Catching My Breath

It is the first day of November and I am catching my breath today just returning from Las Vegas last night. AND no rest this morning because I had to go right into Roadshow Town Hall Week, with today's show Eagle Rock. It meant I had to be dressed and ready dropping Johnnie off at school. And even though I still walked him up to his class line, when I saw James his friend already there, I took off immediately. As it was I was 5 minutes late because traffic has gotten notably heavier in the past couple of months or so. But I did make it in plenty of time for my part of the presentation. All I did was give out gift cards anyway. AND I got to have a Porto's breakfast. Last Town Hall week, I was still avoiding carbs and meat/carb combos so i didn't really eat much. Today not so much. I had 2 empanadas and a potato ball. Boy did I miss those :) I made a stop at Target Eagle Rock afterwards too, but couldn't really find anything in mine or Johnnie's size so I just headed on home and got working on my stuff for the rest of Town Hall week. Tomorrow is one of the double-doubles, at WN and Q so I had a presentation to put together. Which I did this morning. And finally after lunch I felt like I could crash on the couch and chill, which I hadn't done since BEFORE Las Vegas. Even my resting heart rate was a bit elevated, though my BP was perfectly normal. Could it be that my body is fighting off some bug? Maybe something from the flight? Anyway I felt just fine and in fact, I was back to the 11,000+ 60activemins track today. I almost took a dip in the spa mid-afternoon too, except that I had another meeting with the Data Team and Dr Liao about the long-awaited BUPPS report. This was a meeting that should have happened early summer when the requirements first came out. Shilpa still needs help navigating data. She is behind James in that regard, but at least she gets stuff done, and data out even if it needs correction. I'm ok with the iterative phase of getting it right. I also had my TEam Meeting today at 3 PM. Seems better to move it in the afternoon so Kennedy can participate. He may be a part-timer but he still contributes significantly. And so I didn't really get done with all my meetings until 3:45 and by that time it was already almost time to pick up Johnnie from STAR. It was basketball day today and predictably, he was dirty as ever. I can only hope he doesn't spend a significant amount of time getting knocked down and getting back up. Or at least he gets back up instantly. I was disappointed when I looked into his lunch bag and he ate next to NOTHING of all the stuff I packed. Like he didn't even have any lunch at all! No wonder he's such a stick. Can't really yell at him, how can I make him eat anything? I just have to keep trying stuff until I find something that sticks is all. At least he ate his fill at Panda Express like we do most Tuesdays. And he was his usual bouncy artsy self. How artsy? He wanted to do an arts day with his friends and spent the evening making up invitations, as well as re-doing the center picture in my bedroom. I love when he does that. He even wanted me to show him where he can sell artwork. THAT is my boy!! One last thing for this evening. Tonight I bid goodbye to my trusty backpack that I had used for a very long time. It had frayed around the shoulder holster and had ripped. It was time for a new one. I didn't remember when I actually got this thing until I started clearing out the pockets to move stuff to the new one I just got from Amazon. It had receipts from a Palm Springs restaurant way back in 2013! That was the year I left USC. I saw a receipt from a golf course there called Tahquitz. And then as I was throwing the thing out, I did finally remember. This was a Valentine's Day present from Lisa! From way back in 2007 I think. Probably the last thing she got me for a Valentine's DAy LOL LOL. So this thing has had history. It has travelled with me to all the places she and I had ever been to. All the trips to Europe and Hawaii. And the Philippines. And so I felt like I had to say a formal goodbye. Bye backpack. You served me well. But like everything, nothing lasts forever. So emotional LOL. It was a good day today. And now one more really busy day tomorrow.