Tyler has information that could be freed. Tyler has government that could be opened. And now, for the first time, Tyler has a hacker.
To Find Myself In The Other Place
Somewhere along the way some important things got right and truly fucked up. My wife and I are getting divorced. At the end of June she and my son will move from Chicago to Tyler, Texas.
I've contemplated a lot of reactions to this change and I've decided, with their support, that I will:
- Let her go.
- Follow him.
If the personal and moral intuitions aren't obvious to you, I don't think I can explain them.
I've become much more comfortable in Chicago than anywhere else I've ever lived. It is as close to a "home" as I've had in my adult life. By all accounts, Tyler will be different in nearly every way -- small, provincial, culturally isolated -- not unlike my hometown in Nebraska. I expect to spend a great deal of time actively disagreeing with people.
So far, I've spent probably 80% of 2011 being depressed about either the divorce or the move, but lately I've come into a new frame of mind. I wouldn't call it a reconciliation, but basically I've decided:
I'm going to make this good.
You might call it a trite coming-to-terms, but I've decided to make this change positive using whatever means are available to me. It helps that my awesome job has provisionally agreed to allow me to telecommute (more on this later). Some other things are easy too:
- No more wasting 20 hours a week commuting.
- Cost of living ~30% cheaper than Chicago.
- Excellent schools (...), low crime, yada, yada.
- Quiet.