I look forward to a quiet Tuesday night away from people and geeking out on a new intelligent agent. But it is not to be.
Mom calls and asks me to go with Dad to pick up their oldest son from summer camp where he has taken ill. (Mom and Dad were both up the entire previous night working on a project and neither feels safe driving the entire way alone.) So a few minutes later Dad is over and we're heading for Big Bear. We get to the camp and Scott, the oldest son of Mom and Dad, is very hot and cannot speak because his throat is so sore. Soon we're turned around and headed for home. I get back into my own driveway right near 11pm - about 4 hours after starting the little venture.
My head hits the pillow for sleep at midnight. When the telephone rings at 12:30am - jolting me awake - I consider whether to answer it or not. I do. It is Person G. Person G and I speak on the telephone for nearly an hour about relationships, recent events, the Anime Expo, and travel plans. I am finally dozing backs towards sleep near 2am.
Wednesday is a lost day at work, so I leave early and go for a nice bicycle ride in the summer heat (and in the ocean breeze). I take a quick shower and jump back on the bicycle to casually ride over to the park for a Wednesday evening concert in the park. I run into my neighbor, her daughter-in-law, and her grandson and so we hang out for a while and take digital pictures of each other. Then I make the rounds of the crowd to see who else that I know. I run into a few people that I only see at the clubs and so I stop to talk to them. While I'm talking with them, one of their acquantances stops me and asks if I'm running for political office. Without missing a beat, I jump into my prepared speech: "I want us to have sidewalks that we can walk on without tripping on. I want us to have quiet neighborhoods where nuisances are taken care of. I want us to have streets that have no potholes and that we can be proud of. I want us to have community-based policing. I want to attract neighborhood-friendly businesses to the retail-zoned areas. My name is Ray Manning and I'm running for the 8th district city council seat."
Saturday morning sees the bicycles loaded up in the truck and we're driving up to the Whittier Narrows Dam. We ride to the Santa Fe dam and start climbing the Angeles Crest Highway before we turn around and fight the headwind back to the Whitter Dam. It was a good, tough 40 mile ride. I am tired.
I trade vehicle with Mom and Dad for later use. I exchange the Toyota truck for a Dodge minivan. The neighbors see me pull up into my driveway and say that the "new" van does not fit my profile. I casually say that I intend to fill the van soon.
After lifting weights and completing a few other activities, I am picking up Ralph from around the corner and we're headed for Northridge. Person Roy is visiting an aunt in Northridge and I have to pick him up. With that accomplished, the three of us are headed for K-Town to pick up Person J_VKPI. We're late getting to the apartment of Person J_VKPI, but he keeps us waiting longer. As we're pushing the pace to get onto the 101 freeway (heading for Burbank), a possum tries to cross the road directly in front of us and a combination of heavy braking and the possum changing it's mind and reversing directions spares the life of the possum.
We're in Burbank at 10pm and on the ice (for another one of these ice skating fundraisers) by 10:15pm. There is a sparse crowd which gives me more time to spend with my guests. Person W does not make it this time. But Person A...um...we've used that one, so Person A_UCLA makes it. Everybody wants to learn to skate backwards tonight and I spend a fair amount of time working with people to make it happen. But I have to do some weird stuff also, so soon, in ice hockey jersey and weighing in at...well, that's a classified number...so weighing in at a hefty weight, I'm trying both forward and backwards Dorothy Hamil swan dive maneuvers on the ice. I get some strange looks, but everyobdy realizes that we're all just having fun.
I'm dropping my head on the pillow for sleep near 2 am on Sunday morning after dropping off Person J_VKPI, Person Roy, and Ralph.
Sunday I watch some motorcycle races. (Valentino Rossi crashes during Friday practice, spends Saturday in the hospital, gets back to the track and takes pole on Saturday afternoon, and wins the race on Sunday when Carlos Checa crashes out!) I also lift weights, go for a bicycle ride, and decide to go rollerblading. During the bicycle ride a lady hooks up with me and I show her the Los Angeles river trail in Long Beach (she has just moved here from Fullerton). I invite her and her girlfriend to the concert in the park on Wednesday evening though I tell her that I will miss the next one because I will be out of town.
Throughout Sunday I field 20 telephone calls. This is not an exageration. I field 20 telephone calls from Person Roy, Ralph, Person J_KVPI, Person T*, Person N_Y, Joe (during which he uses the term "turbo-slut" towards me), and finally Person M_USC. Person M_USC catches me as I'm returning home from rollerblading. So I turn around and meet up with him at a coffeehouse. Eventually I invite him home to meet Nopesterini and to chat. By 9pm Person M_USC is leaving and I can resume packing for the trip.
Work has suggested that I go into rehab...ooops...I mean go to San Jose for Tuesday and Wednesday meetings. Thus I am packing for the Monday night flight. (I have asked Joe where the clubs to go to in San Jose are since he is from San Jose and I'll have a Tuesday night available.) I am exhausted and collapsed in bed on Sunday by 10pm.