State of the Sparr, July 17 2012
Jul. 16th, 2012 09:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparrIt's been a while since I let everyone know what's going on in my life. I try to write one of these every 3-6 months so that people who don't read all my social network updates or journal entries, and with whom I don't talk on a regular basis, can easily get some idea of where I'm at, what I'm doing, and what my plans are.
Three months ago I moved from Atlanta to Boston. My business endeavor at D2 failed due to lack of funding, and I officially terminated my lease there over recurring water damage. I said farewell to a lot of friends, but missed a lot more due to the accelerated schedule of my departure. I returned to Atlanta a couple of months later for my going away party and got to see a lot more people that I had missed. I'll never stop visiting Atlanta. Living there impacted me, both personally and in terms of friends and relationships, far more than Nashville or anywhere prior to that ever did.
I've been going to a few regional burns (Burning Man spinoff events, camping with participatory art and amazing people) lately. Euphoria in June in Georgia, Firefly in July in Vermont. The burner community has been great for me, both in Atlanta and now in Boston. I've discovered things about myself, found new friends, and done some interesting things. I'll be continuing this trend in the future, with a half dozen regional events on my plate in the next 12 months, and probably a trip to Burning Man next fall.
I've been living on unemployment benefits since before I moved. After Dell screwed me over I haven't had much luck in my hunt for permanent employment. That all changed recently when a new acquaintance from Artisan's Asylum (the makerspace in Somerville, where I've been enjoying spending a lot of time) got me hired as a subcontractor where he works, doing triage-y sysadmin sorts of duties. That job actually started today, and is what prompted this post. My lifestyle will be shifting significantly in the immediate and near future due to being rather un-broke for the first time since last year. I have plans to engage in some moneymaking crafty endeavors of some sort (maybe furniture, maybe toys, maybe kinky, maybe mundane, maybe electronics, maybe mechanical) once I have some money to invest into doing it thoroughly. I'll also be doing a bit more travel, for events and to see friends, when I can afford to again.
Living in Boston, and my choice of friends, has led to me taking up cycling again. It's still not purely a leisure activity for me, but it's a welcome alternative sometimes. Cycling provides good exercise, and in many cases gets me from point A to B faster than any of the alternatives (even at distances as far as 10 miles; driving in Boston can be crazy). It's also the most social way I've found to travel, as I've fallen into some fringes of the local road-cycling culture and a chopper-bike gang. I recently took part in a birthday party that involved ~25 miles of cycling and a half dozen stops along the way with 15-25 friends and acquaintances, and that's an experience I'd love to have recur.
The intimate side of my life has seen some twists. Kat and I are still together. I've grown more distant from a couple of girls with whom I had less romantic involvements. To balance that out, I've gotten a lot closer to a few girls that I've had long term non-intimate relationships with. I've found a lot of new play partners to varying degrees, and ranging from local to very long distance. I've discovered that moving away from Atlanta has motivated me to be more daring in my approaches to girls that I was never bold enough to share my feelings (emotional or physical) with while I lived there. I aim to keep this part of my life interesting, and there will be more updates on that subject in the future.
Contrary to my expectations before moving up here, I haven't been very active in the Boston kink scene, for a variety of reasons. It's a very different scene from Atlanta, including play events being a lot more private/underground. I haven't had the ambition or motivation to seek out opportunities in that regard. I've also not been compelled to find play events as often because living a thousand miles closer to my girlfriend leaves me a lot less frustrated in various ways, and because some of the other local groups I've become involved in are kink-friendly enough that I get to play in public on occasion, for fun or by way of demonstration or class. I don't know if this will remain the case, as I've been encountering local kinksters through our other shared communities more lately. More to come on that front.
If there's anything else you want to know about how I'm doing, please ask! I have too many friends that I never get around to chatting with, so take the initiative and get in touch.
Three months ago I moved from Atlanta to Boston. My business endeavor at D2 failed due to lack of funding, and I officially terminated my lease there over recurring water damage. I said farewell to a lot of friends, but missed a lot more due to the accelerated schedule of my departure. I returned to Atlanta a couple of months later for my going away party and got to see a lot more people that I had missed. I'll never stop visiting Atlanta. Living there impacted me, both personally and in terms of friends and relationships, far more than Nashville or anywhere prior to that ever did.
I've been going to a few regional burns (Burning Man spinoff events, camping with participatory art and amazing people) lately. Euphoria in June in Georgia, Firefly in July in Vermont. The burner community has been great for me, both in Atlanta and now in Boston. I've discovered things about myself, found new friends, and done some interesting things. I'll be continuing this trend in the future, with a half dozen regional events on my plate in the next 12 months, and probably a trip to Burning Man next fall.
I've been living on unemployment benefits since before I moved. After Dell screwed me over I haven't had much luck in my hunt for permanent employment. That all changed recently when a new acquaintance from Artisan's Asylum (the makerspace in Somerville, where I've been enjoying spending a lot of time) got me hired as a subcontractor where he works, doing triage-y sysadmin sorts of duties. That job actually started today, and is what prompted this post. My lifestyle will be shifting significantly in the immediate and near future due to being rather un-broke for the first time since last year. I have plans to engage in some moneymaking crafty endeavors of some sort (maybe furniture, maybe toys, maybe kinky, maybe mundane, maybe electronics, maybe mechanical) once I have some money to invest into doing it thoroughly. I'll also be doing a bit more travel, for events and to see friends, when I can afford to again.
Living in Boston, and my choice of friends, has led to me taking up cycling again. It's still not purely a leisure activity for me, but it's a welcome alternative sometimes. Cycling provides good exercise, and in many cases gets me from point A to B faster than any of the alternatives (even at distances as far as 10 miles; driving in Boston can be crazy). It's also the most social way I've found to travel, as I've fallen into some fringes of the local road-cycling culture and a chopper-bike gang. I recently took part in a birthday party that involved ~25 miles of cycling and a half dozen stops along the way with 15-25 friends and acquaintances, and that's an experience I'd love to have recur.
The intimate side of my life has seen some twists. Kat and I are still together. I've grown more distant from a couple of girls with whom I had less romantic involvements. To balance that out, I've gotten a lot closer to a few girls that I've had long term non-intimate relationships with. I've found a lot of new play partners to varying degrees, and ranging from local to very long distance. I've discovered that moving away from Atlanta has motivated me to be more daring in my approaches to girls that I was never bold enough to share my feelings (emotional or physical) with while I lived there. I aim to keep this part of my life interesting, and there will be more updates on that subject in the future.
Contrary to my expectations before moving up here, I haven't been very active in the Boston kink scene, for a variety of reasons. It's a very different scene from Atlanta, including play events being a lot more private/underground. I haven't had the ambition or motivation to seek out opportunities in that regard. I've also not been compelled to find play events as often because living a thousand miles closer to my girlfriend leaves me a lot less frustrated in various ways, and because some of the other local groups I've become involved in are kink-friendly enough that I get to play in public on occasion, for fun or by way of demonstration or class. I don't know if this will remain the case, as I've been encountering local kinksters through our other shared communities more lately. More to come on that front.
If there's anything else you want to know about how I'm doing, please ask! I have too many friends that I never get around to chatting with, so take the initiative and get in touch.
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Date: 2012-07-17 09:41 pm (UTC)