As I wind down this class (we finished up our last exercise today -several class hours earlier than it was due- all that’s left is some discussion, and one more exam), I find that while I’m completely and utterly sick of living in a hotel, and can’t wait to see my family again, I’m actually going to sort of miss many of my classmates, particularly the wonderful team I got (I imagine) arbitrarily assigned to, who have become, I’d like to think, pretty good friends through our shared academic experience.

In two days, I get to go home, and back to the working life, after the agreed-upon respite of Labor Day, which, for the first time in four years, will not include hauling ass down to Atlanta with my friends and bandmates the Blibbering Humdingers to perform for the DragonCon Filk Music Track, and sharing the stage with a bunch of great performers and working with some amazing volunteers who keep the whole business running. I’ve made a lot of great friends as part of that community, and I’m going to miss hanging out with them this year (though I did get a couple of things in the filk track’s Annual Songbook, so I’m not totally absent).

They’ll just have a year to miss us and appreciate us all the more next year. I have this silly class in the way, and Scott and Kirsten have another obligation this weekend (plus, as much fun as it is, the mechanics of things is kind of a hassle, and it’s not the most profitable enterprise we undertake in a given year).

That said, I am starting to see the happy reports of all my friends converging on the city where everything is named Peachtree, fretting about packing, and those heading in from the north sending photos of that Peach Butt thing on the GA/SC border, like this one from my friend Wanda:

I’m sure folks will have a grand time, and set things up nicely for us next year.