Animation Mentor Graduation!

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When I got home from my vacation in Massachusetts I had about 2 days to recover and get myself ready for the next leg of summer. Come Friday, Emily, Dan Edwards, Mike Bahurinsky, and myself all piled into Dan's Civic and began the trek to San Francisco for our Animation Mentor Graduation.

The drive was easy and uneventful, discussions of gaming, cars, music, etc. all took place in the usual fashion and we arrived in Oakland around 1am. A decent hotel room and about 6 later we got up, had some breakfast, dressed up nice and headed on our way to the Berkeley Art Museum where our Graduation was being held.

Last time we were here was for the Animation Mentor Annual Barbecue and the weather was less than awesome. Overcast, a bit chilly with what seemed like impending rain was what we had then, but this time we got lucky! 80 degrees and not a cloud in the sky! The scenery was beautiful, the weather was perfect, it was shaping up to be a really awesome day. As soon as we arrived we started seeing people we had spent 2 years in school with yet (in some cases) never met in person. Bill, Cedric, Jerzy, all these guys I talk to ALL the time yet had never met. Instantly cool for sure, but it kept getting better! We had a trial practice run for the ceremony, hung out a while, and were then seated for the ceremony to begin.

Shawn, Carlos, and Bobby are definitely a bunch of amazing dudes. The school that was once an idea being tossed around during lunch and gaming sessions was now alive and changing people's lives, mine most included. As well as great animators, the three of them have an air of charisma and inspiration about them that has definitely played more than a small part in the success of the school. Many thanks to them for everything and for Shawn's great speech.

Glen Mackintosh from ILM was the guest speaker and had some really cool things to say. We also heard from Rick O'Connor, Don Crum, and many others with a boatload of great info.

After the speakers spoke and awards were awarded, we all got in line for our diplomas, handshakes, and pictures. Awesome to the max! The reception following was a great time with many pictures to be taken, wine to be drank, and memories to be made. After it all ended we got a burger, took a deep breath, and headed on home.

Stay tuned for the next update...Siggraph and FJORG!