Thanks for the memories Canada...

With moving out of my place on July 1st, I’ve had limited to no internet access, except through facebook, as Ubisoft hasn’t seemed to cut off access to that yet. But they have cut off access to Blogger, so it’s hard to keep you all up to date with what I’m doing.

The biggest development is that now that I that my work is pretty much done on the project it was time to look at what’s next… I’ve mentioned a few times that I would make a decision nearer the time and that time has now come, and with that I’ve decided that now would be a good time to head back to the UK, and ironically of all places back to Bristol. This came as a surprise to me as well as after Hothouse I didn’t think I’d be back there, I think I always had an idea that I’d be back in England, but if I’m completely honest maybe not so soon, but I did always say that after 2 years I would re-evaluate and see what’s out there.

The chance to be a Lead Animator again is part of the motivation but it’s possible I could of gotten that opportunity at Ubisoft of possibly somewhere else, I’d been getting phone calls because of Linked In and my website for Santa Monica, Vancouver, Edmonton, and various other places, but my heart was always going to be back home in England.

It was a lot tougher decision than I had previously thought it would be, I’ve met so many amazing people in a little under 2 and a half years, that it’s going to be hard to leave that all behind. I’ve looking forward to going back home, but also extremely nervous as this is the first time that I’ll be entering to a company as a lead, instead of being promoted to one, but this is yet again another relatively fresh start for me, and I’m sure like every other opportunity I will embrace it with both hands.

But this 2 and a bit years has taught me so much, not just in my career, but about where I want to be, the 10 year plan I set out for myself has somewhat changed, and realised that work is important but where I am in my personal life is just if not more important.

I’ve been asked to carry on the Blog from England. So roll on the next chapter of my career, and about 50 new facebook contacts from Montreal, this is Kristjan on Tour, signing off…. Well from Montreal at least.

E3 with Assassins Creed in Santa Monica

I was lucky enough to be one of the 12 members of the team invited to travel to Santa Monica for E3 2007 with Assassins Creed to demo the game, and get the first chance to show everyone what we've been working so hard on. Who knew that a trip to LA would be so exhausting. 4 Days stuck in a small room with a load of consoles that close to the beach was torture, but the thrill of showing someone that was so excited about the game when they sat down next to me was great, I've managed to track down a couple of the guys' articles that I demoed to and so far they all seem pretty positive, of course there will be good and bad press with everything you do, but the majority seem really good.

Offical Xbox Magazine and Infuze Magazine

The whole week was a little surreal, with being a rep for Assassin's Creed, we got the chance to enjoy Santa Monica on Ubisoft's coin, which is always fun, I mean it's not every day that you get to got to LA for free is it? Ubisoft is known for it's parties and E3 even though it was quieter than previous years was not going to be any different. The main stay of any Ubisoft party is the open bar. So a few martini's later, and Jonnie and I start on the shots, and the Kobe beef burgers, turns out that Kobe beef is basically drunk cow thats been massaged, and drip fed copious amounts of alchol in it's life, not sure how humaine this is, don't belive me? Check out what wikipedia says...

Then came the craziest taxi ride in the world, ever!

The remaining 8 of us missed the free bus back to the hotel, bare in mind we've been abusing the free bar for a good 5 hours, so this part could be a little hazy. Patrice hails a cab, that should only really be seating about 6, so 8 of us get in, 2 sit on the floor, with me in the front. The cd player gets cranked right up to 11, I mean the sort of loud that you can feel in the pit of your stomach. He floors it, and according to Patrice who looked at the speedo, we hit about 80 mph on the Ocean Road, no stoping for the lights and dodging in and out of the few cars. For some reason I should of been scared for my life, but I just kept laughing uncontrolably. I think he actually made about $50 on a $10 cab ride, as we all just gave him money... Not sure why.

Canada Day in Ottawa

The 'Boat' we spent so much time on

Ok so since I moved out of my place I've not had much access to the net, so hence the lack of postings work has been insane the past few weeks and I seem to be doing a huge amount of highrolling as well, on the same day as I was due to head to Ottawa I had to move out into Karines place as a temporary home, but then after all that hard work of heading back and forth moving my remaining belongings to her's, I shot off to Ottawa and straight to dinner at 18 one of the swanky resturants in Ottawa owned by a friend of mines best friend, the people I had met last time I was in Ottawa had invited me there for Canada Day to see how it's really celebrated... Who was I to say no?

Here are some of the photos

The view from the bow of the boat whilst in the locks