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.

The Big Boo

Johnnie had so much fun today. I was so tired it felt like that day in Disneyland. We were, of course, at the Big Boo at Mar Vista Elementary. Pictures tell all the story. What a day. And we even got Lisa to leave work before 2 PM and she showed up. Miracles CAN happen LOL. It was a very very VERY good day.

Disneyland

And so today was Disneyland day. We only had been talking about it for months now. And now it's here. And Dexter got himself a ticket to go. The last thing I said to Cecille and Silvia last night was that they had to help me get Lisa out of the house today at a decent time. I was over at 8:15. They were ready. Lisa and Johnnie were still in bed. Lisa was talking about not going since Johnnie was sick. Or at least claimed he was sick. W-T-F? My gut already told me he was not sick, but was acting like it because everyone else in the house seemed sick, including of course his mom. And I felt like he was just projecting Lisa's energy of not really wanting to go. I KNEW this was going to happen actually. It's just difficult every single time when you have to deal with it and deal with her. Brings me back to golf Sundays when she started not to want to come but would just do her best to waste my time and energy and not actually have to decide one way or another. YES it is a CONTROL thing with her. Just like it is with Johnnie now.  And I was not having it. As it was we waited until the very very last second until everyone finally left the house. It was 9:45. But we DID leave despite all the drama. And we got to Disneyland by 11 AM. The moment we got there, Johnnie already wanted some popcorn. Yeah. Sick alright. Anyway I will just say we all had a pretty good day at the Happiest Place on Earth. And Johnnie's favorite this time? The canoe ride! Yep, we got to ride a canoe! The rest I'll just post pics and let those pics tell the story. We were home by 8 PM. Tired. Very tired. But it was a good day. 

Johnnie's Birthday Party

There isn't much to write about here, only that there's too much to write about. It started with golf at Penmar. Early tee time. 8:10 AM. I started out ok, Scott and I both did in fact, getting bogeys on the first 3 holes. On the 4th hole, I got on in 3 in fact. And still managed to triple putt past a bogey. On Hole 5, my tee shot got within the fringe. But I dicked around with it from there to another 5. I had a nice fairway drive on the long hole, but again botched it from the fringe. Only on Hole 8 did I truly mess it up and had a 6 on a par 3. And then recovered with a bogey on Hole 9. So I had 5 bogeys, 2 double bogeys and 2 more than double bogeys. A decent game. But I should have had my 2 pars. They were there to be had. I just missed the putt. I went to Lisa's after that. And despite not even getting started until around lunchtime, despite Lisa not being around so it was just Johnnie and I, and then Dexter coming by early to help, despite still having to return a bad helium tank, and a last second trip to get drinks, it all started on time just fine. And the rest I will have to show in pictures. I was tired at the end of the day. 17,000+ steps will do that to you, I think I had a personal record. My back was aching. And remember Silvia and Cecille had also come so I stuck around for a bit to chat. And then stuck around to watch Johnnie because of course the Frenchies had to go to Target. That is a Silvia thing for sure.  I went home so tired...

Dad and Son Dodger Game

I knew there would be some sort of fall-out from the argument with Lisa last night. I simply did not expect it to come from where it did. And that was from Johnnie's class. In his teacher's weekly emails was a little exercise she wrote about. This week's exercise was about communication and apologizing. And wouldn't you know Johnnie would describe our argument last night. See below. I know Johnnie's teacher was simply doing this in the spirit of "no one is perfect so how can we be better" but still I'm so embarassed for Lisa. Oblivious to these kinds of things I doubt if she would even care But I do. I most certainly do. I'm so sorry you had to hear all that Johnnie. It's our fault. 

Room 9 Kids Say the Darnedest Things

This week we had several discussions about communication and apologizing. The kiddos shared many funny stories and we learned a lot about your families! Your children and I laughed about the following... 

• "My parents are good at arguing, but I barely hear them apologize."  
• "Last night my mom called my dad just to yell at him, 5 times in the row, in the middle of the night."  
• "I have never heard my parents say sorry to each other!" 
• "Sometimes my parents tell me to put headphones on or turn the tv up loud so they can go in a different room, lock the door and yell at each other!" 

