An Almost Normal Covid Halloween

So LA County had pretty much "outlawed" Trick-orTreating this year. Which made me sad because Halloween is a pretty big deal around my neighborhood. Pretty big deal with Johnnie too, it IS after all is favorite favorite holiday. There are sooo many kids in my area and I looked forward to seeing them with their parents and joining them with Johnnie collecting his treats like he had the past couple of years. But not this year. First of all, he's on Lisa's watch this year so whatever he did was going to happen with whatever she had planned.  And for her part, Lisa was supposed to work today but closed her office for Halloween. Good for her. And so she told me that the "Woods" as her block is known had organized a controlled trick-or-treat experience for tonight. Which meant that kids went to specific houses and that those specific houses followed trick-or-treat protocols. Of that, I would learn about later on but for the here and now, since Lisa didn't actually practice piano last night, she asked if I could come by for breakfast so she could this morning.... and also come back later on tonight to participate in trick-or-treat fest. Watching Johnnie this morning was ok enough and I even brought spinach and onion so Lisa could make an omelette. I woke up fairly early actually and as if by rote I made myself tea and put a bagel in the toaster as if it was a normal weekday. Hey, I was hungry. Besides, you never know what's happening with food at Lisa's house. Better make sure YOU'RE not hungry before you get there or you're liable to starve LOL LOL. As it was she was in the middle of making waffles for Johnnie. Never anything simple right although I am framing that as a compliment actually. Especially since I ended up making the omelette while she focused on the waffles. See? I had not a care in the world since I wasn't starving hungry. It was 9 AM by this time after all. And so we did have breakfast all together and I ate more in fact... the omelette AND waffles. And then Lisa retired to the piano room and I actually gave Johnnie his shower, got him dressed and off we went. This morning i wanted to look for a wetsuit for him since I felt so sorry he froze like crazy last Tuesday. Off we went to Big 5 to look for one. And when we couldn't find anything I just stuck to Amazon at home like I should have to begin with. I mean we're not talking about a $250 wetsuit like I bought a long time ago. We're talking about a $25 one. Turned out though Johnnie was still hungry. It's like his hungry cells turn on when he's at my house. Fortunately, we had already picked up Panda Express on the way home. And since it was already 11:30 when we did get home, I let him have an early lunch.  And he got to watch his videos and he got to horseplay with me (look at the pic) and I had my QT with him this morning already.

And so for the evening I figured it would be all Lisa. I dropped Johnnie off right after lunch and I still had the entire afternoon for ME time and run some errands. I stopped at Chipotle on National to have a steak asada burrito bowl for lunch since I hadn't really done any shopping yet. And then went on to Supercuts to get a haircut. I didn't know whether it was open or not but I really did need a haircut and I did NOT want to cut my own hair. Not now. Probably not anymore.  And with good reason. Even if I did not end up with the best stylist at Supercuts, it still looked like a much better haircut than any one of my buzzcuts from the last few months. And so with that, and a 20 minute nap to boot, I felt like I had a pretty good afternoon. Even got my laundry done. AND I even got my steps in. I was already at 8000 steps before going to Lisa's. I got there at 4:30 per her request and mom and son were doing some sort of science experiment. Poor kid stuck with doing Lisa's goofy stuff LOL LOL. But hey she did do all the work with making candy packages and everything. And by 5 PM, Pablo and Allie's kids were already at the door. Look at Johnnie giving away the candy. It was like trick-or-treating was as normal. Johnnie put on his Star Wars uniform and headed off with them. And I stayed home to hand out candy. Which Lisa corrected by calling me and telling me to put out the candy by the sandbox so it would be contactless. AHHH That's the protocol. And so I put the candy out, made sure the pumpkins were lit so the kids would see, and I closed the windows. And stayed in to make Armenian rice for dinner. I mean I had literally nothing to do. I watched some YouTube, ate leftover Panini Grill so I wouldn't be so hungry and waited for mom and son to come home. They wouldn't get back until it was 6:30 PM! A full hour-and-half later! It was as if Johnnie had done regular trick-or-treating after all! I mean he did come home with a full bag of candy treats. And then I helped Lisa make the rest of the dinner. She cooked the fish that I brought last night, made cabbage and the leftover onions from Panini Grill. I made Johnnie's noodles and voila: dinner with the "fam" for the 2nd night in a row. Lisa had to make a big deal about reading a book with Johnnie and I was just fine with that. After all, I had already watched the Mandalorian yesterday. And since it's Daylight Savings tomorrow, we do get an extra hour of sleep. I got home by 9 PM and wound down in front of the TV. Turned out to be an almost normal COVID Halloween. And that's thanks to Lisa and her neighbors. Thank you all :)

Day Off Friday

So I get another day off Friday today so I can not lose my vacation hours which now stands at 400+ hours. And so what did I do first thing today? Get up and get ready and head out to the Big O Tire Shop by Lisa's office. Gotta get the exploded tire fixed or replaced so I'm not driving around on my spare tire. I checked it in, gulped at the estimate.. I mean I was NOT expecting to spend $180 on ONE tire!!... and then set off to walk around the neighborhood while they got around to getting the tired installed. I would like to think it was going to be a 15 minute job max, but then again there were TWO cars ahead of me in the bay and so I just thought this would be a good opportunity to get ahead of my STEPS and get it over and done with early in the day. After all, Lisa invited me to come over tonight to have dinner, which was to say to watch Johnnie while she practiced piano. I was totally OK with that. After all, my schedule after the tire thing was to watch the Mandalorian which started it's Season 2 today! And I was excited to watch it. But before that I had to wait for my car. Remember, I checked it in by 8:45 AM and started walking around the neighborhood. It was the 90064 neighborhood but it still resembled mine less than a couple of miles away. While walking I thought about the event of the flat tire in the context of manifestation and that nothing is an accident and that everything happens for a reason. I am perfectly willing to accept that there was yet another blip in my own thinking and that something needed to be expunged. Maybe it was some negative energy, maybe it was the feeling of lack and limitation. All I know is that whatever was happening, it served as no more than a blip in my consciousness. A reminder of something. Because it really was no more of an inconvenience than anything. And so I then shifted to what did I need to change in my thinking in order to make sure this does not happen again? With this one I asked for Divine Guidance because the answer was not immediately clear. I was focused on the nail that was stuck in the tire for a pretty long while now and that it needed to be fixed once and for all. Hmmm. So something needs to be addressed once and for all... with me. With some buried thoughts and emotions. By the time my car got done it was already almost 10 AM. I did notice a hefty helping of impatience while I waited. Impatience with the manager, impatience with the process, impatience with myself. Perhaps, this too is more important to address. When I got home I finally turned on the Mandalorian. Season 2 Episode 1. I downloaded it first for good measure. And then enjoyed the episode. I did notice that throughout the afternoon I kept getting pings from work. Emma asking about a notification from the FBI about an Ransomware Alert. Faith bugging about a quote on the security system at the new place. Even Eloisa asking about Lam quitting. Don't these people know I have the day off? I shrug it all off, got to my 11,000 steps <before 5 PM mind you> and then headed over to Lisa's. She and Johnnie was at her office celebrating Sandy's birthday. Which meant she was headed home with food from Panini Grill. Awesome! I get chicken kabobs tonight even though I bought some rockfish to cook. Hey I prefer the chicken kabob for sure. So that's a picture of me at Lisa's backyard waiting for mom and son to come home. And then a picture of Johnnie creating a traffic scenario with all of his dinosaur toys. I brought his iPad tonight so he could play the computer games from class last week that he didn't get to. And so as it was we ended up having a pretty good dinner without having to cook much. Just Johnnie's chicken noodle soup actually. And then after dinner, about the time Lisa should have been practicing piano, she declared that she was tired and needed to take a nap. Hey I didn't care. Piano, nap, I knew I was going to do the dishes <which I did> and I knew that I was going to watch Johnnie <which I did>. Either way, I kept Johnnie occupied for almost 2 hours. Made him his hot chocolate before bed. And then when Lisa woke up, it was time for her to go right back to sleep LOL. Again, I didn't really care. I had had a quiet day and I didn't have to work much. Last week when I didn't have the day off I played golf. This week when I had the day off, I didn't do anything and I worked a little. That's how work-from-home works right? Besides I was out of gas yesterday and today was the day to get R&R.  In any case, I was supposed to be back first thing in the morning at Lisa's. Tomorrow is Halloween...

