I wish this was fictional. It isn't.

I think this process will get easier as time goes on. Right now, it's still nowhere near that. Of all the conversations I've had in the past month, the one I've referred back to the most in my mind has been Karen's. She mentioned something that no one else brought up, something that has been truer than I expected at the time. The decision to go requires a mourning period. You're either going to do it after you've left, when the newness hits you all at once, or you're going to do it before you leave.

It's been a week of photography around here, for those of you who aren't following the stream-of-consciousness log over at solecist.net. When I came to work yesterday morning, Melissa popped her head in the door and said, "Did you see those clouds on the way in?" I nodded; the dark, billowing shapes had caught my eye, too.

But Melissa had keys in her hand, and a plan in mind. "Come on. Let's go to the roof. Bring your camera."

I came back with only three usable photos, but they were three photos I hadn't expected to get. For dark and moody, here's a shot of the First Baptist Church's bell tower, one of the most recognizable parts of the Huntsville skyline:

Spire
at , Huntsville, Alabama, United States by domesticat.

I also got two shots of the Huntsville skyline that, while not terribly inspired, are also very different from any other downtown photos currently on flickr:

Welcome to another one of those can't-speak-publicly entries. I can smart off on solecist but cat.net is for thinking. Make no mistake, that is what this entry is -- thinking through keys -- and I write it with a great deal of worry about how it will go over.

I have never stated my religion publicly on this site. There are reasons for that: among other reasons, I am not sure if there's a name for people like me. In cases of religion, I am negative space, more easily defined by what I'm not than what I am.

I'm not Christian.

I'm trying out a new way to aggregate some things I'm doing in different places. End result: solecist.net. If I'm being honest, cat.net is for long-form writing, and always has been. solecist.net is a tumblelog with more traditional bloggy things, like quotes, links, and flickr photos.

It's like cat.net, only short-form and with even less context. :)

(Oh, and if you're lazy like me: http://solecist.net/rss is what you're looking for.)

Amy: "You're such a cliché, Charles."
Sherry: "Yeah! There you are, with your Admiral Ackbar profile photo, sucking down your Mountain Dew while eating your chili cheese Fritos."
Amy: "..and are those Converse you're wearing?"
Charles: "Yeah, but they aren't Chuck Taylors, so it's not totally bad."