Been an exciting few weeks around here...

Still waiting for all the pictures and stuff, but some big things went down in my personal life. Both were very, very good things, and most everyone who is involved even peripherally already knows.

I'm furiously active trying to get all my stuff done before the fourth semester residency in Maine for my MFA. After this trip, next week, I'll be working on my thesis and final presentation to finalize the degree in July.

I'm engaged. That is really, really awesome.

I'm no longer working with the video game company. This is a good thing. I was relieved to be out of there. Losing one of my three jobs is not a big deal, at all. I'm an author, and a full-time grad student, after all!

But, I'm also looking for something new in the new year. I don't know how I feel about another video game studio right away. I don't want to go into too much detail here, but it was a strange experience and I suspect unlike what I'd encounter at a different studio. Maybe later I'll go into detail. Get me drunk at a convention, and I'm sure I'll go into more detail. At the moment, I'm looking for that third job. I think I should do some educating next.  So, if you're reading this, and need you some writing instruction at your institution, let me know. I'll certainly be poking around.

It rained all day. This is how the ground cleans off, and the roads wash away. I drove past the wrecked cars on the highway on my way home from my fiancee's parents' house, where I crashed in a guest bedroom instead of on the infamous I-285. I saw all these shattered Lexus' and SUVs and sportscars, abandoned in the night. I drove past in my modest gas-sipper, chugging on to a cafe where I worked on grad school and new fictions. I keep writing. I just keep writing. All these shattered dream cars are not mine. I live frugal, and live small, and I read books and I write them. Whether the storm is here or not, I do not lose my focus.

Nor should you: no matter what happens to you this year, remember to live your real life, not the one you wish you had or that you see other people having, and stay on budget, on target, and true to your values. Keep at your real work, and drive safe out there on these wet roads.