Routine Again

So I got Johnnie's COVID test result email first thing this morning and it was NEGATIVE. What a relief. I can't believe COVID is still in the front of our minds at this time, and really I had felt urgency about catching it this week more so than ever. Why is that? Especially after I am the one that kept trumpeting that we really do not have anything to worry about if we're vaccinated and boosted as I am. You're not going to die. Yet here I was worried as heck at the beginning of the week when i thought I could have had it. Actually it wasn't that i was worried as heck, it was that I felt like crap AND I thought I might have caught it. And I go back to Thanksgiving when we all caught a cold from Gayane. I felt worse THEN. Yet with no omicron variant in the news, I treated it as just that... the common cold. And it went away as it does in a few days. It really does goes to show what paying too much attention to the news does to you. You don't want to be negligent and ignorant. But there is such a thing as too much news. Not just the news. The external world IS a reflection. And so I am looking at emails from Johnnie's school talking about people in the school community testing positive. That and the news from Brooklyn, and FED, and of course work, just flooded my awareness with COVID COVID COVID. And I realize now I should have worked on my thoughts more in the first place. So today, back to normal is my slate of staff meetings in the morning and once done with those, tanking the rest of the day. And tanking the rest of the day meant I had to do something about the unruly hair I am now sporting. I know it had been a month since my last haircut. I am NOT waiting until the weekend to take care of this one. And so the first pic is of me at Supercuts West LA getting waiting for my haircut. And when done with that, a trip to La Salsa next door for some tacos for lunch. It was a late lunch but that was ok. Those tacos were pretty in good in fact! And FINALLY I can go home and tank the rest of the afternoon...

I reminded myself that it is hand-off night tonight and it was likely that I was going to need some mental and emotional self-protection for this Lisa interaction. All indicatons from the week is that she is dealing with a bunch of stuff. Fear of this, fear of that, now fear of COVID. But I also reminded myself that I am a day closer to the long 3-day MLK weekend. Here I was just barely breathing out from the holidays and already January is halfway over? How can that be? In the meantime, the pic I took of Johnnie eating an ice cream sandwich bar and Claire the dog eating as well was pretty much how the evening went. Just usual stuff. Routine even. Johnnie and I went to get his dinner at Panda Express, I made myself the last of the bolognese and his leftover penne from just a couple of nights ago. The trick is always WHEN Lisa decides to pick up Johnnie and dog. Back in the day it was 6:30 when it was at Cornerstone. That seems so long ago. And then it was 7:30 PM from this past summer. And then it has now evolved to well past 8 PM. To the point where she picked them up at 8:30 PM today. Yes of course she had to talk about how tired she was and all this stuff going on at her office. She has done way too long without an office manager. But maybe she's like me... after all, I've done way too long without a manager of my own. More than 3 years now. It's like my own responsibilities expanded like crazy and I'm still working with a skeleton crew LOL. The difference I think is that I do not have the impossible desire for perfection and that I know I don't have the perfect individuals at their positions. All I ask is that they do the best they can. And usually, it's enough. I think that Lisa simply needs to determine for herself what is enough. Will I piss off some users. Undoubtedly. But my business does not depend on that as much as Lisa thinks hers does. So there's that. And still I knew she was in a state because she gave Johnnie a joke, Johnnie yelled, next thing you know she's walking off and blowing off steam. Poor Johnnie. I hate to leave him with her when she is in a mood like this. But it is her turn and all I can do is mentally and emotionally send loving, protective thoughts to him and for him. Hey at least she didn't scream at me right? LOL. I went in quickly, I finished my day. it was plenty good.