The Catalyst

Spent this morning reading through the old blog I kept during my road-trip back in 2008.  I can’t even fathom how much I’ve changed since then, as a result of that trip.

For years I’d felt the need to do something drastic, I felt trapped in my own life.  At first it was a North American month pass for VIA Rails, and eventually it evolved in to a road trip.  I invited my friends to come, and they agreed, but backed out at the last second.  Although at the time it hurt, I decided to go anyway and it ended up being better that way.  I needed to redefine myself, and you can’t do that with anyone watching.

During the weeks leading up to it, everyone including my closest friends and family tried to talk me out of it.  The Dale they knew could not handle something like this, especially alone!  They were just concerned, because it was so unlike me.  It was a big thing to do alone, it was intimidating and risky.  Not what I was known for.  And even though I had my own doubts as well, I stayed determined, and when the time came I got in my car and drove headlong into those doubts.

It’s no exaggeration to say that none of my major accomplishments could have happened without those 2 weeks alone on the road.  During those 2 weeks a seed was planted.  I started to suspect I was capable of much more than I’d originally thought.  During those 2 weeks I saw things I never thought I’d see, did so many things I never could have imagined myself doing, it made me realize all those limitations I’d placed on myself were illusions.

Suddenly I felt restless in my old life.  I knew I wanted more.  I decided to move to Edmonton for a change of pace and to get out of debt.  I never would have seen that as a possibility before the road-trip, but now it was something I had no doubt I was capable of.  Then working in the videogame industry watered that seed, and that suspicion grew into a conviction.  I was capable of so much more than I’d given myself credit for, and life had so much more to offer than I’d let myself see when I lived in doubt.

Reading that blog was a revelation.  In one of the entries before I hit the road, I wrote that I’d wanted this road-trip to be one of the most important things I ever did, a “spiritual odyssey, an existential exodus.”  And that’s exactly what it was.  Now I live in Halifax, I’m in a career I love and I’m climbing it fast, I welcome every new adventure presented to me with excitement.

I had no idea the places that road-trip would lead me, years after I thought it was over.  I end this entry with a quotation from that old blog:

“Well, even though I have enough money to make it to the East Coast, it wouldn’t leave enough time to properly enjoy the cities remaining on my trip, especially Montreal and Toronto.  So it looks like this is as far East as I make it for now.  But I’m sure I’ll make it out there some day!”

Wedding Photos

As you can imagine, many photos were taken at my Dad’s wedding.  My brother recently bought a nice digital SLR camera, but given my history with photography I was given that camera for a lot of the night.  I’m no wedding photographer, and it’s been almost 3 years since I really did anything with a camera, but none the less, some of them turned out pretty nice! 

Once I’d collected photos from as many cameras as I could, I adjusted the levels, cropped, bordered, etc, the good ones and made an album online for them.  Anyone interested in seeing wedding photos from my Dad’s wedding in Winnipeg can find 284 of them here!

To view them, click HERE and then just keep tapping the right arrow to scroll through the photos.  It starts with the good photos from the nice camera, and by the end it’s cellphone pics.  Enjoy!

Halifax Instagram Walk

It was +20 today, so I decided to go for a walk.  Once I was walking in the sun, with my headphones in, taking in the beautiful Halifax Sunday afternoon I decided to take some photography using only my iPhone and the popular app Instagram.  It was a great afternoon, and reminded me how beautiful Halifax is.  I moved here right before winter, so this will be my first summer in Halifax, and I’m beginning to realize that’s when it really shines!

Winnipeg Trip 2010-2011

I’m back from my Winnipeg trip.  It was great!  Moving to Halifax, while it worked out in the end, was one of the hardest times of my life.  For the first few months out here I felt completely alone and overwhelmed.  And even though things were a lot better by the time I left for my trip, it was still a much needed return to familiarity.  If nothing else, a reminder that home was still out there.

Lots of great things happened too.  My Dad proposed to his girlfriend, my soon-to-be Step-Mom, Andrea!  Which means I’ll also have a new step-brother soon too, Andrew!  Their wedding is on April 30th.  I can’t know for sure yet if it’s possible, but I’m going to try to make it back for the wedding!  All the overtime I’ve been working is paid back as vacation hours, so I’ll have almost a month of vacation by the time this project is over!



Had a great Xmas.  As per tradition we all went to Christie Road for extended family, then back to my Mom’s place for presents between her, my uncle, brother and I.  I bought my Mom what ended up being possibly the worst gift idea of all time, but it was funny, and I replaced it with something she liked a lot more.  Great times!



