The last week of March starts with many disasters at work and continues on down hill from there. There are people pulling from evey direction and I start getting tired of it very quickly. With one lady, everytime that I present the facts of an analysis, a simulation, a model, or a test, I receive four questions back. And the answers to those questions are met with more questions ad infinitum. After a while I just quit responding to her emails because it is an unstable snowballing effect. And then I realize a better course of action (though I don't get to implement it this week) - I decide to answer every one of her questions with multiple questions of my own. This is sure to get me fired, but I'm ready to try it next week.
On Wednesday I ride the motorcycle up to Santa Clarita again to witness another acoustic test. This one again takes many hours to get set up and when we finally run the test, we get unexpected results. Thus we have to stop and study the data before going on. From Santa Clarita there are quite a few teleconferences and finally after 6:30 pm I am leaving the facility. And I just don't care so I wind up the Yamaha YZF-R1 into bonsai, qualifying-like mode. Most of the time I spend riding at greater than 95 mph as I rush on home to Long Beach. When I get home I lift weights and try to relax and de-stress.
Throughout Wednesday night I keep waking up every hour thinking about vibration levels, strength margins, acoustic pressures, and test setups. Finally at 5 am I get up and go to work to get started on the day. There's a teleconference with many agencies before we decide to run the final test at the highest level. Now I'm on the motorcycle again rushing up to Santa Clarita to witness the test. And, of course, I've rushed up for nothing because there are still a couple of hours of preparations to be done. Eventually we get the test run and the space hardware is still in one piece. Everyone at the facility is happy. Until we get on the phone with the owner of the hardware at a subcontractor to Northrop Grumman. The guy hears about the success of the test and should be happy but then we tell him about a few paint chips that fell off the hardware (and will have to be fixed). And this...um...gentlemen just blows up. "Oh sh__. Don't touch a f______ thing. Don't break the configuration. What the h___ is going on here. J____ Ch____. We closed the acoustic test failure review board item, but now we have to open one for the paint chips. G__ d_____." This colorfull language goes on for quite some time and the people in Santa Clarita from many different companies and agencies are just snickering the entire time because the...um...gentlemen is just making a fool out of himself. After about 15 minutes of this I announce that I am leaving. I don't want any part of this inappropriate and unprofessional behavior. Thus I jump on the motorcycle and head for home - not on a bonzai, qualifying effort, but fast enough. When I get home I lift weights and mow the lawn and relax with mindless television for an hour until I head for bed to read and sleep.
Friday is the exact day that I need. It starts with a great night of sleep on Thursday night from the lack of sleep the previous night, the lifting weights, the long days of testing, and being tossed around on long motorcycle rides. I get up and start in on errands immediately and do not break the entire day. I work on finances and paperwork for the nonprofit, run little errands in the area, fix and paint a small gate, wash and wax the motorcycle, get out for a sunny loop ride, and finally get to relax at the acupuncturist. This session of acupuncture is deep and intense and when it is time to leave, I have a hard time standing up and not stumbling around. In the middle of the afternoon Joe calls and I drop things and give him a ride from his place of work to his auto repair shop. And then I get back home to continue working around the house. By 6 pm I am tired, but I occupy myself with some financial and planning activities.
After a number of phone calls, only Joe and his friend Christian are going to go out tonight - Person T_U having hurt his back and wanting to rest it. I get to the clubs very early and start wandering amongst three clubs. At one club I see a guy smiling at me and I smile back because I'm just being friendly. But I just settle back with a Red Bull and 7-Up and enjoy the music. The first two clubs feature very good and good music and I am enjoying myself. I run into Peter from many years ago. He does not do IT anymore because he hated it, but seems to enjoy his job now. Though the IT job must have taken his toll because he looks like he hasn't taken care of himself as well as he might have. Joe and Christian arrive and we hang out for a while before they disappear. Thus I head back over to the herd/clone club that I have a free re-entry wristband for. The music is typical, but tonight I seem to enjoy myself more so than usual. Person A_V is present with a friend and they keep me company for a while. Sure enough the guy that was smiling at me at the first club has now also ended up at this club. A couple of times I catch him talking with a friend but staring at me via a mirror mounted on the wall. But just to let him know that I see it, I smile back. Just before 2 am Peter is now also in this club and we have a little discussion which results in an offer to go play. He's taken aback when I refuse and wants an explanation. And I just confirm that I am trying to keep my life simple now and not complicate it. He reluctantly seems to understand. And this entire scenario confuses me because it was me that was interested in him many years ago.
