Preparations and Farewells

I quit my job 30 minutes ago. They were surprisingly nice about it. I got a clothesline and a poncho last night. Was tempted to get a travel backpack but I just couldn't justify it. Present backpack works fine although the added carrying capacity might be useful.

After I collect and cash my final paycheck, I should be hitting the road this Friday, hopefully arriving Friday night or Saturday morning in Philadelphia.

I've acquired some writing paraphernalia for the trip so that I'm not chained to the laptop if I want to record any thoughts or experiences. My primary focus however will be on being there and experiencing the sights and people and not being a human camcorder.

Relaxed at the library today, pondered how nice it would be to have a companion on this trip like Kerouac had. Looks like I'll be on my own, I doubt I'll find anyone as mercurial as I am. We'll see.

It occurred to me today that I have an unusual number of scars for someone my age.

Time for me to get a couple pairs of shorts so that I don't continue to suffer in this weather.

Dreams in Color

I dreamt about watching a storm roll into Texas in what looked like the middle of the desert last night. Not the worst way to pass the sleep.

Continuing to work and save money for the (hopefully) upcoming road trip, so far I've got Philly, Ithaca, and NYC on the hotlist with Montreal as an option depending on what happens.

I'm starting to think that after ~3 weeks of living out of my car that it is changing me a little bit. First and most obvious difference is that I'm becoming accustomed to the impermanence as well as the vacuum of not having a "homing beacon". The more subtle change is that I think it's making me happier at some level. I haven't felt any sustained melancholy since I began like this. I don't know if it's the fresh air, the sunlight, or some combination thereof, but I just plain feel fine. I can't really explain it beyond that for now.

Living on the road, either by virtue of modernity or the ever-shrinking world, isn't really that much different from normal life. I don't get to sleep on a comfy bed, one of the few things I really miss about having my own place, but beyond that it's not much different. There's a general feeling of restlessness that comes from having to rotate where you sleep and otherwise hang out as well as to seek wifi, but all the trappings of modern life are essentially intact. I can't help but feel like there's no substantial change involved unless you experience hunger or get dropped off in the wilderness. Surviving in the city is pretty comfortable. I'd be a liar to say otherwise.

I've been working on TeXing up my resume for the past week on and off (I don't exactly have an office), and I think I'm in the final stages of making small edits here and there. I'll probably shift to using the TeX resume primarily, although I might need to keep a stripped text-only version in case a recruiter wants to play Mr. Wizard.

It's becoming increasingly clear to me that I won't be finding any work here in town, making it all the more likely that I'll clear out of town fairly soon. Some of the best programmers in town that I know are in the job market now, and that doesn't spell anything good for the software devs here.

I can't complain about having a potentially difficult decision made for me.

Will likely be getting a (much) better camera before I head out of town, so more and better pictures coming soon.

Gas Station Blues

I feel it's worth noting that I've tried to be very conscientious about when and how I take advantage of various services and niceties available to the public. The principal public nicety that comes to mind here is how I tend to use public bathrooms as more of a literal washroom. Cf. http://boprog.blogspot.com/2009/07/zen-and-art-of-public-bathing.html

With that said, I also was reminded of the lesson in mobile living: don't establish a habit and don't make repeat appearances at a single location. I was making my third visit to a particular Sunoco in Columbus for my morning bath. It'd become a multiple-visit matter because it was in proximity to a rather safe/public parking lot that I'd been sleeping in. Big mistake.

Apparently the black backpack I use to carry my toiletries + shampoo + bath towel in to the bathroom is suspicious to overly-tanned broskies with a complex. Long story short, I exited the bathroom after yet another rather meticulous spot check and cleaning of said bathroom to make certain I left it looking better than when I arrived. This combined with my notion of fairness in patronizing the location (I always walked out with something worth at least a dollar so that they got some business out of me, even if I can't really afford to be doing this everytime I shower) wasn't sufficient evidence to prove that I wasn't some sort of repeat candy-bar thief.

Roight. Because it's worth getting charged with theft as an adult because I want a candy bar. I don't even eat candy bars, I'm hypoglycemic so eating junk food like that only spells misery for my next 24 hours or so.

On a brighter note, future plans are beginning to come together. I have what seems like a confirmed waypoint in my travels from an acquaintance on Reddit. I've added NYC to the list of locations to stop at on my forthcoming journey. I hope to begin the trip before fall begins in earnest.