I also reconnected with Brett, Tim and Linda on this trip.  I hung out with them once last year, but we were all still figuring things out, but this trip we’d all completed some major transitions, and the timing was right for us to get back in touch!  Was great hanging out with them again, felt like old times.  Funny how some friends you can see after 2 years of not talking, and you can continue like no one missed a beat.  One of the first things we did was record a song.  Tim had been working on it for a while and he had us over to record backup vocals.  The song has since been completed, give it a listen!  I’m legitimately addicted to it!  Tim did an awesome job!

The Sky is Calling You by timredford

Chad and I got to hang out a lot as well.  It was kind of surreal.  We hadn’t seen each other since Edmonton, so for both of us to meet up in Winnipeg where we grew up together, but live in two completely different cities…  It was confusing!  At times it felt like we’d never left, and at other times Winnipeg felt so foreign.  It was great to see him again.  Sad I may not see him again until next time we meet up in Winnipeg next Xmas.



Sadly I also had a bit of a tough time with Kristina.  Our friendship has been in a rough patch for a few months now.  I don’t want to get into the personal details, but I guess we’re just at different points in our lives.  I'm hoping we can work things out, but sometimes people need to take some time apart to see things clearly.  She's a good person, so regardless of what happens I wish nothing but the best for her.  We had a pretty big fight while I was there though, and as a result I didn't get to see her as much as I would have hoped.

Despite that sad development, I had a lot of great times over the 2 weeks I was in Winnipeg.  Recording the track with some old friends reconciled, traditional Xmas Eve with the Furutani’s at Christie Road, meeting up with Bill and Tia (also first time seeing them since Edmonton) and the rest of the Perreault side of family, playing Little Big Planet with my brother and Dad while sleeping at his place, a good ol fashioned family night with Gondola pizza and a movie with my brother, uncle and Mom, seeing Tron, a night at the casino, eating at Sal’s (the restaurant Chad and I worked at when we met), New Year’s Eve with friends, brunch with Ashley, lunch with a very pregnant Nikki and her now-fiancé Scott, and lots of Scrabble! So many great times.  One of my favorite things though, was just laying on the couch watching tv with my Mom.  It’s something so comfortably home, and that comfort is something I really needed.  It was like letting my guard down after having it up for 4 months.




Years away has made me really appreciate family.  My Mom and Dad have both been so supportive over the past few years, and helped me several times when things got tough.  I really appreciate the time I have with them whenever I visit.  My brother is all grown up, which is scary sometimes.  I would not be surprised if one of these visits soon he’ll be getting married.  And my Mom will be visiting me in Halifax some time this spring/summer, I can’t wait for that!  Will be cool to show her the life I’ve been living out here!

It was great to be home again, and I had a lot of fun.  I’ve been back in Halifax for 2 days now and I’m already back in the groove of things.  We’re wrapping up our project at work, so it’s crazy busy right now, but I love the rush, and the camaraderie of everyone staying late and working hard to get it done.  My first night back Ryan and I grabbed some food and told each other about our Xmases and New Years.  Glad to have made such a good friend out here.

Visiting home was exactly what I needed.  When I moved to Halifax it was so abrupt and so foreign I felt like I could never go home again, I felt lost.  Seeing that it’s still there, spending time with family and friends; it helped me find my way again, like a guiding star.

Finally Here

I moved in to the new place on Thursday!  The move was pretty painless, Ryan, my new roommate, helped.  The new place is SO much nicer.  And the area is waaaay better too.  The first night after moving in we ordered some pizza and rented videogames.  Life finally feels real here.  I’m not some shadow of myself trying to survive.  I actually had fun, and felt like myself.  Maybe it’s because until now my weekends were sitting alone in my apartment, not speaking a work until I was back at work on Monday.  Making a new friend and living with someone is 2 birds with one stone!  Over the weekend we caught a movie, and Ryan still hadn’t checked out downtown so we did that as well.

While we were downtown I did some window shopping and found some nice clothes I want get, namely a really nice jacket.  And now that money is freed up, I’m looking into joining the gym down the street from work.

		New Place! VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I seem to be caught up on all my expenses as well, so I FINALLY have money again.  It was pretty bad for a while with all the initial moving costs (remember I moved TWICE).  But money is freeing up and I have actually quite a bit of spending money left over on each check now.  I finally get to see the money of my new job.  And I’ve decided I’m going to park my car.  I finally got around to calling to switch my car insurance to Nova Scotia and they wanted to charge me 250$ a month!  I paid 150$ in Alberta.  I rarely use it as it is, like maybe three times a month.  And that’s usually for grocery shopping, and Ryan said I can just tag along with him when he does his grocery shopping.  The odd time I do need a car I can just pay for a cab.  There’s no way I’ll use 250$ a month in cabs, so I’m still saving money.  Still, I love driving, never thought the day would come when I voluntarily gave up the right.  We’ll see though, I can always change my mind and insure it later. 

