
It has felt like so long since I have written just a tried and true blog post.
Last night I spent the night at my mentor’s apartment. His son is struggling with being bullied at the same high school I attended. I feel bad because it has probably been at least a month since I have been over and seen the kid.
He says he understands, but I know it hurts when people pass you by.
However, God’s honest truth is that I have been having a very hectic holiday season, which ends tomorrow with the anniversary of my mother’s death; it wouldn’t be the holidays without death around the corner.
And then I have until February before everything gets back into the swing of things because there are a few birthdays, my own included, that creep up around that time.
However, here is the story: My Thanksgiving was very draining. I was with my mother’s family, and being that we are not always the most balanced people, there was a little turbulence.
A very common occurrence at any Holiday gathering – A Political Disagreement.
It took a lot out of me.
I don’t think that I had some overly idealistic expectations that were squandered because my family didn’t show up in the way I wanted them to. I think it was more so that I put myself in the middle and tried to carry the weight of the family on my shoulders and it was heavier than I expected.
And then I wrote a 20,000-page essay about it and chain-smoked for a week.
Let it be known that whatever is online titled “Our Fucked up Families” right now is a first draft. I will probably finish it in about ten years.
But the emotional strife of holidays gone wrong, and some reactive behavior has made life “hectic.” I don’t think that life has really been any crazier than it usually is (which is pretty crazy), it is just that my mental and emotional faculties have been kinda compromised.
However, I know just what to do!
I have a good schedule and routine, and I’ve been able to get back to sane hours and follow my general schedule of things.
And the reason one follows a schedule is so that one can divert from it.
So the good news is Christmas with my dad’s family was great – except for one oversight – which was that I forgot all of the gifts I bought my family at my grandmas… Aside from that, it was great. I got all sorts of goodies. Including a microphone, and I just recorded my first podcast. So Hallelujah.
The Boncast Episode #1 should be up in a week or so. I’d bet you can guess who my first guest is if you know me.
And I also published my fourth book, Eleven Stories for 11:11 on the 23rd. That was a crazy night too.
But tomorrow I am cleaning my apartment, going to a meeting, and going to bed.
Saturday I am going to a meeting, going mattress shopping, Zoo lights, and going to bed.
Sunday I am doing Thai Chi, Visiting Grandma, going to a meeting and going to bed.
And on Monday, I go to my job, and it all starts all over again.

Ben Bonkoske is the author of two novels, Spoon in the Road, and Carolina, Colorado, California. He is also the author of two collections of short stories, Ten Zen by Ben, and Eleven Stories for 11:11. He lives in Chicago, where he likes to take walks.
B. A, M.A.T.