How did I get here?

There are days I look around at the apartment I share with two other gamers and wonder how I got here from where I was a year ago or, Eris forbid, three years ago. Some of my friends -- folks you may meet later -- think what I did had a touch of the sublime to it. After all, how many people willingly jump from a perfectly good dysfunctional housemate relationship into trying out the survivalist circuit for five months with nothing but a computer tower, some clothes and what I think I might need should the world suddenly go tits up?

Well, it depends on how desperate a person is. In my case, I was worn down and near dispair when I got a shot at joining an intentional community in Texas. That leg of the journey was the hairiest two weeks of my life, but with help from net friends I got out in one piece with the clothes and computer tower and set out for parts even more unknown. Long story short, there were a few times I thought I was going to die, a few where my soul -- if I have one -- was on the line, but to borrow a line from Hearts in Atlantis, I wouldn't have missed it for the world. Maybe that's sublime enough.