[taken on my birthday at Annie's Bar San Francisco -- thanks to Pete for chipping in the four bucks]    

real me, part v

We've been here before: 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997

So, I've been putting off writing this page until things settled down a bit for me. A few people were bugging me about the lack of updates and I kept putting them off. I figured some day real soon now I'd be able to grab a cup of coffee, sit down at my computer and think "now is a good time for some reflection" and type away about why I have this web site and why I do the things that I do.

However, this moment never came and I needed to get my ass in gear. The nature of what I do seems to leave very little time for reflection.

So hi, I'm Jessamyn and I have this website. It started as a place to record thoughts and practice web design and it now looks like a five year notepad. I usually update this page when something's going on, or I have something to say, but right now things seem as low-key as they're going to get so here goes.....

I quit my tech support job in February a week before the furnace crapped out in my falling-down house, nearly killing me, and forcing me to move. I did some couch surfing and moved in with some metalworking friends of mine in Seattle. Cheap rent -- the deal is I don't live there more than half-time. Drove cross-country one way with my sister and then back with a friend from work. Then I left for Vermont for the Summer. I had a lot of friends come to visit, and then left on another cross-country trip, out and back, starting in the end of July. Three weddings in four weeks. One dress.

I touched down at home for 48 hours and flew to San Francisco to head out to Burning Man and back to SFO for a few days to celebrate my 33rd birthday. This picture was taken in a photobooth, in a bar, in San Francisco, on my birthday. I am still on that trip. The events of September 11th caused me to not fly back on schedule AND never want to fly again. So, I drove to the midwest in a borrowed car, where I am staying with my boyfriend.

Yes, I have a boyfriend. His name is Greg, I met him online and you can go get bent if you are sniggering. If you are me, meeting people you have anything in common with is a constant uphill struggle. I had pretty much given up on finding someone that I had enough in common with to actually date. Not a huge deal for me -- honestly I require copious amounts of downtime which can make committed relationships a problem -- but I definitely evoked the pity/concern of a lot of my friends. Greg and I are both misfits and malcontents in some ways and normal-seeming smart people in other ways. He lives in Milwaukee which is about as far as you can get from either Seattle or Vermont. That's the Greg wrap-up, read his web site or email me if you want to know more.

All this frenetic driving and visiting people has only solidified the loose ideas I had last year: I am happiest when I am in motion, I need to work that into what I decide to do with my life in the near future. This year has been low on income-producing activities, though I have been doing some freelance writing. I've also been working on some art projects, both in real life and online. My medium is, more often than not, postcards and my theme is, more often than not, libraries.

I've also been concentrating on spending as little money as possible and, dorky as it sounds, being a good friend to the people I know. I think one of the highest compliments you can pay someone is saying they are a good friend, and I aspire to be that friend to the people I know.

If you need more backstory you know where to go.