Almost September

Why do I always find myself back here when September rolls around? I know it's still August, nearly a year since Carbine shut down and about six months since I started my job at Ubisoft Montreal.

I've been very quiet on the social media. I guess I was never particularly noisy. I don't (usually) like to brag, and I'm not one who's ever felt comfortable airing his grievances or personal issues to a gallery of veritable strangers (anyone who actually knows me is excluded). There's enough negativity in the world. I don't need to add to it, regardless of the theoretical cartharsis it might provide.

So... Montreal. We found a nice, quiet place to rent. It's not too far from the office, though the traffic here adds 30 minutes to just about any commute. Parking is nothing like California (where half the urban landscape seems to be taken up by parking lots). Lots of people ride bicycles in the summer, and many of them appear to be suicidal.

It doesn't feel like home here. I don't know if it ever will. Is it the psychological impact of living in another country, surrounded by people who don't always speak your language? Could be. I often comment to friends that, with my first industry job (at EA Mythic in Virginia), I couldn't wait to get out of California. Having returned there to work at Carbine for six years, I think I realized that California--for all its expense, drought, earthquakes, and fires--is my home.

Regardless of how I feel, this is where I'll be for the foreseeable future. I love working for Ubisoft. The project is a lot of fun so far. The people are amazing. My work matters and I feel like I belong. I don't know how long I'll be here, so I'm trying to take it one day at a time. I don't always succeed.

So that's it for now. Maybe more later, if I remember this blog still exists. For now, I'm relatively safe and sound. The family is well. The cats and dog are still sleeping, eating, and pooping. What more can a man ask for?