Project 365: Day 15 - Rant - Performance Appraisal

We're supposed to be completing our Annual Performance Appraisal at work. I always find this process awkward and annoying. While I understand its necessary, what makes the process uncomfortable for me is that a part of the process is a "Self Assessment" - you're supposed to be reviewing how you performed in the past year and write down your goals for the next.

I really can't look at my performance objectively at all. At times i really just want to write down : "Yes I could've done more that past year but I really don't think you're paying me enough right now to get my 100%. No, I dont really have any goals for the next year. I'm happy with what I'm doing and I'm generally okay with what I get for the effort I put in. My bigger Goals really dont involve the company at all..." How could you say that without getting fast tracked out of the company? If I were a a manager I'd fire my sorry ass.

This year is whole new level of awkward because aside from all of the above, they're asking us to rate ourselves against a SCALE. 5 is the highest and 1 the lowest.

Really?

I dunno if they really thought this through because when I try to give myself a score the following thoughts come to mind:

5 -  "I dont think so..." -  Note : Your boss will always, ALWAYS have something negative to say about how you perform. If not, they shouldnt be your boss anyway

4 - " Hahahahahahahahahaha....PROVE IT!"

3 - "You're not putting enough effort into this appraisal are you?"

2 - "Why did we hire you again? Maybe we can get someone better"

1 - "This assessment isnt a joke, son..."

Urgh.

Project 365: Day 14 - Running out of steam...

So the search for the camera charger continues. I might resort to just borrowing Roxane's digicam for some of the stuff i plan to do :(

...and I have to admit I'm kinda running out of steam.

The good thing though is that this feeling was fleeting. Hopefully I wouldn't encounter that drained feeling again for some time. While I was typing this article I actually felt the fatigue of the day fade away and in it's place was the excitement for some of the stuff I plan to do.

I'm looking to post more doodles, put up some more modeling logs and go on more food adventures with Roxane. I have a lot planned for this blog and I think I'm on to something good. For now mainly it's something good for me as it has given me my second wind creativity wise. In the future, for my current (all 3 of you...) and future readers I hope what I have in this blog will be something good for you as well.

Stay tuned.

Project 365: Day 13 - Link Dump!

Hey folks! Don't really have anything hobby related that I can blog about today and the things that I want to vent about dont have a place in this blog.

So in lieu of a real blog post I'll just post some of the things that made me smile today :)

Today's background music brought to you by:




I want this shirt so bad!
http://www.redbubble.com/people/krisvahl/t-shirts/5757736-5-chewie-and-han

I collect these and I hear they're having their 13th anniversary:
http://www.livingdeaddolls.com

 This one's distracting...


 Hopefully I'll have something substantial to post about soon :) so stay tuned.

Project 365: Day 12 - Doodles - Logo

Still couldn't find my camera charger :| yeesh.

In lieu of taking pics  for articles I decided on creating a title image for my blog. Just look up. Not totally sold myself on the layout. Will try out some other layouts over the next few days .

Comments? Suggestions?

Project 365: Day 11 - Miniatures - Assembling Megalith Part 3

Check out  Part 1 and Part 2

Greenstuff-a-go-go!

So last stretch of assembly and this probably involved more greenstuff than I have worked it to date. Since I had to reposition the arms I had to replicate the "wood" sculpt on the shoulder joint to cover up the flat mating point of the original sculpt.

Again this was easier than I had anticipated. Using an Xacto knife lubed with petroleum jelly I was able to texture the greenstuff into a good approximation of the bark. I was also able to copy the sculpting of the rope by starting with putty sausages. And no, I did not sculpt with my drill bit :P

Once that was dry I pinned the arms into the shoulders at an angle seen below:

Come at me bro!

I think I managed to repose the arms into a less awkward pose and more of a "welcome to the gun show" pose. I felt this helped emphasize his size more. Anyhoo feel free to let me know what you think. At this point though I wasnt done with him. I had to replace the dinky shrub on his back with something more befitting a character woldwarden.

I took some wire and some of my paperclips. With a little twisting and bending I had the beginnings of an armature for his tree. After attaching it to Megalith via the pinhole in his back I them repositioned the branches till I was happy with how they were placed and started wrapping greenstuff around the armature to make it look like bark.

While wrapping the armature in greenstuff I had some problems with the putty shifting and moving in ways I didnt want it to. In hindsight, I couldve made my life a lot easier by smearing superglue to the armature and letting it dry and thus giving the greenstuff a rougher surface to cling on.

Here's the final assembled Megalith. I really wish i took more backshots of him because I had to sculpt the tree into his torso in a way that made it look like the tree was sprouting from him, like it was a part of him.

This is what happens when you swallow seeds...

One other regret I had with this is I wish I had also taken pics of megalith during the painting stage. I will be posting a pic of Megalith painted in the future. That should be the first thing i do once i find my charger or secure another digicam.

Tell me what you think.