Well, okay, so I didn't do the promised vacation blogging. Suffice to say, it was a great trip, we had a wonderful time, blisters and all.

Life is just so busy, and so blessedly full, and blogging doesn't seem to get squeezed in very often, so I'm on hiatus for the near future. Thanks for reading!

Drive-by Blogging

Okay, is anybody besides me surprised that there's no internet access in Yosemite? Seriously, I think I thought I'd be able to whip out the laptop on any random hike. Turns out, not so much. Right now I'm on my 15 minutes of alloted internet time at the Yosemite Park Library, where they have an actual CARD CATALOG. Like, with cards.

So here's the deal: having a great time, this place is gorgeous, survived backpacking, wish you were here.

More to come, with pictures out the wazoo.

Oh, I'm IN The Blogging Spirit Now

Okay, taking a quick break from packing to say . . .

WTF, America? Seriously? The myriad of problems in the world, and we have to fight about Obama -- AKA Potus, AKA Leader-of-the-Free-World-and-Therefore-a-Pretty-Important-Person-Whether-You-Like-It-Or-Not -- addressing the school kids of the nation to talk about improving the SCHOOLS?!

And I had to say a big ol' no-fucking-way when I read a boatload of online comments about how inappropriate it is that Obama interrupt MATH to address the kids. I don't think math is what we have to worry about; I mean, obviously we have done a nationwide turnaround in our math skills; it seems that now we can actually count up a MAJORITY correctly.

I did give some thought to whether I would feel the same way if A)I had a child myself; and B) it was GWB addressing said child. And I came to the conclusion that I would not object to my child hearing the address.

And when said child got home, I would say, "Said Child, that man that addressed your class today? That man is a moron -- no, really, a MORON. And in this house, we don't vote for morons. Now go practice your violin."

Brush Off the Cobwebs and Come On In

Hello? Hello? Is anybody here?

Whew! It sure is dusty around the ol' blog. I haven't been here in an age. I've been suffering from a little blog fatigue, I think, and am trying to decide what, if anything, I want and plan for Around the Subject. Partly I wonder if you are tired of reading about my life, and partly I'm tired of writing about it. Partly I've let the blog become more of a day-to-day-what-I'm-doing kind of thing than I intended originally. Partly I want to stop thinking and talking about writing fiction and start writing fiction.

In the immediate moment, though, I am getting ready to go on vacation, and I really like doing vacation updates, . . . SO, if there's anybody still around these parts, check back in the next ten days or so, and I'll try to have some fun stories and pictures.

Oh, and on this vacation, I will be BACKPACKING for two nights. As in, PEE IN THE WOODS-type backpacking. If nothing else, you'll want to hear about that, right?

Working on Career #2

I finished my one year of violin lessons as required by my 101 Things list, and while I knew I definitely wanted to continue with lessons, I wasn't particularly sold on the specific lessons I was taking. Over the past year, I saw two things which made me really want to do MORE on the violin than what I was doing. The first was the TOTALLY ROCKIN' electric violin player with the Led Zeppelin cover band. Man, was she the coolest.

The second was Ben Sollee, who is ONLY the most awesome, kick-all-kinda-ass cellist I've ever seen. He was the co-coolest, definitely.

So, as of last week, I started with a new violin teacher, who is letting me do some celtic music, lots of fun duets, and is generally helping me with being a musician, rather than just playing a bunch of notes. I'm pretty excited about it.

I'm thinking someday, when I'm . . . oh, maybe 50-ish . . . I can be in my own heavy metal-bluegrass-celtic jam band, and I'll have my own electric violin, and I will be the coolest, too.

You'll all come see me, won't you?

We're All Friends Here, Aren't We?

So . . . if you're one of my two, maybe three loyal readers, you will have noticed that Around the Subject was locked up tight and inaccessible for awhile. Yeah. I have reason to believe that a defendant I have been prosecuting for nearly four years found this blog, and it bothered me a bit. But, after considering things four a few weeks, I decided that what damage was done was done already, and also, that I'm not really ashamed of anything I put on this blog. Trust me, things I am ashamed of are not displayed here for the world (or my three loyal readers) to see.

Seriously, do you think I would be silly enough to tell you on this blog that I ate out of a bowl the other night that Penny had licked, without realizing it at first, but then even after I realized it I decided that yes, the damage had already been done, and I might as well finish what I was eating? 'Cause I'm a little ashamed of that.

Are you sensing a theme here? A damage-has-already-been-done theme? Me, too. So it shouldn't surprise you that since the chips-salsa-margarita damage was already done this afternoon, I may as well do some chocolate cookie damage later on.

I Don't Know About You, But I Would Be Inspired . . .

Overheard in Sunday School:

Sunday School teacher: Do you know what "inspirational" means?

Kindergarten kid: That means that Jesus can buy everyone a new car.