First Day Back In-studio

Back in the studio today and that meant a 7 am wake-up. It was rough getting out of bed. I made an espresso cortado with my Nespresso machine and had it with my overnight oats. Then I bolted out the door hoping to catch the 7:52 train which would get me to Union Station by 8:40 am. Plenty of time to walk to the studio at a steady pace.

I had high hopes of writing while on the way into work but the seating arrangements on the train prohibited me from using my laptop. The rush hour trains always end up being standing room only. I did manage to get a seat, but with the other passengers and the extra bag of studio stuff I was lugging it would have been really uncomfortable to try and balance my laptop on my knees.

I left the house wearing my runners, which was stupid of me. The sidewalks in Toronto were covered in slush, and all the crosswalks were barricaded with high piles of wet snow. Somehow, I managed to navigate all the way to the studio without getting my feet wet.

There was a big movie crew filming just off Front Street near the St. Lawrence Market. I couldn’t see what production was filming. It is a normal thing to see the film and tv trucks in that part of town.

I decided not to stop at any of the old haunts for a warm brew, determined to have some green tea I had brought with me. And the overnights were doing there job of killing any hunger pangs. A few places I passed smelled of baked bread and bacon and were really tempting.

I’ll make a point to stop at the Patrician Grill next Thursday if I get the chance.

Arriving at the studio, I was greeted at the door, (I didn’t have my fob key yet), by my producer and production manager, big welcoming smiles on their faces. My desk was ready and waiting for me. I was first in from my team, so I got to setting up my desk by connecting my earphones and arranging all the items I brought with me, pens, teas and sweeteners mostly.

I ran into an issue almost immediately with my Cintiq Display. The driver was not installed meaning I couldn’t calibrate my digital pen to the screen. And that rendered the pen useless. An email to IT got me someone round to fix the issue within a few minutes and Lickety split I was back in business.

Into the kitchen I made a green tea and snagged two leftover notebooks embossed with the company logo. They were giveaways from the company’s CEO talk. I put one on my supervisor’s desk and kept one for me. I think we are both going to get plenty of use out of it for the next year.

I spent the rest of the time finishing up some final details on a painting from the day before until my supervisor came in.

The day was filled with all sorts of figuring this and that out. Finding issues that might cause the team problems down the road and streamlining things to make the team more efficient. The budgets for animation have shrunk while the expectations of quality only ever increase. I imagine most people could say that about their industries.

I was assigned another painting to start. Mostly we are doing them to work out issues and see what the other teams might be able to do for us. But creating art is enjoyable. Some of the people in the studio had the Olympics up on a monitor and every once in a while              there would be screams of joy or disappointment. I think the women’s hockey was on and Canada was playing.

For my part, I couldn’t be less interested in sports. Even the Olympics. I put on an audiobook and listened to ‘The Will of the Many’, by James Islington. An interesting fantasy novel where there is a hierarchy that can sap peoples will which gives them more power and stature in society. So far it has been enjoyable, and the narrator has a good voice and delivery.

For lunch, I met my friend and colleague, Sean, for lunch. He drove into town on other business and asked if we could grab a bite. There is a decent pub down the street from the studio called the Banknote which made a convenient place to go. The food there is usually really good and its never crazy busy at lunch. There was a decent crowd when we arrived, my dodging the slush piles again and still managing to keep my feet dry.

We chatted about the state of the animation industry and what jobs we imagined we could do if all the work dried up completely. Sean being about a decade younger than me had some great options, but I struggled to think what I would be able to make a living at. Getting into the writing world is my only thought right now.

It was great to see him, and I hope he’ll be on the animation team for my show when that department starts back up in a few months. Fingers crossed.

After lunch I resumed working on the painting and listening to my audiobook.

The painting I was working on was too large to finish by the end of day, but we did find some red flags to discuss with the other teams and had some ideas on how to make the production more efficient if it’s possible to implement them.

An email came in indicating we were being treated to pancakes next week for an in-studio breakfast. Always a fun treat. I’ll be in that day anyways so why not have some pancakes and real Canadian maple syrup to go with it.

I packed up for the day and headed for the station once again dodging the slushy landmines. At the station I arrived just in time to board a train. I managed to get a seat that gives me plenty of room to use my laptop, and yanked it from my bag, making sure I was set up before the train filled up. Luckily, no one sat beside me that whole way home and I was able to get some words written.

After the first stop, it dawned on me why this train wasn’t full to the brim. Usually, I take an express train, which skips the first four stops and then makes all the stops after that. The train I was on is called an “All-Stops” train, meaning the ride would be a bit longer. But that was just extra typing time and that was good with me.

I arrived home an hour and a half after leaving the studio. Robyn had a plate of Italian sausage, corn on the cob and mashed potato waiting for me. We had dinner as a family, its just the three of now that Kaitlyn had moved back to Halifax. A nice treat to come home too!

We watched an episode of ‘Cross’ and then Robyn went for a walk with my stepson. I should have taken a quick nap right then and there as I was feeling the effects of the day. But no. I watched useless YouTube videos until they returned. For some reason I like to see Pam Bondi questioned by reasonable people and watch her unhinged responses.

After Robyn settled back in, we watched the lastest episode of HiJack. The whole time I knew I should have been writing, but I was feeling worn out by the commute and the early rise.

After it was over, I took a short nap, just closing my eyes really for maybe twenty minutes. But that turned out to be quite restorative.

I put on some videos of George R. Martin talking about the Hedge Knight novella ann how the story came about. Apparently, it was for an anthology of short stories Robert Silverberg was putting together called “Legends”. Stephen King and other famous fantasy authors were going to be in it and George had just published A Game of Thrones and was writing the next book in the series.

He didn’t want to write about any of the GOT characters, so he made up the hedge knight. And that got me watching a behind the scenes video about making of the first A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms episode. They all seem like they are having a good time in the video. It has all the hallmarks of something that will be well loved and successful.

On an unrelated note, my friend Paul sent me his recipe for roasted parsnips. My silent begging seems to have worn him down. Now all the parsnips are mine!  Moohaha!

Okay, it’s almost 1 am and I am exhausted. Time to call it a night.

See you tomorrow.