Visas, Airships, and Sponsorship
Oh, my!
This isn’t my first rodeo trying to emigrate to a different country.
I have tried it once or thrice before. The Canada <> U.S. relations make it difficult, by the way. It helps to have an EU Citizenship, for those wondering upfront. It’s not impossible. They have digital nomad situations in the friendly north, U.S. folks.
Also, oh Cana-duh! Thank you for being a beacon of sanity to your southern neighbors. We are a fucking mess down here.
THE MOVE IS HAPPENING.
June 3. Just me, two suitcases, and a backpack making a new go of things. I have my sponsor to help me get established, and I may have university sponsorship shortly following with any luck. Australians sure are nice, gang. Everyone in immigration I’ve spoken with, or been spoken about to, only wants to help.
Every stranger I tell is nothing but excited.
I am a mixed bag of emotions, but it is happening. I keep saying, “Any German doctor would be prescribing me a sunny island vacation anyway.”
Just followin’ doctor’s orders, gang.
My first stays are just about perfect. I’m excited to learn a functioning public transit system and live car-free. I’m excited for greenery and archeological sites. I’m excited for my research, and for co-authoring my first academic paper that wasn’t a class assignment. I’m excited to be making big, bold moves. And I am fortunate to be so supported, even as a voluntary international orphan.
Y’all are swell.
The truth of the matter is, I signed my general strike card months and months ago. I chose to actively remove myself from the U.S. labor market. And now, it’s time to put up or shut up and I’m putting up. I can do more good for my fellow Germans and Americans if I am abroad.
Plus, my mental health being state-side is not good, chat. Something has to change.
If I can’t change my circumstances, I change my environment.
That has always been true for me.
So, yes, these newsletters will likely be more like little letters of my process and journey for a while.
Thanks for reading.
CREATIVITY, STILL.
I just wrapped a call with my cover artist for the Pandora project. Diving back into this research means I’ll likely be writing the connective tissue over the summer to really make the collection of poems feel like a home; a temple. I’m excited to have a collection of poems out in the world. I’m honored they get to be Pandora’s.
Project Grimm continues to be, well, grimm. It’s leaking over into my other projects, which is probably a good thing because in the background of everything I have also started to run a remote gaming studio called Big Girl Jobs Gaming.
It’s also part of my research with the University of Sydney.
We need games to test our accessible gaming equipment, after all. ;)
Our first project is a retelling of Briar Rose (Sleeping Beauty) for little girl gamers and their parents, and my table is stacked with talent.
All this to say…
LITERAL. DREAM. JOB.
I get paid to manage, write, and research video games. It’s literally all I ever wanted. And I have been preparing for this since 2007.
glhf & love you,
js
