Just wanted to say congratulations on graduating to Erica, Claire, Kate, Kelly, Casey, Beth, Vanessa, Colin, and everyone else at RISD who graduated today, some of whom I know I’m forgetting to list (for such oversight, I abjectly apologize). You’re done! Huzzah!
Category Archives: Personal Life
Delays and Excuses
“The best laid plans…” and all that. Apologies for the slow posting. For what it’s worth, the day before flying back to Portland, I came down with a hell of a cough that has been driving me bonkers ever since. At some point, I imagine it’ll go away, but in the meantime, it hasn’t exactly put me in a posting mood (after a string of coughing, most of the time all I really want to say is “fucking hell…”).
Despite the cough, I’ve been keeping busy the past week or two catching up on things that I’d let slide while gone for the month (finally did my taxes today, woo! …and yes, I did in fact file an extension when I realized my paperwork was in Portland and I was in DC, so no guff about procrastinating this time). I’ve also been spending a fair bit of time with my friend Jessica (not going to jinx it by trying to define it into a neatly compartmentalized relationship, but I will say I’ve been really enjoying her company, and leave any conclusions to be made to the reader).
I didn’t get the LaCie job, which is a shame, but I remain optimistic about finding a reasonable position somewhere in the Portland area (not that it’s a requirement, but it would be nice… I’m also applying elsewhere, just less so). I’ve also decided it’s time to try revising my resume again, to see if I can elicit more responses from my job hunting attempts.
Will get back to posting more regularly soon.
DC Sightseeing
I’ve spent the past few days staying with Scott, Shane, and Brian down in Arlington, doing the sightseeing thing through DC. It’s been good fun, and each day I completely filled the compact flash cards I have (two 2gb cards)… this may sound like a lot, but given that I was shooting raw, that’s really only about 500-550 images total. Now that I HAVE those images, of course, I need to actually sift through them, do any post processing I feel is necessary, and upload them… which in some ideal world will be after I move to Zenphoto. So, time willing, maybe by the end of the week.
UberCon X Followup
UberCon has once again come and gone. While our numbers weren’t what we’d hoped or expected, a lot of that can be tied to the current recession, and not having the hotel contracts in time to promote the event early on. We can’t do much about the recession, but this time at least we have firm dates for UberCon XI — October 24-26th. I can’t be positive I’ll make it out for it (I’ve made it to the past two by the grace of friends in a more financially beneficial place than I am), but it would certainly be nice to see everyone again.
Overall, I’d say the con was a great time — it’s good people, and everyone seems to have fun. I met a bunch more Avatarians, though frankly I lost count ages ago. I’m fairly positive I’m over 100 at this point. (The list of MUDders who attended can be found here.) I actually ended up hosting two panels (well, one and a half, one of the panels was on plans to shift some of the geography of Avatar around, and pulled in a whopping two people and took about 10 minutes… the other one was very well attended, as it was a roundtable discussing plans for the ranger class revision). As is usual, I didn’t really play any games, but instead spent a lot of the weekend simply running around and checking up on people, making sure they had what they needed, and doing general chit-chat. I like being “at large,” and honestly don’t think I’d have nearly as much fun if I was locked into an official role.
Some highlights: getting to see a lot of friends I’d not seen for anywhere from six months to several years, or even had never met in real life before at all; observing the midnight game of “It’s Midnight… are YOU a Werewolf?”; wading through a two foot long chocolate eclair from Harold’s with Timothy Zahn and a dozen other friends; and, of course, the late night parties and diner runs that all seem contribute to the COMPLETE lack of sleep that happens at the con.
It Needs to be Said
Ice cream parlors that are open 24 hours a day are a brilliant invention of modern society. That is all.
He Knows Kung Fu
Shaolin Kung Fu Training: I went to school with Ben, going as far back as elementary school. Recently reconnected with him via Facebook, and discovered that the dude’s studying kung fu with a Shaolin Temple in Chicago. This link is to his training journal.
UberCon X
April is nearly gone, and I’ve not really posted much. Partly, yes, because I was working on a site redesign, and more than a little bit because I was simply a slacker. But also, because I’ve been out in the Baltimore/DC area for almost all of April, helping prepare for UberCon X, which is coming up in a scant few days, in Edison, New Jersey. I was flown in for the purpose of chasing down sponsorships and corporate contacts, a task which I seem to do alright at, even though I really hate doing it. I should have been focusing on landing a job, and getting settled into Portland, of course, but I was explicitly asked, flown out, and put up to do this (and it’s not like I don’t have a vested interest in making sure the con stays afloat and successful, friends aside), so in the grand scheme, there are worse things I could be doing with my time.
