… is normal, regular physical contact with another human being. More updates (with pictures) to follow as soon as I find my camera cable. I am in Charlotte. And I do owe people (Mae!) phone calls. Forgive me.

This morning I did two life-altering things: I paid my security deposit for this sexy little apartment. I have a home (albeit a little later than I’d hoped — June 2)! I received an offer from CMS to teach at Harding, contingent on the Human Resources guy finding my second reference in the huge pile of papers on his desk. I’ve barely been able to do work today. Yay!

Somewhere in high school, I did something that made people like me. Now, when I’m in need of help getting where I want to be, there are a lot of people stepping up to help me. Michael’s coming for Commencement (!!!) and to help me move. Nathan visited an apartment complex on my behalf (and toured it!) today. Lisa’s offered to let me stay with her, if I want to hold off on getting an apartment. She already pulled some strings to get me the interview for the Harding position. I guess… I feel humbled, I suppose. I feel as though I’ve lost a lot of what made me admirable…

My parents aren’t coming to Commencement. 🙁

Months ago, Elf Sternberg quoted Scott Westerfield who quoted Raymond Chandler as saying, [T]here should be a space of time, say four hours a day at least, when a professional writer doesn’t do anything else but write. He doesn’t have to write, and if he doesn’t feel like it, he shouldn’t try. He can look out of the window or stand on his head or writhe on the floor. But he is not to do any other positive thing, not read, write letters, glance at magazines, or write checks. Write or nothing. Whether it’s writing, classwork, or drawing, it comes down to the same thing. I found myself floundering just…