Here, for now

Dear Faithful Readers,

I have truly been neglectful, I am sorry. Things have been so busy, and I have been involved in several other writing projects. I do bear good news, however – you can hope for more consistent updates from me soon. You see, we have arrived in Italy, and are now settled into an old house in the hills of Tuscany. The house is rustic, and I don't think there's a telephone or TV cable to be found. We can only connect to the internet by use of a cellphone modem, which thankfully works faster than my memories of the 14.4kbps modems of my childhood – when it works at all.

Still, this has somewhat limited internet access. Why, you may ask, would this mean that you will receive more consistent updates? Quite simply, because I am now free from distraction. In the high-speed internet world of Japan, I could distract myself with any number of things. Now, I am looking forward to being forced away from distraction, and so long as I can keep myself from trying to challenge my Father's old Freecell records, I can find much more time to write for all my writing projects. Hopefully, I will even be able to schedule blog several documents at a time, so that even if there is a break in my writing schedule, you will still receive the updates you so faithfully deserve.

So what happened to Japan? Japan went quickly, but it is by no means over. In the next month I hope to write a number of things reflecting on Japan. I have always found reflection, rather than report, to be a more meaningful way of retelling. So, I'll call my procrastination intent, and say that it is all the more fitting, here in the land of ancient stones and old cheeses to recall the past, and mull over my time in Japan, rather than reporting it in the, perhaps more Japanese, sense of immediacy. (Speaking of old cheese, our host bought us such a Gorgonzola Grace hesitates to kiss me after I partake – I wonder if the cheese is named after the mythic beast.)

So, in short, look forward to a number of updates. I have planned:

Selections from a series of interlocking short stories I am writing set in Japan.

A series on things I do and do not like about Japan, things that could be improved, and things that should never be changed.

Hopefully (internet speeds permitting) I will also be able to upload some pictures, as well as hunt out pictures from Flickr and Picasa that represent better than my pictures the views I have seen.

I hope that from here on in, my updates come as often as they should, and that they are as enjoyable as I can make them.

(updates subject to internet connection, and probably won't be consistent for the first week as I try to get the writing started).

For now, good reader, I bid you adieu.

Your Yeoman Scholar