OK, I'd like to get this blog off to an appropriate start, if that's OK with everyone, Look Who's Talking style:

[out through the birth canal - heading towards the white light]

[out into the cruel world, cold, wet, shivering]

[a thorough slap in the butt from the nurse]

WAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!

And to think some people only get to experience that once....thank you Kirstie Alley!

I figure I'll be going by the name 'Dickie Cronkite,' which just popped in my noggin and in a strange way sums up where I am these days. Enjoying the last few bittersweet weeks of summer in LA before starting a Masters in Journalism (MSJ). In Chicago. Let me repeat that. CHICAGO - right smack dab when the seasons start turning. To put things into context, I grew up in LA and have spent most of my life here, currently live 3 blocks from the ocean, have a decent job that I don't hate - which is a lucky thing these days, have great friends, a beautiful girlfriend - we go to weekend bbqs, cook burgers and drink coronas, then walk to the sand and watch the sun setting over the water.

Anybody know how the surfing is on Lake Michigan?

In February?

Yeah....

Leaving it all behind. So I figure this journally-style blog will first serve as my forum to help deal with the whole impending transition. In other words, I've generously allowed you all to laugh at my pain!

But no, it's not all a sob story - not by a long shot. I'm pretty damn lucky, actually. The J-school program's a prestigious one, located at a certain university in, um, Evanston, its mascot is a "Wildcat" and its colors are purple and white. (anyone get it yet?) I've been dreaming of this for a while, simply couldn't rid the idea out of my mind, finally applied, and voila! Off I go. In September. T-minus 1 month and 2 weeks. 60,000 dollars debt, no guarantee of a job on the other end, and if so, it'll probably be in some small town in Kansas.

Holy shit.

Can I think about this a little more?