It's me again.

Well.

It's been a while.

And I'm talking to empty space. Or, at least, I imagine I am.

Let's start again.

---

Nearly two-and-a-half years ago, on June 26th, I logged out of dA for what I knew would be the last time in a while. For that, and for other reasons, my heart was a bit heavy. The next day, I bid goodbye to my family (my sister first, since she had to catch classes. That stung a bit), and embarked on a two-year journey of sacrifice and self-discovery.

All I'll say about this journey is that it was a mission for the LDS Church to the Jacksonville, Florida area. If you're curious, send me a message. If not, we'll let it be.

A mission is many things; though at times it was very, very, very taxing, there was a joy about doing it that I'd never felt before. So, it was with a heavy heart again that I boarded the flight from Jacksonville to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta home. I got off the plane, walked through the terminal, went down an escalator, and saw my family for the first time in exactly two years. It was a tender moment.

Since then, I slowly eased myself back into the "real world" of social media and internet browsing. I dusted off my facebook, wrested my gmail back from would-be hackers, and pulled up ign, just like I used to.

The one site I was a bit hesitant to return to was deviantArt. I couldn't really explain why. I guess for starters, I didn't think there was anything to see; the only traffic that came to my page was from "The Business of Murder," that one-hit-wonder of a FlashFic. Though it brought back fond memories, I didn't figure anyone cared about it anymore.

But, at the same time as I felt that dA didn't have anything for me after two years, I have to admit that the feeling was mutual. I wasn't out of practice writing; I'd dutifully kept up my journal entries for the entire mission. At the same time, though, I felt like something had changed. Did I still want to write? Yes...but what I had in mind didn't really seem to mesh with the dA style of things. An old idea, long since forgotten, was growing and maturing in the back of my mind while I was out focusing on other things. Then, one day, I recalled this idea, but I found it was different, to my surprise. The prospect exited me, but I also realized that this was an idea that wouldn't be as simple to put to paper (or word processor, as it were) as my previous work. This was something that was going to take me a long time to finish, if I finished it at all.

So, I avoided dA for a time. Slowly, though, my curiosity grew. I navigated to my page without logging in, looking at how I'd left things and such. I looked at my stats and a couple of old deviations. More time passed, and eventually I caved and logged in. As expected, there was a veritable mountain of deviation updates, journals, news items, and other community mail. Then, to my great surprise, I saw notifications from my own deviations. Incredibly, though it was nearly two years old, people were still discovering and even commenting on The Business of Murder. I was touched.

Since then, I've kept lurking around the site, logging in from time to time. I re-read TBoM and its re-write myself, surprising myself with twists I'd forgotten. I peeked over at old deviants I watched, happy to find them still active and producing amazing work.

So, what now?

Well, to be honest, probably not a lot. Though I'm not nearly as busy as I was during the mission, I am still a university student with finals coming up and a hefty research project coming due at work. I don't expect to be producing anything in the near future, much less uploading it here.

I suppose I just wanted to express my thanks to everyone who's stopped by this old place during my hiatus. Y'all are wonderful people, and your words (or even just your arbitrary clicks) bring a little more light and warmth to my life.

So, while I may not be fully active here, just know I'm back, and I'm watching, like some benign, nonviolent Batman. I'm probably not the dA user the community needs, or even the one it deserves. I'm just me.