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It is remarkable how quickly I slipped back into my common routine upon returning home.

The weeks that my lovely wife and I spent gallivanting through the middle of the country had us living out of our suitcases and relocating every few days--with the exception of the time spent fishing in Arkansas, where we got to stay more or less in one spot for a good three days.  It was very good to see and spend time with our families, but it was also exhausting to spend so much of our time in transit--especially given some of the difficulties we faced getting around, what with vehicle problems, flights being rescheduled, and hour after hour of ass-in-the-seat dragging.

I used to spend a lot of time in the driver's seat of a car, commuting to school and delivering pizzas and shooting back and forth between graduate school and my parents' house every couple of months.  It used to not be a problem.

Anyway, being disconnected from my usual life for a time seems to have helped; I returned to New York City refreshed and ready to begin anew.  Indeed, I have already returned to work, if only lightly, on the dissertation and some of my upcoming conference activities.  I have gone to the dojo to get tossed around by people who are not exactly young.   And I am going to fire up the grill for friends tomorrow, weather permitting.

If it does not, I will do something else that will still be quite interesting.

In each of these, I feel myself returning to my "normal" life.  I like that life quite a bit; it is a good one, relatively free from troubles (so that I have the time to focus on annoyances), and it lets me do things that I find enjoyable.  So I suppose it is a good thing.