In Seattle

In Seattle

I have moved to Seattle. Or rather, I have moved back to Seattle. I lived here before, from 1997 to about 2006, and now I'm back. Before, I came because Wizards of the Coast bought the company that I worked for, TSR. (I have to ask myself, if you don't know that, how is it that you're reading my blog? Anyway...) I moved here with Sue. We left because it seemed like, at the time, the things tying us to Seattle were not what they once were, and Sue really liked Milwaukee, the place that she felt to be her home. (Previously, we had lived in Lake Geneva, WI, not terribly far from Milwaukee, all things considered. Before that, well, that was before I knew Sue, and I lived all over. Virginia, Colorado, South Dakota...) 

Now I am back in Seattle. And I am on my own. That's not easy to write. It might be the hardest thing I've ever had to write, actually. But I'm in Seattle, and first and foremost I'm here because it's the place I have loved more than any other I've lived. So that part is good. I am doing work with Wizards of the Coast again, as you probably know, but I was doing that in Milwaukee. That's not why I moved.

Moving is never fun, and that's never been more true than with this move. It's a bit of a reboot for me, and so it is bittersweet. It's also the first time in many, many moves that I've had to do it all alone since, well, since when I moved I could fit all my belongings in my car and drive off to Charlottesville, VA to work for Iron Crown Enterprises in 1990.

The move has had its ups and downs. Take today, for example. I have a new apartment, but my belongings are still in storage. I had everything lined up to move that stuff in tomorrow. Today, I wake up to discover that the road in front of my building is being repaved. That's all well and good, but it means that my car--in the apartment's big, underground garage--is trapped. I can't get out. This means I can't get to an important meeting at Wizards. Worse, this construction is going to take a few days, so I can't get my stuff moved in. 

Thus, I will continue to sit alone in an empty apartment a while longer. Thankfully, I have a lot of work to do. Hmm. How often does one type that sentence?

So, I refilled my Starbucks card, I've got a rain jacket with a hood... I think I'm ready for whatever Seattle has to offer.

As soon as I can get out of my parking garage.