I left Thursday night cause I needed to get some thinking done, and I learned on my roadtrip that the road is the best place to do that. Alone in a car with nothing but music and scenery... You get some thinking done.Leaving was weird. It had been an emotional day already, and then packing, and saying goodbye to everyone... Watching them vanish in my rear-view window... It was taxing, and definitely a 'moment' in my life.
Got to Brandon around 6:00 AM and checked in while everyone else was getting their free breakfast and checking out.
The next day I woke up around 11:45 and immediately checked out and hit the road. It was a LONG drive. I was on the road that day about 13 hours, straight. I didn't stop for anything except gas and bathroom breaks. Had to pull over once or twice for a quick nap since I was getting drowsy on the road. Got even more thinking done.
Saskatchewan lived up to it's reputation of being one boring province to drive through. Though I did drive past a Prince Albert exit sign which reminded me of my visits to Tim and his friends/band-mates when he lived out there in our teen years.
Got stuck in traffic in Regina for a while, just happened to be passing through around rush hour. And supposedly I missed a meteor coming down near Edmonton by 12 hours, that would have been cool to see! I saw a cool video on youtube.
As I was finally approaching Edmonton I saw what looked like a solid wall of lights with pillars of flame coming out the top at a few points, clearly visible from even 30 km away. As I got closer I realized it was all the oil refineries. Quite a sight to see in the black night. Once I hit the city limits I got another cool sight when a GIANT owl flew over the freeway, in the same direction as my car as a cool somber song came on. It kinda reminded me of that scene in Collateral with the wolf.
I met up with my cousin at a sev and he showed me how to get to my new home. It's so new it's not on GPS, google maps, etc. VERY nice place in a VERY nice neighborhood. He helped me unpack as we caught up on things, but I was pooped from the road and crashed in my 'room' immediately.
My room is essentially just a few sheets hanging from the ceiling in the basement, not unlike my living conditions back when I lived with my Mom.
This morning I woke up around noon (keep in mind Edmonton is an hour behind Winnipeg) and my cousin took me out to show me some cool places to get good deals. Working at Bioware gets you discounts at certain computer whole-salers and stuff! I also get 360 games for 20$.
Bought everything I needed to get my pc and Xbox online, had some lunch and talked about 'the industry' all day. My cousin makes it sound amazing, and I have no reason to doubt him. It'd be awesome to get a career in it. It was a really cool day. Edmonton is an awesome city so far. Granted the drivers are terrible, and all the minimum wage jobs are held by annoying emo tweens with rich parents who are terrible at their job and probably just started and are about to quit, but you can tell you're in a city with money. The recession feels like some sort of fable here.
After that I came home and did my best to personalize my room. Did what I could with the space I had. The room kinda has a 'teenage' feel to it, but what can you expect in the corner of a basement with sheets as walls. I'm not here for the room, I'm here to make some money at a potential career and get out of debt while having some cool experiences and meeting new people.
Met my cousin's girlfriend and we ordered pizza and watched Family Guy. Afterwards I played Gears Of War 2 all night with Chad, which is a fucking amazing game. I'm really looking forward to getting into gaming in a big way while I'm out here. Always loved video games, but been pretty casual about it. Now I can play with no guilt, knowing thatA) I have no social life so what else would I be doing.
B) It's career-related.
C) It's fun!
So that's been my experience so far. When I first got here last night the reality of it all finally sunk in and it kinda scared me, but after today I'm realizing how much of an amazing experience this is going to be. Who knows how this will go. Will I get a career with Bioware and stay out here? Will I be able to leverage myself with this work experience into an awesome job in Winnipeg? Will I make new friends out here and form a second life? I know I miss my friends and family already... Regardless of where this all goes, I'm proud of myself for following my curiosity out here.
On a side note, I signed up for Skype, 3$ a month for unlimited long distance in North America. AND I found an app that lets me use Skype from my iPhone. So calling everyone in Winnipeg will be easy-mode. If you ever wanna shoot the shit, text me and I'll call you back. Chances are I'll be calling you a lot anyway. Unless I'm at work, which from the sounds of things I will be getting a TON of overtime. It will pretty much be my life.
Also, that digital photo frame I got was such a great idea, I have it set up in the corner of my room and it just cycles through all the good times with friends and family. I look over right now and see a pic of Brett playing an Xbox game with an army helmet on and a headset mic, lol.
So, I start my new job on Monday; wish me luck!
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