P.S. If you find yourself living on the road and see a Sunoco in Columbus, just keep moving.

Zen and the Art of Public Bathing

If you find yourself temporarily or semi-permanently on the road, you're going to need to procure a means of bathing and cleaning yourself. You don't always have a friend or truck-stop on hand for bathing, and truck-stop showers cost money anyway. If you had money to blow on a shower, you'd be in lightly different circumstances, da?

Regardless, there *are* some basic materials you'll need.

- Materials -

Clean towel
Towel you don't give a damn about (optional, but you'll want one and see why soon)

Shampoo (don't need bar soap or body wash unless you think your skin needs something other than the cleaning the shampoo will provide)

Toothbrush + Toothpaste

A razor for shaving (don't bother with electrics, last thing you need is something that needs power or has a servo motor that can break when you're on the road)

Washcloth

Some gallon-sized ziploc bags to keep things separated.

Deodorant/Antiperspirant as desired (I always use it after each bath, but obviously this is more optional than getting clean)

- Location -

Picking your location is critical because it can mean the difference between having a peaceful, quiet moment alone to tend to yourself or having a very VERY unpleasant and hectic morning as you try to clear out of the bathroom like a Romani (gypsy) getting run out of town.

You obviously have to pick a one person bathroom that can be locked, which narrows down the field considerably. You can choose to go with bathrooms in restaurants/food service locations, which are guaranteed to have hot water because of health regulations, or you can opt for a gas station bathroom. Smaller places like Starbucks are preferable for bathing because while there'll be more traffic (impetus to make your bath quick) it's much more likely a Starbucks will have a one person lockable bathroom than most food service locations.

Alternatively, gas stations (especially locations with separate outside bathrooms) are quite likely to have a lockable solo bathroom and also less likely to have any serious foot traffic allowing you to take a moment to breathe while you clean yourself.

Today I opted to go with a gas station with an outside (not locked by default like some are, but lockable from the inside) bathroom.

Advantages:

Way less foot traffic than most bathrooms, was able to spend about 10 minutes in there.

Disadvantages:

No hot water, at all. Had to bathe using cold water. This isn't as bad as it sounds in the summer, but it's horrifyingly unpleasant some mornings. This was one of those mornings.

Dangerous employees (see comment below)

The basic process (modified according to practicality and preference) goes thusly:

- Order of Operations -

1. Lay out the icky towel you don't care about on the floor before you do anything else. Alternatively if you couldn't get ahold of an extra towel, lay down a bunch of hand towels or toilet paper as available.

2. Make damned certain the door is locked and jammed in anyway you can. If it opens inward then cram a shoe in the bottom so no one can get in even if they have a key. Sometimes idiots won't hear you and will request that it be opened up by a keyed employee. Sometimes the employee is dumb and doesn't bang on the door either.

3. Begin undressing after you've taken care of any non-bath-related needs. Try to pile the clothes on a clean surface or on the icky (this is kind of a misnomer, standing on this towel is vastly superior to the alternative) towel or some laid out hand towels or whatever you can muster.

4. The easiest and most comfortable way for me to get myself wetted down for bathing is to use the washcloth (clean), soak it under the faucet, get my hair wet and my body wet for cleaning.

5. Get some shampoo in your hands and go at your hair with it. Getting my hair and various bits washed are my priorities in any bath like this as they are the only things that really need cleaning every couple days. Unless you mud wrestle for a living, 3/4s of your body should actually not need cleaned more than once or twice a week, but I wash all of it anyway.

6. After lathering and shampooing your hair while suspending your head over the sink, fire up the faucet to begin rinsing your hair off. I keep my head down-turned and suspended over the sink the whole time in order to facilitate not having the cold water drip down my backside.

7. After you've washed your hair to the point of being clean (sometimes it takes two lather-rinse cycles for me to get all the excess oil out of my hair), now it's time to work on everything else. I just use shampoo lather to wash the rest of me and then wipe/clean with the washcloth.

I guess you could bother with body wash, but I've never understood why people don't just use their shampoo for that purpose. Maybe someone can explain it to me. I guess women would want skin moisturizer, but this isn't a day spa, you're trying to look presentable for work and social stuff.

8. I usually rinse any excess suds off by rinsing and shaking out the washcloth and using it to wipe anything off. A recommendation I would make if you're living out of your car like I am and are thusly frequently sitting in a blazing hot car sweating is that you might want to priortize acquiring a large quantity of brand new underwear to cycle through so that you're perpetually wearing a fresh pair. I'm actually heading out to buy a couple packs after I finish writing this article so that I can put off going to the laundromat.

