I feel like I’ve been busy lately. I’ve been going to work again, I started trying to learn piano, I went with a group of friends back to my old college town this weekend, then got back and immediately went camping with a different group of friends.

Work was unexpected. I was looking forward to it when I found out, but it turns out that this project is very very dull. It pays, though, so I’ll be sticking it out until it ends in a week.

I decided to learn piano for no other reason than we happened to have a decent electronic keyboard laying around the house. It was left behind ages back when its owner moved across the country. The library had a few books that had been recommended, and I’ve gotten several hours of practice in during the last week or so. In a couple more weeks, I hope I’ll stop feeling like a total novice.

I don’t visit the campus much when I’m in the area anymore. The people I know best aren’t associated with the college. It was great to meet up with everybody again. It’s been more than a year in some cases. I would have liked to have time for more than a quick chat, but, like I said, I seem to be unusually busy lately.

A few hours after we came home, I left again. Five of us drove a few (too many) hours to look at the stars and sleep in a tent. It was pretty great. We did get stuck in traffic and then lost on the way there, so we didn’t show up until after dark. After that, everything went fairly smoothly. The food was great, the sky was clear, the temperature was unseasonably comfortable. We took a nice casual hike in the morning before making the (much shorter) drive home again.

Now I have work for the rest of the week, followed by a trip to the east coast. And as soon as I get back from that, I’ll turn around and go out of state for a few months to see some friends and earn some more money. Maybe then I’ll come back and relax again. If I manage to practice once in a while, maybe I’ll even know piano by then.