Here, finally.

So, here I am in Seattle. Yep. I made it alive in one piece. All luggage intact. Slept a lot on the flights, got to bed last night around 2:00 or so. Woke up this morning at 9:00. Realized I don't.. own a towel. So, I'll be purchasing a towel later today so that I can shower and be clean and whatnot. Interesting place, so far. I think it's 'raining', right now. I can't tell, I didn't get wet. If this is what people call rain around here, I'll be fine. Cigarettes are even more expensive out here than they were back in Columbus Almost $6.00 for a pack of Camel Wides. Jeebus. So, I'll prob'ly end up quitting. That, and, well, I feel horribly guilty for smoking again. I've only got 55 minutes left on this thing, and I'm not sure when I'll have access again as I need a proof of residence for an actual library card. Right now they gave me this one-time thing. The Hostel's actually pretty nice. The room I'm in, I shared with two other people last night. There're 2 Bunks, that are absurdly spacious. Unfortunately, the bed still isn't long enough so my feet were sticking out. They've got curtains on them, for privacy and whatnot.

I'm sure I could come up with something reasonably interesting to say, but my brain's scattered all to hell. I need some breakfast and coffee. Hopefully, I'll be able to post again tomorrow. But, until next time, know that I'm here, and life's good so far.

Mobile Thoughts, Augmented Gaming

So, I'm having trouble really organizing my thoughts into something particularly relevant to post. The reasons for this are pretty clear and straightforward to me, and I'm sure plenty other people can probably fully understand them. Others will feel it's completely alien. You see, my mind is bouncing around. A lot. This is good. My intuition is picking up every little scrap of thing it can find and assimilating it, working it over, and pushing it to its farthest extreme. When you have so many ideas and thoughts streaming through your mind, it's hard to focus on one thread, pluck it out, and really put it into words. And, in all honesty, I don't really feel the need to. Yeah, it's comforting to me. It's a sensation I haven't really had the pleasure of experiencing for awhile. This, mind you, was the core and original reason for moving to Seattle. To kick start my brain's relational engine. It's working, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it flowing and maybe even amplify it. Let's see if I can't at least pluck a few little strands out for you.

First, I've been linking up my plans. This is different from what I've been doing previously, where I've been more or less just contemplating the various possibilities. Now, I'm actually tying all of them together and making an actual plan. I bought my backpack tonight, it's a nice 35L bag. I like it.. tomorrow, we're cleaning the basement. Don't want to leave it in the state of complete entropy it's in right now. Sunday, we're going to.. my going away dinner, I guess. Mongolian Barbecue. Nummy. Tuesday is my flight. I've got a reservation at the Green Tortoise Hostel for Tuesday Night, Wednesday Night and Thursday Night. I've e-mailed my Uncle to see if I can crash with him Friday and Saturday Nights. I have an appointment with Terri, of Kelly Services in Downtown Seattle Wednesday at 1.30p. She has a job I might be able to fill, so if so that'll go well. I'm also going to be spending some of my time next week looking for a room to rent. If all the pieces fall together properly, I'll have a job and a place to live in the first week of March. This is ideal.

Let's see.. buying the backpack made me seriously think about the possibilities of hiking. There are a fair number of parks and forests in and around Seattle. It might be fun to go hiking in the Olympic Forest. Just saying.

Among various longterm plans, I'm planning to save up and purchase myself a Dell 1525N Laptop. That'll be useful. I spoke with Jared last night about it, and he helped me decide how to go about it. Y'see, Dell loves to ridiculously rip you off for things. Like Upgrades. To go from 1 GB of DDR2 667 to 4GB of the same speed costs $400 from Dell. I can by 2x2GB DDR2 800 by Mushkin from NewEgg for $119. Yeah. I'll probably also upgrade the HDD in a similar fashion. Get myself a hot little 320GB for less than the 160GB upgrade. To go along with the laptop, I'm also debating a Bluetooth GPS Receiver. The Holux GPSlim-240 is looking pretty tasty to me right now. For a couple reasons. The first is that combined with Kismet, you can create Maps that are color-coded by Signal Strength. I think it'd be fun to start mapping out the Open Wifi around Seattle. Also, I've been thinking about what Mobile Computing really means. Most people think of embedded devices, Cell Phones, PDAs, etc. I'm thinking along different lines.. being as interested in Game Development as I am, I think it'd be intriguing to make a sort of MUD/MMORPG/Thing where you can find various items and mobs based on where you physically are. Sort of like Geocaching meets Multiplayer RPG. I think it'd be intriguing. Although, honestly, I'd love to have myself a practical pair of AR Glasses. Coupled with an OQO, I think I would be in heaven. Just the various.. things I could do with that. Especially if I could convince an OQO to run Ubuntu. That would make for some seriously interesting gaming. But then, once AR hits, it will add a very intriguing level to gaming. Imagine, for instance, walking down the street and seeing dozens of virtual people walking among the crowds. Or seeing your friend overlaid with a suit of armor. Yeah, it's a bit of a pipedream, but if I could find a set of not-too-bulky AR Glasses (Read: VR Glasses that are Transparent. That overlay the vision.), and get my paws on an OQO, I'd probably start working on it for kicks.

