Birthday, Break, Red Wing, Major Change

Notable things in the past month:

Well for one, I turned 20. For the first birthday ever, I felt older, with an overwhelming sense of responsibility sweeping over me. I'll probably always be a big kid, but now more than ever, I feel like it's time to grow up a bit.

For this birthday I played recess games. Similarly to my 16th, we played capture the flag, but with a twist of four square. I've been addicted to four square since.

The nice thing about my birthday is that I get to spend it here in Minneapolis, but also at home for Spring Break. I didn't get anything spectacular this year. Just a much-needed flash drive, some new clothes, and a delicious cake. Mostly I was thankful to go home to get away from school and to see my parents and pets.

Being home isn't as fun as my fond memories make it out to be. Everyone is either in school or working; it's no vacation spot. But after I got over that fact, it became enjoyable, and I saw most every friend I wanted.

On my break, I visited three parks, two Targets, and one barber shop. I ate Chinese twice, BBQ once, and never had chicken at home. I saw nine friends, six parents, and two pets. I bought fourteen pairs of underwear, eight pairs of socks, four pairs of capris, and my dad bought two Trikkes. I watched four movies, three seasons of Weeds, and one movie in theaters. And lastly, I played too many games of four square to even count.

I rode back to MCAD with Audrey. We listened to a total of 4 CDs, talking took precedence. The real journey took place after we returned. Monday night, I asked Alyssa, Z, and Carl to join me for homework. Not too long after Carl showed up, we spontaneously (and surprisingly) decided to make a late night road trip to Red Wing to climb the bluff.

Long story short, Z got in a car wreck, but we still went to Red Wing. Alyssa and I were poor night time trailblazers, but we made it up one trip and huff at at a time. By the time we got up there, it was almost midnight, but we were in no hurry regardless of our morning classes. We saw a fox, too, which Alyssa mistook for a cat at first. The walk back down was flooded by cell phone lights and camera screens. Best Monday night by far. I'd like to return during the day sometime. Carl gets so excited about his hometown. This story is the basis for my 25 page assignment in my writing class. Huzzah!

The last notable thing to talk about it my change of major. Before break I had become a bit unsatisfied with the animation program here at MCAD. And more importantly, I started questioning my education in general. What am I looking to get out of my classes? What work have I been really proud of or interested in? Where would I like to be after college?

None of those answers lied in the typical animation field. I don't want to do character driven, narrative based work. I want to use animation as a tool for bigger projects. I want to work interactively, conceptually, and experimentally. I still want to learn animation techniques, but I want the ability to work in other mediums as well. Thus I have, as of today, switched to the Web & Multimedia department. Alexis and Stevie were very supportive of this move, both technically with my credits and conceptually. I'm very excited to see where this new direction takes me!