California, Here I Come! 38 Days and Counting!

38 days to go and my current thoughts are clogged to the brim with suitcases and moving boxes. October 15th is my official moving day and not an hour goes by that I wish it wasn’t tomorrow.

That’s right! After a summer of building up my bank account - I’m finally ready to set off for Los Angeles. I still have a few weeks left of my summer job, but I’ve cut my full-time down to part-time so I can get my stuff together and work on my portfolio and demo reel.

Words can’t express how ready I am to finally make the big move out west. For the moment I’ve turned my sights from Canada (at least until I can gather up enough points to qualify for Permanent Residency) and turning around to California. I’ll be moving to Altadena indefinitely so we’ll see what I happens! I’m gonna cram everything into White Lightning (my beloved Dodge Stratus) and do a cross-country drive. It’ll be my first time going that far by myself, and I find it very ironic and exciting to be following in the footsteps of Disney out of Kansas City, Missouri and into my future, whatever it might be.

Thanks to everyone for their support during my time of transition, especially to my college mentor, Mike Mallory and Jean Wright, my first good friend in Women In Animation and to Chara Campagnella for giving me the opportunity to help with the WIA Blog, and to my talented and passionate college professors: Charles, Jerry, Jonathan, Gerrard, Paul, Jason and Stephen from Van Arts and to Dr. Sokol from Drury University. Thanks you guys for helping me grow and encouraging me to follow my dreams even when I didn’t believe in myself. I’ve become a stronger person because of you and I’ve never felt more alive.

That’s all for now! I’m looking forward to watching my living room fill up with moving boxes and to feel the wind in my hair as I roll down the windows of White Lightning on my drive out West!

- Joanie /^>