Bright Lights, Medium-sized City

There’s a new streetlight right across from my house. It’s super-tall and shines in through my window like it thinks it’s the moon. When I go out at night, it feels like it’s day. It’s weird. After they removed the old one and before they switched this new one on, there was a week when there was no light at all, and I had to fumble with my keys in the dark, trying to find the lock. But this brightness is strange. It washes the stars out. It will take some getting used to.

I have a story up at the very excellent For Every Year, where you can travel all the way back to 1400, year by year, and discover all kinds of wonderful things you’d maybe only chance upon if you spent an entire day clicking through on Wikipedia. And you don’t get stories and poems as part of that experience. I’ve been so excited, counting the years down until finally, today, it got to 1620. A glorious year for underwater innovations. Oh yes.

Things are happening in the background of my life, and some of them I have no control over. I’ve made some huge decisions over the last week, and now I’m waiting to see how things will play out. It’s a strange thing to make life decisions when there’s no one else to consult. I spent so long having my choices affect someone else’s life. The choices I made were smaller, then. And I was wary. But now, it’s all just me, and contained in that immense freedom is the equally massive fear that I will f*ck it all up and only have myself to blame. Oh well. I'm sure I'll come out the other side with stories to tell, if nothing else. Hehehe. Watch this space.