December 9, 2010

My Website

Hey everybody out there in the blogging world! I finally finished the first draft of my website and I'm now trying to really get it out there and let the world see what I can do. Just a quick summery, I'm a 3D character animator and this site is to show my different talents in the field of 3D animation.

http://www.chrisddtesta.com/

October 4, 2010

THE BATTLE WITHIN! (and on my legs)

With the arrival of cold weather comes my eternal mental battle with myself, PANTS OR SHORTS! Constantly I find myself wondering, which do I truly prefer! LET US EXAMINE!

PANTS:
Pros: They look awesome. Trust me, I have sources. More than once I have received compliments about looking good in pants, but not once has anyone said that about Chris in shorts. They also protect from scrapes, something I'm very prone too.
Cons: I lose lots of flexibility and I hate jeans, which is pretty much the primary version of pants these days.

SHORTS:
Pros: Flexible, comfortable and just generally a lot more freedom. Think about it, sitting around in a grassy field under the shade of a tree, are you wearing pants? No! SHORTS!
Cons: Have you ever tried going on a date or to an office in shorts? Embarrassing!

So which one really wins? I don't know, I was just trying to kill time and not work. Either way, it doesn't matter. The seasons have control, not me.

September 25, 2010

Not so Blogging.

Reader: you haven't written a new entry in so long!
Me: your right none existent person!

Uh...yeah so I didn't lose my job, I still make crapy money. I bought Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for half off and loved it so much I played it every free minute I got and beat it 46 hours later...which looking back was foolish cause I'm bored again. So I just got How I Met Your Mother Season 5 on DVD and am watching it...my life isn't very exciting right now and now I can't afford to buy any more fun things after Iron Man 2 next week (and even that I shouldn't get)...yay!

But hey, if anyone knows about an animation jobs out there right now please let me know! Preferably 3D character animation, but beggars can't be choosers.

August 30, 2010

Baltimore Comic Con


Another comic con came and passed as me and my friends journeyed to Baltimore, MD. This time around two-face took on the role of batman and batman took on the role of cat woman (someone right a fan fiction about that right now!) and we had many grand adventures and I was finally able to find X-23 Target X, the rare out of print X-23 story! So all and all good day, no Adam West day, but still good.

Just like last time, if you saw our group and you have a picture please let me know! And if I met costume you and you wanna be friends, send me a message and I'll facebook ya!

Now to start working on my next costume, which may be Super Boy Prime in Anti Monitor Armor for New York Comic Con, but money and time must be figured out for that journey! (also I'm thinking I need to do another Marvel costume to start balancing it all out!)

August 23, 2010

I Declare!

May - I declare to the world that I will be figuring out a way to live in philly as long as possible while I hunt for a job
June - I make plans to replace my friends old roommate so I can stay in philly one more month

August - I declare to world that I will have a job in two months
September - I get a job at Radioshack

November - I declare to the world that I will have a better job by Christmas
December - I get a job at Honda making almost double the money

February - I declare I will have a animation job by my birthday
February - I get a job at a animation studio 4 days before my birthday (which is actually in March)

August 23 2010 - I declare to the world I'll get a better job making better money and still doing what I love by Christmas 2010.

hey, the system seems to have been working so far, might as well try it again!

August 14, 2010

Scott Pilgrim vs my reviewing!

Comic:
One of the best series I've read. The first volume is filled with heart, decent art and lots of laugh. By the time you reach the sixth you love all the characters, happy with the ending but still left wanting more. And that's where my addiction began, so you can bet I was scared by the idea of a game and movie.

Video Game:
Old school beat 'em up like Streets of rage, Battle Toads or Turtle's in Time with classic chiptunes music and a great leveling system. How could it go wrong? Well guess what, IT DIDN'T! It felt like playing my Sega or Super Nintendo without feeling dated. It was fun enough that I beat it with all four characters just to unlock the secret character and am going to beat it with him! I know what you're thinking, a comic book/movie video game that's good, I had my doubts too, but consider my fears shattered! Oh and did I mention Zombies?

