It appears that I am on a farm...

A wrap up of what went on in Portland for the twenty hours I was in the city. Not nearly long enough. I will be going back there, regardless of what the future holds.

The only landscape shots I'll trouble you with, though I took plenty more:



VooDoo donuts, and the infamous maple bacon log:





Powell's Books. Worth moving to this town, just for this place. I spent an hour here...OK two...three maybe, and if I hadn't been on my very best behavior I might well have bankrupted myself:



This made me smile, in a nerdy(I'm not a hippie, damn it!) sort of way:


I went to the Rogue brewery and distillery; I hadn't realized that they started working with spirits, but I skipped trying any, given that I'm not J, and wouldn't be able to recognize a fine gin if it bit me on the butt. I walked around a lot, and rode a bus, and generally enjoyed as much as I could cram in, in the short time I was there.

The drive the next day was easy, and relaxed even though since the trip was mostly around the perimeter of Olympic nation park it rained, a steady drizzle, almost constantly. It was beautiful, perhaps the greenest place I've ever been. I arrived at the farm, and it was not quite what I was expecting, but given some hard work, we're going to get this place in tip top shape before I know it. It will be exceptionally hard work, but the rewards will be well worth it.

I'll probably wait until I've done a couple of days worth of work before doing a post about life on the farm, but I'll leave you with one ridiculous image, and insist that you all feel free to make fun, harass, and otherwise denigrate me all you wish, in the comments.

I am in Portland, and I am in love...

My view from the car window as I left Grandma and Saba's yesterday.

This place, this state, this city, are too cool for words. So I'll not even try. After a long day driving yesterday, I had a short one today, and now I'm going to relax, and go see what I can of this cool new place, and enjoy myself. Some pictures for your amusement.







A brief anecdote from yesterday, and then I'm off. I stopped to pump gas in LA, at the very end of Sunset Boulevard, which made me think of Miah. I pumped the gas, and saw that my total was exactly seventy five dollars. I thought to myself, that'll never happen again, only that afternoon, I pumped my gas, in the middle of the desert in the middle of the vast expanse that it California, and my total? That's right.

I don't know the best way to express how much I love this place, or Grandma Pooh and Saba. La Jolla has always held a special place in my heart, and their home is without a doubt my favorite place on the planet. Whenever I'm here, I feel at peace, and I know J and Rach, feel exactly the same way. I'm always so happy to arrive, and so sad to leave, but leave I must. I'm on a journey, and perhaps, I'll be back this way sooner, rather than later. I'll do another series of journal excerpts since I chose not to do daily posts while I was here, but even if I were to paste them here in their entirety they could never hope to capture the joy I've felt while I was here.

On dinner and a show, Friday night:

There was salmon, topped with diced fennel and fronds, a little Riesling, and baked in a packet, en papillote style. There were big fat spears of local asparagus, perfectly ripe, and delicious, especially when dipped in the dill mayo, served with the salmon. Boiled potatoes with butter and parsley, and, thank you god and Ruth, apple crisp for desert. It was a perfect meal. As delicious as any I've ever, or likely will ever, have. It left me feeling satisfied in places other than my belly is what I'm trying, so ham-handedly, to say. After dinner we loaded into the car, and headed over to the neurosciences institute for a concert, a Mozart duo for violin and viola, which while not thrilling, had a nice second movement. The middle piece was a Schubert trio, which to be perfectly frank, was a little boring, except for one piece, in the second movement where the cello took the lead, and the other two strings played off the theme. The final piece was a Beethoven string trio, and it was magnificent. Exciting, and beautifully performed.

On Opera and expectations:

It(La Traviata) was quite an experience, not really what I was expecting, and I while the first act didn't grab me, after that it picked up, and I rather enjoyed the rest of it. More than I had hoped to. The music was lovely, and the woman who played the part of Violetta was amazing. Oddly enough I found myself humming snatches of the music to myself for the rest of the day. Like most opera, I assume, it had it's funny moments, but was after all a tragedy, and ended poorly for all involved.

At the opera I met the Gulls, Einar and Sally, good friends of Grandma and Saba, they were fascinating folks, and I would have enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them better.

