the Laker Game and Another Lisa Drama

Today is Wednesday and I wanted more like yesterday's routine-like day. But of course I knew that was not to be already since we're going to the LAKERS pre-season game tonight. And by me, I mean myself and Johnnie and Lisa and our guests Cecille and Silvia and Gayane. I got the tickets just last week at a significant discount from what they would have cost had this been a regular season game. As in I paid $35 for some pretty good seats in the 2nd level midway up. So I was excited. I was excited and hopeful that Johnnie would get to see LeBron and Anthony Davis play so he can say he had seen them play in person. AND of course this would be the second dad-and-son pro sports event we would get to watch together in just the last couple of weeks! So I was excited from the get-go. But of course I still had to go through the regular day. That would be dropping Johnnie off at school and then hanging out at the FRB through the early afternoon. Something about staying with him until the bell rings and his teacher comes out to get the class makes me feel like a parent. I know I could simply just walk him to the gate like last year when we weren't allowed inside. But I think that's the point. Now that we're allowed inside, I am sure as heck not going to take it for granted. Besides, it's a hoot to watch the kids run around and be kids again. Be yelled at for running around too much or climbing stuff they shouldn't be climbing. Kids stuff. When one gets older, one always wishes they were a kid again. Johnnie's age. And so I got home, put on some work clothes and off I went to the FRB. There really was not much need for me to be there other than to show my face. Particularly since neither Eloisa or Barbara were there today. But at least I did my Data Team Meeting from there, AND I got to do reps at the gym. Still feeling strong. AND I did have lunch with the Finance folks though I really don't want to keep doing that. I would have much rather ate out like last week. But I didn't want to be anti-social when invited. Besides, it was Filipino Heritage day at the Cafeteria. Might as well try some of that Filipino food they were offering today. What I ate really was more like beef stew. And that was perfectly fine. By the time I went home it was already close to 3 PM. I made a detour at Jack-In-the-Box to pick up chicken strips for Johnnie to snack on, knowing full well we wouldn't get to Crypto.com arena until close to game time at 7 PM.

And why is that you might ask? That's because we still have to pick up Lisa. And we know by now the chances of her getting done with all her work by 5 PM and then us taking off at that time was pretty slim at best. Johnnie didn't even have to do the usual Spanish class at 5 PM since his teacher called off the class today. When we got to Lisa's office, Cecille and Silvia were already there and Dexter came shortly thereafter. But of course Lisa was still seeing a patient. And then when she got done, she had to make a phone call. Why she had to do that is beyond me. Beyond all of us really. Because we ended up having to wait for her. And wait for her. And wait for her. Until the girls decided they needed to get something to eat because they were hungry. Heck I was hungry. But at least I ate 2 tacos from Jack-In-the-Box that I got same time as I got Johnnie's chicken strips. Which he did eat to tide him over until later on. I was concerned because the traffic looked really bad on Olympic going East. Which does not bode well for the freeway. I mean I knew we were going to hit traffic. But I was hoping it wouldn't be so bad anyway. As it was by the time Lisa finally got ready to leave, I had lost 80% of my patience and I was ready to blow. It was already 7 PM!! But I simply grumbled my emotions away. <Why did she even have to come I could be heard muttering?> We ended up split tingup with the girls all driving together in Lisa's truck and me and Dexter driving together. I showed him all the weaving and ducking tricks I do when I deal with this traffic in the morning and we got to DTLA by 7:30. We still had to walk to the arena though and one look at one of the TV billboards showed the 1st quarter was already done. Boy am I glad this was a preseason game. If this was a real game and I missed the first quarter of a ticket I probably would have paid over $100 for I'd be PISSED. We would find out later that Lisa had gotten so frustrated she almost pulled over and left her car. Gee when did she ever do that?? At least the seats were good and lo and behold, Johnnie did get to see LeBron and AD both play in person. He excitedly told his mom about the game.The game went by pretty quickly and Lisa did at least watch the game, albeit with Gayane sometimes from the railing below. At this point, you simply leave her alone and steer clear from any negative emotions. As I said, the important thing today for me was that Johnnie got to watch the Lakers. Lisa's bullshit was not unexpected and literally since it had been 3 days since Sunday <Johnnie's birthday party and Silvia's arrival>, it was extremely likely that she'd blow up about something.The trick is not to let it affect you. Difficult I know. But do-able. And so game got over and we were home inside of 25 minutes after the long walk back. I walked so much today I checked the Fitbit and saw I had done 15,000+ steps today. Commendable! It was nearly 11 PM when Johnnie went to bed. I felt bad about that. But we did get to do an NBA game together. Something we wouldn't forget. No foolishness Lisa does can undo that. And that is a very good thing.