On Friday I stay home. I get out for the aquarium ride today because the road bicycle has a flat front tire when I check it (prior to a longer ride). As I'm heading for home I stand up and sprint to make a traffic light and hear the familiar snap, crackle, pop of spokes breaking on the rear wheel. Another errand to run today. After calling in to work and telling them that I won't be in (mainly because they didn't provide the test data that I wanted to look at) I do the laundry, go to the ATM, do some grocery shopping, and wash and wax both bicycles. Late in the morning I mow, edge, and trim the lawn and trim the roses before an ice cold shower.
After getting my hair cut I drop the bicycle wheel off for all new spokes and then I head for home to relax. Person C_T is the only friend that calls today. I am a bit surprised, but I enjoy spending the time reading and relaxing for the rest of the weekend.
On Saturday I get out for the (almost) 30 mile loop ride on the road bicycle (with newly repaired front tire). I crank along quite nicely and find that I have taken a few more minutes off the time from last week (or two weeks ago). I'm starting to believe what the doctor told me the second time that I saw him after getting the Hepatitis B diagnosis, namely, "You'll recover from this and be better then you were before".
After the bicycle ride and a shower I watch qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix, wash and wax the motorcycle, and do some more cleaning up of the roses. I am procrastinating on the main task of the day - fixing cracks in my bedroom. So I start in on that in the afternoon. And it goes quicker than I thought because I'm using a hobby power drill (with sanding attachment) so that I can gouge out the cracks and fill them without making a big mess. I try this with half the cracks in the room - gouging, sanding, filling, and waiting. We'll see the results on Sunday morning.
Late in the day I call Person T_U and he says to meet me at a club in Long Beach. So I go and lift weights, take a nice shower, and head over to the club. The DJ is playing old music - like 5 years old - so I'm getting disappointed quickly. But by 11pm or so the DJ is starting to play better music though it is still a year or two old. But at least he sticks to the club and circuit anthems from those days and things are okay. Person T_U finally shows up and we have a nice conversation in between other conversations with Person Ray, Person B_CM, and Person D_V (Person T_U's ex). I can see that Person T_U will regularly position himself during our conversations to keep an eye on Person D_V and his boyfriend. Person T_U needs to give up the obsession.
During the evening I see one ChiChi with a girl that I just stare at whenever possible. When Person T_U points out that the ChiChi appears to be "with the girl" I say, "Then I'll take them both".
Because this is a different club than usual, a number of people make offers to me. I am not able to head the offers off ahead of time because...um...I don't know why. But two offers get to, "So what do you want to do tonight?", and I break the news that I have a boyfriend. Is the tone of my voice when I say this a tone of enthusiasm that I have a boyfriend or is it a tone of "Yes, I have a boyfriend and thus the ball and chain keeps me from having any fun". It doesn't matter because the offers are politely refused.
As the hour approaches 1:30 Person T_U introduces me to Person Y_J - a person that he has seen and hung out with a few times. I note that Person Y_J is very much out of it (either from drinking way too much or other things) and has very very warm hands. I pull Person T_U aside a bit later and tell him to make sure that Person Y_J gets a lot of water to drink because certain substances that Person Y_J may have ingested tend to throw the body's heat balancing mechanism off. The indications are there. As I leave near 1:50 Person T_U decides to go back into the club. He claims that it is to make sure that Person Y_J is still okay, but it's probably to keep an eye on his ex, Person D_V. But I'm laying down for sleep at 2:15 am on Sunday morning.
On Sunday morning I get up before 7 am and go for a long walk followed with a trip to the grocery store. Seeing that the newspaper has not arrived yet, I walk back home carrying my groceries), put the groceries away, rewind the tape to view the Italian Grand Prix, and drive to a liquor store to buy the newspaper. But the liquor store doesn't have the newspaper yet either and as I'm leaving I run into a co-worker who lives nearby. Yes, I run into a co-worker at 8 am on Sunday at the liquor store - this doesn't sound good. But the co-worker and I have a 15 minute conversation and the newspaper delivery man finally shows up. We both buy the newspaper and head off for our Sunday activities.
As I read the newspaper I also watch the Italian Grand Prix and then I go to wax the wheels of the motorcycle. Afterwards I continue fixing cracks in the bedroom in preparation for a Monday light sanding, priming, and taping of trim. (And, hopefully, painting next weekend.)
On Sunday afternoon I do some exercises for core stability and get out for a long walk. A cool shower helps me feel better. Except that there is a voice mail from some sort of Parole or Probation Officer related to a friend of mine. (The friend, who may or may not have been written about here and who may or may not have a set of initials here, will remain anonymous along with his/her misdemeanor violation.) I call the number and find out that my friend has been arrested and is still in custody. The Parole or Probation Officer asks me a number of questions about my friend's reliability and ability to be released from jail and make it to his/her hearing and trial. After the conversation I go lay down in bed and cry for a few minutes. And then, there is nothing else to do, so I get up and start more painting. It takes my mind off this new twist.
It has already been a long weekend and there is still one complete day to go. On Sunday night, armed with trying circumstances and other forms of identity dislexia, I try to stay occupied and hope for early sleep (to compensate for last night's short sleep and to forget about my friend's arrest). I'm in bed by 8:30 pm but, unfortunately, woken by the phone at 10 pm. (I left the phone on in case the arrestee needed help.) It is Person T_U and after he apologizes for waking me he says that we'll talk on Monday.
On Monday I sand cracks, wash the areas, and prime before going out cycling. I do the (almost) 30 mile river loop and crank along quite nicely in the changing conditions - the sun is out and the weather is warm near my house but the sun is hidden and it is wet down by the ocean. I finish up with a couple of good surges to blow through traffic lights as they change away from green. I have phone calls from the arrestee and Person C_T. I give the best advice I can give to the arrestee and we will see what happens on the appointed court date. I spend the majority of the afternoon relaxing and reading. Later I tape and edge-paint as the room is now ready for the main event scheduled for next weekend.
And this weekend has been so productive and tiring that I am in bed and asleep shortly after 8:30 pm.