Last Day of November

As busy and hectic as October was, November turned out to be quite a bit more chill. So much so that today's last day of the month seemed to have come up just as quietly. When I think of October, so much stuff went on that it would be difficult to focus on even any one weekend. It wasn't like absolutely nothing went on in November. After all, the month was all about Thanksgiving. And I did make it to a Laker game. And Johnnie did have not one but TWO birthday parties he attended. And of course there was that annual Veteran's Day off that was spent at the LA Zoo for the 2nd year in a row. There was Lisa's birthday, and Lisa's COVID 19 illness too which we will end the month with. And now we can turn our full attention to the Christmas holidays. It was FRB day today as well with a big meeting with all the Directors yet again. But you couldn't help but see all the activity that was missing from the last couple of years when we weren't even allowed to be at the FRB physically. There are at least some doors that are decorated. The Christmas tree is being put up in the lobby like it used to be year after year and we are all even looking forward to getting together again for the White Elephant melee in a couple of weeks. Of course some people that we're used to seeing won't be there. Art and his barbecued meatballs won't be and I know I will miss him. Still, it's all about bringing the best of your own participation and going full out right? And hanging out with the team? Today all the Directors did meet for another strategy meeting just with Ops and yet again we get Starlette's Mobile idea crammed down our throats it felt like. I had to be the one that asked the question we were ALL thinking in our heads? How can we staff this damn thing if we can barely staff our Health Center? Starlette went on and on about charters and other high level shit that is all flowery crap about something we don't even know what service we're going to offer. All we know is whatever it is, it isn't going to involve providers so we're down to what... screening? I still don't know what that does about putting our name in front of the community. It feels like we're going to get our name in front of the Mexican consulate is all. Anyway the damn meeting lasted 2 1/2 hours. I was so rushed afterwards I barely had time to wolf down pasta and chicken from the FRB Cafeteria before doing my Data Team Meeting. And then going home right after that. I was not going to stick around past 2 PM that's for sure. But hey at least I felt like I did more in 2 hours than I did in the last 2 days!

So I went home and went into chill mode and realized that the thing I've watched Wednesdays the last couple of months had already ended. That would be the Star Wars series Andor of course. Fortunately, Disney had a replacement. That would be the new series reboot of Willow. I remember the original one with Val Kilmer and Joanna Whalley back in 1988. I liked it then actually. But now the baby who is supposed to grow into a sorceress with immense power has grown up not even knowing who she really is. A true Hero's Journey isn't it? For me, my afternoon would be pretty simply all about picking up Johnnie and then deciding if we were going to bring dinner to Lisa. That would be the preferable option of course since I didn't think she'd have a lot of energy on her first day back to work in a couple of weeks and still not really having fully recovered from COVID. I figured she wouldn't be staying late. She even talked about possibly playing soccer though I was highly skeptical of that last one. What we did end up doing was ordering pizza from Domino's on Pico, and then ordering minestrone soup and my favorite chicken marsala from Maria's which was literally right down the block from each other. I ordered at 5:20. Picked up the pizza at 5:30. And then the Italian food at 5:40. And we were at Lisa's office before it was even 6 PM. Of course there was traffic to deal with. This is the westside after all. But somehow without having to wait for Lisa, this whole exercise seemed eezy-peezy. True enough, Lisa was out of gas when we got there. And she labored to even stay and have dinner with us. Hey at least I knew she had eaten soup and even if she would go home and go right to sleep, which would have been the prudent thing to do, I know she'd do so with a decent full stomach. And of course Johnnie and I were full too. THIS was way way better than hanging around waiting for her to do whatever she did and watch her just sizzle in her own negative state. And then not really feel like having dinner with us after. This way, I actually thought we enjoyed our time together the 3 of us. Johnnie and i went home and I got to watch TWO opening episodes of the new Willow series. It was as ideal a Wednesday evening as it got. And the best way to end the month of November. 

Just Another Tuesday

I had a nice restful sleep last night and I'm wondering if that was simply a function of the audios I selected for all night listening. I know I didn't get up until almost 4 PM and then didn't wake up again until it was already almost 6:45. I didn't even have time to shower since by that time I had to get Johnnie ready for school. We will see if trying it again tonight yields the same result. In the meantime, Tuesday affords me the opportunity to not push so hard while working from home. I mean I do have the MAS100 implementation testing and upgrade meeting in the morning, and then my own IS Team Meeting in the afternoon. But those were the very bare minimum to  still feel like I accomplished something today. There's always a lot on my plate and sometimes I am aware that I get feelings that I'm not doing a good enough job. But then again I have always felt that my 50% is already more than most people's 100%. Or is that my ego trying to convince me I am better than what I believe myself to be? Isn't that good?  I think it IS good just as long as I don't let that same ego be too much in control. I note to myself that the goal had always been to be able to create income that sustains my current lifestyle without having to have a job or without having to work more than a couple of hours a day. I mean that whole working really really hard bit was some misguided program. Yes you have to put effort and focus in something in order to get results. But it has always been ok to love what you do so much that it doesn't even feel like work at all. And besides, I remind myself that the focus has now shifted to raising Johnnie and doing that right. I see that he affects his world somehow and that he will grow into a Force of Nature and so I want to make sure that he uses his talents and use them responsibly. In the meantime, he can also have as much fun as he already does with his friends at school. And be his usual jovial self when he's home with me. AND in the meantime, I can also cruise doing my thing at home even if for today it's still to do stuff for my job. Cruise meant eating leftover egg foo young for lunch while watching the last few minutes of the USA-Iran World Cup Match. Hey US won! They go on to the Round of 16!! Awesome.

The day went by pretty quickly especially after the IS Team Meeting and I also noted I was behind on my steps regimen today. I wasn't that worried. I proved last week that I can catch up on 3000 - 4000 steps pretty easily in less than an hour. And I'm sure I will get to do that later on. I picked up Johnnie at 4:15 PM and already we both knew we would have to pick up dinner for Lisa since she had asked that we come by today to pick up Claire the dog. I was ok with that. Very transparent that she wants to see Johnnie again and that's ok. She is still stinging from not having him on Thanksgiving Day for sure. And so we picked up dinner for all and they were all different too. I picked up tacos for me. Taco Tuesday you know. And then I convinced Johnnie to have some udon and then some rice with the beef onion broth over it <I get to have the beef part!>. And then I got some mushroom veggie ramen for Lisa from the stand next to the udon stand at Mitsuwa. It's been a while since we've all eaten there hasn't it. And so we went to Lisa's where we were all able to have another dinner together. Lisa still sounds sick, but since Johnnie keeps testing negative, then I don't really have any issues about it. It is SHE that has the weakened immune system. Ours is fine. She was actually making an apple crisp when we dropped by. And she was in a good mood because she had gone shopping with her mom in Santa Monica and picked up a new jacket for herself. Has she NOT figured out that if she's in a shitty mood, all she has to do is go shopping like most women on the planet? A pretty sexist statement? I think not. Anyway we had dinner and Johnnie helped his mom make the apple crisp <see pic> and I did steps in the background that no one could detect. Got all the way to 7500 steps so I did catch up. And Lisa got to do some reading with Johnnie on his latest Pokemon book. A win-win-win for all. Lisa is actually going back to work tomorrow. It had been almost 2 weeks. And we get Claire again. It's been more than a week. I can't say I missed her but that's ok too since Johnnie prefers her being around. Just another Tuesday after we got home. And it is still all good.

