Here I am, there I am, everywhere I am

So, it has now been over a month since I last posted, and enough people have mentioned it to me that I guess I should at least note that I’m still alive. Barely. But alive nonetheless.

I think I have seasonal affective disorder. At least a mild form. Or I have “ready to kill my speech team” disorder. They’re about the same, right? It’s been a stressful month, either way, hence the Saharan status of my blog.

Some notable moments from the last month:
1. Ash Wednesday. We attended a new church on the recommendation of the pastor who wed us in June, Pastor Steve. We enjoyed the very small church, and they enjoyed us, as over half the congregation came up to us to introduce themselves and welcome us. We went back on a Sunday two weeks later, and people remembered our names. We’re unsure if it’s a right fit, however, as we were not moved by the sermon and are not 100% sure we like the complete openness of it. We’ll see.
2. Valentine’s Day. My darling husband gave me a Ralph Lauren Romance gift set and chocolates. Then we went to dinner at Granite City and Best Buy to purchase Guitar Hero. Then we played GH the rest of the night. We are a simple people. I got him a surprise gift that is not in yet. He reads this, so I can’t say.
3. Floating. I tried the floating tank at the wellness center where I get massaged. It’s also known as a sensory deprivation tank; you can check it out online (just Google floating tank). It’s supposed to be good for depression, aches/pains, insomnia, and just general meditation. I found it to be rather stressful. I’m afraid of the dark, for one thing. I couldn’t get comfortable, as my instinct was to hold my head up. There are 800 lbs of Epsom salts dissolved in the water, so you can’t sink, but my body wouldn’t give into that. The more I tried to relax, the harder it was. Then I sneezed and got some of the water in my mouth. YUCK! I think I might give it another try, but it’s yet to be seen.
4. General speech drama. Crazy lazy speech kids are winning the battle of my heart that has been raging against lovely devoted speech kids. I have had people skipping practice and tournaments, people quitting, and just recently, a drug dealer. Aces. I’m going out of my mind. Enough said.
5. License renewal. I renewed my teaching license. I have completed all requirements of the CEUs and got my new license in the mail, good until 2013. Five years goes really fast.
6. Began planning (officially, finally) trip to NY. The gang is headed to New York City to visit our friend interning out there, as well as to pay homage to the temple of baseball: Yankee stadium. We booked some great deals on airfare, and tried in vain to get tickets to the Yankees. Hopefully, we’ll have some luck in scrounging up some tickets in the coming months. Either way, it’s going to be very fun.
7. Illness. I’m currently battling another cold. This is the third time this year I’ve missed more than a day of work due to illness. It’s driving me nuts. This time it started at the Wild game on Tuesday of this week. It was fun, despite their loss and my spiral into illness. I missed the second day of conferences last night because of it, but that might actually be a perk…
8. Finally, very importantly, Angie. If you don’t know Angie, my Angie, friend for more than 10 years, you should. She’s pretty cool. But without too many details, you should pray for her. Her family is in hard times, as her mom is very sick. She’s been dealing with the news for three weeks now, and a surgery and its recovery period for one. Just pray. It’s the best thing we can do. Thanks.

Other than those things, life has been pretty normal. Perhaps the warmer weather will inspire me to update more. But wait, it’s below zero today. In the weeks to come, when snow has turned to mud and speech season comes to close, I will indeed find more motivation to put theoretical pen to theoretical paper.