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It’s almost 2:30am as I write this and normally I’d be in bed right now, trying to get some sleep before the start of the new work week. Of course, all of you know that I currently don’t have a job right now. Tomorrow is the official start of my latest stint with not being employed.

I’m looking forward to getting as much sleep as I want every day, so I anticipate getting up around noon tomorrow. I don’t have any concrete plans for my first day of freedom. I might have to send a few e-mails and make a few calls but I have nothing else pressing on the agenda. I could order a new power supply for my new computer setup. I also could do some research into local plumbing companies since I need to fix my garbage disposal that’s been broken since early summer. I easily could just play video games all day but I feel like I should be more productive on my first day.

What I really should probably do tomorrow is clean my apartment thoroughly. It hasn’t been properly cleaned since late August. I could probably spend the whole day cleaning as there is that much to do. I will most likely break up that task into two or three days. I’d consider it a huge win if I had a sparkling clean apartment by the end of the week.

It’s the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend which means this weekend is a long one. Since everyone has Monday off, it doesn’t seem like I’m no longer employed. I’m staying up late on Sunday night but then again, so is everyone else. I’m sure when everyone is prepping to go back to work on Monday night, that’s when it’ll seem like I’m an unemployed bum.

Unlike my previous stints with unemployment, I applied for EI benefits right away. In fact, I put in my application on Friday, while I was technically still employed. I’m not desperate for money, it’s just that I’ve learned there’s no real reason to wait to apply. The only consequence of waiting is that you delay getting your money.

The one slightly awkward order of business for this week is to explain to my parents that I’m not currently working anymore. When I took the contract job in March, I didn’t tell them I quit a full-time job for a contract one. Perhaps it would have been better to do it back then as I wouldn’t have to do it now. Oh well. My Mom is currently in Calgary visiting relatives and she gets back this week. I think I’ll wait until next weekend to tell both my parents at the same time.

I made it to the end of my contract job. As many of you know, three years ago I took a six month contract job at UFG, which wound up being barely two and a half months after I got laid off. This time around there were no game cancellations and no layoffs.

This was a tough and grueling project to be on but I’m still very thankful I had a chance to work on it. Beyond the seven months of employment and the ability to pay my bills, it was my chance to get out of a very bad situation at my last place of employment. The new job was just down the street from the old one. It was so easy to transition to my new role. I also got to work with some great people on a small team of about ten people. The last seven months would have been way more difficult if I had to work with people I didn’t enjoy hanging out with but there were some really cool cats on my team. Some of these people I’ll continue to hang out with after tomorrow.

I’m so looking forward to chilling out for the next little while.

At the end of the work day, I had my exit interview with HR. It was pretty standard stuff as far as exit interviews go. I also started to throw stuff out and see what I had to bring home with me. In my previous post, I mentioned how I was going to bring home my massage cushion. I decided to loan it to one of my co-workers. He’s had a much more stressful time on the project than I have. He’s sat in my chair and tried the massager a few times and he’s always said how good it felt. I think he needs it more than I do now. I’ll grab it from him once the project is done for reals.

The reality of my contract coming to an end is hitting home. I have my exit interview today with HR. I also realized I need to start bringing home my stuff with me. I think I’ll take back my chair massager with me today. I didn’t throw the box away when it was delivered, so it’ll be convenient to use that to carry home.

The interesting thing is my collection of condiment packages. I have a large collection on my desk of various ketchups, salsa, soy sauce, honey, and hot sauce just to name a few. People have asked me if I’ll be taking that home. I don’t think so for a few reasons. First, I don’t want to make my home any more messy than it already is. Second, I want my co-workers to use the condiment collection after I leave. If there’s a plain french fry asking for ketchup, my collection will help. If there’s a piece of sushi needing some soy, the collection will be the answer.

Only a few more days left!

Today marks the release of Edge of Tomorrow on home video. The movie starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt in my opinion was easily one of the best movies of the summer. I would say it was either this film or Days of Future Past that holds the #1 spot for me. Edge of Tomorrow was well-written, featured strong performances by Cruise and Blunt, and just was downright entertaining. It was one of those rare action movies that made you think but not too much.

People have said this movie had a disappointing box-office performance, especially in light of how good the movie was. It “only” made $100 million in North America which I guess is disappointing for a supposed blockbuster. I think it’s an absolute shame that more people haven’t seen this movie. Some attribute this to the loss of star power of Tom Cruise. Once an almost sure-thing at the box office, in recent years, his personal life and association with Scientology has tarnished his image. It’s clear that some people have stayed away from his movies just because of him. I personally don’t share any of his religious views but that didn’t stop me from enjoying his movie.

If you missed Edge of Tomorrow when it was in the theaters, I encourage you to catch it now that it’s on additional formats. Rent it, buy it, stream it, or download it (through whatever means you like), I believe you’ll find a thoroughly entertaining movie.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the last week of my contract at United Front Games. I’ve worked with some incredibly talented people since March. Their ability to make me enjoy the work day has easily been the best part of my time at UFG.

I’m looking forward to some time off!

The strata council meeting minutes for September arrived in my inbox a few days ago and I only read them today. In the minutes were a report of a person who gained access to my building and then broke into two apartments. The security footage revealed the burglar was able to enter the building by surfing in behind someone who had legitimate access. The man simply just followed a resident into the building.

We’ve been told time and again not to let people into the building who don’t have an access fob, yet people seem to break this rule all the time. There’s no indication the person who let the burglar in is going to be fined or even talked to which disappoints me. I bet the people who had their homes burgled would love to speak to the irresponsible resident.

On a personal note, I’m going to turn motion sensing back on for my internal home security camera. I originally had it on but turned it off because it was too sensitive and I’d get false positives. I got tired of it crying wolf so I turned motion detection off. I’ll be turning it back on now and will attempt to tweak the settings.

I hope they catch the guy because I’d hate to think he’s getting bold now and might return for some more shenanigans.

I witnessed a car accident today from a unique vantage point. I was sitting in my window seat on a Skytrain car as it traveled at 70 km/h on the elevated tracks. We were heading west between Commercial Drive and Main Street stations. My train was just passing by a storage locker facility on Terminal Avenue. I hopefully this street view link works.

I saw a van which was parked at the edge of the parking lot, near where that beige sedan is in the street view but on the other side of the curb, in the parking lot itself. I also noticed a small sedan which was reversing away from the storage locker building, perpendicular in direction in relation to where the van was facing. I couldn’t tell why the sedan was reversing directly away from the building. I also thought it was odd that it was heading to the extreme edge of the parking lot, right where a curb was. It was getting closer and closer to the van and I waited for it stop before a collision was imminent. The sedan looked like it was backing up at around 20-25 km/h. It kept going though and I knew it had gone past the point of no return, it was going to hit the van.

It smashed into the van without nary a flash of the brake lights, which told me the driver had no clue the van was there. The van took the full brunt of the collision and it was the only reason the sedan had stopped. By now, my train was speeding past the accident and even though I craned my head to see more of the aftermath, I couldn’t witness any more of it. I looked around the train car and it appeared I was the only one who had noticed this.

I was full of questions now. Who was driving that sedan? Why were they reversing like that? What was going through their mind? Was the driver of the van in the van at the time of the accident? I couldn’t see if the van was occupied. If they were in the van, why didn’t they honk? What happened afterwards? Did they exchange insurance information? Did the sedan just take off?

I almost want to phone the storage locker place to see if they have any more info. I want closure on this. Let’s end this post with the intro to Storage Wars from season one.

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