November Winding Down

We're back to Monday after the long Thanksgiving weekend and I woke up thinking about Johnnie and hopefully him getting to school considering Lisa is still sick. I wanted to offer to take him but since she was very emotional about not having him for even the 4 hours he was at James' bday party I thought it best that I leave it alone. Gotta trust that she's going to do what's best right? In the meantime, what's best for me is to focus on the week, focus on what I want to have happen this week, and my outcomes for. today. It should be a fairly easy week actually since I don't see anything looming in the schedule. There are pending tasks and projects of course but then again there always is. I also notice that there was still some residual fear and worry about not doing my job well, which I do realize now is just residue from some old programming. The key with those is to simply waft through those thought forms without giving them any more focus other than to acknowledge that they are simply there but that they do not actually have any power. As in I have the choice to go to the root cause, which is the program that I am not enough and the program that I have to constantly prove myself. I know I can transcend those easily now. I simply have to focus on my ENOUGH-NESS and how the UNIVERSE has my back regardless of whatever it is that is going on. Still they do come up almost constantly as if I am being tested all the time and the ego is waiting for me to capitulate. Which is what I need to strengthen ... my focus and to constantly keep up the mental dieting throughout the day. Oh and I also want to keep up with the 150 active minutes and 15000 steps today though I do note that even with Thanksgiving week last week I still managed over 600 active minutes and over 80000 steps. It was as if I didn't have an off-day at all. And so somehow through all the work stuff, and exercise stuff, and audio stuff, the theme for today started to revolve around healing. Lisa called me to ask me to pick up Johnnie since she was apparently outed by her own son that she had COVID. She didn't want to make an appearance at the school and I didn't blame her. But talking to her and listening to her frustration about being sick, I do wonder that with all these distinctions I am learning about healing myself, I really should also learn how to heal others. On that note I sent her a distance reiki audio. Just like I sent Dexter an audio. But sometimes people are simply not ready. And although I probably come off as woo-woo nuts about that stuff, I simply need to use my own health as the example. Being as healthy as possible and ridding myself of all those symptoms of aging we all buy into is how Im going to be an example. 

And so I cut my day short and picked up Johnnie at STAR around 4 PM. I knew I still had to drive him over to Lisa's if only to pick up his computer, to pick up Claire, and to pick up Fuzzy. It also meant that I had to hang out at Lisa's for a bit. And so I decided that we would make a stop to pick up dinner for mom and son and we could all sit together for that. Off to Panda Express we went to get Johnnie's teriyaki chicken and to get vegetables and rice for Lisa. I opted out of getting myself a dinner simply because I didn't feel like eating Panda Express tonight. I'm sure I'm going to be eating it at some point during the week though. As it turned out, Lisa was still positive <Johnnie tested negative> for Covid and is now going to call in sick tomorrow. She is day by day in terms of coming back to work and I do feel for her, which is why I was here tonight going through her Monday routine with Johnnie. She went over his homework, did some reading with him. Got him to clean up whatever mess he had left. And of course we had dinner. Or rather, they did while I attended to an urgent work matter. Nothing out of the ordinary, just one more staffer quitting abruptly that we had to turn off access for. I still wonder how it is that we lose staff that quickly and easily considering how much we are begging for people to come work for us. I have 2 open manager positions and I have barely gotten anyone that qualifies. Anyway I stuck around until almost 7 PM. I thought that was fair and that was the usual time I would normally come on any other Monday anyway. We decided that we would leave Claire to keep Lisa company through tomorrow.  My plan was to stop at El Pollo Loco to pick up MY dinner. But there was a very rare long line backed up there and so I rerouted us home and decided spontaneously to make a stop at that Chinese restaurant on Centinela and Washington since it was on the way home. I remembered I enjoyed egg foo young at that place almost a year ago. I figured it's time to get some more of that stuff again. And so it was that I had some really good egg foo young this evening. It reminded me of many a dinner at First Szechuan egg foo young back in the day when we were living in Westwood. Johnnie was such a celebrity there too. Fond memories to be sure. Johnnie and I ended up watching the old school Lion King together tonight. I don't know what made him want to watch it really. First that movie yesterday <Strange World> sure had some deep Father-son subject stuff. And now Lion King with its Father and son stuff. Not that I am complaining. Probably an early warning headway into similar talks with Johnnie. Like tonight about not divulging his mom's exact illness and to let his mom tell other people that if she so chose. All in all it turned into an eezy-peezy Monday but mainly because I chose not to focus on work stuff LOL. Plenty of time for that I thought. I AM in the middle of a couple of implementations already aren't I? It also meant an early night for Johnnie and I. And I, for one, welcomed more than 6 hours of sleep that I usually get when he's in the house. Just like how Lisa feels I'm sure, when Johnnie is here, all is well. Monday in the books...

Golf Day Johnnie Afternoon

Golf this morning was at Penmar for an 8:40 tee time. But before I even made it out of the house I get a call from Lisa. She's still testing positive and therefore asked me to take Johnnie to James' birthday party at the movies later on today. Since that wasn't until 1 PM, I was happy to pinch hit for her. I had a feeling that was going to end up happening in fact. And so I wanted to make sure I got done at Penmar before 11 AM today which wasn't going to be a problem actually. But how I play? Let's just say that after the first couple of holes, both 6s it was not very promising. Wildly inaccurate on the first hole even with good distance, better in the 2nd hole but still missed my bogey putt. And then we got joined by a two-some on Hole 3 and I started to play better. In fact, I kept harping on a theme... "Its not about the first shot". Hole 3 I whiffed off the tee, but landed the 2nd shot 10 feet from the hole. Missed my par putt but got my bogey. Same on Hole 4. It took 3 medium range shots to get to the green, but I did sink my par putt to get that out of the way. Hole 5 I was on in 2 again but 3-putted from there. 1 missed opportunity. Hole 5 got me a point as again I whiffed off the tee, but blasted my3-wood 2nd shot 200 yards to get right down the fairway. At least I bogeyed the hole. Hole 7 I missed my bogey putt for the 2nd missed opportunity. Hole 8 I'm counting as a par as I was 5 ft from the hole after 2 shots. Hole 9 got me my BEST tee shot all day. But whiffed the next 2 shots to get a 6. And so I did get my 2 pars, 2 more points and 2 missed opportunities. That close to having a really satisfying game. But I was ok with the game regardless. Hey at least I got my pars. I got home by 11:15, quickly cleaned up and then got to Lisa's house to pick up Johnnie by 11:45. 

