Much to say, not much said.

I've had a lot running through my head recently, wanting to find a release in this journal. However, now that I sit down to write I find that I can't think of anything. So I guess I'll start with where I am and what I am doing.

I am currently in Nova Scotia at my mother's house. I came up to visit for the holidays to see family and friends. I drove up Christmas Eve, getting in about 2AM Christmas morning, and I will be here for a couple more days yet. I plan to head back down on Friday (the 2nd) so that I have a couple of days to relax after the drive before I have to go back to work. I have managed to get in touch with a couple of old friends so far, but not nearly as many as I would have liked. So now I am sitting here trying to track down email addresses for some others so I can get touch that way. So besides writting this joural entry, I am also writting mails as I find the addresses.

I am doing all this off-line so that I don't tie-up the phone line too much. But I will be going on-line soon to send the ones that I have written so far and to post this.

Maybe I'll do some work on the design of my website and/or journal. The layout of the pages, and the content of the sites outside of these entries...

Greetings of the Season

Happy Holidays

Well, I got the time off and took a vacation so I am in Nova Scotia. I drove up yesterday and will be driving back down either the 2nd or the 3rd. Hopefully the drive back will be better than the drive up. I also hope that the "Threat Alert Level" will be lowered before I head back down. The level was at "Orange" when I came up, and after going through US Customs with the level at Orange before, I'd rather not have to do it again.

I said, or at least hinted, that the drive up hasn't very good, let me tell you why. Besides not being as rested as I would have liked, the weather was not the best. In fact the weather sucked.

The weather yesterday was grey. At least it was grey until the sun set then it was black. I say it was grey, it was overcast with occasional light rain. As I got further north what rain there was got heavier and when it wasn't raining there was fog. Lots of fog. Fog that cut visibility down to 20 meters in areas that still had snow on the ground. I think it was the rain and warm air (12C) on the snow that caused the fog to get so thick.

But I made it. I got in about 2AM and was completely exhausted from driving in those conditions. Usually when I make this trip, I am a little tired and feel like I was driving all day (which I would have been), this time I was completely wiped and felt like I had lost a day.

Followup to my last post

One thing that I didn't mention in the post was that the last time I had taken pain-killers before all that was around noon. And the last time I had taken any with codeine was about noon on Wednesday.

Also I think I forgot to mention that I have been sick all week. And the stress and late hours weren't helping me recover from the touch of the flu that I had. Friday was the worst.

I guess there would be a question of whether the way I felt on Friday was a hangover or the flu. However, there are a couple of factors which point towards the flu. First, hangovers get better as the day goes on and do not generally give you a fever. I kept feeling worse and worse as the day went on and had a fever of over 38 C (over 100 F for the Americans out there)

However, after sleeping (on and off) for about 16 hours, I seem to be over most of it. And my fever has broken.

I am still going to take a couple of days to myself. I might check my email, but probably won't reply right away. (I heard that "When do you ever?")

Peace.

At least I am relaxed...

... probably drunk, but relaxed.

Before I go any further let me said that I will probably be unreachable for the next few days. For those of you with my phone number or email address, you are welcome to leave messages, just don't expect a timely response. For those of you without either, or with only the journal address (journal@wyldwoods.net) you are also welcome to send emails, or whatever other type of message as may be appropriate, just don't expect a timely reply.

OK, now that the disclaimer is out of the way let me say that I have been very bad tonight. But not any more so than I felt was appropriate given the week I have been having. And before you ask, I am not sure whether I will explain that comment or not in this entry. If I don't you should be able to gather why not from what I do post.

And on that note, can I get a "Huzzah" (or a "Voof-dah") for spell-checkers...

...

Last weekend we got about a two-and-a-half feet of snow. While shovelling out from this, I screwed up my arms (wrists and fore-arms) due to my RSI. [* I believe I wrote about my RSI before, if not just ask and I will write an entry about it *]

Well, my arms where bad enough that I have had to take pain-killers all week. On top of this I have been sick most of the week. (I don't know if it is the flu or what, but I have been sick) And I have a major project due tomorrow (today since it is after midnight) so I have been working late, until 8:00PM or later, all week. Add all that up and it just sucks.

So today I had a REALLY bad day. And something towards the end of it really set me off. I'd elaborate on that, but I can't right now.

The reason I can't is that related to the way my night went after I got home. Or should I say the actions I took after getting home...