9. Once it's all said and done, be polite and clean up after yourself. Bring an extra "icky" washcloth for cleaning up any messes you make if you find yourself doing that (I don't have any problems containing my bath to a narrow area). Rinse out the sink if you washed your hair in it, pick up any hand towels/toilet paper on the floor, etc etc. A good way to keep yourself a welcome sight is to buy something (very small/cheap, you're not looking to burn cash obviously) so that you can get slightly less awkward looks from the patrons and employees.

For the record, this kind of life experience is going to do one of two things to you.

1. You're going to develop some kind of complex about bathing and really badly want to get an apartment ASAP, which is kind of good since it'll give you hella impetus to hustle your ass and find work.

2. You're going to be like me and become utterly shameless about silly commonplace things like hygiene. Who cares if they know you sponge-bathed in their bathroom? (This isn't an alternative to working, I've actually got a part-time job at the moment and am seeking work more constructive to my career at the moment while I'm on the road.)

Cheers and good luck if you find yourself living on the street. More posts/advice to come, more than likely.

Anecdote: Today the employee of the gas station I was frequenting took a screeching start at me in her SUV and tried to run me over (I was in plain view, she was looking straight at me), I had to dodge the vehicle to avoid getting hurt. At least I got clean.

Restless

Whenever you're on the road like I am, it's a significant mental shift to make after a lifetime of living 'someplace'. Whether or not you have a sense of origin, most people will have a mental/emotional homing beacon that just defaults them to travel in the direction of 'home' and naturally relax/settle in when they arrive.

That doesn't exist for me now. In the midst of many competing material concerns and discomforts, the principal source of anxiety for me is this completely ephemeral and immaterial upset in my routine.

Hikikomori and the CEO

Workaholics are a curious group of people, in particular the ones who are by any sane definition independently wealthy. Another, but more recent, social phenomenon is that of the hikikomori, or, 'NEETs'. The komori or NEETs are a group of young, disaffected people who are not engaged in the workplace, training, or education.

The workaholics who work without any legitimate material reason to do so are a subject of fascination for me. From what I've read, it seems like they cut down to two subgroups. Those that genuinely love their work, and those that are so wrapped up in their work that they have nothing better to do. The ones that have nothing better to do, or just plain can't see themselves doing anything other than work, or are so insecure that they need to amass vast sums of money are trapped in themselves.

The NEETs are a growing portion of the maturing young people that are so disaffected with society that they do not engage in education or a career/work. You could probably stratify the various reasons that NEETs are 'drifting', but it all boils down to the same social alienation and lack of motivation, whatever the 'cause'.

Extremes tend to be more alike than they are different, in many cases, and this situation is really no different. Both sufferers in either case are alienated because of the lack of parity between society and the past natural human lifestyle amongst other extant factors.

Win32 Assembly

documentation is terrible. Like, the worst programming documentation I've ever seen. Nasm's documentation seems to be made for special cases to distinguish itself from people who are used to MASM/TASM (ehhhh).

No seriously, it's horrid. Linux/*BSD/OS X asm documentation are all vastly superior.

That is all.

A Pub, a Parking Lot, a Bakery

Sitting in the frigid arctic wastelands of the North freezing my arse off at the moment, also known as Panera Bread. Luckily they decided to throw in a free internet with my $1.89 coffee, lest I be deprived of the internet. It is seriously cold in here. Back in High School, I was 'that' guy. The one that was always too warm, always wanted the AC on in the car. I don't know if it's because I just woke up in my car in a parking lot in the middle of the city, because of my dropping fat percentage, or what, or that Panera is just plain trying to kill me, but it is the kind of frigid in here that I would reserve the moniker 'morgue' for.

Apparently the local gentrification squad, along with a contingent of hipsters and yuppies like to chill in Panera. They are surely replications of the human body in robot form, for nobody but me could've lived long enough in this climate to type this. Hipsterbots. Hmm.

It's high time I do something productive in this oasis of wifi.

Oh yeah, the pub. Some guy at the pub was buying me shots of whiskey just to prove he could drink more alcohol than me. I was drinking on an empty stomach and still made him look silly. I need some kind of warning label that says, "do not attempt to outdrink" for my lapel or something.