Hey.

It's done. The Master's degree, I mean.
So...

What do I do now? This is the first week since graduation that has been relatively normal. We traveled to North Carolina for my nephew's graduation, then had family here with us for a few days after that (hi Dawn!)

Now I'm settling into the rhythm of going to work, coming home, and not having to read school-related materials, develop lecture notes, write papers, grade papers, read some more, or answer emails and calls from students.
And work? Hella busy. And I told them that we're leaving the area in anywhere from two to twelve months. The reason for the screwy, indecisive timeframe? The Piece of Ass I Keep On The Side (commonly referred to as Poaikots...or "spouse") has applied for a job in PlaceWe'reMovingTo. If he gets it, we move this summer and wait for the house to be built. If he doesn't, we stay here while the house is being built and I continue at PlaceIWork until next summer.
Frankly, the move-this-summer option would be better for me because I could have a short sabbatical, then teach part-time in the fall. Sigh.
If we stay put, it's another year of soul-sucking corporate hell.

I think it's time for a vacation.

Is it insane to plan a trip north in the heat of summer? I'm thinking of packing up the Offspring, the Poaikots, and Rudy and heading to NYC for a long weekend, then driving up to see Niagra Falls and going to Canada. We've not visited there, and Bush continues to piss me off so a scouting trip might be in order anyway.

On second thought, Rudy might not be an urban animal - perhaps Jagosaurus would dog-sit.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to developing a more fulfilling routine now that school is finished. I did manage to read Reynolds Price's Noble Norfleet. Typically magical Price prose, if you can shush the creepy mental mantra of "Okay, we get it, Price - you dig oral sex. Enough already. I understand that you love to pleasure women with your mouth. Good God." I found that story thread kept getting in the way of me investing in the relationships between the characters, and understanding the women in the novel. They were reduced to subjects of his "worship" and were never fully fleshed out for me. No pun intended. See? See what the repeated references to sex have done to me? Maybe I'm a literature prude. Or maybe I just need to get laid.