I am officially declaring an end to my Adobe After Effects training and will be returning to my flash work ASAP. I actually cut my training short by the last two chapters because they deal with video aspects that I will never use in my flash applications. It was also making me deal with preset conditions and pretty much boiled down to "go here and type this" with little comprehension on my part. Of course, my thorough comprehension was not the goal of the training. The goal of the training was to make me familiar with the interface, shortcuts, and capabilities of After Effects. True mastery will come only from my usage from this point on.

Let me tell you this - when used properly, After Effects is a BEAST. Just like Flash 8 before it, After Effects will take me a while to fully utilize. However, once I master it, it's gonna be game over. The only limitation I will have will be that of my imagination. I will only use it lightly for EP3 until I get used to it, but you'll probably see a greater influence during later episodes.

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Anyway, boring tech stuff over. Honestly, I should have had this training done two weeks ago. Pretty much the entire month of January has boiled down to a break time for VG Exiles 3. My sluggishness with this training was not the only factor in that lateness.

I, in a truly boneheaded move, got Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

I literally cussed myself the whole way out of the store. All this work that I have to do with Flash and After Effects and I go and buy one of the most addicting multiplayer FPS games ever created. Fuck me.

My only saving grace is that I'm not very good at it. It's much easier to put the controller down and return to AE training when the bulk of my multiplayer experience consists of being shot by hyperactive, foul-mouthed twelve-year-olds. I guess that could describe my XBOX LIVE experience in general. It hardly seems fair that these kids nowadays can go online and trash-talk adults with no fear of reprisal. They're untouchable. I mean, last time I walked into a middle school and started punching 7th graders at random, I got arrested. Seems to be a double standard going on here.

But I digress.

Like GTAIV before it, CoD:MW2 will prove to be little more than a light distraction from my flash work. My work on the VG EXILES will continue to be my top priority. It's been a month and I'm ready to rock and roll once more.

R1665