Hey lady, long time no see. Is everything alright over there?

no, life has been rather challenging, but thanks for asking about me.

let me describe it in a charles schulz' analogy:

yet again, charlie brown (me) has been promised by lucy van pelt (life in general) that she'll hold the ball while charlie runs to kick the football (symbolic of goals) that she's holding. so, charlie is running, like mad...and lucy, that little wench, yanks the football out of his path, as usual. and charlie falls flat on his back, "aarggghh!". he's stunned, but realizes that lucy's behavior is nothing new and he should've known better. good grief!

in typical charlie brown fashion: i'll get up, dust myself off and go regroup with linus van pelt at the stone wall till i feel better.

...hope you're somewhat familiar with Peanuts or you have no idea what the hell i'm talking about!

Only TOO familiar. Damn Lucy