i'm homeless now.

That's the real reason I don't have internet. I have to use the library anytime I'm not job searching, and I've been busy moving all my stuff into storage, which I can't afford any more than I could afford my rent.

Hahahahaha...JUST KIDDING!!!

I'm not homeless, I have internet back, I don't have a library card, and next month's rent check is potentially already written. (As in it's not. But it will be.)

Things have turned out amazingly, unexpectedly well.

Last Monday, while Leigh Ann and I recovered from the most intensive Buffy/Angel watching yet (we watched the last seven episodes of the seventh season of Buffy and the entire fifth season of Angel in 48 hours -- and I'm so proud and thrilled to say that I watched all twelve seasons comprising both shows in just under exactly one year), I got a phone call. From a law firm in Edwardsburg, Michigan, half an hour from South Bend.

"Would you like to interview for a legal secretary position?" asked Mrs. LaBre.

"Yes!" I said.

So I interviewed on Tuesday, was hired on Thursday, and started on Friday...the EXACT DAY AFTER my employment at the Center officially ended. So I didn't even have to go one day unemployed. And the pay periods mesh perfectly. So, although my new position brought me something of a pay cut, I'll be getting my checks just as regularly as if I were still working at the same place.

But THANK GOD I'M NOT working at the same place. I think I'm going to enjoy my new job so much more. The law firm is quite small, consisting of five employees, and very fast-paced yet down-to-earth, and Mr. & Mrs. LaBre (Mr. LaBre, the attorney, is my boss; I'm something of his personal assistant) are absolutely wonderful people. They're also in-laws-to-be of my friend Stacy.

I've been battling a vague, fatigued depression -- the past few weeks I've had to keep it all together in order to have my wits about me to go on and have hope, and now with even more change (however good), everything's been sort of crashing on me. But at the end of the day, I feel satisfied. This was my second day of work and I drove home tired (there's so much to learn) but largely happy.

And of course there's my precious fuzzy Simon to come home to...he's so darling and adorable it makes my stomach hurt sometimes. He spent all weekend on a catnip high until I took his new toy away from him; he was getting jumpy and irritable. Yay drugs.

Most evenings we spend playing tag. I run around the house and hide around corners and he alternately chases and stalks me. My kitchen, living room and hallway create a kind of circle, and he always doubles back and meets me head on. His clawless ankle attacks from behind the couch are something fearsome.

Anyway, I've been so lethargic and petrified that I haven't done laundry in about ten years, so off I go. Clean clothes are essential in a new job.