Movie:
How? How can you make a movie out of something so random, filled with video game/rock/pop culture references? How could you ever believe you can capture the same emotion and energy? You're a brave man Edger Wright, and I'm sorry when you announced this movie that I doubted you. I'm sorry I thought even your Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz skills wouldn't be enough. You proved me wrong. Although you had to change a lot of information and re-arrange the events a bit, you created a movie that captured the feel and had me enjoying myself the entire time.
Michael Cera, you may still not be 100% Scott Pilgrim in my head, but you did damn good job and I loved your dopiness. Ellen Wong, way to be a awesome high school ninja, I shall attempt to keep track of your future career! Kieran Culkin, you almost stole the show with your banter and energy. Mary Elizabeth Winstead, you did amazing, and I blame the director for your lack of emotion (sorry Edger) cause I could feel your real energy trying to poke through(also Edger admited in an interview that you were too funny and he toned you down). Last but not least, Jason Schwartzman, wow...just wow. Funny but evil, and you know you got something special when I keep having the line "the acoustics in here are AMAAAZZING!!!!" loop in my head just because you have awesome ways of saying everything!
(side note Anna Kendrick, you were a awesome Stacey Pilgrim and you are very very very pretty!)
And about those references, Beck and Metric supplied the perfect bands for Sex Bob-omb and Clash and Demonhead. In the first 2 seconds of the movie you hear sounds from Legend of Zelda. Seriously, this movie made me geek out so much I missed some of the lines and now have to see it again.

So what does this mean? It means I have found the trifecta of nerdum!, a trio of geekyness, A TRI-FORCE OF ENTERTAINMENT POWER! Never have a I known a series of Comics that gets adapted into a movie that really captures everything that's needed. And you top that off with a video game that got me back on the gamespot forums to geek out with fellow gamers? It's never happened! Now all I wish is they had an amazing set of toys! (I'm talking to you Hasbro!...and don't you dare give me that 3 inch B.S.)

So as much as I never want the series to end and would love to know what happens in the lives of all the side characters, I think it should be stopped here and I can forever know it ended in perfection.

July 22, 2010

Vol. 6 review!!!

You know what would make buying Scott Pilgrim amazing? Having chest pains that cause you to go to the hospital but just turns out to not be a heart problem and is just torn muscles....alright so that's what happened to me!

Review time!

Alright, I'm a huge fan of the series so I am a bit of a "this series can't do any wrong" but hey, reviewers agree with me, so let's just get into it!

Story: What makes a good ending? Answering all the questions from previous books, facing all your demons, growing into a better person, and loving the entire ride. Scott pulled it all off, and kept the awesome subtleness each volume had. The conclude stories spanning all the books and after the conclusion of Stephen Stills story, I went back and skimmed vol. 5 and realized that hinted the conclusion in that volume! The story is solid and keeps you guessing, but still gives you enough hints that your 100% shocked. My only complaint, the final ending was great, but felt like there could be more added. Maybe not a Scott Story, but one of the other people in his life, like Knives, could get a side story written in a brand new style the fits her personality more.

Writing: Funny, clever, and well thought out. The characters feel like real people dealing with real problems, but in crazy ass ways. It's well written and keeps you wanting to read more, especially if your into random comments that are just bizarre but make perfect since in context.

Art: Many complain the art of these comics is childish. It isn't childish, just simple, but that doesn't mean it was always good. Vol. 1 had good designs and dynamic poses, but the line quality sucked and characters did break from model. It seems 6 years is a perfect amount of time to master your art cause all the flaws from Vol. 1 are completely gone in vol. 6.

All and all, I'm happy! Always good to not be upset by your nerd loves.

