Las Vegas at Last...

Its been awhile - a long one I know - since I've been active online.  I'm just getting back in the swing of things and with all the rest of my life, so I apologize for the silence on my end.  As I'm sure many of you know, I've moved from Kansas to Nevada - specifically Las Vegas, NV. 

Loki wondering where all our things have gone.

Packing up the house was a long process and if you've moved, you understand the special hell that is.  I did start out being very specific about what was going into what box; you know, trying to be organized about it.  By the end though I was like, "Just put it in a box." What started out as being worried about the weight of the box ended up being "Whatever, its in there, tape it up."  Poor Loki was rather confused and grew more and more nervous about the whole thing, but there was little I could do to comfort her, except try and assure her and keep to our standard schedule.  I also tried to keep her things right where they were.  The guys we hired to load the truck we were renting came and loaded all our stuff in about 3 hours, which was great - initially.  More on that later.  Due to timing, we ended up spending the night in our empty apartment so we could drive out in the morning, which confused Loki further.

Still, she managed to make herself quite comfortable with the blanket I was going to use to sleep on the floor with.

I can assure you that she made that nest herself from a comforter that had been laid out flat on the floor and that we had nothing to do with it, other than laughing after she was done.  Of course, after all of that hard work she ended up sleeping somewhere else.

Yes, THIS is much more comfortable.

The next morning we got up and continued cleaning up the apartment while packing up the last few items into Mom's car and my car.  My car was going to get hitched to the back of the 22 foot truck that my brother was going to drive for us to Las Vegas.  I was in a sort of weird place of being tired and energized at the same time.  We didn't leave at the exact time we wanted, but we dropped off our keys to the old place and then as my brother went his way, we went ours. 

Road out of Kansas

Now, I'll point out that I am an intelligent human being, but for some reason, my brain wasn't working well on this trip.  Had we sat and talked about it, we probably would have done a caravan with the truck along the Southern route which would have avoided the mountains - which the truck would have had a hell of a time getting through.  I would have also made sure that my brother had the keys to my car that he was pulling behind the truck.  Neither of these things happened.  We went the Northern route which was supposed to be faster and he went the Southern route.  I believe some of the thinking was that my brother was planning on pushing through and not stopping and we weren't going to do that.  To possibly get there ahead of him, we were going the other, shorter route.  I think that was the reasoning.

Rain in the distance...

The drive itself wasn't too bad, just long.  We did hit just about EVERY weather front as we drove to the West.  We got rain on and off as we headed towards Colorado (where we planned to stop the first day) as well as high winds.  In the mountains, we got snow - yes it was snowing a lot, not just a few flurries and some picturesque views of white.  I think there was even hail and sleet a few times mixed in for good measure.  I was glad when we got  on the other side of it. 

It was during this first day that we realized that we had miscalculated on how we should have handled the driving and all.  Now, my brother, the amazing, beautiful and giving man that he is (and that is said with no sarcasm - I mean every word), will tell you that none of what happened was a big deal, but on our side, it was panic and worry. 

While driving along, I got a call from my sister-in-law.  It had been a mistake on the dialing as she'd meant to call a cousin, but while she had me on the phone she told me that my brother ran out of gas and was stuck on the side of the road and he was hitchhiking.  At this point she also mentioned that he didn't have the keys to my car which might have helped because he could have backed it off the trailer and driven for gas somewhere.  We were driving through some rain at the time so we had images of my poor brother, soaked to the bone, hitchhiking on some highway somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  I tried to call him and text him to see what was going on and if he was all right.  We were prepared to turn somewhere and get down to him.  Time passed and as it did, the worry grew and grew.  I was praying to G-d he was okay and making deals with him and my Father to watch over him and get him safely home to his family. 

Finally, he called and was in good humor, though we were just about frantic by that time.  I thank G-d and my Father that a kind-hearted person picked him up and helped him out - not only taking him to get gas, but taking him back to the truck as well.  He was fine and all was well.  I can only hope my sister-in-law will forgive us for causing any worry on her part.  I know we wanted an adventure, but sometimes, the real thing and the imagined thing are miles apart.

The second day of driving was actually pretty amazing for no other reason than the gorgeous vistas we were treated to.  I have to admit that I was a bit emotional about it (or it was the 5-Hour energy drink, I can't be sure entirely).  Every mile or so was another view, another amazing sight of nature.  The rock formations changed from red to yellow and sometimes even green!  I can't describe it and I took as many pictures as I could and I'm hoping one day to be able to do that drive again so I can stop and take better photos (a moving car isn't the best way to photograph things).

I will say this: Anyone who has wondered why we should bother saving the environment or respecting nature should take this drive and see how absolutely amazing and beautiful the world can be.  It is awe-inspiring and blessed and we should respect what we have been given. 

It saddens me that for many, all they can see is a place to build a shopping center.

By the time we pulled into Las Vegas, I think we were all tired and the sun was setting.  Mom and I got a weird case of the giggles, realizing that we were actually doing it: We were moving and going to be living in Las Vegas. 

The place itself is very nice.  It has a high ceiling and a little porch and a nice sized kitchen.  The bathrooms are huge - like almost the size of a small bedroom.  We have a corner fireplace and central air along with a dishwasher and washer/dryer.  The cost is only a little more than what we were paying in Kansas and gas prices are about the same as well, so if anyone was curious, cost of living isn't bad here. 

We do have a view of the strip from our porch, though its not like its so amazing as to be  postcard picture - still, it is very cool.

View from our porch of the Las Vegas Strip!