It's Monday evening, and I've been driving pretty much non-stop since ten this morning. I haven't made it nearly as far as I'd have liked, but I'm going to drive for another hour or so, before I crash for the night. I made some poor navigational decisions earlier, and am now in a position to make some choices about the course of my trip. I want to drive through San Fransisco, but that will involve logistical challenges. Maybe I'll do it, and damn the troubles.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Grandma and Saba for putting me up, and for supporting me, and I can't wait to see you both again in September at Rachel's Wedding. I love you all, and I'm really excited. I'm almost there.

We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the Desert...

What a great day. Beginning to end, a series of experiences I wish wouldn't end. I woke up in Vegas this morning, and did my daily writing quota, and the Fern and her daughter Carly took me out to see what little we could manage to, given the fact that I was only in town for half a day. It was nice to get up, and to be able to relax for a little while instead of getting straight onto the road. They took me to the Bellagio, to see the Chihuly ceiling and the arboretum, both of which were quite impressive. Then we walked over to Caesar's palace, and had lunch at Mesa grill. It was really tasty.

All too soon it was time for me to leave, but I really wished I would have been able to spend some more time there getting to know everybody. I want to thank them all for their hospitality, for putting me up on essentially no notice, and for taking such good care of me while I was there. I felt really welcome, and it was all I could have hoped for in a brief Vegas interlude. I can't wait to go back.

I hit the road, drove south and west, and was in California in no time at all. The drive today was so much shorter than any of the other day's I've had that it was inherently more pleasant. Even stuck in California evening rush hour, wasn't that bad, relatively speaking. I arrived at Grandma and Saba's house at about eight, and Grandma was putting the finishing touches on dinner, and what a joy it is to be here. I really love this place, like no other on Earth, and it really is an inherently relaxing place for me.

This will probably be the last blog post until I get back on the road, on Monday, because I'm going to take these last few days to really enjoy myself, and to relax, before the final push, and then the work will begin in earnest. I'll still be keeping up with my journal, so I'll share anything fun and exciting with you all when I return.

Oh, and I did indeed stop in Barstow to get gas, because really, I'm a big nerd, and how could I resist?

With apologies for the interruption of service...

Wow, I was down yesterday. I am more optimistic, and hopeful today, and I fully well plan on ensuring that I enjoy this leg of the journey more than yesterdays. I'm not sure exactly what made it more miserable, but think it was probably entirely a matter of attitude. I was high strung, and to properly experience a journey like this one I think you must go at it from a place of acceptance. Yesterday i fought what came my way, and today I'll just allow it to happen. I have no plans for adventures, but if they come up I'll ride with it.So I'm at my first stop for the day, and what a difference a day can make. I've had a lovely morning. Colorado is beautiful. Even more majestic than I had imagined. The only thing I'll say on the subject is that it seems as though this place was designed as a reward for those who managed to successfully make it through Nebraska. The driving is slow going, the mountains are huge, and an eight percent downgrade is massively steep. I have no doubt my gas mileage is even worse in this terrain than it is normally. C'est la vie.

One thing I've noticed, and I'm aware that this is a superficial outsiders impression, but it seems that this place has no middle class, or at least has no visible place to store them. The only housing I've seen are trailers and hovels for the poor, and lodges and chateaus for the ultra-riche, and oddly enough it seems perfectly suited to the area.Well, I had an eventful afternoon and evening, after writing the first part of this post. I finished driving through Colorado, and it was magnificient, but shorter than I thought it would be. The biggest surprise of the trip so far has turned out to be how much i enjoyed driving through Utah. It was surprisingly beautiful, stark and unforgiving, open and empty, in places. It was a land of desert and mountains, and in the course of the afternoon I saw the sun, and the rain, and the snow. I loved every minute of it. I post just a few of my favorite pics, but you have to understand that photography has not, and won't be my primary concern on this trip.


It was while driving through Utah, that i had a revelation of sorts. As evening began to fall I saw a sign. An actual sign, thank you very much. It said that I was just over two hundred miles from Las Vegas, and I thought to myself that it would be really cool if I could make it that far, but realized from a practicality standpoint it just wouldn't work. That's when it happened. Connections in my brain re-jiggered themselves in a way that made it make sense.

Mindy's best friend Fern lives in Las Vegas. Mindy is totally supportive of this journey of mine, and will do anything she can to make it a better experience for me, of this I have no doubt, and sure enough, one brief phone call later, and I had a destination. There is nothing better to motivate oneself, I've found. I drove on into the night, not stopping, making my way through the rest of Utah, which I reluctantly said goodbye to. Into Arizona, and almost literally, ten minutes later out of Arizona into Nevada.

