Where I've Been: A New Year, A New Chapter.

Amidst the winter storm that's hitting the state of California right now, I am writing to you with some exciting news for the New Year! I moved out! Yeah, I know that's a weird topic to come back on Vocal for, but again, not really? Today is the last day of 2025 and before I get the phone call from my grandpa to take the rest of the year off, I wanted to formally come out and save face about where I have been and where I am headed.

If you've been following me for a while, you might remember this song and dance from 2022. Back then, I disappeared into the whirlwind of planning a move, and here we are again, three years later, with history repeating itself in the best possible way. But this time, we're a little more prepared as a system to brave face and face this new experience together.

Way back in 2023, when I moved back down to Southern California from Humboldt County respectfully, I had no idea just how scary and up there my plans were going to get regarding coming back to the real world and enduring the fate of adult life after slowly becoming a scary experience as an unmedicated, irregulated, DID System new to the agenda of life away from home.

We, as a team for Me, banded together and got us into therapy and back at school trying to figure out how damaging moving both known and unknown had done to our friendships here at home and back in Humboldt. As well as our psychological state of affairs that had one alter confused and angry about the whole orientation, personally.

For those of you who come here for movie reviews and short stories, you've probably noticed the radio silence over the last three months. Here's the thing about writing as a coping mechanism for depression in a system that relapsed and regressed back to a timeline where no one but ourselves could be trusted to fend and speak for body - it works, until life demands so much of your attention that even your escape routes get blocked off. Which is harder to stomach when one or most of them had previously involved writing as a specific craft for processing.

Moving out required every ounce of focus I had. The writing, as much as it helped keep the darker thoughts at bay, had to take a backseat while I figured out logistics, packed boxes, and navigated the seemingly endless to-do lists that come with uprooting your entire life and starting a new one elsewhere.

It wasn't a slow fade, really. The plan had been forming, building momentum like storm clouds on the horizon. And then one Friday in December, I got a phone call that sealed the deal entirely. Suddenly, it wasn't theoretical anymore - there was a date, a timeline, a reality I had to step into. Everything else, including this platform that I love, became secondary to making this move happen.

And now here I am, writing to you from my new place while California gets pummeled by winter weather. The irony isn't lost on me - starting fresh while the storm rages outside. But maybe that's fitting. New beginnings are rarely neat and tidy. They're messy and uncertain and sometimes you have to move forward even when the conditions aren't perfect.

So what does this mean for you, dear readers? I'm back. The boxes are mostly unpacked, the furniture is where it needs to be, and I finally have the mental space to return to what I love - writing reviews, crafting stories, sharing major life updates - such as this one, and sharing them with you all here on Vocal. I can't promise I'll immediately return to whatever posting schedule I had before, but I can promise I'm not disappearing again. This move was about creating stability, and with that stability comes the ability to do more of what keeps me grounded.

As we roll into 2025, I'm looking forward to getting back into the rhythm of things. There are movies I've been dying to review, story ideas that have been sitting in the back of my mind waiting for the right moment, and honestly, I've just missed this. I've missed connecting with you all through words on a screen.

Thank you for your patience during these last few months. If you're still here reading this, it means the world to me. Here's to new chapters, fresh starts, and whatever comes next.

Happy New Year, everyone. Let's make it a good one.