Where have I been?

Well, I'm not even going to check and see how long it's been since I last posted something here, but here's a quick update on what's going on in my life:

1) I have a new class of karate students. Most of them seem to want to be there (which is good) and it's the smallest class I've had so far, only 14 people (which is extra good). Things are progressing nicely there, and - as I expected - I enjoy doing it once I'm there, although getting out of bed in the morning hasn't gotten any easier.

2) The woodworking continues, albeit at what seems to be a snail's pace. The last time I got out there, I spent two hours making three cuts, and trying to figure out what I did wrong and if I should fix it or move on. It was frustrating.

3) I think it has now been about 6 months since I've read anything substantial (i.e. a book). It seems that right now I'm in 'creative' season, and in a few months I'll probably run out of creativity and go back to reading.

4) Speaking of creativity, Twist of Lemming is still going, although I had to cut back to 3 comics a week instead of five. Between karate and everything else, I decided I just didn't have the mental energy for it.

5) I finally spent my Christmas money and got myself a Nintendo DS Lite, and yes, it is as cool as I had hoped.

6) Work has been hectic. We lost one of the guys at the help desk a couple of months ago, and we lost one of our guys in the back a week ago, so there has been a lot of slack to pick up. But in this case, it's not a bad busy, so busyness is good.

7) Paper airplanes were the obsession du jeur at work, thanks to a page-a-day calendar the Ma Barber gave me. That is, until the boss-man got tired of airplanes flying hither and yon, and grounded all dead tree pulp. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

8) I'm still drinking tea at work, although my favorite has shifted for now from Lady Grey to Triple Leaf's Ginger tea. It's basically just ginger root, which tastes great when brewed nice and hot (thanks, Sarah, for bringing in the electric kettle to work) and mixed with a spoon of honey. Mmmm.

9) Oh yeah! I've also been engaging heathens in intellectual debates online. Nothing too hardcore, but Opera has a bunch of forums for their users to chat, and one of them is the debates and discussions section. The topic that pulled me in was one where they were discussing whether or not the Catholic adoption agencies in England should be banned from choosing parents based on whether they were a straight couple or a gay couple. I must have carried out a fairly rational exposition of orthodox Christian dogma, because the two rampant atheoagnostics didn't agree with me in the end, but did say that they were glad to have me around, which made my day (really, ask Jess).