Tulsa Remote: 9 Months In

It's been 284 days since we moved into our Tulsa apartment as part of the Tulsa Remote program. 

We'll round it down and call this the nine-month update.

Considering Tulsa Remote?

If you are considering applying to the Tulsa Remote program and wondering what it's like, I've been journaling our experiences through a series of blog posts:

• Tulsa Remote: We're In!
• Tulsa Remote: Housing Sorted
• And Then, We Moved to Tulsa
• Around Tulsa in 80 Days
• Tulsa Remote: 6 Months In

So what's new since then, pussycat?

Press Club Update

In the 6 month update, I grieved the closing of a bar-based community I had just found and fallen in love with. I'm happy to report that the community has survived.

The "Press Club Refugees" are meeting biweekly at another local bar for happy hour and while nothing is ever the same as it used to be, I'm glad those longstanding friendships and newly-developing relationships continue on.

Content Practitioner Meetup

Meetups abound in Tulsa. It took me months to feel like I had any kind of grip on everything going on.

36 Degrees North has business-related events, Techlahoma has technical/programmer related events, and groups like CreativeEngine have art-related events.

And that's not even the half of it.

What I wasn't seeing was anything for content writers, content strategists, content marketers, UX writers, etc.

So I started one. 

We meet at 11:30-1:00 the 3rd Thursdays of the month at 36 Degrees North. It's a bring your own brown-bag lunch. Join us if you are a content geek!

New Photography Business?

I've been getting requests to photograph local events. While I've been a travel photographer for years, and a news photographer for a short time, I've never considered "going pro" because:

• There always seems to be an abundance of photographers needing work.
• I don't want to kill a hobby I love by making a business out of it.

I'm not quite ready to register another LLC, but am taking some of these gigs. I'm not charging enough to make a living at it, but these events are a fun networking opportunity. The money is just a bonus to earn a new lens or a drone.

Not Enough Time

You'd think, nine months in, that we've been able to check out all the hotspots in Tulsa.

But no.

We enjoy all going to as many of the Tulsa Remote events as we can. We're still going out for live music at venues ranging from small bars to the Tulsa PAC center. We have tickets for several larger concerts through next May.

But - I still carry a notebook around for suggestions we get from others.

And so much happens at the same time. Tuesday nights (like tonight) are the worst for some reason. I'd like to go to all these tonight:

• The monthly meeting of the Tulsa Nightwriters.
• The monthly meeting of the Tulsa Blues Society.
• Live music at a local tea shop.
• The free weekly jazz jam we found our first week here.

I think the Nightwriters will win out. I'm starting to scheme up my first attempt at writing fiction so any help I can get is good.

Tulsa Staycation

I took three days off before Thanksgiving this week off to make a full week of vacation. Our original intent was to roadtrip to somewhere like New Orleans and then camp in the van.

I realized we could save the 24 hours of driving, stay at home in Tulsa, and fill the week with things we hadn't found time for yet. There's a recording studio, botanical garden, zoo, record stores, restaurants, and more.

A solid week won't even be enough.

Read the results of our Tulsa Staycation.