Today being a Friday and Johnnie having spent the night, it felt like a regular weekday. And it meant I wouldn't have time to do some meditation first thing. At least I remembered to lock in a tee time for next Sunday. I reminded myself it's the last day of September and the next week kicks in some busy-ness in the form of Johnnie's birthday. Of course it's a big deal. And then the week after that, Silvia makes a return visit. In fact, starting today, the social calendar seems to be filling up. I'm excited to go to the Dodgers game with Johnnie, which is why I easily rolled all the foolishness from last night right off my back. I don't care how Lisa deals with it. Johnnie and I will deal with it after we get back from the game. Today I actually had some stuff to do in the morning, work-related. And when I get my momentum going on something, I flash hard. And when I looked up it was already nearly noon and I still had stuff I wanted to get done. Such as getting my haircut. Or should I say cutting my own hair actually LOL.  I've gotten pretty good at that, especially since I cut it really short anymore. What precision do I need? I got it done in 15 minutes in fact, And then I headed over to Lisa's to bring over Johnnie's stuff so we wouldn't have to carry it in the car later. And I took advantage of being there anyway and using her nice and clean shower LOL. Yep, I took a shower. Tried to wipe out all traces of me being there LOL. And then picked up a hot food buffet lunch from Whole Foods to take home. By this time I had checked out of work mode. And I started getting ready for the game. Everything is electronic these days, including getting parking pass. I double checked everything, including what the best route for the stadium was. Nothing that wouldn't take at least an hour including navigating for parking. I moved up Johnnie's Spanish lesson by a half hour. Which meant I had to pick him up at 4 PM. Anyway, he did his Spanish lesson, I baked up some chicken dino nuggets so he wouldn't be so hungry until we got to the game. As it was, we left at 5 PM. We got to the stadium in less than an hour. But it took another hour practically to get parking. AND it seemed like we would walk almost a mile to get to the special entrance for our tickets. Turned out they were for Healthcare Worker Appreciation night. So we got a couple of sweatshirts, Elton John bobbleheads (huh?). It seemed like we walked the entire perimeter of the stadium just to get to our seats. We would find out later on we were already right back to where we had parked, except that we walked all the way around. Anyway this was our first Dodger game together JOhnnie and I. And it wasn't lost on me that I hadn't been to a Dodger game in years myself. Among JOhnnie's firsts were his first Dodger dog. And then of course we were surrounded by QueensCare people and lots of people greeted me and greeted Johnnie too. I must talk about him all the time because it was as if all my co-workers knew him. As for the game itself, I was surprised that Johnnie kept up with the balls and strikes. And he seemed genuinely interested! Clayton Kershaw was pitching so we knew that the Dodgers were likely to win. It was 1-0 when we took a pee break for Johnnie. And when we got back to our seats, it was already 5-0! We had missed a Cody Bellinger HR. Damn. That's how explosive the Dodgers are. By 9 PM we were still just in the 5th inning and Lisa called to check in on us. Sigh. I could feel the fun of the evening leaving me like air out of a balloon. We left in the 6th, Dodgers already up 8-0. This game was over. Bu since we ended up being so close to the car, and we left that early, there was no traffic and we were actually home by 9:30. We picked up Claire and then went on to Lisa's. We beat her home in fact. And when she did come home she declared she wanted to have a family meeting. I already warned Johnnie it was going to be about what he had relayed in class about our fight last night. And so he acted like he was afraid of her. Lisa of course showed no empathy, and just stood there almost silent, clueless, and awkward. And blurted something out about 'hey if you guys just want to be by yourselves, then I guess I have to be alone'. What the fuck? yeah Killjoy, we were having fun before you sucked the joy in the vicinity. I let her meander with whatever she wanted to talk about, signalling to her that I am done talking about last night.  I knew I was getting no apology and in fact, Lisa herself said that she didn't feel about how Johnnie described it because she did nothing wrong. That pretty much said it all. I just let Lisa try to catch up with Johnnie about the last few days at school and let her be mom again. As if you need some reminders for that. Or maybe I'm taking that for granted with Lisa anymore. We certainly didn't want to hear about her office. i left when it felt like mom and son weren't being awkward anymore. Hey I gotta get back first thing in the morning anyway. Lisa is working tomorrow. Yay. At least we ended September with a Dodger game experience. Wasn't THAT cool!!