Just About Out Of Gas

I thought I could breathe out today at last since the bulk of the work for the week is done. Then again you n-e-e-v-e-r know what comes up do you? Certainly the hand-off with Lisa is always a wildcard since no two of them are ever alike LOL LOL. But I actually felt good about today and tonight because tomorrow I do have the day off and I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself other than immerse myself in INNER WORK. I would get a rather loud answer later on actually. But before all that there is still the usual Thursday morning stuff, consisting of Johnnie's Computer Class, music class and my IS Team Meeting. We didn't get to talk about much because there wasn't much to talk about. At least not until later on when Lam would drop the news on me that he is leaving the company. W-h-a-t? Another Justin situation all over again. I heard that he wasn't very happy with how they were dealing with him. How he wanted a Manager position with more money. I did hire the guy way back in September 2018. Now a little over 2 years later, he is already leaving the company. He had had a winding road since I hired him. First Data Analytics got taken away from me when Justin quit. And I know he didn't like that. But he did manage to build up the department to the point where it was one of the strengths of the organization. He did that. He built all the dashboards, and channeled James' energy. No small feat. If he were reporting to me last year I would have been the one fighting to get him an upgraded position. But if he didn't get one that meant Eloisa didn't believe he merited one. And that to me, was the reason he is leaving. He didn't feel like he was being valued. And because of that there would be nothing I could do to get him to stay.  I wished him the best, told him he was doing the best thing for him and his family, and then went about starting the process to replace him. I thought to myself... I hate interviewing people... <sigh>

And so I thought that was my end-of-the week surprise. I went out got Johnnie a treat in the afternoon, one of those chocolate Hocky Pocky sticks and then got myself a treat too: an iced hazelnut drink from Coffee Bean the way I would have circa 2 years ago on a Thursday afternoon at the FRB when the Coffee Bean on Grand and 8th was still there. And then on the way home I got another end-of-the-week surprise. I hit the curb on the way into my garage with the left front tire. The same one that was already low on air because it had a tire in the tread and was slowly leaking. Hitting the curb exploded the tire so loud I thought I actually dinged my car on something. I stopped immediately, looked at the back, looked at the front, and was relieved to find nothing. But when I drove, there was a loud squishy noise. So it wasn't nothing. And then I looked after I parked and there it was. The front tire was completely flat. This was the loud reminder I had alluded to earlier. And so I had to do something about it. After Johnnie's computer programming class I took him downstairs and told him we were going to fix the tire. He brought a couple of his :tools: with him LOL. Fortunately I remembered how to get the spare from the back, remembered that most new cars these days have their own tools for fixing a flat. A jack, a bolt screw. All I needed. It took some work but I did manage to lift the car, get the flat tire out and replace it with the spare. Got all dirty in the process and got Johnnie's hands dirty too. "Hey you're pretty strong Dad", Johnnie said. Old man isn't some weakling you know LOL. And at least the car was now drivable. Even if just to Panda Express on Olympic to get Johnnie's dinner. His Zoom class started at 6:30 PM too, right after dinner. And I thought it was important for Johnnie to attend since it was for all the October birthdays. There were only TWO, Johnnie being one of the two. And so it was that he got himself celebrated yet again. Seems like we've been celebrating his birthday all month long LOL. And I don't mind a bit. Finally Lisa called before this meeting was even over. She was already on her way home. I told her Johnnie was still in the middle of his meeting. Why she couldn't come and wait 10 minutes for him I don't know. But she ended up going home. And I ended up taking Johnnie there, spare tire and all. There weren't going to be any arguments from me. Not tonight. I dropped Johnnie off and she asked if I could come over again tomorrow so she could practice piano. I quickly agreed and went on home. Hey I was tired. I am out of gas. After all, didn't I change a tire today? LOL LOL. Actually it was only Thursday and I had already did my week's target for activity minutes and cardio activity minutes. Three whole days early. THAT'S why I'm tired I think...

Still On the Go

We go from a busy Tuesday afternoon to a just-as-busy Wednesday particularly in the morning where we have to be at Mar Vista Elementary by 8:30 AM for picture day. And of course I had to watch all the post-game from the Dodgers World Series win last night. Just like I did when the Lakers won their championship less than 3 weeks ago. What a hell of an October this has been for LA sports. You knew when you started hearing fireworks the second the game was over that LA had won! And so I am still dealing with the after-energy of all that. Still we had to get up earlier than usual and get breakfast under our belts the same way. And then I got Johnnie all duded up and prepped to go. I must admit I miss driving him to school which is the feeling of deja vu I got on our way there. No droves of students walking in. But there were some familiar faces, some from Johnnie's TK class last school year. Can't believe that was just a few months ago. And when he lined up for his pictures, he even got a hello from someone in his current class, whom he had never seen in person before other than on Zoom. Funny how that works doesn't it? I think we're all struggling with that lack of familiarity and social interaction, and certainly as someone who is not inherently social to begin with, I find myself struggling to make sure Johnnie learns how to fit himself in, whatever the situation may be. And I, for one, was glad to see familiar faces especially the STAR counselors that Johnnie used to interact with every day. Them I really do miss. Especially this one that used to pick up he and Brooklyn in the morning. She knew how much Johnnie sort of struggled his first 2 weeks of school. And she knew how he morphed into the funny, rambunctious kid that he is today in a matter of weeks. I mean look at the picture I posted of him... of course after my own Johnnie picture. I do hope his school pics turn out ok. The picture taking activity itself lasted all of 10 minutes and lucky for Johnnie, because of it, his 9 AM Zoom class got cancelled. And actually, the rest of the day sort of cruised on by routinely actually. The kind of routine I like really. I discovered that Johnnie liked a coloring exercise I copied from the web, which combined math exercised and coloring between the lines. And that kept him occupied during whatever down time he had. We were breezing so well with his homework that after his 12:10 class I realized that we got everything done! Awesome. This was the part where STAR was very very good at in my opinion. It helped fill in the gaps AND got him to socially interact with other kids. I tried to mimic the activities. I took him out and we played baseball. And then only at 3 PM did I turn on the TV for him and only because I had to lead the PM Huddle. And we actually talked until almost 4 PM. The Octonauts and some of that caramel popcorn he got as a treat from this morning kept him occupied in the meantime. And then we I got one, it was already on to Panda Express Westwood to get dinner. The place was unusually busy today. There was not only a line to get food, but also a line of people outside waiting for food. I wonder what's going on? Last week when we biked here we were the only ones. Hmmm. In any case we got home and got an early dinner in. And when we got home, I got an email from LAUSD. Johnnie and I had both tested negative for COVID. That was pretty cool. At least we don't have to worry about that for now right? Good that we can get our results within 24 hours now. Used to be we would have to wait days. And then I realized that with the NBA/Lakers season all done, and with the MLB/Dodgers season all done too, that we are now back to just football. Of course last year I'd be following the Bruins too. But that hasn't even started yet. The Rams are doing ok 7 games into the season so I could start rooting for them in earnest. But really the rest of the country is starting to gear up for a big week next week. The ELECTIONS happen on Tuesday and wouldn't it be a great trifecta if Biden wins and we can finally, finally, finally get back to a path of normalcy and decency. Aren't we all exhausted of the Trump presidency? We tried it, he showed he was more fluff than substance although his adoring fans would claim different and that he was sent by "God" whatever the fuck that means, so it's time to change the radio station. We wait for Tuesday night a little less than a week from now. In the meantime, we made it through half the week and I'm so glad most of the big activities are all done. 

