Mission Accomplished!

Hmm, so it's been a rather strange two weeks so let me see where we last left off and I'll begin to piece it all back together.

Ah yes, job potential. Well potential was good enough for me so Friday through to Sunday was a celebration! Spirits were high having had success in garnering interviews over the previous week and so with Seamus' highs and lows wisdom fresh in my mind I decided to ride the high while it lasted.

Friday started off with a trip downtown to "interview" for the temporary agency who had offered the job in the console factory the previous week. The interview consisted of an English test, a data entry test and an Excel test. All things which I would have reasonable confidence in! So the interview/application was wrapped up fairly quickly (30-45 minutes) and then I was instructed to wait for a lady in the hall while they went over the results.

A woman in perhaps her mid-50s emerged a while later to talk to me; a woman named Peggy (this may have been the blog title had I been writing this last week!, another contender was the "Waa-hoo" noise a Nintendo character makes but I've just used that in this blog instead). She informed me that she had set up an interview for Wednesday at 3:30 and that she was very happy with everything. The work was nothing too involved and was likely a 2-3month position with some potential for an extension at the end. Then she told me that the job was with Nintendo Canada. Well that sealed the deal for me right there and then and I was elated. It wouldn't be development but it was something and if I got in the door who knew where it could lead, and most importantly it would keep me here and keep me fed.

But of course Peggy's job was not done. Oh no. Peggy was a people person and she began to get to know me a little more. 5 minutes with Peggy and you'd already fallen for her charm, preparing to devote yourself to whatever cause she offered. Her cause today was the new receptionist, Alison, that they'd hired a week or two previous. As coincidence would have it she had also come to Vancouver alone and while I explained to Peggy that I still had people waiting for me back home she was not put off. Having embarrassed the two of us for long enough she went on her way. The seeds were sown however, and I'm sure Peggy knew well before either of us did!

I grabbed my jacket from the closet and came back out past reception. Alison and I got talking again and it turned out that she was from the same city as the other guys whom I'd been hanging out with. She was new in the city with very few contacts. Our group had already decided where we were going tonight so I invited her along and left my number with her.

Happy with a potential job in Nintendo and determined to surf the heights of the wave while it lingered I thought I'd treat myself to a day of playing games! I visited the place I'd been to at the start of the trip but once I'd gotten there they'd completely shut down. I can't say that I was surprised but I was not impressed! I had noticed some places closer to Richmond (that's the city I live in) so off I set.

Well for some perspective here is Wikipedia's take on Richmond; "Richmond has an immigrant population of 59%, the highest in Canada.^[4] More than half of its population is of Asian descent". So if there is a good place to go to play video games near Vancouver, it's probably Richmond. I was not disappointed. I walked into DNA cafe and was stunned by all that I could see, and I could see it all because I dwarfed everybody in the place. All the signs were in Korean and I could certainly feel eyes but I had a potential job in Nintendo, so step aside! The cafe was something I'd only heard/dreamt of. There were 80-100 nerds sitting at computers all playing games, the PCs were well kept and performed well and it was $7 for the entire day! Sign me up.

After a few hours I began to get hungry and walked over to the Tim Hortons down the road from DNA. At Tim Hortons I realised I had a message on my phone so went into voicemail to check up on it.

"Hello Andrew, this is Fallon from HB Studios" ...

The food has been pushed out of my mouth and onto the floor, replaced by my heart.

"We've had a chance to go over your exam and would like to move things onto the next stage"

WAAAA-HOOOO!

"Interview... blah blah... if it suits... blah... call me... blah blah".

I composed myself and re-played the message another 3 times. It got better with each listen.

It felt so good. That my email had actually been responded to, that I had known most of the technical questions and a lot of it due to work done here in Vancouver, that they'd approved my submission. Contact and the technical exam were the hurdles; I'd always felt that if I reached a face-to-face then my chances were pretty good so I was delirious with excitement. I rejoined my Korean comrades and gamed the day away, beaming with delight as I was shamelessly decimated by one opponent after the next.

