A little less than a week left in Port Huron for a while. Maybe a week sprinkled about the months/years while I'm carrying on in Chicago; well that's the plan currently, if being a holiday and summer resident advisor work out.

Therefore, I'm not entirely certain this is my last summer in Port Huron, but I would like to say that I was (certain, that is).

There was never a large reason to come back to PoHo aside from my family and a few close friends, and while those may sound like huge reasons, the sting of living under the same roof as your parents and the stunted or sped up changes in friends' attitudes creates a weird feeling in the pit of my stomach- in a town where nothing ever changes, it's that feeling in coming home where everything is still pretty similar, but to you, the differences make a much larger statement than you anticipated.

As I keep getting older the more I feel like I'm ready to move on, and I am, barring those week long visits at max for the same reasons listed above.

I officially leave Port Huron on the 19th and will be returning to a city that has been exciting to me ever since I started college a few years ago. Chicago has been that second home for me and if it weren't for formalities Chicago would be my one and only. What I come back to will be different than it was these past few years for sure and it's both exciting and nerve-wracking.

Starting a position that carries with it a lot more responsibility, I think it's going to be a fun new challenge for me to face off against. The duties are abundant but the returns from those are a treat. Working with Freshman in a theater hall will play to my strengths and I am excited to be around like-hobbied people.

School will always be school to me- I've never been too intimidated with school, I do my work and seem to do fine. I'll continue to use the same methodology I have been for years for doing all that work. I don't plan to be too phased this quarter.

But priorities are priorities- and my job and school aren't the only ones on the list. I have myself to look out for too...

New theater opportunities await me and I can't wait to get on stage again to perform some of my pieces I've worked all summer on with my joint-venture partner John O. Look for the finished product sometime in early November hopefully.

My writing(s) is/are still important, and maintaining this blog is getting to be second nature to me now. It's something I like to do and if people read it, I might as well keep it interesting with new material. Plus I want to start all my new projects I've thought about this summer. One at a time more likely.

Friendships last year had to be put on the back-burner and it really made me sad to not be able to spend as much time with them as the year previous to it. This year though, I think being on campus for my position will help a lot (commuting the hour back and forth from Lincoln Park to Englewood always took a lot out of me) in getting back some of the friendships I missed most, and will encourage new ones with the many other RA's I'll be working with because I'll at least be around, if only to just meet for lunch or dinner around campus.

All of this, and for the first time in my life, I feel like I'm finally ready for something that I've struggled with over the years- being in a relationship. For years I've made excuses to get out of being in a relationship, and I never knew quite why, only that I hated myself for it. To deny myself of this happiness for so long has been a learning experience, and for whatever reason, it just feels right to me now- where before I felt as though I could never be the boyfriend you deserved, or that I wasn't good enough, or that it wasn't the right time, or that long distance relationships couldn't last; finally, I can say now that most of it doesn't bother me anymore and I'm going to give it my best, whatever worth that holds. That iron curtain I was hiding under has lifted and after being alone for so long, this summer traveling and through most of my life, I came to find that there was a hole that I didn't know needed filling until now...

...I can't say what's going to happen in the months ahead- because I haven't the slightest clue. There's so much for me to expect but the unexpected sure will make Fall 2010 an interesting time to be alive, and to be me.