Back to the Grind(er)

the trip back to georgia was a good choice. i think i needed to rekindle the drawl just a little bit. hell, i shot a gun. it was a great change, being able to spend time with the family without having a holiday in the way to dictate the terms of my visit. outside of the family, i got to see almost everybody i wanted to see. two weeks seems like a lot of time, but it gets by quicker than you think it will. it was really great to see all of my friends from back home. i know its cliché to say it, but when i get back together with some of those guys it feels like i was never gone. it makes me really happy to know i've got such great friends in my life, even if i don't get to see some of them very often anymore.

i also got to see a few of my favorite things which are not people...





back home i tried to get the new studio up and running. okay, i knew that would not really happen AT ALL, but i wanted to get the ball rolling, at least. did i previously mention getting studio space? okay, yeah i have. jeez, it has been a long time since that last post, sorry guys! so yeah, i got in there and tried to get some work spaces put together. rachel and i spent most of every day that week building stuff and trying to figure out what was going to where. i think we got most of it figured out, but its always going to be a work in progress. for now, i'm just looking forward to getting back in there and getting some work done. here's what my little area looked like about 2 weeks ago.



after being in atlanta for two weeks, followed by about 5 days back home in portland, i have now moved on to the north hollywood for an extended work trip. i've been here for two weeks so far, and the end has yet to be determined. i am making some puppets for some buddies of mine, and after this particular job is finished it looks like i might be doing something for a more shadowy group. i can't really say much more than that, but it has been really great so far. for the most part. i have been pretty outspoken in the past about how much i think LA sucks, but i have been having a really nice time, so i guess i'm starting to change my mine a little bit. (how about that rocky IV monologue at the end where he says "if i can change, you can change! we can all change!". yeah!) since i've been here i've been able to meet a LOT of great new people and i've been able to see some people IRL who i've previously only "met" online. good stuff all around. i guess right now the main thing i'm feeling is "lucky". it is such a gift to be able to do stuff like this for awesome people and in the process be able to meet and work with even more awesome people...
but on a slightly less inspirational note, i spent a lot of last week just drilling holes...



i'll keep you guys posted. maybe one day i'll make it back to portland!

p.s. the last time i checked, coraline was about $100,000 short of matching NMBC's domestic box office numbers. that's crazy!