Happy Birthday all them people who are getting older. May you always stay young in your hearts and minds.

Whoa, whole badge of birthdays.

Today (roughly, depending on time zone):
karenhealey, who I notice for once isn't on AIM, so I can't wish her a happy one directly. Of course, given her time zone, it's been her birthday for a good percentage of a day already, and I expect she's done with work teaching Japanese kids how to cuss in English or whatever it is they have her do and is now partying like her... 25(?) year old self should be.

AND! (since it's a two for the price of one day)

miserxy, who I had a lovely conversation with a couple weeks ago after a good many months of no contact whatsoever. We need to make sure that we stay in closer contact from here on out.

But wait, there's more. Since I'm liable to miss these things given the chance, I'll take care of the amazing birthdays that hit... tomorrow

ardweden, who I have not had the chance to chat with in a good long time, which is sad because I always enjoy doing it. Fer instance, she graduated over ACen weekend (which was much earlier in the summer), and I don't think I've spoken to her since. Lame, right?

AND! (four for the price of two over two days!)

obaba, who I always enjoy reading LJ posts from, but I'm not actually sure if we've ever had a conversation.


Clearly the common trend here is that I don't speak to the wonderful people on my friends list nearly enough. Of course, a semi-objective look at things reveals that friendship drift in such a case is likely a bit inevitable. Ard, Phoebe and I knew each-other back in our Improfanfic days, and Impro is dead, pretty much, and not likely to return. I moved on to YPP, Phoebe's moved onto som excellent scholarship and comics blogging, and while I did some browsing of Impro earlier and felt that twinge of nostalgia for the group-writing aspect. Not just the parts I co-wrote (a good number of them with Phoebe, which is a bit surprising in retrospect because our styles aren't really similar at all. She's got a much more poetic sense of prose, while I'm likely to just drop short bits of dialogue. It was a bit like trying to meld a silk dress and a jackhammer. Impossible, really, but somehow we made it work.) but also the back-and-forth as we swapped around story ideas.

I know we can't really go back. Although I get the vague sense that the epistolary novel Phoebe's working on has some similarities, but also considerable differences. On the whole, it's probably going to be a stronger piece of writing, but won't have the same communal effect. I'll be interested in reading it to see.

With Y!PP, the community problem went in the opposite direction. Instead of dying, it's gotten so much bigger so that there's a bit of information overload. And also after nearly three years of playing, there's a bit of burn out.

Partially, I wonder if I've not yet found the next "group" to be with. But then again, I don't quite have the sort of time which allowed me to integrate myself with Impro or YPP or the RAAM community even before. Then again (and this is especially true for my Impro-writing college days) I'm not sure if I should have taken the time back then, instead of, oh, integrating myself with some real communities which could have enabled stronger scholarship. I might be working on (or even would have completed) my masters by now. As it stands, it's in some vague point in the future.

Ah, nostalgia. It's an odd combination of both wanting to retrieve the past while also wishing to change it. Neither is possible, so we need to shrug our shoulders and move on, making the best of what time we have left. While I periodically feel like I've been treading water for the past five or ten years (huh, largely since I started working on the Con, go figure), for the most part I'm pretty happy with my life.

An update on the state of the Jeff:

In early September, I'm moving to San Francisco. I've tentatively picked September 7 as the date of my move. I need to make some hard decisions between now and then about what to take with me, what to store (at my grandparent's) and what to get rid of. Ideally, a lot of stuff will be in the third category. I have a bit of a crisis of conscience regarding my couch and chair. I love them and want to keep them, but taking them increases the costs of moving dramatically. Other than that, it's mostly small stuff which can be handled in a trip or two. Possibly using my mom's minivan for one of them (higher gas costs, but it can carry a lot more than my little Honda.)

I still do not have a girlfriend. But I spend a lot of time on stuff that's just an excuse, not an explanation.

I am writing more. Which is to say I've done a few paragraphs of Sammy Austen in the recent past. I currently have the file open and wrote a whole sentence today. I'm currently trying to fool myself into believing that it's an Impro. Planning-wise, the story may have gotten a bit more complex during some brainstorming I did. Which is good, because I think it makes for a stronger piece, but it also means it may end up a fair bit longer than I originally anticipated. We'll see.

I am not writing enough. I need to get myself into more of a habit. And I think it'd be a good year to try Nano. Which means less of the useless activities which take up writing time. Such as...

I'm watching a fair bit of anime. I've got Giant Robo and Rune Soldier, which we're going to try and finish before I leave. I'm going to lose some access when I move, though, because I won't be able to tap Chris's or Wooko's collections. I'll try to finish Midori Days before then, but I may need to get my own Netflix account for other things. On the fansub side of things, I'm enjoying Nana and Ouran High School Host Club and have started Welcome to the NHK, which fits a nice post-Haruhi void. It's got elements of Genshiken and Paranoia Agent in there, too, which makes it slightly odd and discomforting, but it's still good.

I'm also reading. I've been on a fair manga kick of late. I picked up a number of volumes at Otakon, and Right Stuf had a sale on Viz items recently, so I ordered a bunch more. Given that I need to actually reduce the amount of material I own, this probably wasn't the wisest decision.

I haven't played Baten Kaitos in a number of weeks. Which means I probably should, if I want to finish it before I leave.

I haven't been working out enough. Part of it is because Chris hasn't been around as often lately, but it's more that I'm lazy and easily distracted. Hopefully my prospective roommates in SF will be willing workout partners. And hopefully I can find a climbing gym in SF that's as cool as Edgeworks.

The future state of the me is up in the air. SF is on the plate for the next year. It's a bit of an experiment; previously all times I've moved have either been for school or for family. I've never really done one on my own. If it goes well, I may try moving around a bit and living in other areas with friends. Boise's a possibility. I've considered going back to Phoenix for a bit, too. And I could try some time further east. I'd also like to try living in a foreign country. New Zealand and Scotland are high on my list, but I could be open to other possibilities.

I may also want to try teaching English in Asia, still. I'm not sure if I've got a good chance with the JET program, but there are other options in Japan, should I like. There's also the CET program (I could live in Shanghai!) Korea may not be bad, either.

Heh. I've rambled. This shouldn't have been about me. Happy Birthday, everyone!