On to the 2nd part of the day. Of course Lisa would be lollygagging in the front yard. She's still sick after all. But here is where I get conflicted. She can barely take care of herself at this point, Johnnie is with her strictly for company because she is alone. But is he really being taken care of? Not like I do to be sure. But it IS her turn and so I have to let it go. And trust that she has energy to be mom. The rest of the afternoon I will simply post pictures as Johnnie had a pretty fun day at the movies with practically half his class. 

Me Time

Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend and I had no plans. Or at least I didn't have to do anything today, which meant it automatically defaults to ME time. A little R&R and a little peace, quiet, and harmony for my body and soul. After this week it's not like it's an urgent need, but the fact that I had a hair trigger with Johnnie yesterday, if just for a few minutes and the fact that I felt a bit antsy this morning meant a little downtime was exactly what I needed. Not that I needed any reminders that there were lots happening in the external world. I only needed to focus on my external surroundings in the morning. That would be the apartments across the street filled with shouts and screams, but synchronized with the Mexico-Argentina World cup soccer match. Yes it was a full-on sports weekend. Already yesterday the US and England fought to a draw. That would be like a win for the US anytime it draws with a European powerhouse. And of course UCLA concluded its regular football season ekeing out a win against CAL to imporve to 9-3 which was better than last year even. Except... they would be in the playoff hunt had they evaded an upset loss to Arizona and then that squeaker against USC. Sigh. It was a good season, but oh could it have been even better! Now USC is the one playing for the playoffs in another rivalry game with Notre Dame and then more shrieks and shouts from somewhere in my building this time coinciding with whatever was going on with the Ohi0 St - Michigan football game.  Of course these days I don't even have access to any of these games, not on TV anyway, not since I pulled the plug on Spectrum Cable. And I don't think I've lost any quality of life anyway. I just spend more time on Youtube is all LOL. 

And speaking of which I did have lots of Youtube video views today, though they were interspersed with other activities in the afternoon. I did have it in my mind that I was going to clean my house today. 

And so I even left my breakfast cooking stuff in the kitchen and didn't wash a thing, just so I could start with the bathroom and the toilet. And while I was doing that I let loose with the robot vacuum in the living room AND started with the laundry. I guess all of a sudden it turned into cleanup day though I saw it as no different from any other Saturday that I didn't have Johnnie. I also did grocery shopping too though not until way way later. I had plenty of food at home, with half of a huge turkey breast still in the fridge. I also thought I would work on the distraction thing by finishing at least one course of action, or course of training that I had purchased in the last few months. I have all this great information but I have yet to hone them into a systematic action, or at least one that I do consistently. I note that even the audios I listen to for sleep tend to change every few nights or so. Even though the main takeaway from today is still to work on the other-than-conscious self and do the inner work, the internal work while keeping an eye on the resistance levels that come up in different places. And so it was that even though I didn't feel like I did much today, which would have been just fine actually, I did manage to clean most of the apartment, bedroom included. I managed to do most of the laundry, and I managed to do my grocery shopping while making myself a pizza for dinner. Yes, even the turkey that was still a full trayful in the fridge was getting tiresome to eat. Ok OK I did do some frivolous things too, like watch a bunch of episodes of Warrior Nun on Netflix. And I did manage 10000+ steps and I noted I was already beyond 560 active minutes and it's only Saturday. And I did get to enjoy a whole bunch of retro music for my Saturday evening. Nothing like good old Earth, Wind, and Fire. And Jokoy clips to for laughs. Yes it was a quiet Saturday. I'm not complaining one bit.

Friday After Thanksgiving

So it's the day after Thanksgiving and I will admit that I ate so much carbs yesterday at lunch that I fully intended to spend today recovering. Except that I had Johnnie at least through the morning and I was thinking I wanted to maximize whatever time we had today since I was not likely to see him the rest of the weekend. And that was perfectly ok. It IS Lisa's turn sick or not. I'm sure she missed him like I would have had it had been me without him all week. And so Johnnie and I would find ourselves at iHOP this morning having his favorite pancake breakfast and me having my spinach mushroom omelette. He has imprinted on iHOP too and I was glad since we can now have TWO breakfast places we could frequent. And then he spent the rest of the morning with his art project from yesterday, which was to paint the foam remnants from the THINKBOOK I just got delivered and make a shoe rack out of it. I can't wait to see what Lisa says when he brings it to her house later LOL LOL. And while doing all that he was his usually bouncy dancing self <see pic> regardless of a brief 5 minutes when I lost my temper yet again because he spilled the water color water all over the table. I mean was he careless? Yes he was. Did he make that big of a mess? Not really NO. So why did I blow up and do a Lisa? Because I need to learn not to blow up and do a LISA that's why. Because I know there's that part of me that wants to be in control all the time, furious that it has lost control. Fortunately I was quick to offer an apology minutes later and Johnnie almost nonchalantly waved it off as if he knew it was coming and as if it was a matter-of-fact thing to do that all he had to do was wait it out. My lesson here is to recognize when I'm about to go into that mode FASTER and QUICKER. And BEFORE I lash out. I mean I KNEW there would always be a risk of him spilling something wasn't there?  Even when I tell him to be careful. He's just a kid being a kid. And that he was back to being the Johnnie in the 2nd picture LOL LOL. Could it be that I was irritated that I don't get to see him the rest of the weekend? Certainly I felt a bit of an emotional hole when I dropped him off at Lisa's. ALTHOUGH I think Claire the dog missed him the most and was quickly into her humping-his-leg self not even minutes after seeing him again.  I could swear that dog is male not female! Of course I did read that female dogs do that as simply another mode of play and that it is perfectly normal.  And so it was that I dropped Johnnie off and wished Lisa well for the rest of the weekend. I had brought Panda Express lunch for him and chicken soup lunch for Lisa so he would be good to go at least through today. As for me, what did I do the rest of the day? I would have liked to have taken a nap... but I didn't. I would have liked to have cleaned the house... but I didn't. I would have liked to catch up on my journal... that I did. That and I realized I still had a 6-lb turkey breast sitting in my fridge. That was my emergency plan had I not gone down to San Diego for Thanksgiving. But now I have this huge piece of meat that I know I have to cook today or tomorrow at the very latest. I opted for today. It took a few hours to roast actually but it did turn out awesome, nice and juicy. Gee I wonder what I'm going to be having to eat the next couple of days> LOL. I even did an impromptu turkey sandwich a la Bristol Farms for dinner. Cranberry sauce and everything. Noting that it hardly made a dent in the pile of meat I carved from the turkey breast. I did manage to reflect some more on the Thanksgiving that was and noted to myself that I got the trip to San Diego and got to see my family with Johnnie just as I had put out there to the Universe.  I also note that with Thanksgiving behind us, we now focus squarely on the Christmas holidays. There is going to be lots of merry-making and events to be sure starting next week even. That also means that the end of the year is fast drawing to a close. Still not too late to focus on some of the things I wanted to accomplish this year. YES the stock market dump put a damper on my accelerated plans to retire. But then again maybe I need to learn NOT to depend on the whims of the stock market. I need to remind myself that I can LEARN ANYTHING and nothing is stopping me from doing that right now. I reminded myself that my retirement was contingent upon replacing my job income and that I can create that now. STILL. I also did reflect on the observation of how everyone was in my family was aging but hey for at least this Thanksgiving, we did have a full crew. SOMETHING TO BE THANKFUL for to be sure. Today I was thankful that despite being Thanksgiving week I was already up to 440 active minutes and it's only Friday. Gonna make my usual activity indicators pretty easily I'd say. And then I spent the night binge watching FALLING SKIES, an old sci-fi series from 2014. I remember watching it back in the day in the Lindbrook apartment. All pre-Johnnie of course. I did recall that 2014 Thanksgiving when we met Feifei for the first time before Thanksgiving and then going to Maui and springing the news that we were about to become parents to Kalani and Joy. It's been a minute huh? I enjoyed that little brief bit of time travelling and then went to sleep late. That's what happens when Johnnie isn't around. I guess I'll have to sleep in tomorrow...

