Confessions of an Anti-blog-o-holic

Well, the semester is over and that means no more required blogging. So, why am I still here? As it turns out, despite my negative feelings towards blogs and those that create them, there is something quite beneficial to be gained from the process, something I had initially overlooked. That something is called accountability. And, now that the semester has finally come to a close, accountability is something I need more than ever. So, if I promise myself, and any potential viewers of this blog, that I will be updating this site on a regular basis, I will be forced to remain productive.

I will begin this "period of productivity" with a project that I am dubbing "The Trevor Goldberg Project". Let's face it. I had an awful semester this time around. My life outside of school has been full of so much negativity that it began to effect my school work. And it just keeps getting more difficult. If my life were a game of Mike Tyson's Punch Out, this semester would have been the equivalent of a match with Bald Bull. (From the looks of it, next semester is going to be more like Soda Popinski.) NES nerdology aside, the class that was impacted the most by this negativity was one that I was most passionate about, 3D animation. Who knows? Maybe it was that passion that ultimately lead to my downfall in the class. Either way, I ended up doing quite horribly in the class. Being disappointed in myself would be a grave understatement. Now that I have some time off, I plan on using some of it to try and fix the mistakes that I made in the class, not for a better grade (it's a little too late for that now), but to prove to myself that I am better than this. It's time to stop feeling sorry for myself and actually do something about it.

Which brings us full circle to the "Trevor Goldberg Project". One of the class assignments was to render a working Rube Goldberg Machine. For anyone that doesn't know what a Rube Goldberg machine is, just you tube it. You'll find plenty of examples. After months of trial and error, this is what I was ultimately able to produce:

At first, there was nothing I could do but laugh. But as time goes by, this video has become a major thorn in my side. That being said, my plan is to start from scratch and do this thing the right way. I'll be sure to keep you up to date with the project's progress.

Overall, this semester was quite the learning experience for me. I used to think that over-achieving was an endearing quality. But, when it begins to impede your progress and keep you from making your deadlines, it is quite the opposite. What I need to do is find a healthy medium between creating a spectacular, industry changing animation and K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid). Here goes nothing...