Chambraigne

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About Chambraigne

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  1. Looking to move out west

    I grew up in a smallish town (pop 55,000) close to the bay, moved to Los Angeles for college and stayed ten years. I have since returned to the bay, now living in Oakland. Moving from my small town to Los Angeles would have been a nightmare without the implicit college social network. LA is an expansive, compartmentalized city (read Robert Bruegmann's "Sprawl") that is inadvertently ideal for homebodies. While you won't have any trouble finding meetups or fun events, you will have to spend an incredible amount of time getting from point A to point B. The bay area (I'm talking SF, Oakland, and Berkeley) is a much nicer place for transplants, in my opinion - vibrant walking neighborhoods, localized social events, and excellent public transportation. Oakland was my first choice when I moved because it seemed to merge the city feeling that I liked from LA with the small town vibe that I missed from home. I didn't even consider SF because it is, indeed, full. Seriously. Not only are there a TON of new people looking for apartments, but there are a just as many people who had to settle for crappy apartments that are now looking for better places. Chris is right - Oakland and Berkeley both have hip identities, and are incredibly close to SF. (Neat fact - Oakland was named #5 on the NY Times places to go in 2012, just behind Myanmar and London). My advice is to get involved with one industry at an entry level while you continue to explore options, build your skills, and learn where you might need formal training. For example, part time work as a game tester would afford you the opportunity to learn about the entire game production pipeline. It would be slow, but you would start to accumulate industry knowledge and relationships that help immensely when applying for full time work.
  2. Idle Thumbs Ruinationcast

    I loved how food topics seemed to derail the discussion more and more as the cast wore on. After the near-palpable hunger pangs from that episode (which led to brilliant discussion of pork, pie, coffee and other comestibles) I can't be the only one wondering where they all went to eat afterwards.
  3. New people: Read this, say hi.

    Long time listener, new to the forums, saying "hi" here of my own free will and definitely not because Spaff told me to. I'm glad that video games are a thing, and that the Thumbs are a thing again. Given the consistent reference to threads on the Podcasts I decided I should probably explore the underside of the Idle Thumbs iceberg. Don't make me regret this.