A-hem. [*clears throat quietly*]

I know I've been among the missing for some time now.

Which of the following do you think is the reason?

• During the last three weeks of the spring semester, students beat a path to my door at an unprecedented rate (regardless of their major or their status or their nationality or whether they were actually my students or connected in any way to anything I have done or even not done on this campus). This constituted a new personal best -- or worst, depending on how you look at it -- giving me GREAT pause when I consider the implications for the future.



• Just about the time I thought I had somehow recovered from this onslaught (which took a few days, to be honest with you), the Powers-That-Be canceled one of the courses I expected to pay my rent by teaching in July, necessitating my commitment to FINALLY teach my first internet course from scratch on four days notice. This requires, of course, daily attention including, but not restricted to filming lecture segments, drafting notes for posting onto the website, and fielding interminable requests for communication from students who, by and large (apparently), have never seen a computer before.



• My laptop (the one I was supposed to be retiring anyway) gave up the ghost without notice so that I lost stuff I will probably never remember ever existed (including hundreds of photos I had saved over time for use on this blog), leaving me staring endlessly at the neighbor's pregnant cat that's been trying to finagle her way into my house for the past two weeks with remarkable focus. Do I just give up and let her in, I ask myself -- knowing damned well she's trying to have her babies in my closet or on my side of the bed or somewhere I can't even imagine? Do I just continue to encourage her to adopt the "special place" I created for her on the front porch -- knowing damned well that she's not going to do it regardless of how many times I fluff the towel and leave chicken breast sacrifices beside it (which she, of course, eats, further ensuring that she will be ever more convinced that I am unquestionably the godmother of her incipient offspring)? Do I throw the computer at the cat, thus resolving two issues, while releasing what seems to be a seriously unhealthy or at least unproductive level of frustration? This staring and thinking process is on-going.



• A couple of grown men from elsewhere butted their noses into my life (via a student I sometimes mentor), attempting to assassinate my character by emailing professionals in my workplace with the "information" that I am a freaked-out radical who is dangerous to the students on this campus because I lead them astray and cause them to self-destruct their otherwise halcyon lives by veering violently to the left. This drama entailed multiple interviews with superiors answering questions about a situation I had no control over and didn't know about until after the fact.



• A new organization with a national base has popped up and established itself locally (thanks to another of my students), requiring some attention, especially when its representatives are sitting in my living room.



• Plants have to be re-potted in the spring. And they don't care how much work it is or how much it costs. And they keep me supplied with oxygen...



• Boxer keeps talking me into going places to do fun stuff I used to never do because I was too busy blogging (or whatever).



• All of the above.

If you answered: "all of the above," then you're right. But I am back. With much to write about. And a new home espresso machine to help me write it. TTFN (ta-ta for now). But not for long.