Daijoubu!
I've pretty much been absent from my online world since around Christmas. I took advantage of a sleepless night to do taxes and make a very quick entry.
Nothing bad has happened, on the contrary, everything is fine, if hectic. The Pumpkin Prince and Princess have so far managed to avoid full-force infections of the bug du jour after the Pumpkin Princess's swine flu episode. I am constantly impressed and grateful at how healthy they both are. New Year's had my brother and his family over, a fun time was had by the Pumpkin Princess and her cousin, but I think the Pumpkin Granny found it rather stressful.
Work is busier than ever, but there is not that much I can do about it except to pace myself to produce as much as possible, And when I say this, I mean total work output for my entire career, not the short term. For example, sometimes maximizing productivity involves putting off work that should be done but does not have to be done right now, in favor of dinner and bedtime at a reasonable hour, and opting not to put in extra hours and spending time with the Pumpkin Daddy and Prince and Princess instead.
It saddens me that there are people who have not figured out how to pace themselves, and they become burned out and depressed, and end up staying away from work for extended periods. To a certain extent, it also angers me, because when they are not at work, their work becomes my work.
And I should probably eat my own words, because in just a couple more weeks, I'm headed for my first work related overseas trip since I gave birth to the Pumpkin Princess. To Austria, no less. I've been listening to German language instruction CDs during my commute, but I expect most of the people I encounter will have some command of English.