A Very UnRoutine Thursday

Right off the bat I made today very un-routine. I did that by cancelling all meetings this morning. No need to meet with the IS Team, already met with them yesterday. No need to meet with the EHR Team, met with them on Tuesday. And so with my morning cleared up all of a sudden, I found myself CLEANING. Specifically, I started cleaning the toilet, then the bathroom floor - mopped and everything. Then the kitchen, then the kitchen floor. In other words, I cleaned what I didn't clean the past week. There was only one problem... I was supposed to go out and meet up with Candace from Match tonight. But yesterday, Lisa sprung on me that she was going to Pasadena for piano lessons and needed to stick around for a while. That took care of leaving Johnnie with her and taking off at 5:30 for a date. And so I texted Candace this morning to cancel. Again. Third time since we started chatting with each other. BUt for some reason I didn't feel like giving up. I suggested lunch. And when she sounded iffy, I suggested the Blue Salt Fish Grill in Redondo Beach where she was. THAT she accepted and in fact, told me she was getting ready to leave (it was 11 AM when I suggested it). Uh-oh. No time for a shower. I was literally scrubbing the kitchen floor when she texted back. I cleaned up as best as I could, hoping I didn't stink that badly. Put on a decent polo and took off. Surprisingly, there was not that much traffic and I got to the place by 12:10, well before our 12:30 meet-up time. She did get there earlier too. First impressions? She was pretty. Mid-50s pretty. But then again I am older than her aren't I? Appearance-wise I was satisfied. WE had some nice fish for lunch, had some nice conversation. It was the kind of conversation that revolved around decisions she needed to make and so my wise-old-sage SELF came out and tried to provide some insight, yoda-style LOL. We ended up moving on to Coffee Bean after and talking some more. In fact, it was almost 2:30 by the time we left. Yes there was a connection. What kind of connection? We will have to wait and see. I'm just focusing on DATE #2 at this time LOL. Still, DATE #1 was pretty good. 

A note from Johnnie's teacher: Thank you for adopting him, taking wonderful care of him, and including me in his journey. He is such a happy and friendly kid, an attestment to your love and parenting. He enjoys learning, making connections, and is kind to his peers. I'm so grateful we get to work together this year. This was the email she wrote back after I sent her an email explaining the whole "I have my heart on the right side thing" that Johnnie sprung on his class LOL. I told her about Johnnie's genetics, how extremely rare and special he really is, how he was adopted. And her response almost made me cry. IT REMINDED ME OF WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT. And it totally validated my feeling that my primary job now is to be Johnnie's DAD. The more I get to do that, the desire to do that full time is an outcome I am going for now more than ever. Then again, here is a pic of Johnnie doing his ninja thing in front of the TV with Ninjago showing in the background and I'm laughing as I'm thinking this is the kind, happy, playful kid his teacher wrote about. Tonight is hand-off night of course and I made up the story that Johnnie and I were going downtown and coming back late. I don't know why I felt like making up that story other than perhaps propping up the other story that I was heading downtown tonight anyway. THAT was so I wouldn't have to tell her I was supposed to be out on a date. Anyway the anticipation was for a late hand-off. Instead no call from Lisa and it was already Johnnie's bedtime. Turned out Lisa had been sleeping at home all this time. I woke her up with my phone call and she seemed confused about why I was dropping Johnnie off. And so I just told her I'd keep him for the night too and take him to school in the morning. And so I ended up with one more thing that was very unroutine. Johnnie spent a Thursday night with me. He was glad about that too. And so was I. Didn't feel any different than most weeknights really except that I reminded myself I still had to get up at 6 AM to lock in a golf tee time tomorrow morning. Everything was all good. The whole day, unroutine as it turned out to be, was VERY Very GOOD.

