This is one of those extremely rare occasions where I'm going to talk about the organic part of my existence, rather than the avatarian. I'll try to keep it brief.

The last time I had a day of work was May 1, 2009 -- which immediately explains why my online presence has been so constant since then. I've exhausted my unemployment benefits, and this past Wednesday (December 1), after paying the bills I was down to $250 in the bank. Obviously not enough to pay rent come January 1...

However, by that date I already had an appointment for a job interview -- only my fourth in 19 months. With airline and hotel paid by the interviewing company, I left the apartment Thursday morning for DFW Airport to begin a trip which (after two changes of plane in Philadelphia; long story...), finally got me to:


Indianapolis! The capitol of my birth state, though I haven't lived there in more than 40 years.

The interview Friday went so well that I left there confident I would receive an offer. Even so, this past weekend felt like the longest two days of my entire life, just waiting for Monday. This morning, the hours just dragged.

But -- I got it!!!

Now comes the fun part: finding a place to live, arranging for movers and utilities, packing... Oh, I guess I should mention that my new employers are fronting me an advance on my salary so I can pull this off, too... and that they want me there by December 20, if possible. That's two weeks from this writing.

Short term effect: There's likely not to be many (if any) blog posts between now and that national holiday that happens right after the Solstice. And, naturally, there'll be a couple of days or so when I'm not online at all, until my new ISP is hooked up, since my desktop computer will be in transit and I don't own either a laptop or a phart smone.

Long term effects: I've done a lot of moving around in the last ten years -- about 5000 miles so far, from one coast to the other, then back to mid-America, then south to Texas. Pulling up stakes and adding another 800 miles to Indy is not going to be at all traumatic -- except maybe for my cat, Mouse, and she'll adapt quickly enough, once she knows where the food bowl and the litter box are.

It's both good and bad that I'm not leaving any friendships behind here, but that's how it is (maybe I knew, somehow, this stay in Texas wasn't going to be permanent, even though it's going to be a mere month shy of 5 years). On the other hand, I'm not losing a single one of my friends by moving: they'll all be right there, in InWorldz and Twitter and SL and this blog, next time I fire up the computer.

Mind you, I'll only be online outside of work hours after that... so y'all try not to tweet too much, please? ;) [Note to self: Stop saying y'all, no matter how convenient it is to have a second-person plural -- you won't be in the South any more]

After I tweeted my good news this morning, Crap Mariner sent me a link to a quote from the movie Dave that sums it up perfectly:
If you've ever seen the look on somebody's face the day they finally get a job - I've had some experience with this - they look like they could fly. And its not about the paycheck, it's about respect, it's about looking in the mirror and knowing that you've done something valuable with your day.

Baruch ata Adonai Elohenu, melech ha olam, schehechianu v'kiamanu v'higianu l'azman ha zeh!

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