Neonjade

The last two weeks killed me, or at least, I wished someone would put me out of my misery for most of it. It started with a nasty case of the flu that turned into bronchitis by the time I went to the doctor. I did not write. I did not read. I mostly stared off into space or played bejeweled on Facebook during the time I could sit at my desk, versus the rest of the time where I drifted in and out of a non-sleep. I call it non-sleep because it sure wasn’t restful.

In honor of my near death experience that lasted way too long and left my poor brain rusty and crusted over, sticking and sputtering as I try to bring it back to life and continue my regularly scheduled blogging efforts, I beg your indulgence as I dump a bit of that rust into this short ramble for your entertainment and my commitment. The next time you get sick, just come back and read this and know that, while you feel horrible, you would never be as wimpy as me to get knocked out of everything you enjoy doing for an entire two weeks over some lousy flu! It will either make you feel better about yourself, or it will force to you get to the doctor in a timely manner so that you can feel better about yourself.

Coming up over the next week, I have much planned for you:

• Before getting ill, I read “The Black Jewels Trilogy” by Anne Bishop, which includes Daughter of the Blood, Heir to the Shadows and Queen of the Darkness. I absolutely adored the series and will tell you why. It might be a little on the romantic side for some guys, but I hope to at least entice every lady I know that’s into fantasy fiction to give it a shot.
• Also before “my event” (Untold pun), I interviewed the local game development team for Untold the Game. I wrote pages and pages of notes as Brannon “Ashy” Hollingsworth, game master extraordinaire; Nathan Ellsworth, combat system numbers guru; and Brannon Hall “Hall,” art design maestro, all spoke in interacting rivulets of streaming consciousness of their personal journey with Untold, along with upcoming play testing and final release information. Their story may take multiple posts to do justice to their story.
• Beer and Blog occurs each Tuesday, and Dave and I do our best to attend at least every other week. I am especially grateful for Dave dragging me out of my “but I haven’t done anything to talk about” mood to go participate this week. It gave me much more motivation to break out of my slump and provided a couple of topics for discussion:
  • Effective Arguments – There are ways to discuss points of view that are positive and growth oriented for all participants, and then there are others that aren’t so much. I managed to go down both roads this week and I’d like to share what tilts me, both for my acknowledgement – and hopefully eventual victory over – and for your information – to help you bring the best arguments out of your social and professional brainstorming groups.
  • Education Basics – It was brought to our attention that many “forward thinkers” believe that with all the instant information at our children’s fingertips today, there is no longer any need to teach facts that you can look up on the internet, or math that you can punch into a calculator. That all you need to teach is how to use the information. I disagree with this sentiment to the point that it gives me an instant headache just thinking about it. I’ll try to make my argument one of those positive kinds!

So, now I have gotten my first post back after a long break jitters beaten back a bit, cranked my brain over to warm up for the upcoming first “real” post, and laid myself a plan of attack that’s public to hold myself accountable. I’m looking forward to it!

Have you ever had a break from an endeavor that had you stumbling around for a bit to find the way back?

• Did you have to resort to a “blow out” attempt like me? What kind of reaction did you get?
• Did you hide it with aplomb? Share your tricks of the trade!
• Have you not made it back yet? Post a comment and let folks encourage you back into that saddle.