Well

It's getting to be that time again, that time when Mom asks me several times a day when I am going to update my blog. I suppose that is a reasonable request (for request we know it it), considering I have not posted anything substantive in quite a while, and not posted regularly in...well...ever.
One of the difficulties is that I am, at times, a bit like Lizzy Bennett, and unlikely to say anything unless it will amaze the whole room. It seems there are lots of small things, tales or stories or musings I could write about, and even intend to at the time, but I tuck them away like little fireflies caught in a jar; when I come back to them later, their already meagre light has been extinguished, and there seems little point. Yes, yes, from now on strike while the iron is hot, and carpe diem, while Robert Herrick laughs maniacally, and all that...

Work continues to grind on, more good than bad, and the only real bad coming from things it cannot help, that it *is* work, and that it requires me to get up early, and sit reasonably still all day long, and so on. My boss continues to outsource anything deemed remotely "creative" to me, and indulges and even encourages my peculiar sensibilities. For example:
I made this
as part of a survey that went out to the *entire company*. And there are scads more examples, as I find myself doing web design, hints of marketing, recruiting...even an official cartoon character/comics strip (and I promise if I finally get Norman up and running, you will all [whoever 'you' may represent at this point in time] get to see him).
This past week we were at the Grand Valley career fair, meeting nervous college students clutching their resumes in their sometimes ill-fitting suits, hawking the Mill Steel Open House, and, of course, giving away kitschy merchandise (pens, mints, hats, etc). Things were a rousing success, and I was actually something of an evil mastermind behind it, in charge of all the promotional material (my handouts and fliers were deemed genius by...well...Nick, at least), our setup design, and the aforementioned kitschy freebees. Of the latter, the official Mill Steel socks (I am not making this up), my personal favorites, became the *absolute star of the fair*, in all their offbeat glory. We had other employer coming from across the hall to get some, because word had spread. The Aflac guy traded one of his talking ducks (which we christened "Socks") for two pairs of his very own.
Right. I was just going to summarize there, rather than tell the whole story. Seems I've managed something in between.

Oh, yes: Chelle and I are going down to see Scott and Sarah in Florida over New Years. We had been talking about it for a while, but in a fit of semi-planned impulse, we bought some (relatively cheap) plane tickets this past Friday (and before that, we even get to ride a train again). Old friends, a journey, and my birthplace...sounds like a fine idea.

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I feel this need in my life to simplify--everything--even as grad school looms and I continue to wonder what it is I really *want* and why and...But life keeps moving, refusing to stop, and give me a chance to think. But honestly, I don't know if that would make any difference. Here's to getting lost in fields of flowers, and finding your way home. *clink*

Well, more to say, no doubt, but it's getting late, and as I had no real point in starting, or destination, I suppose I can end wherever I want to. Which is right......

...here.