Sleepless in Seattle (literally!)

What is that movie even about, anyway? Not sure if I really care, but the title pretty much describes my experience here so far. Seems like Seattle doesn't want to let me sleep. That's a commodity that's currently too rich for my blood.

My first night was spent just sitting. Right on the sidewalk. About as uneventful as you can get. I relaxed as much as possible but couldn't let myself doze off because I was on the job - guarding my mobile office from those grabby types. This time, I'm here on business and only have exactly what I need - no more, no less (though I certainly wish it were less). In the morning, I realized that I had just enough change for a cup of coffee, but accidentally walked into this weird special Starbucks "Reserve" store. They handed me a menu. What?

I ordered a large... I mean, Venti, and it was nearly five bucks! Normally I would have bought it and felt extremely stupid. But since I was unable to do so, it was not only super embarrassing, but I also didn't get my coffee.

I didn't realize that it was a weird high-class Starbucks, so I thought that somehow the price of coffee had magically doubled overnight or it was a Seattle thing. Feeling emotionally weak and not sure if I want to live in a world with $5 coffee, I walked outside and just about started crying. When I finally made my way to a real coffee shop, I was pleasantly surprised. And caffeinated.

Homeless in Seattle

The time at which I made the actual transition to computer science was the very end of my last semester in Austin. Every course uses computer work, and I ended up spending more time messing around trying to get, not necessarily everything, but maybe something working. At one point I had like 5 different systems of various platforms, simply to provide a chance... one small chance, that I might actually get something done. Or not.

It was the end of 2016 when I left Austin with my buddy Trip on an extremely loosely-planned journey to an equally vague set of destinations. The one plan we had was to play music... but when all our instruments were taken from us by big meanies who eat poop and smell like poop, we were absolutely devastated. Our entire livelihood and reason for traveling was gone, what were we supposed to do now?

Well... I still had my computers. Determined to express myself creatively somehow, my only outlets were no longer notes, it was code. But that somehow didn't bother me... for it was clear to me that there could be at least as much totally abstract creative genius packed in there if you've got it in you. It's music that is so good, it doesn't even need to be heard. Instead of targeting the emotions, like music (which is great, since we are emotional creatures who get all squishy when things sound gewd), its potential is actualized in the physical, get-shit-done realm. But I have definitely noticed strong similarities between the logical forms of music and code. It's all basically loops, arranged in blocks of stuff in some pattern that conveys meaning through the structure of its semantics.

I was teaching myself to code while on the road. Homeless the entire time, plugging my Raspberry Pi into the monitors at the library because I didn't even have a screen. Some days nothing would get done. Some days were slightly better... and then there are the big milestones, like starting a project and getting the core pieces working together and watching it come alive. And especially finishing a project. Oh wait... that actually never truly happens.

Last Winter I decided to stay with family because I couldn't stand my lifestyle anymore. Without proper tooling and support, coupled with having to spend way too much time scrounging for food all the time, makes for excessively slow progress. This was the first time I ever had the luxury of being able to work on something for as long as I needed to, take a hammock break and rinse & repeat until it functions to my satisfaction.

However, it kind of gave a false impression that I had moved up in the world and gotten off the streets. But having family support you does not equal becoming self-sufficient. I knew that the best way that could be achieved was going to mean I would have to return to the streets, hopefully briefly and for the last time. To reach the big plateau, I need to get involved in a team of programmers where we can learn from and build off each other.

But it is a very rough transition. It was enough time for my muscles to atrophy to the point that I am not as conditioned for traveling and enduring the inevitable harsh conditions as I was. But it will come back.

Walking in Seattle

For my next trick, that is, the following night (last night), I wasn't gonna just sit there all night in the cold again. I had coffee money (thanks, mom!) so I decided to just find a 24 hour coffee shop and spend my night getting work done. Rather than take the bus there (~30 minutes), I opted to walk (~1 hour, 45 min). Felt like it'd be cool to explore.


Well... a 2-hour walk ended up turning into an 8-hour walk. My phone burned through its whole battery trying to load google maps, eventually crashing and burning and leaving me completely lost. I had like half of the directions, but the wrong half! Any chance there was to go the wrong way, you can be sure that I did.

Why on Earth would you walk so far for coffee?

Last time I was in Seattle was almost 15 years ago, and at that time there were several 24/7 establishments suitable for students or remote workers. Now they are pretty much gone. I've heard 2 different possible explanations for this:

1. It is not profitable. They would have to charge by the hour or something to make it work.

2. They were pressured to shut down by the city so that people without homes won't have anywhere to go at night. Then perhaps... um... they'll leave? Supposedly it is cost-prohibitive, since they would have to hire a watch to keep people from sleeping. Like at the library....

Unfortunately, I kinda lean towards the second possibility. If true, I'd ask us to give this situation some honest thought. Yes, a significant, growing population seems to exist as a lower class of society, and I am pretty sure that the city's tactics are designed to keep it that way. Is this not an extremely backwards, counter-productive measure? And what exactly are we gaining by making it so there is nothing open at night? Is this the pinnacle of advanced civilization, to do everything in our power to prevent the people who are struggling the most to have any chance of improving their lives? Have we not enough resources to go around? Better weed out the weak ones!

They have also been removing power outlets from pretty much all public places. Except for the library. But then I went in there the other day and couldn't even take a dump because there was a line of people waiting to use the only restroom in the city that they are so kind to allow the scumbags to use.

But at least nobody will be able to abuse the system by having a charged phone, so they could like... find work and stuff? Eh... they're probably just drug dealers.

God bless this great nation.