Eventful last week, another term ends and another term starts.

Last week was super busy and super fun. Class 2 - Body Mechanics came to an end and last week we just had to upload all our assignments for that class for archive purpose. So to an extent it was a much relaxing week compared to other weeks when we had to submit an assignment.

The timing of the term end couldn't be more appropriate what with my sister, brother-in-law and my sweet angel 3 yrs old niece coming to India on their annual holiday from abroad. Since there was no assignment submission i was able to spend all the time with them. It was just amazing and so much fun. Quality time with our family or near and dear ones definitely supersedes all other kind of happiness. They were for about a week and those 7 days were nothing short of nirvana, absolutely absolutely pure bliss.

Almost all the time we are so caught up with other things like job, money, career, paying bills and so on that we forget to devote time to those things which are our biggest source of happiness. No matter how successful you are in your career or how ever rich you are, if you don't have a close family to share your life with, you are just not living the true life. Money can buy you luxury but it cannot buy inner peace which only your near and dear ones can enrich you with.

Its been hardly 2 days since they went back and i am already looking forward to their next trip ! Family definitely comes first ! :-)

This time there was no break between terms. Last time i almost had 10 days of break between classes to energize myself. But this time unfortunately because the way the schedule is set up, we just had about 2 days of free time before we dive in on the next class. Class 2 - Body Mechanics was a lot of fun and loads of work at the same time. Its one of the most important class here at Animation Mentor, which provides us the foundation for our career in animation. So a week break before starting next class would have been awesome. Anyways schedules have to be adhered with and sometimes its not what we would have wanted but we would have to live with it anyways.

So Class 3 - Intro To Acting here i come !

Even though there was no break the energy and enthusiasm of everyone here at Animation Mentor was nothing short of contagious. I was eager to get my new set of class mates and most importantly my new mentor with whom i would be spending my very important next 3 months of my learning time.

And my mentor for Class 3 is .....MICHELLE MEEKER !! I could barely contain my excitement to have her as my Class 3 mentor. A little about Michelle -


" After graduating from CalArts in 1993 and 1996, Michelle has worked on both U.S. coasts and abroad in New Zealand and China. Her animation credits include Shrek, Antz, Lord of the Rings and Geris Game. She started off working for Sesame Street Interactive amd then moved into studios such as Pixar, PDI, and Weta Digital. Mixed in with the bigger projects have been stints with E-greetings, Maxis (Sims), Stormfront, Vidlit, and Little Airplane. For the past 4 years, she has also enjoyed teaching animation at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. "

I had attended a couple of make up qna in Class 1 and she was absolutely fun to interact with. Though this time my weekly mentor QNA is very late at nite - 2 AM, because of the time zone difference between India and US, i am sure it will be worth every minute with my wonderful mentor.

I am raring to go for this class and attend my first qna with my new class and mentor !!

This is the class where the real magic of animation begins to unfold in terms of acting, emotions and so on !!

I am truly having a ball of a time here at Animation Mentor !