All I want for Christmas is a transporter

After the public announcement of our departure with the 1st blog post, I realized there were plenty of relatives and friends I wish I could have taken the time to tell in person instead of via a blog post.


I wish I had the chance to visit everyone. Go see them at their new house, newly renovated apartment, see their kids, or sit down in a coffee shop, around a nice meal and a great bottle of wine and talk. But I couldn't get to it. Busy personal/professional life, schedule conflicts and different cities. 


We were living in Quebec City and most of my relatives and long time friends are in or around Montreal. It has been a pleasure to tease them about the Habs, the mayor Tremblay or the road conditions, but even an easy 3 hour drive is just enough to make it think twice about a quick back and forth the same day.  You can't go just for a coffee and come back.  It has to be an entire day thing. It's frustrating because it's so close.  You don't need to take a plane. When I think about it. I saw my mom 4 or 5 times this year, compared to 2 or 3 times when I was living in Vancouver.  So then why not live in Vancouver?


The other main reason why I couldn't tell earlier is that as a team manager I wanted to make sure I was leaving my current company and my team in a good condition.  Making sure they where in good hands and on a good path.  So I had to tell everyone just a week before my last day. I'm sure my friend Liza Wood know what I'm talking about. She has a good blog about management, process and leadership.  And now these days the only way to keep something out of the public is not to tell anyone.  Because soon enough it ends up on Facebook.  


So all I want for Christmas is a transporter

There is always a first time

I'm one week away from flying to Vancouver, again.  It will be my 3rd time! Third time! 3! Oui, oui, trois fois! They say third time's a charm! Does it mean that the first 2 times weren't successful? No, not at all. Maybe the 1st time wasn't that successful.  Maybe not. Let's say it was a life experience. A time to discover and learn. 


The 1st time I moved to Vancouver was after my 1st job at Hybride Technologies. After 5 years at Hybride, I had the California dream. I wanted to work at some of the big visual effects houses, like ILM, Sony Imageworks, PDI  (who's now Dreamworks) or Pixar.  I saw Vancouver as a stepping stone to my California dream.  Getting away from home, what I know, improving my English and having more experience by working on more projects and connecting with more people.  I started working at Mainframe Entertainment (who's now Rainmaker Entertainment) in January 2000. I worked there for 18 months.


During those 18 months, I met some of the people that 12 years later are still some of my best friends.  I've met colleagues where over the years, we worked together more than once and always enjoyed and trusted each other.  We were all in our late 20s or early 30s, single or in couple, with no kids. We had good time at work, a few great parties, but it was not that easy to connect outside of work.


I have to say that when you are a newcomer, it is hard to make friends in Vancouver.  It is not an easy city to truly connect with people. You meet a lot of people, but there is a barrier that is hard to cross.  Going from a person they know or play volleyball with, to a person they invite or share something with, a meal, a hike, share a personal story; it takes time and it is a slow process. Where compare to Quebecer this barrier is easy or most often there is no barrier.  It seems like for Quebecer, 'friends of my friends, are my friends', but for an anglophone, 'friends of my friends are strangers'. So to go from the 'stranger' to the 'friend' it takes time. It seems like you have to earn their trust over time. Slowly a little bit at a time. But when you cross this barrier, when you become friend, they are your friends for a long long time. 


In Vancouver the first time, the first connection come easily. But the real connection, to the people, to the city, it takes time. Once you made the real connection it stays forever. And like friends, when you see each other after a long separation, it seems like it was yesterday.


2 pictures from 2000