The Myth & The Majesty

It was awful. Fine. It wasn’t all bad. I have a niece now. My job is pretty awesome. I like my residence fine. I … avoided all parking tickets? But wow, was there a lot of garbage in the meantime. An unexpected funeral for a friend who died decidedly too young. Family members in and out of (and back into) the hospital. And throughout the last third, the specter of cancer hanging over everything. While a part of me keeps saying, “There is no need to dwell on all the crap, Ashley,” the rest of me is almost too exhausted for optimism. 2020 has potential, yes. Buckets of potential. Oodles of it. 2020 is chaotic neutral staring us in the face. Switzerland with anger issues. Taunting us with its possibilities. RIP 2019. 2020... Please don't be a jerk.

.... Check this out.

How on earth do I start writing here again? I'm serious. I have a pile of partially written posts (many of which will never see the light of day, or only will if there are a dozen other changes in the world and/or my life) but for over a year now I've been absent. Okay, so my parenthetical explanation there might explain that year. A little. In the year since we last talked, there have been new jobs (yes, more than one), new apartments (yes, more than one... sort of) and friends have moved back and away. Birthday parties. Engagements. Hospital visits. Car repairs. Not many vacations. Hikes. Somewhere in there, sling backpacks became stylish. The third stage of the MCU reached its conclusion. Hopper might be stuck in Siberia. And I became an aunt, for crying out loud. (My niece is officially into the "adorable" stage now.) Through it all, I've had plenty to say and absolutely no desire to say it here. A month or so ago, I started to evaluate the why of...

Like this, except I'm waiting for Landsat imagery to load. Also, my chair doesn't roll.

Hillfolk! This is a thing! Tours, talks, activities, and all sorts of fun next Saturday (July 14). More information right here .

"Consider an adult who tends to the traumas of a child ... Children do not yet know that the world does not revolve around them. "As grown-ups, dare we admit to ourselves that we, too, have a collective immaturity of view? Dare we admit that our thoughts and behaviors spring from a belief that the world revolves around us? Apparently not. Yet evidence abounds. Part the curtains of racial, ethnic, religious, national and cultural conflicts, and you find the human ego turning the knobs and pulling the levers."

As usual, thanks, Randall Munroe .