There's something entirely satisfying about being able to spend one's morning blowing things up. All that would have made it better would have been to be able to hear the deafening 'ka-thoooom!!' every time the (small, plastic) car was launched (centi)meters into the air... (That, and if Combustion hadn't insisted on crashing every five minutes. Grr....)

I love my job. Even if the constant deadlines loom over me like some sort of tattered, sickly bird of prey, and more and more shot orders pile up in my bin by the day. Luckily, I'm not the only VFX person working here any more. We held interviews all last week, and after I finished cringing inwardly at some of the candidates, they had the sense to hired a good friend of mine to help out in the evenings and weekends. We likely -still- won't get things finished in the timelines they've set out for us, but hey, at least it's not all up to me anymore. Whew...

It was a busy weekend as well. I went down to Regina to visit my family before they all left for the summer. (Had we any forethought, Layne and I might have coordinated our trips, but it still worked out well.) My mom picked me up early on Saturday, and we eschewed the regular highway in favor of the much more scenic route through Moose Jaw. We spent the trip down talking and admiring the beautiful summertime scenery. In some places, both sides of the road were so thick with sage and flowers that they hid the ditches..

We picked up my brother and sister from the airport, and then spent the rest of the evening just hanging around. My brother showed off all the new songs he's learned for guitar, and my sister showed me the comics she's been drawing. I was both a) intensely proud that she's drawing comics, and b) intensely aware of how long it's been since I've drawn a comic. Guilt is a wonderful motivator.

I got back earlier than I had expected to on Sunday, which left enough time for Layne and I to go on a hike down by the river. We walked north from campus along the riverbank, and went nearly out to the bank across from Wanuskewin before we finally turned back. I love hiking, but most times I go for a hike, I'm alone. It was different to be hiking with someone. It's nice being able to talk to someone while you walk, but the trade-off is that you're less focused on your surroundings. I didn't see near as many birds as I might have on my own. Which was probably a good thing, because it's hard to carry on a conversation with someone who keeps interrupting to point out field markings on that little, brown bird over there that looks just like all the other little, brown birds you've seen.

We had planned to do a little foraging while on our hike, in order to prepare for a longer camping trip that we're hoping to take at the end of the summer, but it now looks like that trip is in jeopardy as well. We were planning on camping up north in between the end of production here at work, but before I started school, but it seems that neither are an option. For one, I've been asked to stay on longer at my job to finish off this season of work. Normally, it'd overlap with the starting of school, but since my band screwed up my funding for fall, it looks like I'll have to put off my degree for a bit longer. I'd probably be more pissed off, except that getting another season's worth of job experience is probably going to be far more useful to me than getting my BFA. So, meh. Both the camping trip and my degree can wait another year.