A Family Day

So my day with Johnnie yesterday didn't go exactly as planned. But today Lisa planned a morning at the California Science Center to see the Angkor Wat exhibit. I was skeptical that she would actually go because of how late she got in last night, but she did ask me to come by early for breakfast before we went to catch the 10 AM entrance.  When I got to her house at 8 AM, Johnnie was already ready to go so I knew it was on. We even got to USC on time, and found parking a couple of blocks from campus so we thought we'd just walk on over across the street to the place right next to the Coliseum. Of course, I didn't realize that today is Saturday game day, and the first USC game of the season at that. Still, the game must not have been until later on in the afternoon because we did find that parking spot. Of course, it seemed closer than it actually was. Because when we started walking it became apparent that it was going to be a long, hot walk. We went through the USC campus simply to find shade. And we walked through the paths I would normally take going to my office at USC Stevens. Same Taco Bell in the corner, same Supercuts where I had many a haircut. Same old parking structure I used to park at. And when walking through the campus, the tailgaters had already started putting up their tents. Anyway, Johnnie was a trooper walking in the heat and we finally got to the Cali Science Center. And then it was on to the exhibit. I will say this: the last time we went to an exhibit all together, it was for the Dead Sea Scrolls when Johnnie was still a baby, and it was disappointing. This was actually more than I expected. Amazing how Angkor Wat had some parallels to other advanced civilizations like the Mayans, Aztecs, and Egyptians.  I thought Johnnie had a lot of fun building temples and putting scrolls together. And then when we got done with the exhibit, Johnnie took me to his other favorite exhibits like the island exhibit, and the Space Shuttle. By the time we got through I actually had gotten energized. At least, that was what walking through the air-conditioned areas did because it was really really hot outside. Anyway we had pizza for Johnnie, a beef/mushroom/cheese sandwich for Lisa and an Impossible burger for me. And then when we got done, we braved the hot walk back to the car. We had to stop a couple of times in the shade to allow Johnnie to rest. But the rest was good for all of us too. And at least we were hydrated. Anyway the morning excursion was a success. And I was already satisfied that we all got to spend the morning together and actually had fun. Wjen we got back to Lisa's house, all I wanted to do was take a nap. And I decided I'd stick around for as long as tolerable. Maybe I was trying to set a new personal record for how long I could be around Lisa. She did promise to make it through the day without getting mad at me. I thought she had done just fine already. She played the piano while I took a nap an when I woke up she kept on playing while Johnnie and I played balloon badminton in the backyard. And we had so much fun. We went through at least half a dozen balloons that popped and we kept on playing until we had no more balloons. Finally dinner time came around but Lisa had to do some talking to Johnnie. He had gotten irritated because she had made him wash the dishes. He felt like he was being overworked. He even wrote her a note telling her not to go into his room. Awww. Hey, I had gotten one of those notes from him before too. While they talked I went back to my apartment and picked up cabbage, apples, and carrots from my fridge. Lisa did not feel like eating much and quite frankly neither did I. I had eaten so much at lunctime. The cabbage apple carrot salad with balsamic vinegarette was perfectly fine and perfectly adequate.  Johnnie had his penne and chicken broth, which was really the only time all day that Lisa would lose it. That's because she couldn't stand me mixing up the old penne with the noodles in the can. I was 100% sure Johnnie didn't care, heck I gave that same meal to him many a time. So of course she had to cook new penne for him. And he waited another hour before he ate. But that little incident was a mere blip in the course of the entire day. By then Lisa had started to complain again about her throat and her cough. Johnnie had already mostly recovered from yesterday. Maybe there is something about Lisa having a damaged immune system. How can I help her with all this knowledge I have gotten? How could I help anyone that doesn't want my help? It was 9 PM by the time I went home. I had spent the entire day with Johnnie and Lisa, probably the most time I had spent with both of them.in years. Or at least as long as I can remember after I left the Maplewood house. And it was a very good day. 