Happy Thanksgiving

So we made it to Thanksgiving in San Diego with my fam and I must admit it was somewhat surreal to wake up in a Motel 6 Thanksgiving morning. The advantage to doing this of course was that we didn't have to drive a long ways this morning and we didn't have to deal with traffic although I dealt with it plenty enough last night. Still there was a great deal of familiarity to being here, particularly with Johnnie who LOVES coming to Motel 6 and doing the whole breakfast at McDonald's thing. Same McDonald's near the freeway and near the outlet. At least I know he had a huge breakfast. Not that there won't be any food later on at Grace's house but I simply don't know what Johnnie will feel like or not feel like eating. This way I'm sure. And then we went back to the hotel room and I kept up my journal and Johnnie got an hour's worth of Garfield videos in. We took off for Lisa's by 10 AM and we're there by 10:30. Lunch was not until 1:30 but I thought we'd at least get to spend time with the fam whoever was there.  My mom and Mike were already there. I think it's the first time I had seen Mike in more than 2 years. I was thinking this morning that among the many possible things that gave me a physical reaction while driving last night <let's see... I had named the Lisa interaction earlier in the day, some residual stuff from work, and maybe perhaps the whole act of going down to San Diego for Thanksgiving by itself?> dealing with my family could be a possible reason too. Not that I haven't dealt with them before, but in this new drive towards becoming more aware of the negative emotions I keep trapped in my physical body, the family dynamic always has a place and a history. I don't actually remember the last time I've come right on Thanksgiving Day with JOHNNIE.  Usually we are at the Elams, or before that we were always in Maui. Or a couple of times I've come by myself. So this was a rarity indeed. And of course I'm going to milk it for whatever it's worth. I let Johnnie spend whatever time he could with his Grandma Linda. Had him draw her some art work. Had him play with the dogs (see pic). In the meantime, there was definitely loads of food. I had rib roast for the first time in months. But I also threw caution to the wind. That meant I ate more carbs than I have had in a long time. Hey, it's Thanksgiving. I even had a carrot cake! ANd yes, predictably I was ready to take a nap after the meal. I was carb comatose LOL. I stuck around for a little bit although the dynamic was that the bigger kids hung out and I stayed with Johnnie even while watching his TV shows <Floor is Lava> and while the old folks caught up too. I am THANKFUL that I got to join my family on this day and with Johnnie with me and that my family got to enjoy him if just for a couple of hours. I was thankful for the Thanksgiving feast. And so when we left for home by 3:30, mainly because I also wanted Johnnie and his mom to connect today, I thought it was still worth the long one-day drive just to be here. There were no weird physical anomalies on the drive back. And there was no traffic either. Which meant we were home before 5:30. It was already dinner time and I know Johnnie didn't really eat much other than bread and rice for lunch, so I made him his chicken special. And we did connect with Lisa, arranging a hand-off for tomorrow. I don't know that Lisa is negative for COVID, but I'm sure Johnnie's immune system is strong enough to withstand whatever Lisa has. And then Johnnie must have had an extra heaping serving of chocolate ice cream because he sure had a lot of bounce tonight. That's ok. I love the bounce and his innate joy. Even though his punches are starting to hurt. We went to bed early tonight. And I note that I still made it to 11,000+ steps and already at more than 400 active minutes this week. Happy Thanksgiving EVERYONE.

Last Work Day of The Week

It is Wednesday and technically still a work day though definitely the last work day of Thanksgiving week. And I actually did entertain the thought of taking Johnnie to the office today. But that thought lasted all of a minute when I decided I could just as easily do work from home while Johnnie did Prodigy exercises in the morning. The trick when you have Johnnie on a work day during the day is how to keep him occupied and not too bored, without actually engaging with him 100% of the time. And this morning it's all about Prodigy. My Thanksgiving plans for tomorrow were still pretty up in the air noting that the best case scenario would be to go see my family in San Diego and take Johnnie with me. But of course the thing about that Is to actually get Lisa's blessing. She tends to be at her neediest when (a) she is sick (b) when she is sick and Johnnie is not with her and so this double whammy is bound to manifest itself at some point but I'm hoping different. We'll know later on when we check in on her. In the meantime, I got a whole bunch of invoices done and emails from work read and next thing you know it was already lunchtime. We did a retro chicken noodle penne for Johnnie and a retro tuna sandwich and soup for me. I kept getting pinged all day from people asking me what I was doing for Thanksgiving. Dexter texted, Karl texted, and even Jorge called. I was happy to note that people had thought of me but also couldn't help but think  THAT is already enough to be thankful for, But I needed to pay it forward somehow. And what better way the to check in on Lisa. Johnnie and I went to her house and immediately we noted that she was up and about and was at least enjoying the sun on her porch. She noted that Johnnie "saved" her by giving her cereal last Monday and that her mom came yesterday but left abruptly when her dad called. Nothing new there, other than somehow it drew a parallel with my interaction with Lisa. I REALIZED that the tension between us is all about control. Lisa always trying to take control, but me no different for trying to resist it back. Lisa asked for a favor and get crickets for the gecko. I wanted to leave right then and there and get the crickets. I saw then that she wanted us to stay for as long as possible and I wanted to leave as soon as possible. I know I have to work on that because it makes her feel negative but I couldn't work on it today. We did go to Alan's pet store to get her crickets, which, for me was already a huge favor to fulfill. And for me was sufficient effort to add to simply coming over on our own accord without having to be asked. I did let her know we would be going to San Diego for Thanksgiving. She was, after all, getting a visit for her own parents. And so it all works out.  But I could tell she didn't like it. And that's ok. At least she told Johnnie to have fun. And off we went as she went back to bed rest. And from there I immediately put a different timeline in motion. Why not go to San Diego tonight to save us the trip tomorrow?! I texted Grace, then made a reservation at Motel 6 Carlsbad. Johnnie gets his wish of getting to stay at what seems to be his favorite hotel. Maybe not favorite, but the one he does remember because we have stayed there multiple times. I packed us quickly and then went to Panda Express Westwood to have dinner. It was almost 6 by the time we got done and got on the road. Off to San Diego. The big surprise was that there was not that much traffic. I mean there WAS traffic but not even nearly like it would be normally. It was moving at least. And we were downtown in a half hour. Johnnie would knock off within a couple of songs on the radio. I was enjoying Earth Wind and Fire too until I hit a high note and for some reason, started seeing stars. WTF? I'm driving!! What was going on? I pulled over to the farthest right lane and started to relax my breathing. Within a couple of minutes I felt better but that gave me a bit of a scare. What was THAT all about? I felt extreme tightness in my neck and back as if I was having a full-on anxiety attack. Why now? It occurred to me that it was probably physical residue from the interaction with Lisa this afternoon. That would be the only thing that would illicit a negative emotion all afternoon. I put on some healing audios from Maitreya Fields and it seemed to at least quell the negative response. We at least got to the Motel 6 with no incident. It was 8;30 PM by the time we got there. I got Johnnie chocolate milk from 7-11, and some nachos for me. But the superhero effort was making it to 11,000 steps tonight AND almost 100 active minutes doing the last 4000 steps in the hotel room without leaving it and with Johnnie there. I occupied him with Lego Masters on TV. Awesome. We're here in San Diego. Bring on Thanksgiving!

