For the curious, my long absence has come largely from the fact that I did indeed finish my classes, after which I relocated back home to California. I managed to keep myself going through that grueling hardware class, and ended my final semester of the two years I spent at TCC with a 4.0, which surprised even me. I am extremely grateful for the experience. Having spent so many years out of the classroom, it’s been a refreshing experience to be back, and though I’m done with my AA and taking a break for now, my hope is that I’ll be able to attend Chico State University once I’m officially back at residency status in California.

The relocation back home was strenuous. Not only did I have to do it in a very short time frame while navigating the complications it spelled for my girlfriend and I, I got very sick loading the cargo containers in constant rain and snow for the better part of two weeks. I had to make the three-day drive from Fort Worth to San Francisco while very sick, which certainly offered its share of interesting experiences. My dog accompanied me, having never spent more than a half hour in the car, and thankfully did really well with the trip. All in all, it was a good time that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy due to my condition.

But I’m back now, and have moved up north into what is not quite the middle of nowhere, about a half hour’s drive from Chico. My family had relocated to this area after selling all their holdings in the bay area, so I followed suit, and while I do so dearly miss the ocean, I have to say the countryside that comprises the foothills and mountains here is growing on me.

So what’s next? Now that I’m finally into my new house, getting settled and reorganized, it’s much the same as it was before. My plan is to spend considerable effort on my Japanese studies, which have progressed slowly these last few months but should start to pick up speed, get back to the gym at least 3 days a week, get my yoga and meditation practices back to their former stability, and start writing again.

The one thing I’m adding is something I’ve tried to get back to numerous times in the last few years but not had a good environment for doing so: chess.

Some of you know that chess is something I love, but not all of you know exactly why. That’s a longer story for another time, but suffice it to say that chess helped me in my youth, and was something I was able to bond with my father over. I’ve never been much more than your average patzer (or woodpusher, if you prefer your derogatory terms to be in English), but have long dreamed of getting beyond that stage, and I hope that now I have the time and stability to make another earnest attempt. Whether much of that will filter over to Bookruptcy remains to be seen, as of course this is still primarily an outlet for my writing, which I also have plans for once all the boxes are once again unpacked.

For now, I just wanted to get a quick update out there for those wondering if I’d fallen off the face of the earth. To be fair, I sort of did. I didn’t have Internet access for a number of months, and what access I did have didn’t come with a device more advanced than an aging, pre-smartphone era cellular phone. But my feet are once again firmly planted on the ground, and it’s time to get back to work.

Let’s take hold of the rest of this summer together, and learn all we can.