As (I think) I said, I had a REALLY bad day today, and stuff towards the end of the day really set me off. I was enraged on the way home. Anyone who has seen this can back me up that it is really not a good thing.

After being home a while I managed to calm down enough to start thinking again. However, I wasn't necessarily thinking well. I decided to have a drink. A glass of mead to relax and calm down. That was over a bottle and a half ago.

OK, Let's be honest, very nearly two bottles ago.

So I have been taking pain-killers (some with codeine) all week, while in a bad mood and under stress. And I decided to drink tonight...

I know this is a bad idea. I am very nearly drunk (while typing this) and know this is a bad idea...

But you know what, I just looked at the clock. It is 1:18, I have drunk close to two bottles of mead, and have to work in the morning...

I am going to stop this entry here and post it before I have too much of a chance to think about it even though I am pretty sure that this entry will not make as much sense (if any) as I would like. I do have one last thing to say...

Hi, Bulldog.

I say that because Bulldog, one of my best friends, is sitting beside me working at his own computer as I write this. I don't think he knows what I am doing at the moment. I am not trying to hide it from him, but I have not explicitly told him about the journal yet even though he has seen me browsing to Blogger a few times and I have told him what Blogger is.

Anyway Bulldog, if you find this, I was not hiding it, I just have not really told anyone about it yet. OK, maybe two people.

OK, I am rambling, and probably drunk. Please forgive this post, even though I am actually going to post it, after spell-checking. (* Huzzah *) Then I am going to bed.

Sleep well. Good-night.

{*Singing*} It's Beginning to Look Less Like Christmas

I have been trying to schedule vacation time around the holidays for a trip back home to see my family and friends. The problem is that we have a very small IT department at work and we need to make sure that we have enough people with the right knowledge to cover any problems that might come up. Add to that the fact that with around a dozen total people in the department (this is including management, developers, network, helpdesk, etc) there aren't many people who can cover each application.

In my case there are two or three applications that can only be covered by me or one other person. A different person in each case. This makes scheduling difficult when everyone is trying to take the same periods off.

I asked management about particular days and am just waiting to hear back from them after they compare it to all the other requests they have gotten.

Oh, and to throw another wrench into the works... The company's lease is up and so we are moving to a new building this month. And given the small department, and the number of computers involved, management wants everyone in IT to work the Friday (late night) and Saturday of the move to help get things up and running, and tested in the new building.

I am glad I am not the one who has to do the scheduling. However, just because I might understand any reasons I might not get the days I am asking for, it does not mean that I would necessarily be understanding about it.

Here's hoping I get the days I asked for.

---

P.S. I know I said a while back that I would try not to post stuff about work, but I see this more as a post about the holidays and whether or not I will get to spend them with family than a post about work.

What a perfect end to this day...

I was in the middle of a rather long post, talking about the both the physical and emotional issues I was going through today, when my computer went down. So that post is lost and I don't have in it me to retype the entire message right now.

However, since I know there are people who read this journal, I know of at least two other than me, I don't want to leave this without saying anything. Let me see if I can touch on some of the "highlights" of the lost post...

First, I woke up with a headache, a backache, and pain in my wrists and forearms. The pain in my arms is from a repetitive Strain Injury (RSI). I had written a long explanation of RSIs, but the short form is think of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome... That is an RSI defined by an injury to a specific injury to a specific nerve. Mine is very similar, but the injury is to different nerves in different locations. Still nerve injuries caused by working at a computer, with similar symptoms.

Second, my emotional state was miserable with occasional fits of anger. Right now I am feeling down because I lost the earlier post, which is making it hard to describe my earlier state of mind so I am going to stop there.

Each of these things was feeding the other and making my reactions throughout the day that much stronger.

That is about as much as I can bring myself to re-write tonight.

I hope your day was better than mine.

"Have a nice day."

Up yours! ...

No, that is not directed a specific person. It is directed at the several people who were very insistent that I have a nice day.

I'm sorry, but by the time I finished the first half of my morning commute today it was way too late for me to have a nice day. In fact, I was ready to make sure that everyone who said it had their nice days taken from them as well.

And while I know there are people out there who really love their jobs, it's still pretty bad when the best part of your day is the time you spend at work. Speaking of which, my day over so I am going home. Maybe I'll be able to get myself to write some more tonight.

Working on Journal Template

This entry is about the technical side. I am posting it here because the issues affect the appearance, and possibly the readability, of this site.

