Changes

Just for the record, Southern Man does not like change. He's quite content to go on just as before. It's safe and secure and predictable. The grass is plenty green right here, thank you very much. The water in the pot is not boiling. And so on.

Life, however, has other plans. In the last few weeks Southern Man has learned that (a) he will not be returning to his university in the fall and (b) Teen Daughter is adamant that she is going to move in with him this summer.

The first of these is frankly terrifying. Southern Man has been on four (yes, count 'em, four) professional interviews in his life. Three of the four landed him jobs, the last two of which ran fifteen years each. He has no idea how to interview, or what the prospects are for employment in the fall. He probably shouldn't worry; he has great CS and STEM cred and the economy in Southern State is pretty good. But worry he will, anyway.

The second is something he's been working towards for a couple of years now. It almost happened last year but Teen Daughter backed out at the last minute and decided to give it one more year with her mother. This will mean finding a place to live in her preferred school district (one square mile!) and normally wouldn't be an issue if it weren't for the uncertainty of future employment. Oh, yes - her mother will fight it tooth and nail, so a court battle is probably on the horizon. Southern Man just loves going to court.

Given that he has six month's notice the job hunt will stretch out over the summer. He's already applying for the few open academic positions in the area and will apply for non-academic jobs in June in the hope of starting in early August when his summer teaching is completed. And he'll send the opening round of physical custody negotiations with the child-support check at the end of the week. It's going to be an interesting six months...