Heyo! I'm Matt Brett, and I'm a freelance web designer from Ontario, Canada. I specialize in WordPress development and generally making things that are awesome. When I'm not working, I'm playing video games, and I've published over 100 game reviews in the past few years.

Heyo! I'm Matt Brett, and I'm a freelance web designer from Ontario, Canada. I specialize in WordPress development, and have been known to spend my evenings playing video games.

Change is Good, Right?

Up until a couple years ago, I didn’t move around much. I would settle into something and stick with it for years whether I was fully content with it or not. I’m not sure what happened as I grew older, but if something isn’t 100% (or at least very close to it) I’m fuckin’ gone! Which I’m not certain is a fully positive thing, but that’s what happens none the less. I pretty much have a no bullshit policy for every aspect of my life.

Back in July we moved a couple towns over from where we were in hopes of landing a bigger, nicer place to live for a few years while we continue to contribute to our “house fund”. Right from day one, things were a mess and continued to go downhill. To sum it up in a single sentence – we have the world’s worst neighbors and the building we’re living in is filled with the most ignorant assholes we’ve ever encounter in our time on this Earth. On Boxing Day, shortly after calling the Cops after I witnessed a woman beat the living hell out of her 6 year-old son in the hallway, we decided it was time to get out of here. We simply couldn’t put up with it any longer. So we’ve had to break our lease and find a place to live ASAP. But obviously, the last thing we want to do is move again which could very well result in landing ourselves in the same situation that we’re currently in. And that would be disastrous.

We immediately started looking through the local real estate websites and in a matter of minutes found this gorgeous townhouse located in our prior hometown. It’s only a few years old, has 2 public schools within walking distance and about a block away from Deanna’s work. Needless to say, we jumped on it and ended up being approved less than a week from the time we first inquired. So we’re moving in… on Monday. We’ve had a good 3 weeks to pack and are pretty much set. Albeit, we’re all completely exhausted, but we’re in good shape otherwise. And knowing that we’ll have sound piece of mind in a matter of days is enough to keep us moving.

One big life change is enough to really shake things up, but I’ve actually got a few on my hands. A couple weeks ago I was approached with a job offer that sounded quite good. Enough for me to give it some serious thought. After all, I’ve worked myself silly over the past year and am in a really good position where I can comfortably charge a decent amount for each project and pick and choose the ones I want to take on and who I want to work with. Those are luxuries a lot of people would kill for. So I wasn’t all that certain that I was ready to give them up at this point. When I brought this up, the dude on the other side of the conversation contributed a whole pile of amazing details that I really don’t think I can pass on. In short, I would be working less, earning more and on salary which is basically a necessity when it comes time to buy a home. When I say working less, I mean the lack of having to handle clients and schedule projects, etc. which is basically done on my own time at the moment. At this point I can’t say where I’d be going or what I’d be doing, but it looks like I may very well be getting out of the freelance game.

A few days ago, I posted this photo on Flickr that has landed a ton of comments and resulted in many emails, IMs and phone calls. I’d like to thank everyone for their kind words and support. Honestly, we didn’t plan on letting the cat out of the bag this early, but things just kind of happened really fast. I posted the picture to break the news to my Mom. I sent her to my Flickr account where she was greeted with the pregnancy test and needless to say, shrieks and tears of joy were flowing in no time. I had planned to pull the photo down once I got off the phone, but there were already over a dozen comments and the Adium icon in my Dock was bouncing like mad. So the damage was already done. It’s an exciting time, though. With all that’s going on, and now this. Seriously, awesome!

There’s actually even more I’d like to share, but I’ll hold my tongue for a little while yet. This post is long enough already. :P Here’s hoping our move on Monday goes smoothly and absolutely nothing like the last.

Enjoy this post or want to discuss it further? Feel free to hit me up on Twitter using this handy button, or leave a comment below.

23 Comments

  1. Congrats on all the changes Matt. I'm glad your getting out of that place! I bet as a single dude you could have lived with that crap but your a good father and wont let your family deal with it.

    Have a good move! Post pics on Flickr when your settled in!

  2. Matt,

    Congratulations to you and Deanna on the new baby. I know you guys have already started kicking around names, lol!

    Sorry to hear that you guys are moving again. I know how long and frustrating that can be. But hey, you get a Townhouse out of the deal. W00T!!!!

    Make sure to post pics up on Flickr so we can check 'em out!!

    viper

  3. Holy hell, Matt! You've sure got a lot going on over there? How do you find time to play Xbox 360 with all of that?

    Good luck with the move, the possible job, and the bun in the oven!

  4. Congratulations – and screw you for making me feel even older. I always get that feeling when people I know get to that phase in their life. ;-)

  5. Living next to inconsiderate arse holes is one of the worst possible things.

    For 10 months we lived under a bunch of idiots that 2-3 times a week would have parties that lasted 20+ hours… one night we had a guy with 2 vodka bottles trying to get in our flat because he was on the wrong floor… once they tried to get in our bedroom window… etc etc

    Fortunately they left first and we've been stress free for months now. (touch wood)

    I totally feel for you in that respect!

    Congrats on everything else though!

  6. Changes are goog, they are actually perfect!

    Congratulation for all of them.

    Good luck amd enjoy it! Do not know you that well but I am sure you deserve it.

  7. A prime example of hard work paying off. Not only financially but in many ways. You are an inspiration, always try to remain humble and watch the blessings continue to flow into your life! Good luck with the move, your existing family and your soon to come addition!

    - Michael

  8. I've been a visitor to your site for a while now but never posted to the best of my knowledge but what you said struck a cord with and I wanted to say something. I totally agree with the no bullshit ethos, life is way too short to put up with shit, and it sounds like a situation which wasn't going to get any better so the best thing is get the hell out of there into a safer environment!!

    Also congrats on your wifes pregnancy that's great news.

    All the best!!!

  9. Dude, congratulations on the new baby – that's great news. As for the crappy neighbors, all I can say is…damn. There sure are a lot of stupid people on this planet. Glad to hear that you are working things out for you and your family. Have a safe move.

  10. Thanks to everyone for the kind words and congrats. We really couldn't be more excited over here.

    The move went well and we're getting settled pretty quick. My office is basically setup, I just have to clear out the excess crap now. I'll post pictures of the new place within a couple days or so.

Sorry, Comments Are Closed

Comments are automatically closed on posts older than 365 days. If you have something you'd like to contribute, feel free to hit me up on Twitter.