I have been working on the template and style sheet I use for this journal, adjusting the layout of the page and individual entries. I think the changes are an improvement, but there is an issue that I still have to fix.

Sometimes, especially when viewing comments, the page layout breaks. This is because of the HTML inserted by the third-party code I am using to drive the comments. I am working on modifying the third-party code so that it inserts HTML which works better in my situation, but this work is not done yet. Please be patient.

If it happens while you are reading the journal you can hit the refresh button. This should clear up the problem.

---

Aren't you glad to know that I am actually working on this again?

In Remembrance...

Earlier today I posted "In Flanders Fields" in honour of Remembrance Day. Later on I came across the following poem which was inspired by, and written in response to, "In Flanders Fields." I am posting it here in the hope that it touchs you as it touchs me. The last verse, and especially the last line, is what moves me the most in this poem.

The Fields of Flanders
by Edith Nesbit

Last year the fields were all glad and gay
With silver daisies and silver may;
There were kingcups gold by the river's edge
And primrose stars under every hedge.

This year the fields are trampled and brown,
The hedges are broken and beaten down,
And where the primroses used to grow
Are little black crosses set in a row.

And the flower of hopes, and the flowers of dreams,
The noble, fruitful, beautiful schemes,
The tree of life with its fruit and bud,
Are trampled down in the mud and the blood.

The changing seasons will bring again
The magic of Spring to our wood and plain;
Though the Spring be so green as never was seen
The crosses will still be black in the green.

The God of battles shall judge the foe
Who trampled our country and laid her low. . . .
God! hold our hands on the reckoning day,
Lest all we owe them we should repay.

Lest We Forget...

In Flanders Fields
by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

What to write about?

I know I haven't written in a while, about 2 and a half months at this point, but I have been dealing with various issues. And I have been trying to figure out what I wanted to write about in this journal.

At this point I can't say that I have entirely figured out what this journal is going to be, but I do have some ideas. I also have some ideas about what this is NOT going to be. In fact, I am more certain about what I am not going to put in here than I am about what I am going to put in here.

First, I this is a journal, not a "blog." The difference here being that most people see blogs as commenting on the news, and the world at large, with lots of links and commentary. While I might include the odd link and greater commentary, this is a personal journal. I am writing about me and my world. But since I am part of the greater world, others things might creep in.

Second, I am not going to talk about work. At least not as much as I can avoid it. There is a chance that people I work with, and more importantly, for, could find this journal and read it.

However, this journal is intended to be an outlet for me. As such, it is intended to cover my life in general along with my emotional state. So just about anything can and will creep in at various points.

That being said, I setup a comment system on this journal. Feel free to leave whatever comments you want, although I would prefer if they were on topic and constructive. I do reserve the right to remove any comments I find to be offensive. It will be at my sole discretion. Please be aware that the currently the comments are stripped of all HTML code. I am looking to modify the code so that it keeps any line breaks that were entered. Currently they are stripped as well.

I have also setup an email address strictly for this journal. Feel free to email me there for anything from comments to coding errors relating to the journal to questions you might want to me to address. The email address is journal@wyldwoods.net As before, I reserve the right to deal with the emails I get at that address as I see fit. Or to discontinue the address if it starts to get spammed.

Anyone have any questions about this? Comment below, or email the address I listed above.

Peace.

More About Sunday

I said at the end of my last post that I had a bit of a surprise Sunday evening. Well, the surprise was a friend showing up at my door.

This is a friend I met this year at Rites of Spring, a gathering held each year at the end of May. She lives in New Jersey and had been up to visit once before. This time she was on her way to Maine for a few days and stopped on her way through because she was concerned about me.

We talked for a short time and then she continued up to Maine. She did invite me along, but I needed to go to work in the morning. Even more so since I am planning a vacation and don't want to use up the time I am planning for.

I do have to admit that we didn't talk for long because of me. There were a couple of reasons behind it. First, I was making myself something to eat when she got there and when it was ready I couldn't put off eating too long because of my blood sugar level. Second, I was not (am still not) that comfortable talking to people who matter. I had a hard time even making eye contact while we talked, because seeing the concern caused a ... a rush of thoughts and emotions that I couldn't deal with all at once.