Finally After 32 long YEARS!

I remember the 1988 World Series. I was at home with my foot up because I had sprained it playing volleyball. I can't believe that was the last time the Dodgers had won a World Series. Yet here we are tonight, with the Dodgers playing for for the title. They had gotten here 3 years ago against those cheating Houston Astros. But in THAT Game 7 Yu Darvish got rocked and that was that. That was painful. They made it again the next year but the Red Sox seemed so much better. Now the MVP of that World Series, Mookie Betts is wearing Dodger Blue. And so far in this Series he had been much better than advertised. It didn't look good at first. Their ace had completely dominated Dodger hitters for 5+ innings. But then in the 6th, inexplicably, their Manager pulled him from the game! Immediately the Dodger bats came to life. Scored 2 runs to take the lead. Added another run the next inning when Betts homered. And so it was that the Dodgers won, winning the series and winning the championship! How sweet it is! After 32 long years, the weight of dodger lore is off their shoulders! What an October this was! First the Lakers won after 10 years and now the Dodgers! The 2 biggest sports franchises in the city. Both got the job done. Both got the championship trophy home. YEAHHHH!!!!!

Johnnie Schedule Way Busier Than Mine

If ever there was any indication of how busy most of the day was going to be, it was that I was actually trying to get as much as I could done in the morning. That's because once his mid-day class starts at 12:10, it would be bang-bang-bang for the rest of the afternoon until and past 4 PM. And as it turned out I actually had a couple of meetings myself in the morning anyway. There was my team meeting of course, and then there was an OCHIN pilot meeting at 11 AM and then an impromptu meeting with Chad about buttoning up a process with giving providers their laptops. By the time lunch time had rolled around, I felt like I had already had almost a full day. And Johnnie's was barely getting started with his. And so he did his noon class and he even left a couple of minutes early. That's because we had a 1:15 appointment to get he and I Covid tested at Grand View Elementary school. The school was as far from me as Lisa's house so I knew I could get there in mere minutes. But since I didn't know the layout of the school or where we were even supposed to go, I figured I'd get there as early as I could. Turned out we got there by 1:10. I thought it would be much busier than it was actually. There was not a line in fact. We were processed as soon as we got there and then we got the swab tests almost immediately. Lisa had her horror story of getting a long swabbed shoved almost up to her brain. No such thing this go-round. I put the swab no more than a half inch up Johnnie's nose. And for me, it was no more than an inch. As Johnnie would say, eezy-peezy-sneezy. And we were out of there by 1:15! And so we were home by 1:30 and we had plenty of time before Johnnie's next activity. That would be swim class. The challenge today was that it was pretty breezy. Not cold really, but maybe the water was. And there was some debris in the water because it had been windy for the last couple of days. Johnnie did ok, and actually did the backstroke stuff just as Stacy told him to. The problem was that he got really whiny towards the end. Either he was getting too cold or he simply didn't feel like swimming anymore. We did manage to finish the class by 3 PM and that meant we had to hustle to get home to get to his next class, which was the Computer Programming class. I got him all changed but he was still trembling a bit from the cold. All the way home. And when we got home I had to bundle him up with layers. I put long pants on him, socks, even a jacket. And I could tell he was STILL cold. Poor thing. Did I push him too hard at the pool? All I knew was that he was very much distracted and couldn't really focus on his class well. He did manage to make it through the class though and by the end of the class, it seemed like he had sufficiently warmed up and he had gotten back to normal. He even did manage to get his exercises done. And so by 4 PM, he was all done, he seemed back to his usual self and I could finally breathe out. <Sigh> We did go to Panda Express for his dinner and he wolfed down the entire little plate of rice and teriyaki chicken. And of course I had to let him watch whatever he wanted as a reward for being such a trooper all day today. A bang-bang-bang kind of day got done. And I had him go to bed earlier than usual tonight. More stuff to do tomorrow. Picture taking day first thing at the school. I'm thinking to myself how do I end up with all the have-to-do activities??

Prep for a Johnnie-centric week

I looked back at the weekend posts and realized that I, in fact, got stuff accomplished and that I, in fact, successfully kept my vibration high for the most part of the weekend. Which would make it a pretty good weekend right? However when I woke up at 6 AM, my thoughts went to what I would be doing in an alternative reality? I have all this money in the bank... am I trading this time of the morning? Am I working on content for my YouTube channel? Am I taking a shower? Am I meditating more? Am I thinking up content to share to my legions of followers? That last one made me chuckle a bit. What did happen was that I did my image cycling exercise and I took an early shower and made myself breakfast.  A tomato, spinach, onion omelette. I forgot I had cheese! Still it felt good that I did that rather than get my breakfast at McDonald's. That would have been the lazy thing to do. And I was pretty motivated this morning. So much so I actually took a walk around the block. It was worth 3000 steps by 9 AM in the morning.  Anyway I got started with my work this week although compared to last week, this is almost a breather week for me. Especially when we all found out my boss Eloisa is quarantining for a couple of weeks because her husband tested positive for Covid. Johnnie and I are getting tested tomorrow. Hope that goes well. Anyway that would be only one of a few activities for Johnnie this week. He has picture taking at the school on Wednesday too and then the October month birthday parties, of which he is one of course. Not to mention the materials pick up day on Friday. Anyway maybe it was because I had a nice, fairly structured morning this morning, which included the Business Continuity Meeting. It felt like I got work done AND got my inner work done as well. I posted a pic of me making lunch... shaved beef fried rice Mmmm. And then I took another walk around the neighborhood. It was a nice, breezy day out. The Santa Anas have kicked up. It was one of those breezy days that made it not so warm out. It was cooler, but not quite cold just yet. I'm sure that's around the corner. I was aware I'm trying to enjoy the sun since it's going to be darker much earlier in a couple of days. And I even took a 20 minute power nap too. Maybe that's why I felt so good!

By the time it was time to pick up Johnnie I had already logged my full 11,000 steps, 80 active minutes, and 45 cardio minutes. The rest of the evening would be gravy exercise wise. I had also made Johnnie's penne pasta for his chicken noodle soup tonight too. I rolled up and mom and son were reading a book. Just like last Saturday. I think that is Lisa's go-to activity. with him since she can't go to anything digital or anything video-related. She looked tired. She did make it through the day but I could tell she was headed to bed really early. They must have had a late night last night at Joah's.  Which means Johnnie is going to have an early night as well. Still, first things first was his chicken McNuggets dinner and of course he immediately asked to see back episodes of Jurassic World Lego Dinosaurs Isla Nublar. I wonder what the attraction is for that particular series? The Lego characters? I mean those characters ARE pretty funny to be sure. And then I double checked to see if Lisa had finished her homework. I hate to double check her but you never know. She already told me they didn't get to EPIC reading all day today. Not so sure what they did exactly but the smell of vinegar permeated the sandbox. And Johnnie's pants. So I'm sure they were cleaning something. I know Johnnie he just wants to do stuff right next to his mom and that's fine. But I felt like I was rescuing him picking him up and starting my shift. Anyway I was so ahead of stuff I wanted to do I actually even started a couple of classes in the middle of the day today. One was a MindValley Masterclass on The Silva Ultramind system. The basic premise was how to get to altered states of mind in order to tap into other-than-conscious resources. That is actually the basis of achieving all I want of course. To clear the obstacles and beliefs of what is keeping me from getting what I want. And then internalizing the feeling of already getting it and being grateful for it. That's the proverbial Magic Grail isn't it? Easier said than mastered. Just like golf, it takes practice practice and practice. And I know I need to incorporate some of the methodologies to my daily routine. At the end of the day Johnnie and I ended up going to bed early. As in 9:30 early. I actually did manage to fall asleep that early. As did Johnnie. I knew he would. I sensed he had had a long weekend. And tomorrow is going to be a busy day.

