Hello...It's Me, Distracted

Why hello everyone...long time, no write.  Forgive me Lord, it's been three months since my last post...  

I miss writing!  There have been so many distractions in my life lately that have gotten in the way of writing.  Besides, the inspiration just hasn't been there.  Hopefully, this'll get me going.  At this point in my story, I don't even know what I'm about to write, but here goes...

The Move

The last time I posted anything here, I was preparing to move out of the house after selling it.  Well, that was three months ago and I am all about the new place these days.  I really lucked out in the end...selling so quickly and finding a comparable (and hella cool!) spot to call home.  

I'm now living in the village of Patchogue, about a mile from my old house, which is probably the best place I could have found myself.  I always wanted to live a city life, and this is about as close as I can get to that out here on Long Island.  

For those of you not from these parts, the village of Patchogue is a former major shopping destination turned neglected, depressed area turned revitalized minitropolis about twenty years ago, give or take.  It is today the most popular spot on this sprawling 118 mile island, with trendy bars and restaurants, cool housing, fun events, and shopping, too.  I am just outside of the main district, and also about 1/4 mile from the water...both great for walking.

Alive After Five in Patchogue

I mentioned above the hella cool spot I'm living in.  Well yeah, the square footage is comparable to my old place and it's one of five apartments in a big, old, Victorian house.  Lots and lots of character, plenty of space and tons of windows to make it bright and airy.  Here's a photo of my living room that I just took:

Nice, right?  I could post more, but the only ones I already have are a little light on the furniture, and it's too dark to take any more now.  Maybe when I take some new, homey ones, I'll share.  So this has been one of my distractions, but it's brought me to a happier place.  

Him

Yeah, so there's a him in my life.  For a change.  For the first time in a very very long time, there is a him.  And almost six months now, too!  Who'd have thought?  Not me.  Anyway, out of respect for his privacy, I won't say much about him except that he is a beautiful person both inside and out and for him to even have gotten this far into my life, he's got to be a special one.  Again, distraction, but also, a happier place!    

Professoring

It still feels weird for me to say that I am a professor at a well-known university, but it's already been three years now that I've been doing it.  It's weird where life takes you, almost as if I've just naturally grown into the type of person who can do this, but let me tell you, even though my teaching life made me well-prepared for it, professoring is hard!  I must be decent at it because they keep asking me to do more and more at the university and I am very conflicted about it.  

Currently I am teaching a brand new class, which causes me about ten hours of work per week outside the three-hour class.  And I've been asked to teach three more for the remainder of the school year.  Ugh!  But how do you turn down the money?  Teaching college classes helps afford me the opportunity to enjoy the summer without work and I have to keep telling myself that, but this is probably the biggest distraction of all, and it doesn't make me a happier!  Double ugh!    

The United States of America

The one, overarching distraction lately is the amount of attention I give and its resulting dismay I feel about the state of our country.  Multiple times a day, I follow news feeds on Twitter, watch news bytes on YouTube, and read news articles, all feeding into what I feel is this dark, ominous cloud hanging over all of our heads.  It's quite maddening all of the crap I see out there, and it makes me afraid for our future.  I'm scared to see how this craziness ends, and I could write pages and pages on this, but I'm going to leave this right here...for now.  

Well okay, I think we've got a post.  Hopefully I'll be around again sooner rather than later.  Lots of stuff inside my head!  I just have to learn to work around those distractions...  As always, thanks for checking me out.