TOA is in a familiar place, an increasingly common one over the past two years - I return with an explanation for my absence and a loosely defined plan for the future, though of course we know I'll stick to the course for a few weeks before suddenly dropping away again. I recently heard someone say that history doesn't necessarily repeat itself, but it rhymes. I wonder if this person is a subscriber (or perhaps I should say, was a subscriber).
But here I am, back again, with enough on my mind to give it another go. As the cobwebs fall from my fingers and befriend the months-old dust caking my keyboard, I find myself pondering where to begin. A few developments on topics familiar to longtime readers are crying out for new writing - thoughts on reading, racism, and work (I wanted to write "overwork" here but the Business Bro mocked me). There have also been some odd developments that may interest you, bored reader - I had a post taken down, for example, and I finally took a COVID test (just in time for the end of the emergency declaration). I could also revisit that folder ominously labelled "drafts" - half-written posts based on quarter-baked ideas, their unfulfilled promise undermined by the fact that this folder reminds me how so much of what I try ends in failure. Do I dare write another sentence about running?
Those thoughts - for me to clarify into writing so that you readers can suffer - are for another day. Today is just the first day back, a feeling that may be familiar to all from your school days ("how was your summer?") where you attend classes like normal but without the expectation of performance. I admit that despite hating the fact of returning here with increasing frequency I've come to enjoy the simple pleasure of easing back into the flow of writing. And like with any fresh start, optimism induces an unexplainable amnesia - the C+ student aspires for the honor roll, the career minor leaguer dreams of the big leagues, the hiker looks to the summit and says this time, this time, I'll keep going.
