On the off-chance that my fanbase is larger than four

Well, fanbase of four, I know you all personally and so all of you presumably know why I haven't posted in over a week and why I'm not likely to post after this for another week. But in the infinitesimal chance that I've been wrong for the past few months and that people whom I don't know consistently read my blog and wonder what's going on, I'm about to leave the parental nest in Colorado to seek out new urban life and new urban civilizations; to pursue that jack-of-all-trades degree, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing; to boldly go where no curly-headed 23 year-old former editorial assistant has gone before (to the best of my knowledge): Chicago.

That's right, in a mere four days, I'll be loading up and moving to Chicago (with the help of my parents and my parents' SUV, that is) , where I'll attend Columbia College and pursue the aforementioned degree. Since I think I have a legitimate reason for not posting, my rule about revealing tidbits about the depths of my psyche yada yada yada doesn't apply. So HA! I get to remain an enigma wrapped inside of a mystery. Or is that a mystery wrapped inside of an enigma? Oh well.

Watch for me in a week, give or take a few days.

On another note, some of you may wonder why I post what might be called "flights of fancy," such as my previous post, or this one, rather than amusing anecdotes about my life. The reason is very simple: my life is boring. Thus I'm forced to be creative. We can hope that things will improve in Chicago, but don't hold your breath: I anticipate many panic-ridden posts in which I bewail my lack of money, as I'll soon embody the double-whammy of starving student and starving artist.

Of course, you're always welcome to start up a Help Amanda, She Who Embodies the Starving Starving Student and Starving Artist Fund (HASWESSSAF). If you do, I'll start up another list in my sidebar called "HASWESSSAF Supporters" and post your name there, and if you give me your contact info (again assuming there are people in my fanbase whom I don't know) I'll send you your very own handmade "I'm a HASWESSSAF Supporter!" pin.* In the words of Captain Planet, "The power is yours!"

*Pin will be a piece of cardstock attached to safety pin. Cardstock will have a crude design on it that was supposed to look very fancy and professional but does not because I cannot draw, and so legend will start out in neat block letters, but get scrunched up toward the end as I begin to run out of room to write. Graphic will be a circle that is meant to be a face, with squiggles on the top that are meant to represent curly hair; a disembodied hand holding a pencil; and a voice bubble that says "I'm starving!" Part of the pin will be colored as I will have thought that color might save it from becoming a travesty, but I will quickly realize color only makes it worse and decide it's not going to get any better, and besides, I have that short story due, and I haven't vacuumed in over a month, and my eye has started twitching each time I think about my bank statement. But I will also personalize it on the back, and that makes all the difference.