(up)dat(e)

Things have been going really well, like superbly well. I've been trying to use adverbs ending in -ly as little as possible, finding them cumbersome to the flow of speech and offering no real value to describing the subject. If I've described any of that wrong, please forgive me. I can write grammatically correct sentences, but I can't tell you what I'm actually doing. Here's a string of note-worthies, an update of sorts:

(1) Life in Cincinnati's been good, I really have nothing to complain about. Living with some of my greatest friends, working at a legit coffee shop, doing lots of writing, and having lots of good times. Mandy asked me tonight if I was still feeling good about moving back to Cincinnati. "Absolutely." My decision's been reinforced again and again, and those days back in Dayton truly are fading like a half-remembered dream, as all our lives change and as the world spins faster. When I moved back to Dayton, it was the best decision to be made at that time; in my wisdom I chose that route, and in my wisdom I've chosen this route. And hopefully my wisdom (albeit weak and fledgling at times) will help carry me through. Nevertheless, dwelling on the future in hypnotic speculation serves no purpose but to instill fear, so let's brush that aside and be honest: I'm happy here, I'm glad I moved here, things are definitely looking up.

(2) My writing has been skyrocketing. I've written approximately 120 handwritten pages at trips to The Anchor, and I'm halfway done revising "Dwellers of the Night: Book Three" (a revision that, quite honestly, has to do more with style experimentation than anything else). I've been plunging my hands into a plethora of projects, some which have lied dormant for quite some time, and I'm taking seriously my pursuit of writing. More to be said on this at a later time, but take this away from it all: I've been writing, and I've been feeling alive. That's what writing does to me. I don't know why, I don't care to find out, and I don't care to squander it. Writing's not something I can hack from my life, and I want writing to become more and more a routine of discovery than anything else.

(3) Spiritually, things have continued going great. It's quite hard to explain in a simple noteworthy, so I'll leave the bulk of it for another time. Suffice it to say, I've been encouraged in my faith and strengthened in it as well, by the critical realists and logical thinkers who embrace Christianity and the cruelty of the world without flinching their muscles. Stoics to the nth degree. I firmly believe that there are different phases in the Christian life, and that many of us progress along similar paths mentally (manifesting them differently) as we wrestle with some of Christianity's darker corners. There's the phase of not knowing about these dark corners at all, and then there's the phase of knowing about them and not caring; then caring, but shoving them away to keep them (hopefully) out-of-sight and out-of-mind. Blessed are those who never know about these dark corners (for isn't ignorance bliss?), and blessed are those who care little about anything that actually matters (for the same reason). But for those who reach the point of tackling the dark corners head-on, there're a variety of different snaking paths available. I've found mine (or, in a sense, been guided into mine, either by God or a variety of environmental and influencing factors, who can ever really know), and I am confident that it's, at the lease, a decent path, because I want to pursue God more than ever, honor God more than ever, and conform to the pattern of Christ like never before. How can something lead to that and not be of God?

Coming up: a series of posts drawn straight from journal scribbling at The Anchor. I'm bearing my soul here, folks, for better or worse; and judge me or don't, I don't care, but please enjoy them and maybe relate to them. If I change my mind I'll just start a more personal blog post with a link. Since I know who visits this website, I know that I'm close friends with the vast majority, and I'm willing to be open and honest with such readers. The others, well, I stopped caring what people thought about me a long time ago (or so I tell myself), and I don't care if you read it (or so I tell myself). All humor aside (or attempt thereof), I'm not sure whether some posts will be posted here. But, be sure of this (and sure of nothing less): Anchor-scrawled blog posts are coming this way (disclaimer: in the next few days).

Damn. That's a lot of parentheses. And a stupid, useless disclaimer.

Should probably change that...

I'm going to smoke a cigarette and go to bed.