There are other things bouncing around in my head, but those are the two big ones. Finally, I was talking to James, and I decided to look up the club scene around Seattle. Looks like there're around a dozen Dance Clubs. Not sure how many play Good Music, but it does look like there might be some enjoyment to be had there. Alright folks. I'll catch you tomorrow.

The Plan So Far...

So. I have a week left. Tomorrow's my last day here at work. I'm going to talk to Jane regarding the contact out in Seattle, hopefully she can at least give me their phone number. I'm having trouble because I'm not really sure what steps to take right now to help get me where I need to be. I can't stay at the Hostel for more than 7 days at a time, and I'm not sure how frequently that is. So right now, it's looking like I'll be sleeping in the Hostel Tuesday night through Thursday night. I'd like to spend the weekend up with Larry's Family, if at all possible. If all goes truly well and good, I'll be able to secure a room by the end of next week. That way I'll have a place to live. Hopefully I'll also have a job that'll start the week after next as well. That's where Jane comes in. So, I've got a week left. And I'm getting more and more nervous as time goes on. My mum gave me two pieces of luggage, one enormous rolly-wheel-bag, and a little Teal Sport bag. I also am planning to head up to Easton sometime this week and prop up some cash for a Decent Backpack for toting about Seattle. Friday we're having a cleaning date. Sunday we're having a Going-away Dinner. In between, I'm beating a Full-length Firefly Marathon into James. We're about halfway through. And writing. I'll also have to take care to retrieve all of my music and data from my HD. Probably going to delete a good chunk of it. I'm not real fond of my Tom Waits or KMFDM Discogs. And they're bloody huge.

So far, so good. Then there are the doubts. Those aching shadows that permeate my deeper thoughts. The ones that say "What if?" and never give a good response. As it is, I'll not voice their concerns. To communicate them to the world, to give them the power of words and commit them to writing, is to give them a strength I'm not sure I could endure.

This is life. I will succeed, come hell or high water. I will have a job by March 1st. I will very likely have a place to live by March 1st. And then, we'll see what happens.

Motivations for a Curious Decision

Mm. Not much to chortle out today. Got a wonderful example of the myriad things I've been learning in class, when one person got offended when another attempted to honestly express himself. It was comical. Any who, I keep getting this reinforced message that, frankly, people will listen and heed what I tell them. That, if I try to shove some strange concept down into a person's brain, once it finds its little hole and settles in, that concept almost becomes unshakable. Did I mention that the person that pioneered a significant portion of what we're learning apparently shares my type? This amuses me because I'm one of those weird types where we're basically all across the board. The only things we really have in common are that we're absolutely infatuated with change, and that we naturally integrate the world between various futures, ideas, concepts and ourselves in a strikingly logical manner.

I was asked, yesterday, how many people actual read this. I responded, not many. I always write for a crowd that doesn't truly exist. I don't know why, but it makes sense to me. On some level, if you write for the masses, the masses will eventually pay attention. That'd be neat, and great, and splendid. But I don't really care. This is a dumping ground.. a place where I can expel all of my mental waste produced throughout the day. Mind you, the next two weeks, as well as this past week, will be like a great, awkward enema, blowing the smelly, ancient bits of emotional and mental cruft from the deepest recesses of my brain, in preparation to truly experience the Emerald City in all of its glorious newness to me.

Seattle. The number one question I get regarding my impending trip, is "Why?". A very valid question, most certainly. Also the most difficult to answer unless you bloody well live inside of my head, or share a lot of mental processes with me. You see, the reasons why are almost innumerable. However, I'm certain I can distill them down into a few basic reasons. This won't really scratch the multi ameliorate connections that tie each of these together in infinitesimal ways, but if you were able to appreciate that, you really wouldn't need the distillation. And yes, as an aside, I do use flowery language. But it is most certainly true, I can always find new, minuscule connections between the core reasons of most things I do. This, especially.

The first, foremost, and most powerful reason is simply Change. I am in Columbus. In less than two weeks, I will be in Seattle. There are few things you can change more than location, especially at that magnitude. They are two very different cities, cultures, and areas of the country. However, this change burns far deeper than simply location. I will be effectually homeless, jobless, friendless, and essentially without anything. I am packing only my clothing and most bare essentials for existence. I will take little with me but my body, those necessities, and my soul. This, I suspect, is a deeper and more true reason for the change. To allow me to cleanse myself, spiritually. To extract from all the cruft and accumulations of time the core of my person. If you're reading carefully, you'll start to notice what I meant about the thousands of minute connections. Just within this one concept, this one core idea, I can make hundreds of ties that are all purely internally. All I can say is, think of every little connection you can, and know that that is quite likely also a very valid part of my reason.

