This goes against all my Midwestern sensibilities, but I wanted to share a highly ridiculous compliment from my thesis advisor.

• “It’s funny because often I ask questions like this of writers and they’re like “oh I don’t know, I have to think about that.” Not you. You say: Right, and this is how it works. That is part of what makes you such an excellent essayist.”

Squirm blush squirm. I will not do that again for a reallyreally long time. Promise.

I lead with that quote because I was recently reminded of this post from last fall, and that I had intended on writing a follow up to publicly acknowledge and thank those who responded to it and, in the interest of transparency, tell you how I used the donations. And really, I can’t thank you enough.

So, thank you a million: Stuart, Patrick, Arlie, Margaret, and Ski. And Arlie again, who told me he feels like a “celebrity” when I post about him, so I’m gonna embarrass him now. whattup Arlie! And it should be said, it was Arlie who reminded me that I wanted to make this post because, despite the “one-time donation” on the button, he donated twice.

My intension with the funds was to put them all into writing stuff, or things I could write about. I bought a new GPS app, BlindSquare, which is for the Iphone and is the most inexpensive app I’ve ever seen for blind users of GPS. The one I formerly used with my BrailleNote was over $1000. My idea was to review BlindSquare, which I am working on learning.

I also paid a hefty chunk of the fees for my deposit on my spring semester at NILA.

Plus a spare power cord for my Braillenote. Not at all sexy, but it’ll be great for one this one dies, which will likely happen sooner rather than later. They don’t tend to last more than a year.

So, that’s it. A huge thank you again, and I am so grateful to be able to use these funds for wordsmithing, writing, and essaying. It fulfills so much of my need for creativity and making sense of the world, and I’m so humbled that you all think that’s important, too.