Dragon Age 2: Rise To Power

A new trailer of Dragon Age 2.  Looks like the game is coming along great!  I can’t wait to play it!  I really miss working on the Dragon Age franchise :(

An Amazing Adventure

I’ve heard the cathedral bells ring in Old Montreal.  I’ve walked the busy streets of downtown Chicago.  I’ve overlooked Toronto from the CN Tower, felt the mist off the Niagara Falls.  I’ve seen the mountains of BC and the winding hills of Northern Ontario.  I’ve driven the flat plains in between.  I’ve felt the warmth of Canada’s Centennial Flame at the Parliament Building and seen the flames of the Alberta oil fields. I’ve been to Fringe Fest in Edmonton and Busker Fest in Halifax.  I’ve walked the crowded corner of Yonge and Dundas, and stood alone on the rocks of Peggy’s Cove.  I’ve watched the sun rise over the Atlantic and set on the Pacific.

I’ve had a pretty interesting life.  Many people have seen more and done more.  But I appreciate every moment of it, because I never thought I’d have the courage to do any of it.  10 years ago I was borderline agoraphobic, and never expected to leave my hometown of Winnipeg, rarely even my home.  Since then I’ve been all across the continent, mostly on my own.  I’ve led an amazing life and met some amazing people along the way.  And I’m thankful for it.

 

 

  

 

 

 

I’ve seen so much beauty in my life, and I never expected to.  My life has been an amazing adventure and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Moving Up

So a longtime reader of my blog contacted me letting me know her cousin, Ryan, was moving to Halifax and didn’t really know anyone.  I’ve been pretty lonely out here so I was happy to have the opportunity to meet someone new.

He visited town last weekend looking for an apartment and I met up with him for lunch.  We got along right away, and I could definitely see becoming friends with him.  He was in the army but had to leave due to injury, so he’s looking for a fresh start somewhere new.  I mentioned I was looking to move out too so we decided to check out some 2 bedroom places.  He had a place already lined up to check out so I tagged along.  It’s a second floor of a house, technically 3 bedrooms.  It reminds me a lot of the place I lived in Winnipeg with some friends before moving to Edmonton.  It’s really large, kind of an old house with character.  We met the other tenants and they were really nice.  It has a big back yard and they have bon fires often and said we were more than welcome to join them.  The area is infinitely nicer than the place I’m living now.  Someone was murdered in the apartment complex I’m in right now a year or two ago…  And the rent is CHEAP!  At 725$ a month I could afford it on my own, and when you split that in two I’d be paying less than I am in my current dump, plus the bills would be split as well.

After spending the day with Ryan I could immediately tell he was a good guy and we’d get along great.  It’d be great to live with someone, as I previously said my life is pretty lonely out here right now, and it’d also be fantastic to not live in an area where being murdered was a real concern…  So we applied for the apartment, and the past few days the landlord has been in contact with me letting me know we got it.  The landlords are a really nice lady and her deaf husband.  She translated to sign language for us.  They both seemed really nice and normal, important in a landlord.

So it looks like I’m moving again.  Ryan is taking the place for November 1st, but because it was already mid-October I was stuck in my lease here until at least December, so I’ll be moving in mid to late November.

I’m really excited to be moving to a nicer area, and making new friends.  However this will be my 3rd place in a year.  Moving is stressful, and I only just got settled in where I am now.  Not looking forward to the process again.  Especially with the couch and computer desk I just bought.  Ryan offered to use his Dad’s van to help me move the big stuff when he’s here moving in, so I’ll likely move my couch and computer desk then, and spend a few weeks in my current apartment sitting on the living room floor again, like my first few weeks here.  But it saves me from having to hire movers or rent a moving truck!  Really cool of Ryan to offer too!

So things here are starting to look up.  I also managed to get a cute girl’s number on the bus this morning!  Who knows if that will go anywhere, but it’s a nice confidence booster and reminds me that meeting people is easy if you try!

Crunch is starting at work, so it’s 11 hour days.  I do my extra hours in the morning to get extra time for build verification, and so I can head home at a decent hour, but it means getting to bed early.  SO bed time for me!

Dance On Broadway

This is a trailer for Longtail’s previous game, Dance On Broadway for the Wii!

You’ll Never Know

A playlist.  Listen to it.

