Seems like about time for a check-in on the big move, huh?
Short form: it’s lovely out here. We have slowly found a routine and are slowly settling into it. Retirement is odd and I’m pretty sure I don’t know how to do it yet but that’s okay, big life adjustments take time.
Longer form…
Well, let’s start with the cities. We still like them a lot. We accidentally found a great neighborhood in St. Paul and as a lifelong fan of the underdog, it’s kind of fun being in the smaller of the Twin Cities. I’m sure in ten years I’ll have developed a finely tuned explanation for why St. Paul is the right place to be but for right now I’m just gonna wave my hand in generalities. But I’m writing this from Lost Fox Lowertown, a great coffee shop right across from Union Depot in downtown St. Paul, and I love looking out the window and seeing the light rail pull in and pull out.
There’s a good chance we’ll wind up in Uptown over in Minneapolis a year from now, and I like that area a lot too, mind you.
The Twin Cities are fiercely political, and I know a bit about political cities. Seattle got upset about ICE in an abstract way. Out here, it’s personal for very obvious reasons. I like the energy even as I mourn the trauma that’s at the root of it. I think many places I’ve lived would react the way the Twin Cities reacted, but I also think about the way Seattle’s CHOP ended. That libertarian strain in Seattle politics got in the way of the kind of community building that could have made the brave CHOP experiment more than it was. Or, put differently, fuck Raz Simone.
I miss a lot about Seattle. Mostly the people but man, the coffee is better there. I know, it’s a cliche, but it’s true: in general I find Seattle’s coffee shops to be more consistent. Also, the movie scene is better in Seattle, which is not a surprise. There’s only one Scarecrow and while I love the Trylon out here, the Beacon has a wilder, more anarchistic edge to its programming. It is what it is. I’ve been doing some volunteer work for one of the two (two!) new Blu-ray rental stores out here in the Twin Cities and that’s satisfying.
Also Vinegar Syndrome opened up a retail store, which is cool. I think I’ll save that for another post, though, I’ve slacked off on posting lately. Content is king, yo. Just you wait till I pivot to short-form video.
It’s well into fall around here and I have not seen a real fall for, uh, fifteen years? Since we moved down to Austin. No offense to Seattle but the slow side into rainy season doesn’t qualify. It’s amazing feeling that nip in the air. We did a serious outerwear buy last month, and I’m feeling tentatively OK about the even colder winter although I will need boots. But I got a cool cool padded chore coat and a two layer down coat and a lot of flannel. I have entered my New England casualcore phase and I Iike it.
We got here too late in the year for serious area exploration before the chill sets in. Next year. We did drive down to Madison, of course, and we did the Wisconsin trip with S’ parents, so we’ve seen a bit of it. It’s nice and green. Not Seattle, not San Francisco, but you know it’s prettier than where we lived in Maryland and on par with Austin. I’ll take it.
Time management is a pain. (Back to adjusting to retirement.) I do not have time to do everything I want to do and pretending that I need to fill every day winds up making me feel rushed. This will just require a bit more patience and thought. I’ve hacked together a Discord scheduling bot that suits our needs, and that’s helpful; we also got a wall calendar for maybe activities. The combo seems to be working?
Gaming is going well. We have a weekly Draw Steel game, which I’m enjoying more as an exercise in tactical combat with roleplay icing than as a deep roleplay experience, but I do enjoy tactical combat so it’s nice. And the people in that game are great. I’ve got an online Monster of the Week mini-campaign starting soon too. I’m playing solo and duet games bi-weekly with S, much to my happiness. Finally, I signed up to run two games at Con of the North, which is going to make me incredibly stressed because I always stress about GMing. But I do want to work on my public play skills, because that’s how you build the perfect group.
I need to dig into a writing project. I have a backlog to do item labeled “complete a submission to a game jam.” This is an accountability paragraph.
We have not sold the Seattle house because it’s a lousy time to sell houses. We are landlords. Or will be soon. I feel awkward about that but not awkward enough to maintain an empty house with an expensive mortgage, so there it is. I don’t see this as a long term income-earner, anyhow.
My guess right now, before the winter proper sets in, is that we’re gonna be here for a good while, five or so years anyhow. If the blue wave really changes things, maybe Austin’s back on the table? That’d be interesting. But man I like it here.