Houston, we are a go for lift-off :: T-minus 30 days and counting...

I'm making it official.

Some of you already know this. Some of you may have figured it out from inadvertent hints and inferences. Some people never knew I left Aspen back in January. Some people thought I was already living in Austin. I haven't exactly been forthcoming that I am living and working in Georgia right now. But at the same time, I haven't exactly hidden the fact either. I have after all, been doing all my dancing in Atlanta. Oops! I never write about my dancing, now do I? A tango blogger who doesn't write about his dancing!? WTF!?

Anyway...so I left Aspen in a howling blizzard in early January and moved to Georgia via Moab, the Navajo reservation, Phoenix, El Paso del Norte and Austin. Actually, I left Aspen in October, spent the month of November in Austin goofing off, then went back to Aspen for the month of December to conclude my affairs there and pack up the last of the stuff in my office/hovel/hole-in-the-ground I had called home for the prior six months or so.

So I've been here in Georgia since mid-January. At first, it was to be a permanent relocation for me, but things didn't work out that way. My brother moved to Florida and my mom is now more or less alone in Austin. So, me being the "good son", I will be moving back there as soon as I finish this project - which I named "The Last Tango in Georgia".

So named because it is my intent to never, ever, again build a project of any kind for any client. So named because I chose to do the vast majority of the heavy labor, and the skilled labor, myself, which is very nearly going to be the death of me. But at the same time, I like it. I like the splinters and the cuts and the sore muscles and the sunburn. I like the sawdust and sand everywhere, including my bed. I like seeing something rise out of the ground and take shape as the result of my mind, and my hand. Design-Build. Design. Build. It takes on a new meaning when you do it all by yourself. With day-labor help at times.

The future? I will consult, sure. I will build for myself, certainly. But I have been in this business for 30 years and I am done with it. No mas. Finito. Onward and upward.

The loggia roof is about three hours away from being completed as of today. Then I have to install the shingles (awaiting decision from client...what's new?). I'm starting on the stonework on Monday. Thirty days should be plenty of time to finish.

Plus, I'm now incentivized by my 30 year high school reunion which will be held on the 27th of September in Lafayette, Louisiana. Being that this is on the way back to Austin, it's perfect timing. Somehow, until about a day ago, I completely, utterly, spaced that this year is the big three-oh. My friend Saundra found me through the blog and left a comment. I hadn't updated my new email with the guy who keeps tabs on us all. I've been re-connecting with long-lost friends the past few days and I'm really looking forward to this reunion. Somehow everything seems to be falling into place with cosmic perfect timing.

Austin will be good for me. Most of my family is there. It's been "home" to me throughout the years, and even though I haven't lived there much, I know the city well. It's where I belong. I'm going home.

I will miss my new friends here in Jaw-uh-juh. Especially Mrs. Robinson. She has been a good friend to me.

Tabula Rasa. Once again. That's a thread I never finished, or never really even started. You get your "clock cleaned" in life a few times in a row and maybe it makes you finally sit up and take notice. Maybe it makes you a new man. Maybe it makes you a better man. Maybe it makes you an idiot.

So, T-minus 30 days and counting...mas o menos.