After that it was out to Burnaby for pre-drinks with the lads and then back downtown for a night at the Roxie. On the way to the Roxie I caught sight of Alison (that's the receptionist) as we stepped off the SkyTrain so went over to her and introduced her into the group. Of course everyone was "warmed up" at this stage so I convinced them that Alison and I had met previously in Ireland and now we'd just met coincidentally on the SkyTrain here in Vancouver; they bought the story and the "coincidence" sent everybody into uproar. The Roxie had a live band playing top 40 hits so we spent the night there and good times were had all around. We ventured back to Burnaby for after-drinks and that brought the night to a close.

In the morning we all went to ihop together* for breakfast and then split up. I went downtown afterwards to meet Sinead's friend Julie again who had cooked a terrific lasagna and wanted to give some to me. Who was I to refuse. After food it was back to Burnaby for more celebratory pre-drinking. Only two of us ended up going out and meeting Alison and her friend. We went out later this time though (but still only about 11) and I will not make that mistake again. We ended up spending at least an hour in various different lines downtown as the place we had planned to go to was $25 door charge because some DJ was playing. I'm not sure how the lines work here but observation suggested something like this. Beautiful people, flirts and people paying off the bouncer come in from the front. One line to the side plays host to the "middle class" attendees; maybe they have a ticket for "VIP" or they signed up before. Then there is the last line, this is the bottom of the barrel, you get in if you're lucky but be prepared to get cold, a disproportionate number of males occupy this line. Needless to say, queuing is not something I'll be doing again. Once the system was determined we managed to get in on the hidden-lower-class flirt scheme; guys hide, girls flirt, guys reappear as rope is lifted.

*

IHOP = International House of Pancakes.

ihop = swedish for "together"

So combined "ihop together" is "together together", which makes no sense! Haha, funny!

Sunday was uneventful for the most part, I arrived home and one of the girls in the house called me wondering if I was alive so I assured her I was and then I fell asleep. Oh yes, I finally got around to actually emailing Fallon and accepting the interview which I had been celebrating for 2 days previous.

Monday and Tuesday were spent mostly on interview prep and on Tuesday night I retreated again to Burnaby as the internet in this house is unreliable at best and so I didn't want to risk any disconnects mid-interview so I stayed out there for the night in preparation for Wednesday. Hmm, I have not mentioned it as of yet so I will do so now, since HB Studios is in Halifax they wanted to do a web-cam Skype interview in order to get the best face-to-face simulation possible without actually being face-to-face.

Wednesday morning came and I was a bag of nerves. I had been a bag of nerves already but now it was almost here and there wasn't much I could do but talk to these people and hope it went well. The interview got off to a rocky start as they made their microphone muted and there was much confusion as to who could hear who and who couldn't but we took a quick recess, fixed the technical difficulties and then got under way. The interview went well, and I was happy but of course as you play it back in your head you remember the parts you messed up on and focus on them (or at least I tend to). They said they'd contact me within 2-3 weeks one way or another...

I didn't have much time for contemplation though as I had to lock up the house, give the guys back their keys and then head over to Nintendo for another interview. As I handed the keys over I got a call on my phone, I recognised the area code; Halifax. It was HB Studios and they were looking for more details such as an address. I obliged and then made my way to Nintendo. The interview at Nintendo went just as well and once I came out I had another voicemail on my phone. I dialed and then the hell that is North American network companies struck again. Not enough credit to hear my voice mail. Rrraaaagggghh! So then I had a two hour trip home which should have been pleasant. I had finished two great interviews for two companies I'd gladly work for and was confident in my chances. Instead I had a horrendous journey home, all the time I was wondering what the voice mail was, it could have been anything but it had to be something "good" right?

I got home and there it was, in my email.

"Nintendo want you to start on Monday"

Waaa-hooo? Oddly enough and to my surprise, no. I knew it wasn't what I wanted. This sent me into even greater rage! I would have worked any job for the last 3 weeks had someone offered it and here I was, staring an offer right in the face, an offer I would have pounced on a few days earlier, and all I could say was no.

I left the house to get credit (yes, it's that awkward!), tried one 7-11 no luck, another 7-11, no luck, got the bus to the bank where the ATM will give you credit. Finally I had credit.

