I know some people are confused by the fact that I have gone incognito for the last several months and I know some were even worried about me and the simple fact that I have not blogged in almost three months. To all those that were worried all I can say is thank you for the kind words and the support you have provided me over the last few months. At this point, I’m not even sure where to begin to explain to you what has gone on over the last few months. I can tell you this, depression can be an ugly and nasty thing and when you couple that with someone who wears their emotions on their sleeve as I do, it’s hard for depression not to simply take over your life. I can honestly say (looking back), that I may have been depressed for a little over a year now and kept repressing my feelings towards many things. I’m still working through a lot of it, but I believe I am getting better with my emotions and my viewpoint and I’m trying to keep it all in check. But I also had the issue of what to do about this blog. I am at an interesting crossroads with the point behind this blog and where LFL is currently going under the guise of the Disney logo. If you have not heard, as of late, LFL has said that the EU (better known as the Extended Universe) is no longer deemed a part of the main portion of the Star Wars universe. That means that all of these books have info in them that really don’t matter to the Star Wars Universe anymore. So the question came to my mind, am I wasting my time? I pondered that quite a bit and decided that I am NOT shutting down this blog and I am not going to stop reading these books. Instead, I’m going to move along reading these books and reviewing them. I know many people are asking why I would do that. Well, it’s actually for a larger cause. These authors all worked hard to put out these books, and just like I put a lot of work into all my podcasts, so they do the same with their books. And if I’m the only person who has taken the time to read and then review all those books, then so be it. I’m realistic and know I’m not the only one doing that, but that is the way I’m going to look at this blog. I will not give up and I have not given up on reading all of these books.
So, I’m sure some of you want some updates from me. I will take some time tonight and tomorrow night putting that all together for you. I will try to get you all up to date as much as I can while also letting you know about the latest Podcast Updates and will review the latest book I’ve read, “Star Wars: Coruscant Nights I – Jedi Twilight”. Tonight I will let you know of all the podcasts that have gone up and then will review the book tomorrow night. I will then podcast one night a week for the rest of the year. I will try to do that on Friday nights, but there may be times when that no longer happens, just have faith that I will continue after this hiatus I have taken. So I’m sure you’re all wondering what I’ve been up to. Well, there’s a lot to talk about. The end of my job from last year was chaotic and rough and I kind of felt under the gun as far as time and getting everything together. I’m happy to say that it all worked out and things ended on an okay note for the end of my school year last year. After school got out, we took Ruth immediately down to East Stroudsburgh University for her to get ready to go overseas on her American Musicians Abroad tour. She had a few days at home before she went, but not long. We dropped her off and when I came home, we hired a company to do the back roof of our house because we had some leaks that needed to be dealt with. Well, in the process, we found out we had a major leak in the roof and apparently the roof over the main part of the house looked like an ocean wave. That roof ended up being $3000 more than we initially thought it was going to cost. I have a much better roof now, but it was a lot more expensive than I even planned on.
Meanwhile, Heather took me to the doctors for the first time in several years (well, over a decade) and we got a chance to talk about my health with the doc. The thing that concerned the doctor was my blood pressure. It was higher than he would like, so he put me on a low dose for blood pressure medication and suggested I loose some weight to get off the medication. It freaked Heather out quite a bit. The doctor also suggested a diet lower in sodium, so I’m suddenly looking at my sodium intake a lot more than I should. We also set things up for a minor surgery I needed to have over the summer. I tried to tell Heather that it wasn’t just my weight that was contributing to my high blood pressure, but stress from all sorts of my life as well. I’m not sure she believes me when it comes to that. Not too long after Ruth was down at the University, we went back down there and met up with my parents for Ruth’s going away AMA Concert. It was an incredible concert and I felt good knowing that I knew quite a few of the teachers going with Ruth overseas to Europe. Just before we left, the roofer finished with the roof, and it was just in time too because we had quite a bit of rain right after the roof was finished. While Ruth was overseas, things seemed to slow down in time. I was nervous for her and I’m not sure why. While she was gone, I had the pleasure of going to Allentown Comic Con and got to meet with Ricki from Heroes of Cosplay. However, on the way home, the hitch for the trailer broke away from my car (thanks to the rough roads just outside Allentown) and we busted not only the hitch, but the jack to the trailer. Luckily, Gary’s brother came down and helped us get the trailer home, but it left me with all sorts of issues with the car. Not too long after that, Austin started his first day at Wendy’s on Front Street and is now one of their grill guys. That means I now have two teens working at that store. We got the roof finished on the house and put up our new pool while Ruth was gone as well. We Skyped with her a few times while she was overseas, but the Internet was kind of come and go as she was over there. We then went and picked her up not too many days into July and I was so happy to see her. I had just gotten done with a workshop the day before, and that was when we found out about the passenger jet that got shot down over Ukraine. It made me more nervous about Ruth flying home, but she made it home okay and we picked her up from her bus down at the Pilot Wendy’s by the PA border. It was good having her home! I’ll talk about the rest of my summer vacation tomorrow.
Well, it’s time to do some listening . Things are moving right along with the podcast and we did a lot of work this past spring and into this summer, so time to catch up on some of the episodes. It’s time to listen to Episodes #116 through #124 of the GalaxyCast Podcast. Head on over to the GalaxyCast Website and check it out. Again, I have to thank Gary Boughton, Eric Maruscak, and Ian Palmer for being my co-hosts and to Mike Wilkerson and the Two Guys Talking Podcast Network for all their effort and support over the years. MAY THE FORCE BE WITH THOSE WHO LISTEN!
The GalaxyCast Blog 