bench dragged into the classroom and made us draw people doing stuff sitting on the bench. He would have us draw one person at a time to make up a complete scene. Like for the first drawing, he put on a spiderman mask and sat at one end holding up a pen and for the second part he had another guy sit at the other end with his mouth open (like he was gonna eat the pen). Most unfortunately I had to go pose cos my name was drawn and I had a guy classmate lie on my lap (!) not literally of course. The teacher gave me a katana and said I could choose between wanting to kill him or protect him, like a bnodyguard. Anyway, second half of the day, we finished watching the remaining bit of The Magnificient Seven, I know it already sounds trashy and some people might say the same too. It's a American movie with a plot based on and mostly almost copied from The Seven Samurai but I kinda liked it! I think its my first proper Cowboy movie I watched and I kinda liked watching what cowboys looked like on screen. The teacher also gave back the results from this test we did like last year.. its the kind they might make you do when you apply for a job. It's got general knowledge questions, math, english, japanese lang and this essay you had to write. And I really can't believe I got an A for it, in spite of writing it in my less than perfect Japanese. I think its incredible, they read the entire essay sectioning it commenting on anything that should be or shouldn't be in there. I was kinda surprised but, I think that made me wake up to the fact that knowing how to speak and write properly in order to convey your thoughts is important, even if there weren't any tests for it. Have been feeling recently like I've been lazying the language cos I couldn't be othered to and suddenly realise that I couldn't remember a lot of words. Okay anyway, after that, the teacher started giving his lecture and he's the one we can't stay awake listening to even if out lives were at stake. So I started drawing, beats doing nothing really (yea, its not finished):

THURSDAY
Then Thursday was totally unproductive. I was late for class and not knowing how to get started on our background assignment I practically almost left the whole canvas blank (on photoshop). Instead, my classmate from Brazil ended up explaining to me how you start by deciding on the color of the sky and determine what color the buildings will be based on the kind of light that falls on them. Color just completely escapes me at this point of time. He recommended this tutorial which is totally the bomb: http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials_2/return_fire-escape/return-fire_escape_01.asp This guy has vision and impeccable knowledge of colors and perpective. He knows which lines are the important ones which you can see makes a picture look so real without having to touch it up. The sky's the limit.

FRIDAY
And on friday (yesterday), I was still trying to finish my stream animation (a mountain stream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CZgKyoizT8&feature=PlayList&p=A7AE4C2C788E9A12&index=0 a bit like this I guess) that my teacher helped me out correcting the day before. His class was just next door. When I checked it with the computer (using this program called Quickchecker) I realised for the second time how incredible he is as an animator. He makes the bits of reflection on moving water look like they're melting into a new shape that so makes it look like the kind of moving water you'd see in a stream. Out of his hands come life, like seriously. I'm just wowed everytime. Anyway, managed to hand that in, but haven't yet started on the dog walking which I wont have time to do in class anymore since he just started on dog running. Looks like I'll have to complete it during springbreak.

Anyway, during afternoon class, we practically didn't have class when the teacher came in and gave us a long speech in another attempt to wake us up from our daze. Apparently our senpais have been giving the school a bad name, how they get hired and quit within a few months, not bothering to go to interviews and not declining job offers until the last minute. He said quite a lot of important things but I really had to go to the toilet. He went on and on for like 1 hr 20 minutes until he finally remembered to give us a break. Anyway, he wanted us to know that you don't get hired and quit within 1 - 3 months saying its not your cup of tea. He said you wouldn't know until you've been there 3 years, or if the job is tough, at least 5. At this rate, he said there'd really be nothing to expect from this generation of animators, since there'd be so few people rising to the top. He wanted us to know that we have to work hard, not dreading at it but working at it, and there'd be people who're out to bully you just to see how long you'd last. In the world of grown ups people get pushed around and there are always people who would take advantage of you at any opportunity there'd be, so he said, you have got to know how to bear it and carry on (such a japanese thing). And then he said, there are two types of 'working hard' of which are separated by one factor: Stamina. Stamina will allow you to bring the fruits of your hard hard labor a step further and allows you to keep going on. Without, you can only achieve that much with your hard work and that would be all that you'd be capable of doing.

Well he talked a looootttt.. and then he made us tell him our vision for the future. And I had to start. And he said don't tell me your dream is to stand atop the merlion and scream (like what's with the Japanese and the merlion?). Finally decided I'd say I wanted to be a really good pro. And he said like what. So I said I wanted to be like that teacher (the one who drew the waves and stream) because I could feel something everytime he drew and I wanted to be like that. He's actually quite good friends with that teacher so I kind of wondered if he told him (he was teaching the class next door again). Apparently he used to have a fanclub full of high school girls but he wasn't interested in all that stuff then. Haha.

If I wrote everything that was said down I'd never see the end of this post. Something seems to happen everyday even when nothing happens, which is interesting I guess. I wonder though whats going to happen next year when we start job hunting. That's gonna open a whole new chapter to living here. Guess I better do something now, it's 10.20pm already.