Hello from Indiana!

[BentonGrey]

Hello, my friends!  I'm sorry that I've been out of touch for so long!  I hope that you're all well and that the new year is bringing joy and blessings!  I had hoped to be back and active in the community again by now, but my new position, which I am wholeheartedly loving, is proving to be a lot more demanding than I expected.  I didn't realize how much more full my life would be with a full-time position, and I find myself making up for lost time, investing in students, starting new programs, building new classes, and doing all kinds of fun things.  We also bought a 150 year old house and have been busily renovating it and such.  The cost of all of that, though, and the desire to do my new job as well as I can, is that it eats up pretty much all of my spare time.  Last semester, with 4 preps and two brand-new classes, was particularly demanding, with pretty much the entire semester being 80-hour weeks.  This semester, with only three preps and only one new class is much easier, but that still translates into around 50-60 hours a week, ha!  The work is amazing, the students are fantastic, and my career is finally taking off, but I'm afraid this has left me with little time for FF...or sleeping, ha! 

Nonetheless, I haven't forgotten about y'all or my second home here, and I plan on getting back into the swing of things this summer.  I just realized how long it has been since I visited, and I wanted to let y'all know that I haven't forgotten about y'all, and that you're often in my thoughts and prayers.

Before I dash off again, here's something y'all might enjoy.  Last semester, I got to teach a dream class, "The Marvel Cinematic Universe and Modern Mythology," and it was an absolute blast, definitely the most fun I've ever had in the classroom.  Depending on how life goes, there might even be a book in it.  Anyway, my university, Indiana Wesleyan, did a little press about it, which y'all might find cool.
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3n9vFcOxWt/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA%3D%3D&fbclid=IwAR27hCOSw7AUVrlYM0r7PnVV5dXhI7wYAWrNISPzSxDUNl7uHveoEGKWzvc

https://www.indwes.edu/adult-graduate/ng-blog/stories/marvel-course?fbclid=IwAR2gINT_Lci2X83HuhpD5Q2lIDU43j6i_4remMGOJ-8XuNadKziKUcyhOho#gsc.tab=0&gsc.q=adult%20graduate%20ng-blog%2Fstories%2Fmarvel-course

I hope y'all will let me know how y'all are doing, and I hope to be checking in a bit more regularly, even if I don't have time to work on FF stuff. 

[deanjo2000]

This makes me really happy   you totally deserve all of this and more. You know ff and us are always just a click away    it sounds like your living your dream and that's what life is for. I've always thought of you as a very positive person and always helpful so your students are very lucky, this is your reward. Enjoy it and as I said we're always here 

[WyldFyre]

Hello Benton!  I am so happy for you. I read the articles and man, sounds like you had a great time with that class.

We miss you here, but I am glad you have found fulfillment in your new home and work.

We'll be waiting when you can drop by. All the best to you until then.

[Randomdays]

Glad to see you're enjoying life out there. Welcome back!

[BentonGrey]

Thanks, folks!  I missed y'all!

Good to "see" you, RD!  I'm glad to see you're still bringing awesome stuff to FF!

WF, thanks man!  We did indeed have a blast.  It was a TON of work, as I built the class 100% from scratch, as nothing like it really existed, but it was an amazing experience.

Dean, thanks so much, man!  I really appreciate the well-wishes and kind words!  I'm really glad to come back to the community and find you still turning out such fantastic skins and skopes!

[Epimethee]

Happy to learn you're doing well, Benton!

[UnkoMan]

Glad to hear you are doing well!
Amazing you have managed to get your dreams off the ground like that!
You've always been super positive and an uplifting person to speak with, and I wish you long success bringing that into many student lives!

[BentonGrey]

Crossposting from my request thread for clarity:
Hey my friends, sorry for disappearing!  The beginning of the semester snuck up on me, and all of a sudden I was rushing to finish my book, planning for the pre-semester 'welcome to college' events that I was helping out with, prepping for a conference, and trying to prep my new class on the British Romantics.  Ha, it's been a tad hectic, to say the least!  I'm starting to get my feet under me now, though, so hopefully I'll be able to get back to work on Saturday Morning Adventures soon.  Thanks for your patience, folks!  I hope y'all are doing well!

[Panther_Gunn]

trying to prep my new class on the British Romantics.

I'm pretty sure The Romantics were formed in Detroit, MI.  Unless there was a UK analog of them, like Cliff Richard was the British Elvis. 

[BentonGrey]

Ha!  Different Romantics, methinks. 

Howdy guys!  Last semester absolutely kicked my backside, but I'm finally starting to recover.  I hope I'll be able to be around the community more now.  I hope everyone is doing well!

[Randomdays]

Welcome back and just in time for a Happy New Year!

Like most of us it seems we come and go as real life dictates, but its always good to either come back, or see see a long time member do the same.

Hard to believe that FF is over 20 years old, and FFvt3R is just hitting 20.

[WyldFyre]

Happy New Year BG! Good to see you back.

[BentonGrey]

Hey my friends, I hope you're all well during these strange days.  I'm sorry for my absence over the last several months, but I'm afraid that this last semester went from being a nice break from the insanity of the last few years to an extremely challenging time for the Greys.  We've had some difficult days, but things have calmed down for the moment.  As always, y'all have stayed in my prayers and thoughts while I've been away.

I've spent the first part of the summer working on revising my book for publication, and I'm getting close, which is a relief.  There's still a lot to do this summer, as I've got to design a few new classes and prepare my portfolio for rank promotion (basically, create a bunch of documents explaining why I deserve a raise in pay and rank, show how I'm fulfilling my responsibilities, etc).  I'm trying to carve out some time for FF in the midst of all this too.  I have been putting off jumping back into the forums, as I wanted to have an update when I did, but my book has been draining so much of my creative energy, that there hasn't been much left over for FF.  Nonetheless, I hope to have some stuff to show off soon. 

Anyway, all of this to say, I'm still around and still working on projects!

[deanjo2000]

Good to hear off you. Goes without saying that we're here whenever you can be so don't feel pressured for anything. Sorry to hear that it was more of a struggle than you'd hoped but anything worth having doesn't come easily. Good luck on the book and everything else you do

[Epimethee]

Welcome back! Your old seat in the South-West corner bay window has been dusted off; your stash of fresh St. Bruno Virginia blend had been refreshed. Would you like some Darjeeling? With mayhaps a soupçon of Glenturret whisky?

I hope things get better for you and your family.

[Randomdays]

I put a whoopee cushion under his pillow just to wake him up

[Panther_Gunn]

I put a whoopee cushion under his pillow just to wake him up

Considering his advancing age, he'll probably just think he did it.

[WyldFyre]

Glad to see you still around Benton! I feel the real life stuff. I never seem to catch a break where time is concerned.