I don't think I really mentioned this earlier, maybe I touched on it, but I feel it's a salient fact, and okay to reiterate. I love the mountains, they are my biome of choice, generally speaking, but hiking, or observing them from a distance as things of beauty to appreciate, is very different from driving down them in a tottering, top-heavy van, as wide as a semi. So it came as a relief when I finished my final descent from Rockies, and into what i presume was the desert of Nevada, but having driven through it at eighty miles an hour in the dark, I couldn't say for sure.

It's true what they say; even from seventy-five or eighty miles away, you can see Vegas visibly lightening the sky, and it was a welcome sight, to say the least. When I began to descend into the valley, with all the lights stretched out as far as the eyes could see, it was like a triumph. It's odd how affecting the little victories can be. I might well have whooped aloud in the car, in sheer joy, over the brilliance of the day I had just experienced.

Many thank yous to Mark and Fern for allowing me to show up at their house, in the middle of the night; I mean it, it was really late, and for greeting me some warmly and welcoming-ly. They made me feel right at home, and they fed me, and beer-ed me, and made me up a room in which to rest my weary head. I am immeasurably grateful for their hospitality.

So here am I in Vegas, and I'm going to enjoy myself for a couple of hours before I get back on the road for the last leg of this part of the journey. La Jolla, here I come.

Long days and pleasant nights

I had a very interesting day. Long. I wrote a blog post, and published it, and you may have read it, but then I deleted it. It just didn't read true to me, not that any of it wasn't true, but it seemed forced, and I'd rather wait until I'm ready to relate the things I talked about, rather than doing so out of some sense of obligation.

I drove through three states today, and I got my first speeding ticket ever. There was a minor debacle at a gas station, and I gave in and got a hotel room. The next Wal-Mart was too far away for me to make it there safely, and at this point I could use a shower anyway. I'm going to shower now, and then sleep, then I'll be back onto the road well before the sun is in the sky. If I'm feeling more optimistic tomorrow, I'll try and do a more complete post, but for now, just know that I'm alive and well, and I love you all.

On the road again...

DC was incredible, as it always is. I simply love getting to see J, and spending time in that city, which I've grown to love as well, is always a pleasure for me. Here are a few excerpts from my journal about the time I spent there, as always if you have any questions, please leave them in the comments, and I'll get to them as best as I can.

From Thursday:

I checked out an exhibit in the National Portrait Gallery about The Running Fence, this cool art installation done in northern California for two weeks in the seventies. If I ever have time I'd like to find out who catered the meal that they held to convince all the ranchers to allow them to build this piece of temporary insanity on their properties. It was especially fascinating in that they managed to convince all these people to be a part of this big huge group hallucination, that lasted for two weeks, and then was gone, save for the impact it made in the lives of everyone who participated, or got to see it, or even people like me, learning about it decades later.

Also on Thursday, while glombing WiFi at a coffee shop I found out that there was a show that night, an indie rock/pop act by the name of Owen Pallet. He plays the violin, and uses a whole battery of loop petals to create really beautiful complex music, all by his lonesome. It was a cool show, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, though I'm sure the music would not be to most people's taste.

From Friday:

I went to the air and space museum; when we were kids it was my favorite. I thought it was named, if not for me, then at least the same as me. It was not my favorite as an adult. Like the natural history museum, it just seems a better environment for children, which is cool, and absolutely what they are meant to be, but I kind of wish there was a way to amuse adults as much as the young burgeoning scientists and engineers.

I also saw another indie rock show that night, one that I had been looking forward to, before I even left on this trip. It was amazing, and I'm not even going to try and convey the sheer energy of the band I was there to see, but I will quote these snippets about the night as a whole:

I really liked the first band, good personality, fun music, and great repartee with the crowd, but after their set, when I went looking for merch, the table was bare. It was weird. Here I was, ready to shell out hard earned dollars for a CD, and there wasn't one. The guy had made a bunch of anti-commercial statements during the set, and had talked about how great the venue was for allowing them to do a show, that really was all about the music, and I guess they actually meant it. Also, as an aside, there was no beer at the show, which was actually kind of cool, save for the few who thought it meant they had to get drunk before the show, thus ensuring that they were on their worst behavior the whole time.

