Steve! How's it going? I hope work doesn't grind you down too much - glad to here that the kids are good, though! It's funny - I was just tidying up in my room and was looking at the two TNG albums, thinking about how I haven't been on Hubski in so long, and the first thing I see is this post. I kind of drifted away a while ago and have only lurked occasionally since.

My bare feet are currently hibernating - it's been really cold over the past few months; I think I've only barefooted outside twice since November. But with the weather just about starting to get warmer, my feet will be coming back out.

The longest trek I've done is the Camino de Santiago which I'm sure I mentioned when I was last on Hubski - about 950k, I think, or something like that. we started in early October and finished in mid-November. My initial plan to do it entirely barefoot was thwarted when I discovered just how gravelly the paths are; in the end, I did about 350k barefoot. I'm still happy about that, but I intend to do my next camino entirely barefoot - and I'm definitely doing it again, because it was a fantastic experience. The country was beautiful and the people I met were wonderful; I really think some of the friendships made will last for a long time. In fact, we had a meetup here in Ireland at the start of January. Actually, two of our friends who we met on the camino - and who met each other there - have gotten engaged! And the fiancé is opening an English school in Korea that my girlfriend and I plan on teaching in for a year or so.

It's very hard to talk about the camino beyond saying "it was amazing!" because it all really amounts to "we were in a lovely place" or "we met a really cool person" or "we had a great time"; kind of had-to-be-there stories. Still, I highly recommend it to anyone. I was going to make a Hubski post but most of our photos were lost (along with the camera).

Not much is happening lately - after the camino, I had to settle down to a cold and uneventful winter; the camino ate up more or less all of my funds, and with English teaching being so seasonal I basically haven't worked since September. Thankfully, I got a bit of odd work in January and some weekend stuff back home, but more importantly I'm back teaching tomorrow! At least for now. It's finicky work. That's part of the reason why I'm excited to go to Korea in a few months - somewhere different, but also with consistent work so I'm not broke half of the year.

I'm glad to be back working and feeling productive because lately I've been in a bit of a slump. I've been waking up late and spending most of the day farting around doing nothing; I also feel like my brain is turning to mush since I left university. But I've started getting up earlier and reading more, so I'm starting to feel better.

I missed your annual New Year's Resolution thread, so I'll make up for it here. I have the same goals as the past two years - running (and sticking with it) and playing mandolin (and sticking with it). I also want to read more - I think last year I read something like ten books - this year I'm hoping to read five times as many. And lastly, I intend on giving up smoking - I don't want to be a Closet Smoker any more! So, basically, I have the most stereotypical New Year's goals ever (and apparently have learned nothing from those of the past few years).

That's pretty much it. It's great to see that things are going well with other Hubskiers.

I hope to see more of you around here!