"...Honey! I'm home!..."

I feel like the recalcitrant husband, wandering in at 3am with booze on his breath and lipstick on his collar.

I have not been kind to you, my readers. I am sorry. I know that many of my readers actually know me in person and rely on my blog as a way of keeping tabs on "what's up with Maddog." Again, I am sorry.

Why have I not been posting? Well, it's for many reasons. I have had so much happen and I don't feel I've had the time to sit down and justly write about it. Also, things keep happening, thereby not affording me the time to sit down and write. I've had so much schoolwork due that every time I sit down to write something, I feel I should be writing a page for a paper instead of for my blog. I keep telling myself that I'm not getting graded on my blog.

Well, as it always happens, fate comes along and intervenes:

I was scheduled to take the practical part of my NREMT-I test tomorrow morning at 8am. Today, I went to school and practiced and practiced some more. This is the same as I had been doing all week, between sitting for final exams and the written portion of the NREMT-I test (last Wednesday). After we closed up the lab, I met Herself and her workmates for a pint and some cheer. Being a good boy, I left early to get home and get to bed. I came home to find an email telling me that my exam tomorrow has been cancelled and no new date will be forthcoming before Monday.

Dang!

I could have stayed at the pub!

I have only one more final exam for the scholastic aspect of my education. That's scheduled for Monday and I'm not worried in the least about it. It's on field operations, tactical medicine and street survival skills. Yah, the Maddog's got that down.

Now, one has to understand that this practical portion of my exam is the biggest, most stressful part of my finals. I have been getting more anxiety and heartburn over this than anything else in my scholastic career so far.

Now I find it's in Limbo. It's the epitome of the anticlimax.

So, what do I do with my newfound Friday night? I sit down to write an apology to my readers. Of course.

As far as the exam, I'll do fine. I have a bit more time to polish my skills and be on the top of my game. No worries. My only concern is how it's going to impact my scheduled fun and recreation for the summer.

As to the summer, my plan is to relax a lot. I have a part time job that involves me getting paid to ride my bike to various parks in town and hand out information to visitors. I'll be spending whole weeks at the beach. I'll be running every day, swimming thrice weekly and lifting weights three more times a week. I have a 50 mile ultra-marathon in November that I'm going to finish, dammit!

Oh, and I'll be spending a lot of time writing, and a lot of time at the Firehouse (coming up with more material).

Somewhere in all this, I'll be getting my EMT-Intermediate certification. Since my jurisdiction currently has no correlation to the national standard of EMT-I, it doesn't mean much more than the "next big step" towards becoming a Paramedic. I'm on my way.

To those of you who keep clicking back to my blog, only to see the same, tired entry: Thanks for coming by.

More to come. I promise.

--maddog