Nana (Anime)

I started watching this anime a few years ago when I was visiting my brother in San Francisco (probably start of 2009). Still not finished the series yet even though I've owned a DVD copy of it for awhile now.  Much has changed in my life since then, I've had my own adventures traveling with friends to follow a band and I've gone back to school and seriously pursue a career. And I've been in my first (and most likely only) serious relationship for the past year and a half. It's interesting to be watching this series with my significant other (who's most likely watched a lot more anime than I have over the years despite the fact that I'm older and have most likely started watching it earlier).

We're still early in the series and past the part I stopped watching (Episode 12), but it's interesting since it merges rock music and anime - worlds that I never really felt mixed too well before. My boyfriend likes to marathon anime series if we have the full series, but we do need a few breaks since there are 47 episodes in the series and 3 OVAs, and so far we've just started Disc 2 (of 4). I considered doing some sort of manga series about music awhile back before I knew about Nana, I could probably do something based on my travels and experiences meeting BRMC fans from different places.

I'm not sure how interesting that might be, I never considered my storytelling to be very strong (which is why I had hoped I could work with friends on such a project). Even drawing a few panels would probably not be easy, I'm out of practice on my manga drawing and I'm focusing more of web stuff so there may never be a time for such a project to materialize. Maybe I'll just try drawing certain people in a manga style... that would probably be a fun exercise to see if I coud do it and actually demonstrate certain people's likenesses in a cartoony style.

Break time

Next week, I'm planning to be back in San Francisco for about a week. My boyfriend is going to Google IO and I will just be hanging out with friends and family. It'll be a nice break. I'm not sure about moving up there for work, there are many great companies in the city, not to mention the surrounding areas. Those are the kinds of companies who probably have plenty of good experience job seekers to choose from, which is most likely why I may not even be considered to work there. A lot of contract jobs I get contacted about are in the Bay Area, and it's definitely easier to get that kind of work before something more permanent.

I'm fortunate to have many breaks from work, but that's a mixed blessing. I'm not getting the experience (or pay) of someone who is continuously working, but I do have the time to reflect and decide what to do next rather than just having to keep going. I've had the time to travel, make friends, take classes, and ultimately change my career path. As much as I'd like to be an experienced and highly paid something or other, I'm just figuring what I want to do and how I can do it.

My family is generally supportive about me working, but not necessarily doing things I enjoy. They do provide me financial support in the housing area for the most part, so I'm happy to be able to not pay rent or anything while I try to get where I want to be in life. I still think working from home would be nice, but I do like going into a workplace and having an office to work in that's separate from where I live. My current excuse for a home office is way too messy to be productive in and my room is not much better. I often say I'd clean more if I had time, but I really just need to be motivated to do it.

Tutoring tales

Since I started tutoring students through WyzAnt, I've mainly been showing people in their 20's how to use  HTML and PhotoShop. I recently started tutoring a 10 year old how to use PhotoShop and Illustrator. It's a such a nice thing when parents get their kids started younger on subjects that interest them and I am really happy that her parents are encouraging her to pursue graphic design at an early age.

My parents had me take painting classes pretty early on and piano lessons when I was 10 (which I continued through high school). Me and my siblings were always drawing when we were growing up and I think it's helped me in many ways. I kind of wish I'd gotten into sports earlier, but I did have tennis lessons and didn't do too well with those. My sister ended up joining the tennis team in high school, so at least it wasn't wasted on her.

When I got into using computers as a teenager, it was mostly to use the internet. I dabbled in PrintShop and drawing programs and was very impressed by 3D landscape creators like Bryce. My first web design class at ROP was also my computer course outside of normal school. I'm pretty sure my early web pages were full of animated gifs and large images. Some places still do that (as I've seen from some websites I worked on).