You can take any day of the year and decide to look back upon the last 365 days. For me, today is as good as any to examine what went on in the last year. If you live in Vancouver, it’s not difficult to remember that it was exactly one year ago this weekend that the 2010 Olympic Winter Games kicked off. It was the beginning of a very special two weeks for anyone who was lucky enough to be in Vancouver during that time. I was not prepared for how great it was to have such a spectacle of an event in your city. It was literally a two week long party that went on day and night, the likes of which many residents had never seen before. Vancouver often gets labeled as a city that is no fun but at least for those two weeks, you couldn’t tell if you were partying on a Monday or Friday because either day had the same amount of people packed into the downtown core. I managed to attend three official events during the Games, all contests of the ice hockey variety. One of the games happened to be a game that had Team Canada playing which was a genuine treat. Outside of all-star games, it is very rare to see a single team with that many talented players. The game itself made me slightly nervous in that it required Canada to go to a shootout to defeat Switzerland, not known as a hockey powerhouse. Overall, it was amazing to see the country come together in my home town to cheer on our athletes. It was only fitting that the last day of the Olympics featured one of the greatest hockey games the country had ever witnessed.
Of course the Olympics did end after two weeks and it wasn’t long after that that the first of many bumps showed up in my career during the year. About a month later, I was pushed out of the job that I had loved doing for the last three and a half years. Working as part of the skate team, for Black Box, and in the Games label was an absolute joy. It went from that to doing stuff that I didn’t really care for, on a team that had no future for me. It was a terrible six months that made the summer of 2010 quite the unpleasant experience. I saw a lot of things that I did not like about the Sports label. I’m not sure if I would ever choose to work on another sports game going forward.
The pain mercifully ended in late October of 2010 when I was granted the layoff that I had requested. I was planning on leaving anyways and if they could give me a going-away present that would be even better. My tenure at EA lasted over four years and it represents the longest I’ve ever worked for any company. I was unemployed for just over a month before I got a contract gig at UFG. Things were looking alright for me work-wise but then things happened last week. The harsh reality is that I might not have a job beyond this Tuesday.
So the last 365 days overall were not so great mainly because my career took a nosedive. The last two game teams I’ve worked on, I was pretty much a nobody. Will that change in the future? I don’t know right now. So were there any highlights in the last year? Yes, I mentioned the Olympics above and in April I took a trip out to Washington, D.C. with a good friend. We saw some amazing museums and exhibits and ate some really pricey but great food. It was a reminder that I still love to travel and it is so rewarding to see what this world has to offer.
I sure hope the next 365 days are better than the last 365.