We are about 10-15 minutes from the airport, which is also pretty convenient and there are places to shop for food and plenty of restaurants all over.  Its a very nice area and I don't think we could have done better if we tried - so big thanks to my cousin's girlfriend who found this place for us and met us with the keys!  Right now, we'll be here for a year as per the lease, but we'll see what happens after that.

Now, referring back to the guys who loaded the truck in 3 hours.  First, I will say, we were more concerned with getting things on the truck because we had so much, so we were at fault for how we told them to get things on.  We told them to get furniture on first then directed them to load on the boxes and then stuff in storage.  

When we got the gentlemen here in Las Vegas to unload the truck, we were given a rather unpleasant surprise.  See, the guys in Kansas basically just tossed everything in.  They put boxes on furniture, didn't bother stacking things right or putting things properly on.  We were just so grateful they fit everything, we didn't bother thinking about how it was on.  This led to us losing Mom's desk whose legs got broken.  We lost my bed stand which lost a leg as well and a few other things got damaged.  This also meant that the 2 guys unloading the truck had to take a longer time unloading because they had to be careful about how they removed things - if they weren't then everything would fall out or collapse.  Just a warning - be aware of what people you hire are doing with your things when they load it on a truck.  Lesson learned.

Anyway - I had a day to unpack and do some laundry as much as possible and then I had my first day of class at the Red Engine School in Los Angeles.  At the advice of my cousin, I tried to leave at noon though ended up leaving at 1 p.m. to drive out there.  There is no question that the drive is about 4 hours and change.  A lovely friend at work contacted her daughter-in-law who used to do the commute for some alternate and possibly faster routes, though the time was still about the same.  The first time going out, I relied on my GPS only to get me there and tried to see how it would go. 

It was a pretty boring drive - most of it being on Route 15 which takes you through desert.  I passed the Mojave and Death Valley.  Also, there is a road called Zzyzx Road.  So, avoid that because obviously that is where The Drow hang out. 

Getting into L.A. itself was nerve-wracking.  I don't know if you've ever driven in Los Angeles but you shouldn't do that to yourself if you can avoid it.  You should like yourself enough to not put yourself through that.  It gets a bit hairy in a few places and I was thankful to get off the highway (specifically Highway 10).  I found myself in Korea town and managed to get a parking space in the lot near the school.  I found The Red Engine school and decided that since it was about 5 p.m. and class didn't start till 7:30, I would go get some food.  At the corner was a lovely place called The Loft Cafe.  Its was rather charming inside to be honest. 

After hanging out there for a while, till about 7, I left and headed to the school.  Inside was not exactly what I was expecting to be honest.  I had been to schools like Gnomon and VFS that had large computer class rooms set up in a way so you faced the front or towards your teacher.  Because this was a converted store front, the tables were against the walls of the long thin lower floor.  There was a large monitor at the back which was to be used to show whatever the instructor was doing to the students.  Stairs lead to an upper floor, but I'm not sure what was up there and offices were in the back.  We brought our own laptops as instructed so there was only the instructor's computer in there. 

The front door apparently locks when it is closed, so during class, there were, what I felt, frequent interruptions as someone had to get up and let in whoever was outside.  To get in, people then walked through our 'classroom' so there were individuals going back and forth.  There were also people going up and down the stairs and some of the office staff were a bit loud while talking.  I felt annoyed about that because there we were, in a class, and it wasn't like it was a surprise that we were sitting there.  I'm hoping next week that the interruptions and such are a lot less. 

The first class was more about introductions.  The instructors Zach and Gabe are both professional artists in the entertainment industry.  Both have worked on video games and on movies and production, so they have a lot of experience.  Both also worked for Rhythm & Hues and I had asked them about the current situation in the VFX industry.  They agreed that was a long discussion that could take a whole class, but they did say simply that the industry is changing.  Not that it was bad, but things are changing and it doesn't mean that its going to go away - just that it is going to be different.  How different remains to be seen.

Each person in class introduced themselves and when we got to me, I told them I was living in Las Vegas and commuting once a week for the class.  This garnered me some "Are you serious?" from the other students but both Zach and Gabe said "That's some dedication."  I think overall they thought I was crazy. 

The classes are going to be more personalized than they have been in the past, with the instructors working with us as individuals on individual projects, focusing on things they felt would help with our end goals.  Then we went over our first homework which was actually a three part assignment.  The first part was to take movie stills or images from artists (dead ones), putting them in grayscale, then recreating them in Photoshop using 5 point grayscale with white and black being 2 of the levels.  The second part was to come up with a pitch synopsis of the project we want to work on and this would lead to creating 3 reference pieces.  We had to collect reference images for 3 different aspects of our project: Mood, First Character and First Environment.

Grayscale study  - Photo on top, my interpretation on bottom.

Mood Reference

Having not done homework in a long time and still being in the middle of unpacking, it was a bit of a struggle to get to everything.  I have done all my homework thank you very much - but I feel a bit pulled.  I still have a lot of unpacking to do, as well as start looking for a job.  It will be a challenge to get this all worked out, but I am looking forward to my second day of class!

So, that's about all in a very broad sense.  Once more stuff is put away and I can access more things, I'll get my Etsy shop back up and running.  There will be jewelry of course and my prints back up for sale.  I don't know if I'll be making more new stuff right away as time is constricted, but I will definitely keep you all up to date with classes and try to share my progress along the way. 

Thank you for the support of friends and family!  I appreciate all the kind words and encouragement from all of you and will endeavor to do my very best if not better!