ANDY
As you all know, I’ve been working on an entry for the Marvel/Aniboom Motion Comics contest:
Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at Aniboom
I don’t want to jinx myself by saying I’m a shoe-in to be one of the finalists, but my entry is getting a lot of good reviews and is ranked pretty high. Hopefully, the Marvel folks like my entry and feel confident in my abilities to animate a Motion Comic series for them. While waiting to find out if I’m a finalist, I’ve been working on the additional scenes that need to be added to the final entry. Voting/viewing continues through the rest of the week--if you haven't viewed/voted yet, do it NOW, and send the link along to anyone and everyone who might want to watch it and help me win!
I’ve also been working on pre-production for a logo animation for Seakings Studios (those are the guys I did the “Chico” video for.) It’s going to be fun, traditional 2-D animation, kind-of a “Fantasia”/Classic Disney “Silly Symphonies” cartoons feel...
I’ve also been applying to any animation/motion graphics jobs that I’m able to find on the many job sites I frequent. Jobs I’ve applied to (but didn't get) include a number of motion graphics companies similar to 8fish, some freelance gigs doing things like video billboard ads, web animations advertising cell phone “home search” features, a job doing animated shorts for an science website, run by former astronauts, and a job in Tucson creating online Flash content and games for Charter Schools. A couple of the employers have been interested in me (along with several other applicants), but never contacted me again after the initial email. All I can think is that something better must be coming.
I’ve also applied to some of the “crap jobs”: Macey’s , Albertson’s, Best Buy and FYE, to name a few. Again, I’ve heard nothing back from any of those, either, making me wonder what job I CAN get that doesn’t involve telemarketing.
I’ve also applied to Utah Valley University (woo-hoo, I got in! Can you BELIEVE THAT?!?!) and will probably be taking some classes in 3-D animation and Flash/web development in January. That should hopefully make me employable in a wider variety of jobs.
AMANDA
Amanda turned 30 last Saturday. She doesn’t feel any older. And frankly, she doesn’t care, although she does wish she’d finished her Master’s Degree by now. I agree, but what can ya do?!
All she wanted for her birthday was a set of glass drinking glasses (we’d been using a bunch of plastic ones from the Disney Store, but they got all nasty). So we bought a set of those, and she’s much happier.
Speaking of the Disney Store, she’s gotten the OK from the midwife to return to work, so she’s been working 4-hour shifts a couple days a week, and it’s really worn her out.
Obviously she’s still pregnant, and even though she’s only 28 weeks or so, she feels like she’s 40 weeks. Her hips hurt, her right leg keeps going numb, and her belly is always in the way! Her recent ultrasound confirmed that she’s still on track to be due the beginning of January instead of the end of December, but that’s a sore spot for Amanda, so I keep quiet about it…
MADISON
Besides pretending to be a narwhal, Maddy has been doing a lot of drawing, writing, etc. Here’s a self-portrait:
Maddy is not a big a fan of school lunch. Most days, she wants to bring a lunch, which leads to one of my biggest struggles in life: making a sandwich at 7am. I don’t know WHY this is so difficult for me, but it takes EVERY ounce of strength I have to get out the bread, peanut butter and jelly, prepare the sandwich, and place it in a plastic bag. Thankfully, most of the time, Amanda makes the sandwich the night before, but on the days she forgets—UGH!
JOEL
Joel, as always, is obsessed with video games, but he’s also got a new love: Comic Books. We’ve been able to check some out from the library, and he reads through them like crazy. He wants to go buy some comics when he saves up enough money.
He also has a good friend, Kenneth, who comes over to play a couple times a week (or sometimes, Joel plays at his house). Abe also thinks Kenneth is HIS best friend.
We’ve started discussing his upcoming baptism (the first Saturday in December). I’m so proud of how much he already knows and understands about the gospel. He always amazes me with his understanding and his thoughtful questions…sometimes I can’t believe he’s also the same kid that runs through the house smacking his own butt and singing Weird Al songs…
ABRAHAM
Abe also had a birthday, and now needs us to remind him that he’s 4. He only wanted superhero stuff for his birthday, particularly his hero, Spider-man. Here’s a picture he drew of Spidey:
One of his favorite presents was his Black Spiderman Suit, which is also going to be his Halloween Costume:
Before he got that, he had to put a ski hat over his face to pretend he was Spiderman:
He also LOVES doing puzzles.
And he’ll do the same puzzle over and over. Most of the time he doesn’t even look at the picture on the box. He’s learned his alphabet and his numbers, and we’re starting to work on words (though he can already read “Spiderman.”)
ELLIOTT
Elliott just keeps making trouble for us. As I already mentioned, he’s wreaking havoc on Amanda; he’s also SO WILD--The wildest of all the fetuses that ever rented a room in Amanda’s womb. From the looks of the ultrasound, he has really long legs and a VERY prominent “maleness.” Or maybe that’s another leg…
Another recent complication: due to the flu season, hospitals have set new rules, including NO Children under 14 allowed in the hospital. Also, hospital patients are only allowed 2 visitors—not 2 visitors at a time, 2 visitors. So Amanda can have one person--besides me--visit her during her time at the hospital, and the kids are not allowed to come at all—even if we have proof of their flu shots.
We understand why they’re making these restrictions, and we can hope that the rules are relaxed by the end of December, but it’s still a little sad that Amanda will not be able to see the kids for a couple days, and that the kids will not be able to see Amanda or the baby.
Well, that about sums things up for us until Halloween. We really enjoyed General Conference last week, and were uplifted and encouraged by the many talks about hope, recognizing the Spirit, and having confidence in the Lord. It always seems that there are a few talks that are directed specifically at us—I’m sure they are directed to many people (all people?) but the Spirit helps us to really connect with those things that we most need to hear.
I’m really going to try to do more frequent mini-updates—maybe every Sunday night, or as things happen. These big, long blog posts take an hour or more to write—no wonder I put off writing them! And I’m sure most people don’t have a lot of time to read these huge essays on the goings-on of the Petersons. Have a great October!
EDIT: Hmm, sometimes the "comment" link doesn't show up--just click the blog title, and you should be able to comment on it that way. Weird interweb...
