sister day

i was really excited for sister day. as awesome as it was having a sister who lived in london and then new zealand, i appreciate her being back in the states where i can see her more often. i missed my little sister. ok, yes we're only something like 15 months apart but she's still my little sister. who i am very proud of for having a fancy digital matte painting job where she can work at places like Dreamworks and take me on a tour!

Dreamworks animation day. we walked across the dreamworks animation campus to the cafeteria where she told me they serve free lunch to all of the employees from 11 to 1. not only is it free but the food is really good and there's loads of choices. like a grill! i have to say, i'm jealous. we walked around until we found her work buddies at a table. shadi (my brother in-law) joined us because he works there too. somehow the topic of how neat and tidy i am compared to my sister came up and the example of how different our rooms were in high school. my bedroom was clean and organized and my sister also pointed out that i've been sorting my clothes by color since i was a little girl. weird right? then compare that to my sister's room in high school where it looked like a clothes bomb exploded. our mom was not a fan of the exploded clothes bomb. one time our mom stormed in there and shoved all of my sister's stuff in trash bags because she couldn't take it anymore. she needed to see the floor, at any cost. my sister shook her head and said the whole family was all about everything being clean all the time. she said it was her room, why couldn't it be messy. it sounds like the typical teenage complaint. she has gotten better otherwise i'm sure shadi would have a word or two to say about it. he agreed it has gotten better and they balance each other out as far as cleanliness goes. now, let me get this straight before i go on, my sister is never dirty she can just get really messy with putting her clothes away.

after lunch she took me on a tour of the campus. first we scoped out the conference room to see if anyone was in there because she wanted to show me the high-tech live meeting room. it has a screen that is the same width and height of one wall that has a live feed from redwood city and vice versa. the cameras can also zoom in the opposite room to get close-ups of storyboards and whatnot. pretty awesome. next was the theater for dailies where shots can be shown and discussed. they also show whole films in there for the employees. we walked over to the lobby and she pointed out some art on the walls and told me about the animation, pointed out the awards and then i had my picture taken with the giant statue of Po from Kung Fu Panda. next she took me to see the landscaping because there's this mini river running through the place complete with koi fish swimming around, ending at a big lagoon. i was told thre were ducks and pointed out the special ramps for the ducklings to get in and out of the water. she said she'd like to be a fly on the wall when they discovered ducks were stuck in the water and needed ramps. so the ducks, no one knows what happened to them. she thinks they were removed because they begged like little quacking dogs under the lunch tables. she took me into where the concept artists work and then to the motion capture room. i didn't realize it was so big. meanwhile as we are walking through the buildings there is framed art from the animated movies. everything from concept art to stills from the films themselves. kristi said i can't share those pictures because she can get fired. 

next stop, the lighting department where shadi shared some of the work he and his team are working on. i wish my office was lit like their offices. it's all very dim and/or no lighting except what they set up in their workspaces. it totally beats the fluorescent lighting in my office. from shadi's office we walked over to where my sister works and she shared her movie-related toys, like the shiny cape from megamind the animators were given. i was half serious when i asked if i could wear it for halloween. hear that kris? *wink wink* she let me see the work she is doing and then lots of other artwork goodies but i won't talk about it because i don't want her to lose her job. i'll just say it was extensive and i could have sat there all day with her looking at the artwork. she introduced me around and then we walked over to a wall where she fumbled around with some things on a bookcase. i heard a click and the bookcase was a hidden door! rad. i want one of those. especially when behind the super special secret door is a hiding place with a mini bar and lots of other fun decor like fake fireplaces and couches. my job needs a secret room with things to drink in there. i think all offices do. we walked back outside, stopped at the gift shop so i could pick up some movies (they're cheap there) before leaving for the Griffith Observatory. 

/more to come later