For the first time in about 15 years, I’m not going to be going to school in the fall. I knew this would happen eventually, and I knew it was going to be soon, I was just hoping I would have a degree when it did. The deal is, SBC has offered to extend my employment through the fall. The project they want me to work on is business requirement documentation, and I’ll be working with the project manager in IT to get things started. So this isn’t the job of my dreams, but it relates to computer science, pays decently, and will defer my loans while paying off my credit cards, as well as bulking up my rather thin resume. The downside is she still lives two hours away.

I had expected this for almost a week now, but I didn’t know for sure until this morning. It’s funny how the expectation of a thing, regardless of its probability, can make it seem like life as usual even when everything’s changing. My whole focus has shifted. I’m looking into how to save my poor decrepit car the hardship of a weekly trip to Longview and back. I’m starting to think of how to spend my now enormous amount of spare time. I’m hoping to write more, and all the usual self-improvement items that come up when I’m given extra time. Who knows. I’ve quit smoking for four days now, so there’s a start.

Tomorrow I’m going to San Francisco with my mother. She’s been wanting to take a trip with each of the four kids, and I’m the last of the three since I’ve been so busy this summer. I’ll be gone until about midnight Tuesday night. I’m excited to get some extra sleep, see Alcatraz, and spend time with my Mom, but it is Friday night, and I’m neither partying, nor spending time with the woman I love. That’s discouraging, even with a frappuccino to keep me company. C4, if you read this, sorry for ditching. I’ll try to make it up to you. Plus, we’ll be rooming together in the aftermath of some very special Christmas celebrations. Bildo would know what I mean.