Before I know it it is 2 am and the club is closing. Because I don't want to go home yet, I just kinda stand around with the crowd outside the club looking lost. And now the fun starts.
A couple comes up to me and introduce themselves and we make idle conversation for a few minutes. Pretty soon they are asking me back to their apartment. I am very intrigued by this, but I never really answer them. We just kinda keep talking. Then, a few minutes later, a guy butts in to the conversation and we talk about the music, the club, places to lives, and etc. And pretty soon he is saying, "I just live a couple of blocks away. Do you want to come over?" What the heck is going on here? I know that I have a "lost look" on now and that I'm in reasonable shape, though I do currently have more pounds around the wasitline than I did one year ago. I end up not answering this guy either as we keep talking and/or his friends drag him away. But he keeps looking over at me and just give him a friendly smile back. But it isn't one minute later that another couple introduces themselves to me and I start in on another little conversation. As we're talking Person H_V is looking over with interest and wondering what will be the result. But pretty soon this conversation leads to another offer. What the heck is going on here? In the last 30 minutes I've just had an offer to "go play" with one couple whose ages sum to my age, a second offer "to come to my apartment because I'm wide awake", and a third offer "to come over and have some fun" from a couple whose ages sum to well less than my age. What the heck is going on here? I never quite give an answer to anyone. I just finally start walking across the street and head for my car. Why did I not accept any of the offers (when two or three are ChiChis)?
On Saturday I get out of bed 3 hours and 12 minutes after my glance at the clock when I was laying down for sleep. I get up and do laundry, go grocery shopping, grab a quick bite to eat, and head off to the household toxic waste cleanup. I have the usual motor oil, paints, and junk that is old and/or no longer needed. Because I get to the cleanup just after they opened, there is no significant line and I'm back at home waxing the rims of the motorcycle and cleaning/watering the roses shortly thereafter. I take a break in activities at 11:30 am but know that I have to keep moving or else I'm going to want to take a nap. Thus I get out for the aquarium bicycle ride. At the beginning of the ride I tell myself just to get out for some exercise, but pretty soon I'm cranking down the Los Angeles river into a headwind. I don't feel weak and keep telling myself to just coast on home (with the wind pushing me home). But I still keep cranking along and I don't feel tired at all.
Later on Saturday afternoon I get down for an hour nap. I set an alarm so that the nap doesn't extend to close to regular sleep time - whatever that is. After I wake up and lay there for 15 minutes trying to regain consciousness, I think about how good life is, how I think the past few days will be helping me pull out of the dolldrums, and I think about my parents and brother as we were growing up. When I get up I try to finish off my taxes, but I run out of paper for printing. Thus I take a half hour walk during which I stop off at the nearby Vons (that has a Staples aisle in it). While shopping I run into two ChiChis. One sees me staring at him and I say hello and continue to stare at him. But he goes about his shopping errand. The rest of the evening is spent quitely finishing taxes and reading.
On Saturday night I sleep very deep as expected. Except that when I do wake up occasionally I keep having dreams about needing a new roof on the house. (Some would argue that with being so out of control lately, I really need a new foundation.) I stagger around the house for a while but it's the first blast of icy cold diet Coke that finally brings me to consciousness. At mid morning I go lift weights (because there is still enough fog around to disrupt a good bicycle ride). When I finish lifting I decide that I should remove a few tree branches from near the power lines and Internet line outside the house. "It'll only take 10 minutes". But as I get trimming the branches I see more and more branches threatening various lines and wires. Thus after an hour of trimming I quit for the time being. I'll have branches to clean up for a while, but there is no immediate threat to electricity or Internet connectivity (and VOIP service).
