Estate of Mind

The Estate of Mind project is mostly wrapped up. We were struggling for a while, for lack of residents and money and engagement, but the structural fire plus the ensuing water damage to the manor was an irrecoverable final blow to our chances, and problematic residents provided the icing on that particularly painful cake. I tried to organize a plan to keep some people living here in the dorm and pine house under a new owner, but that didn't work out. As I write this, half of the residents have left, most of the ones remaining are in the process of moving out, and I'm between the beginning and middle of the ridiculously slow processes of evicting the last few.

I found some buyers who wanted to restore the manor, but they were unable to come up with investors or financing to get it done. I have accepted an offer from a buyer who intends to demolish the manor and build ~16 new houses on the property, each using historic elements preserved from the manor. The fireplaces, bar, stained glass windows, pipe organ, etc should all have a future here. This isn't the outcome I had hoped for, but it's better than I feared. If this offer goes through, I'll get enough money in August to satisfy my outstanding obligations and return donations that were made toward us repairing the house, and then more in 1-6 years as the new houses are sold. I intend to offer some shares of the proceeds to the people who tried to make this project a success, although the split nature of the payments means I'll have to get more creative with those offers than I've posted about previously. If this offer falls through, I'll be pursuing subdividing the property into three pieces (manor, dorm+house, forest), each of which will have a more obvious story and be a more straightforward business proposition to new owners, and I am confident I can sell at least two of those pieces in short order later this year.

Work

I am working for a startup that does online computer science classes for high schoolers, and some other markets adjacent to that. The day to day tasks are unfulfilling, but I love the mission and want to see this company succeed. If we are successful and the company grows, I hope I can dive deeper into my niche for more fulfilling projects as we hire more engineers.

They want me in an office in San Francisco or New York City (or maybe Los Angeles) most of the time. I followed through with my plans to drive to SF in March, but failed to relocate in April due to the fire and other problems back in MA. I'm overdue to meet their requirements, and this is motivating some of my current life choices. There's a chance their tolerance for the delays runs out before I can settle down, but hopefully not.

Summer and Autumn

It will take 2-6 more months to sell the property in MA, and probably that long to get at least mostly through the evictions. Once my own personal belongings are all off the property and all the bulky things have been disposed of, I can spend more time away from here. In the mean time, I'm spending most weekends in MA and most weekdays at the office in NYC, which is a bearable once-per-week commute from MA. I've been subletting or staying at a hostel, and may continue to do that, although I'm looking at some options measured in months instead of days. I'm also considering vehicle dwelling, although that seems less common in NYC than in other cities I've lived in. I'll stick to less permanent arrangements until things in MA are wrapped up.

I recently did a whirlwind tour of a few different events to see old friends, make new ones, do some social and project networking, lay some groundwork for moving and other future plans, etc. I have a few more similar plans later this summer. I intend to be in San Francisco before/after the weekends of July 19 and August 31 when I'll be at camping festivals a few hours north of the city. If you're going to either event, I'd love to hear from you and make plans to share logistics or a camp. If you'll be in the city, let's connect.

2025

In order of descending probability…

70% chance I'll be in San Francisco full time. As of right now SF has, by far, the largest and densest cluster of people I want to be around and who want to be around me. Work has an office here and the job market is strong if I need new work. All of my hobbies and communities have strong hubs here. I have multiple prospective romantic and intimate partners in that region, and it's the best environment I've found for seeking new such connections. I am familiar with the legal and real estate situations, as they bear on my future plans. This probability is going down as other probabilities go up, but so far it remains the clear leader.

20% chance I'll be in New York full time. I've always wanted to try living in NYC, but the timing was never right before. This chance was near zero until recently, but between new friends, discovering events and communities, exploring the city while working, and the potential to work in the city, it has rapidly increased. I expect it will continue to go up over the next couple of months, although it would probably take some outlying surprises (e.g. a new romantic partner or job) to fully tip the scales.

3% chance I'll be west of Portland Oregon. The boarding high school I pursued three years ago may be available again. Interest from friends and strangers in some version of that project has increased since I last pursued it, and I will be better equipped and experienced to make it happen this time around. I still dream of that property and the projects and events that could happen there.

2% chance I'll be in Puna, Hawaii. The property I pursued there with a dozen cabins and adjacent fresh laval flow may also be available again. As with the Oregon property, there's more interest and ability to make that project happen now than there was three years ago. I discovered last time that getting people to visit and move to Hawaii is significantly easier than almost any other remote location.

The remaining 5% is an assortment of unrelated possibilities that would take some exceptional changes in circumstances to bring about. Friends keep asking me to buy property together in Central America. I could end up with a partner who wants me to move overseas with them. I could be stuck in MA indefinitely if something goes very wrong with the property here. I could retire and backpack around Europe for a few months or years. I could find a dream property somewhere else in the US and manage to put together money and people to turn it into a project that I'm not already planning. I could …

Regardless of *where* I end up, there's also the question of what I'll be doing with my time and how I'll be living. Some of the locations and specific properties come with answers to that question, but it's mostly open. I might go back to vehicle dwelling, live a mobile life again for a while, explore and have fun. I might get an apartment or house, for just me or with a partner. I might join an existing coliving community; I might know a dozen who would accept me for at least a trial period, and there are hundreds more in my target locations that I could apply to. I might start a new coliving project again, something small or large. Or I might do something entirely unexpected. These possibilities will remain in flux probably until I commit to a location, and possibly for a while after. A lot of them depend on specific circumstances coming about, such as meeting the right people, or the right property being available, etc. Some of them could last for months, while others would hopefully last for years. I look forward to whichever way this works out.

Beyond

Given my history of moving mostly every 3-5 years as an adult, there's a decent chance that whatever I do in 2025 is what I'll be doing for a few years afterward as well. Alternately, if 2025 is something temporary, 2026 would even more likely be something that lasts at least a few years, and probably from a very similar list of possibilities. Of course, all of that can change as life throws surprises my way, so watch this space for wildly different plans if that comes to pass.