What's going on?

 It's been awhile since I last posted here, and to be honest, that shouldn't surprise anyone who knows me. As I stated in my inaugural post on this here blog, I wasn't going to make any promises on post length, quality, or frequency. With that out of the way let's continue onward through the fog, as my mom would say. 
    I've been up to quite a bit the past few months. January of course started off with the normal beginning of the year stuff. I said no new years resolutions, because I think they often set unrealistic expectations. And I did in fact not do a new years resolution. I have however, made it into the gym more often as of last week which, massive win for me. Also in January, my friend Meredith and I planned a whirlwind road trip vacation to Santa Fe, New Mexico for the second weekend in February which by the way was only three weeks away at the time of planning said trip. 

    The road trip went great by the way. we drove all the way there and really just soaked in all the... dust-- the sights of course were great, but that West Texas dust is just built different. We stopped in Roswell and went to the UFO museum which was pretty cool, and then drove straight on to Santa Fe to our hotel to really get our weekend started with some dinner and some relaxation. We visited Meow Wolf, one of my favorite places (if you haven't been before, and you like things that are weird, I absolutely recommend). We also had some great food while we were in Santa Fe and we even went skiing, which was an adventure all in itself. On the way home we stopped in Tucumcari, and visited with my cousins for a couple hours and enjoyed a home cooked meal and some puppies to be pet. By the time we made it home, we were exhausted, and I think I definitely slept for 12 hours after that. 

  Also during February, the Orthodox started our journey into Great Lent, which is our period of fasting leading up to Pascha, or as it's known to Western Christians, Easter. With that comes the  weeks preceding Lent that we call the Lenten Triodion, which are more or less our buffer period to prepare for the fast. Which, as it does every year, it snuck up on me, and I presume a lot of other people. The tradition in the Orthodox Christian Church is that the Sunday that Lent starts is called Forgiveness Sunday, in which we ask our friends, family, and community for forgiveness for any offenses we have caused them over the past year so that we may begin the fast on a clean slate. So in fashion true to myself being late to writing this message, Forgive me, a sinner! At the time of me writing this, Lent has already started, and I pray everyone observing the fast has a blessed fast, and can remember the road ahead is hard, but the reward at the end is worth the struggle.

    Finally an update on my general health, overall I consider my health good. My chronic pain is just that, chronic, and occasionally debilitating, but to say otherwise would simply be untrue. It's hard, and annoying. While I have answers for what generally causes the pain, (rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis) that doesn't take away the fact that the meds don't remove all the crackling joints, or the fact that my ankle has been swollen for who knows how long (I'll hopefully have an answer and or a solution for that one soon). I also don't look like someone who has chronic pain, or any form of disability really. Which can cause issues in itself due to my age. This lovely combination means I'm constantly fielding the "aren't you too young to have that" and the "just wait until you're my age, you'll understand real chronic pain" comments. Which please don't misunderstand me, I wouldn't wish this on anyone, it's terrible, and we shouldn't be playing the suffering olympics. A little empathy goes a long way. I do get annoyed constantly answering the same questions however, or the looks of skepticism, or the puppy dog eyes. I make up for this with some slightly dark jokes, generally at my own expense. My favorite one is "well I may have two autoimmune disorders and my joints pop every time I move, but at least I can eat cheese with no consequence". If I ever stop making jokes about the diseases they'll kill me faster. In fact, I got that from my mom, she was the queen of jokes, even the really bad ones, so thanks for that.

    All of this is the longest way to say, life keeps going and I have a lot to look forward to coming up. I got tickets to see Fall Out Boy with two of my closest friends in June. I have a Meet Me @ The Altar concert later this month. I have a lot of plans for future travels this summer, and if every thing goes right I will hopefully be taking on some new responsibilities at work. I can't wait to see where the next few months lead. If anyone actually read this, I'll see you next time I decide to write something.