Oh, and to top it off there are two more clips and one more trailer for the movie and all of them seem great and fairly accurate. The only real changes to the story I've seen are in the Vol. 6 parts, but Edger Wright already warned us he made it a bizarro version of the comic ending and Bryan Lee O'Malley helped write it so we should be good! I'm excited and we all know a review is on the way when that and the game come out!

July 19, 2010

SCOTT PILGRIM!

In honor of Scott Pilgrim vol. 6 I will now post a video related to the book coming out tomorrow, the video game coming out on August 10th and the movie coming out August 13th.

One of the best short comic book series ever!


Old School gaming based on a great comic! HELL YEAH!


Potentially one of the best comic -> movies ever!

July 13, 2010

BEACH JOURNEY!

Journey begins, travel to Wilmington and save Graham from city punks. 2:30 hour trip down to beach get there near 1, Tim and Kelly still working for first hour and find out Erin won't be making it...not the greatest start, go to the beach, JUST TOOK A GREAT STEP FORWARD! The beach is amazing and the waves are 20 feet high and a current that drags you a foot to the left every time you're feet leave the ground! After around 30 mins we feel like we've fought death itself so we hang in the sand. Then we go to the salt water pool in Tim's development and swim for hours. . We get food at this Bethany blues BBQ place. The foods great! Then we watch Summer School, PS: actually really funny movie and there's a lot of actors who I know from recent things. After that, a nice dip in the hot tub then a few hours talking in the living room before we're off to bed!

Day two, the adventure continues, and my recollection of the order of the awesome events gets fuzzy. We already know it's going to rain. We decided to spend the day renting movies and going to this awesome old toy store. I find out they have a game section in the back and I buy 2 NES games and 1 Sega, great for a gaming nerd like me! Graham gets some transformers too! We then watch Hot Tub Time Machine, which was also a good movie...but frankly not sure I want to see it more than once. Then we travel around the board walk and go into some funny shops. We then return to Tim's place and Me, Tim and Graham all go swimming in the salt water pool for a few hours. Go back to the house and eat some burgers and dogs off the grill with Kelly's awesome homemade mac and cheese (with Tomato sauce, odd but yummy). We then watch a lot of funny wedding related things, such as how I met your mother and the office to celebrate Tim and Kelly's engagement. By the end of the day we can hardly stand so we all pass out and agree to get up early.

THIRD DAY AND TO THE BEACH WE GO, FIRST THING! It's super clear so we get a great spot and the waves are perfect. We arrive around 8:30, and while fighting the large (but calmer then before) waves Graham Yells "RIDE IT BOYS!" and we obey...which ends with a mouth full of water and losing the ground as it dips down. 3 hours and 100's of gallons of salt water later we decided to head back to Tim's again. We pack up, take showers and eat some lunch. Graham and Kelly need naps so Tim, Matt and I battle it out in Goldeneye for the N64 a bit. After that's over we all start our goodbyes and we're off.

The train from Wilmington doesn't go up to philly on Sunday so I have to drive him up. We stop only to check on my car at my dad's (ps: it's in the shop now...more on that later) We go to China town and have to kill an hour for his bus to New York so we get some Chinese food in China town! After a good conversation we say good bye and I travel down to Tim's because I'll be working on Monday and Tuesday at Silver Spring...weird but that's a story for another day! CAUSE THIS IS A HAPPY POST!

June 28, 2010

Not So Lame Life O Mine

So I finally upgraded my PS3 with a 500GB hard drive cause I filled it's old 60GB one (it took 2.5 years to do) and I've been all excited today and have been wanting to play games all day, like having more space means I have more money to get games. As a result I've been thinking about just how lame my life is right now. I mean I'm getting excited about a new hard drive.

