After years of being away from Linux, I decided to give it another go with the latest Kubuntu a few days ago.
After a painless install I ended up being at the computer all day and up until 2am, obsessively tweaking and trying new stuff. I can't believe how much I miss it.
Btw, I was into redhat (circa 5.2) and Slackware, reconfiguring and recompiling the kernel over and over. Making the OS wicked-fast. The experience is even better now. Awesome!
Rejection Therapy http://www.rejectiontherapy.com is a game that helps people overcome shyness and social anxiety by taking on small challenges. Each challenge increases your comfort zone and your confidence.
I've done the 30 day Rejection Therapy challenge and, while it wasn't easy by a long shot, it did help me immensely. I'm much more comfortable starting small talk with strangers than I was before.
Remember, your comfort zone is elastic. If you don't stretch it, it will retract.
A punch in the face will also result in feelings of both physical pain and social rejection.
I'm not sure if this should be surprising to everyone. The physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of our lives overlap and are interdependent. You can't isolate one state.
That said, pain is necessary for personal development, physically, emotionally and spiritually. It's such an obvious fact it's not worth belaboring. Without darkness you cannot have light.
I get asked regularly to do web dev work for equity, and that will never happen. It's essentially asking me to do work for free and share risk (yes, payment in the form of equity is like being paid in lotto scratch tickets).
Hired guns may be your only option.
That said, I truly wish you success (and that DC has a supportive community for you).
Redhat and fedora were always my faves. Love the rpm packaging system. But it seems Ubuntu and it's ilk are the most "user friendly".
Great write up btw Josh!