Small Town Survival

Today's the day I fly to Michigan for a few weeks. Hope to see some of you there. Cheers.

It was hot and humid when I arrived, even at 11 pm at night. The next day the cooler weather moved in and we've been hanging around in the mid 70s during the day, perhaps creeping up to 80 degrees. The humidity, dare I say it, has been generally nonexistent and I have seen the first overcast skies in months. It's also been sunny for the most part and quite lovely.

I have some how managed to fit in the (FAMOUS) Chicken Broil and the (Ann Arbor) Art Fair into my stay. I will likely skip the former and attend the latter. Free look at art is better than paying for chicken I can generally cook at home. Although I still believe I am the only one in town who does not have the "secret" coleslaw recipe. I did learn in the paper that the chickens come from Georgia and are prepared and shipped the night before the broil so they are completely fresh and never frozen. They send quite a few as well (12k?).

I will also be touching base with some friends, so dinner and coffee is somewhere in the plans, a trip to Mackinac Island, and a wedding will all be part of my life for the next few weeks. Oh, and a lovely BBQ. Well, that one might not be pretty, but with lots of food and beer it will at least be fun!

That's the update as of today, although I am also secretly keeping a secret (not so secretly) that I may be telling you about soonish.

Every once in awhile I consider letting the renewal on web hosting and the subscription to my domain slide. I consider whether I really write enough or do enough or care enough to update and keep the thing running. To be honest, I don't know why I hold on to it. Sometimes I think I will start writing again as passionately as I once did or at least as often if it isn't as emotion filled or exciting. I think about now, however, what might I write about? I don't take photos so nearly as often as I would like. I have enveloped myself in a more personal side of my life that I am not sure I'm ready to put out into the world. Mostly because it's so good and I am jealously keeping it to myself.

There are other factors too. I work in what can be considered a very public place where it's not at all acceptable to talk about it. Or at least not to write about it. Maybe I am making all of that up, but because I teach and my job involves so many other people whose consent to discuss them in writing for the world to see I don't have... well yeah. I like what I do and I want to keep it. Perhaps at some point I will come to some agreement with myself where I can write about pieces without giving away individuals. I also had a really, really, really rough first year and it was too painful to record. I tried to keep a lot of that pain and confusion private, and I think only a little leaked out. In the end I found people who are awesome support and people that I really love to work with and talk with. There's always the question of the coming year, but at least I know I have a wonderful group of people to back me.

I think the real question is, that I've gone so long without real updates, does anyone even visit this space anymore? I know that I used to read a lot of blogs and failure to update usually allows them to fade. Not to mention I lost my list of websites I looked at a lot. But really, if I start, maybe people will come back, and then they leave disappointed again when I can't manage to stick with it.

In the end, I will tell myself that I can do this once more, that I can find the little things to mention, that I am moving into a place in my life where I might have more to write about. If nothing else, I am still reading, seeing movies, and putzing around online to the extent where there must be some casual observation in me somewhere about something.

Thanks for reading.