EFNW 2022 post-con report: part 2 · 6:04am Nov 21st, 2022
Continuing from part 1:
Okay, the previous entry covered the convention itself. The part of the story I want to tell now begins about five weeks before EFNW.
Actually, to be honest, I can't remember exactly when it was. It's not important. What I can tell you is that it started when I found the job listing: computer scientist, entry level, at some outfit out in the Tri-cities by the Columbia river.
I saw that, and I decided, hey, I'm a computer scientist (or so I like to claim from time to time). I can pass myself off as what they're looking for, probably, so why not? I applied, because at the time I was applying to whatever had a glint of shiny that caught my eye. I didn't really feel thrilled that it wasn't in the Seattle area, which was usually one of the criteria for a job listing being "shiny" to me, but heck, I said to myself, what are the odds of actually getting this particular one?
Well, the odds suddenly got better - just a little, but higher than the baseline of never hearing anything back - when I got a phone call from them to schedule an interview. So a few days later, I did said interview remotely. I remember it lasted exactly an hour. The first 50 minutes were going really well. I described my various portfolio projects. I used the STAR framework for answering their behavioral questions about challenging situations with co-workers / fellow students. The last ten minutes didn't go as well as I might have hoped, since i had to admit to not having experience in some of the specific tools they use for software development. Overall, I felt like it was pretty good, but with that bit of foundering, I wasn't sure.
I started leaning away from thinking it went so well after a week of radio silence turned into two weeks. After three weeks, I just assumed they'd decided to pass. Oh well. I shrugged and went on with life. I had things to look forward to, anyway. EFNW was only two weeks off! So I kept on keeping on, and EFNW came with great anticipation. Obviously, I went. I saw more friends than I can count. I made plushies and got them signed by voice actors. I toured the party room block. I did panels. Good times were had by all.
And after those glorious days, it was time to go home.
Coming home from EFNW is always... well. I don't know, how do you even describe what that's like, to come home again to the quiet and the calm and the mundane after you've spent the better part of half a week in an otherworld enchanted with a magic that nothing else can match? I guess the best I can tell you is that I spent Monday resting. The quiet does have some advantages, and after several days of continuous motion, it is admittedly nice to enjoy them. Magic takes more out of you than you realize in the moment, and some time to recover is something you're going to need eventually.
Probably a good thing I did, too, because the literal day after I got home from EFNW, I got a phone call.
Yeah. The one I hadn't gotten for the last five weeks or so. The one I didn't think was ever coming.
Hey, this is that one place calling. Surprise! Yeah, we wanna offer you that job. Yes, after a single one-hour interview. Longer in-depth technical interview? Nah, who needs that? We're e-mailing you an offer letter if you want it. Just sign the acceptance line and return it, then fill out this other paperwork. Congrats, you're hired.
Pending background check and drug test, of course.
Background check and drug test, it turns out, would be hurdles it took nearly two months to clear, and they came with their own adventures. The drug test part in particular was... interesting. I had to drive to a clinic in another city to do that. Also, I had to do it twice because the first one wasn't readable or something. Also-also, the first time I went in, I was brought into a room full of phlebotomy equipment, and for a minute I thought the traditional "fill this cup with pee" challenge was actually going to be a "fill these vials with blood" challenge instead. Wouldn't have bothered me much if it was (really not scared of needles), but it turned out to just be pee after all, and given a choice, that's the one I think everyone would prefer.
Anyway.
I passed the series of little tests standing between me and finally getting a launch on my career as a so-called "computer scientist" after all these years (and all these college degrees). I gave two weeks notice to the job I had at the time, working at a liquor store - which, by the way, was by far my favorite job I've ever had. I loved working there. All the people I worked with were great. I was constantly getting opportunities to try interesting new drinks. They convinced me that some beers can actually be really good, believe it or not (I'm a big fan of imperial stouts now). I really hate that I had to leave. But it was way past time for the whole "career" thing, and liquor store associate just can't pay enough to live on forever, so...
On October 23rd, I moved 250 miles east, to the other side of the Cascades, the mountains that separate the temperate rainforest of Washington's Pacific Northwest from the arid shrub-steppe of the eastern part of the state.
It's the wrong side of the Cascades to be on, if you ask me. And here's the truth of my experience here so far: it hurts.
It hurts in a few different ways. Physically, it hurts because the air is dry, and cold, and my skin doesn't like it. It itches and cracks. Not a lot, not anything severe, it's just a minor thing I never had happen further west.
But that's nothing by comparison to the fact that there's nowhere else on earth - I mean, literally nowhere else - that's like the west coast of Washington. I was blessed to live there for thirteen years. In all those years, I never left because I wanted to be there. Nowhere else can compare. Nowhere else can ever feel the same way, after all that time. It's hard to explain; it's not something you can get a sense of by visiting for a few days or a few weeks or just a season. It's the feeling of being there through the long wheels of the years passing. It's the cycle of what always comes around at the right times - the dry, sunny summers that never stay hot enough to be unbearable turning into mild winters that never stay frozen long enough to be miserable. It's the smell of the rain, the huge green trees, the hummingbirds singing their thin metallic song, the... I don't know. Everything. I liked everything.
It was my home, and it always will be.
Here, though? I... well, I don't hate it, I'll say that much so far. That's something. It can't ever be the same, but I don't hate it.
But I don't think "I don't hate it" is enough.
I don't know how long I'll end up staying. Two years? Three? Just having a little experience on my resume would, I think, make it a lot easier to find other jobs, and there's plenty of tech industry back west around Seattle.
On the other hand, I haven't even been here a month, and it's all going to depend on a lot of things, of course. I know I really should give this a chance. The job seems alright, so far. It feels like I could end up liking it pretty well over time.
But there are just places that hold on to some part of you forever. After you've been there, you can never really leave. I've written about that before in some of my stories.
At least where I am now isn't too far to go back and visit from time to time, and the drive back to EFNW next year shouldn't be too horrible (only three and a half to four hours, maybe), so of course I'll be there. I'm already looking forward to it. Sorry this blog post is taking on more of a downer tone that I'd really thought it would, but that's what's happened since a phone call the day ever Everfree Northwest set events in motion. There's good and bad to it, and I guess that's just life. Thanks for listening to me complain about it. You pony-folk are all true, true friends.
Until next time. 
I can't wait to go back to any pony con, but this one was super fun.
Getting a new job and moving to an entirely different place (with an entirely different altitude and weather to boot!) is a big dislocation. Best of luck going forward with it.
First, congratulations on the job! (And having had the same thing happen to me once, I'd guess that in the five week gap they hired someone else who didn't work out, hence the delay.) Even if it or the location doesn't work out long term, it will be a good thing on your resume.
But yeah, moving like that is rough; leaving behind the people, places, sights, and feels of a place you like. (I recently had to make a similar inland journey due to cost of living. I even briefly looked at that same part of Washington myself.) If you haven't already, pick up a humidifier: they're not expensive and help with the dry skin. And I've never been, but have heard that inland Washington has other... differences... besides climate and landscape. At least you're close enough to go back and visit the area you know, that does help.
But yes, best of luck to you with the new job! And hopefully it isn't too long before you can return to the place that feels like home.
I definitely prefer it on the west side of the mountains. I've spent too much time on the east side, and don't think I could survive over there.
Congrats on the new job! Hope you enjoy it :)