On Thursday afternoon I heard back from the interview people who asked me to pass on my references. I cited KK as an academic reference and he's so terrific, he wrote to me almost immediately, describing what they had asked him about and what he had in turn told them about me. Being KK, however, he didn't refrain from spilling all the tiny chilling details of the job and the fact that he suspects I have "stiff competition." Splendid.

Still, being the cuddly old stiff he is, he did offer to let me visit him in the fall: "If you have a worst-case scenario, you're invited to drop by my office this fall, even though you've graduated, to practice wailing. I'd enjoy seeing you." You see? Someone who understands my constant need to have a long self-indulgent moan.

On Friday I went into the city to visit Katy one last time before her departure to Japan. I was so looking forward to this trip because I really missed her and didn't even register until a week ago that she was leaving so soon. We had a nice, low-key day in which we searched unflaggingly for souvenirs for her to present the 30,590 people she'll be working with in Japan, all of whom are expecting gifts. Only in the last hour or so that I was with her did I feel very choked up (the cramps didn't help) about saying goodbye. 

A year isn't a long time, but the first year out of college is going to feel incredibly long. Every month I'll be remembering milestones during the "school year," a shedule that I'm sadly no longer following. It's not as if our friendship is going to collapse or anything. But Katy, Abby, Lina, Karin, oh, just a whole bunch of people, are essential to my stability. And now Katy's gone, seriously gone, thousands of miles worth of gone. Soon Steph will have left as well, and where am I? Still stuck at home, fruitlessly searching for a job and losing confidence every day. Post-collegiate life isn't really the blissful, gin-soaked vale of glory that I prayed it would be. Although these days, I'm off gin, which is rather a disappointment as it's meant that I've had to curb the whole "gin was mother's milk to her" routine, and I'm so fond of that.

Katy just wrote. She says "Take care of yourself and try to be optimistic!" Thanks for the love. A long time ago, I told Optimism, "you're dead to me, boy." Still, I can't help but hope that something really good happens to me (in the job line) this week. Of course, Laguna Beach returns to television, so that's a close second. The lives of the tanned and depraved - I just can't get enough, I just can't get enough.