Back in Orlando

Well, I don't think anyone follows my blog anymore (if ever!), but I'll keep posting. (Self-pity, I know... lol )
But, yes, I've moved back to Orlando, and am working for Caricature Connection at Disney again, and living with my friend Mike Duron.
After some brief adventures with my sailboat down around Tampa Bay (for a few months) I realized I want to emphasize my art life over my sailing life, so to speak. I mean, even when I left Orlando last summer, my emotions were mixed. My art was improving greatly, and I was broke, with continuing shoulder problems, and a sour disposition...
Hmm... And now, well... I guess I should say that everything's changed, in a sense.
During my rather lame time on the boat, I met a host of interesting people, and experienced real hunger a couple of times, and other things, but the overwhelming thing was that my sailboat was not really ready for traveling, and I had no savings... I sold my car and most of my possessions, but that netted an amazingly meager sum. My engine died, my VHF radio died, my jib sail got torn to shreds in a storm, my anchor was BENT badly in another storm, and on an on... And I wasn't anyplace where I could easily make money with art, and I don't have much experience sailing anyway, and I was running out of beer!
The whole thing bent something in me, too. I see the world differently, I believe. I could have easily lost my boat and my life on one particular bad October day offshore, and that bent something in me. I see the world differently...
It's strange too, all this, all this stuff we call life, jobs, art, desire. I taught myself to oil paint while on the boat. I learned to wake up to the aroma of linseed oil, with no food and no money, and to not worry too much. I had my home, my boat, I would think, and I had water, maybe a package or 2 of noodles somewhere maybe, and a little wine maybe, and a good book, although no electricity or companionship or...
Well... I don't know where I'm going with this post... My mind is a little fried. But I feel like I've returned HOME, somehow. And that's always the most powerful of experiences.