It has been a long, long time since I wrote anything on this site. I wish I could state that this has been a planned absence, an intentional break for head-clearing adjustments and soulful introspections, a joyful sabbatical and etc. (what I believe Europeans refer to as the month of August). But that’s simply not the case. Sometimes, and this has been one of those times, I just don’t have much to say.

The main trouble with taking such an extended break is that finding what to write the first time back becomes challenging as untangling a clog of fishing lines.

Should I write about what I’ve been doing these past 6+ weeks (a brief entry I could easily summarize as: frisbee golf, reading, work)? Touch on current events (a topic, both locally and internationally, that sadly seems able to be summed up in one word: violence)? Complain about the weather (the end-of-May to the beginning-of-July being unequivocally the worst time to live in the NW)? Note recent bowling successes (six strikes in seven frames, not too shabby if I may toot my own horn)?

The truth is that things usually don’t make enough sense for me to write about them until afterwards; until a far-enough-away point arrives from which they can be seen with sufficient retrospect and hindsight. And right now I feel I’m in the middle of something I can’t see far enough around to write interestingly about.

To carry earlier metaphors along: I’d rather not discuss how frustrating the knot of fishing lines is: the subject is, to me, uninteresting; and I’ll enjoy myself more after I can pull some lines clear, lay them out and trace them back.

I realize a fair rebuttal to this could be to call legerdemain, for who isn’t always in the middle of something? And it’s true that some people really like the man-on-the-street view and would happily gobble up-to-the-minute reports, regardless how inane they may be. But such updates seem better suited for Facebook or Twitter, and I’d like to think that with a little time and proper reflection I can use this space for something a bit more involved and interesting to me.

Until that point: I’ll view today as an ice-breaker and hope that tomorrow things will have melted even more.