What I mean by that is best explained (I think) as follows: I can talk to people at work, about work, because it doesn't matter, not really. However, my friends matter. Even more than that, my clan/tribe/chosen family matter even more and I have had a harder time getting in touch with them. Not that they are hard to reach, but because I could not even think about contacting them without that same rush of thoughts and feelings starting. I will also say that there are only a couple of people I consider to be in my clan and the main two a call my brother and my sister.

I suppose I should say that I am not a big fan of the phone to begin with, having done technical support for years, along with other jobs that required phone use, and when I get mixed up like this I am even less likely to use the phone. That being said, this morning I tried calling Sand, clan member and sister, to try to reach her before she left for FireDance. I didn't get a hold of her. I don't know if it was because she had left, or she was just out, or still asleep.

Namaje.

Washed Clean

Anyone in my area of the continent, Boston, knows what the weather has been like this week. But for the rest of you, it has been alternating between unbearably humid (and hot), and pouring down rain. This is not all that extraordinary for this part of the country.

Well, a couple of days ago, Sunday to be exact, I needed to get out of the house. So I decided to head into Boston to walk around and (hopefully) clear my head. It worked, sort of...

I got in my truck and drove into Boston, parked in the underground parking at the Commons, and just started walking around. I walked through the Commons, the Public Gardens, Downtown Crossing, and Quincy Market. There were a lot of people in this last one, more than I really wanted to deal with, but I was hungry so I stayed in the area for a while so I could get some food.

About the same time I finished eatting it started to rain, just a light shower really. This was enough to send most of the people in the area running for cover inside shops and doorways. This cutdown on the crowd enough that it was now fairly pleasant to wander around the now mostly empty (at least outdoors) marketplace, which I did for a while. Finally I started back towards Downtown Crossing and eventually the Commons and my truck. I did stop at the Borders Books on School Street for awhile on my way.

While I was in Borders the light shower transformed into a full blown thunderstorm with the sky openning up and dropping all the water it had. It was still like that when I left the store and continued back to my truck. It didn't take long before I was completely soaked, I think it was about 10 steps, but I continued.

I have to say that I didn't mind being soaked through. It kind of felt good, like the rain was washing away the pain I have been feeling. Emotional pain that is. It didn't wash away everything, but at least it got rid of a layer or two for a while. And of course, as much as I was enjoying getting completely soaked by the storm, I was also enjoying watching people huddle in any little bit of shelter they could find. It seemed like they were afraid of getting wet. Like they were afraid of nature itself, while I was enjoying being out in the rain.

It was almost like I was being carried back to a more innocent time, a bit like being a little kid again. Of course the feeling didn't last since I had to drive through Boston traffic to get home.

So Sunday afternoon wasn't too bad. The evening brought a bit of a surprise, but I'll write about that later. For now I need to get some food into me.

Namaje.

Nightmares

I don't normally remember my dreams. In fact, it has been so long that I don't know if I even dream anymore. I know I used to dream, but the last time I can remember dreaming was years ago. At least until the last two nights.

I don't remember much about the dream I had the night before last except that when I looked in the mirror I did not recognize the face that was looking back at me.

And then there was last night, and the nightmares...

I don't remember what happened in the nightmares last night, just that they were bad enough that by the time I was awake enough to realize what was going on I was standing beside my bed with the light on, I was sweating and my heart was pounding. It took a while before I could lay back down and go to sleep again.

I don't know whether it is a good thing I can't remember the nightmare or not. On the one hand, it might give me some clue about what has been bothering me for the past couple of weeks; but on the other hand, I have had some pretty vivid nightmares in my life and I don't need any more in my psyche right now. There are images I can remember from nightmares years ago that I can remember like they happened last night. And these were nightmares I had between 20 and 25 years ago.

---

I want to write more about what I have been going through the last couple weeks / month, but I don't know what most of it is. And what little I do understand I can't put into words yet. But I will keep trying.

Speaking of Canada...

It turns out that the government has setup a webcam on a rooftop across the street looking out over Parliament Hill.

When I added this entry the camera was showing them setup for tonight's Canada Day concert on the hill. I don't know what it will be showing in the image below while you are reading this since I am loading the image directly from the webcam.

Happy Canada Day!

This past weekend was the first weekend in quite a while with good weather. The sun was shining, the day was hot but not too humid so it wasn't stifling. And since I had been planning on going to the annual T.O.P.I.C. PowWow, in Canton, MA as I have every year for the past 5, I went on Saturday.

Did I mention that it was sunny?

