I'll be starting my Jaaga fellowship soon, and as I sit here soaking up the sumptuous rays of the Porto Alegre (Brazil) cityscape visible from my hotel balcony, I can't help but think how little I know of what I'm going to be doing there. I know the guys I'll be working with (some of them), and I know what kind of community awaits me, and that's all I need to know. They are a nice bunch, and I'll be with friends, and the rest isn't so important. Until we start doing it!

Conceptually, it's about a million miles from my London life as a freelance software developer. There, I was living alone in a flat, occasionally meeting friends for drinks, working a lot, meeting deadlines. The dreaded urban nine-to-five... well, ten-to-eight more often. Chasing the dollar.

Now apart from a small stipend, which I'll basically be relying on, there won't be much money flowing through. Still, now there's the promise to really be part of something cool, and not just 'cool' in the commercial sense, but cool for it's own sake. I'm looking forward to getting my Jaaga on.