*bump for re-slinking back in...*
So, it's been quite a while since I last appeared on Pax, and I disappeared without much notice at all. I consider just about all of you to be friends so I feel that something of an explanation is in order, but in exchange please excuse me if my post comes across as being a bit too rambling as there's a bit to get through.
Towards the end of December I moved house, did all of the usual Christmas stuff and celebrated New Year, all while simultaneously planning for a trip to China. It was pretty hectic, but knowing that I'd have the trip to look forward to made it easier to push through the hard work of packing, moving, shopping, etc.
For the first three weeks of January I had amazing holiday in China, where I got to meet my partner's friends and family (she is Chinese but rarely travels back to China, so she was really excited about it too). I thought that going to China wouldn't be too big of a problem in regards to staying online as I'd have time to log on every now and then, but I either overestimated the capability of non-Google search engines (Google was blocked in the part of China I was in) or underestimated the great firewall of China - I couldn't seem to find any way to access Pax there at all!
At first I thought I'd just get back in touch when I returned in late Jan, but in the final week of my holiday my Dad got in touch with me to let me know that my grandmother had suffered a severe stroke. There was nothing that I nor anybody else could do, and even if I cut my holiday short it wouldn't make any difference as she wasn't in a state where I could communicate with her in any truly meaningful way, shape or form. My grandfather made the decision not to keep her on life support, and she passed away within a matter of days. I could go into more details but honestly I'd rather not; you can all probably understand how this has left me feeling and I'm still coming to terms with it all.
After I returned from my trip to China I began working at a new school. I'm still teaching the same subjects and year levels (Japanese for year 7, 8 and 9), but the school is quite different and is taking some getting used to. My old school, which I did enjoy working for, chose not to continue my contract because another Japanese teacher who was a permanent member of the staff told them that he was returning - now I've found out that he didn't return to work with them, but instead opted for another job at the last minute (meaning that he never really intended to return to his old job, aka my position, but wanted it available as insurance), and so the school had to go for somebody else instead. I'm still not sure how to feel about that; the short version is simply that "it's complicated", but if you're really desperate for more of the thrilling details of 3kul's professional life then I've got no problem giving you the unabridged version of that story.
In addition to this, over the past few weeks I've also had to deal with trivial yet frustrating and time-consuming problems. The most frustrating and time-consuming of these was dealing with a difficult former real estate agent who refused to return my bond. For those of you too young to know what that is, a bond is a deposit paid on a rental property that covers any damage done by tenants during the time that they live there - if no damage is done then the bond is returned in full at the end of the leasing period. So, for example, if I broke a window and couldn't/didn't replace it, the agent could simply take a portion of my bond to pay for the repairs and I would get whatever was left. The property that I lived in was never in a perfect condition and the agent seemed hopeful that he'd be able to pin some of the problems on me... I got the full amount back in the end but it wasn't easy.
Last and perhaps least of all the recent issues in my life, I had no internet until the beginning of February due to the fact that my ISP got my address wrong.
To summarize, RL has been just way too demanding as of late and I haven't had as much time to do the things that I like and want to do. I've been through some changes, good and bad, and I'm sorry for keeping you all out of the loop. I may or may not be as active as I used to be, but at the very least I wanted you all to know that I'm okay and that I haven't forgotten about you
. I'm also planning a third, which shouldn't take too long to appear so long as everything goes well.
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) I didn't want to help them anymore (but of course by then it was too late). 