The Office Thanksgiving Feast

So today I was supposed to bring a turkey Thanksgiving lunch for Lisa's office. Even while she herself is out because of COVID. I don't have to remind myself that this is not an easy lift even though I've done it so much over the years that I now have a pretty good routine actually and I had absolutely no doubt I could get an oven roasted turkey and all the fixins done and delivered by 11:30. I must admit that I think there is more energy of ME wanting to do it than the office staff themselves. I told Johnnie last night while we were getting the turkey that it was me atoning for one time when I promised I'd do it and couldn't deliver. That grated on me big time and ever since then I cooked the office staff a turkey lunch before Thanksgiving. It became tradition. So is that the only reason I'm doing this? Because I am a sucker for tradition? Or SOME traditions, this being one of them? The short answer is YES mainly. Before I also wanted to make sure Lisa's staff felt appreciated since that is one superpower she emphatically does not have. To show gratitude and appreciation appropriately. And that was before we split up. Now I'm just being nice and I'm just keeping up historical ties. I know I don't have to do this. I want to. Maybe I just feel like making a Thanksgiving meal for someone, since it would be extremely difficult to do this just for myself or even just myself and Johnnie.Besides, as I said I had gotten good at it over the years. Last year I don't even feel like my turkey turned out as good as it could have. This year I didn't use the roasting bag like I did the past couple of years. And so we got up early, which is normal early for Johnnie, and I put the turkey in the oven by 7:15. Even before we headed out to breakafast. And this year, I will have to say, that this is the best my turkey has turned out in years. Like the skin was appropriately brown and everything. (Look at the pic... isn't that a great cooked turkey?) And the routine took over the rest of the morning. First the green beans and onions. Then the potatoes in the Instant Pot. Johnnie had a hand peeling those potatoes (see pic). Then the stuffing. Then finally, the gravy. Everything was still hot and steaming by the time we loaded all the food in the car. And by the time we delivered the food. I do have a memory of doing those Thanksgiving food plates on Thanksgiving night for the longest stretch of time. Until the Thanksgiving routine gave way to all those trips to Maui. Anyway, for this year there weren't a whole lot of people at Lisa's office. A grand total of 4 actually, and then Carmen came by after. It was just Claudia, Sandy, Angie, and Jackie and of course Johnnie and me. I even made macaroni and cheese just for Johnnie and even that got eaten LOL. Anyway for whatever it was worth at least Lisa's staff got a free lunch today and I was glad to have done the work. Of course all that cooking also meant we had to clean up the pots and pans and dishes and the entire kitchen in fact. And that took a minute or two when we got home. By the time I was done, I started to feel tired. But I did get it all done and the kitchen was clean. And by the time I had my last meeting of the day at 3 PM, it was like the morning never happened. Yes this is STILL a workday for me and my gratitude is that I get to work from home and do Thanksgiving lunch as if I didn't work <which I didn't... though I did keep my eye on my emails and chats all morning>.So Thanksgiving feast all done, we now turn our attention to Thanksgiving Day and whatever it is we're going to end up doing that day. Which I still don't know. I've gotten pings from a lot of people. Dexter. my sister. Even Karl. But I really don't know what we're going to do just yet. For today, I'm going to pat my own back for a job pretty well done. We checked in on Lisa and she seemed ok for today. And then Johnnie and I watched Kong: Skull Island for Tuesday night movie night. We still did cookie night. We still did Panda Express night. I did flatbread pizza night for me to help clear out my own freezer LOL.And we just had an early night. We earned it. Johnnie and I did a lot of work today. And we both felt a great sense of accomplishment I think. It was all good.

Start of Thanksgiving Week

We reached the Monday of Thanksgiving week, which makes this a very short week. And indeed I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for Thanksgiving. I still wanted to go to Legoland with Johnnie like we did last year but I don't think I'm going to get there without taking Lisa with us. I really didn't want to focus on it today. The Thanksgiving lunch for Lisa's office is on my mind. Lots of things to do, to prep, to cook. And that will effectively take all morning tomorrow. But before even that I wanted to take my car in for an oil change since the maintenance light is on. I wanted to get that done today especially if I was even thinking about driving down to San Diego sometime this week. Instead of going to Honda dealer though, I went to Jiffy Lube, the closest one being just a mile away near the 10 freeway entrance on Overland. The last couple of times I went to a Honda dealer I ended up spending way more than I thought I would, especially the last time in April which set me back over $700. This way I get a straight up oil change and tire rotation which I believe is all I need for now. And it would be done inside of an hour. If anything I could start my steps while waiting. Which is exactly what I ended up doing. The oil change took just a tick under an hour, And they did tire rotation and vacuumed the inside of my car too. And it cost me $180. I'm good with that. My car felt good as new even. AND I even got 3000 steps in already just going up and down the stairs while waiting in the office lounge area. And then I finally went to Ralphs and picked up the turkey for tomorrow. I didn't want to buy it early but I realized I needed to give it 24 hours to thaw. Finally when I got back to the apartment it was just 9:30 and I knew I had already done the must-do's for today, with the exception of my IS Team Meeting which I set for this afternoon. Right around lunchtime I got a call from Lisa. She told me she had just tested positive for COVID. That takes care of that in terms of Thanksgiving Day for her doesn't it. She first thought she would keep Johnnie with her the whole time in quarantine, which didn't make sense to me. She said she didn't want him to make ME sick. I told her to go ahead and test him too just to see. And that I had no concerns about catching COVID. Not from Johnnie anyway. He had already had it. i told her I'd check back later on after the work day was done. Not that there was a whole lot to do today. But I did finish my team meeting. And I did get to 10,000 steps already before it was even 4 PM. I got another call from Lisa around that time. And it wasn't actually Lisa. It was Johnnie letting me know that it was dinner time. Huh? At 4 PM? I headed over there around 4:30. Was gifted by another awesome sunset that I had to take a pic of. It turned out that the phone call was all Johnnie. How could it be Lisa? She was half asleep on the couch. Which made me wonder what she was thinking keeping Johnnie? She could barely get up off the couch! How was she going to take care of him? Fortunately she did reach that conclusion as well. And I noted that I had to wash her dishes that had piled up in the sink. Made sure she had enough water. And then Johnnie and I took off for my apartment. He hadn't had dinner yet. And reminded me it was chicken and rice night. Well, it was I that made him stick to routines after all. And so I had to make him chicken and rice for dinner.  I made me that Sprouts flatbread pizza augmented with pineapple chunks. And then I put Johnnie to work with some of the prep work for tomorrow's lunch. Still gotta cut onions, celery, carrots.  Had to peel potatoes since I'm mashing them tomorrow. And of course Johnnie was still able to watch his Ninjago, or Bakugan or whatever else he wanted to watch. He would have been stuck at Lisa's trying to amuse himself with hardly anything otherwise. In the meantime, I do hope Lisa gets in healing mode. And I note to myself that with all kinds of people around me in need of healing, what the heck am I waiting for if I could heal them? Not just Lisa, but Dexter, even Jorge. And especially... myself. Already the news of Lisa contracting COVID has already pulled my attention to whether I myself have it. Or if Johnnie does. Which makes me realize it is yet another attempt at clarification. The Unvierse testing me whether i still identify with the physical and with 3D reality. Still gotta learn. But I AM getting there. Make no mistake about that too. I am getting there.

