Hello Internet,

How've you been? I've been in Montreal, taking that vacation that I've been meaning to take for 4 years. Patrick let me stay at his place for far longer than is reasonable and I won't lie to you, I've been enjoying a life where my only possessions are a laptop and some clothes and the wireless is everywhere and free.

I've decided to make a serious go at writing about videogames in a way that I find interesting. I updated the look and domain name of my blog and started posting 3 times a week. Maybe you've checked it out? http://www.quietbabylon.com/ Big thanks Jacob for helping me fool around with the layout and to Helvetica for being Helvetica.

I'm finally making real progress on learning to program. It's all thanks to Jon who sent me the skeleton of a game in Java and helped me set up an environment and has been far more generous with his time and help than is reasonable. Everyone says that you should start small on learning to program games. I say fuck that, I'm working on one of my more ambitious ideas that I've had percolating for awhile. I'm still working my way up but it will be through a series of increasingly complex prototypes of a game I'm excited about instead of, you know, implementing Tic Tac Toe, and then Checkers.

I saw Alex which was Important. I saw Alice, Dave and Callum. I saw Jonah, Mike and Greg. I met some Pleiades people and some punkish people and some nerdish people. I ate at Scwartz's and Al Taïb, and bought groceries at the store where I used to buy groceries after riding the bus I used to ride almost every day. I helped cater a surprise vegan birthday party for a girl who's birthday it wasn't. I played mainstream board games and indie video games. I learned how to crack WiFi and install home brew Wii software. I talked about entrepreneurship and hustling for money. I spent a day in bed wishing for death and watching Internet-only 'documentaries' about the conspiracies that plague our world. I explained to countless people why Toronto is a much better city than they think.

I'm ready to come home. I miss my fiancée and my friends. But bus tickets are cheap, the couches I can crash are plentiful and the wireless is everywhere and free. So I think I'll be back sooner rather than later.