Another year in the books! As I sit here, all comfy and warm, enjoying some time off from work it’s time to look back on 2014 and reflect on what went right, what went wrong, and what went in a completely unexpected direction. Now, I don’t think it’ll be possible for a while to top the crazy whirlwind that was 2013, but this year was certainly no slouch for new and interesting experiences.
Wait… I’m unemployed?!
We’ll kick things off with my professional life. Around mid-year, Spil Games went through a massive restructuring and downsizing that resulted in the departure of the CEO, the closure of the entire Game Studio, and an overall reduction in workforce of near half the company across all departments (plus a lot of voluntary departures as folks saw the writing on the wall). This was my first experience with unemployment. Somehow, in the 11 years since I graduated from college, I’ve managed to keep myself continuously employed. Sure, maybe I got out on my own just ahead of being laid off on one or two occasions. But the result was 11 years of unbroken employment, 8 of those in the games industry, which is notorious for frequent layoffs, closures etc.
Thankfully, right as I was leaving Spil Games, BoosterMedia (another web/casual game company in the Amsterdam area) was growing and looking for someone to fill essentially an identical role. A colleague put me in touch with the owner of the company, and within a few weeks, I had a new contract. Also, because Spil terminated my contract very early, I had a 3 month severance package, so I was able to take June and July off, and travel around Europe before starting my new role on August 1st. A nice paid summer vacation!
So now I’ve been at Booster for 5 months, and just had my contract extended by another year so if all continues to go well, I’m employed and legally allowed to stay in the Netherlands at least until February 2016! (Well, employed until Feb 2016, permitted to stay until April 30, 2016 to find a new job). It’s a small start-up company with big ambitions. I have high hopes for this place.
Cruising the World…
Travel remains a major part of my life, and probably where the majority of our disposable income ends up going. This year was a busy one for popping around the world. With the knowledge that our time living in Europe could be very limited (and then facing the reality that it could be EXTREMELY limited), Elisa and I made a point of traveling as much as we possibly could. And here I thought I’d have a hard time figuring out ways to spend my 25 vacation days a year…
So here’s the run-down of where we went:
- San Francisco
Business trip to GDC. Just me on this trip. - Barcelona
I was in the Barcelona airport waiting on an extremely delayed flight home when I got the news that I was being laid off at Spil. Overall still a great vacation with good food, drink, and lots of fun stuff to see and do. - London
First destination on our “Paid Summer Vacation” tour. I’d last been to London in 2002, but Elisa had never been. Highlight was probably seeing a production of Julius Caesar in the Globe Theater. - Dublin
The Summer Vacation tour continues. Ate and drank our way around the city. Saw the Guinness Storehouse - Antwerp
A short overnight trip with friends to check the city out. - Cologne
Destination #3 on the Summer Vacation tour. My first time in Germany. The massive cathedral in the center of the city is incredibly impressive. - Brussels
My parents visited for a week in September, and we all took the train to Brussels for a long weekend. My mom fell in love with the city and it’s many many chocolate shops. Still the best food I’ve had in any European city so far. - Munster
Just went the other weekend for a day trip with friends to visit the city’s famous Christmas Market. Adorable little house-hut-shops filling squares all around the city center. Tried some Ghulwein (mulled wine), ate a chocolate covered hot pepper, and enjoyed some kind of baked dough thing covered in sugar. A successful afternoon overall.
Now that we’ve hit most of the big European countries, it’s time to start prioritizing places like Sweden, Switzerland, Portugal, Turkey, Denmark, Norway etc… Lets see what 2015 has in store…
Personally
I think the two big items for me personally this year were being laid off, and really starting to feel like the Netherlands is “home”. An odd combination considering unemployment could lead to having to move out of the Netherlands.
While I know many people who’ve struggled with being unemployed for long periods of time, or who find themselves between jobs with frequency, it was a new experience for me, and one that I felt I couldn’t really talk much about because it was my first brush with it, and the circumstances were definitely better than what many of my friends and family have experienced. I knew I was being laid off in April, but the paperwork wasn’t done until the first week of June. Though I had the new job offer by the end of June, I still had 3 months to wrestle with the fact, and frantically hunt for work. Without going into all of the details, it was a very rough time for me emotionally, and I definitely have a much better appreciation and empathy for those I know who have gone through this in the past, or are going through it now.
Thankfully, timing was right and I found a new job pretty quickly. While I hope this doesn’t happen again any time soon, I’m now a little bit more prepared if it does.
Now the second change is a decidedly more positive one: The Netherlands is starting to feel like home.
I’ve lived a bunch of places since I left State College a decade ago, and pretty much none of them felt “right” to me. It typically took me about 2 years to start to feel even remotely OK in a new place, and even after that it was only ever OK. I lived in Michigan for 5 years, and while it felt more home-like than anywhere else I lived, it still never quite felt like the proper fit.
This is why it’s worth noting about the Netherlands. I’ve been here just over a year, and probably around the 6 month mark it felt like I was finally in a place that I fit. Even though I don’t speak the language, I feel like this is the right kind of place, with the right kind of culture and attitude for me personally at this point in my life. I actually like living here, and actively enjoy my neighborhood, my town, and the places nearby we visit on a regular basis.
I like not driving. I like being able to take a train almost anywhere. I like living in a quiet town, but being 20 minutes from Amsterdam or Utrecht if I want to do something a little bit more lively. I like walking and biking almost everywhere that I don’t go to by train. I like being near to so many interesting countries with wildly different cultures, languages and food.
And I like the people I’m meeting. I work/have worked with people from Japan, Taiwan, China, Italy, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Canada, Turkey, France, Spain, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Argentina, Ukraine, Russia and the US. Every day I’m surrounded by people with wildly different cultures, accents, views and experiences. It’s so much fun and energizing to be around that for me. The diversity around me every day is a constant source of new things/lessons/experiences.
Wrap-up & 2015…
So that’s 2014 in a nutshell. I think in a lot of ways, my life is hitting its stride. Sure there were some bumps on the road this year, but overall I feel like I’m finding the right pace. The right mix of changing things up and keeping things stable. My wife is happier here than I’ve ever seen, and overall our life is filled with a lot more positive & happy things than it was, for example, in Texas.
(Sorry Texas friends, while getting to meet & work with some of you was AMAZING, overall Texas was a bad experience for us. Though I think we can blame most of that on The Big G).
Elisa and I have some big ideas and plans for 2015 for sure. While some of them are too hypothetical just now, there are a few big points that are on the Definite list for next year:
Travel
Of course there are travel plans! At the very least, there’s going to be a US trip to PA and MI (Sorry again TX friends…) probably in the spring. It’ll have been over a year since either of us have been back to visit, so this will be a big trip.
Beyond that, we’ve got a lot more of Europe to explore. I really want to go back to Italy. A lot of people have strongly recommended Prague and Istanbul. May try for a Scandinavian country or two too if time allows.
Personal
Turn the house we’re renting into even more of a home. Since our ability to stay here has been in question for so much of the year with the layoff and then contract extensions, we’ve bought a bare-minimum of furniture and decoration for our house. This year we’re going to start to properly settle in here I hope.
Start to learn Dutch! Yes, that’s right, I’m going to start to try to learn the local language. I don’t know how successful this will be, but I think if I can at least order a meal at a restaurant, and understand what’s being said on the PA system in the train station, it’ll be a win!
Professional
Aside from kick ass at my job, I plan on taking the Scrum Master certification exam.
Here’s to a great 2015!