So now I am thinking about the exciting things coming in my future like going to the beach with my friends from the 9th to the 12th, Scott Pilgrim Vol. 6 coming out on the 20th, Scott Pilgrim Video game coming out on the July 10th and the movie July 13th (shut up I like Scott Pilgrim a lot), and above all going, in costume with my friends, to the Baltimore Comic Con! See, life isn't all that bad! And there are other little things like hanging with my friend Aaron whenever I can, cause he's moving at the end of the summer, and hanging with my friend Erin cause she's in Philly...and come on, Philly is awesome and there will be random hanging with Tim and Kelly (who are engaged now might I add) and my brother, who may be moving closer at the end of the summer. And you know I'll probably be seeing other friends at points too!

So what's the point of this post? To remind my subconscious that that my life is filled with awesome and I enjoying the little things like an upgraded PS3 is just the icing between me and the truly awesome things to come!

June 13, 2010

Wizard World 2010



Alright, so I'll start with Adam West since I mentioned him in previous post! Meeting him was super exciting and super nerve raking. When I got to him it felt like I was supposed to talk to his guard cause he instantly started telling me about prices and what not. I got my BluRay copy of "Batman the movie" all ready when suddenly Adam asked me to "do my Riddler laugh" I got thrown for a loop. I sat there thinking "what's a Riddler laugh? Didn't he say in an interview that Frank Gorshin had a distinct laugh. Does he mean that. " So I got trapped in my head, totally failed, but I still met him and got his autograph and he was happy and nice, so whatever, I can still die happy now!


Greatest part of it though, was being stopped for 352 pictures with people or by people I don't even know. Makes me really feel like I did a great job on my Riddler Costume (cause I already knew my friends did great jobs on theirs). Everyone from little kids to grownups (and sometimes creepers) love to see people all dressed up. Once some pics are up I'll be posting them here!

Speaking of pictures! I am currently on the hunt for all 352 images taken by people I don't know! If you were at wizard world (comic con) Philadelphia this weekend (Saturday the 12th) and saw a Riddler, Poison Ivy, Two face, Batman/woman (girl dressed as batman) or Penguin let me know! Share a link, I'd love any help finding those images.

I knew it would be a good day considering I was able to a copy of Superman/Batman no. 26 within minutes of being there. James Marsters was also a amazing person, so easy to talk to and he talked about how he has a storm trooper costume that he dresses up in when his kids go to sleep, making him one of the most amazing people ever! And we entered the costume contest which was cool but very time consuming. We got to be in pictures near the batmobile, hang with storm troopers, be in newspapers on maybe on TV, and generally feel like we were part of some awesome club!

Big regrets? I wasn't very cool around Adam West, but honestly my worst day meeting Adam West out does any day not meeting Adam West. The costume contest coulda been more organized, totally not my fault. Beyond that, perfection!!!!

June 11, 2010

ADAM WEST!!!

So I'm finally going to meet Adam West, who's honestly the only star I've ever thought "man I have to meet him." so I'm really really excited! I've planned my conversation with him in my head like 100 times now and I'm still not really ready. So I think it's going to come down to walking up to him with a few of my friends and just seeing what happens. If he's a nice guy (god he better be...I don't' want my dreams crushed) then it should be easy enough to just chat for a few seconds before running of giggling like a school girl.

Luckily, me and my friends are going in costume, and I'm totally the Riddler! So hopefully that will help start a good conversation!

OK, wish me luck! CAUSE ADAM WEST HERE I COME!!! (in like 17 hours...)

May 31, 2010

One Sentence Rambling

Alright, so I've been rambling a lot lately, but have really only been saying the same thing over and over again. So I figure I would try something, say all the things that frustrate me right now, but only give them one sentence! Why am I trying this, I don't know....shut up...seemed like a good idea...

I'm currently working a job that is only paying me about a third of what I should be making.
My boss is currently trying to hire someone who is linked to many bad memories and will only cause drama.
I am currently searching for a better job but am finding nothing.
I am being forced to go on a double date that I really don't want to go on, but I will cause I'm a good guy.
I didn't get to see a bunch of my old friends for dinner today after two weeks of anticipation.
I miss my Philly friends because they were like a family to me but now there all at minimal 40 mins away.
I have been asked about my love life by around 20 people in the past two weeks and I'm tired of explaining it.
I suddenly started sleeping poorly again after two weeks of amazing sleep.
I'm stuck living at my dad's till I can find a much better job.