No Golf Today

Scott pinged me a couple of days ago that he wasn't going to be able to make it to golf today. My first reaction was 'eh I guess I get to play by myself today'. But then the stronger pull as the morning wore on was simply to stay home. I hadn't done that in a Sunday in a while and the stronger tug was to DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT. And so I ended up playing hookie with myself. I am becoming more and more aware that the reason I don't get some results I want is that I simply don't focus consistently enough. That much I already know from golf. While I could easily do a really good game like I did a couple of weeks ago, and simply by relaxing and doing not much of anything different other than to simply let myself get in rhythm, I can still have a game like last week that was very much inconsistent. I know I let myself get distracted way too much. And I keep telling myself I need to work on that. Well, today is WORK ON 'THAT' DAY. Almost like magic I let the Youtube videos come up that I needed to see today and I got a whole lot of A-ha's and distinctions today on a whole slew of things.  Here are just a few of them: 

I could have been selling stocks all year instead of buying... and losing. I need to make an adjustment to that mental mindset don't I?

I was triggered last Friday wasn't I? It was my ego for sure. The trick is to expect and anticipate that the ego is going to try to create chaos when everything seems to be on track and going well. It's what it does. I can circumvent this by simply focusing on the POSITIVE stuff regardless. As in why would it bug me that a co-worker is trying to rant and get irritate. Why do I let MYSELF get irritated in kind? She simply needs information. I do not NEED to REACT. Ever.

A-HA And finally: The Universe does not give you what you want. It gives you what you are. It tests you in a very specific way to see if what you say you want is actually what you DO want. It wants to know if you're just pretending. Am I pretending I want to be a millionaire and be financially independent? Or am I backing down from the changes I need to make in my life to get to that version of ME? Am I really ready to live what I say? 

All these distinctions before it was even lunchtime, and in the time it took for me to play golf. hmm. Maybe it's a good thing to take my eyes off the routine and focus on what needed to get done...

So usually the lunch routine from a golf day at Penmar was to get salmon kabobs from Crimson. Not today since I'm off routine. Instead I had tuna sandwich like I would on a Monday and tomato basil soup. And then I took a nap for an hour. All of that before it was 12:30. Of course the result was that I barely left my couch until it was late in the afternoon. It was like I had a sick day without being sick. It was most definitely an R&R day to be sure. I could stay on the couch and pretty much meditate all day, particularly since I know I need to sharpen my focus and be more aware of my thought patterns. Be more aware when Ego is trying to distract me. I finally got out of the house to do grocery shopping. And by then it was almost 4 PM.  And I was rewarded by the most amazing sunset, on Palms Blvd that seemed clear all the way to the beach. Quite an amazing pic I say. I noticed that I was finally starting to get in to Thanksgiving mode, starting with getting some food for the Lisa staff lunch I planned on preparing for Tuesday. That has always been a tradition as well and although I don't seem to get the energy from Lisa that it is actually something she wants to have happen, I do know her staff appreciates it. She seemed to be more pre-occupied with having to host Thanksgiving for her own family. I am not entirely sure what I'm going to be doing for Thanksgiving myself. I figured I'd go a day at a time this week. Tomorrow is still a work day and although I had already finished with the stuff due tomorrow (timecards/HRSA survey etc etc), I planned on bringing my car in for an oil change too in the morning. But it was good to get all the reminders today. The key is to keep reminding myself so I am not as distracted... until I don't get distracted anymore. I know it is a constant battle for focus and attention. And therein lies the work. I simply need to keep at it.

Johnnie Day

So this isn't a Lisa work Saturday, But just like yesterday she is in a CE class downtown all day. which means I get Johnnie all day too and I couldn't have planned it better if i tried. I'm at her house at 7:30 ready to pick up the kid and actually ready to shower too since I hadn't showered since Monday I'm embarassed to admit. But when I got there Johnnie was already ready to go showered and everything. Which is what happens when he's excited to do something. I had no choice but to go back to the house, drop off Claire, and take a shower first myself. I wasn't going to spend one more day stinking myself up.  And so not only did I shower first, I also took that opportunity to clean up the shower too, which I hadn't done in more than a month. I had to clean up the grime build-up including the soap stuff on the shower door Lisa style. The good thing was that it looked much better afterwards, and I FELT much better too now that I am clean! or CLEAN-ER. Thus getting showered, Johnnie and I headed out to breakfast. To my surprise he was ok with going to iHOP today, since we hadn't gone in many many months. He was happy to have his pancakes and bacon and eggs. And I got myself a nice, healthy mushroom and spinach omelette. The cool-thing-of-the-day was that the Latino couple next booth adjacent to us commented to me that he was a cute little boy, which was not out of the norm. But when he started conversing with Johnnie and he started conversing back in Spanish, that was what amazed them, and amazed me. He actually was able to hold a nice, simple conversation with them. Those Spanish class are paying off at that. And they commented to me that he was not only cute but smart too. That is MY boy. And so after breakfast we went on out and did grocery shopping. We went to whole Foods first and then we went to Target because he wanted to go ahead and buy the present for James next week since he's invited to his birthday movie. And I managed to get some of my grocery shopping too. So check and check on the shopping must-do's for today. We also checked to see the turkey inventory since I'm making lunch for Lisa's crew on Tuesday and she's making turkey for her family on Thanksgiving Day. Which made `me think... what am I doing for Thanksgiving? Eh, I'll figure something out later. It did feel like a Lisa work Saturday which meant that I had Johnnie through at least lunch and today he actually had something different in mind too. He actually SHOPPED for his lunch, opting to go with macaroni and cheese. And then I supplemented it with bacon so he would get even more protein. Worked out just fine. I baked the salmon I had in the freezer for a bit and with a salad that was MY lunch. No going oout or anything.

