Life as I know it is simply not the same as it was at the beginning of June.

I have done precious little work in the past two months. Next to nothing, in fact. In essence, I've been on a long vacation. I've read three books and two graphic novels, played an awful lot of video games, and spent a good amount of time with friends. Haven't done much roleplaying, except for the online variety, which is making a comeback.

Haven't been earning any money, besides a few dollars here and there babysitting Jessica. I find myself poor once again.

At present, I sit up in Grass Valley, fairly isolated from the world I'm still adjusting to. Come to think of it, this is another part of the adjustment. Still waiting for the big rush of work to hit, and watering plants in the meantime. Doesn't sound like much, but you likely haven't seen the foliage up here.

More than usual, I've been fiending to go out on a date. Fiend is definitely the right word. Implies a certain diabolical influence. Perhaps that's not entirely fair, but I hardly feel like being fair when my heart is plotting its escape from my chest. In all honesty, it's only felt like that on a couple isolated occasions, but it's quite memorable. And, in the words of Metallica, the memory remains.

I'm laughing at myself a little, now.

At intervals, I've felt a sort of spiritual dryness lately. I feel as though God is asking something of me that I'm not quite ready to give. More of my time, or attention. Whatever it is, it's designed to deepen my trust in Jesus. That much I know. Kinda scary. Means I might have to do something odd that'll improve my life. Or someone else's.

On a somewhat related note, I'm slowly learning when it is necessary not to try to help a given situation. Slowly. All too often, trying too hard is like scrubbing porcelain with steel wool, saying What? Don't get mad at me! I was just trying to clean it! Ill advised, and unhelpful to the point of being destructive.

I'm kinda scared to pray to learn hard lessons quickly. God delivers an object lesson when He has to.

...I try to keep personal issues that involve other people vague on this blog. The Internet is hardly an appropriate place to air grievances, and a really easy place to start a fight. It's easy to say just about anything through faceless text, isn't it? I much prefer to discuss interpersonal issues face to face, or at least in real time, on the phone or through IM. Hurts more. More uncomfortable, too. Should be that way, so you get to the bottom of things instead of just saying what's easy to say.

Those readers who pray, pray that my heart and my mouth can come to terms in their relationship. I need an armed guard at my lips, blocking the worthless and ushering through what needs to be said.