No matter what my life holds in store for me, I will never forget these words...
- David Koepp & Alvin Sargent, Spider-Man

"Commencement: The End of One Thing, The Start of Something New"
It still hasn't really hit me that I've graduated yet, which is why I have yet to subject you to the "I've graduated, and now I've got to figure out what it all means" post as of yet. I think part of the reason it still hasn't dawned on me that I've graduated yet, is that I still haven't opened any of my graduation gifts yet -- with few exceptions -- because my family decided to let me do that on my own, and I haven't been in my apartment since Sunday.

"I Have A Father, His Name was Ben Parker"
My dad whisked me away to Chicago for a few days so we could talk about life and the next step and all that stuff. I learned things that could easily fill up a sequel to "The Secret Origin of Clark," but I've been ordered not to, and I've got to say, not without damn good reason. So without the blog as an outlet, I largely suspect that all this shit is going to get filtered through the fiction process and affect my work for some time to come.

There were a lot of words of wisdom, but no succinct mantra by which to live by... you know, like "With great power, yadda, yadda, yadda." Actually, the closest thing to that was something that my grandfather used to say:

Stand what you can and leave the rest for the man.

Well there you go.

"Captain Curtis is One of Our Top Pilots"
Right. So I'm in Kansas City now.

Yesterday's flight out of Chicago was delayed for reasons never explained to me, but which left me sitting in a plane on a runway for an hour while the old woman next to me filled my face with her bad breath and questions I couldn't have answered even if I did speak Chinese.

But hey. It gave me time to reread those last seven issues of Alias. And you know what? I could do Bendis' job... easy.

"Nice to Have a Fan"
Really, Dubs? Even with the juvenile and distinctly disturbing Spider-Man fetish and everything? Well, all right! I knew there was a reason I don't post pictures of my ugly mug on this thing.

"Hi, This is MJ. Leave Your Song at the Beep"
This weekend, I lied and told someone that the reason I hadn't returned their call was that my ansering machine had crapped out and I never got their message. And now, I'm getting scattered reports that seem to indicate that my answering machine actually has crapped out.

What have we learned, kiddies? That despite what your priest or pastor tells you, karma's the real deal.

"I Can't Tell You Everything, I Mean, There's So Much To Tell..."
Suffice it to say, it's not just graduation that hasn't completely hit me just yet.

"I Will Always Be There For You... I Will Always Be Your Friend"
Hey, wait! No fair! I missed the last showing of Almost Famous? What if I forget what the only currency is in this bankrupt world? And I don't get to see Jeffries' new haircut? Is she wearing her new hat with it? And how long do I have to wait until I can walk into Columbia's Barnes & Noble without feeling some pang of guilt and sadness?

This sucks.

"This is the Boys' First Thanksgiving in this Apartment and We Are Going to Do Things Right"
Ever since we got the new house in '99, my mother's been trying to get me out of the house. First, she put me in a curtained-off corner of the basement. Now, she's torn down one of the walls, dismantled my bed, and I'm sleeping on the couch.

Despite this, however, she doesn't want me to rush back to Columbia just yet. Go figure.

"I Don't Know, But Whatever It Is, It's Something I've Never Felt Before"
So here I am, sitting at my hometown library -- but not the one I used to work at, because I can't walk into that place without getting hassled a little -- thinking about the odd twists and turns my life has taken in the last four days, not to mention the last four years, and I've got to tell you, I can't possibly imagine what's coming next, but I'm really rather excited. This is one of those points in life where you get to pick your path and set off into that great undiscovered country we call the future.

And if I'm not at one of those points just yet, I'm certainly about to be.

So I guess I'd better buy some new shoes already.

And see. Just like that, I'm back to long-winded blog entries...