Alrighty, that was fun, I think I even forgot stuff, but if it didn't come to mind it must not be that bad! Now for happy thoughts! PRINCE OF PERSIA MOVIE WAS AWESOME! Alright, so it wasn't exactly as great as the games, but it was good and I had fun and will most likely pick it up on DVD at some point, so good enough!
Scott Pilgrim movie is looking super amazing! I love that comic so to see they are being so faithful makes me happy
I'm going to meet Adam West in two weeks and I'm going to be dressed as Riddler, it will be the best day ever and nothing can ruin that. NOTHING!!! You hear that world!

May 9, 2010

Iron Man 2

Light Spoiler Warning!

Film work: 9/10
Generally good film work, but I do get wonder how much of what I'm seeing is actually there and how much is created in a computer. Personally I'm all for real sets and puppets. Theres something about real objects that make them interact with lighting and film much better. Also, it's easy to see a CG Iron Man in front of a real environment vs a CG one. Honestly though, what would a movie about a super armor be if it wasn't very computer based.

Animation: 10/10
How I rate animation, if I feel my mom can do it, it's crap. If I feel I can do it, then it's good, but if I can't understand even in the my wildest dreams how it's possible, then you are a god to me! I mean the freaken suitcase armor transformation blew me away. I remember wanting to rewind and pause just to pretend I could understand how thats possible. And the big fights, none of that transformers cut to close ups and make everything fuzzy crap, you can see the details and you leave knowing exactly how it all went down.
Oh, and the computer! I want Tony Starks basement. He can keep the cars, the armor,and even the mini fridge, give me the J.A.R.V.I.S. and the 3D computer and I'm set for life!

Acting: 9/10
I give it a 9 only cause it's hard to be perfect, but come on, I mentioned the computer, that some how Robert Downey Jr. was able to act like he was using when it wasn't even there. You try doing that. Don Cheadle make Rhodey more fun. Gwyneth Paltrow is still awesome as Pepper, and her role had to evolve greatly for this one. Scarlett Johansson did some kick ass moves and made me think for just a second "black widows awesome" and I am not a black widow fan. Samuel L. Jackson, I'm sorry I doubted you. You did good and kept the character light during serious moments, which I feel is a theme to this movie. Mickey Rourke, again, I hate whiplash and you made me ok with him...just ok...still a stupid villian.
Jon Favreau, stop putting yourself in your movies! You are not Happy Hogan, you were funny but you didn't fit the character at all, please stop it.

Writing: 9/10
Almost perfect, if not for one or two crap one liners it would have been a 10. I mean when you have such good jokes suddenly the bad ones pop out. But really, even when the movie gets completely serious Tony Stark keeps making jokes, and thats the Tony I love! Only time he gets serious is when he's about to die or no one's around. Writers, my hates off to you.

Action: 10/10
The final Fight it like 15 minutes long and is drop dead gorgeous, just that makes me happy. Lets add on a amazing fight between Mark II and Mark IV! Only fight that was kinda lame was the first whiplash fight, but thats only cause it took to long to really become a fight. Honestly, hard to say a bad thing about this good old fashioned Iron Man beat downs.

Accuracy: 9/10
Alright Sam, sorry I have to do this but you felt more like a parody of Nick Fury more then you did Nick Fury, but I kinda blame the writers for that and it fit the movie very well.
Pepper and Tony actually hooking up...still really hasn't happened in the comics cause of the whole Happy Hogan thing so that was a bit off, but it fits the movie world well.
Lets face it, they were able to squish Demon in a Bottle, Armor Wars, War Machines Origin, and some other random things like Tony's not so great father into one movie and make it flow damn well. May not be perfect, but I aint gonna complain...well besides about the things I say in this review....