Golf at Roosevelt, More World Series

It's getting so hard to get a golf tee time reservation anymore! Which is why getting a reservation at Roosevelt this morning is definitely something I am grateful for.  Even though I almost didn't get to play because I screwed up the number of people and reserved for 3 instead of 4. Fortunately, Chris bowed out and as it turned out, for no reason at all since the 4th guy that was supposed to join us either didn't show or came early to join the threesome before us. That's ok. I am grateful that I just got to play, even though, as it turned out, I ended up not really playing all that well at all. I started off well, blasting my first shot 200+ yards right down the fairway. But a whiff on the 2nd shot earned me just a bogey and a miss at tying for the win on Hole 1. Hole 2 I messed up the tee shot but recovered with 2 good shots before messing up the putt.  Hole 3 again my iron off the tee hit the tree and although I ended up with a bogey 4, it wasn't good enough to win. That was pretty much what happened all morning long. I didn't hit well enough to earn any pars today. But I did tie for the win on at least 3 holes. Hole 5 I tied, Hole 7 I tied and although I picked up the ball on hole 8, I had a good enough shot to still compete. And then I bogeyed the final hole. I didn't play bad, but not good enough to win the match obviously. How could I when Greg was hitting par after par and even a birdie right off the gate. He did cool off by Hole 6 but by then he had too big a lead. Still, another Sunday another golf day and a stop at IN-N-Out Hollywood for a double double for lunch has to make my gratitude list. I knew I had some food I could cook from the grocery run yesterday. But I simply didn't feel like cooking today. Besides, I just cleaned the kitchen floor last night. Wouldn't want to mess it up again would I?

I spent the afternoon pretty much on the couch. Watched episodes of Barbarians on Netflix and also a little bit of Queen's Gambit, the series about a chess prodigy from Kentucky.  By then I thought since I had already gotten to 9000 steps and had already made 78000 steps for the week, it was ok to chill the rest of Sunday and the rest of the weekend away. I did notice that I was creaking and cracking this morning some at golf. As in my upper shoulder and neck were sore. A little rest was in order. Until it was almost 4 PM and then I went and got ingredients to make dinner. And also I took a pic of me outside thinking this would be the last Sunday before Daylight Savings time last week. The last Sunday before it starts getting dark really early again. Goodbye still-light-at-5PM-Sunday. We'll see you again in a few months.  All these thoughts about what to eat, yet when I made it to Ralphs, I made a beeline for stew meat and stew mix. Hadn't made that think in a few weeks. Yep, I made my Arnel's special beef stew in the Instapot dish tonight. Turned out pretty good too if I do say so myself. Made a great dinner. And of course tonight was Game 5 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Rays. After last night's heartbreaking loss, I wanted to go back to not caring. But who could miss my neighbors yelling and cheering, which meant that the Dodgers had scored early. Not going to fool me tonight. They did that last night only to implode late.  I waited until late late, almost 9 PM until I saw a Facebook post about the Dodgers. Turns out they won! One more game to win it all! YES But that would not be my last moment of gratitude tonight. My last moment of feel good came from FEAR THE WALKING DEAD. That would be the very last scene when Dwight and his wife Sherry finally had their reunion and found each other again. You HAVE to feel good for Dwight. Love is alive. He searched for her everywhere and forever and didn't give up. Love is alive. You gotta feel good about that. It's funny that I may have been in a more loving space because Lisa actually called on her way to Joah's house for what turned out to be an unplanned (for Lisa since she wasn't told about it) birthday party for Johnnie. I'm glad of course that they are celebrating my son. But Lisa was calling because she was on overwhelm. She did this a year ago when Joah got married too. I'm glad I could be there for her comfort. I'm glad to be of some help however way I can. I see that even though we're not married anymore, I am still pretty protective of her. No more romantic feelings there mind you. Just being her friend that's all. After all, she is my son's mother right?

Lisa Piano Day Part ...

So, I've come to get used to every other Saturday weekend set when Lisa has piano lessons that I come by to pick up Johnnie sometime in the morning and then keep him until after lunch. Used to be that would happen on a regular Lisa workday Saturday. That it has now become routine every other Saturday as well is something I very much welcome, if only for the fact that it is one more day that I get to spend with Johnnie and a day where we're not bugging about class or Zoom or reading or anything else. Just he and I. You almost miss how fast he has grown since I have been with him every day. Not just physically too, he has grown academically obviously as he is now able to read entire books like a first grader does. I've taken the foot off the pedal with math just so I can give him time to assimilate. But I also know he is far advanced there as well. The biggest advance though in my opinion is that he IS learning personality things that can be striking. He is the one that checks me when he thinks I'm saying a bad word. <BTW "stupid" counts as a bad word> and I am very much glad that he does that. It mean he is developing a moral compass. He is the one that detects when I am impatient and calls me out on it when he sees it. Also a good thing. God knows how much I need reminding. Today I wanted to make sure he got caught up with eating since it was clear to me they had missed something yesterday. I mean I personally don't care what Lisa does regarding her eating habits. But damned if I let her pass it on to Johnnie. And so I bought him McDonald's Deluxe breakfast first thing this morning and even though we spent the morning at Mitsuwa grocery store <itself something that caused a trip down memory lane. I hadn't gone into this store since before quarantine in March!!> and also at Bed Bath and Beyond <again a store I hadn't gone into since pre-pandemic quarantine>,  he actually noticed we were passing his mom's office and we were passing Panda Express on the way home. And so even though it was only 11:15 AM, we stopped and got his lunch anyway.  This way, no matter what happens tonight, I AM sure he will have had 2 really good meals today.

And so dad and son kind of just hung out this morning and then I sort of spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning up the apartment. It was definitely due. You wouldn't believe how much residue gets on the floor just Johnnie being there doing his thing. Drawing on the floor, spilling food, cookie crumbles all over the place. Yet I wouldn't have it any other way, let me make that clear.  You can complain about something until you don't have it anymore. I dare say that when I was trying to comfort yesterday on the phone and I talked about how we used to argue, she would actually question if we even argued at all. Funny how I laughed at that thought quietly. She pushed me out the door SOOO hard. Questioned if she even had feelings for me at all. And now that I've been officially gone more than a couple of years it actually did sound like she missed me although she would NEVER say it. Still the truth is I have now lived in the Sawtelle apartment longer than I have at the Maplewood house and so be it ever so humble, it is HOME. And so this afternoon I focused on cleaning my home. Well, first I had to make dinner of course and it was one of those pre-made pork loin chunks wrapped in bacon and stuffing that you had to bake. It wasn't bad. Heck it was only $4. Only after I cooked did I clean the kitchen. The oven. Then the floor. Then the bathroom floor. Then the bedroom. I couldn't believe I did all that in a couple of hours. Frankly I thought I was just trying to distract myself from checking in on the Dodgers game. Wouldn't want to destroy the mojo. After all, they win tonight then I think there is a very strong chance we will win the championship in the next couple of days. I kept trying to tell myself that I really didn't care. And me not caring was what got them past the NLCS when they were down 3-1. Or more preciously, dealing with whatever happened. And now here we are. As it was I did check when they led 2-0. I don't remember what made me look at ESPN, but I did look. And so with the mojo gone, I kept on looking. They were still ahead 3-1 after the 5th and somehow the score became 7-6! W-h-a-t?? Entering the 9th inning they were up 7-6. Who knew that Kenley Jansen yet again would be pitching and giving up a hit that led to an error that scored the tying run and then another error that led to the walk-off winning run. Did the Dodgers just screw this up?? Series tied 2-2. Sigh. What a bad taste in my mouth this left. So much so I had to go to the hot tub and just clear my thoughts for about 20 minutes. Oh well, at least I cleaned my apartment.  I'm going back to not caring again...

