Hello world… again!

Published: February 8, 2015

I’m back! Has it really been more than a year since my last post?

I don’t have a good excuse for my absence, but here’s my real one–I didn’t write because I didn’t prioritize writing.

Life got busy. Grad school was hard. Finding a summer internship in animation was hard. Moving from Philadelphia to San Francisco was hard. Making positive and lasting impressions while interning at DreamWorks was hard. (I spent a summer interning at DreamWorks!) Moving from San Francisco back to Philadelphia was hard. Grad school was hard again. Finding full-time jobs that excited me and convincing the right people that I was the right person for those jobs was hard. Moving from Philadelphia to Omaha after grad school was hard. (I finished grad school!) Moving from Omaha to White Plains for my new job at Blue Sky was hard. (I work at Blue Sky now!)

Lots of hard things. Hard things take time. It’s been kind of exhausting.

“If you really want to do something, you’ll find a way. If you don’t, you’ll find an excuse.”
–Jim Rohn

Being busy is irrelevant. If I wanted to write, regardless of all other factors, I would have made time to write. I didn’t do that. My priorities were elsewhere. I can justify why my priorities were elsewhere, but I’m still disappointed in myself. I enjoy writing. It’s fun for me. It’s cathartic. It helps me observe things in ways I might otherwise ignore during the traditional flow of life. Reflection breeds new appreciation. I benefit, and when people read my words (wishful thinking), maybe they benefit as well.

But enough philosophizing. I’m back, and I plan to stick around longer this time. I have a lot of thoughts I want to share. Some old. Some new. All interesting, I think. Here’s a preview of posts to come:

What was I thinking during the 48 hours leading up to my first day at DreamWorks. That was a surreal time. I suspect impending fulfillment of a long held dream is always surreal.
I hit my 2014 resolution hard for 14 weeks last year and then abandoned it. What happened?
60 days, 60 things learned at DreamWorks.
What’s the real cost of grad school?
I’ve interviewed with DreamWorks, Blue Sky, Pixar, Vimeo, and Facebook in the last 12 months. What did they ask? What did I learn?
The evolution of my resume: Laughable to employable in 5 years.
My battle plan for getting shit done in 2015.
That time I almost joined a company on the brink of closure. Or, the hypothetical misadventures of a 24-year-old who lost his dream job 17 days after starting.
My first impressions of my first real job.
That time How to Train Your Dragon 2 made me cry.
That other time the Big Hero 6 trailer made me feel smart.
How Duet and Boyhood reaffirmed my life choices.

If you’re reading this, thank you. I write for a handful of reasons, but chief among them is to become better at writing. Progress is slow when practice happens in a vacuum, however. Please comment. Please send me emails. Challenge my beliefs. Pose alternatives. Question everything. I’m interested in what you have to say. I hope you’re a little interested in what I have to say too.

Cheers.

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Image credit: Tyssul Patel