140/82. That was my blood pressure when the nurse took it at Dr. W's on Thursday. A little high on the upper number. She also took my pulse and possibly my respiration, and I'm pretty sure those were positive numbers as well. Furthermore, similar numbers no doubt have continued to obtain since then. I'm only mentioning this to clarify that these numerical expressions are frequently referred to as vital signs, and so I am inferring that I am still alive, though you couldn't tell by my supposedly daily blog.

Simply put, it's been an emotionally rough few days. The retirement celebration last week definitely brought home a lot of closure. Closure is good. In fact, if only one half of what people said and wrote about me is true (and I don't see why they would lie), I can look back on a pretty decent career at Taylor. But that's just it: looking back. Closure closes. As Captain Picard said, "I am looking at more days behind me than ahead of me," though I don't have the regrets that he did in Generations. Nevertheless, suddenly the reality has become more real (subjectively speaking of course; metaphysically that would be incoherent).

A similar feeling arose out of that appointment with Dr. W. It was a good one, kind of funny in its own way, I suppose. After a solid exam by an intern, Dr. W then entered together with the intern and another doctor as well as Leo, the super-social-worker. She ran through some of the same tests as the intern did and then pointed out certain features of my condition (ratcheting and lead -piping) in some places, which everyone (well, the intern and practicing doctor) then tried out as well. I definitely felt like a guinea pig. Of course, I thrive on attention, so that's not a bad thing. My point is that we are now far past the point of "what" and are now looking at "where" and "how much." So, again, the reality just really hit me.

There are also the other realities of life, which will hopefully vanish as soon as the InterVarsity royalty check makes it to our door. 'Nuff said on that. Bottom line: I've been pretty depressed, paradoxically triggered by some things (e.g. the retirement celebration) that are actually incredibly uplifting. The human psyche is a strange thing.

In other personal news, the Alexandria Worsels are now at 4 and 2.

There are some really exciting things coming up very shortly, but--as long-standing readers know--I don't usually mention specifics ahead of time. However, it is possible that due to those upcoming events the blog will continue to be fairly sporadic. Regardless, both the survey of Islamic groups and the slow walk through 1 Kings will most likely be on hold and give way to some personal narrations. We shall see.