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.