A Spontaneous Johnnie Saturday

I was right about to go into my meditation session first thing this morning when immediately that plan changed. My phone rang and it was Johnnie letting me know he wanted to have breakfast. Immediately I knew that Lisa was still out of it <she already was  last night> and that she was in lazy mode, or do-my-notes mode, or whatever else mode but whatever mode it was it did not involve breakfast for either herself or Johnnie. Enter dad of course. And so it would be no surprise to find me in her kitchen making Johnnie some sour dough bread with gnutella and a spinach onion omelette. I shrug off all negative memories of getting yelled at for using the wrong thing in her kitchen and simply made breakfast. All while Lisa stayed upstairs writing notes. Apparently both mom and son were already up since 5:30 anyway. Today I simply released all resistance to whatever energy Lisa had or that I anticipated that she had and simply focused on a breakfast Lisa would like. And lo and behold she actually liked whatever I made and had positive comments to boot. And then of course I got to wash dishes, brush and floss Johnnie's teeth. And at least we were out of the house headed to the park with Lisa's full blessing and how rare is that?! And I had to post a couple of videos because we ended up spending a pretty cool next couple of hours at Marine Park next to Penmar golf course. I would always see this park from Hole 3 but I don't remember ever coming here. Heck it was a drive around just to find how to get in there actually. But when we did there were basketball courts where Johnnie and I played some. Johnnie reveled in watching me miss 12 shots in a row from the free throw line. WHAT? What was THAT all about! Of course I had to undo that memory later on. While Johnnie played on the playground stuff, I made sure I made at least 5 in a row. Low energy my ass! It turned out Johnnie even ran into one of the kids from Penmar day camp and so he was amused and entertained just fine. Afterwards we swung by my apartment just so I could make myself some pineapple juice. Hey we both got our money's worth in terms of physical activity didn't we? And then I was ready to drop him off at Lisa's. We got there by 11 AM and we were met with... silence. Lisa was asleep. And so Johnnie and I simply went back to my apartment where he got to watch more of his videos, He ended up taking a shower there too. I got to make him spaghetti for lunch and even my own version of chicken teriyaki courtesy of pre-made chicken strips we got from Ralphs. And I finished the rest of last night's pizza for my lunch. Hey, we ended up spending the entire morning together after all! These spontaneous circumstances are always the best. When we got back to Lisa's it was already 1:30 and she was up. And we even got her when she was getting ready to yell at us for not having brushed Johnnie's teeth. Not today Lisa. Not today. We did that BEFORE we left this morning. I went home feeling totally gratified that I had already had a pretty good Saturday. The rest of the day I just cruised. I went to Target, bought gift cards for next week's Town Hall, did laundry, finished approving timecards so I didn't have to worry about it on Monday <only absolutely necessary thing to have gotten done by Monday morning>, watched the Dodgers blow a lead, made myself some spaghetti and then a nice ahi tuna salad for dinner, exchanged chats with a potential date on Match finished 10,000 steps and 52 active minutes <remember I'm still not forcing anythng> and basically just cruised the rest of Saturday away. And it was all good. 

