Well, I haven't actually gone public with this, but I just registered to complete my degree with their inaugural online songwriting major. If I get all my transfer and prior learning credits that I hope to, I would finish a year from the end of this semester.

So...I might be in Boston to walk if I graduate, in May 2017.

That is awesome!!

I had a single cat in a small apartment, and never thought he minded.... I now have a single cat in a larger apartment, and she apparently hates other cats.

I would find a place where the cats are an option so you can act when the spirit moves you. Cats do fine in apts, especially if you've got two animals. Just invest in a couple of cardboard boxes and some balled up tinfoil and you'll all do great.

When I moved two cats from a largish apartment where they had constant access to the outside through an open window, to a 500 sq ft apt where they did not have access to the outside hardly at all (partly because of building layout and partly because the outside was not congenial) they adjusted just fine. We had a laser pointer and lots of shelves and things for them to climb on, I suppose, and there were windows to look out of. That only lasted 6 months, though, and they were pretty pleased to have a yard again at the next place. But lots of indoor cats are perfectly happy and do not really require a lot of space.

I know lots of cats that have been indoor only and never minded at all. But I think it's harder if they've had a taste of freedon.

Mine were free range alley cats for the first few months and seem to have adapted fine to living in an 850 square ft. loft. Molly has never shown any interest in getting outside, and Jackson turns back as soon as he gets a peek into the stairwell.

Echoing that they do fine indoors. And you may not need two, if you inquire at a shelter or whatnot, there may be cats they know to enjoy being solo. My last 3 cats are all good alone. The two I have now I think would have preferred to be alone, but they were brought to me together.

I will put the No Pets place further down the list of Please Take My Money So I Can Live Here. Though I think I'll still put it off a bit after I move. I lost Shadow only five months after Hubby, and I'm not yet ready to have a creature be solely dependent on me for its care.

Tep, we paused at an entire gluten free bakery stand and thought of you. (And uh, bought treats at the other bakery.)

Frontier Airlines has added cheap flights from Cincy to SF. Though that's an extreme way to get gluten-free baked goods.

Tim is picking up Mediterranean food for dinner (my post about the big cone of lamb meat made me REALLY want shawarma) and I have a decent cider. Begone, you lousy week!

It was this place, Tep: [link]

Take your time and get one when the time is right, for sure. But don't lock into somewhere where you'd have to move to make it happen, is my advice.

That is awesome!!

I'm pretty excited. There's also a chance I might go to an event they hold where the online kids all converge on site. It would be kinda nice to visit campus before I graduate! That would be this summer, I think.

I had a prof over sabbatical that was super supportive and is a mentor-y type. He really encouraged me to pursue it, so I'm appreciative. It's a lot of money, but ideally it would be helpful to me long-term. Plus, it's really something I just want to redeem from my misbegotten youth. Ok, pretty tame as far as youthful rebellion goes, but you know.

That prof has been sending me to these networking events, and I'll be doing another one in February, so I'll get to see him then too. He used to head up A&R at Warner. He's written for Flo Rida, Tim McGraw, all sorts of folks. And he knows daggone everybody, so he's been a great resource for me.

Which reminds me! LA-istas! If I were, purely hypothetically, driving through your fair city on Wednesday, Feb 24th and/or Sunday, Feb 28th, would any of you be available to get together? I would normally be there this weekend for NAMM, but I am clearly sitting on my couch in Arizona and not wrangling massive crowds in Anaheim at the moment. This is a different event, up near Santa Barbara.