Engine and electrial

I having some issues with my 22re. Last time I drove it was in October of last year and before I drove it I gave it the usual tune up procedure(spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oil, fuel filter, ect..) It ran fine. I go to put the battery back in it and notice that my engine light is on without the key being in the ignition, weird right? I figure I would just worry about that later, I go to start it and its running really choppy and only runs for a minute or so, then I couldn't even get it to start at all after that.
Does anyone have any ideas what could be wrong?

Is there any chance that a wiring harness might have been chewed by varmits or got cut or chunked? A friend of mine put bucket seats in his Hardbody. After that he had no running lights at all, and the headlights would blink with the blinkers. A foot of the seat was sitting on a wiring hardness onder the carpet, which stripped and grounded wires as soon as he sat down. All im sayin is that the engine light thing is definatly electrical. So trace back all wiring until you find a problem. Thats what I would do. Make sure EVERYTHING is properly connected. All vaccum hoses, spark plug wires, all wiring connections. Just my advise.

No, Its been in a trailer and then into my garage. I just hate doin that much electrical. But I might be getting a small block 350 for it. Then I'll take this engine and put it into my extended cab. Thanks for your suggestion, thats what I'll have to do is trace all my wiring.