Greetings,
As you can see by my name over there somewhere <-- my name is Brian Boring. I'm a 31 year old computer geek currently living in East Tennessee. I consider myself a Neo-Buddhist. I have no idea if that is an official term of any sort. To me it basically means trying to merge the ideals of Transhumanism, Buddhism, and the teachings of anyone else that seem morally uplifting. I have fairly strong Christian roots and still have a lot of respect for the actual teachings of the man himself. I long ago learned to start questioning indoctrination techniques that were prevalent throughout my formative years. This is of course what ultimately brought me here. I started out politically as a conservative with a strongly constitutional basis. I flirted with minarchy without really understanding the term at the time and then into Libertarianism. I at first approached it from the position of the Libertarian party. I've since rejected the thought that any government can ever be just. I now associate as an anarcho-capitalist or possibly even an anarcho-transhumanist. Throughout my journey I decided to check in on the Free State Project that I had heard about in the media some years earlier. I wasn't sure that they went quite far enough. It was then that I happened upon the Shire Society. You all seem to get it. At least the "it" that I hope I am currently getting. I stumbled into here via some convoluted web searching.
This brings me to why I am here. Primarily I am just trying to expand my contacts with like minded individuals. See what ideas are out there and what people are actually doing with them. I am currently toying with the idea of trying to join you all up North. Times have not been particularly kind and doing so would be a fairly heavy undertaking. I have a fairly well maintained car, a pile of personal belongings, but not much of a "nest egg". I would be willing to bootstrap myself of course. A part of me is rather thrilled at the prospect. I'm going to be doing more research, trying to track down possible employment, housing, etc. We will see what happens.
Thank you all for your time and for reading my introduction. Even though it rambles so.
Sincerely,
Brian Boring
Welcome to the forum, Brian.
You've definitely found the right place. Let us know how we can help.
Welcome to the Forum.
Here are some places to start your job search.
http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=11718.0] http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=11718.0
https://www.facebook.com/groups/fspjobalert/
You might also want to check out the FSP Forum. It gets a lot more traffic. http://forum.freestateproject.org
For renting or roommates check the forums or try http://porcmanor.com/rooms
Welcome aboard Brian, I'll just echo what Keith said and add a link to the main FSP Group on FB, lots of action there: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheFreeStateProject/
Hello!
We hope to welcome you home soon ;D
I notice that the Shire Society and the Free State Project in general seem to be lacking any sort of representation on Google Plus. Would anyone be interested in starting up or joining a community there?
As for what the community here can do to help. I'm trying to decide where to focus my searching. Keene or Manchester seem to be the prime targets. I'm a bit concerned about some things I've seen online though. Keene has been described as the North Korea of New Hampshire in a video I saw recently. There seem to be quite a few people, including the local government officials, that really don't like free staters. A video about snipers at a peaceful festival has me concerned as well. I'm not opposed to living in a larger town, but I'm worried the cost of living might be significantly higher.
I could also use some general info on geek culture in the two cities, or I suppose any other cities people might like to promote. I would also like info on any zen Buddhist groups in the areas. If possible based on the Soto lineage or on a more relaxed foundation.
[quote author=Brian Boring link=topic=7391.msg63825#msg63825 date=1397101535]
I'm not opposed to living in a larger town, but I'm worried the cost of living might be significantly higher.
[/quote]
I don't find that to be the case in NH in general. Depends on exactly where you want to live in the city, but Manchester has some of the lowest cost of living despite being the biggest city. There are nicer parts and not as nice parts, obviously. I live in the "ghetto" part and it's just fine for me.