For those few who may have been concerned about my near-complete absence from the blog, rest assured that I have not fallen off the face of the earth as reported. I’m still clinging desperately to the edge of it, which as it turns out is somewhere around N 28th and Decatur, not too far past the 7-Eleven. And hey, I’m good with that. This way I can fall off the map with a Coke Slurpee in hand.

So as you may have gathered, I’ve moved again, which accounts for the bulk of my absence, along with having helped a few other people move immediately after my own. It was four solid 10 to 14 hour days of packing, hefting, and cleaning, and thankfully I didn’t do any permanent damage to myself like throwing my back out (again). I wish Arlington the very best, but I’ll now be in Fort Worth for at least the next six months, not too far from downtown, living in a beautiful old house that’s afforded me both a gigantic bedroom, a sizable office (which has already been converted into a library), and 3 closets. Hardwood floors, crown moldings, two ceiling fans, and lots of trees in the neighborhood would have convinced me if the rest hadn’t. There are some cobwebs, dirty old rugs, and the kitchen isn’t the biggest thing you’ve ever seen, but the place would be a wonderful source of inspiration for any writer with all its thick auras and deep textures. And as if this wasn’t enough reason to express abundant gratitude, God has also blessed me with the second most wonderful gift ever given to man: a mattress set. I’m no longer sleeping on a futon, air mattress, or floor, having finally upgraded to a real bed, albeit sans bedframe. I can think of no finer thing this side of sliced bread. We’ll ignore how cheap it was and the fact that it will undoubtedly turn to mush in two months.

The most frustrating thing about all the mattress-buying, moving, and furniture-building is that it feels like I haven’t written anything in a year. It’s only been a week or so, and I have managed to push out a few lines here and there via Office² on my iPod Touch, so perhaps the perception is worse than the reality. I should also say, while on the subject, that as much as I hate Apple (and make no mistake, I still hate Apple), my Touch has more or less become an ultra-portable laptop with better battery life than my actual laptop, and I greatly enjoy being able to use Apple’s wireless Bluetooth keyboard with it when I wind up working at a café for a few hours. A dash of wifi and Dropbox access really tops it all off perfectly. It’s not a cheap solution if you’re starting from scratch, but if you’re already possessed of an iOS device, a portable keyboard of some kind might serve you well.

I hope that once I manage to get things set up here, productivity will resume. I wish I could promise something interesting, but the necessary doldrums of practical life have so completely taken over at this point that it will probably be some time before I have anything exciting to announce. I’ll keep at it, either way, and with any luck be ready to roll out something new soon.

For now, I think I’ll eat something. It’s nearly 4:00 PM and lunch is just a tad overdue.

[This post originally appeared at theflyingmonkeyapparatus.com.]