And so it was I had to figure out some kine of activity for Johnnie for the afternoon. That's when it dawned on me that he had to start practicing basketball given that I had entered him into the Mar Vista league in January. And so we headed out to Mar Vista Park armed with the basketball from my trunk. I posted a video of him shooting underhanded because that was all the shoulder strength he had for now, at least to shoot at the regulation 10-ft rim. I think he will be fine shooting at the much shorter 9 ft room hoop in the gym. But for now it was good to see he can at least make an outside shot! And he made 8 of them in a row even. Just like dad huh? Shades of the Tuesday afternoon gym sessions I used to have at the AT&T Building. Or the Friday afternoon shooting games I used to have at the FRB back in the day. It was only a couple of months ago in June in the summer he couldn't even reach the hoop. Look at him now! I think he will be just fine. He will be challenged physically but I think I'm ok with that. He has to learn to deal with adversity physically even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with him. He will simply need to learn to play with taller, bigger kids. And that is perfectly fine with me. Anyway I ran him through his shooting and dribbling and passing and by 4 PM, there was absolutely no doubt he had gotten his exercise in for the day. I rewarded him with Panda Express for dinner, and concludes a full 3-meal day I have had with him. Lisa called by 6 PM letting me know she was already home but also catching up on her ME time so she could play the piano. I was happy to let her do that, which was a win-win-win for all and keep Johnnie until 7:30. And when I dropped him off and came back I also realized it was the big UCLA-USC football game at the Rose Bowl today. They were leading at halftime UCLA was. But it would not last. It turned into a shootout that USC won 48-45 and only by getting an INT on UCLA's last possession. UCLA would have probably at least kicked a field goal to tie.  But tonight it was not to be. They fought and fought but lost an extremely competitive game in the end. Oh well. At least we go to a bowl game this year. And hopefully win next week to exceded last year's win total. Still all good. They teased us all year but now they are descending back to earth. It's still good.

Friday End Of the Week

So it's Friday the end of the work week, but it also feels like a larger 'end' because it's the last day for Johnnie in school until after Thanksgiving next week. And to that end, they are actually having a Macy's Day parade only they're parading balloons at 12:15 right when class is over. That's pretty cool I thought and I already knew Johnnie had spent some time last night making up his balloon. Look at his balloons in the pic. It was Winnie the Pooh on some honey. Ok OK you might have to use a really large part of your imagination for that one. But who am I to exercise creative jurisdiction LOL. I just let him make whatever he wanted to make. I worked through a morning that went by so quickly, I actually ran out of time and never even made it to taking a shower before having to go to the school to watch Johnnie's parade. I don't even remember what I did after Lisa dropped off Claire. I did manage some good meditation and was anticipating that i was going to have my peace and harmony tested at some point today. But maybe instead of anticipating that, I should have simply focused on the peace and harmony. I walked to Mar Vista and enjoyed a nice, warm sunshiny day actually. A really nice Friday as it turned out. And I got to the school in plenty of time along with a host of the parents. I wasn't aware it was just the 2nd grade class doing this. it was pretty cool actually. And who would lead the parade for his classroom but Johnnie of course. He was so wrapped up in marching he didn't even look up to see me until the last second. Still I thought it was a nice way to cap the last week of school in November. On the way out I asked JOhnnie if he wanted to still spend a couple of hours at STAR before coming home. Emphatically, he said he wanted to go home right then and there. And so I end up having Johnnie for the 2nd half of the afternoon and I did not mind that at all. In fact I was still able to take a nap for a good hour before I woke up just in time for Johnnie's Spanish class at 4 PM! And THEN I got tested. That would be Marina bugging me up and down about setting up ACSI the overflow call center they had been trying to engage since September. The woman simply has no patience gene and I kept trying to explain to her about the nuances of trying to support a remote site let alone a group that isn't even using our network. I also started to show a little more irritation now. As in I don't give a shit when we implement this, we're going to go do this right and you're just going to have to fucking wait.  I didn't write this in my emails to her of course and I also wanted to make sure I didn't react too much knowing full well, this was my EGO getting badgered to act. And so the lesson is still mine to learn. In the meantime, we were on a holding pattern after Spanish class because Lisa mentioned she was coming home right after her CE class in downtown LA. That would place her as being back right around 5:30 - 6 PM and it was actually before 6 PM when she called. I had held off feeding Johnnie so we could all eat together perhaps.  And I had plenty to do anyway. I wanted to finish approving timecards early this weekend because it is going to be a real short week next week. And of course, it is a HRSA survey week as well. 

As it turned out Lisa actually beat us to Oops, the restaurant of choice this evening. It never gets old for us I guess. When she is not bugging about work Lisa is actually far more pleasant to be around and tonight she and i actually shared a huge sashimi plate while Johnnie had his usual udon. Look at the plate we had. It actually looks soo nice. And we were all so hungry we wolfed everything done in pretty much no time. Johnnie told his mom about his day which was a pretty good one, and she finally watched the video I had taken of the parade with Johnnie in it. And then by the time we finished the hand-off at my apartment, it was still not even 8 PM yet. Plenty of time to catch up on my steps. EXCEPT, I got caught up in watching the 4th season of MANIFEST. I don't know what it was about that series that caught my attention. It was part sci-fi mystery about quantum physics and some time travel and it had really good characters you could root for and root against. But as series go, it wasn't really all that exceptional. I should have spent more time watching the raft of videos that also caught my attention regarding making money online. I still don't think I need to spend a whole lot of money to learn the methodologies. I do need to spend some resources and spend energy with people that are mostly in the same place and going the same direction as I am.  Anyway, watching MANIFEST made me not go to bed until it was past midnight. That's ok. I had gotten plenty of sleep today. And tomorrow I get to do another full Johnnie day. Alright Ok.

Week Is Already Wound Down

Johnnie woke up this morning and walked to my bedroom and asked if he could lie in bed with me for a little while. How can you say NO to that. I will never tire of that. And so we were both on the computer watching our respective funny stuff and that's how we woke up today. That's how we roll LOL. I got him ready for school, made his lunch, dropped him off, even hung around for just a bit to watch him stroll into class. Because that's how I roll, and I consider those simple things a highlight of the day since so many things come up during the day that make you forget. I can't believe that in a week it will already be Thanksgiving and that the holiday season will be in full swing. That also means I can maybe take a bit of a break the rest of this week even though there are still so many things going on. Stuff going on at E3 with our network. Yet another 3rd party vendor asking for for access to EPIC. Just work. I did the minimum necessary to feel productive today actually. That meant doing my EHR Team Meeting, and I actually called them twice today. And then the Penelope stuff with Erica. The needle definitely moved forward there as we're finding out stuff as we go. And that's ok. That's the way it's supposed to be. In the meantime, the PLAY OF THE MORNING was the shrimp and spinach fried rice I made myself for lunch. I had all this food in the fridge I hadn't made all week. And though I didn't totally feel like making anything today, I also didn't want to have to throw them out either. I noticed that I was feeling very much calmer today, maybe from the SATS meditation stuff I've been doing just as soon as I am no longer in unconscious sleep. I had been working on releasing FEAR wherever it was trapped in my body. I believe that in doing so it has also affected me in other ways. Like I am not in such a hurried, impatient state. Might I even say it's attracting more positive interactions into my day. But we will test that later on when Lisa picks up Johnnie LOL. 