Tank Day with Golf

On a regular Friday I would be lollygagging today anyway, barely getting a shower in and then debating whether to eat in or get a sausage and egg McMuffin from McDonald's. I started in that direction but then by 8:30 AM I snapped myself to and got in the shower and got ready. Not because of work. It's because Greg made a 10:30 tee time for us at Monterey Park Golf Course a course neither one of us had played before. And so I at least needed to make sure I got to the right place. Yep, I'm taking a TANK DAY today. After working hard the last few days I think I've earned it. Besides I'd only be playing 9 holes anyway. I'm sure we'll be done right after lunchtime and if there was something that needed my attention, I'd have all afternoon for that. So I wolfed down said sausage McMuffin *I decided*, hot tea AND the coffee that came with the sandwich and off I went headed EAST on the 10 Freeway. Unlike usual, I breezed through downtown in 10 minutes. Used to be it would take a half hour at this time. And to my surprise, the golf course was actually located in a familiar spot... it was next to the courthouse where Johnnie's adoption was made official in front of a judge. As I drove up I immediately reminisced about that day. A happy July day that was. The day Johnnie officially became Johnnie Rho Mendoza. Anyway when I got to the parking lot, Greg was already there.  And so we walked up to the starter, and immediately we both got surprised that it only cost $14. Why so cheap? Do I dare ask? When we walked up to the first tee, we found out why. There were mats instead of grass. Ahh. This reminds me of little Rancho Park. Although the first hole looked as if it was almost 300 yards long (see pic). It would turn out to be the longest hole until the very last one. And next holes ranged from 125 to 150 yards each. Decent length but I used my irons on every single one. Hey we may be hitting off a mat, but this was still pretty good practice for my irons and short game. Greg and I both did ok on the first hole, then we exchanged pars. He hit a par on the next hole then I would hit one the next and on and on. I was getting pretty good practice. Finally the last hole came and it was the longest one! And we both hit off a regular tee, planting it on the grass right next to the mat. And wouldn't you know I blasted my tee shot at least 220 yards and straight. There's my game. I hit one off the mat too but that barely went 120 yards. Still I blasted THAT with my 2nd shot with a 3-wood another 200+yards. Boy those shots felt good. The best part? We were done in barely an hour! I was home by 11:30. Enough time to pick up some fish from Ralphs and make THAT for my lunch! I was ready to hunker down for the rest of the afternoon... and the evening really. I had already gotten almost 8000 steps in, already did more than 100 ACTIVE minutes, more than 45 cardio minutes. I got my exercise in, got a golf game in AND felt like I had my TANK DAY!

When I finally got around to lollygagging I got a call from Lisa. She was asking if I could come over at 5 PM to watch Johnnie. Actually she called and was nearly in tears. Apparently she had missed Johnnie's science class because she was late getting on and so they missed the class. If I didn't do that myself with one class last week I'd be wondering how she could miss it. But I KNOW it's easy to do. And so I tried to console her and let her know I knew she was trying to do her best. I told her to be easy on herself and whatever overwhelm she was feeling, I had already felt it also... just months before. Anyway I did my good deed for the day helping her and then she asked me to come over at 5 PM for dinner and of course to watch Johnnie while she practiced piano. Tomorrow is Vatche piano lesson day after all LOL. That would be good deed #2. Except that when I got there at 5 PM, Johnnie was dead asleep on the floor in the tea room. WTF? Apparently they had gone biking and he had gotten tired. Of course I knew it was possible... he got tired when HE and I went biking to Panda Westwood. God only knows how much farther they tried to go. Anyway Lisa and I ate dinner together. She made salmon and cabbage and onions (I brought the cabbage) and rice pilaf. And it was actually a pretty good dinner. And we just let Johnnie sleep there. When he stirred, Lisa took him to the couch and then off she went to practice while I did the dishes. Johnnie would stay asleep until an hour and a half later when Lisa decided to take a break. Only then did he get up and was complaining about a headache. Of course his head hurt. He was probably starving and his blood sugar was probably way down. To make a long story short, I left around 8 PM because I just couldn't stand simply not feeding him. Whatever Lisa was doing, giving him water and fruit snacks I just couldn't stand watching. I would have made him eat pasta and soup. And I would have watched him wolf it down like he did when he got tired biking with me. I went home and caught the tail end of the Dodger game. World Series game 3. Dodgers won convincingly, taking a 2-1 series lead. Halfway home.

One Last Presentation for the Week

So the day after Tech Council is always usually quiet, and is always usually followed by the CCALAC HIT Roundtable where I'm usually just bringing in my knowledge shares and making myself feel good about being an IT Leader let's face it. But today that meeting isn't so run-of-the-mill either because I'm supposed to be making a presentation on Remote Work. And so I stayed up last night yet again readying the presentation for today and I had over 25 slides in fact. Not to worry though, these slides were made up of stuff I had already put together from yesterday's meeting and the meetings prior to that and so I was just basically doing somewhat of a show-and-tell. In fact, I actually spent last night catching up on sleep. So much so I logged more than 7 hours!! That's the most in more than a week! And I did feel more refreshed than usual when I got up this morning.  And it was on to the Thursday routine... Johnnie's computer class, then music, concurrent with my IS Team Meeting. And then all done by right around 10 AM. The HIT Meeting was at noon though and ran thru 2 PM and so I needed to make sure I had lunch the same time Johnnie did... which was early. Hey I still had my unstuffed cabbage leftovers don't I? Still the meeting went fine and my presentation went ok. I had a feeling it went over many heads as I do believe I have QueensCare in a more advanced position than many of my peers. That we can STAY working remote pretty much indefinitely is a testament to that I think. So yes I'll give myself a pat on the back. Again. And I'll let my ego have its day.

By 2 PM, I could breathe out a sigh of relief as that pretty much concludes the heavy work for the week. As in I think I'm pretty sure I'm going to do a TANK DAY tomorrow. And Greg has us booked for 9 holes in Monterey Park as a matter of fact. Eloisa moved a meeting we were supposed to have tomorrow to a couple of weeks from then which clinched my golf game. Of course the focus now shifted to Johnnie and how to keep him occupied for the rest of the evening until Lisa picks him up. At least he had that computer programming class in the middle of the afternoon but that only lasts until 4 PM. He is now aware that tonight is hand-off night and that his mommy is coming to get him later. And so I tried to keep him focused on his Jurassic World videos and drawing to his heart's content. I realize that I am at the end of my patience on Thursdays usually and what I find myself thinking is about how I can minimize yelling at Johnnie for him being the hyper-active, precocious, game-playing child that he is. I mean do I really want him any different? This is starting to cement itself as who he is and that should be just fine. However he also needs to become aware that not everything is a game. And so I need to teach him self-awareness, impulse control, and empathy. Am I up to the task? I better be. Tonight was another night of Panda Express and I even ate orange chicken with him for dinner. And then at 5 PM I get a text from Lisa. She was home already and relaxing and needed to take a nap. And so she wouldn't be picking up Johnnie tonight obviously. I'm going to be bringing him at 7:30. Never the same way each and every Thursday is it? Of course I am NOT complaining. After all it wasn't that long ago we would have to rush to Cornerstone Music where Lisa would have violin lessons and that would be where we did our hand-off. I'm not going to comment now about how strange that sounds.  Tonight, the hand-off was uneventful. Johnnie collected his stack of pictures and Lisa was upstairs in bed and on the phone. And I went on home. For all intents and purposes the work week was done. Whoo-weee! 

