I suppose it’s natural to call the question-and-answer pitter-patter between human and large language model (trained by Google, TM) a “conversation.”  Although there is no coffee or carefully carved brownies, I admit to having “conversations” with Gemini.  Or Copilot.  Or Grok.  Yesterday, Gemini and I were conversing about social medial statistics, blogging, digital reach, and digital fracturing.  These are the kinds of things you chat about with a large language model.

(No coffee or brownies were required.) 

I’ve been thinking about writing again after a long period of quiet.  It’s hard to get started.  I want to take my readers on a long poetic journey of why I stopped writing 5 years, 10 months, and 25 days ago and tell them everything that happened during this long highway of time.   

I told Gemini to write one sentence that would explain it all.  And do it in the style of blogger Julie-Ann Baumer.  Gemini said:

“Starting over.”

“Finally.”

“Anyway, writing.”

I laughed out loud.  I liked all three of the staccato sentences, but I was not sure I would start a post that way.  The last one appealed to me as a possible title.  I tossed them away with great force in the dramatic and imaginary way I do.

A lot has happened since we met here regularly.  A hundred stories, maybe more.

Where does one begin with such a whirlwind of thoughts and words?  Maybe a link to an old post will help ground me against time. Since it’s Reformation Sunday, I think The Lutheran Binder is a good one. It’s hard to believe that was 8 years ago. But it’s as relevant today as it was then and Flux Restaurant is still open and serving delicious food right here in town.  Jason LaVerdiere remains the owner and head chef.  I’ve lost touch with Shelley; it’s my fault and I feel bad about it.  But at least I’m in Maine and I can commiserate and join with E.B. White across time and exclaim “I would really rather feel bad in Maine than feel good anywhere else.” 

Oh, and I’m retiring at the end of the year!  Here’s how I wrote it up for my colleagues at work, after over 21 years at The Big Corporation:

“As she begins her next chapter, Julie-Ann is looking forward to caring for her parents, writing a book, creating bigger gardens, and curating a lifetime of memories. She plans to live a more analog life, be a good neighbor, faithful friend, and grateful steward of the beautiful things she has been given.”

Maybe I’ll change my name to Julie-Analog. 

Anyway, writing!