Back to Work Slave Dog!!

I am a 3d Artist.

Been working as a Nurse for a few years ..went back to school and earned my license as an LPN and it was very worthwhile to be there for people that needed me.
Then
..local Hospitals decided they dont want LPN's anymore
..the 'big thing' is home health ..door-to-door
..driving all over hellangone beatin the crap out of your car
..dealin with all the totally clueless 'drivers' who will kill you without even knowing you are there.
You cannot pay me enough to go door-to-door.

I don't want to know the lady with 50 birds all over her house and why she is sick all the time.
Being allergic to cats, I especially don't want to go into the house if there is even one cat there.
Pass.
Oxygen tents are just not much fun.

So ..nothin happenin in LPN-land, been out of work comin up on a year
..ima send out resume's for what I really enjoyed doing before I got tied into a startup that failed to make payroll and being an idiot I stuck it out till my savings were gone on the promises of the CEO that 'any day now' .. ya .. he still owes me over 10k that I will never see.
Grr.

I sent out hundreds of resume's ..cover letters from the heart
.. got stacks of email rejections as the months went by from all the dream game developers that I would love to work for, even some of the animation studios
..do you have any idea how much fun it would be as a car nut to work at the studio that did 'Cars' ..among so many other awesome places that just *jam.*

Kudos to Autodesk for having a program that lets you get and use a student copy of Max10 (or any of their other products) while you are unemployed!!
I could not have done this:



..which helped me sharpen my skills up after being gone so long.
The 'Crazy Horse' Mustang I did in 3d Studio long ago, the hot rod is all Max10 ..seems I can import all my old stuff and it works ok after converting the textures to mental ray capable :)

Couple months ago I saw an Ad on Craigslist (!) for an artist .. it was here in Phoenix!
I wouldn't have to move! .. oh cool they do offroad stuff ..bikes an offroad cars ..
-I started grinning-
..useda run motocross when I was much younger
..nothing I have done since matches the feeling of being so totally past 'the limit' of control ..surviving and excelling by pure muscle and reflex.

I sent in a resume ..wrote a cover letter from the heart *as usual*
..and got an email that day, followed by a phone call the very next day by the Art Director.
I mean .. WOW.

He wanted to know when it was convenient to come in.
I about exploded. Really.

Interviewed with the owner and the art director .. I felt like I was bathing in sunshine.
They said all the things I used to dream of a company doing.
Just one example: Bonus determined by effort and product
(yes.. I can get a bonus if a product does well I dont even work on
..along with earning one by what I do ..just plain WOW)

SO ..I have finished my first week+ there .. all the people there are like me.
We *jam* .. all day every day.
All the bean-counter crap I have waded through in other careers and places just does NOT apply ..here.
No time clocks, no 'fraction of hours' paid, no 'you have to work 2 weeks before you get your first couple days pay' and all the other pure BS we all endure in the 'corporate' world.
Free full medical/dental/vision .. put that in your bean-counter cap and smoke it!
They even have M&M's (plain *and* peanut) in the break room ..on the shelf.

I experience waves of contentment.
Weird.

Ima be here awhile.
Thank God.

-Frank P. 'Gray Eagle' Williamson
3d artist, 2XL Games and *jammin* once again.
Prayer Works