Meeting Day

I remind myself that when I lose patience, especially with Johnnie it means that I have something else that is on my mind that is bugging me. Could it really be because it is Tech Council Meeting week? Am I really struggling to keep my eye on that ball and also keep another eye on Johnnie? Well the quick answer is that YES he demands that much attention. Already he mentioned he wanted a baby brother so he could have someone to play with when I can't play with him because I'm working. How do you respond to that? All I want is to make sure I am raising a well-balanced, happy child. Because on the other hand, he is smart, he is funny and he is a good boy. With tons and tons of energy. And who has definitely developing high-twitch muscles. To the point where now he can really hurt you. Just look at the pic of him I posted jumping up and down the trampoline! This is what I have to do to keep him occupied. And this afternoon I promised we would go for a bike ride just as soon as my meetings are over. I fully intend to keep that promise obviously. No better idea than that to burn all this energy he has in the afternoon. Yesterday it was swimming, today it's the bike ride. But before that I first had to do my Tech Council Meeting. I was pretty confident I had plenty of material going in really. So much so that I was blasting through page after page, chart after chart barely stopping to let people catch up and discuss anything. I was simply throwing out information.  And then making sure I gave them homework and also make sure I touched on all those items that I need help making decisions on.  $9K for Business Continuity computers? Sure! why not. That's to follow all those tablets we bought for EPIC Welcome that nobody is ready to implement just yet.  Yet here I am worried about the IS Budget. Sigh. Anyway I zipped through my presentation so fast, I was cutting off people. Yep, including Barbara and Eloisa. So much so I got done a full 9 minutes ahead of schedule. By the time the 3 PM meeting rolled around I was all talked out. Fortunately that meeting zipped by quickly too and by 3:30 it was done. I gave myself exactly 10 minutes to breathe out and catch a breath. And then true to my promise, Johnnie and I headed out on our bikes and scooters, destination being Panda Express Westwood. I figured it wouldn't be so bad. After all there was the stretch of the bike path between Sepulveda and Westwood and then from westwood to Pico was pretty much a breeze. It was after that that was an uphill trek for Johnnie and he started falling behind. And I had to keep checking back to see where he was. Still we did manage to get to Panda Express and get our food just fine. And it was slightly downhill on the way back so I was less worried. We got as far as the bike path though and then Johnnie started to slow down. He must have hit a wall. At least he got all the way to the bike path. A couple of times we had to stop and walk because he had tired out. And then another time his legs were so tired he ran into the curb. The plan was to run him out of excess energy? Well I think it worked. So much so I got worried for him that he wouldn't be able to bike back. How am I going to walk him home AND his bike too? Fortunately he did get back on the bike like a trooper and biked back from Sawtelle on home. We never really stopped to rest. Sure we had a stretch where we stopped pedalling but that's ok. He'll build up stamina and leg strength for next time. It's a good thing that we did try though. Now we know we rode all that way and back. When we got home he wolfed down all his food. As in there was not one grain of rice even left. And ate 2 more chocolate chip cookies to boot. And he wasn't as energetic bouncing off the walls like he usually does. He really WAS tired wasn't he? And when it was time to go to bed, he didn't play like he usually did. He climbed in bed, did a Bert and Ernie video zonked out. So did I actually. I almost fell asleep before he did Two straight nights of 4 hours of sleep would do that to you. Before I did though I managed to feel grateful for another concluded Tech Council Meeting. Bad or indifferent, I got it done. And then there's just one more meeting tomorrow and the week would be done. But at least tonight I get to catch up on sleep. It's all good now.

Distractions Galore

It is Tuesday and since Johnnie had gotten a really good night's sleep even while sleeping on a futon, he was at it at full speed starting the second he woke up. Look at him just on the way back from getting the usual breakfast at McDonald's first thing. Not even 8 AM yet and he's in full play mode. Which is why I'm perplexed as to how quickly I lost my patience at lunch today. Johnnie had asked for a pizza at lunch today and I was only all too glad to go to Pizza Hut to get him a nice steaming cheese pizza.  I set it out nice for him to eat before his 12 PM class. He had had a pretty good morning so far. And then I left him alone thinking he was eating lunch. When I came back he had barely eaten a bite! And THAT set me off. It had me so mad I whacked at the pizza on the table. Yep, ME the parent had a temper tantrum. So much so the pizza flew towards my guitar in the corner and got pizza sauce all over the floor and some on the wall. I got painfully reminded of that time when we were preparing to move and Lisa had pestered me about something so much that I flung the lunch I had just bought towards the wall and had gotten it all over. Sigh. A display of patience this was most definitely not. Instead I had to calm Johnnie down because of course he had started to cry. Which is probably what I wanted to see. Yes I wanted to see him cry. All this work and effort I took to get him this and he didn't even touch it. Which is what kids do sometimes. I have to simply remind myself that when that happens, it just happens. For no really good reason. He's just a kid. And I have to let him be one.  Finally I did come to my senses and I did get him back to his usual self right before his class started. But I was for sure disappointed. In ME. 

This being a Tuesday it was a full afternoon. Johnnie had swim class and then computer class after that. And even as he and I got to the pool, I had all this stuff that all of a sudden got delivered from Amazon. My Vessi shoes finally came. And then my watch straps, and my USB ports. and finally finally my NBA Championship T-shirt commemorating the Lakers! My official T-shirt. I remembered the 1980 shirt I got from what was then Broadway. Can you believe that was 40 years ago? Karl remembered that I had the 2010 shirt too. He and I went to Game 1 after all. That was Kobe's last championship. And so I was strutting all around with this shirt on. In the meantime, Johnnie was doing his lesson and was doing much much better than last week. So much so I watched him go all across the length of the pool the long way without stopping! Well, for sure he's swimming now even though he is still prone to getting panicky. He got way cold when the class was done. It isn't summer anymore that's for sure. Still we made it through the afternoon, through his computer lesson and I even managed to get a whole ton of steps in too, and then made it to Panda Express for his dinner. And I finally once and for all got around to working on my stuff while he watched more Jurassic World Lego videos. I got the intranet stuff all done earlier in the day actually and then I had one thing left to finish, which was my presentation. I figured I'd do it tonight while Johnnie was asleep. That's because I found yet one more distraction tonight.  It's Game 1 of the World Series between the Dodgers and Rays and of course I had to take a peek at the score every once in a while. Especially after hearing the neighbors yell. That's usually when the Dodgers scored.  As it turned out, they won 8-3. Clayton Kershaw threw a gem, which was not a guarantee considering he had a reputation of not pitching all that well in the playoffs. This is the World Series too. Still a win means the Dodgers are up 1-0. They lost the first 2 games to the Braves in the League Championship series before rallying to win so this is a much better start. 3 games to win left before a double-double championship happens. Johnnie fell asleep on my bed right around 10 PM and finally I went to work on my presentation. Last night I worked until 2:30 AM in the morning. And still managed to get almost 5 hours of sleep. I was hoping to do the same tonight. Except that i was way too distracted looking at Youtube videos of the Dodgers win. Sigh. I did manage to get to 98% done on my presentation. One slide left. I left it for tomorrow. It was 2:30 AM in the morning yet again...

