Sooo, on a lark I decided to answer a posting for an animation job on Craig’s List. I’m thinking it was a mistake or at the very least kind’ve what I expected. The fellow I sent my reel and resume to loved my stuff so much that he literally called me back 20 min. after I emailed him the material. 

Turns out he wants 30 seconds of character animation (multiple characters, w/ sound & visual FX) and 2 high-grade professional looking studio logos. This is fine, not a problem …Till I tell him what it will cost. I lowballed it at around $28K. When you factor in that each second of animation will cost around $800, the logos would run approx. $1000 for the first one and $3000 for the 2^nd , based on their respective difficulty levels.  I thought these were fair numbers.

This was definitely not what he wanted to hear. I gathered he was looking to spend maybe only $1500 tops.  FOR THE WHOLE THING!

He then asked if I would give him a free sample of what I would do with his material so that it could give him an idea of what I could do. I told him I already gave him an idea of what I could do when I sent him my 2 demo reels and that I would charge him per my hourly rate for any mock-ups he wanted me to do. He was nonplussed and after explaining that he was hoping to get either me or someone who would work on this during their spare time.  Time I have, I explained. It’s just not free. 

I wished I’d asked him if he ever went to a garage and asked the mechanics if they’d work on his car but as a sample so he could see how well the repairs would be.  Why do people think that professional artists will work for a song went the reality is that we are as well trained or more so, than most tradesmen or other such skilled laborers?

I know it’s been close a to a month since I’ve posted, but the move, and all the accompanying challenges that go along with such an event, tends to put a tax on ones time.   As can be expected we are still unpacking all of our stuff and probably will be for the next couple of months as we slowly decide where everything goes. Thankfully we’ve already un-boxed about half of what we packed.

The first official day we got to start moving in was a Wed. The first thing I did was have the carpets cleaned since it was out of our budget to buy new carpet at this time. I hired a top rated cleaner to chemically steam and clean the carpets and the tile. If you notice the grout in between the tiles were almost black. They are now off-white/ and reddish (the original colors) Plus they were scotch guarded so they won’t easily turn back to black so long as we don’t use soap on the floors. We clean the floors using a vinegar/water solution. As the carpets were being cleaned I proceeded to replace all of our locks

All of the rooms that were painted garish pinks, greens, and yellows have been wiped away with a fresh coat of primer and white paint. We even painted the ceilings. Many thanks go to my Mom Dad and Sister Meg for helping with all that was involved with that. The actual painting only took about 3 hours.  It was the prep work that took 2 days since we had to cover everything, remove doors, light fixtures all the while moving stuff from our apt to the new house. All of this had to be done over the course of about 3 days. Not only that but there were a hundred other little essential things that had to be done as well; things like transferring utilities, getting hot water to run, having the chimney swept and removal of all weeds so the dog wouldn’t snort up another burr, etc.

 This past weekend I tilled the back yard and half of the front since the grass was completely dead and most of the plants and bushes weren’t anything we cared to keep. I even removed that hideous palm tree thing in our front yard. After I finish posting this I will start on digging trenches for the sprinkler system I will be installing. I can’t believe that since this house was built in the 50’s that none of the previous owners ever put one in. It just seems like common sense to do so.



 

Just when I think things can’t get anymore busy, they do. The last few days have been a whirlwind of emotions and activity.

Early this last week Val and I were under the impression that we would be moving into our new house by today. Well by Wed. this was looking less and less so due to various hang-ups by the bank and the escrow process. Not only that but I have been getting increasingly anxious due to the lack of job postings to the various boards I visit in which show which studios are currently hiring. Things have been dry for months now.

On top of that our dog Dakota decided it would be fun to snort some burrs and other plant fluff up her nose like cocaine, and has been sniffling and sneezing since last Saturday when we went on final inspection to the house. There were various weeds in the backyard which she loved running through. I took her to the vet on Tuesday and the doctor couldn’t see anything but prescribed some anti-histamines in the hope that they would clear it up. By yesterday it was apparent that they weren’t working we had to take her to a specialist so they could knock her out and perform a Rhinoscopy so they could clean out whatever was up there so that her situation wouldn’t get any worse. This cost us approx. $1400. Thank god we had pet insurance since they will cover 80% of that cost, still it’s one more expense we didn’t need at this time.

 
Wednesday

9:30 am

Anyway, on Wednesday I finally found a front loading washer and dryer on Craig’s List (Front loading washer was mandatory for Val) which isn’t too common out there since they’re relatively new to the market and the ones that are out there are still extremely expensive. Regardless I found a decently priced set and took off to go buy them. 

10:00am

Took dog into doggy day care so that she wouldn’t be outside in the heat all day while I was gone.

11:00 am

On route our real estate agent called me to say that the escrow agent was going to be sent down to Val’s college since it was closer to their office and wanted me to get over there pronto so that I could sign the final escrow papers with Val. It was close enough to where I was picking up the appliances so that it was an easy jaunt over to her school. I called Val, set up everything and was happy to know that things were back on track for us to move in this weekend.