A Lazy Saturday, and a VERY good day

I like this quote I came across: "A Happy Life is Just A String of Happy Moments". The other side of that quote is that most people spend too much time trying to live a happy life, instead of simply choosing to BE happy. To that end, my desired outcome whenever I get to spend a significant string of time with Johnnie is simply for he and I to create Magic Moments. M&Ms such as it were. Moments he will be sure to remember later on in life. That he had fun with his dad when... And those kinds of moments a lot of the time, you don't really have to work so hard on. You just be. Of course there are negative things all around you. When I walked up to Lisa's house this morning for example, I noticed the car parked in front of her house had all 4 tires missing and the car was raised. Someone had stolen those tires for sure. And right in front of Lisa's house too in the middle of the night. Boy if that doesn't give you some pause. But the thing about observed negativity is that you simply choose not to let it define your experience.  For me at that moment, it was a reminder to simply make sure a protective energy shield is in place at all times. I can put one for Lisa and Johnnie and their house for sure. No need to even explain it to Lisa. She wouldn't understand anyway. She is simply to pre-occupied with going in to work today and doing her usual stuff at work. With that said, she at least was able to put on her mommy hat and made Johnnie breakfast this morning. AND of course, she had to leave me with an errand. I had to bring Claire to her groomer appointment and pick her up afterwards. Why not?! Johnnie and I had nothing to do this morning but go do our usual grocery shopping run. Then again, since I didn't have to be at Elysee anymore and since Johnnie already did breakfast, all that meant was that a little tweak was in store. I gave Johnnie a shower at Lisa's house then went back to my apartment to make myself some celery/carrot/apple juice for my breakfast. And then finished with getting my car washed before heading back to Lisa's.  Since Claire's appointment was at 10 AM and we had to walk her a couple of blocks to it, we just hung out at Lisa's house. And then since we did have to pick her back up a couple of hours later, I decided we would just stay there the rest of the morning. Hey, Lisa has Netflix too though she chooses not to watch anything. Johnnie can easily watch his Pokemon episodes there. AND while walking around to this errand, I got to log all kinds of steps today. It was all good. And so the 2nd pic I posted was Johnnie and I relaxing on the couch watching his Pokemon. Actually, he was watching, I had my Mac with me. And I was actually getting caught up on stuff. Even did part of that class from Sapien Medicine that I decided to purchase once and for all.  And already with one energy perception exercise, it was already worth the $135 I paid for it. I have to learn to become more sensitive to these energies that are around us. And that will take a little practice. This class is already helping with that. The thing though was that Johnnie and I were doing our thing separately but together. That used to be our thing Lisa and I. As long as we were together, it didn't really matter what we were doing. Boy that seems so long ago doesn't it when we were still able to do that <smiles>.

And so by the time we picked up Claire, it was already past noon. We had hung out in the front yard eating strawberries right off the plants Johnnie and I. I imagine that would be a lot of his lunch already during the school day. But I had a better lunch in mind. Just as soon as we walked back from the groomer's, we put Claire back in the house. She looks so fluffy and clean now. Like a different dog! And Johnnie and I headed to the Century City mall where we did what is becoming a routine. Johnnie had Panda Express, I had poke from Big Fish Little Fish. And we stopped at Old Navy too so I could get him new swim trunks. His old ones are still 4T. Time for new ones since it is almost summer.  And then when we went home, I was ready for a nap. Hey, it's Saturday. I don't have to do anything. I don't have to think about anything. I can just nap. I let Johnnie watch more TV as if we were at my apartment. And, since I'm pretending we were at my apartment, I took a nap on the couch. I got 45 minutes in in fact. Only Johnnie jumping inadvertently on my stomach woke me up. It earned him a yelling from me, for which I was immediately sorry. I'm sorry J-, I just got startled is all. The afternoon went by quickly actually. Pretty soon it was 5 pM already and I had Johnnie go from TV to Prodigy on his computer. Gamified Math was what it was. Lisa doesn't like it because he's still in front of a screen. Then again what does Lisa like actually? Board games. Sigh. Only stuff she understands. I have to be careful not to be too judgmental about that and see things from her point of view as well, though she is incapable of seeing things from mine.  I made Johnnie dinner. Lisa still had plenty of pasta and spaghetti sauce. We had stopped at Trader Joe's on the way home and anticipating we would be having dinner, I picked up kidney beans and tomato sauce and plant-based ground meat crumbles to make my vegetarian chili dish. What she DOES have that I don't is cayenne pepper. Gotta remember to pick up some of that. Johnnie and I had a pretty full meal.  The collage I put together was his lunch and dinner.  And then after the meal I did some steps outside. Augmenting it with energetic thoughts and image cycling while accepting energy from the sun, while it was starting to set. I'm thinking that seeing this picture in the future is a sort of homemade morphic field to remind me to draw from the Universe's well of energy whenever I get tugged by negative influences. That one I would realize when Lisa came home. It was 8 PM already but I could sense negative energy around her. I had protected myself with an energy shield earlier so nothing happened, not an argument, not anything.  And I got to go home in relative peace. Though as I did so and heard her sort of telling Johnnie the kitchen was unacceptable and he had to clean up I still had to shake my head. Kind of like watching the car that was jacked in front of Lisa's house. What I do know is that Johnnie and I had a pretty full day today and we had our M&M moments. And regardless of what Lisa does the rest of the evening? I sent loving energy to Johnnie and telepathically sent him a message. We had a good day today you and I Johnnie. I love you.

