The lab is strangely quiet today. Usually there are at least four or five other people in here at any given time, but it's completely empty this morning.

I suppose I should feel bad about the fact that I get paid to sit here and goof around on the Internet, but I don't. It isn't as though I'm avoiding some other responsibility for this job. I'm not expected to do anything but be available. Occasionally I have to put up posters or something, but mostly it's just sitting here.

'Sokay, though. It's forced study time (sometimes I actually do homework rather than play blackjack on Yahoo). It also used to be really easy to blow off my hours if I was busy, but I'm newly motivated to actually come in, because I arranged for my paycheck to be direct-deposited to an old credit union account I still have in California.

I am officially starting the Puppy Fund.

As (a) my parents will be supporting me for the summer until I take the bar and (b) they don't think my getting a dog is such a good idea (honestly, I don't know why I bother telling them this stuff... I didn't tell them I had a cat until almost ten months after I got her for this very reason), I figure the only way to get them off my back is if I can show them that any dog-related expenses will be covered by my own cash. And the only way I can actually save up enough to make that true is if I have the money sent far, far away, where I can't access it without phone calls and wire transfers and all kinds of hullaballoo.

If I computed it correctly (and that's always a little sketchy), I should have about $900 by the time I graduate, which should cover actually getting the dog (please don't flame me, but I'm getting a purebred) and the initial medical costs. I've already started picking up some accessories (I know, I'm a nut), like a nice bright blue leash and a brush. I figure as long as I have a right to be in the pet store anyway, as I do actually currently have a pet, it's okay to start getting things for the future pet.

Sorry, but the breed and the name are remaining secret. Once I bring her home, though, I promise I'll figure out a way to introduce you to her.

I'm listening to Alana Davis at the moment. This really is a great CD. A line just struck me:
          I've got a pair of ruby slippers that I don't wear much anymore
          If I had the nerve, I'd click my heels and return
          To that Wonderland I knew before...
Well, I'm not sure it's taking nerve, and I'm not sure that Kansas City is any Wonderland, but I'm certainly digging out my ruby slippers. It's time to go home.

I have to admit that I'm starting to get a little sad about it. I know I'm doing the right thing for me, but it's going to be hard to leave. Hard to leave the friends I've made here, with whom I have shared the difficult, sometimes miserable experience of law school. And hard to leave the friends I've made online, with whom I have shared the difficult, sometimes miserable experience of life, when even a few hours' drive is still much too far away.

However, I do still have ties here: my parents. If they didn't live here, I'd still come back to visit, but it certainly wouldn't be as frequent. So that's a good thing.

Holy cow, I almost forgot I had class at 1:00, which is like fifteen minutes from now. Must dash.