Benign neglect

I've been neglecting this blog for almost two months. I shouldn't, I know--and it's not because my life is too boring to write about, because it isn't. Nor is it because I don't have anything to say, because I do.

I've started keeping a journal--a longhand one, one that's written in a rather nicely-bound journal that used to have an elastic band holding it shut. I'm not so childish as to procure a lock-and-key for it, although I must confess that the thought of having a lock on it is appealing. Not because I have anything overwhelmingly bad or private to write about, or anything to hide (once again, I apologize for being quite possibly one of the most boring people on the planet). But, like an occasional marshmallow-binge, it's one of those very childish indulgences that remind you of just how happy the little things in life can make you.

One of the odd Americanisms that have made it back across the pond is the phenomenom of Easter eggs and chocolate bunnies. Stores will have Easter eggs and Easter-themed candy--and surprise of all surprises, they are not in the guise of Jesus dying on the cross and then rising from the dead. Which you'd kind of expect from a nation as emotionally crippled by Calvinism as the Netherlands.

But no, the Easter candy is cute, teaming with bunnies and baby chicks. Bite-sized chocolate Easter eggs are especially popular. Less popular are marshmallows, commonly known as spek, which also happens to be the Dutch word for "bacon" and if you append "koek" onto it, it refers to a cake. This is because spek does not refer to the actual thing, but the description, and marshmallows in the Netherlands are, in fact, striped. Like bacon. And the cake.

But anyway: The point is that I am keeping a written journal. It's mostly a way to get things organized into my head, or rather, get better at organizing things in my head. I've been doing this for three months now, and it's actually pretty amazing what comes out of your head when you sit down with a pen and paper. Even the most boring of days (like yesterday) has some interesting little facet to it that you don't really think of when someone asks you "What happened today?"

In other words: I'm going to get back to maintaining this blog. Hopefully things will be a bit more coherent now that I'm writing again.