On My Personal Time Suck

Today I realized I hadn't posted in almost a month.

A MONTH!

Where have I been all this time?

I'd like to say I've been spending my time on a tropical island with the Marine and all the fruity drinks with umbrellas I could drink, but I can't.

I can't even say I've been working on my next novel or preparing for the Murphy's Law book tour that begins on July 16th.

Don't forget to get your e-book copy where e-books are sold. :)

In all honesty, I've been hard at work on a new path in my life. A path guaranteed to keep me on my toes and in shape. Not to mention get me out of the house and around real people a little more often.

About a month ago I got hired and accepted into an intense lifeguard training program. Now, that might not seem like a lot, because teenagers can do it. You see it all the time. A bunch of summer break minors hanging around pools with lifeguard on their dainty little swimsuits.

Let me just say-- no. Not just no, but Hell no.

They never went through Lifeguard training on a Marine base. They also don't work at a Marine training tank where on a daily basis hundreds of Marines in full combat gear jump into sixteen feet of water. Often times, these Marines can't swim.

I spent two weeks learning not only the basics of lifeguard training, but how to do what those Marines do as well. This included jumping off towers between 10-30 feet above the water. Swimming 1500 meters in full clothes, stripping said clothes off in the water, diving to the bottom of sixteen feet to get those clothes, and putting them back on.

I can also swim with a flack jacket on--and let me just say I'd love never to have to do that again.

During those two weeks I'd spend eight hours a day in the water, come home and pass out. I'm not sure I even spoke words when I got home. Most of the time I was too exhausted to take more than two bites of food before falling face first into bed at 1900.

I took my final test early, in the dark of night when seeing anything in a pool was almost impossible. I also had the added excitement of being dive-bombed by bats while I rescued a guy out of the murky depths of the pool. On a full stomach. Two hours past my bedtime.

It was exhilarating.

The upside: I lost about four inches and five pounds. Everything is a lot more toned than it used to be, and I'm finally sleeping better at night.

I'm still working the same type of hours, and I love it.

Now though, hopefully I'll be able to find my balance (especially since school has started again, and I have four papers to write this month).

I've missed writing and blogging. I've missed checking my Twitter (yeah, I fell off the social networking planet altogether during the past month), and I've missed talking to my best friend. Overall, I'm exhilarated and happy, and I think choosing this path was the best one for me. It's filling a part of me I didn't consciously realize was empty.

It's also giving me tons of ideas for stories.

As if I didn't already have hundreds of those floating around in the Magick Notebook--and on my phone.

What have you guys been doing? I'd love to hear.

R.S.