Racing Airplanes

As expected I went to Lisa's house to pick up Johnnie and Claire this morning and it was as if last night's screaming fit from Lisa didn't happen. Apparently, mom, son, and dog all took a bath after I left. Which was what should have happened already in the first place. What I do know is that all that screaming fit stuff only happens when I am around I'm pretty sure. I don't know whether it is a comfort level that Lisa has that she could do that apparently only with me. Either way, I don't like it. And this morning, Lisa apparently is sticking with the "mom and son having breakfast together" thing. Although Johnnie also declared that he was having TWO breakfasts this morning, one with his mom and the other with me. THAT'S my boy.  As we headed to my apartment, I "de-briefed" with Johnnie to make sure he knows what is and isn't appropriate about last night.  He did say Lisa apologized <though not to me> and that he knows if he felt anger the same way he needed to do his count-routine. That is, count to 10 in English, Spanish, and Korean. I was satisfied Lisa did minimal mental and emotional damage, though I'm also sure the more she does this, the more Johnnie will realize that his mom has these odd behaviors. I hope Lisa realizes that she is walking the same path as her mom and she will NOT want her son thinking she is a kook later on in life when he is older, like she and her siblings think about their mom.  And so breakfast this morning was at Elysee., which was pretty cool. It was a nice day out and we enjoyed the eggs, sausage, and the croissant. And fresh-squeezed OJ. And then we went to Target to pick up some lunch stuff for him for next week before heading back home. I had it in my mind that we were going to get dad-and-son SuperBowl RAMS T-shirts today but not from Target. Might as well get the real thing from Dick's Sporting Goods in El Segundo. And so I let Johnnie watch Octonauts for a couple of hours until it was time to go for lunch. I also figured to let Johnnie catch up on TV. Ok maybe I did that as sort of a payback to Lisa not allowing him to watch stuff last night while I was trying to rest on the couch.  And so we went to Panda Express when it was time and we went to the one in Marina del Rey. I figured we'd go from there to El Segundo since we were already on the way. We drove from Marina del Rey up Lincoln Blvd alongside LAX. Not only did Johnnie love it when we were going fast around that Lincoln Blvd stretch by LMU where there were 4 lanes.  He rolled down his window and put his hands outside and played with the airflow. And then we we reached LAX, of course there were at least 2 planes that were touching down right above us. It felt like we were racing those planes actually. And Johnnie whooped "WHEEE!" as if we were winning. I gotta say it sounded like a whole lot of nothing.  Just mere moments of joy and glee. But it put a smile on my face too. Moments like these easily erases the half hour of crap from last night. And then we went to Dick's Sporting goods. We bought our T-shirts (see pic), had Johnnie try a 20-inch bike which will be the next purchase for me, and I got some golf balls for tomorrow. A very productive trip. And then on the ride home, Johnnie fell asleep. Reminds me of many a Saturday when he was a lot younger when I would drive around to make sure he was asleep right after lunch. No need for that anymore. In fact, as soon as we got back home he woke right back up. And went right back to watching Octonauts. We were actually in and out still. We got some dough and cheese so we could make pizza for dinner.  Half cheese, and half pepperoni and pineapple. Turned out a little chewy since I tried the same dough I did last week for Super Bowl. Maybe best to go back to Boboli I think. Still, Johnnie put away 3 large pieces and then took a big poop. Solid poop. Thumbs up! He HAS recovered from his stomach issues from earlier in the week! I fully expected Lisa to stay at work until late just like yesterday. And so for dessert, Johnnie and I went through Starbucks drive-through to get him some chocolate pops. THAT was when Lisa called letting me know she was on her way home. It was 7:30 PM. That's good. Not that late. We went back to the apartment, packed up Claire and off we went to Lisa's house for Saturday night drop-off. I didn't linger tonight. Why tempt fate? No need for any triggered screaming on Lisa's part. I would much rather do what I did, which was to go home and watch some 90s movies on Hulu. I watched Phenomenon with John Travolta. After finishing Quills. I felt like we had a good day Johnnie and I, which more than made up for all the drama from last night. And I felt really REALLY good about that.