In the meantime, I picked him up from STAR really early because of Spanish class. They worked on constructing full sentences today. Johnnie has picked up a bunch of words, but he still needs to work on his sentences, just as he needs to work on his punctuation and commas when it comes to writing. Tonight I made him chicken and rice. Not like Lisa makes but I think I do just fine with my version. It's more like fried chicken tenders, but they're really really good. He ate at least 4 large pieces, more than he would eat if I bought them from Jack-in-the-Box. For some reason I was stuck on the notion that he is severly underweight. But he is not lacking for appetite I know that much. He ate all his eggs and bacon and pancakes this morning. He had a slice of pizza for lunch and he ate all his chicken and rice tonight. AND asked for a snack afterwards too. No the issue is most definitely not his appetite. Lisa called around 7 PM and apparently she didn't go to piano lessons in Pasadena. She had just stuck around at her office writing notes and her voice was noticeably upbeat because she did so. Talk about attracting a positive interaction. She came by and picked up Johnnie and there was no dark cloud, no whining complaining, or cussing. She actually looked very happy to see Johnnie. He had worked on his balloons for tomorrow's parade all evening and was most proud to show it off. Now THIS is the way our hand-offs should be! I went back to the house early enough to finish my 11,000 steps and got in 70+ active minutes. And then for whatever reason I ended up watching THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNETS NEST. I had never seen it. And I watched it until the end. Which meant I didn't go to bed until almost midnight. That's ok. I'll catch up later on. It had been a pretty good day and all was most definitely good.

FRB Day

It's Wednesday and the day after the big Management Meeting and half of me doesn't want to do anything yet, particularly about all the initiatives that are percolating in my head. That is the half, or course, that is reminding me I was already thinking of retiring and living off my savings an entire year ago when I was close to $1M saved up. I decided I wasn't ready then and then the rug got pulled up under those retirement savings and the stock market lost a third of its value all year. Anyway all that stuff is STILL my problem until it isn't anymore and that's ok. I am still here to provide MASSIVE VALUE where I can. But I really need to carve out some time to learn how to and just go expand my assets so I can go back to retirement mode. And so I head to the FRB today since it is Wednesday and I have a nice breakfast sandwich on a croissant to start the day. It wasn't a particularly busy day at the FRB and I only had 1 meeting. I note that I chose not to go to the gym for the 3rd Wednesday in a row now but I did get at least up to 4000 steps already. I also note that in the spirit of finally getting out of the cloud of the pandemic, it was nice to see old colleagues come up to me and say hello. Ruben from FRB Facilities stopped by and said hi. And the old police staff came by the entire suite to talk holiday safety. It was also good to be talking about the holiday plans at the FRB, and for the first time in 2+ years we could actually talk about getting together for real. I always used to avoid the gift stuff during the holidays parties and elected to sit those out and go home instead. Today I'm wondering why. Of course not every memory of the FRB was pleasant. I happened to look out my window and saw a homeless woman right below my window. And she was getting kicked out of her spot. She just upped and pee'd right there on one of the supporting posts like one of those domesticated dogs out on a walk. Sad to think there are people out there like that. Still, I not only had breakfast there at the FRB, I had lunch too. Shredded beef quesadillas today. Pretty good too though I convinced myself it wasn't enough. So what did I do? I made a stop at Phorrito for a 2nd lunch! For some reason I had some hankering for beef pho. Hey it's sort of cold out there isn't it? Pho would be really good. Again I think it's more like a memory of something good I've had and I wanted to have it again right now just because I could. And so I slurped all of that down as soon as I got home. And I definitely felt really full. And I did so while watching the latest episode of Andor. This particular series is getting pretty emotionally heavy, much more so than the other series in the Star Wars Canon and there were already some serious stuff in Mandalorian and the Book of Boba Fet. All really really good though.

And so we go on to the 2nd part of the day, which was the Johnnie pick-up. I debated about whether to actually go to Lisa's office afterwards so we all could have family time and Lisa and I had already discussed whether that had any value anymore actually. I had already leaned towards not going and simply making Johnnie a pizza at home. That was, until he mentioned going to dinner at Pitfire Pizza tonight. This was not the first time he had mentioned this. But today he mentioned it the same moment Blair came by to pick up Brooklyn and Bailey. And when I agreed to take him, which was to say, later on closer to 5 or 5:30, he immediately relayed info to Brooklyn. And within minutes, the kids were asking the parents if they could go to Pitfire Pizza together. I said why not?! It's early but hey I didn't care when Johnnie ate dinner just as long as he did eat dinner. It turned out that my decision was made for me already. And so off we went to Pitfire Pizza, getting there well before 4:30. I got Johnnie his cheese pizza and got me a BBQ chicken pizza too. It was then that I saw a text from Lisa's office asking us to come by at 6 PM. Doesn't THAT work out all of a sudden. We could eat now, bring food to Lisa later and we don't have to wait at all for anyone or anything! I framed it as the kids' doing of course. And that wasn't a lie anyway. Look at Brooklyn and Johnnie in the pic. Johnnie even used the word :date: to describe this particular event. Wow, my child is talking about dating already! Certainly the kids had fun and of course Lisa wouldn't have anything bad to say about that. Especially not after Bailey made her a bracelet from the Wiggly Six the kids got and made it a point to let me know this was a present to her from Bailey! Winner winner I'd say! We had plenty of food leftover and at the end of the day I was simply glad the kids got another chance to get together and marveled at the spontaneity of it all. We even had plenty of time to go back home and chill before heading out to Lisa's office. She seemed to be in far better of a mood than we're used to seeing her and she got to eat the salad and pizza although she did say she didn't like either LOL. AND she got a chance to clean Johnnie's teeth which she didn't get to do last Saturday. Although we did get the bad news that Johnnie had the makings of a couple of cavities! WHAT?!! Lucky for us, his mom is a DENTIST who will fix all that in a timely manner. We went on home and got back our usual Wednesday evening. I easily got to 300+ active minutes already after 3 days this week and in terms of numbers, got in 120/70 for a BP reading. I note that my RHR was high probably because I was fighting off a cold. And I also noted that the cold that had started less than a week ago after the last Wednesday night interaction with Lisa was stopped dead in its tracks by the weekend. As in, I was already pretty much healed by Monday. No medication, no nothing. Just a bunch of healing frequencies for a few days in a row. Says THAT to whoever doubts frequency and energy healing. Including myself. I also note that Thanksgiving week is already NEXT WEEK and it is going to be a much shorter week! A chance to breathe out to be sure. I will take that. Anytime.