All and All: 9.5/10
I went there with the highest over hyping I've ever done and did not leave disapointed, so thats good enough for me. I mean I almost went out and bought some Iron Man comics after I saw the movie...but then I remembered I'm gonna see it again in IMAX next week so I didn't waste the money! Oh, and I've already seen it twice! So to sum up, I loved it so much I'm gonna see it three times!

May 7, 2010

Great Day!

Iron Man 2 was awesome (I have complaints, but nothing to big), I didn't have work, I watched TV and anime on computer, Maxed out my character in Borderlands (well...before I get the General Knoxx DLC) and just generally relaxed...honestly was just a great day. Only bad thing that happened was my GPS is going to need to be sent to Tom Tom to get fixed...but really it blanced out!

Hmm....maybe tomorrow I'll write a review for Iron Man 2...that sounds like fun!

April 12, 2010

IRON MAN 2!

So I'm stupidly over hyping myself for Iron Man 2, but hey, I doubt they can pull another spiderman 3 right? RIGHT!?! *Cries*
Anyway, this interactive trailer thing is awesome so lets hope this thing works!



Awesome, right? RIGHT!?!

March 23, 2010

Not So Great Times

Alright, lets sum some stuff up. Working at a studio, offered a job, was offered 1k less a month then what it would take to actually move to place. Informed boss need more money and that they were attempting to pay me 1,100 less then indistry standard for starting animators. They budget and were able to offer me 350 more...which I then explained to them is still not enough and that they know what I need and if I can't get it I have to quite by the end of March cause I won't have a place to stay or money to afford a place...they just said they'll have to figure out what they can do....ugh..

My phone died today because I can't find my charger. I packed it when I left my cousins (both me and my brother remember that) and now I can't find it anywhere.

Now for what this entry is really about. Late sunday night my grandfather was struggling and passed away after over 92 amazing years of life. His name was Floyd Durham and he was best known for building his own small airport. He is actually in the Delaware Aviation Hall of Fame for his contributions. His life has always been an insperation to me and is actually the reason I believed I could actually start an animation studio. These last two days have been really long and I've had to make sure I'm contastantly doing something so that I don't think about it and can keep helping my family deal with it.

Alright, that felt good to get off my chest, but now I've got work to do for a job that i might not have next wensday...fun...

March 6, 2010

Why not all good news?

So I started my internship last week(did I mention I got an animatoin internship...). Anyway, it's awesome! I spent my first 5 days texturing guns and faces so they look real. Now they want me to learn vue so I can make 3D worlds for the textured things to run around in. And get this, they paid me at the end of the week...I got paid to do stuff I love, thats awesome! Yay happy end of the story!

But, not all good news here. I had a pretty good living situation going on, cost more then I wanted for a one month room for rent, but hey, it was close to work and I got a whole room. But, then the owner of the house turned out to be extremely...friendly...In other words he kept saying extremely weird things, talking about random sexual things and to top it off would stand close enough that if I moved at all Id touch him, and on a few occasions did. I'm leaving out some details cause I don't want to go into it, but to make a long story short, things got really creepy and I had to move out. Now I'm going to be moving in with my cousin, which is further away and she has 2 kids (another on the way) so it's going to be complicated in a new way, but by goly if it doesn't get creepy I'll be happy.

Alright, don't expect any entries any time soon, wont have internet sept at work and doubt I'll write anything at work.

February 25, 2010

Animator

DUDE! I TOTALLY SPENT SEVEN AND A HALF HOURS COLORING A 3D MODEL TODAY! AND I CAN CALL IT A JOB!! A JOB!!!!!

But seriously, I had a great day with great people doing great things and besides the 3 hours in a day to do it, it was perfect. Now all I need to do is get offically hired so I can get paid and pay for living and what not!

