Having finished that whole “school” thing and struggled through a summer of “unemployment,” I’ve moved into the grownup phase (so far as I can tell). I did find a job, and they do pay me in dollars, and it is about exactly what you’d expect it to be. Eight to five makes for a long day and half an hour of traffic both ways makes it that much longer. Ironically, one of my cousins responded to my job-announcing email with “…now you get to work for the next 30-40 years. I bet Miami is looking pretty good to you right now…” about 20 seconds ago. I hate to admit how right he is.

We’ve all heard that if you don’t have something nice to say, you shouldn’t say anything at all. Heck, I think I’ve even used it for one of my lame examples somewhere in this tangled-up site. For the time being I think a better motto would be If you don’t have anything encouraging to say, Don’t say anything at all. Nice is a word for bad liars and worse writers.

Some guy backed into my car yesterday on my lunch break, and by truly miraculous circumstances did not leave a Silverado-shaped mark on the Pontiac’s 65% plastic exterior. Also, there is a poster in my office of penguins walking down a tropical beach. Other than that I spend 8 hours of my day sleeping, 10 hours at or going to work, and no time doing anything more exciting than either of those two. See you in another five and a half months.