Hello. I just have little thoughts to share today. Maybe I will have big ones later, but I need to learn to let myself say things in little chunks too. That's what this whole kooky blogging thing is about, right? Right.

~ Garage Sale is coming up, as Christine already mentioned. Pretty incredible how hard it is to part with possessions even if they're 'junk'. It's so hard not to think "But what if I need that..." or the even more insidious "But I've had that for years!" Such strange attachments we form to our stuff. I know very few people who do not idealize a exceedingly simplified, borderline ascetic lifestyle in some capacity, and yet the process of letting go of the things that you don't actually want still seems nigh on impossible. Silly humans. Well, a good old fashioned possession purge is in my near future. Wish me luck.

~ National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short) is November, and Christine and I and a handful of other friends are going to give it a shot. The notion is to slap down a 50,000 word story in the thirty days. I am setting a personal goal of 2000 words a day so that I have a little buffer if I can't get enough down in one day, or maybe even have some time to do a little editing at the end. Who knows. As I was telling a friend last night, I think the practice of forcing yourself to write a certain number of words everyday is an excellent goal for anyone - it doesn't have to all be one story, or even a story at all. Give it a shot, even for a day. And if that goes well, try another.

~ I feel like it is becoming more and more of a rare blessing these days for people to live in an actual home rather than just a house. I feel awed and honored and privileged that I can count myself among that number.

~ Also? Peanut butter is awesome.

-Ian