As soon as I sit down to blog, there's this feeling that what I write here has to be "finished" somehow, or good, not just my ramblings. Not sure why that is. So I wait until I have time to finish something. But then, when stuff is finished, why put it on the blog?

Anyway, it was a fantastic summer. Best I can recall. I turned 40. Cody and I had our 15th anniversary. I made a few great new friends. We travelled a bit for fun, taking weekends in San Diego and Guerneville. Maybe that doesn't sound like much, but I tend not to travel, so it's a lot for me!

I also went to Louisiana for a week and got to see my nieces and nephew, my sister, mom, dad, and others.

I managed to lose the weight I had gained over the school year, and hope the coming school year doesn't bring it all right back.

And I finished my first musical, about Joseph of Arimathea, the man who buried Jesus. I've sent it around to a few theatre types and received, um, less than stellar reviews. But it's a start! I'm learning. Reviews from non-theatre folks have been more kind, and there are some moments in it that I think are truly special.

The point is, I've founds something to do, at long last, that I really love doing. And there's time yet to absorb the criticism and continue editing.

School started last week. At this point, it mostly seems like a trudge to the end. It took enrolling in seminary to help me find this work to do, so that's important, but now that I'm not going to go for ordination or church pastorship, it's hard to justify continuing. I'm still working toward a degree, but the degree is no longer a requirement.

It's fine to keep going, just for fun, but what excites me is so specific and esoteric that the right combination of subject matter, professor, and schedule is hard to find. This year, especially.

For example, I'm taking a class in playwriting in religious contexts! Perfect, right? But it's taught by an elderly Catholic priest, who pounced as soon as he learned I was gay, told me that he found Angels in America boring, and that, while we should all write from our experiences, theatre is becoming fractured and gay people should try to make their experiences more relatable.

I'll forego the easy catholic priest jokes and move on....

Really, the reason I'm going now is because I want to finish what I started and earn some kind of degree. And because the school is very cool about letting people fashion what they need from what is being offered. I can do a lot of composing and writing as part of the degree program.