After watching a race with only minor interest, I get out for the aquarium bicycle ride again. This time I do just take my time in the bright sunshine. Because I'm taking my time, I do consider turning back and starting a conversation with a ChiChi who was going in the opposite direction, but I just continue on home. At home I work on cleaning up some of the branches from the tree trimming though this will take a couple of weeks to get rid of (due to space limitations in the city-provided trash containers). After a shower I already start to feel myself getting sore from lifting and trimming and cleaning - this is good! I want to be really tired for tonight's sleep.
I do sleep well on Sunday night but not on Monday night. On Tuesday morning I wake up at 5 am and cannot fall back asleep. So I grab a shower and get to work near 6 am. It's a long day at work and I feel myself getting more and more upset with the way that things are going. Finally I leave just after 5 pm and hit the weights. I haven't done pyramid sets forever, thus I tackle them and am rewarded with the biggest pump imaginable. And heavy sweating and panting and the verge of collapse. And I try to stay busy on Tuesday night with little things.
On Wednesday I get in another pyramid workout before work and visit my usual office before heading up to Santa Barbara for a meeting. The meeting is pretty much a waste of time as the presentation is all fluff with no substance. By the time that I get back home from this day it is after 8 pm.
I walk into a co-worker's office on Thursday morning to discuss a few things. As we're talking he says that he remembers when I lost a fair amount of weight a few years ago and that I still look really good. I tell him that my weight has gone up over the last year because I've been eating too much when stressed out, when frustrated, and when bored. But he says that I still look really good. And what slips out of my mouth is, "Oh thanks. You can have me any time that you want". And we both stare at each other for 15 seconds before he continues on with another topic. After work I mow the lawn and get in a session of weights for the abdominals and lower back.
On Friday I make it through the day at work. Though this is the second day in a row that I have a recieved a good offer to do activities that cannot be spoken about here (because this is a family diary), I find myself declining the offer again. What's going on here? Nonetheless I get in another pyramid workout and then go walking before calling it an early Friday evening.
Saturday starts with a good loop ride and the laundry. Qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix is eciting as each of the last three drivers steal the pole from each other as the checkered flag waves. I keep myself busy with little errands and by 4 pm I am laying down for a nap. After conversations with Person T_U and Joe, during which they both say that I am still not conscious, I get in a great pyramid session with the weights to wake me up and to energze my metabolism. Thus a bit after 9 pm I am headed for clubs in West Hollywood.
I get to a first club to wander around and listen to music prior to meeting up with others at a second club. Eventually near midnight I meet up with Person T_U and we go into the second club. Joe is already there as well as a number of other people including Person T_CT (who I have not seen for a while) as well as Person H_V. Just before closing Person T_U and I wander off to a third club and though they will not let us in (because it is only 13 minutes until closing), we wait around outside for the masses of people to exit. We hang out for a while and Person T_U meets an interesting person and they exchange phone numbers. I head for home after 2:30 am and take my time getting home - seeing 2 accidents within a 0.5 mile stretch of the opposite direction freeway gives me this bearing tonight. When I get home I watch the start of the recorded Malaysian Grand Prix and, just before sleep at 4am, send a text message to Person C_T indicating that I have issues that I am currently dealing with.
On Sunday I'm awake and out of bed 3 hours after falling asleep. By 10 am I have watched the rest of the Malaysian Grand Prix, sprayed the roses for pests, watered other plants, fixed a pesky and sticking screen door, and start to jump on the bicycle for the aquarium bicycle ride. This will be the last aquarium ride before the Long Beach Grand Prix completely shuts down the area. As it is, the barriers have been in place for quite a while. This is an exciting time of year in Long Beach.
The rest of Easter is a slow day. However, I do meet the new neighbors who moved in next to me, Hope, Shora, and the little doggie, Cinnamon. I notice that they have accomplished in 36 hours of living here what I have not done in nearly 20 years, namely, they met the neighbors behind us on the next street over. Operating on three hours of sleep allows me to get down for sleep early on Easter night without guilt.