I got a bit of a sunburn. My face, arms, and a 'V'-shaped patch on my chest. The burn on my face and chest isn't too bad, neither are my forearms. In fact most of the red has already faded out of these areas. However, my upper arms, right to the shoulders, are still red and sore. I am treating the burn with an Aloe Vera Gel from the pharmacy and it is working great. The main problem is sleeping. I sleep on my sides and therefore end up lying on the burn most of the night.

I guess I will have to start wearing sunscreen. The couple of times in my life I have worn sunscreen I have hated it. And since someone out there is wondering, I have only worn sunscreen 2-3 times in my life and yet this is the first time I have had a sunburn that lasted more than a few hours, a day at most. Any other time the redness faded and it became a tan in a very short period. I guess this is not the case any more.

I blame the thinning of the ozone layer and the medications I am on for diabetes. The pills make you more sun-sensitive, although as I said, this is the first burn I have had that lasted and I have been on these same pills for a couple of years now.

---

As I mentioned in the title of this entry, today is Canada Day, and yet this Canadian is stuck working. Of course is because I am currently in the Boston area and get July 4th off instead.

Comments, what comments?

Because I switched my host to one which supports PHP, I have been able to add functionality to this journal. I have added the ability to leave comments.

I don't know that anyone is actually reading these posts, or if they want to leave comments, but it is there now just in case.

And I should say that I know it has been almost two months since I have made an entry. I have a lot of stuff running through my head and once I get some of it to slow down enough I will write it up and post it here for all to see.

Namaje.

House, Sweet House

I need to figure out when I am going to be moving. Yes, I said when, not if.

The other day, while registering some things, I got to the part of the questionnaire which asked "Which of the following do you plan for the next year?" While I was going through I realized that I had checked the box for moving to a new residence, and that I meant it. I just don't know how far down the road it is, figuratively or physically.

While I don't necessarily want to move just yet, the advantages of living where I am are quickly being out-weighed by the negatives. I am not going to list out the negatives here. At least I don't plan on listing them, but who knows what time will bring. So the question becomes, when do I leave? Do I leave sooner when I am less able to afford it monetarily? Or do I leave later when the other costs of staying start to add up?

And once that has been answered, the next question is "Where do I move to?" The two main options I see at the moment are that I either get another small apartment in the area I lived a couple of years ago, or I move home.

I don't think a move is in my short term plans. Looking a month or so out. However, a small move could very well be in the works for three to four months out. That would depend on what kind of lease I can get, as well as what kind of answers I can come up with for those two big questions of When and Where.

Thinking about it a further, I guess I don't have to answer the When question first. I need to answer When and Where at the same time. Both for the short and long terms.

...

The saying "Home is where the heart is" just came into my mind. Well, if this is true then I have several homes. If only one of them was where I lived.

Spring Hopes Eternal

According to the calendar it is officially Spring. According to my senses Spring is still a few days away. Either way, I am glad to see the end of this Winter. It is not that I don't like Winter, I do. It is that this has been a long hard Winter, and I am not talking about the snow.

To me Winter is ... I hesitate to use this term, but it is the one that comes to mind ... A season of death. I don't mean that in a necessarily negative way. Death is a transition. It is the end of one cycle which allow the next to begin. Spring is the beginning of the cycle of seasons, and it could not be without Winter bringing the end of the previous cycle. Spring brings a new beginning and a re-awakening to the natural world.

This year I can feel the re-awakening in myself as well. It is barely there yet, but I can feel it. Hopefully, once the last of Winter is washed away (did you know that Winter itself is soluable in water) I will be able to fully awaken and strengthen my weakened ties to the natural world and my own spirituality.

I had more to write, but I can't seem to get to it form coherently on the screen. Therefore, I'm going to leave this here for now and see about coming back for another entry either later tonight or tomorrow.

Namaje.

I miss my friend.

Actually, I miss all my friends. This is partly because a lot of them are too far away to see very often, and it is partly because I have been feeling down for quite a while now and during this period I have not been very social. I have not been up to talking on the phone, for any length of time anyway, during much of this time. I know what you are thinking, or at least what I would be thinking at this point, "What about email at least?" Well, I don't really have an answer. Except, I guess, that when I get like that it is very hard to initiate contact. From my understanding, I am not alone in this.

That being said, it was not my intent to write about all of that tonight. Of course it seems like some of it needed to be said, possibly more than I have said, but I'll do that later. Tonight I was going to write about one specific friend of mine.

