Usually I’m ahead of the curve when it comes to technology and new media… blogging, video games, ICQ, MSN, GMail, torrents, photo blogs, IRC, gadgets etc..

But this time I’m catching up… because I’m waaaaay behind… on Twitter. One of the companies I am interviewing with has using Twitter as part of the job description, so I thought maybe I’d get a head start by spending some time exploring the service.

Yes! I’ve finally created a Twitter account. http://twitter.com/VancityAllie

If you’d like to follow me, just hit up the link above. There’s not much content yet, but it’s a start.

I do have a question for you Twitter veterans… what are the advantages/disadvantages of making your Twitter feed private?

I had resisted Twitter for so long because I was worried it would consume all the time I usually set aside for blogging. So far I’m really enjoying it. It seems to me that Twitter can potentially take away from blogging time, or even the need to blog. What do you think?

So I’m here at Sun Peaks after a long bus trip just settling into our condo here.

I’ve wrapped up a week of interviews at various companies and feel pretty much utterly exhausted. This time of change is an amazing opportunity, but it is also a tiring time.

I’m really glad I have a chance to relax and have nothing on my mind but snowboarding for the weekend. I brought my tripod this time so I’m going to try lugging it around on the hill for a while and try to get some better footage. I’m excited to try it out, even though it will be freaking heavy

On a completely random note, we watched Whiskey 1 and 2 on the bus. I’m a little embarassed to say it was my first time watching the infamous snowboarding movies, and they were just hilarious. We watched “That’s It, That’s All” just before it… and the two styles couldn’t have been more starkly contrasted. The Whiskey movies really brought me back to what snowboarding is to me… a chance to have fun with friends, be stupid, and not worry about what other people think. More people need to watch those movies. They may be a bit inane, but they aren’t pretentious. It’s just about a group of guys doing stupid stuff and snowboarding. There aren’t brands or logos stuck everywhere, there were no helicopters… it makes me laugh at myself thinking about when I’ve had arguments with people about the best gear, or the best conditions, or the best resorts etc.

Haha.

Oh my gosh. I’m just going to get out there and snowboard. You should too

I’ve been so busy lately I’ve barely had time to breathe! So far my “week off” has turned into a whirlwind of phone interviews, in-person interviews, errands, cooking, working out, being behind the camera at photoshoots, setting up my new Blackberry Curve 8900, going skating, finalizing some organizational details for the Big White trip, and getting ready for the Sun Peaks trip this Friday. Phew! And it’s only Tuesday.

So yes — I did pick up a new Blackberry Curve 8900. I made the switch to Rogers from Fido. It was a necessary move. So far I love the new Blackberry. I think it is actually nicer than the Blackberry Bold… MUCH easier to type on. It doesn’t have the 3G but the nicer screen, camera, and slim form of the phone make up for it by far. And it’s miles above the old Blackberry Curve I had for a while. It actually kinda feels nice to have a personal Blackberry instead of a work Blackberry for once If anyone out there is on Blackberry, feel free to add my PIN to your BBerry Messenger: 24A3C393!

In other news, my photography portfolio finally arrived from Blurb. I’m really happy with the way it turned out, as with the other books I’ve done through them. The new ImageWrap cover is really nice, and I love the large landscape format. The pictures came out super crisp and gorgeous, and not grainy at all (it may look so in the image but that is from my camera being at a high ISO taking a picture of the book, not the actual pictures in the book ). If on the off chance you’d like to order my 184 page portfolio, you can do so here.

I did want to talk a little bit about the new photography book I’ve put together.

It’s called “West Coast“. The book explores the beauty and wildness that is the West Coast that we know and love — all the way from Tofino to Vancouver to Washington, Oregon, and California. The book is a large format landscape which is 13 by 11 inches (much larger than a standard book or piece of paper), and comes with premium heavy weight glossy paper. Note that this on not the same as my portfolio above. This book is strictly West Coast photography.

I thought I’d throw it out there in case anyone would like to help throw a couple extra coins at me in this tough times. I’m not in a bad situation by any means, but every little bit helps! I would really appreciate it. I only make about $20 off each book but even that would help a lot. It also makes a BEAUTIFUL coffee table book, or a nice book to have at your desk at work. And it shows you love where we live!

To help me out and purchase my West Coast photography coffee table book, please click the link below to go to the Blurb bookstore.

West Coast

Exploring the Beau…

By Allie

Book Preview

Thank you! Sorry for the shameless self-promotion.

Well, my interviews continue this week and maybe next, so I will be sure to update everyone on my job situation of course. Thanks to all of you for your kind comments, and also some of the nice e-mails I’ve gotten. You really brighten my day

I realize I haven’t updated my blog in about a week, but I have a pretty good reason.

Last Tuesday, January 27th, the video game studio I work for, Humanature Studios (Nexon Publishing North America), closed down and all employees were let go.

Fortunately, I had known for a few weeks that this was going to happen and I had been mentally and professionally preparing myself. Still — nothing can prepare you to see the faces of 93 other individuals looking shocked, stunned, and heartbroken when the announcement was made.

I have been putting off this post for a long time, because I don’t really know how to write about this.

We had an incredible CEO, Alex Garden. And an incredible team of executives. My boss was amazing; working for him has been a significant turning point in my career. And just about all employees were handpicked from various game studios… making a dream team of video game developers.

So what happened?

Well, as I’ve been saying… no one is safe. The economy affects everyone. Our “parent” company, Nexon, abruptly decided that they no longer wanted to financially fund our North American game studio. There’s nothing anyone can do about that. It’s a real shame. We worked hard and loved our work.

The past week I’ve been helping tear down the studio and sell of the equipment. That was definitely hard to do. The execs managed to put together an incredible full-pay severance package for all of us, so fortunately we will be okay for a few months no matter what happens.

Including the recent Black Box and Propaganda layoffs, this makes just over 700 video game job layoffs in the past 6 months. The market is saturated. It’s hard times for devs looking for jobs right now.

So what do I do?

I feel like I’m at a crossroads in my career. I can either go forward, back, or sideways.

I have been interviewing with several companies over the past few weeks, and will continue to do so over the next two. I was planning on taking a short paid break from working for a while, but I think it will be in my best interests to start working sooner and be double paid for a while.

I’m not sure what direction I want my career to go in at this point. I’m interviewing with a company backed by a huge multinational in Kelowna. And it would be a challenging Global Senior Manager position which would be a step up… but it’s in Kelowna. That poses a problem for being with my significant other, family, and friends. There’s also a position at a software developer in Gastown, that I’m also really excited about… but I need to make sure that there is opportunity for career growth there. There’s also the option of taking a more relaxed easier sales position at a Fortune 500 company I highly respect and have worked for before, but I know that while it may be the best option for me to continue my activity-filled personal life, it won’t help me career-wise.

I want to make the right choice for both my career and my personal life. Is it possible to have the best of both worlds?

I apologize for the lack of updates lately, and for the lack of photos in this post. It just didn’t feel right.

I hope everyone is doing well. I will be updating my blog more frequently now that I’ve been able to get past this difficult post.