And the Next Town is Closer Than You Think

Well, you know what, this post had to come sooner or later.

First things first:



Uptown Magazine! You deserve a break today! If you had guessed that I am in this issue, you are most certainly correct.

Usually around this time I would supplement the column by going off in various directions -- rambling on about how hockey songs are awesome, how Busology is straight up stupid (and illogically numbered!), or how ordering the eight-dollar treat at BDI is probably a losing venture (buy it yourself and you'll gain five pounds just ordering it; split the cost with friends and you'll degenerate into unequal portions and hurt feelings and flying bits of pineapple-blueberry-cherry-whatever). But you'll forgive me if I deviate from the form, this time.

As you no doubt noticed, I had disappeared entirely for the past couple of weeks; last word I'd left was that I was working on something, and then it was half a month of dead air. Let me assure you, I was working on something; I had this grand writing project on the go that was going to tie all the top news stories of the day together, with all of the violence and outrage and protesting and plummeting aircraft and terrible football teams that the times entailed. Like most of my great ideas (ha ha ha column callback, yesss, go me), though, I'm afraid this one is going to go unfinished -- because something came up in the middle of last week that demanded my immediate attention.

I was notified last week -- by email, because it would have been too late to send out the forms -- that a spot had become available, my application from months ago had been accepted, and I'd been admitted into my prospective graduate studies program.

For a Masters of Library and Information Science, at the University of Western Ontario.

Starting in September.

This is all very sudden, you understand. To that point I'd had no idea if I was even going to be accepted at all (and don't let my spectacular vernacular fool you, folks -- I ain't that bright), let alone into the very-nearly-almost-full September intake. I'm told that the September program filled up before my application arrived, then a couple people dropped out some weeks later and my application became subject for consideration.

So, uh -- surprise!

I've spent most of my time in scramble mode since then, which should explain my mysterious absence from the ol' blogosphere. I've confirmed my attendance of the program, booked the flight out to London, alerted most members of my family, given my two weeks' notice at work, figured out some of the funding so far, hastily returned everything I'd borrowed from the library, and almost nailed down a place to live once I get out there. (Pending confirmation, of course, that the ceilings in that particular basement apartment are tall enough for me to stand upright.) But there's still a whole lot left to do -- like devise a plan to get my computer out there, cancel my cellphone plan here, figure out how to work things out with my girlfriend (aw shit wait a minute), or admit to myself that I'll probably have to rescind the Uptown gig that I've been so disproportionately proud of for the last several months. (My contact at Uptown went on vacation almost immediately after I got the admission letter, which is only slightly inconvenient for my purposes. I'll still need to get ahold of him and thank him profusely for everything; this isn't really something you drop on the interim contactperson, you know?)

It still hasn't really settled in, yet, I think. Yeah, wow, how about that. I'm leaving Winnipeg, potentially forever. Huh.

Coltrane Motion - The End of Every Movie (We Are the Media We Love, 2003)
[buy | site | myspace]

Teddybears STHLM feat. Paola - Yours to Keep (Rock'n'Roll Highschool, 2000)
[buy | site | wiki stub | myspace]

Shrimp Attack! (Stuart Hyatt and Creative Clay) - Good (Shrimp Attack!, 2007)
[buy | site | myspace]

Whether or not I'll come back here with my Masters degree, in sixteen months or so, depends entirely on whether or not I can find a job here with it -- and you'll recall the many and varied misadventures that I'd had in trying to get a job with my last degree. If I'm going out there and spending at least four academic terms' worth of time and money and effort to better myself, I don't intend on coming back to draw fifty cents above the minimum wage.

There's a lot that I'm leaving behind here -- the extended family, the girl, the writing gig, the tiny but appreciable local notoriety -- and you might think I'm quite daft to be throwing everything up in the air behind me and hoping that it's still there to be caught when I get back. But, hell! If I'm going to finally make something of myself, I may as well start building as soon as I can. And my first preference would be to come back; all I need is a serviceable opportunity and I'm back on the block. I'm fond of the place, you know? Despite itself.

Anyway, so there's the lot of it. This isn't a goodbye post, not yet; I've still got a week and a bit for that. But, yes, know now that Slurpees and Murder will be on long-term hiatus once September rolls around. I'll start up a sidestory blog, for while I'm out there, but for obvious reasons the updates there will be sporadic and the content will be little more than personal tidbits and pictures of scenery or pets. (Mind you, what else is new.) And after that, well, after that we'll have to see.

Dramatic life changes, you guys! Yeah! Excitement!