Gonna Be A Busy Week

So i was a little more intentional about taking breaks today, which is why I posted a picture of me walking around the neighborhood and spotlighting the outcropping of Halloween decorations on people's yards. That's because I was working on my presentation for Tech Countil Meeting on Wednesday and I was reading Microsoft's Work Study Index. It focused on wellbeing believe it or not, and the usefulness of taking breaks when you're in the middle of Zoom meetings all day. I'm NOT in the middle of all that many Zoom meetings, at least not today but I feel like I am busy all day anyway. I got started working very early in fact, getting showered and done with breakfast by 9 AM and plowing right along with my email messages first thing. Since it is TECH COUNCIL meeting week I know I have to get my presentation done which I wanted to do by today, I had to do meeting minutes AND I wanted to at least get to the Intranet mock-up that I had neglected for almost 2 months now. And so those 3 things actually dominated my attention ALL DAY. I mean all 3! I was hopping from one work project to the next without actually finishing any of them but I was making significant progress on each. I guess that's how my brain works is that I can't just sit still focusing on just any one thing.  Which is why I felt it was important to actually get up and walk around for a bit. I mean my body was actually telling me to do that. My upper shoulders and neck started to feel sore and I had to walk it off and shrug off the sore. And then while I was out and about, I thought I might as well load up on the steps so I can get as much as I can before I pick up Johnnie. I had made it a habit of getting to 12,000 steps for the last few Mondays actually and I wanted to keep on doing that today. By 5 PM, I had actually finished Meeting Minutes and had sent it off already and I was halfway done with my presentation too! It was a very good start and I actually don't doubt that I am going to get everything done because, honestly, I do. ALWAYS.  And so the next pic I posted was me driving off to Lisa's house to pick up Johnnie. The sun was already starting to set and it looked great as usual. I remembered the many times I would walk home from the bus stop and enjoy such a sunset. It was a 2 mile walk but it actually was pretty pleasant AND it gave me the step mileage that I needed too. These days I may not be walking as much or am I?  I thought to myself that it's fall for sure because it is starting to get dark earlier.  Pretty soon it will be totally dark anymore when I pick up Johnnie. And so I am enjoying this as my stop-and-smell-the-roses moment for the day.

By the time I drove up to Lisa's, mom and son were cleaning up around the garage. Johnnie was sweeping up leaves around the driveway and mommy was doing... whatever it was that she does to keep busy cleaning. I felt like I rescued him from all that and went on home to do our Monday night thing. Dinner may have been the usual chicken McNuggets from McDonalds and I still had my leftover ground beef unstuffed cabbage of course but tonight I felt like changing things up by baking Trader Joe's chocolate chip cookies. Johnnie had reminded me that we used to do that a while ago. We sure did... Tuesday nights. And so tonight I thought I'd resurrect it. And so dad and son shared some great chocolate chip cookies while watching another round of Isla Nublar Jurassic park together. And of course while Johnnie was jumping up and down on the trampoline too. How he does that after a full meal is beyond me. All went according to routine... until Johnnie fell asleep. I was trying to rig his "bed" which is the futon next to my bed and let him sleep on it with his feet on the trampoline. Yeah yeah, I know it's ghetto. I'm going to need to buy him a real something to sleep on but I did not get that done over the weekend so I'll have to do it next time. Anyway the second I heard him breathing softly asleep, I went to work. I got right back on my computer and got about 90% done with my presentation actually. And then started doing the Intranet mock-up. I noted how I actually got into that. I was tired doing the presentation.  But I didn't feel tired doing the intranet stuff. Hmmm. I think I like doing all that stuff. Something to think about when I move on to doing something for others that I do well huh? 

Figure Out How to Raise Your Thermostat

So I had this A-Ha moment coming home from golf. I need to figure out how to raise my thermostat level. by that I mean, I have to change my belief about my ceiling. I had just played golf obviously and I didn't have a bad game actually. But I caught myself a bunch of times thinking I couldn't make a shot because... or when I hit a good shot I caught myself thinking.... man I hope I could do THAT again. Or when i putted, I didn't think it was really going in. That's when I realized I had given myself a ceiling. It's not like I didn't hit some good shots. After all I did win 4 holes total, 2 of them i won outright (hole 2 and hole 5). The one on the 158 yard Hole 5 was my best actually. I whacked a 6 iron shot that went 150 yards on the green and 15 feet from the hole! I actually had a birdie putt. Too bad I missed that, but hey I'll take the par shot. There were other memorable shots too. On the next Hole (6), I had a nice fairway iron shot that went 120 yards and 10 feet from the hole. My irons were clearly working today. If I didn't suck so bad on the first 2 holes, I would have had a pretty good day. Still I continue to struggle with consistency and my bad holes on 1,2 and 4 were really bad. 6 was ok, I tied for the win on 8 with another good iron shot off the tee and then on the long Hole 9 I had 3 good shots all the way to the green. And then I mucked up the putts. Again, all in all not that bad a game but Greg clearly won because he was more consistent. I kept going over the same things before the game. Slow my swing down, control my breathing. I just allowed myself to get out of focus too much. That's when I hit bad shots is when i rush. And so on the drive home I realize that I may be subconsciously stuck to a "thermostat level" of winning 3 of 4 holes. And so I don't do so well once I get beyond that. And so I need to go back to figuring out how to break through these limiting beliefs. Back to NLP aren't I?

In the meantime I went home and had myself a nice healthy lunch... turkey quesadilla wrap over spinach and tomato. And some of that harvest soup that reminded me of the tomato basil soup we used to have with a little sour dough bread when Champagne was still open right next to Starbucks. Again another trip down memory lane. How many times did we go to Champagne after a morning of golf at Penmar? Sounds so long ago doesn't it? I can't even get a tee time at Penmar any more these days. Anyway, I was pretty well rested last night so I didn't take a nap. I did do some nice mid-afternoon meditation. And then my attention went to Game 7 of the NLCS. The Dodgers had come back from the dead and faced a winner-take-all game. Of COURSE I did not intend to watch it. But then again my neighbors must have been Dodger fans because I heard their screams and yells whenever something good happened that the Dodgers did. A scream and yell? A Dodger homerun. Game tied 3-3. Another yell and scream a half hour later. The Dodgers pulled ahead on another homerun! And that is how it would end. And so unlike previous years, unlike last year when I found myself consoling myself at the pool warming my toes, the Dodgers made it to the World Series again.  Wouldn't it be too cool for the Dodgers to follow the Lakers as World Champions? Last time that happened was the last time the Dodgers won a World Series. 1988. Crossing my fingers this time around. I told myself I'd try to get some work done this weekend because it's Tech Council Meeting week next week. But nope, I couldn't do it.  I made myself some unsuffed cabbage for the 2nd week in a row and watched Fear the Walking Dead. And watched a lot of Dodger post game. That's how Sunday and the weekend ended...

