Hoping for Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

As you may have noticed, my posting has been rather spotty lately. Many things going on at the Random household and at the Random Non-Profit that require attention. I can divulge a bit more in a few days, but there may be a few changes going on that will hopefully be for the better . . .

In the background, there is major drama going on in the life of one of my friends and Mr. Random and I are getting sucked back into it all again. This time I am setting major limits on what I will and will not help with, since most of this drama is the result of some pretty lousy choices on my friend’s part and I refuse to be an enabler to her anymore . . . it ultimately will not help either her or us in the long term . . .

ESL class this semester is still not going the way I had hoped. There is still a lot of confusion going on as we finish up the 3rd week of classes. I do like teaching, but I keep getting interrupted and distracted by all of the chaos going on around me – new teachers not knowing what to do, rosters that are never finalized, computers in the computer lab that seem to stop working all the time . . . it is making volunteer teaching more stressful that I would like, and I already have a great deal of stress in my life . . .

Earlier in the week, a news item came out that gave me great pause:

Stress Linked to Miscarriages: Pregnant women who undergo stress in the first
three weeks after conception are three times more likely to have miscarriages
than women who have less stress, a study in the Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences indicates. The study authors speculate that a woman’s body
may interpret increased levels of a stress hormone, cortisol, as an indication
of “deteriorating conditions,” which may prompt the miscarriage. The authors
recommend that women try to reduce stress in their lives as much as possible. At
least 15 percent of recognized pregnancies and up to one-half of all pregnancies
end in miscarriage. (Health
Day, 2/20/06)

I’m going to have to either make some big adjustments in my life soon or go straight to bed rest if I ever do get pregnant. It is a rather sobering thought, since I know that the time I was pregnant before, I had been very unhappy at my job and was stressed out all of the time . . . sigh . . . well, that’s all water under the bridge now . . .

Now the classic rock station is playing the Proclaimers’ “500 Miles.” (It's 1988 day . . .)

. . . I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who’d walk a thousand miles
Just to fall down at your door . . .

Was that from "Benny and Joon"? With that tune firmly planted in my head, I think I’ll close up for the day. I hope all is going well with everyone!