When did this happen?  ;)

I haven’t really forgotten about this site.  I’ve just had my soul swallowed by Vampire Wars on Facebook.  Damn Facebook games, damn them to an eternity of stale donuts and burnt coffee, with a healthy helping of dried creamer and broken stir-sticks.  And bad musak adaptations of David Bowie, Elton John, and Olivia Newton John.

Well, the fun-factor of Vampire Wars has eased off a bit — you can only get so many minions, fight so many other Vampires, and buy so many upgrades to your vampirical madness, before it just dwindles a ten-minutes-a-day game.  At least, I hope it does.  I’ve been neglecting so many other things, like you.  My precious reader.

Readers.  Right.  Readers.  (I love my family and close friends, they check my blog and e-mail me when I haven’t posted for a while.  Gawd, please bless them all with unlimited lives in the video game of their choice.)

So, what has been up, I ask rhetorically of myself for you since this is a blog and not a chat?

I’ve lived at this new apartment for two months now, and realized that my initial expectations on how quickly I would have everything nifty and house-warming-ready were extremely…  Naive.

Yes, I’ve gotten all my books shelved.  Until I realized they were organized wrong, and some of the bricks need painting badly.  Then I realized that hardwood floors don’t make good substitutes for soft, comfy furniture, and that furniture is more expensive in real life than it costs in sim-like video games.  Then I realized that my fridge is eating all my food; it’s empty far too often.

I’ve tried talking to the books, bricks, the fridge, and the floors about the responsibilities of cohabiting my space without contributing to rent or bills, but all remain mute and unresponsive.  I’m thinking about counseling, but I’m not sure my benefits package at the bank covers that.  HR keeps looking at me oddly when I ask about it.

They are so…  Unhelpful.  Well, I take that back.  One offered to buy me a great new coat, if I’d just wait in the area off the side hallway, but I couldn’t wait.  I had meetings to go to.

Growing up is so…  Eye-opening.

The really great part is that I’m able to rebuild myself in a way that befits what I want to be.  And the slowness of the pace forces me to look at what I want, then re-look at it about seventeen billion times between paychecks.  Not that I’m OCD, or Attention Deficit…  Ooh, new commercial on TV!

Heh, heh.  Aciphex.  Heh-heh, heh-heh.

Anywhoo, I find myself delightfully frustrated by the slow pace of life, and remarkably thankful that I don’t get everything the second I want it.  Otherwise, how would I value things?

The quietness allows me to rebuild my mind from the ravaging of eight years ago.  Nothing like sustained blind panic to leave one gasping on the floor of one’s own psyche, just holding things together with one’s wishes and sheer willpower alone.  Kinda like what America has been going through over the past five, mebbie six years.

(Keep strong, peeps.  I made it through my personal hell, you can make it through this national hell for another two or three years.  Just keep your chin tucked down and a sense of humor ready at hand.)

Back to topic, there are some gaping holes in my sanity that have been glossed over with humor and wit, and I need to address these things sooner or later.  Either I address these social and personal things, or I become the crazy old man who talks to furniture.

Wait, I think I already do talk to furniture.  And office supplies.  And computers.  And appliances.  And hardwood floors.  And, crap.

Okay, so I’m just missing the “old” to the previous comparison, but I think my point stands.

So, now that I’ve got two months under my belt I have enough spending data and trending to accurately re-work my budget for a ten year window, and in the mean time I have time and space to toy with what purchases come next to see how they fit into this long-term view.

Having fun, readers?  I am, quietly in the corner, sitting in a sunbeam, with a fresh cup of coffee.

Skåll!!!