Friday, March 31, 2017

Where I've Been

Actually, I've been right here all along. But I've been very quiet, thinking of things to say and finding very little.

Perhaps the biggest change since I ladt posted on this blog is that I finished my prescription of Sertraline; I successfully tapered off at the start of January. A couple of weeks later I crashed my car in a ditch, but since I suffered no bodily injuries, quitting an antidepressant feels bigger. Maybe that's a good sign?

What else have I been up to? I bought a new car, a hybrid for all those long commutes. I turned thirty, and enjoyed it properly with the help of my lovely girlfriend, Ariele. I kept my head up and only made a few jokes about becoming hopelessly decrepit. My lovebird Bonnie laid a clutch of eggs, but since her mate Sherbert is also a female there was no chance of them hatching.

I continued my life's work of educating America's youth against their will, one compulsory class period at a time. This is harder than it looks, especially when you're no longer relying on the comfort of generic Zoloft to keep yourself even. To be blunt, I had a few really bad days over the last few months. If my latest absence requires an excuse, then recurring depressive spots seem as good as any.

But that aside, I can honestly say that my extra-curriculars haven't suffered too much. Sure, I'd like to be reading more. But I'm also doing something - successfully - that I haven't really attempted in a long time. I'm writing a book, a small volume of poetry. Thus far it has no name, but I've been refering to ot as The Manuscript.

I know I've made grand declarations of intent before, but despute my absence here the fact remains that the poems are being written. They remain to be edited and properly arranged, and once that is done I'll have to figure out how, exactly, one converts a Word document into a book. But I expect that by mid-summer I'll be ready to do just that.

That's it as far as news. I mainly wrote this to get myself back into gear for using this blog again. Like a comfy old jacket, I may take it off for a few months, but I never really put it away for good.