Posthip

As I write this, I am in a plane en route to New York City. I brought pretty much every piece of clothing that I’ve worn in the last two weeks with me, plus five pairs of shoes, all of my dress clothes, two coats and several sweaters. This morning I shipped my desktop computer, monitor, and anything I thought I might need to find or do work. This was more or less the plan I’ve had since March, when I came home from New York to find the mess that the Great Dallas Rains of ‘06 left when it spilled 6 to 8 inches of rain into the bottom floor of my apartment, only this isn’t December 27th, I’m in a Boeing 737 and not a U-Haul and most of my stuff is sitting in Mike B’s house in Oak Cliff.

Some things are according to plan: I wasn’t expecting to have a job, and I don’t. I didn’t know what my living situation was going to be, and I don’t know now. Some things are different: I didn’t expect to have severance pay or unemployment to supplement my savings, so that helps. And I didn’t expect to be saying bye to virtually everyone I know with only two weeks notice. Thats the hardest part. People have been very supportive and that makes me happy.

The most common question I get is “Are You Excited?” which I am, of course, but obviously my face doesnt register this. Mostly, I expect, my face registers shock. I am in shock, I think. Maybe I’ll snap out of it when we land, or when I get to Dianna’s, or when I get a sublet, or when I start getting interviews or picking up freelance work. But I think it’s more likely that it’s not really going to register, that piece by piece in my mind I’ll move until I’m all here, but it doesn’t really feel like I’m moving today, and it’s likely that over the next weeks and months I’m still going to feel very transitional. But maybe not.

I’m really glad I got to see so many people before I left. It was a great last couple of weeks. My Official Last Night Out was fantastic. And my unofficial last night out was, well, a singular experience, except it wasn’t the first, or even second time that I’d been so blessed. Thanks for the mammaries, Gail and Angie! I’ll try to update more often to keep everyone up to date, and I’ll try to be better at emailing. I forget sometimes, but I’ll do better.

(Originally posted September 13, 2006)