Wednesday, August 12, 2009

Laser Quest

A week ago, roughly, I received another inhouse e-mail in french at work. As I skimmed the words, picking out common words that I've begun to pick up, I was still lost until I came across two words in particular... "Laser Quest." Immediately I replied to the e-mail saying, I'm not exactly sure what this all means but I can read Laser Quest and I'm totally in!!


Luckily for me it was a night of laser quest for the employees of Mistic with a dinner afterwards. I have to say this was SO much fun, I had been looking forward to this since I got this e-mail. This afternoon when we arrived everyone had no problem smack talking each other , and as always they had no problem singling me out as the "American." As always I take it, with a grin and a smile, not shameful of where I come from. Yet after the first game, there was a lot less smack talking as I had the top score out of everybody. I couldn't help but laugh and tell them that they really shouldn't mess with Americans haha ...


Although I had a good time crushing my co-workers, that's not my reasoning for blogging tonight. Really it's because tonight I was able to talk to some more people and even some of the programmers who had never spoke to me attempted to talk to me in english , which I think is a big step. There are many people who don't talk to me at work, and I think it could be for several reasons but one of them being that they don't feel comfortable speaking English. A few tonight even started talking to me in french, which I could only smile and nod, and try to understand the conversation. I'm really starting to feel a camaraderie with the people I work with, and I can honestly say that I've really valued my time with them thus far.


A side note, I was talking with one of the artists tonight and he was telling me about his cousin who spent most of her life living inHong Kong, and how when she was 19 she went to a more rural area outside of Hong Kong. He was explaining to me that she had never really seen a sunset or the stars until this trip. I find this so strange and sort of sad... I spent my childhood outside, in the woods, enjoying nature in it'spleasantries . I can't help but really miss both New Hampshire and Vermont because of this. Although I will say that one of the most amazing skies I ever saw was when I was in Arizona. My folks are out there right now enjoying their new place, I'm severely jealous that I'm not out there with them! Someday I will have a nice place, and I will be able to see the stars.


One last thought! I recently had a conversation with a lady writing an article for a Vermont based website, as soon as I know I'll post it for sure, but she was writing about "young people's" perspectives on gaming industry and where it's headed. It almost felt automatic answering her questions, it's funny sometimes I don't think I really have many opinions about things but I guess I really do. I really do believe that the lines between "video games" and "interactive tools" will begin to be blurred, and these sorts of tools are going to proliferate the market. If you know me at all you know my stances on education, and so I won't get into that. I'm not sure really what I mean to say right now but it's exciting to feel at the cusp of it. Perhaps I'm not but as a young person who is just starting in the industry I hope to have some influence on some aspect of it in the future. I'm not sure what I'll end up doing, or where, but somehow I just know that whatever it is it will be interesting... and hopefully help people's lives for the better. Another thing I can see is Champlain Students starting to head the medium and the industry in new directions, yes you may take this as just me boasting my college again but really... Champlain students are sort of a different breed. I think it's going to be interesting as more alumni begin to enter the market, which I'm sure many of them will. I'm also hoping that in the future I'll be in a position to maybe help some of them get on their feet professionally, of course this is coming from someone who still isn't quite on their own feet yet either haha.


Anyways I'll end it with that... Benoit and I have signed for a new apartment today, we're having a meeting with the landlord tomorrow and hopefully this will be a done deal. My third apartment in Montreal should be the best one thus far I think haha.

No comments: