So you want Step Nine, huh?

Alright. I’m sorry I’ve been such a bad blogger. I could give you a list of excuses — reading, family, all the usual — but the truth is, I’ve had the time. I mean, just last week Chris went to a gathering of geeks, Caelyn was in bed, and I thought to myself, “Now’s the time to blog.”

I watched two episodes of iCarly instead.

I don’t know what the deal is. I’m not giving up the blog or anything. I’m just layin’ low. You’ve noticed that I do that, right?

I’m here, bloggin’ all long-winded and non-stop on a regular, even daily, basis and then, all of a sudden, I’m out for a few weeks. (If you’ve been doing your Enneagram homework, this shouldn’t be surprising to you at all.) Sometimes I check out all together — no posting, no commenting, no emailing, no facebooking, no twittering. Other times, I just cut back in certain areas.

It’s not a conscious thing (usually). I don’t mind if you engage me. (I almost always like it when you do!) And even when I’m not blogging very often, I mentally respond to your posts and write my own posts in my head. Why just today I’ve written one about grilled tuna sandwiches, the Enneagram and Luke Danes, new music, Chris’ cousin’s wedding, and the piano on “Pitseleh”! I even asked you what I should do with the chicken I thawed this morning. (Seriously, feel free to cast your chicken votes. The relationship I have with the meals I cook is similar to my relationship with my blog. Except that I don’t have the option to stop cooking for a month and reignite my passion.)

But something happens between when the ideas form and when the chance to write them arrives. It’s kinda like how sometimes I get all ready to go out. I shower, get dressed, put on make-up, pack the diaper bag, dress the kid, get in the car, start driving, and then decide that I can’t really think of anywhere that I want to go badly enough to get us out of the car. In this case, I get the kid asleep, open the laptop, click on For the Record and before the banner comes into focus, I start thinking about something that I “need” to look up first, which inevitably makes me stray farther and farther from that draft box until I’ve taken 10 “Which Gilmore Girls Character Are You?” quizzes and the time’s just gone.

Or maybe I close the laptop after I’ve checked my feeds and figure there’s nothing I want to write about more than I want to go sit on the bed in the quiet for 20 minutes.

This time around I’ve still be twittering on a semi-regular basis. So, if you miss me, you could keep track of me there. (See Side Spins.)

Speaking of Twitter, I was thinking about that odd little social web TMI phenomenon this morning. I don’t really have any experience with gateway drugs or with Nicorette gum, but I figure Twitter is the digital version of one or the other, depending on your individual level of digital social networking. It might be the gateway drug for a non-blogger that gets him thinking he ought to just go ahead and start his own website. Or, for the regular blogger, it might be Nicorette, filling his urges just enough to keep him off blogging, for a while anyway.

So, like I said, I’ve been twittering.

And I’m not quite ready to make a formal reappearance on the blog yet. (I DO appreciate my fan’s support, though, JSmo!)

But try not to worry. I’ll be back in sooner or later. (Maybe later this time, since I’m probably going to Oklahoma next week.)

For now, at least no one can call me a step-skipper.