1. Matt & Kim – Cameras
2. The Postal Service – Brand New Colony
3. Guster – Architects & Engineers
4. Ida Maria – Oh My God
5. Julian Plenti – Unwind
6. Rich Aucoin – It
7. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes – I Come In Please
8. Kings Of Convenience – I Don’t Know What I Can Save You From (Royksopp remix)
9. Linkin Park – Robot Boy
10. Friendly Fires – Lovesick
11. Shiny Toy Guns – Major Tom (Coming Home)
12. Bag Raiders – Way Back Home
13. Linkin Park – When They Come For Me
14. Linkin Park – Blackout
15. VersaEmerge – Whisperer
16. Innerpartysystem – American Trash (Starkey remix)
17. Julian Plenti – Games For Days
18. Julian Plenti – Skyscraper
19. VersaEmerge – You’ll Never Know (acoustic)
20. Metric – Gold Guns Girls (acoustic)
21. Sufjan Stevens - Djohariah

Peggy’s Cove

(If you’d rather see the photos in an album, click here)

Yesterday I decided to finally make a point to see the ocean.  I’ve lived on the East Coast for over a month now, and winter is coming fast, so it was now or never.  I’m so glad I did!  I stopped at a few places, but Peggy’s Cove really took the cake for the nicest place.  It was honestly a life moment as I sat at the edge of a cliff with my legs dangling over the Atlantic as the waves crashed below.  I took some nice photos and video of it.

On a side note, I took the video on my new iPhone 4.  I just got it cause my old phone couldn’t hold a charge anymore, and since I was eligible for a hardware upgrade, I barely paid anything for it!  When I got home I took the videos off my phone and could not believe the quality!  It’s true 720P HD video!  I ended up editing the video right on my phone using iMovie, so keep in mind while watching that this was shot and made entirely on a PHONE!

Gong Show

Yesterday seriously sucked.  It was my errand day so I was already not looking forward to it.  But I didn’t think it’d be too bad…

The plan was to go grocery shopping, create an account at Blockbusters and rent a game, come home and play the game while doing laundry.  The grocery shopping and game rental went fine.  But the laundry would end up being my whole day.  First I gathered up all my clothes and lugged it down to our seriously ghetto laundry room.  I poured the detergent in and put in the clothes only to discover the stupid thing wouldn’t turn on.  I had to wash the laundry now that it was covered in detergent.  I know clothes can get stained if detergent is put on it and then not washed.  So I lugged it all back upstairs and figured I had no choice but to hand-wash my clothes and then drag em back down to the dryer.  So I chucked all my clothes in the tub with some detergent and cold water.

It took about 2 hours of grueling scrubbing and ringing out.  Once washed ALL the clothes I drained the tub and began the long process of rinsing.  I held it under the tap and kept ringing it out until there was no soapy bubbles left.  I noticed the water looked really inky and that worried me.  I generally washed my clothes together in the machine, but maybe hand washing was different somehow?

Once it was finally rinsed I brought it all back downstairs.  It was insanely heavy now that it was wet.  I loaded all the clothes into the dryer, and tried to put in the 1.50$ but realized it only took quarters.  So I had to get in my car and drive a few blocks to a gas station to trade my loony for quarters. 

Finally got back and put in the 1.50$ and started it up.  An hour later I went down and the dryer was just finishing.  When I opened it up the clothes were still literally dripping wet.  They were warm, but wet.  And because they’d been sitting in there wet the whole time, the white shirts had been having the inky water drip through it the whole time.  I could immediately tell they were ruined.  So I hauled the heavy wet clothes back up 3 sets of stairs and had to hang all my clothes all over my apartment.  Socks on the window sill, jeans hanging over the shower rod, everywhere.  I left all the windows open and used my fans to help.

The whole day was an absolute nightmare.  I ruined 3 white shirts, fortunately none of them were my favorite.  My favorite 2 white shirts weren’t in the wash this time, thankfully.  What was supposed to be an hours of errands followed by a relaxing day of videogames ended up being 5 hours of stress.  And this morning I checked the clothes, and while they are drying, they feel stiff like cardboard, so I don’t know if I’ll even want to wear them without washing them properly first, as I don’t know if I did any good, or if they’re just all inky now.  What a horrible day.

Fortunately the game I rented, Singularity, ended up being really fun.  Was up until 3:00 AM with junk-food and pop playing it.  Today, after this entry, I think I’m going to go on a coastal drive and check out the ocean.  Hopefully this doesn’t turn into some other horrific ordeal!