Saturday, August 13, 2011

Some thoughts...

So I never got to that "later this week" travel post that I mentioned last time I wrote here.  Nor did I cover the packing lists for any of the other trips I made in the past year or the three trips (Norway - amazing, Amsterdam - pretty cool, Killarney - lovely) I've gone on in the past couple of weeks.

The reason for this is pretty simple:  I didn't like what I did with the last post.  It didn't feel genuine or very useful.  And when I don't like something I've done, I, like most people, pretend that I haven't done it.

The packing list posts that I was so enthusiastic about a bit ago will not happen.  Will I still do the traveling on budget airlines post to round out the whole travel-blog-living-in-Europe bit?  Yes.  Will this blog continue on much after that?  Probably not.  It is likely that it will be abandoned to the lonely world of the interwebz for those occasional expat-blog.com users to find until some point in the future when I will probably rediscover it and feel inspired by new adventures to add something to it.

When I look back at what I've written in the past year, there are certainly posts that make me happy and that I am proud of, particular phrases that I fall in love with when I read them (yep, I fall in love with my own words, it's cool).  It's just that I don't get that warm, fuzzy feeling when I think about writing something new here, and blogging for fun should be just that - fun.

I have four weeks left here in Ireland, and it is likely that after that, I will not be returning to Europe again for several years.  Which feels a little strange, since I've come to Europe every year since 2006.  There are still a few places that I need to visit (Greece, Istanbul, southern France), but those will have to wait. It's not that I won't be traveling, I just need to do so in some new places, both near and far from home.

I will also still be writing, just not in this location.  At this point, I want to just write for me for a while.  Sometime tomorrow evening/early Monday morning I will be submitting my Master's thesis to be printed and bound, and after creating a 100+ page document with only my examiners' approval in mind, I feel like it's time to get back to me.

So there it is, my thoughts as they stand late at night in the final throes of thesis agony (that may sound a bit extreme, but this really has reached the point of physical pain - I have managed to sprain my wrist through overuse and unhealthy typing positions).  Expect a post sometime in the next 4 weeks about the joys of Ryanair and Easyjet, and after that, it'll be back to the desert for me.

P.S.-Just realized that tomorrow is my blog's birthday!  A perfect time for reflection, yes?