I apologize for not posting recently. It has been a mixture of avoidance, laziness, and being swamped with other things. I have a pile of email I need to respond to about UberCon that I’ve been putting off for too long (I hate people-wrangling with a passion… for some reason, Kevin doesn’t seem to realize just how crazymaking and draining it is for me), plus personal emails, and all of my various projects are currently in a bit of a holding pattern.

That said, I’ve been working doing the game testing gig for most of the week (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and then Monday and Tuesday of next week), which is where most of my time has been going. Why is it taking so much more time and energy from me than it used to? Thanks for asking, Reader. Put simply, our new house is technically a 45 minute drive, if you were to, say, put it into MapQuest. In reality, I am competing with the rest of the region’s populace to get to the Redmond area (yes, there really ARE that many Microsofties). This turns the commute into an hour and a half long crawl. Even then, I’m taking the alternate route (I-5 to I-90, instead of I-5 to I-405), as the “shorter” route is even MORE swamped with traffic. My return drive also works out to be anywhere between an hour and a half and two hours, depending on weather conditions and whether there are any events going on… anywhere. So basically, I get up at 5:30 AM each morning so I can be on the road by 6, so I can be in Redmond by 7:30… and then get out of work at 4:30, and can expect to be home sometime between 6 and 7PM.

I know, I know, some of you are going “Bah, that’s only a 13 hour day, wuss.” Please keep in mind, however, that when stressed (such as about buying a house and finishing school and a million other things that have been happening lately), I tend to wake up several times a night, even sometimes freaking out or leaping out of bed. [FOR THE CURIOUS: From doing some reading about it, as near as I can tell, it’s related to my heart condition. While the particular condition I have is largely harmless, it does cause a steady trickle of adrenaline (and sometimes MORE than a trickle) to be running through my body all the time. This is a major factor in why it is so damn hard for me to actually RELAX, and can sometimes seem a little stressed out, even though I personally don’t feel I’m acting any different.]

Needless to say, it’s been a while since I had any sustained sleep periods. Mickey has been very patient with all this (she tends to wake up for my little “episodes”, so NEITHER of us are really getting much sleep), but it’s getting really old, and hopefully will correct itself SOON (like tonight).

Anyway, just wanted to let you all know that I do still exist, and that I’ll post a less whiny post soonish (like after this compat shift is over on Tuesday). Hope you’re all doing well, and that I’ll hear from you soon.