God damn, this year has been a bit bumpy so far.

So I havent updated this blog much lately, surprise, surprise. Most of you likely already know the major points from this update from elsewhere, but I figured I should probably post a few things here on SG as well.

Sadly, that trip to Japan ended up getting cancelled. There was a little too much uncertainty after the big quake off their NE coast. We were offered the opportunity to receive full refunds on everything, so we decided to wait. In retrospect, having talked with some people in the areas we were visiting, I wish we had not cancelled, but... We've decided to shoot for next spring. I'm a bit heartbroken that it got cancelled this year, considering this is the first year it's gotten as far as all being booked. Stuff has always come up in the past, preventing the trip from even being scheduled. Next year should be good though!

An additional bit of stress this year was a near miss with some health stuff. Back in January, I'd gone to the doctor for my first ever check up. I figured now that I'm in my 30's, I should probably get checked over and be sure I'm in good health. My doctor reported back that outside of one lab value that was off, I was otherwise in good health.

However, that lab marker is generally an early sign of one of quite a number of different health issues, some of which can be pretty bad.

A few months and a half dozen tests later, it had been narrowed town to two things: either I am one of a small number of people who's bodies are just naturally that way, and the "abnormal" value is actually my "normal", or.... bladder cancer.

May was a stressful month, waiting for that last test. The week before last I finally had that last test done (which wasnt any fun!), and got my results: I'm a mutant! So now filed away in my medical record is that one of my lab results will likely always be slightly off of baseline.

Christ, I dont know that I'd realized until after all of this wrapped up just how stressed it had been making me. I had a good time out with a bunch of friends afterwards and made many toasts to getting to keep my internal organs. Yay for keeping one's internal organs!

But I'm still feeling like I'm catching up on rest, even a week and a half later. I'm certainly feeling more relaxed than I have in months, but am also feeing kinda drained.

So yeah, this year has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, I could label it as a bad year so far. But considering how close I came to it being so much worse... I'll take it. At least I have my health. And cheers to that!