In the meantime I don’t mind taking the bus.  The view from the bus stop outside our place is amazing!  We living up on a big hill so we get an amazing view of Halifax.  Especially at night when all the city lights are glimmering below.

The one downside of not driving is no road-trips.  But I suppose I can rent a car, it’s not too expensive.  Next Spring I’ll probably do that so I can go on a mini-roadtrip to Prince Edward Island, it’s only about 4 hours away.  I’ve always wanted to drive across the Confederation Bridge.

But ya, life is feeling so much better out here.  Having a friend and roommate, living in a nice place in a nice area, and having spending money again all add up to make things much more manageable.  Life was pretty dark for a while, but I’m really beginning to enjoy life out here.

So on that note, I leave you with a video tour of the new place!

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!

Kristina & Olga’s Visit!

During my surprise visit to Winnipeg a few months ago Kristina surprised me and promised she’d visit me in Edmonton.  I was super excited, and after a month back in Edmonton she booked a flight.  We counted down the weeks until it was time for her to visit and we were psyched!  Olga happened to plan her trip to visit Chad on the same week, so it was shaping up to be a great week.

And great it was!  When I picked her up at the airport it was great to see her again!  It sucks we don’t get to see each other more often!  I picked up Olga the same day and Chad was ecstatic to see his girlfriend again after over a month.

We spent the week having a great time.  From West Edmonton Mall to Southgate, from a BioWare tour to a mattress adventure at Ikea.  Music festivals on Whyte Ave, cruising downtown, running in the rain, Toy Story 3, shopping sprees, Kristina-made dinners, 30 Rock and Pickup Artist, sunflower seeds and skittles.  Was the best week I’ve had in a long time, and it was so great to see Kristina again.  Olga too!

For the week she was here we sorta played husband and wife, and I’ll admit it was quite nice.  I could do worse!  It was a fun week!  Now that she’s gone I really miss her!  X-mas will be the next time we get to hang out, when I visit Winnipeg.  Too long!

Moving Day

 

Sorry for the lack of entries.  Been a very busy week.  Had to pack up all my stuff and move it to the new apartment by myself, then wake up at 6:30 AM the next morning to pick up Chad in Saskatoon (and of course get surprised by a blizzard on the way, in late MAY), get all his stuff into the apartment, then do furniture and grocery shopping, clean my old place up and get the last of my things, and finally get set up in the apartment.  We still don’t have internet either, so don’t expect many blog posts until this weekend.  But I’m taking some of my break to write this and add pics and video from the experience.  Enjoy!  The video has a tour of the new place once it was all set up!  Chad and I are quite happy with it!

New Level! DM-Rooftops

I completed my second Unreal level, this time using the UT3 editor instead of the UDK editor.  It’s a rooftops level, a bit of an homage to the old Duke Nukem levels I used to make.  In the end I learned a few important lessons while making this level about what to decide on before starting the level, and what can be decided on the fly.  There are definitely some things I’d change if I were remaking the level now.  But live and learn!  Pix and walkthrough video included:

And the video:

2004 Pontiac Sunfire

So here’s some pix of the Sunfire!  It’s kinda dirty, but there’s no point getting a car wash right now since all the roads are mushy.  I got a really good deal on the car, and am loving it so far.  It’s a significant upgrade from my Honda too!

 

It has remote start/lock, power windows/locks, air conditioning, air bags, anti-lock brakes, digital odometer, MP3 CD Player, etc.  I love it.

 

Winnipeg Trip

My Winnipeg trip was a lot of fun.  It’s a shame it’s over.  When I first got back I felt really home sick.  The thought of going another year without seeing any of my family or Winnipeg friends makes me sad.  But I’ve readjusted and it’s good to be back in Edmonton.  Looking forward to hanging out with Edmonton friends whom I’ve missed!

The train ride back was cool.  I was seated with a guy my age, who was deaf.  We sparked up a conversation by passing back and forth a paper and writing on it.  He'd moved from Winnipeg to Saskatoon for a job, much like me, and this was his first visit home since he moved.  We chatted about how weird it was returning after starting a new life.  Cool guy.  Ended up adding eachother to facebook!