So much busy. All of the busy. And still I’m up and writing. The conclusion to all of the busy. Wrapping everything up and giving myself closure so I’ll be able to sleep guilt free.

I never got around to working on the freelance project, which I’m not sure how I feel about. Sort of not good. I wanted to make progress there instead of saving so much of it for tomorrow. I don’t think I’m going to be staying up much later though. It’s already 2am, and I’m just starting this writing.

Realistically I’ll be done between 30 minutes to an hour from now… And I’m tired so I would be doing dodgy work at best… Just doesn’t seem like good juju to me.

So yeah, no work on the freelance. Lame.

During the first lab I wrote a response to a blog I follow. I wrote my daily post. I looked at the daily prompt but it sucked because they’re being lame and stuff.

I check my work email. The school does this Hall of Fame event every year. It’s going to be happening at the end of March, so they’ve been sending out all sorts of emails asking for volunteers, seeing if anyone wants to do presentations, stuff like that.

Well, they are also doing a contest for students. Each Hall of Fame has ‘inspiration’ words associated with it. It seems that this year they are doing a writing contest. Students have the opportunity to write an essay regarding one of the ‘inspiration’ words for this year. The best 50 will be chosen for a VIP Experience.

The words are: creative, driven, innovative, bold, disrupter, and achiever.

I have 500 words to describe how I embody one of those traits.

Dude… this is so my thing…

Ok… maybe not writing about myself (I type that as I write a blog post that is 100% completely about myself… ), but writing in general is totally one of my strengths. I’m so going to try going for this.

So at some point before the first I need to write that essay. Since it’s such a short essay, I might do my rough draft tonight so I can sit on it for a bit.

So that was pretty nifty.

I ended up meeting with Desiree at noon, during my lab and that lasted until around 1:15. After that I had a meeting with Huston and Luis to talk about code, which went extremely well.

By then it was around 2:40. I went into the Finals lab to meet with Tre and brain storm through some issues he was having with a character concept. Before that though, Desiree was having another issue.

To be fair, she asked for direction with a script earlier, and this issue was with the rig she is working on. So it was something totally different. That was another 20 minutes though.

I finally got to talk with Tre and we got some really good ideas going for his character. I left the room around 4ish and went back to the break room where I had set all of my stuff.

I had started replying to the discussion posts on Conceptshare during the CRI1 lab, so once I got back to the break room I finished replying to the ones I wanted to. By then it was past 5, and Ari and come into the break room. It seemed like a good time to pack up for the gym.

I did end up running. On the treadmill. I honeslty have only been on them a few times, and it always felt weird, so I didn’t think I would like it. But I didn’t think I would be able to run the track with how sore my shins were still.

But I was determined to do my run damnit. Hell or high water sort of a thing.

So, yeah. I gave the treadmill a go, and it actually was pretty awesome. I did the whole half mile, no stopping. 12 minutes. I’m so happy with myself.

It was pretty hard at the end, and I kept having to tell myself, “You’re not going to stop. You’re a warrior. You’re a fighter. You’ve got this.” Even though half of my brain was staying anything but nice things.

I was super surprised that my shins didn’t hurt at all at the end. It was all muscle soreness. Which is awesome. That means I’m pushing my endurance. I ended up doing some of the upper body machines and stretching at the end.

By then it was time for aikido, and I seriously thought about not going. It was the advanced class followed by weapons class. I didn’t know if my body was up for that, especially when I had just reached an amazing achievement.

I’ve never run that long in my life I’m pretty sure. Not even as a kid.

I felt like I wuld be cheating myself if I didn’t at least try to do the class though. So I went under the condition that it was to ‘see’ if I was up for it. If it hurt or was too much there wasn’t anything wrong in backing out. I tried and could be happy with that.

So I got there, changed into my gi, and bowed in.

We did a bunch of stretching in the beginning, like normal, but I had already done a bunch of stretching at the gym, so for me it was an extra a lot. Which my muscles were totally ok with.

I honestly think that’s the only reason I was able to stay for both classes.

Once again it was an amazing class.

Paul was there. He’s a super high rank. Not sure exactly how high, but I know he is high enough to be a Sensei himself if he wanted to. When I asked how long he has been practicing he said 17 years.

x.x

I feel like such a novice when compared to something like that. I haven’t even being doing this for two months yet. I worry that it’s frustrating for experienced people like that to work with someone like me. There are still so many things that I mess up or forget or just can’t seem to get right yet.

He was super nice about it though, and all of the times that he has been my partner he has helped me tremendously. I still prefer Sensei Jan though.

Paul ran the weapons class today. We got to practice with the bokken, the classic wooden sword. It was the first time I’ve ever held one.

It felt right. More so than the jo (staff). I didn’t have as much of an issue with attacking after my session with Sensei Jan yesterday. I could tell Judy was holding back. She was my partner for the first half of the class.

I could see her hesitation. I could feel her worry that my bokken was going to hit her. It was interesting to see. It gives me something visual. That’s what I look like when I hold back and don’t attack honestly. Fully. That’s what hesitation looks like. Fear.

Seeing it actually made it easier for me to attack. Not because I’m an evil person or anything. I could see how her posture wasn’t correct so it reminded me of what mine ‘should’ be. Seeing her arms draw in towards her chest rather than extending showed me why extension is important and to keep my arms out, to think about the bokken as an extension of my arms, and to reach it out, away from me.

I think it was a good experience.

In the end I ended up practicing with Sensei Jan, and we found a good rhythm, advancing back and forth. We even got to trash talk each other while we did it, which was awesome. It made attacking easier because it seemed less serious. It was practice.

Overall, awesome, like always (since you know… two months is always).

I chatted with my mom on the way home. She had sent me a message this morning saying she was bored and just wanted to chit chat if I found some free time. So I was on the phone with her for about an hour.

Once I finally got inside I cooked two ¼ burger patties which I topped with cheese, mustered and ketchup.

I had a few emails to write for work, a podcast to make for a student, and a demo reel to critique. All of that got done. /flex.

So really the only thing I haven’t done as far as the to-do list is concerned is work on freelance.

I think with everything else that I was able to achieve today I can give myself a break.

I did really well today, especially with how much interaction there was. I think I’m allowed to sleep without feeling like a slacker.