The next reason is Opportunity. They say that Opportunity does not simply appear, that you must make your own opportunity. Well, in and around Seattle are multiple Gaming Studios. Presumably, because there are many gamers in and around Seattle. If this is true, then perhaps I will finally be able to find my team. For those of you who know what that means, good. For the rest, just know that I need a team to help me work on my projects. Or, that perhaps I need a team that I can help work on their projects. I don't try to define it, I simply know that I cannot do what I need to, alone. I must seek and find partners that are willing and able to assist me in their own capacities.

A third reason, and the last of the most powerful ones, is Growth. A plant eventually outgrows its pot. One's mind and soul eventually outgrows its shell, or skin. This is a transplant, for me, in a sense of the idea. I am attempting to tear at my current skin, my current shell or bowl, and pull it away so that I might be able to spread my roots wider, deeper and more effectively. It's a drastic way of doing so, but both in light of the other two reasons, as well as in light of myself, I think that this is probably the cleanest, most efficient way to do what I feel needs to be done. If I do wind up back in Columbus in the short term, then at the very least I will have the room to grow creatively, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I will have cast aside my previous skin even if I find myself rooted to the same location.

These are my reasons, and they are reasons that I own with all of my being. I don't particularly expect or care if they make sense to you, but I will tell you this. This is a bare honesty I'm sharing with you. There are no lies in these previous paragraphs. Frequently, I would daresay, you are receiving a curious edge from me on this blog. This time, you are feeling the full swing of my dominant function.

If are an Intuitor, then this will all make perfect sense to you. I might even hope that it could inspire you. However, if you are a Sensor, then you will see blank concepts. Stark, logical constructs with little relation and a decision that ultimately likely makes little sense as well. If the latter is true, please feel free to ask me, and perhaps we can use another function to truly connect, and this will allow you some of the delight and glory I feel in these words. Maybe we can even convince you to catch a glimmer of the future in yourself as well.

As it is, I will be off to bed soon, so farewell and goodnight.

Rambly one today..

So, I've been thinking about various things.. In theory, sometime today, my boss is supposed to tell my supervisor that I'll be quitting in a week and a half. That'll be cute, I'm sure.

I've been slowly evaluating this trip to Seattle, and the various possibilities that are slowly laying outstretched before me.. and I find them all incredibly intriguing. Next week, something I haven't really told many people, I'm going to a week-long certification program to become an, apparently, Certified MBTI Instructor. Now, basically what this means, is that when I'm explaining to people what Myers-Briggs is, and why it's relevant, I won't really be blowing quite so much smoke. This is, in general, a good thing. I adore the MBTI programs, and love looking at the interactions between people from this perspective.. and I honestly should more often, because I realize that I tend to blast my way through things that might tend to be emotionally disruptive to others. Always entirely accidentally, too. I try to be more cognizant of this, but I rarely succeed.

So, this is next week. The week of Valentine's. I don't know what opportunities are lurking here, and Susan tends to be fairly quiet when it involves such things. I wouldn't be entirely surprised if she springs something on me that would cause me to cut my trip to Seattle short, and come back to Columbus. Yes, there are things that would do that.. I'm going out to Seattle, I have decided this. But whether or not I come back is open to an almost infinite set of variables. Not even the best Chaos Theorist could make an adequate prediction at this junction in my life. After that, my existence, as I am currently familiar with it, begins to dissolve. I will be back here at work for three days.. that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.. then I'll idling, preparing, from Thursday through the next Tuesday. That next Tuesday is my flight out to Seattle, where I kiss Columbus Good Bye.. I'll know more closer, as to how soon I'll be back.. but right now it's looking to be on the order of 6 Months..

Here is the plan, as I see it. I'll finish next week, and the week after. I'll get all my gear cleaned up and straightened up, likely keeping my server running so I can keep some kind of presence out in Seattle, and at the very least poke at it remotely when I feel the need. Most of my music will get put on my Vibez, and I will stuff my flash drive with as much additional as I need. Between the two, I'll have 16 GB of portable storage for whatever. I'm pretty much letting James have (use) Frostburn, presuming he doesn't hurt my baby. I'll be sure and have everything I need off both Frostburn -and- Bobomb before I leave, so even if all 3 HDs crash, I still have my imperative data, config files, and whatnot. The really important stuff'll get stashed on my Mushkin Flashdrive, my Vibez -and- my Cruzer. Because I'm a spaz. So, after I've got everything scrubbed, sorted and organized, I'm ready to head out to Seattle. Once out there, I'll try to get a job, a place to stay, and do some general wandering. I pretty much plan on playing it entirely by ear once I'm in the vicinity. Hopefully, within a few weeks, I'll be able to get myself into an apartment, and then, if necessary, get myself a little car. Once these two things happen, I pretty much start surviving. If this all goes according to plan, I will likely come back to Columbus near the end of the summer to visit people, make sure everyone knows I'm still alive, and hang out. Assuming James actually manages to get his arse in gear by then, I'll, theoretically, return to Seattle with him in tow.

That's the plan. Gods above know there are a thousand different ways it can all get fucked up.