A Very Chill Saturday

I slept until 7 AM, which was still early but I could have kept on sleeping, except that I also knew I had to be at Lisa's to pick up Johnnie by 7:25ish. And so even though I was sluggish and felt like I had gotten the most sleep I had gotten all week, I am at Lisa's right on the dot at 7:30 AM and Johnnie opened the door still in his pajamas. No surprises this morning, we were headed to Elysee as per usual and then to Target to get supplies. He had started to run out of scotch tape and writing paper. And of course there was the Lisa order, which today consisted of just a couple of items: maple syrup and waffle mix. Of course she had to ask for the high dollar maple syrup which would cost me $17 a bottle but hey who's counting?! I reminded myself that today was a day to practice keeping my vibration high, which meant watching for flashes of impatience, either with Johnnie or pretty much anyone else and to make sure I release those negative energies just as soon as I became aware of them.  But Saturdays are also days to bond with Johnnie since there was no schoolwork to do and whatever he did he was fine just as long as he was doing it with me around him. Even watching his videos. Gotta be thankful for that don't I? Even all the routine stuff we did this morning I am totally thankful for. The carwash first thing before we headed for Elysee. The squeals of laughter he made when the swoosh of the water was bombing his side of the car. And then of course the breakfast at Elysee itself. See picture above. I will never be tired of keeping up this routine. Or at least to keep it going for as long as I can. I've been doing it for 5+ years now. Why stop? Sharing a croissant, his small OJ and my Earl Grey tea. I'm thankful for all of the above. And then afterwards we went to Target and Ralphs Westwood for today's shopping run. I had it in my mind that since it is getting older, it is time to start replacing some of Johnnie's colder weather clothes. I'm sure he has grown since a year ago and Lisa still has him wearing 3T size stuff for whatever reason. Anyway we went to Lisa's house to drop off her grocery order and THEN we went to the apartment once and for all. Surprise surprise he wanted to watch Cat-In-the-Hat this morning. And we found another Octonauts movie. You see my part in the balancing act of raising Johnnie is that he gets to watch videos with him and I am totally ok with it considering he won't get any videos AT ALL once he leaves my watch today, all through Monday. THAT too is part of the balance of it all.

Surprise surprise I got Johnnie to take a nap this afternoon. Must be the huge lunch he had with Panda Express teriyaki chicken. I know he didn't have much of a dinner last night. I was there. He had a huge breakfast AND a huge lunch. And so he fell asleep right there on the couch right there on my leg. Used to be I would drive up and down Sawtelle until he would fall asleep after a lunch at Lisa's office. That was way back in the day more than 2 years ago now. These days he is already used to not getting a nap in the afternoon anymore. But he was probably tired from yesterday too. Who knows what mom and son did all day. Anyway he napped for a good 2 hours just like he did a couple of years ago. And I let him of course. It gave me time to watch some of my Youtube videos. There are sooo many things I want to watch and learn. Today I'm focusing mainly on Bengston Image Cycling. I realize I am not done putting my list of images together. And therein lies the work isnt it? When Johnnie finally woke up it was well past 4 PM already. I thought Lisa would pick him up early, considering her mom is coming over to drop off groceries. Yep, she too is on grocery detail. You wonder what Lisa spends money on at all other than her mortgage right? As it was she finished her notes and didn't pick up Johnnie until it was almost 6 PM. Which I didn't mind at all really. I am always happy to spend whatever time I can alone with my son. I can never hear enough of him squealing and laughing and giggling when I tickle him or when he tickles me. And so as it turned out this would be a pretty quiet (or boring) Saturday for me. Lisa picked up Johnnie and I finished my steps by walking around the neighborhood. Something I am also very grateful about, to be able to live in this nice neighborhood of mine. And then I had some of that turkey meatloaf from trader Joe's and spaghetti for dinner. Not lost on me was that the Dodgers were playing for the 6th day in a row. Game 6 of the NLCS. I thought all was lost a couple of days ago when they fell behind the series 3-1. But they won yesterday to inch closer to 3-2. And even though I would pull my usual antics and not even try to watch the game, I couldn't hide my interest. yeah yeah I kept telling myself i didn't care. After all the Lakers had already won their title. I didn't want to push the sports gods by pushing for the Dodgers. Still, even without my emotional involvement, they went on to win tonight's game, evening up the series. And setting things up for a winner-take-all Game 7 tomorrow night for the NL pennant. How cool is that?!

Focus on Finances

It didn't escape me that i spent a significant amount of time yesterday thinking about retirement. As in do I have enough money to do so? And so as I am sometimes susceptible of doing, I started to play games with numbers. For starters, it looks like I already have enough banked away right now to sustain my current lifestyle for an entire year without any more income coming in. And that is without touching my 401K <which by the way I am eligible to withdraw without penalty September of NEXT YEAR!> That does FEEL good! I KNOW I am in far better shape than most Americans financially already. And I have to bask in that gratitude for a bit, not to mention today is payday too.  Still, I want to not have to worry about money for the rest of my life. I want to live off dividends and returns from investments, stock market, etc. And in order to do that, I have to do something with the capital that I have OR to create something. Create content that I will be paid for. And so I posted a picture of Mar Vista Park in the setting sun. That's what I want to do with my mornings and afternoons. Hang out at the park maybe. Exercise. Play tennis, run, etc. Oh wait... if I were home all day, I would still need to look after Johnnie don't I? Still, it will be great to do that without having to check on my work emails. Oh wait... I'd still be checking on emails wouldn't I? Communications from people at least. Well in any case the goal is FINANCIAL FREEDOM. FREEDOM being the key word. To do what I want when I want, not because I have to in order to get paid. That is why I need to set something up where I am getting paid even without working. And yes I do realize I still need to put in the work in order to get there. Otherwise, I am already doing some of the stuff I'd be doing at home now. Look at that beef and cabbage fry I'm working on for my lunch? A little noodles in it and it became noodle stir-fry and a good one at that. I did manage to put in about a couple of hours worth of work today, which would be ideal for a daily thing and still get paid what I'm already getting paid. And then I realized that the reason I attracted that tense discussion with Lisa was that there was a part of me I need to work on to let go. A sense of not-enoughness. It's still a pretty good start to know what I need to work on. And I am truly grateful that I get to work on it at this time. And keep up with the routines I already do. I managed to get to 5500 steps by 5 PM, even though I was stuck at 1000 after lunchtime. Hey I did need to take a 10-minute nap too didn't I? That was part of the routine right? I was perfectly fine to do nothing but internal work the rest of my Friday evening. Until...

Of course Lisa would call asking if I wanted to come over and have dinner, which really was her asking if I'd watch Johnnie while she played the piano AFTER dinner. I was ok with that actually. I could still work on the internal stuff when I got home later. And if the price of admission is to spend a couple of hours with Johnnie on a Friday night, then of course I think it's worth it. Lisa has this thing that she has to make dinner. But candidly, she is not an instinctive cook. I think I am far better. The dover sole fish was battered but the batter wasn't cooked well. Fortunately the fish was. And then the squash/onion was too overdone because she put in the onions first which cook very quickly in the high heat she uses. And then later on she declared she screwed it up with too much salt. And her stomach was protesting. Still, I did get a free dinner and it's not like I wouldn't have eaten whatever she made anyway. I did the dishes after and played with Johnnie. Look at him doing that tickle thing under my neck in the picture. I gave her almost 2 hours of uninterrupted piano practice. And since we ate fairly early, I managed to get home by 8 PM. Plenty of time to finish my 11,000 steps. But I did not get to my internal work. Rather, I watched the Dodgers post-game. They were down to their elimination game tonight, as in they were about to be eliminated. But they staved it off and kept it alive for at least one more game by winning tonight. Honestly I was not as emotionally invested because the Lakers had already won the title. I mean it would be FANTASTIC if the Dodgers did too, but if they didn't, I wouldn't be as disappointed, certainly not devastated as I would have been had the Lakers lost to the Heat. And so with that, watching episodes of Tehran on Apple TV and of all things, the Big Valley (?? I know ??) I slowly drifted to sleep on the couch. I think I managed to keep my vibration high on this Friday. And tomorrow I get to try to do the same WITH Johnnie on a Lisa workday. It's all good.