I'm Baaaaack!

Yes, I am now back in front of my own computer in my own home, and I'm pleased to report that I had an uneventful flight back, and that I arrived to find my house still standing and my cats alive and well and hopefully not too awfully pissed off at me. I also found 435 e-mails waiting in my inbox, which was actually rather less than I was expecting. And 22 messages on my answering machine, 19 of which were telemarketers calling and hanging up, and 2 of which were telemarketers who actually had the unmitigated audacity to leave messages. But my thoughts on that matter aren't printable, even by my standards.

Anyway. I'm not gonna go on very much longer, because I'm tired and hungry and very much need to spend some quality time with the kitties, not to mention unpacking and suchlike. But I will mention one thing that really, really struck me on this trip: it didn't feel like going home. Oh, sure, lots of my family is there, and seeing them was great, but New Jersey itself just doesn't feel like home anymore. Not even in a nostalgic sort of way. Hell, it doesn't even feel like a place that used to be home, which is kind of odd. It's just... a place. And not even a particularly great one in many ways (although the autumn leaves were definitely very pretty). The converse of that, I suppose, is that sometime, when I wasn't looking, New Mexico somehow became "home." That wasn't something I ever really intended to happen, but I suppose it shouldn't be too surprising. I've been here for 13 years now, more or less my entire adult life. It's really no wonder coming back here feels... comfortable.

Anyway, never mind all that. The point is: I'm back, and normal blog service should now be resuming. You can all let out that collective breath you've been holding!