11:30am

At the apt complex where I am to pick up the washer and dryer. Turns out it is on the 3^rd floor and there are only narrow stairs to navigate the appliances and the walls up the stairs are covered in sharp textured concrete. Oh Joy. Here’s where it gets fun. The washer and dryer are the kind that can be attached to one another vertically and owner and I can’t figure out how to detach them. So I just decide we can carry it down attached since I know I have to be signing papers in less than 45 min. It took us that long just to get them down the stairs with only a few scratches out our knuckles and arms. These bloody things turn out to weigh more than I do. Apparently new technology is HEAVY! On the bottom of the final flight the fellow helping me lost his grip and it tipped forward on top of me. Thankfully I was paying attention and was able to move my head in time be before it crashed edge first into the wall. As it was I still lost a few hairs as it caught between the wall and the washer/dryer. We finally got the thing into my van. Off to sign paperwork

12:30 pm.

I finally get to Santa Monica College and Val’s office. She has just finished signing the papers and has to take off to teach; my turn.  I spend the next 45 min signing a stack of papers that were honestly an inch thick.

1:30 pm.

I’m finally on my way home and I get a call from Jose, our real estate agent. He wants me to stop by his office to sign off on the final inspection we performed last Sat. No prob, it’s on the way home. Along the way I get another call from the Escrow agent telling us that she didn’t realize that both Valerie’s and my drivers licenses were expired and ordered us to get that taken care of that day, otherwise it would put the home loan in jeopardy. Great, one more thing to take care of. I call Val and appraise her of the situation and mentally get the impression she’s rolling her eyes.

2:45 pm

After fighting traffic for over an hour I finally get to the ReMax office and sign the paper that Jose wants. He informs me that either Valerie or I have to run up to Tarzana that day to drop off the down payment cashiers check otherwise we won’t be able to close escrow this week. Eh, what’s one more hoop to jump through… I call Val once again and ask her if after getting her license taken care of,  she go to the bank, get a check for $79K and stop off at the escrow office 35 miles in the opposite direction of home, through the worst traffic in the nation, on one of the hottest days of the year. No problem (as she’s drinking a double gin & tonic J )

3:45 pm.

I get out of the DMV with my new interim license and once again steel myself for more traffic. I get another call. I’m thinking to myself; how many more hoops can I jump through?  I finish digging to the bottom of my pants for my phone, as I’m navigating heavy street traffic, in my stick shifting beast of a vanagon. Turns out I miss the call. I pull over away from traffic so I can actually hear who it is when I call back. It turns out that the person who called me was from Rough Draft Studios (the studio that makes Futurama). Awesome! This changes my whole day. They want me to come into their studio the next day for an interview. More Awesome!

5:00 pm

Finally get home and pick up the dog from Day Camp.

Well it looks as if Val and I are going to get this house. There isn't much that can get in our way from this point on in getting the place in Downey.   We've been in escrow now for about a week.  We thought we lost this property a few weeks ago to a well heeled investor, then our agent called us and exclaimed that we had literally 3-4 hours to get new bid papers signed if we still wanted the property because the bank was taking the first, best, bid (we were one of 18) . When we originally bid on the house there were 40 other bids on top ours, all placed within 48 hours.  

It's an REO property (meaning that its bank owned through foreclosure).  When it first came onto the market it was selling for 336K, but because of comparable properties in the area selling for much more and the high demand for the house we made our initial bid at 350K.  When the house came back on the market we had to raise our bid by 50K to 400,000 (our max), just to stay in the game.  Even though it's a bit of a financial hit, just buying the house means that it will have built in equity due to the fact that houses in the immediate surrounding area are selling for anywhere from 450K on the low end to 575K or higher.  This is based on comparably sized and quality houses.  The one sticking point we've found when buying an REO is that you typically have to pay for all the inspections and repairs to the place, which is part of the reason the price tags on such properties is so low. The other reason being that banks don't want to hold onto properties as they represent toxic assets.

For an REO property the house is in extremely good condition. Valerie has probably seen 30+ properties in the area and none were good looking for the price and square footage.  Many of the places needed extensive work, like fixing holes in walls, replacing doors and windows or even sections of roof.  This property is literally turn-key. (At least after we give the inside walls a good coat of paint).

Valerie and I drove up to Redlands today to make our final pick of the litter.  After seeing all the black furred pups we opted to go with the orange collared doodle. She was the one we initially liked from our first meeting a few weeks ago. After seeing her this time, her temperament and type of coat cinched it.

The pups were almost twice as large as when we saw them last.  The mom, who you can see lying to the right of Valerie, was pretty much done with her pups (only 4 of them were let out for us to view) though they weren't ready to give her up, as they kept running after her to try and  latch onto a teat. She would snap and give a growl (which could only be described as an exasperated tone), at the little ones, as she did her best to jump and run away, trying to avoid them while still keeping a watch on them.