Let me know if the font contrast is too low to make reading functional. I think it’s readable, but my view of the Internet is not equal to everyone’s.

That’s about all to report for now – new D&C below, was able to write last night, everything’s coming up more or less roses. Trying to keep my freaking out about my deadline to a minimum – it’s looking like a real photo-finish is coming up with less than a month to go. But I have to take these things seriously or nothing will work.

I love how I can transform from feeling utterly unproductive, a blob waiting around for nightfall and wondering why I’m squandering my time, into the most productive joyous person graced with a ticket to hang out on Earth.

Most of my days aren’t bad now, most of them have been productive in their own right with shorter works or web projects or just taking care of the household chores. But when they are, what a nice surprise it is to be saved by the “work” of these days. How strange would it have been for any prior job to save me in this way? To keep me going when the chips were down in other parts of life, even if for only a day at a time?

This must be what it means when people say they love what they do.

I spent the better part of a decade, let alone what kind of a use of time even more years at school were, spinning wheels at pseudo-productive pursuits while somehow claiming that this prevented me from doing what I really felt driven to do. Always apologizing to myself, others, the world at large, my earlier years, that I wasn’t able to be productive, wasn’t on the road I needed to travel.

How satisfying, then, that this is what’s going well in my life now. That this, my work, is the antidote to any troubles that arise.

I hope this doesn’t sound like bragging. I hope it sounds like inspiration. To you.

Moreover, I just noticed that the URL assigner is all messed up in this format, somehow skipping numbers. All my posts are numbered and there have been a couple discards, but generally the number of the URL of the post aligns with a straight count of the number of total posts I’ve written. But since I installed the beloved “upgrade”, posts 656 and now 659 have followed 653. I guess it counts by 3’s. Hooray.

You know what other number has 6’s and 3’s in it? 63,315. I like that number best of all. At least for tonight.

• I spent most of the weekend (36 hours from midday Friday till the end of Saturday) at the Swarthmore Novice tournament.  I had a blast, we had 3 teams go 3-2, I gave a workshop (which was filmed and may be visible at some point on the web), LO’ed the demo round, and judged through finals.
• On the way back from the tourney, we had an epic time, including me accidentally entering the Penn Turnpike via an EZ Pass lane (and later talking my way out of a $23.75 lost ticket fee at the exit), endless joking with three novices and one of the team’s juniors, and a torrential downpour throughout.
• Em’s birthday and accompanying party were yesterday, and both went very well.  Emily is now thirty and thanks everyone for making her birthday such a great time.  We had cake, ice cream, enough snacks to sink a ship, and board games at the end with the loyal folks who stayed a long time.
• Next hosted celebration:  October 24th pumpkin carving.  Evite to come soon.
• Em and I watched “The Notebook” last night, which both of us had somehow missed seeing.  Though predictable at times, it was pretty amazing overall.
• For some reason, I’ve just been feeling uninspired on Duck & Cover lately.  I don’t know if it’s feeling disconnected from politics, having disconnected from cable, or not finding much to be funny these days.  I’m hoping to get over that soon.
• I haven’t written fiction in three days either, though the events of the weekend are responsible for that, not some lack of inspiration.  The fact that three days feels like a major drought is a good sign.
• I can’t believe it’s not October yet.  That’s also a good sign, that time is going slowly and is thus full, rather than flying by and seeming empty.  Keep an eye out for the annual theme change ’round here soon.

• Took delivery on a flat-screen television, which will hopefully never have network or cable TV thereon.
• Spoke to my parents on the phone.
• Listened to Barack Obama’s speech and…
• …Decided that I am against the current incarnation of “healthcare reform”.  (More on this later!)
• Spoke to Em’s mom in person.
• Welcomed Pandora back into our home.
• Ate a bunch of fried food.
• Had a soda for the first time in weeks.
• Wrote Chapter 21 of American Dream On, weighing in around that magic 2,000 words.
• Played “Hero” by Regina Spektor on repeat for some time.

The only difference between these days and the old days is that these days matter. I am writing and that changes everything. My whole outlook on life can be determined through the filter of how much control I have over what I do on a given day and how much of that links to what I feel I was put here to do.

Daily fulfillment is not about the space in between, the margins, even most of the time spent. It’s about intentionality, living deliberately, and whether what is done is part of what should be done. Not on the path there, or some esoteric larger vision of being there, but actually a PART of what is intended overall.

This makes all the difference. And I am grateful, eternally grateful, for every day on this side of things.

Our place is just as small as we thought. The floor is not hardwood as advertised, but something like a parquet linoleum. It may be challenging to even get everything in, broken or not, let alone adding more furniture. On the plus-side, things always look smaller when empty.

Final statistics on our trip include:
39 days
16 states
6,206 miles

Our stuff will not be here till Tuesday morning. Our phone will not be hooked up till Wednesday afternoon. These facts combine to mean that I will be spending a lot of time in the computer cluster, which is thankfully close to our place and seems to be empty a lot.

I am hungry, so I must away at this point. But because of the above, there should be much more from me after my longest posting drought in the history of this incarnation of the blog. Adjusting to this new life is very very strange, so far three hours in.

I am about to become a New Jersey resident. Wow.

Currently in Tracy, CA and on the way to Fresno sometime this afternoon. More updates, likely on a quite sporadic schedule, when time permits.

Pandora and I are heading to LA today. She’s going to her new two-month temporary home with Em’s cousins in Altadena, then I’m on to the BH to hang with Russ for a while before festivities officially begin for Jake’s wedding.

Given that Pandora has never once been in the car without meowing at least three times per minute with increasingly mournful cries, the next six hours are going to be an adventure.

Here’s the unsuspecting Pando, just moments ago:

Here’s what she’d look like if she knew what was coming:

(This photo is completely unaltered by any program – it’s just a result of the fun effects of flash photography in the dark on cat’s eyes.)

Finally, as a bonus animal pic, here’s a great one Emily snapped in the Academy of Sciences on Saturday:

Updates from the road possible; upon return definite.

Whatever the motives behind my beloved Mariners’ new marketing slogan, I’m wildly excited to be attending my first game at Safeco in nearly six years tonight. Today opens a 4.5-day trip to the Pacific Northwest, the last venture therein as part of the West Coast Farewell Tour. Emily, her sister, and sister’s husband will be meeting up with me tomorrow.

Tickets to a whole three-game series? Check. Randy Johnson’s return to Seattle? Check. Ken Griffey Jr. vs. Randy Johnson? Check. The only three-day sunny streak in the Puget Sound all year? Check.

It’s 5 in the morning and time to get to the plane station. When I return, it’ll be time to have discipline and get serious about things again. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to rooting for the home team.

And that was really cool.