And after the show:

I followed the crowd back to the metro station, the area being more obviously pre-gentrification at night (it hadn't seemed so bad in the light of day). The young black folks on the street corners bewildered at the chain of young white folks stretching into the night.

And to finish off Friday:

I made a late night impromptu pizza out of a quarter of the baguette dough, and given the thrown together nature of the thing it was pretty fantastic. Sauteed onions and yellow peppers, little cheese, couple of slices of torn up salumi toscana from J's friend in VA, and a couple of handfuls of spinach dumped on at the end.

Saturday was relatively low-key. I hit up a few art museums, the Freer and the Hirshorn, and then I ate a fabulous meal, that J ordered for me at Rasika. If any of you ever get the chance, go see J at the restaurant, and get the spinach, it's so good.

Sunday was bittersweet, but it was such a good day, that any sense of regret that the DC part opf my trip was coming to an end was completely quashed. Me and J went to a trio of markets in the morning, and then i got to meet Sarah, in the evening. She was perfectly lovely, and as pretty as he has always said. I really enjoyed meeting her, and she seemed like a really great person, and great for him. I look forward to getting to spend more time with them in the future.

We ate at Central, and it was a great meal, everything I expected. I'm not going to do a full run down, because that would take forever, and the barista is fixing me with a baleful stare for sitting in her coffee shop, and doing all of my writing for the day.

I've got to go, and get back on the road, but I'll try and keep the updates coming, so that you can all keep up with any adventures I might have. Once more, let me reiterate, that I love you all, and I treasure the support you've all shown, and I can't wait to get out to California to see Grandma Pooh and Saba.

Journey Day One

In retrospect I shouldn't be surprised by the fact that the journey didn't go exactly as I anticipated it. Here's what I wrote yesterday about the trip.

I arrived safely at my first stop, the Minister's Treehouse, on Beehive Lane, outside Crossville, Tennessee. I have pictures, but they can't possibly do this place justice. I'm typing this sitting in the back of the van, and looking out the window out the house, and I can't even imagine the thought processes that must have gone through this man's mind, the conviction that he was speaking to god. Fanaticism surely, but at least it was a madness of creation rather than destruction.

This is the treehouse:
This is me standing in front of the curious place, picture taken by a random stranger also there to revel in the madness of it all:


A picture I took with the van in the foreground, looking polleny, but none the worse for wear:


The rest of the shots, included my autograph on one of the supports for the bell tower, which in case you were wondering, does indeed have bells. I have more pictures, some really nice, but will worry about getting them all posted, later:



I find I don't have much to say. It all feels too pithy, and snarky, and that's not what I'm feeling. Thoroughly enjoying this, now that I've gotten out onto the road. I've already had a few missteps, and I think the Garmin doesn't like me, but I'll prevail in the end. I'm going to break for lunch now, and then get back onto the road. Been taking pictures, but will probably not post most of them. In order to remind to experience the journey rather than compulsively document it.

I have had naught to eat today but bread. Perhaps my planning has been a little lacking. I'm not entirely certain what I'm going to do when I get to the airport, or how I'm supposed to bring my stuff with me to the condo, but I suppose these little details are all manageable. I need to get back on the road. I'm already running later than I'd like. Listening to American gods, which is fucking perfect atmosphere for the journey I'm on.

I'm not going to mention the natural beauty, because I don't have the words to do it justice, and besides, if you want to see what I've seen, that would be easy enough to arrange.

Well, that took a lot longer than I'd anticipated. I cannot get the network to work, and am incapable of fretting over it. I'll worry about it later, perhaps in the morning. The only thing I really have to add to the two bits I wrote earlier boils down to two simple things. If you've ever got the opportunity to drive through the Shenendoah valley during sunset, you fucking go for it. The second is more prosaic. I had two incidents today. Hardly disasters, but certainly mishaps.

The first resulted after I attempted to toast a slice of bread on the camp stove, with mediocre results. I removed the camp toaster from the stove, and like a jackass, put it down on the floor of the van promptly burning a crop circle into the carpet. Woops. I'll upload a photo on Monday when I'm setting off on the second leg of my journey. This confirms the need for a wash basin, if only to have a place for hot things to be doused in water and rendered not so hot. My first order of business after my departure on Monday will have to be a shopping trip in the suburbs.

