Refer to my website please :)

Hey!

So for a while now I've been trying to maintain both the blogspot blog, as well as my website... but really if you'd like to follow me you should be checking my website :)

So if you are at all coming here for the blog please refer to this link

Thanks for reading and hope you'll continue to do so in the future!

The first steps in a right direction

I may have drifted for a while, but I did as I always do... I thought long and hard, weighed my options, and made a plan. It was very tempting for a while to jump ship, and try to swim to shore; but I knew that the idea of what I'd find was merely a mirage. Really I knew I needed to try to make my ship sail again.

Ok enough with the analogies, I've made a bit of a plan for myself in an effort to make my life better in Montreal. Part of that plan was to move out of my current apartment, and find someplace new with new people. I ended up finding a great place, and through a little perseverance managed to find someone to rent my current apartment and moved out last weekend. I really couldn't be more excited, I actually technically have four roommates now, I life in one of the older buildings in Montreal, the apartment is two stories, we have a washer and dryer, and crazy enough... we have a back yard!! My bedroom (which is the size of my last living room), overlooks the garden in the back. Although it's taken a lot of work, and a lot of cleaning, I'm finally getting settled into my new place. The thing that really struck me, was that the first morning I woke in my new apartment... I heard birds :) I never heard birds from my last place... ever! I get to park right outside our front door, and our neighborhood is just that... a neighborhood with families and kids playing in playgrounds. The buildings aren't quite so tall here, and at night my bedroom is dark and quiet. While I'm not sure how long I'll stay in my fourth apartment in Montreal, I'm hopeful that it will be for quite a while.

The first morning, I do the same thing I do every time I move to a new place, I took a walk. As I walked I was greeted by people walking their dogs, cleaning their cars, and it was fun to see so many parks and playgrounds in the area. It's funny, I never know what to say when I greet someone new on the street... so I usually stay quiet not being sure if they speak french or English. This weekend I was walking by this old African lady, and her dog, as she was sitting on the stoop of her house watching children play. I gave her just a nod of the head and her face brightened up and she said, "Allo darlin!" and I couldn't help but just smile and know... that this was a good place... and that I think I was making some good steps in the right direction :)

Today was the first day back at work since I moved, and really... I had such a good day. I was really productive, and things just went well for me today. I came home and went for a walk, and now I'm sitting in my backyard, drinking a beer and blogging :) Life is pretty sweet. This is just the first step, and hopefully things will just continue to get better.

Adrift

I feel like I'm lost at sea. I have no view of the horizon, and a thick fog has set in... There are no birds, no indication of land fall. I can't quite get my bearings, I just keep gripping onto the mast hoping that things will pull through. Yet I'm alone on my ship, nothing but a soiled star chart and journal to keep me company. I keep wondering if I dive over, could I make it to land? Or would the current take me under, and drag me to the deep. There's a possibility that this ship could carry me to new and unforeseen lands, yet my faith is dwindling... There's no one to blame really, besides myself. See I crafted this vessel... I put my blood, sweat, and tears into it in order to make it float. So why jump ship? Why abandon my creation? There's no perfect answer, one way or another... so I drift. White knuckled gripping the mast... This would be the time where others might reach for their trinkets and pray. Pray for guidance, resolution, maybe even land... Not I. For I put myself in this mess, and I'm sure I'll be finding my own way to shore. I just don't know when I'll get there.

New Section added

Hey all!

I just added a new section of my website titled “Experiental Play.” In it is an analysis of experience in video games, and how it could impact our constructed realities. If your interested be sure to check it out!

A Familiar Feeling

It's hard to explain, but is a feeling I've come to be familiar with... It's sort of a change in the wind, perhaps it's best described as an epiphany. It's like suddenly the stars have lined up in new and interesting patterns, and suddenly I see something I hadn't seen before. It calls for more... It reaches deep down and inspires. I'm never quite sure what will happen when it comes, as I've learned that a great many things can happen in a short amount of time. I'm not sure what all of this means, but part of me feels a change is on the horizon...

For one thing I've begun writing again :)

More to come soon... I promise.

I'm Here

(Click the image)

I don't know about you... but sometimes I certainly feel like a robot. This was amazing and just really cool I thought. I think everyone needs to take half an hour out of their busy schedules to try to watch this at somepoint.

A change in weather

Ok so I know I've been really bad at updating this! I had to read the last post before I start writing this one to know where I had left you off. Ironically enough not too much has changed. I'm still reading thought provoking books, work has still been work, and well the only thing that has changed drastically is the weather. This week has been nothing but sunny and warm. Although I've had little time to enjoy, being at work, it's certainly nice to be greeted in such a way in the mornings and evenings.

Work has been a bit stressful, but all and all good. I'm making a transition right now, sort of off of one projects and onto another. This sort of rapid transition feels a bit strange, as suddenly I'm being integrated onto a new team, a new group of people who have already been working on this project for quite some time now, and away from a project that, while frustraiting at times, I had become quite familiar with. I think it's natural for anyone to be a bit nervous about the unknown. I had, in some ways, developed a sort of comfort zone with the work that I had been doing. I knew what needed to be done, how to fix problems that arised, and what was expected. Now? It'll be a bit learning that all over again I suppose, but I'm looking forward to it. One of my only concerns is that I hope they don't move my desk at work, I've become a bit comfortable where I'm at and the people I'm surrounded by. I'll for sure know more by next week as the transition becomes final.

I think I've been thinking much broader lately, and am trying to look at my life and how I spend my time more subjectively. Conclusion? Well not much yet haha, I've just been trying to be a bit more proactive with my time... but by proactive I don't necessarily mean just being productive but also taking some time for myself.

I'm still working my way through that book on mythology, and have begun thinking of some relationships between what Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers have been talking about, and the gaming industry. I've begun thinking of questions like, "Do video games establish certain views and expectations on the world? Can they help us establish our own morality? Could they ever initiate us into the community?" Perhaps that's some things for whoever might be reading this to think about.

Ok I guess that's enough for now... I'm off to try to enjoy whatever is left of this beautiful day!