Being a wee bit more tied to the con than I have for the past several, I know that Erica and CJ won’t be making it this time around, which bums me a little bit, but is the way things go sometimes. UberCon has a new guest director, Alyssa (who has been involved with the con since day one as the RPG director, so I have at least some faith will stick around and do a good job), who has managed to line up Timothy Zahn for a rare east coast appearance. This should be fun because it’s always nice to get a good headliner, and also because his affiliation with the expanded Star Wars universe suggests that there will be a decent turnout of stormtrooper-armored fans at the event.
A Month of Couches
I gave up my apartment in Seattle on March 1st, moving most of my belongings into a storage unit, and the rest into my car. Put simply, I felt done with Seattle, and wanted to try elsewhere, but couldn’t really afford to continue to hemorrhage money on an apartment while I found job somewhere else. It’s something of a risky maneuver, but thankfully I do have friends and family who help, which mitigates the risk of it all nicely.
So, barring a week in Seattle helping my friend Anna move, I’ve spent most of the month crashing on my brother’s couch in Portland. His roommates are aware of my situation, and have been incredibly cool about it, though I still feel bad about imposing on them for so long. I’ve been sending out resumes, and interviewed for a position last week that I really hope I get, as it’s a position I think I would enjoy, for a company I really like (and whose products i use often). That would put me in Portland with a decent (not high pay, but comfortable enough) full time job, which sounds pretty damn idyllic right now. I run into more people in Portland who have made a conscious choice to be there, instead of being drawn for some ulterior motive (work, hipster cachet, relationships, etc), than anywhere else I’ve ever visited or been. That sort of attitude really shines through in the behavior and personality of the city.
Despite having interviewed for a job I am hopeful to get (and remain in the running for), delays in that process (they’re still looking at and interviewing candidates) have left me in a position where I’ll be flying out to DC to help with UberCon and hang out with a lot of the Avatar crew. I could be there for as much as a month (notably if I don’t get the job), though possibly less. We’ll see. In either case, it’ll be good seeing people (and anyone who wants to hang out, drop me a line).
It’s all been sort of surreal. As much as I’m aware of the need and stressed about finding a home and a job, I’m actually feeling pretty good and calm. Maybe it’s the Portland vibe, maybe it’s just that I’ve ALWAYS liked being a floater, but in either case, it’s a pretty good mindset to be in (way better than freaking out about it, at the very least). Largely thanks to Uri, I’ve already met more people in Portland than I ever knew in Seattle. Yes, I’m an introvert, so it’s hard for me to meet people in the first place, but I still think it really says something about the difference between Portland and Seattle.
Wherever You Go
I am simultaneously excited and scared shitless by the state of my life right now. I gave up my apartment, and moved out on the first, without having a job or a place to live lined up anywhere — while I thankfully have friends and family whose couches I am able to crash on for a while, I am effectively homeless, without the funds to rent an apartment. I don’t really know what I’m doing or where I’m going or even what the hell I’m thinking. I just know it’s time for a change.
For now, I’m in Portland, and have been crashing on my brother’s couch for the past few days. His roommates are friendly and nice, so there hasn’t been any complaints about it, but I know it’s not a viable position for more than, say, a week. Exactly what I’ll do next, I’m not entirely sure. It depends to some extent on what sort of work I find and when.
It’s exciting and freeing to have no real ties, able to end up anywhere, but to be that completely adrift is also incredibly frightening: I love to travel and wander, but it’s nice to know there’s somewhere that is ostensibly “home” when doing so, which isn’t something I really have going for me right now. (It’s also nice to have some cash set aside for such wandering, and it goes without saying that I don’t have that either.)
In other news, Gary Gygax, creator of Dungeons and Dragons and an essential lynchpin for so much of what the gaming industry and achieved since, passed away last night. Rest in peace, and my best wishes and condolences to his friends and family.
Happy March! Bye!
I’m about to pack the cable modem and wireless router. My apartment is empty barring the items that I need to put in the car. Had my meeting with the landlady, will hopefully be getting a nice chunk of my final month’s rent back, which would be GOOD.
Time for an adventure, I reckon.