The second incident came just after I arrived. Needless to say after fourteen odd hours in the car, I was ready to be on my way, and in my hurry to leave the car neat, but untempting for would be thieves I managed to install a make shift burglary defense, when I managed to break the glass of one of the two framed pieces of art I brought with me. I believe I already said it once, but whoops. So when i pick up that wash basin I'll need to pick up a trash can as well in order to dispose of the hundreds of shards of broken glass which now coat the floor of the van.

Despite those two kerfluffles I'm in high spirits. Excited to be here. All I want to do is close this laptop, and hit the streets, which is exactly what I'm going to do.

It was a good day, and I'm glad it went the way it did. It seemed surreal to finally be doing what I've planned for so long, and I mean that in the original sense of the word: Super-Real. I actually jumped up and down like a little girl when I got to the condo, and I feel like jumping up and down now. Only I'm in a coffee shop glombing WiFi, and it seems inappropriate. On the docket for today? I'm going to get my writing done, and I'm going to check out the venue of the show I'm going to see on Friday night, and then maybe a museum or two. I love life.

...And we're off!

It's funny. This is the second time I'm sitting down to write this post. The first time seemed just fine when i wrote it, but now, in retrospect it seems hollow, and utterly false. We can't have that. Can we? What's the point of keeping a record if you fail to do so as honestly as you're able.

I'm excited. Have no doubt. It's time for this journey to begin, but I find myself oddly sad to be leaving. Not just the people. I'll miss you all, and saying goodbye to you, was much harder than I thought it would be. Even though I'll see you all in September it seems likely that none of us will be the same people then, that we are now. I'm sure I won't be.

This is the scariest thing I've ever done, and while I know, esoterically, that it's a good thing, that doesn't change the fact that my self-preservation circuits are screaming out for me to stop, to stay here, to chicken out, and go back to the drudgery of a safe existence that brings no real challenges, and no real chance at true happiness.

I can't do that.

It's too late for that Aaron. He's already dead, and though I'm sad to be leaving this life, and you all behind, I am truly excited about the possibilities that lay ahead. It's probably for the best that I'm going to have several stops along the way where I'll be able to recharge, and see people I love, because I have a feeling that I'm going to need it.

I leave in the morning. I'm going to leave later than I originally planned, so that I can see Miguel and Mindy one last time before I go. I want to reiterate how much your love and support has meant to me through all of this, and especially now. I may add more to this in the morning, but I have a feeling that I won't. I'll let this stay as it stands, a testament to the journey, and more importantly to the fear of the unknown that we all know so well.

I'll have a pantry, to go, please.

I am packed. All that remains to be done is to gather the last of the ancillary items, and to load up a cooler tomorrow morning, and then I'm off. I can't really convey how excited I am about this. It's both scary and exhilarating at the same time. My itinerary for tomorrow is simple. I'll leave as early in the morning as I can manage. Seven at the latest, and drive north towards Crossville, Tennessee. This isn't on the normal route to DC from Atlanta, but there is a thing I must see. A crazy thing. I'll blog about it soon enough, and we'll see if it was worth the detour. It just doesn't seem like you can take a cross country road trip without at least one or two side trips to see a mental thing.It's taken me three or four days to get everything ready to go, but at last I feel prepared. I have enough food to feed a small army, almost all of it dry pantry goods that will last forever. In the unlikely event that I'm knocked sideways into another universe, at least I'll know I have enough food to survive for quite some time.

This is my hardware bin. Pots, pans, baking supplies, and other thing I likely won't be using much on the road, but may well find myself needing when I get out to the farm:This is my dry goods storage, rice, and beans, seasonings, and other sundries. Lots of Asian ingredients, noodles, dried mushrooms, several soy products, and hot sauces. I have a hot sauce problem:
Next up we have the bins where I'll be storing the items I need the most. Cooking utensils, and my coffee and tea supplies. Spices and a working supply of some of my more common pantry items, rice and lentils and steel cut oatmeal, you know, stuff to make mush:


Last we have a shot of the whole kit, laid out so that I may survey all I'm bringing with me. Not really. This doesn't include my box of books and DVDs, or my clothes, but realistically speaking, this is most of it:


By this time tomorrow I'll be on the road, and my journey will be begun. I'm excited, and though I'm sure it will go by faster than I'd like, you can rest assured I will do everything within my power to be in the moment the whole time, to really appreciate the opportunities that present themselves, and to not miss anything that can't be avoided.

