Shucking and Jiving

The cost of keeping an apartment in New Bedford now far outweighs the benefits, which are significantly diminished since leaving my job at SouthCoastToday.com.

Friday was my last day, and I didn't plan to be as sad as I was. I'm hoping some folks come out for drinks Wednesday night. I want to say goodbye away from the cubicle gray. And I want to bombard their faces with karaoke insanity.

So I've moved to Swansea with Dad, a situation that has worked well so far. We're both pretty busy, so there's plenty of house to go around. I'm trying to organize a six-room apartment's worth of junk into one bedroom, which is going fairly slowly.

I'm getting rid of a lot of stuff, but there's a lot more I could probably do without. Trappings!

I hit Roy's for the first time this season with Alyssa. The place has certainly changed. Even empty, the security booth at the entrance is imposing. The 24 rules in the newly printed handbook seem so strange considering the unruly existence I enjoyed as a kid. We're wondering how we can pull of our annual clambake without the aid of a fire, now prohibited.

It's been a long time since I went to the beach on a weekday, and It was odd to see the place so quiet.

I'm helping out with puppet workshops in Jamestown for the next three mornings. I'm not sure what to expect, but it will be good training for some other camps Nazo has coming up. Friday we'll be at the fireworks in Attleboro, apparently in case some kids aren't scared enough by the explosions, a few trolls will be roaming around.

The final wrap-up

I never really wrote a post-trip complete wrap-up, but I wrote something for the Standard-Times that I spent some real time with, as opposed to the fifteen minutes or so I spent on most of my blog posts.

There were four pictures, including two of me, but I deleted one. I really wanted zero of me. Everyone seems to want their picture in the paper, maybe our living editor thought she was doing me a favor. I've been in the paper enough times.

Returning to work hasn't been much fun. They laid off 16 people, and changed my job around. So I've quit my job. I'm going to move to Swansea and live with my dad, take as many puppet gigs as I can get and work for GlobalEduHealth.org. That URL doesn't go anywhere yet, but be patient.

So the summer lays at my feet. There'll be more traveling with Nazo, concerts, beach time and maybe a trip to Burning Man. It's the American way.

I'm excited to have time to visit all my friends and family, but I'll be working hard even after my last day at the paper friday; I just won't get paid that much. And the price of gas makes those long trips a lot less appealing.