One More Writer

Tomorrow morning, I set off for Arkansas, and my new life as a reporter in the South.

Oh. I took the Arkansas job, after doing interviews at the Hollister Free Lance and Benton County Daily Record. The Hollister job had a lot of potential, and I think the company would have recognized my work and promoted me quickly if I did a good job. But the newspaper in Arkansas is bigger, and I feel the editors there will do the best job of developing me as a writer, and kicking my ass : Writers here are expected to churn out two to four stories every day, plus a big feature package and news analysis every 10 weeks.

I'm pretty happy with all these developments. I think God is leading me in this direction, away from Hynix, Korea, California, the Marines and all those other options I've been mulling about since last September. I'm going to miss all my friends in Eugene, my girlfriend and my family. But I've just been treading water these last six months, and it's time to put my life back on track. Even if that means going to work in a town that's better known as Wal*Mart central.

Lillian and I are headed out of Eugene on Friday morning. She's accompanying me to Arkansas in a farewell roadtrip, then flying back to Oregon. I still don't have all my stuff packed - right now I'm loking at a room with sacks of garbage, piles of clothes, empty beer bottles and a dusty computer desk. My dad's coming over to help with the big furniture in 20 minutes or so, and I'd best get my affairs in order before he comes.

But first: I finally picked up Lillian's birthday present to me: We went to Seattle this weekend to get my Utilikilt. Think cargo shorts, Scottish style, with lots of pleats, snaps and heavy canvas. Do you want to see it? I know you do. OK, here are two pictures. I need to take a front shot as well. Picture 1. Picture 2.

I'll post again when I get to Arkansas on Monday.