1. The Bay Area's been completely spectacular for me. I've earned a bit of money, learned a great deal about computers and startups and venture capital, experienced both the Internet Boom and subsequent Bust from its epicenter (Silicon Valley), made a couple of amazing friends I trust and fervently hope I'll keep for life, taken a bunch of great bike rides, devoured the food and theater and sights and other innumerable blandishments of San Francisco, made up a lot of ground after a late onset of the travel bug, completed two works of book-length fiction, beaten two "incurable" diseases (ulcerative colitis and manic-depression), had one really amazing relationship (and one romance-of-a-lifetime). (*) But five years just about tops me off. Thanks for everything, Bay Area. I'll always love you.
2. I'm typically way too attached to my own comfort and convenience. I think it's probably important to wrench myself away from my DSL, and afternoon fruit frappes in the European courtyard downtown, and nice multiplex just down the road, and nearby pretty running trails in the foothills, and well-worn cycling routes, and 68.4-degrees-sunny-breezy-and-cool, walking to my grocery store/post office/polling place/dentist, having all my books and framed pictures and prints all snugly arrayed around me, and this whole meticulously crafted little lifestyle – most of the amenities of which I've convinced myself I can't live without.
3. If 1 and 2 turn out to have been terrible ideas, after all – I can always turn back around, and all of that stuff will still be right here. (And I'll at least know I'm here for reasons other than simple inertia.)
4. Working independently means being able to work from anywhere. (Or, to paint a more balanced picture, not work from anywhere.)
5. I figured out it's actually cheaper to trek in Africa, than to SIT in Palo Alto. (Plus, if I sit here underemployed, and continue to bring my cash reserves down, eventually I'll be trapped into getting another jobby job – which I'm very keen to avoid. So, I'm going to tack while I've still got a little room to maneuver.)
6. It would have been depressing to me to see the 4-year mark in this same apartment. Since I'm definitely moving out of it, it makes some sense to not really move into anywhere for at least a little while.
7. Note to Mandy: You're right.
8. For now, I've got the three key ingredients for going off on a major lark: • Health • [A bit of] Money • Freedom. I should git while the gittin's good.
9. Perhaps my destiny is out there, just waiting for me to get off my tail . . .

I'm closing out my apartment, putting all my stuff in storage, bidding the Bay Area adieu, and flying Back East™. There, I'm going to spend a couple of months "couch-surfing"; working on a few projects; going to my best friend's wedding; and performing my seemingly bi-annual maneuver of gallivanting up and down the Eastern Seaboard, visiting with friends and family. Then, on my birthday (Oct 28), I fly to Cape Town, and a few days later leave on a 45-day overland tour through South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zambia, Malawi, Tanzania, and Kenya. I'll fly out of Nairobi in time to be in Atlanta for the holidays. There, I said it. Sorry for being coy, but for some reason I've just gotten kind of averse to grand pronouncements lately . . .