On and Off the Radar

Beep.

Do you hear that faint, electronic beat? Beep…there it is again. Readers, I think cyberspace radar has just detected a faint pulse from this stone cold forum.

We were coding here, folks. We’re two weeks into a postless January on the heels of a blog-free December and I’m frankly speechless. Part of me wants to blame my oft-mentioned milestone birthday, as I’m told time hightails it toward the fast track right alongside fleeing youth. Although time has passed rather quickly, I refuse to lean on the shopworn“time flies” bit, especially as clichés are avoided as a matter of policy here at RunningWithLetters.

The truth is I’ve been wantonly going on and off the radar in an alarming number of arenas, and there’s no telling when it will end. In late November—just prior to going dark on the blog—I disappeared from the academic scene to revel in pumpkin cheesecake, pots of coffee, and a houseful of general family fun. I skipped classes and shimmied around deadlines, effectively extending my Thanksgiving break into a full ten day binge of frivolity.

Turns out ten days is a long time to go rogue at the tail end of a masters-level semester. Even as my sister’s hand was still waving sadly out the window of her departing car, I began what turned out to be a non-stop, two week program of educational penance.

Grades safely secured—all A’s and a P, thank you very much—I was stunned to find myself catapulting toward mid-December thoroughly ill-prepared for the season. At that point, the only radar detecting any activity from me was operated by elves in the North Pole as I swiftly switched into an all-Yuletide, all the time format.

Oh—and that treadmill routine I was so jazzed about? I fell off the radar there, too, as soon as we got a wii fit (actually, we had 2 of them at one point, but that’s a long, sad, O’Henry-esque story for another post). See, the wii fit virtual trainers get really upset if you go missing from their program, and they’ve kept my Daytimer pretty full of late, requiring all manner of balance maneuvers, poses, and feats of strength. Over the past three weeks, I’ve logged an impressive track record of physical fitness. But alas, I’m hearing something that signals an impending fade off the fitness radar, too.

Did you hear that?

It’s still a bit faint, but it’s the unmistakable toll of the school bell.