In case you’re wondering just what the heck happened to yours truly…

Well the good news is, I didn’t fall into a deep hole. And no, I didn’t become a fugitive from justice, change my name, and move to Gondwanaland, either. And, uh, I wasn’t retrieved by the Mother Ship (although you never know; that may yet happen).

(By the way, if you have NOT been wondering why I’ve not written anything new in a while – well, I’d rather you didn’t tell me and spoil the illusion. Just sayin’.)

Anyhoo – as you may or may not remember, I work in the engineering business, and unfortunately that particular segment of the economy (along with most of the others – with the possible exception of government employment) has been hit pretty hard. Naturally I’ve been searching for work for some time now.

The thing is, over the last few months I must admit to a certain lack of, well, inspiration when it comes to writing. Perhaps you know what I mean, right? As for me, my Muse decided to pack a bag, take a vacation,  and went trippingly out the door with nary a backward glace. I mean, not even a postcard! Sheesh!

Yup; that’s sorta what happened to me. Thus, not a single written word for about two months now.

However, the good news is I am once again fully employed! YEEHAW! (sound of crowd cheering and throwing their hats into the air) That’s right, y’all; the ranks of the unemployed have been reduced – to 8,499,999. (That is, if you accept that 8-1/2 million-jobs-lost number the U.S. Labor Department throws around. Sadly, the evidence suggests that number is ‘waaay bigger).

The Shape of Things to Come

The thing is, my new job is going to keep me a lot busier (as opposed to… not working), so needless to say, posting frequency is of necessity going to be greatly reduced. But then again, since I’ve only posted once since Easter, I suppose any posting would technically be an improvement.

Anyway, some things will of necessity have to change here in the Middle Zone.

First of all, the theme here at the Zone  (“lessons learned… from life”) will continue. It’s been a winner for a long time, and I see no reason to change directions. Life will always have a great deal to teach, and I hope to continue capturing and sharing at least a few of those lessons for as long as I’m still breathin’.

Having said that, though, you can probably expect any future posts to be on a somewhat irregular schedule, and likely no more than a few times a month. At least, until I get back into the swing of things. You know how it is, right? What with work (yay!), commute, sleep, church, and quality time with Mrs. MZM, well, there ain’t that much time left to write. Oh, I know; lots of folks manage to juggle all those balls and more without missing a beat. But I’d rather take my time and make sure the priorities get taken care of before taking on too much. So I’d rather work my way back up to something more regular over time. So let’s just see how it goes.

I’ve sadly decided to suspend our monthly What I Learned From… projects for a while. Hey, we’ve had a great run over the last three years, with nearly 1,000 entries from hundreds of folks. But I simply don’t have the time to keep it up right now. Maybe later we can start ‘em up again, but for now, feel free to enjoy the archives. Believe me, there’s some real gems in there.

Also, my social media time (which was, ahem, never much to speak of) has become virtually non-existent, and I don’t see that improving much in the near term. Oh, I’ll still be around, commenting on the occasional post or two. And I still use my RSS reader to keep track of my favorite bloggers. So just know I haven’t completely abandoned y’all; I’ll still probably be lurking there in the background. Really.

Finally, something else I’ve recently gotten into is photography. Thanks to an amazing turn of events, I recently acquired a “really nice” camera and have caught the photography bug. Alas and forsooth, once again there are only so many hours in the day, so while I’m happily learning something new – my writing will of necessity suffer because of it. Hopefully I’ll be able to combine both writing and photography in the future.

If you like, you’re welcome to observe my journey from budding neophyte to professional photographer (yeah, right!) by following my Flickr stream here . And yes, I do manage to peruse some of y’all’s Flickr streams as well. Keep up the good work!

Please Subscribe!

In the meantime, by all means, please continue your subscription to Middle Zone Musings via RSS or by email. I truly appreciate your continued patronage, and hopefully things will pick up soon. In fact, even as you read this I’ve got another post in the making. So stay tuned!

Oh, and a big ol’ tip o’ the hat to ya!

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By the way, you may or may not be wondering why on Earth I called this post the “wildebeest news” report. Well, it’s a sorta play on the way a certain word sounds in English. See, sometimes a wildebeest is called a “gnu”. And “gnu” rhymes with “new”, as in “latest”. Thus, “The Wildebeest News Report” translates into “The Latest News Report” Get it? Huh? Huh? (sound of audience groaning)

I’m tellin’ ya; sometimes I crack myself up.

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