I got home, punched in the credit numbers, sat on the bed and let the frustration dissipate. Finally I could find out what the voice mail wanted. It was another HR person working for HB Studios and they were asking me to call them this afternoon. The number they gave wasn't an office number though, it seemed like a mobile. This was roughly 6pm my time... that's 10pm their time. Meh, dial!

"Hello, this is Andrew Fearon"

"Oh, Andrew, Hi, I was just about to step into bed"

"Oh no, sorry! I wasn't sure if this was a personal number or not..."

/ShiftyEyes

"It's OK, I just shut down the computer but let me try to remember everything. We want to offer you a position in Halifax, starting January 4th"

"YES!"

"OK, I'll pass on the contracts tomorrow for you to look at and sign, you'll have until Monday to make a decision"

"YES!"

We said our goodbyes and my body deflated. All of the pent up anxiety fell away and I just sat with fists clenched bursting with the greatest inner scream imaginable. My mind raced and the wave of the interview high seemed meager in comparison. I tried numerous times to get in touch with anyone at home but it was about 3am GMT at this stage so I didn't have any luck. Instead I went and declared my success to the house.

I'm not sure if it was after or before the HB confirmation (I think it might have been after but I'd made up my mind before) but I got talking to the temporary recruiter about rejecting the job from Nintendo and she said that was OK but that she really needed a favour. There were two days work that needed doing in Richmond and it was really short notice, I was needed for 8am tomorrow. I said I would do it for her no problem and that was that.

Thursday was the come down as I was up early and into the factory to do some labour, moving packages from box A to box B and inspecting the package in between. Nothing exciting but the day went fast. Friday was more of the same only it was a Friday so the day didn't end at 4pm. I went to the off license after work for Baby Guinness ingredients and then it was back to Burnaby to celebrate! Alison invited us to her place this time so we all gathered there in preparation, the group has been growing steady since its inception but unfortunately is destined to crumble within the next month as people move home/away.

The night out was good but ended rather abruptly so back to Burnaby was the only option! Saturday morning/afternoon was recovery time. Ohhh, completely forgot this on the first run through. A trip to downtown rewarded us with some sushi for breakfast but my stomach hadn't fully settled so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as it deserved. We caught a bus to UBC and had a walk around but I managed to not take any pictures. The campus is enormous and it's really like its own little city.

After that I made my way to Grandville Island to watch a comedy show with my housemates. Only as I left Burnaby I realised two things; I had left my passport behind and my phone was dying. I turned off the phone and began to think of my options. I couldn't turn back or I'd miss the comedy show so I moved on with the intention to figure it out eventually, because I had no idea where the comedy show was other than on some island somewhere.

Eventually I asked someone in a cafe for pen and paper and in my phone's dying moments managed to pull out three numbers and send a message. I found my way to the comedy gig and panted for tickets at the box office. Sold Out. Yes, yes of course you are! To this I turned around and there are all the housemates arriving in the door. They hadn't tickets either so we just sat at the bar for two hours. They went to the 10pm show and I headed back downtown to the others. They weren't sure if I was still coming or not but some careful anticipation on my part meant that our paths crossed "coincidentally" again this coincidence sent the group into a squealing frenzy.

Saturday managed to fall even harder though as once we got to the bar and paid in (about 8 of us) one of the group was kept outside. Alison and I went out to keep an eye on him and there was no way he was getting in, after an hour outside everyone else came out and we all got home super early. The celebrations hadn't exactly gone as planned but I'm sure we'll get it right yet!

Sunday consisted of a 2-hour trek to find breakfast, eating breakfast, returning home and collapsing into bed. Monday was spent filling in the contracts for HB and ensuring that I actually did get the job. Tuesday I walked around town a bit but the weather wasn't the best so I ended up inside most of the time. Wednesday we had a dinner and movie night in Burnaby where the lads cooked spaghetti and we all watched Hook (I had forgotten just how great that film is). Today has been mostly spent writing this blog and celebrating the birthday of one of the girls in the house. Phew!

(Again, sorry for the lack of photograph interludes, I'll get back into the swing of that soon! And proof-reading will have to wait. Thanks for your patience in the down week!)

So to round things up. I'm moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia to start work for HB Studios on January 4th. That gives me 2 weeks here in Vancouver, and a week in Ireland.

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." - Douglas Adams

Well, we'll find out soon enough!