And thus it begins...

Well, its that time. That first terrifying foray into the completely unknown and possibly hostile world of Flash animation. Ladies and gentlemen, I won't lie to you... I'm scared out of my britches. Flash has taunted me for many a moon and despite futzing around in the program a few times I remain clueless and adrift in the proverbial seas of FAIL.

But I digress. I suppose I should share some words with the general blogosphere about who I am. Hmm. That's a pretty tall order. Lets see... here's a random list about my life in no particular order of importance for your personal perusing pleasure.
1) Clearly, I'm a fan of alliteration
2) I enjoy long walks on the beach
3) Vegetables are NOT my friends
4) Since I was a wee tyke I've had an unnatural affinity for all things plaid
5) I'm one of those weird freaks who sees every continuity error in a movie and ruins it for everybody else
6) I've lived in Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Brussels, Australia, and Chicago but have visited every continent except South America and Africa (yes, that does include Antarctica)
7) I really, REALLY love string cheese
8) My dog's name is Rambo and during his winter coat phase he looks like a Yak
9) My secret dream is to one day own a waffle iron of my very own
10) I clean people's houses when I visit and have nothing to do

Truth be told, its difficult for me to pick a single most influential artist. I suppose animation-wise I most admire Milt Kahl's 2D work. He's the reference I look up to most and the guy who made my childhood vibrant and expressive as a result of his work. Living in places without people who spoke my language and no cable to speak of meant that animated movies were basically the only friends I had.
... Wow, that sounded like it should be on the Dr. Phil show. But seriously though, I wasn't a nutcase. That only happened recently.

Alright, down and dirty time. You want to know the intricacies of my animatory self, I suppose. Well, there's not much to it. I'm just a crazy animatior. I live, breathe, and eat animation. I actually almost committed involuntary manslaughter when I asked my last professor for extra work during finals week. He laughed so hard he almost fell of his chair.
Yes, I'm one of those 'over achiever' types. Give me a project and I'll double it. That may take my stress levels out past what should be humanly possible, but I love every second and wouldn't trade it for the world.
When I first got interested in animation 20 years ago (about the time the doctors clipped my umbilical cord) I was VIOLENTLY adament that 2D was quite simply the only way to go. I studied the greats and knew Milt's name and work before I knew my multiplication tables (which in hindsight isn't actually a great point of reference, because I STILL don't know my multiplication tables). I actually spent a lot of time protesting even attempting 3D animation, but much to my surprise and following a period of intense frustration and hours of eye-cracking labor in Monty room 114 I discovered that not only was I interested... I was LOVING it!

So consider me a happy convert. Lets just hope the same flows true for this whole "Flash" thing.