hey tilders <3

i'm so glad to be back here after a long absence; i'm taking some time to get
caught up on all the new projects, expansions, users, etc. that have made their
way onto this little universe. i'm glad this place is here. i'm glad it's still
here and growing and feels good!

since i was last around, i guess:
  * finished a semester with my first grad-level class; i am not an actual grad
    student, i just get tuition reimbursements from my employer to take
    courses, and i made the jump to grad courses to see if it was something i
    felt suitable for me in the future. i keep thinking about going in for
    history/anthropology/something in that vein, it just hasn't made sense yet.
    the class went really well for me, even though it was a little intimidating
    and way more time and work than i've put into an academic pursuit. i'll be
    trying this again in the fall!
  * i spent about a month with the us national parks service as an
    artist-in-residence; this meant that i mostly got to hike around a bunch,
    take photographs of rocks and trees, meet ecologists and learn about how
    the planet works, teach some workshops on antiquated photographic
    processes, give a few visiting artist presentations, etc. it was a really
    intense experience, and i'm still processing it (both literally and
    figuratively; i shot all film, so i've been in the darkroom more or less
    nonstop to get through it)
  * my residency was bookended by motorcycle trips since that's how i got
    myself there; i learned a lot about how to do long, solo travel via
    motorcycle. one of my long-term goals is to constantly improve my
    motorcycle touring skills, and i've never felt better about myself.

basically, i feel good, i've taken a lot of my nervous spinning in circles
energy and pointed it towards concrete things and now i have a lot of excellent
feelings about working hard and doing more things in the future. a lot of the
world feels a little bit bad lately, and i think this is what i need to work on
in order to be my best person and be in a better position to be a force for
good and beauty and love <3

gosh i'm seriously off the deep end in peace love and dirty hippie right now,
and i don't even feel bad about it <3

thanks for reading <3 <3 <3