Getting back on the horse of run-on sentences

Well, it's time for me to start writing again. My fingers rest here on the keyboard and, while not quite trembling, they look up at me questioningly and ask for direction. Not confused exactly, but like 10 lost pre-schoolers who took a wrong turn on an afternoon field trip. Which way to go now? What to write after sitting in solitary for almost 2 months now? OK I'm exagerating again and I know that 's not like me but...whatever. Solitary is an exageration. Unemployed, confused, and more relaxed than I've ever been is not. All the angst and worries about money and about self esteem and about changing careers (after 18 years of nursing) and leaving what I know and moving toward a future that is uncertain and new...hmm, sounds like travelling. And like travel this new unemployed part of life (it will have been 3 months by the time I actually start working again...after 6 months on the road) is awesome and also full of struggles. Three months of not working and being at home watching the days get longer and the temperature slowly rise is a lot different than 3 months on the road. Lots of time (too much) for naval gazing and wondering what it's all about. Yet I recommend it to anyone. It amazes me how much time and energy we spend around our work. When we don't have work (and this is important...nor a TV) the day opens to an empty canvas of opportunity. What do we do with all the time? How do we want to spend our life energy? What have I done with this opportunity?
1) Catching up on Season 2 of 'LOST' . I know we're into season 3 but I have no TV. And to hell with the naval lint, I want to know what Locke's obsession with the hatch is and sure Sawyer is hot but I hope Kate hooks up with Jack even though he can be such a jerk sometimes.
2)Surfing the internet like I'll find something worth looking at while knowing there isn't but looking anyway...like at the headline news which leads to looking up factoids that you have no interest in like the Mariners' standings in the AL West division.
3)Avoiding writing in this blog like avoiding an acquaintance who has left you a message and wants you to call back but you don't because the guilt you have for not calling back is weaker than the desire to not call back even though it would enable you to delete their message from your answering machine. So I avoid and yet I want to write. I like to write. I like the image of being a writer and romanticise being a writer. A new Thoreau on a small island in the NW with scarf waving in the cold wind around my neck , a modern day Hemingway doing battle with a bike instead of a fish or a bull. Or even a Dave Barry or David Sedaris will do...knowing that people will read this and laugh and say to their friends "Oh my god, have you read James' blog entry today? He's so funny and talented I wish I could meet him...maybe he could give our commencement speech next year". That sort of thing.
4)Catching up on sex
5)Riding my bike in circles around the island
6)Gardening. This will be a whole blog entry someday as it is one of the most rewarding things I've done since getting home (except for watching LOST). There is nothing like getting your hands dirty and clearing a plot of land and preparing the soil and picking out what you want to grow and planting the seeds and watering and watching their little leaves poke out while contemplating the mystery of life and how it and the food it will produce can come from a little seed. OK, so maybe parenting comes in a close second but since I don't have kids I am guessing gardening is more rewarding by far. I am proud of all the new accomplishments of my babies...like when they first sprout or when they drop those cute little first leaves that poke up from the soil and differentiate into tomato or pea or basil plants that they are supposed to grow into. The hard lessons of life like transplanting and thinning only seem to make them stronger!

So here we go. Another adventure in writing and blogging and blabbing. The domestic blog until next winter when I go to India and can feel all adventurous again...although this time with the love of my life Sheryl...who you will get to meet soon enough...hold on sweetie.