what? yes, an update. It's my first day as the new assistant for the Animation department at my school ;) As you can see, I am hard at work. I haven't been in much of a mood to update lately, as you may have noticed. I figured I at least owed it to those few who still bother to check up now and then to know what country I'm in and such other developments of consequence (check my flickr for more frequent life updates). First of all, I left Japan. After much research and deliberation I finally decided to bite the bullet and go back to school. This decision in itself took about a month. The winner: Academy of Arts University in San Francisco. The program: Master of Fine Arts in Animation and Visual Effects, with an intended focus in storyboarding. Some other options I was considering: * Hospitality Internships in Barcelona, Rome, London and Chile * Working Front of House for Cirque du Soleil * Cinematography Apprenticeship in LA * Going back to Catering * ...
Kyoto This past Friday was a national holiday (Culture Day, aka 'bunka no hi') For the 3 -day weekend I travelled with a few other JETs for a trip down south. There I joined the massive crowds of tourists who flock to Kyoto to see the brilliant fall colors this time of year(kouyou in Japanese). Unfortunately its still pretty warm down in the Kansai region so most of the leaves hadn't turned yet. On the plus side the weather couldn't have been better. Like everyone says, Kyoto is indeed a beautiful city worth visiting. However I thought a lot of its cultural and historical beauty has been sadly overshadowed by Japan's affinity for tourisim. All the temples and shrines are flooded with people taking pictures and venders selling tasteless souveniers. The temples and shrines themselves are pretty remarkable (unlike many of Japan's "historical" points of interest which have been so badly damaged by war, fire, and weather that little if anything remains of ...
I was flipping through the textbooks I'll be using for the 1st level students, and I found a chapter that covers the Seattle/Tacoma area! I was trying to explain to my coworkers that of all the cities in the world to have a chapter on it was funny that they should choose Tacoma, WA... the other day I got a call down from the office saying the principle of the school wanted to see me. I was thinking maybe I had abused my internet privileges, but then when I get down there he makes me coffee and then proceeds to explain how in 60 million years the Euroasian plate and the North American plate will collide, all the volcanoes will explode and kill every living life form. But then he says (in japanese) "you have nothing to worry about! Minnesota is in the middle of nowhere. It will be ok" Then he gives me a Japanese article about the Earth's plates shifting and sends me on my way. An interesting character... it'll be fun to see what he's like at our first enkai ...
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