I miss my friend Paul.

It may seem strange to say that I haven't seen him in almost a year when he only moved out (he was one of my roommates for a while) about 4 or 5 months ago. However, it does make sense if you take into account that the person living here was not the same person he used to be. The old Paul was still there, but the new Paul never let him out. Let me give you some history that might help explain this.

I met Paul about 7 years ago and we quickly became friends. As our friendship grew we became close friends, almost family, and we remained friends for years.

Then we had a falling out. We stopped talking for a couple of months.

I am not going to say any more about that in this entry. Except to say that we did deal with it and started talking again.

It was after this, obviously, that we became roommates.

Well, things happened that made him withdraw from social contact. I have several ideas about what was happening but it is not my place to list them here. If he starts a blog he can cover them himself if he chooses. I am sure that anyone who knows him, at least the ones I have talked to about it, saw the same things I did.

The end effect was that he would sit in front of his computer playing games, or in front of the TV, and not talk to anyone. This was the birth of the new Paul. The old Paul, my friend, slipped away and disappeared. Or so people thought.

However, I got him out of house a couple of times, to shoot pool or whatever, and once he accepted the fact that he was out the old Paul would reappear. Once that happened we had a good time. Once it even lasted for a while after we got home. I know he is still in there, just repressed.

While I have been writing this I have also been thinking about why he has been on my mind so much the last couple of days and I think I have come up with an answer. I do miss all of my friends, but I know that they can look after themselves, in a lot of cases better than me. Paul is different and I am worried about him. I emailed him earlier asking him to let me know how is doing and asking if he wants to get together sometime. I hope I hear back from him.

I'll let you know if I do.

Better... (a relative term)

I don't know what it is, but this morning I woke up feeling better than I have felt in weeks.

Physically I am still ill. My sinuses are acting up and causing me to feel off balance and congested. At times it is so bad that I can barely breathe. On top of that, my knees are still bothering me, and while I still feel tired, I don't feel as run-down as I have been feeling.

It is odd. I have been feeling so miserable for so long now that when I felt OK this morning I didn't know what to do. And somehow it has managed to last. I am at work, and that hasn't dragged me back down yet. I got stopped on the way to work this morning (and got a $50 fine) and still feel pretty good. Stupid, and poorer, but still OK.

While a have a few minutes let me post a couple of quick updates.

[-- Post Edited by WyldWoods --]

But, on to another topic, my work visa. I'll give you the short version for now... I got a new visa, so I have been readmitted into the country for another year.

I might write more about the experience later, but for now I am being called to a meeting. I also have a few other things to write about once I get them a little more settled in my mind.

Peace.
Namaje.

I just got word that my review will be this afternoon at 4:00. Things should go well, but we will see what happens.

It is also looking like I will not be copying the entries from my old journal into this one. If you are interested in reading them you can find them at My uJournal Page. Which reminds me, I have to put a note in that system that forwards people here.

Well, my level of stress has increased.

The company I work for keeps doing more and more to cut costs. Earlier this month I was talking to the Director of IT (my department) and he said that we had cut all the fat from the department. Well, apparently it wasn't enough. On the 17th there was another round of layoffs and 2 more people were cut from IT, along with about 20-25 people from fulfillment. I don't knoiw how many people were cut from any other departments. So now, in an effort to save money, the company has started to cut deeper and is now starting to cut into muscle. How much longer before there is nothing but bone left, if that much.

Add into the mix the fact that annual reviews are coming up in the next couple of weeks... And something that is even more important to me, my work visa expires in a week. So with all this going on, along with the US policy changes, I have to go to INS and hope that they will allow me to stay and work for another year. This expiring of my work visa causes me stress every year. This time it is causing even more because of the rising tension in the world and the way the US seems to be trying to cut itself off from the rest of the world. At least the way the current US government is cutting itself off.

We'll see what happens when I get there.

Moving of my Journal

I started an online journal a while ago, but updated it very infequently. For various reasons, I have decided to revert back to an account I had setup a long time ago on a different system. So I have gone back to Blogger. I have started a new "blog" for this journal, but it is an account I have had for a while.

I will probably move the posts from my old journal to this one as there are few enough that I could do it easily. However, I am not going to do that immediately. I will make sure that it is clear any copied posts are clearly marked.

I will also try to post more often. No promises though.

-- WyldWoods