Mad with Color

I've been obsessed with color lately. It all hails from painting the walls of the house. It's taken me months (yes, obsessed) to try and define the different kinds of light we have, what matches with our furniture and floor, our style visiting dozens of color blogs, etc. And the result is...

white.

Yeah I know. But...even though most people will hardly notice, it's still important to me that these whites for our walls have been carefully chosen. The winners are both from the Benjamin Moore paint collection:

Affinity 15 - Steam

And Moonshine (OC-56)

Initially I was going for stronger greens or blues, but since the Montreal winters are long, our furniture dark, and our ceiling not too high, I went for more "open colors". The way they look on our walls and in our light is interesting; especially Moonshine comes out grey in natural light, but green in artificial yellow light.

Going on with this color obsession, and after having read so much about colors and how they interact, I am also trying to define what colors suit me best for makeup and clothing. I have read that you should go for several shades darker than your eye color if you have light eyes, or for a color that is opposite on the color wheel. Now I have a hard time defining my eye color - it's not convincingly grey, blue, or green. I guess it's a sage? But what is the opposite color of sage?

My eyeballs:

Sage:

Would its opposite color be a burgundy or a red-orange?

BATTLE OF BUREAUCRACY: Anouk vs. Holland vs. Canada

Objectives (in no particular order):

1. Obtain Canadian - Quebecois residency status
1a. Obtain certified English or French translation of Dutch BA diploma
1b. Obtain certified English or French translation of Dutch high school diploma
1c. Obtain Dutch certified and translated into English or French birth certificate
1d. Get proof of employment - pay slips and contracts will not suffice
1e. My updated CV
1f. Proof of common-law status
1g. Proof of cohabitation (certified mortgage)

2. Exchange Dutch driver's license for Quebecois license
1a. Make appointment with SAAQ
1b. Get Dutch driver's license translated (certified) to French or English

3. Complete address changes
3a. Change address for La Regie
3b. Change address for La (le?) Revenu

4. Cancel all remaining Dutch bank accounts
4a. Send letters of cancellation to bank- and credit card institutions

5. Obtain information on payments towards relief of Dutch IBG (student) debt
5a. Send letters with tax information


Oh dear god...it's a bureaucracy tsunami....

My 2 Mins of Intraweb Fame

Hah! I made it to the web!

I did a press trip for Nitro a while ago, and this video on Destructoid was a result:

http://www.destructoid.com/sdcc-hands-on-with-need-for-speed-nitro-141037.phtml

Being overly self-conscious, the first things going to my mind while watching it are about how I could have been sharper/funnier/etc. etc., and of course I have to keep up my nonchalant image and pretend not to care too much.

But hell, it's awesome to be in a video on a website that is notoriously harsh (but fair!) on games. It's one of the few gaming websites I still respect, and the reporter, Colette, was witty and smart, so it was a fun experience.

Mom's Visit - Aug 2009 pics

Ouf! Blog-procrastination much?

I have neglected my blog.....It's a shame, since even though hardly anybody ever read it, it really functions as a diary for me on a very basic level. It allows me to look back upon things I was doing and was thinking about a while ago; it always makes me smile :)

Anyway, the summer has been like tears in rain here in Montreal; a forgettable wet mess. Regardless, I have had the opportunity to travel a LOT for pr-events for Need for Speed Nitro, the game I am working on at EA Montreal. Cities I have been to are LA, San Diego, Chicago, Munich, Cologne, London, New York, San Francisco....I am so lucky!

Nitro is almost finished and I am unsure of what will be next for me. For a while I was quite anxious about the insecurity that inherently arrives at the end of a project (what project is next for me? will I even have a job after this?), especially for a "junior" like me. But although there are things I could have done better in hindsight, I have learned a LOT, and I am happy to be able to put the first video game on my resume! Whatever happens to me after this, I will push to stay in this industry and fight to find my niche.

On a personal level things are great, and after a time of stress, Alex and I are settled into our very own house-with-a-yard in The Plateau. We are loving it! Olive loves to steal our tomatoes...we were wondering why our "harvests" were so small....

Mom came over for a visit, and after 12 days of good fun and remarkably nice weather (how does she do it? every time she visits she brings the sun with her), she went back to Holland again yesterday. Saying "seeyoulater" is always painful, but it was so nice to have her over, and I'll make sure to put up some great photos here later this week.

Ottawa in March

These photos almost got lost in the digital pile!

The One Ring

My engagement ring. Just perfect for me!