Hi World.
It is a cloudy Sunday morning in the Northwest. The weather has turned toward fall this weekend. It's supposed to rain today and tomorrow and be cooler. I'm not used to September being so hot, its been in the 80's and humid the last couple weeks. Kt and I are looking forward to rain (which we may regret in about two months) and maybe a thunderstorm or two. It is a strange thing to miss but we miss thunderstorms.

I spent a good part of my morning on the BCM Facebook page (yes it is still Bad) looking at their wall posts and remembering working there. It's strange looking back now and thinking about the good and bad times there. That place was such a big part of my life and my dissatisfaction with life and now it seems unimportant and almost like a dream, as if maybe it happened to someone else. I guess a couple months of context changes things especially if those months involve moving across the country and desperately needing a job. Now I listen to people at work complaining about similar things I would complain about and think how unimportant those things are and how I'm just happy to have a job. That may change as I get more settled into the job and the daily frustrations of it. My job now is fairly simple. We unload boxes of chips from Semi-trucks, stack them in the warehouse and later load them on other trucks to be distributed around the area. The only difficult thing about the job has been figuring out where everything goes, which I'm getting better at, and operating the worst computer program I have had the misfortune of using. Parts of the program are about 15 years old and still use the old DOS format. Its so old Microsoft had to write a DOS emulator to get the program to run on new Windows based computers because the old program couldn't talk to the new Windows programs. It is the most user unfriendly and SLOW program and computer combo I have ever used. My coworkers say it is better than it used to be though. Nevertheless I am glad I have a job and am making money. School is expensive! :)

Classes start Tuesday. I am only taking two classes; Chemistry 150 and Writing 121. Both basic level courses but I need them and it has been a long time since I have been in school. It should be a good term of refreshing those parts of my brain that haven't been used in a long time. I'm excited and a bit nervous. Kt has been great about encouraging me, telling me I will be great and kick schools ass.

As some of you probably noticed Kt is off Facebook and as I posted on my Facebook, I am thinking about getting rid of it altogether too. Lately it feels like Facebook has become a way of just barely staying in touch with other people without any effort or deep connection. It is possible to spend two hours online looking at pictures and reading updates without having any real idea of what is going on in a single persons head or life. A Facebook post saying happy birthday or congratulations seems like enough in the moment but is only the bare minimum of human contact. It feels hollow. We are still figuring out what it means to have long distance relationships with friends and family and I don't want my daily contact with the people I love to the bare minimum. I know I haven't been the best about keeping in touch with people, it has been hard being on our own. I don't think I really understood what it would be like to be so far away. Thinking about writing letters to people I love makes me feel lonely and sad so I have been avoiding it. I know that is antithetical to what I should do and I realize more everyday that I need real human contact with people that truly understand me. We are starting to make friends out here but I need people that know me well and understand what I think before I say it. Facebook does provide one good thing and that is pictures of friends and family. Especially nephews. Pictures are way more important that I ever expected. It is sooo good to see a picture of someone I love every once in a while. Sometimes it makes my heart hurt, but I need them. So if Facebook stays it will be for the pictures.

I have to go to work soon so I should sign off.
Love from Eugene.
Michael (and Kt)