F1rst P0st!!1! (aren't I clever)

My name's Aaron Strich, and I'm aware that introducing myself on a blog that will be ignored by everyone on the internet, save those who already know and love me is superfluous. My blog, and I'll do it my way. I'm about to embark on a journey across the country to learn about myself, to figure out what it is that I want to do with my life. Though it isn't my only purpose, and it's mostly an unfunny joke, we will see if we can't answer that age old question: "Is Aaron a Farmer?"

I'm a writer, and you'll note I chose that word rather than author, since as yet, I'm unpublished. One day that may change, but I'm not convinced that will be a career that will sustain me in and of itself, but that doesn't mean that I have to settle, and do a job I hate, or even one that's simply dissatisfying to pay the bills. I believe I can find something, or more likely a combination of things that will allow me to live a life that I find both satisfying and enjoyable.

That's what I'm setting out to discover, what exactly such a life might entail. I'm going to Port Angeles, Washington. I leave this coming Wednesday, and I've got a few stops to make on the way, but soon enough, by the end of the month, I'll be on the Johnston Family Farm, as their newest intern. I'll spend the next six months learning what they do, and whether I have what it takes to make farming a part of my life. I know that it will be hard work. Physically speaking it will be as hard as anything I've ever done, but physical labor doesn't worry me; neither do long hours, nor small paychecks.

This blog isn't meant to be a chronicle of my journey, and it's not a way for me to practice my writing, though it will end up accomplishing those two thing as a side effect of it's true purpose, which is nothing more or less than keeping in touch with my family while I'm gone. I don't want the people that I love to think that I've forgotten them, and I want you all to know that you're in thoughts, and I miss you, and I can't wait to see you again.

My journey begins on Wednesday, as I said, I'll drive from North Georgia to Washington DC, to see my younger brother J, which is what I'll refer to him as, since that's his name. That was meant to be a sarcastic witticism, did that come across? Someone needs to go on ahead and work out a series of internet diacritical marks to indicate sarcasm, irony, bon mots, and witticism, as well as one for indicating when someone is pretending to be funny, but is really just being a dick. Well that was an unnecessary aside, wasn't it? As I said, my blog...

I'll spend a couple of days in our nation's capital visiting J, maybe hit up a museum or three, and eat a few good meals before venturing across the nation in a big green dodge van with nothing more than a pantry full of rice and beans, my cooking equipment, some clothes, and a good book or three(actually it's closer to twenty, but what can I say, I like to read). I'll then visit my grandparents in La Jolla. It's been over a year since I've seen my Grandma Pooh, or Saba, and I miss them both greatly.

After that it's a straight shot up the coast to the upper corner of the country where I'll make my home for the next half a year, while I learn about growing vegetables, and raising chickens and hogs. It should be most educational, and I'm really excited to begin my adventure. That's is what it is, in the end. Nothing more or less than an actual adventure, and even if I were to fail miserably, at least I'll know that I willingly took the scary path, the proverbial road less traveled, and no one will ever be able to take that away from me.

I'd like to take this chance to thank all of family for being supportive, even though I know some of you think I'm crazy; I won't try and convince you otherwise, especially given the fact that I don't entirely disagree. Mom, Grandma, I'm looking at you. Becca, Ashley, Matt, I'll miss reading to you every Thursday, but depending on the state of the internet access we'll try and work something out. I want you all to know that I'll be checking here, and you can always leave a comment, or gasp, twenty-first century, call me. Rachel and Tom, I'll be back for your wedding in September, and I can't wait to see the two of you formalize what we've all already known.

Lastly, but of course not least, Dad, Mindy, Thank you so much for all your support in this. Thank you for allowing me the chance to save, and prepare for this, and thank you, not only for allowing it, but actively encouraging it. I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for you, and I'm grateful.

I'm not certain how often I'll be updating this; I'm going to be incredibly busy, after all, and in addition to farm work there are still stories for me to tell. I'm going to be setting up a place for you to keep track of anything on that front as well, though kids, it'll probably be best if you pay close attention to any NSFW(not safe for work, i.e. children)tags that pop up. I write everyday, and I'll continue to do so, regardless of how exhausted I will undoubtedly be. I'll keep writing, and I'll keep submitting what I write, since that's the only path I can take that will allow me to improve at this thing I love to do.

I love you all, and to those of you I'm coming to visit, I can't wait to see. In the meantime, keep me in your thoughts, and rest assured that you'll be in mine.