Level 39

For those of my readers who play World of Warcraft, you know that attaining level 40 brings a host of benefits including a mount, new skills and talents, ability to wear new armor, entry to new realms, and so forth. In the levels immediately preceding 40, though, the sheer repetitive nature of the quests and tasks at hand causes a fair number of players to drop out of the game.

My in-game character is currently level 39, and this seems rather a potent metaphor for my life on several levels. The "game's" been a bit hard to stick with in recent weeks; repetitive tasks and assignments are getting me down, and I'm hungry for some novelty, some new challenges. The weather here is finally turning convincingly toward winter, and I've been on a (so far fruitless) hunt for some "new armor" in the form of appropriate holiday and winter work clothes. Even the "entry to new realms" parallel holds, as I'm looking forward to my sister-in-law's Paris wedding. I keep grinding away toward the holidays, knowing that new ventures are just ahead, but from my current vantage point it feels like I'm going to be "level 39" forever.

I've been loath to blog because I don't want to spread my current ennui, and I am in hope that I'll have more exciting news to share soon from various upcoming travels. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth; I'm just patiently awaiting change, since running after it like a crazy person hasn't been extremely productive.