I’ve got a discussion I hope will be interesting up on the boston.com blog. Check it out.

As I posted on my boston.com blog, and as you’ve undoubtedly noticed, my blog presence has been stepping down of late. My absolute priorities in life are getting my health back on track, my column, my Harvard job, and my family, friends, and community. Last week’s Deadline from Hell sent me into a pretty bad relapse that I’m just now coming out of. So blogging has to take a back seat for a while.

I love this blog, and the way it enables me to share all the weird things I notice, to ruminate about theater or psychology or fashion or religion or just about anything. I love your thoughtful comments. And I do hope to get back to daily posting soon. But it’s not going to happen right now. Keep me in your RSS feed (and your hearts), and keep checking my Twitter feed (robinabrahams) for links to stuff I think you’d be interested in. And in the meantime, I thank you for your patience. Once I get off thruster power and back into full warp speed, the good times will resume in full force. I just need a little time to pull my resources — physical, emotional, mental — back together.

… no posties today.

And there’s so much I want to talk with you all about, too! But we shall have to wait, my dears, we shall have to wait.

Oh, and Happy Birthday to Charles Darwin! I am celebrating by walking upright. Which, as exhausted as I am, is kind of an accomplishment.

I’ve got a discussion going on the other blog today about “What is romantic?” in honor of Valentine’s Day. That’s probably where the action will be, so go check it out.

And here’s a little story I’m not sharing with the boston.com crowd: yesterday, I was doing a radio interview on the same topic. What is romance, do men and women define it differently, media versus actual people’s ideas of romance, etc. During the entire interview, Milo was sitting at my feet, happily pleasuring himself.

No, I didn’t mention it. That, my friends, is what it means to be a professional.

Oy. I have a marathon meeting this morning at the business school to work through book edits with my boss. And yes, my alarm didn’t go off, I probably ate some stuff I shouldn’t have at the Superb Owl party, and the edits aren’t fully done because another work-related emergency cropped up on Friday morning (and neither my boss nor I work on Saturdays) and it’s just … oy, that’s what it is!

I’ve been noticing through internet and face-to-face relationships that the past week or two has been weird for everyone. Blogs that I read are having comment drama. (Including a bit on my own, which I am just not dealing with right now.) People are having accidents. Washington D.C. is covered in snow while here there’s not a flake on the ground. Friends are fighting and breaking up. The Smoke Monster’s rival is inhabiting a re-animated Sayid. (That’s my theory.)

Tell me it’s not just me and my network. Has this been a weird time for you as well? What, if anything, do you attribute it to? Midwinter madness?

Let’s consider this an open thread, and also a requests thread. Anything you’d like me to blog about? Or follow up on from previous discussions?

I’ll try to get a post for you all up later this afternoon — but in the meantime, check out the other blog. I’m really interested to hear your responses. Why do people write to advice columnists?

I wasn’t planning to take a break from this blog during the between-holidays week, but it would appear I am. And it’s quite lovely! For those of you concerned about my health, I am doing MUCH better — but I must say a low-key week is exactly what the doctor ordered. And since, at least temporarily, I have become one of those people with a lot of food rules — and one of those holiday non-drinkers, to boot — I’m eager to share some thoughts with you about that.

…. later.

In the meantime, do you have any good New Year’s resolutions to share?

There’s no Globe magazine today, hence, no column. Which means it’s the perfect time to do that lazy-writer gambit of “Top Posts from the Previous Year.”

I hope you all had a lovely Christmas, however you observed or did not observe it. We saw “Sherlock Holmes,” which I absolutely adored, and went for Chinese food, at which I had to be the one person who didn’t put her entree on the lazy susan, but hoarded it all to myself, which I hated to do. Because of my recent illnesses, I’m on a fair number of dietary restrictions right now (some permanent, some temporary). The food chapter of my book was one of my favorite ones to write, and I’ll be writing more here about food and courtesy and identity and priorities.

But for now, the top posts of 2009:

The lady who objected to popcorn at the movies.

A letter from someone who considers herself “unlikeable.” Folks, we helped this woman. She wrote me later and told me so. Y’all did some good here, you really, really did.

I’ve gotten to do so many things I want to do in life, but I have always wanted to be a casting director. My ideas for some great, unexpected casting. (Come on, Bill Clinton as Billy Flynn in “Chicago”? Are you telling me that wouldn’t be freaking awesome?) Feel free to add your own ideas in comments!

Do you look like you think you ought to? I don’t. I wouldn’t cast me to play me.

Etiquette for laid-off friends.

What does “wasting time” mean?

How advice columns work (and what makes for a good question).

An explanation of the Jewish High Holidays.

Dealing with a chronic illness.

Metaphors, cognition, and why I couldn’t get a cab in Brooklyn.

Writing isn’t a thing you do, it’s how you do it.

Thoughts on Aspergers … and some more.

Why what is hurtful isn’t always rude, and vice versa.

Is narcissism the new humility?

Marine etiquette and communication styles.

What’s your real job?

If there are any topics you’d like me to write about in the coming weeks or months, leave ‘em in comments! (That’s if you just want to hear me muse, of course. Specific etiquette questions should be sent to missconduct@globe.com.)

… because this one, on my other blog, should get all the attention. (Feel free to keep discussing holiday joys and woes, though!)

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. The ConductMom is in town, and she and I will be holidaying it up for the next few days. Check back in on Friday to find out the winner of the Holiday Song Parody contest, and I’ll see you back here on Sunday. May you have a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe & sane Black Friday.

Last year, on election day, I wrote a post about how no matter what the results turned out to be, even if your guy lost and you were angry and scared about the future, certain good things would still be true. Here are some of mine:

My husband and I will still love each other and support each others’ dreams and have bread and cheese and wine by candlelight every Friday night.

Stephen King will continue on his streak of writing some of his best, most mature fiction to date.*

Campari and soda will still be the most refreshing drink ever, even if everyone else I know finds it repellently bitter.

My book will still come out this spring.

My friends will still share ideas and jokes and trials and joys and everyday moments of grace or absurdity with me.

Eddie Izzard will still be funny.

Readers sent in their own “things the election won’t change,” too. It was a good thing to do that day. All of the things I listed were things I am grateful for. And there are still reasons to be angry and scared about the state of the world, as well as reasons to be grateful and hopeful. If you’d like to share what you’re grateful and hopeful for this holiday, I’d like to hear. Because my readers are very, very high on my thanks-giving list.

*That prediction was based on Duma Key. I haven’t read Under the Dome yet. Has anyone else? Thumbs up or down?