Graduation Day

It's an exciting time in the house of Rogue. We've got a big weekend ahead of us with lots to celebrate. First and foremost, Mrs. Rogue is graduating. Not in some metaphorical sense, signifying a maturation or emotional growth, no, I mean literally with the cap, the gown, the whole deal. That's worth celebrating all by itself. Truth be told, I'm almost more proud of her graduating than I was of myself when I finally exited college. Ella has worked really hard over the last two-plus years, and she deserves to sit on her haunches (and what cute haunches they are) for a while and relax.

This weekend (specifically tomorrow) also marks my first anniversary as a blogger. It was March 2nd, 2006 when I first signed up with Blogger and MySpace. I wrote my first blog, "Who are You? And Why the Hell Do I Care What You Have to Say?" (I've got a way with words don't I) on March 3rd. I've kept it up for a year, and other than my marriage (two and half years already, woohoo!) it's about the longest I've stayed committed to anything in my life. In that year I've started (and sadly given up on) two side projects, a political blog and a movie review blog. It's not that these weren't great ideas, and I had some great help on both of them. But trying to write consistently for more than one site was more than I could juggle with my real job (your friendly neighborhood DJ) and attempting to maintain a favorable relationship with Mrs. Rogue. Over the past 365 days (it's not a Leap Year after all) I've written a total of 233 blogs. Since I'm such a math wiz I've done the figuring and that comes out to an average of four blogs per day...my math may be a little off there, but the point is I wrote a lot in the past year.

The question is what am I going to do THIS year? Probably write more. Definitely watch a lot of television (that's sort of what I do best), hopefully celebrate my third year as Mr. Rogue to the lovely Mrs. Rogue (don't leave me now, sweetheart), oh...and travel to Europe.

I went and applied for my passport yesterday. It was a completely surreal experience. First of all they take your birth certificate (a document that I have been taught to protect) and staple it to your application forms. STAPLE it! I thought I was going to have a little freak out right there in the post office. That was before they made me swear an oath. I raised my right hand and everything...in the post office. Bizarre. So, I guess I'm international now, or soon will be anyway. I'm a man that has a passport...well, I've got a receipt for one.

With Ella's graduation imminent, it makes thinking about our impending move from the safe haven of Ruston pretty necessary. We've started looking at apartments and houses for rent (expensive) and I've started making job inquiries (although the chances that someone wants to hire me now and then wait for me to start until June seem slim). Much like Ella's graduation (and our European vacation) this move snuck up on us. It'll be here before we know it. So, if there is a wealthy benefactor out there reading this that would like to adopt us (and put me on the payroll) it would be much appreciated.

My current focus is trying to find a way to break into the world of professional publishing. I want to write for a living, not just for fun. That's my goal, and I'm working towards it. So during our celebration this weekend (I am the Drunken Rogue, after all) we'll be looking forward to the next phase. Looking forward to Germany and Rome, Paris and Dublin. Looking forward to Baton Rouge and whatever comes next. It's an exciting time in the house of Rogue.