What Happened

Where have I been? I've been recovering from graduate school. Gaining my Ph.D. in chemistry was a mixed experience. I enjoyed doing science and worked with some great people, but the more deeply frustrating aspects of grad school built up a mountain of anxiety and depression that took some effort to dismantle. I don't feel like discussing it here, but if you are curious, there's a documentary called "Naturally Obsessed" that covers quite a bit of it. The film is honest in ways I'm not sure the production team intended.

Anyway, I spent some time looking for work, but my wife (also a Ph.D. chemist) landed a good position before I had any reasonable prospects. We moved with our two kids and two dogs to a new place and started a new life. I got a few nibbles for jobs, but all of them were hours away and I didn't want a long term, long distance relationship with my family. Job prospects are complicated right now. I haven't found anything I feel warrants leaving the kids, yet.

Not having a job outside the home and being away from friends and family has driven me to start writing again. I've been reading some of the more recent successful books and decided that at least some of what makes a blockbuster novel is completely random and arbitrary so I may as well try.

I have about three different books in the works right now and, just like my projects in grad school, I can't seem to finish any of them. So I naturally decided the right thing to do was to start another project. I plan on publishing something here every week. Since I'm trapped in analysis paralysis, I think being forced to write a book without planning might help with my personal hangups.

I hope you enjoy what follows. Just be prepared. I think and write strange things, sometimes.

Goodbye Frei

                       ----------
                      /          \
                     /    REST    \
                    /      IN      \
                   /     PEACE      \
                  /                  \
                  | Shattered World  |
                  |     Campaign     |
                  |     killed by    |
                  |       life       |
                  |                  |
                  |                  |
                  |       2012       |
                 *|     *  *  *      | *
        _________)/\\_//(\/(/\)/\//\/|_)_______


 My apologies to everyone involved. I could not save it.