Last Day of August

It's the last day of August and summer doesn't seem to want to fade away just yet. In fact, it had been a pretty mild summer so far, and sometimes it had even been a lot cooler than usual during the evenings. But not today. From the moment we went outside, you could tell it was going to be a hot day and all weather reports indicated this was going to be one of the hottest weekends of the year to date. For me today, it didn't really mater that much since it's the day I go in to the FRB. I even thought about not doing that at all. After all I had all this leftover salad from last night that I could eat for lunch and I did have a 2-hr CCALAC meeting right after lunch. But then again I thought I might as well go in show my face and use the gym. I did manage to have a meeting with the data team, or at least Shilpa and then I did my sets at the pullup bar and then I went on home by noon. And I was eating the huge salad topped with shrimp. It would have been nice to kick around and have another nap in the middle of the afternoon. But not today. Instead I was stuck in the co-chairs meeting that CCALAC holds once a year to talk about challenges and such. I held my tongue mostly and didn't really make any comparisons between them and the other collaborative we belonged that was far more successful, which would be OCHIN. They ARE doing the best they can with their resources. Being a co-chair I contributed when I can though I could sense myself being a bit more confrontational and that San also triggers me the way I would someone like Lisa. More on that to come as it turned out.

So the plan was to pick up Johnnie and take him to Lisa' house for Spanish class. Especially since she had apparently called in sick today because of some cold or other. You will forgive my skepticism with all these illnesses she seems to be suffering from. Or should I say claim to be suffering from. In my mind, she would rather be sick of something because that is part of the identity she has bought into. I know she got diagnosed with MS almost a decade ago. But there remains a disconnect between her activities, her capabilities, her prognosis and diagnosis and her symptoms. Today she apparently went to see Dr Deutsch to see about her recent illness, which turned out to be... a cold. Same old cold Johnnie is suffering from. Not that one shouldn't stay home if they have a cold. If you don't feel well, you don't feel well and you should stay home if you feel like it. But that is NOT Covid and it isn't life threatening in the least. For Lisa, it is one more of a series of events today that she has bunched together that ended up setting her off. While we were doing Johnnie's Spanish class, the original plan of making me steak salad seemed to be off the table. And so right after the class, I went off to my apartment to make Johnnie some spaghetti and then get myself dinner from Chipotle. What a total waste of time. And when Johnnie and i started eating, Lisa had already been set off. It was the plants that the painters trampled over. And the grass that she forgot to turn the auto sprinklers on, because the ADT security guy was working on it. It was this, it was that. No end to the supposed  problems in her life isn't it? And now she is vocally and angrily wondering why she even has a house <uh YOU wanted it!!>, why she is spending so much <uh, sucks to be YOU don't it??>. There was nothing I could say that wouldn't result in me getting yelled at. Even Johnnie recognized that. His remark was that we should finish dinner so we could get out of there. Which is exactly what we did. I did the dishes and pretty much ignored Lisa and her tantrum. I don't wish to participate at his, or any other time. And so Johnnie and I went back to the apartment and relaxed in the hot tub. THAT is more like it! We shook off the Lisa effect and had a perfectly normal rest of the evening. Goodbye August. At least I will remember August in that I normalized back from traumatic energies from end of July. And tomorrow, it's MY birthday!!