Also, I'm going to be moving to washington DC for a week (and hopefully a month) so thats going to be interesting. And hopefully my canadian roommates will be nice! Their a writer and a film maker. And my other roommate is a lawyer, but he wont be there much. Hopefully in a month I'll get my own place and everyone will visit me...cause they love me.

February 1, 2010

A Chris Devided.

Alright, so heres my current dilemma. I'm sick of my current job. I came home and cried last Friday as a result of some of the bastard things I had to do, and thats just not healthy. I also haven't gotten a good sleep in two weeks and apparently it's showing. Everyone thinks I look depressed and my eyes were blood shot this afternoon. So I decided I'm going to go down to my employment agency and ask for a new job to work. Then it hit me, If I do that I have to give my current job two weeks notice or they can put my remaining pay checks down to minimum wage. I honestly need as much money as possible so thats not a good plan. But then that means I'd have to be at my job for three more weeks, which ain't a good plan either. Besides that, I'd just get another crappy job I hate. Maybe not as emotionally damaging, but still would hate.
So why not quit and spend the 3 weeks job hunting for animation jobs? Well that plan doesn't work because if I don't find the job, and in this economy I wont, I'm jobless and my chances of living my dreams dies because money will quickly fade in gas.
So I don't know what the logical choice is. Do I keep working this job till I find an animation job, quit and hope for luck or start a new crappy job? None of these answers seems right. From an emotional level just quiting and job hunting sounds smartest...but I can't think like that. I have to have logic till my goals are accomplished....right?...ugh...
Alright, thats enough depressed rambling for now.

Moral of this story, if people tell you that you look like crap without a second though, you know your doing something wrong.

January 17, 2010

PJ Day

So I woke up this morning at 9:30...ok well I woke up at 7, then 8:15, then 8:45 then 9:30...stupid new job throwing off my lazy biological clock. I miss staying up till 3 and sleeping till 10...ok thats off topic so ignore it!

So I woke up at 9:30, ate breakfast then animated and watched How I Met your Mother till 3:30! Then I played Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap from 3:30 till 8:30 (with how I met your mother on in the background. All of this was done while never changing from my PAJAMAS. And it hit me, this is exactly what I want to do with my life. I want to animate all morning and game all night. And whenever possible I want to not change out of my PAJAMAS. So theres the dream, now to accomplish it.

On a more real note, my new job was going well until they revealed to me that I have to give evil people waivers cause they complain and I can't give nice people in real trouble extensions if they are late...even if there late because of the real troubles! (I work in collections if I haven't said that already) Suddenly I'm a evil corprate bastard and I hate myself. To top that off my Grand Aunt (is that what you call a grandfathers sister) died, which means nothing to me cause I didn't know her, but is destroying my grandfather. He's questioning his mortality and emotional and had to go to the hospital cause it affected his heart. Thank god he's fine now, but still, I love my grandfather and have nothing but respect for the man. He's inspired me to be the person I am today so seeing this happen to him is killing me.

Thank god I was able to have a pajama day and just not worry about those things for awhile.

January 13, 2010

Job or Career

So I had been happy with my new job with Honda for the last two weeks until today. I was planning to go out to get drinks with new co-workers, who frankly I don't really like, because I thought I should be social. Then my trainer came up to me and was like "your going out to party with the guys? Don't do it they corrupt you." At first I thought she kidding but she revealed to me that she wasn't and that she actually thought I had great potentional. She started saying something about being able to make this job into a solid career. Saying how it took her two years to get a job from being a temp and has a evolving career for fourteen years. She saw the same potential in me.

Then I call my mom about it kinda weirded out, when she mentions she dropped of some info to my temp agency cause they had faxed it to her house and I'm always working when their open. The owner who interviewed me aparantly wouldn't stop talking about how amazing I was and the potential I had. Mom thought she was just being kind to a parent, but after trying to leave a few times and being brought back into the conversation about me she realized I did have some effect on her. And what topped it was the owner's son just got a job at the same place as me and the interview said, and my mom quotes, "I hope my son has the same energy your son does."

