I’m still here. Kinda.
I’ve been writing this blog since 2002, through a heck of a lot of changes in my life. The exact purpose of the blog has variety wildly over time, ranging from a personal blog to a writing exercise, to a linkblog, to a review site. Sometimes I post to it a lot, or like right now, this will be the third post of the year. The only thing that has been consistent about it is its purpose: the blog is an exploratory heuristic — it is an experiential tool to gain a better understanding of… well, whatever I need at the time. Sometimes it’s myself, sometimes it’s something marginally less selfish, like reviewing music, or discussing free speech, or sharing posts and videos that are themselves an experience (emotional, intellectual, whatever). This year, what I needed was to hide out. I didn’t realize it at first — I made grand goals of posting regularly, and of shifting the content to something more generally useful. But y’know what? Meh. There are other avenues for that that I already have set up (and can set up more, easily, if I decide I need to). This is, ultimately, my personal blog. That doesn’t mean it won’t occasionally have actually useful content, but more often than not, I expect it will continue to be a sketch of a human being. Hopefully an insightful one.
It’s reaching the end of the year, so for those who don’t read my Twitter or talk to me otherwise, let me catch folks up real quick:
- I’ve been unemployed, barring some freelancing, for a while. This has finally (finally!) changed, first with working for Cirque Du Soleil while they were in Portland this spring, and more recently, back in the saddle doing QA/Testing work.
- I was T-boned by a hit-and-run back in July, and because of lack of funds, I didn’t have collision insurance on my car. Still trying to raise funds to fix it, since all the reasonably reviewed collision repair places want payment in full.
- I’m still living in Portland, OR. I still love it here. I’m still dating Jessica. Things on that front are still good.
- I got into grad school at University of Denver, specifically their Digital Media Studies program, which sounds like a pretty great fit. Because of the car accident, though, I’ve deferred for a year, and will reassess what my situation is as next year approaches. The crushing student debt involved isn’t exactly enticing, even though the program sounds great.
Yeah, that’s the big stuff. Other than that, I’ve been largely laying low for the past while. I’ve not been to many meetings, conferences, unconferences, groups, et cetera — while there is interest, either the timing, or finances, or social energy, or some combination therein has been discouraging going out. I’ve been adjusting to working in an office again, surrounded by people for 8 hours a day (and then dealing with the commute), and so generally by the weekend, all I want to do is hide in my cave and read, or play video games, or watch cartoons, just in general things involving being left alone. I know that’s not sustainable (or at least not wise to do so), nor do I want to remain a hermit. Regardless, it’s how I’ve felt lately.