Off Day On A Day Off

So today I had the day off, one of those mandatory off days I have to take or I start losing vacation hours. But I actually ended up being rushed this morning. That's because I had a 9:30 dental cleaning appointment at Lisa's office. Which means I didn't really any time to lollygag around the house. I made myself a quick breakfast and took a quick shower, which I never do on a Friday. At least I enjoyed my bagel-with-cream-cheese and bacon and tomato breakfast sandwich, noting it only because I rediscovered this combination this week. Hadn't had it since I last did at the FRB cafeteria all those many months ago. And so even though my morning ritual felt like work, and a rushed one at that, I still felt good about accomplishing this one thing today, and that was to get my dental cleaning. It was strange going to Lisa's office without her being there. It still looked like it was firing on all cylinders. Sandy gave me my cleaning, talked about the USC Dental School quite a bit, and it was also Nikki's birthday today. It IS strange going back to this world since I spent so much time in it in my past life. Strange looking at some of Johnnie's pictures in the lobby that I had never seen before. Then again, Lisa has never seen any of my pictures too. And so I was done and out of there by 10:30 and still on my day off I had to deal with a work phone call, this time Dr Liao needing an explanation about LANES. That 15 minute phone call cost me about $65 I think because I went out and found a parking ticket on my car. The meter had run out. Damn. I'm glad I[m not all that worried about money aren't I? So can I go home and tell myself I have the day off now? For me that meant making myself lunch... I mean I still had all the salad stuff that I never ate last week. I ate salad maybe once and I had a week's worth of salad ingredients. Which is why I had it today. And I thought I might as well do my grocery shopping then too since I was already in the area where Trader Joe's and Ralphs were side by side. And Marukai Japanese Market down the block too. Hadn't been there in months! And so I got MOST of my grocery shopping done and to add to the salad, I just had to have some of that Japanese food from Marukai. Gyu don with rice. Hadn't had THAT in a while either. And after lunch I closed my eyes and took a nap. After all tonight is the Lakers Heat Game 5. Potential clinching game. If the Lakers win, you KNOW I'll stay up till all hours watching the post game and the championship celebration partying. Wait... aren't I getting ahead of myself? 

By 5 PM, I knew I had to catch up on my steps. I was barely at 1600. And so I did a combination of aerobics walking inside the apartment and walking-walking outside. AND I had some Italian sausage going in the barbecue too. I always do exercise right around the barbecue area  when I'm just waiting for my stuff to cook. So much so that by 6 PM, I had already caught up and gotten up to 7500 steps. And I posted a picture of me sort of greeting the sunset. Best I can do for a coronavirus day-off where I basically didn't do much of anything and didn't go anywhere. At least I WAS able to do some self-studying. I had it in my head that I needed to organize the stuff I needed to study in order to craft up some kind of routine for me to follow. And of course the first order of business was to go back to the things I want to manifest. I went back to Bengston Research material and realized that I had gotten away from focusing on those things and I wanted to re-focus. And per the methodology, start mentally image cycling the things I want to manifest quickly. As often as possible. This requires more work than you would think. The reason most of us don't get what we want is that we don't get the particular image right. De-focus on the how, focus on the what and why. I was ready to have a quiet night focusing on how to avoid watching the Lakers and go crazy waiting. The Universe obliged. I got a call from Lisa around 6:30 while I was eating my pasta and Italian sausage. She wanted to know if I could watch Johnnie while she practiced the piano. She has a piano class tomorrow of course and so I was HAPPY to oblige. Except that I got there and mom and son were lounging around on Johnnie's bed. I could tell Lisa was very much distracted. And that she was taking her time getting to the piano. She was probably tired. And her asking me to watch Johnnie was her version of tapping out. It's ok. Gave me something to do while I waited for the game to conclude. And by the time she got done with her piano, it was 8:30. The game was nearly done I thought. Or maybe it was done already. Are the Lakers already celebrating? When I left Lisa's house I turned on ESPN 710. Heat up by 1, less than a minute to go. Damn. It was anyone's game. But the Lakers had the ball. They end up scoring. Jimmie Butler answers. Lakers got the ball. End up scoring again. Jimmie Butler answers ago. Heat up by 1. Lakers had possession for a last shot perhaps. I pulled up to my driveway and ran upstairs. I'm going to catch a game winning shot right as it happens, I thought. I heard the neighbors shouting, no doubt watching the game. Man, did i miss the shot. I sure did. As did the Lakers. Danny Green missed a wide-open 3 that would have won the game. Sometimes you just miss the shot. the Lakers would not win the championship tonight. They lose by 1. Shit. Now I am totally deflated. Now I am irritated. Who wants to watch the post game now?! It turned out to be an epic battle between J Butler and LeBron and the Heat won. Now we wait for Sunday's Game 6. I watched other stuff to numb myself and to distract myself from feeling disappointed. The worst part is knowing I'm going to feel this way all through tomorrow. Sigh. My great off day.. was now off.