Hello, comrades

I wanted to make this post to show everyone that I am very much alive and I am sorry for dropping off the face of the earth for almost a year straight. Before I talk about semester 9 I wanted to tell you all why I was gone.

This year has weirdly been really tough on me. Semester 9, the posts I did not complete, was my last semester with a seminar. If you know anything about seminar classes, they have a lot of reading and a lot of talking. I was only taking three courses that semester, but I was overwhelmed and could not resume writing here. I just kind of hunkered down and tried to figure my shit out.

Mental health wise I am back on sertraline and am trying out ADHD medication. The consensus so far is that I definitely need to up the dosage. Why does this matter? Because it did contribute to be being gone. The medication did not make me more efficient in balancing posting and school, but I did become more aware of how badly I was doing. Depression, anxiety, and ADHD are not a great mix.

My life got overwhelming, which I sated before but I am a person that repeats himself a lot. Oh well.

Besides school from January to July, I also visited the Açores, where my family is from. I spent three weeks there, visiting two islands and many family members. I was unable to visit the Communist Party office in São Miguel, even though I wanted to, due to being dragged around to a bunch of tourist spots all day with no rest. Theres also the language barrier as I would’ve needed my dad there to translate and I did not want to have to explain that to him.

I did find out one of my relatives was actually in Lisbon during the Carnation Revolution, he began singing the song to me (Grandola Villa Morena). I wasn’t able to get more info but next time I am there I will ask. I took many photos and wrote many personal notes. Since July 1st I have been keeping a personal diary so people have something physical from me once I die. It’s one thing that frustrates me about my grandparents, they never left anything like that behind.

My final semester started this week and I have finally found some balance enough to continue posting here as I have no seminar classes, and the only course that I can post about is my final political science class. I still regret making it my minor, but it is too late to change now.

I am sorry for being gone and not saying anything. It’s not personal, I missed being here, but I got sucked away into doomsville and couldn’t get out until now. I do not plan on leaving here anytime soon, and I hope you’re not too cross with me.

I hope you enjoy these photos from my trip (in comments) and this little tidbit from my creative writing class. I wasn’t expecting this at all, but I really should’ve based on my experiences at my school:

September 4th: professor said that soviet statues remain in Latvia as a reminder of the brutality of Soviet occupation, they shot and killed and whatnot. The statues are kept to never let it happen again, unlike here in North America where statues of bad people are torn down. He brought this up to give us an example to use our personal experiences and knowledge of location to write our short story assignment. We have to know the place. This is only the second class of the semester and it’s already weird. My professor is cool besides that, but wow does that leave a horribly sour taste in my mouth.

Edit: for some reason I am unable to upload photos 🤷