Well! I got a new job! What a blessing! I'll be working for ZAGtoon Studio in Glendale, California. I'm beyond excited. I had been trying to contact someone at the studio since before I graduated in April of last year, but to no avail. I don't know if you're familiar with message-sending and job applications, but typically, there's an automated message to confirm that your message was received and will be answered at first available convenience.
When I tried reaching out again just a month ago, I got a message back from them some five minutes later. I normally would have clicked the checkbox and sent it directly to the folder designated for application confirmation emails, but it wasn't an automated message, and it wasn't from the company. It was from the founder and CEO, Jeremy Zag, himself! I was stoked! He asked if I would send in a link to my portfolio, to which I obviously obliged.
He quickly responded to every message and said he wanted to do a test with me so that he could integrate me into his Glendale studio! This was awesome! I have been working for something like this for a LONG time, and now it's finally here! I'm currently wrapping things up with my test so that it can be displayed in the MIFA Animation Festival in Annecy, France. IN ANNECY! I've always wanted to go to that festival, and now, my work will be displayed there along with a company name! If I'm not mistaken, it will also be displayed in Las Vegas, Nevada, next week.
What a blessing!
But there's a downside . . .
So, this is a studio that is coming to the USA from overseas (kind of ironic as typically, work is being shipped out, not brought in, but that's a discussion for another time). They are successful overseas and are looking to expand their audience. I am jumping in at the head of a growing and developing studio that does super awesome work. I'll be starting off as a contract employee (similar to the position I was in when I was working with the church in Salt Lake City), and then moving into full-time status when the studio in Glendale is all set up.
So what's the downside?
I have to start off working from home.
Nothing is worse for me than being at home without being home. When I'm home, I want to be able to get up at my leisure from whatever I'm doing, be with my wife, play with my daughter, read something . . . When I work from home, I never seem to really be home.
If you notice what time this is being posted in the middle of the night. Not really late at night, not really early in the morning . . . in the middle of the night. It's been like this all week, where I spend anywhere between 14-20 hours per day being at home, but unavailable as a resource for my wife, unable to answer every time Scarlett comes knocking on my door (she does that now--she knows where to find me), minimal to no sleep which consequently means that I don't get to sleep with my wife (I long for that again).
It frustrates me.
More importantly, it's hard on my wife. Bless her heart. She's had so much on her plate. I think people all too often take stay-at-home mothers too lightly. Nini is really good at getting a lot done (she's good at everything she does), but it is hard for her to find time for herself. I guess that's why they call motherhood the most selfless employment in the history of ever.
My hope is to someday be home when I am home. As much as I love what I do, I cannot eat, breathe, and live this every waking second of my life. It's not a question of passion--it's a matter of family and priority. I can't wait until work stays at work. That will be the life.
Checklist of things I look forward to:
- Going to bed with my wife
- Playing with Scarlett
- Eating meals together
- Reading another book
- Seeing the sun--I'm too blanco for this barrio!
- etc.
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