Now to top off this cake of confusion, when I worked at radioshack my boss relied heavily on me even though hated her and she wasn't to found of me. She did not respect me as a person, but she recognized that I was a good worker and when I quite she said she wished I wouldn't go because I was the only employie that she could count on to get things done around there. Then one of my ex-co-workers who had become a manager while I was working there was surprised I left and so was my one friend whos a overly exsperienced 44 year old. I asked both why and they both thought I was gonna take my radioshack career to a management level.

So now I'm confused. Why does everyone think I'm out to make every job a career? Why does everyone keep thinking I'm some super go getting person who can make any job a career? In my dream world I would animate by day, game by night and have amazing adventures. And some how all my bills would be paid and I wouldn't to worry about money cause it would magically appear (I'm guessing I'd have to marry a super rich lady for that last part...but thats neither here nor there). At no point has any of these jobs been a career to me. I don't honestly even want animation to be my career, I just want to do it cause I love it. But, I do have to make money some how and I can't imagine a better way to make money then to do one of the things I love most in the world. Only other method would be to play videa games all day and get paid (and no I don't mean a game tester, I mean just get paid to play games as much as I see fit).

I don't know, I guess all and all I'm just confused about this X factor so many people seem to be seeing in me recently.

January 7, 2010

10 Steps

So with my final day of training at work came a book of stupid facts, ideas and motos for me to read. I read through it during my breaks today, and most of it was complete "nothing is impossible" crap that I've been hearing for years. One thing though stuck out and I actually felt like I learned from. I'm re-wording it to make it work out side of collections, but the same ideas.

10 Steps to Negotiations:

1)Maximum Strength: State exactly what you want. Don't try and modify for the person your talking too, start with what you want and let them do the same.

2)All Facts: Why? I.E. the differences, reasons and what needs to be worked out.

3)Offer Help: Show you want to resolve the problem in a way that will help both parties.

4)Next Offer: Allow the other person to speak their offer help.

5)Counter Offer: Empathize with second person, but hold strong till you confirm the inability to meet your goal.

6)Educate: Explain why your plan is best by listing the advantages. Allow the other person to do the same.

7)Equal Exchange: Don't give without recieving.

8)Mutually Agree: Focus on what factors you have incommon, not whats different.

9)Motivate: Sell your desires and ideas in a way that is exciting and will cause others to be excited about them.

10)Treat as Equal: Don't be a dictator, try and find mutual ground and agree on a mutually benificial final result.

Ok, now I'll admit they aren't really steps, more like 10 things you should do, but I still thought "man, the world would be so much better if we just did all these things."
Oh, and the original did say "don't be a dictator" so I had to not modify that...cause I mean when I read that at 10 in the morning I was kinda taken of guard.

January 5, 2010

Deep and Meaningfull 2

So I wanted my first blog entry to be deep and meaningful and I was going to write about a experience I had recently....but I'm tired and stressed thanks to work so I'm going to go with something stupid instead. You've been warned.

SHONGU'S 5 GREATEST VOICE ACTORS EVER!

1) Adam West: Because frankly he's at the top of every list I write ever, even the list for greatest cheese's (though extra extra sharp chedder was a close runner up).
2) Sean Connery: Cause...I mean...Come on it's Sean F'ing Connery
3) Kevin Conroy: Cause no one else can voice batman!
4) Carles Martinet: He's the voice of Mario since 1994...and thats when Mario got a voice!
5) Stephen Fry: Hitchhikers guide to the galexy, then top it off with little big planet and you got a winning voice and the ability to show it.

Runners up:
-Daran Norris: J. Jonah Jameson from spiderman, Mercurymon from digimon, Salvador Aihara from .Hack//G.U. Mans got my respect.
-Sam Witwer: He's touched star wars, superman, dexter and battle star galactica. I mean thats nerd points right there. He's also only 32 so yeah, thats awesome.

Ok, next time be ready for something a bit more...real.