There is a telephone call on Tuesday night from Mom and Dad (who I used to babysit for). Mom's father has had a heart attack and died. They had just driven up to San Jose for a vacation and to be away from the house while their hardwood floors were refinished. Now they are headed back to Long Beach to catch a plane to Michigan for the funeral. Because they needed room to store their belongings during the floor refinishing, Mom and Dad have put quite a few of their things in my house. Now they will be in my house longer until they get back from the funeral.
Mom and Dad and the kids (Though you can't call them kids anymore because they are 15 and 12.) spend most of Wednesday at my house (because their house is full of fumes from the floor refinishing). They, of course, use my truck during the day because I have my motorcycle and because their minivan is full of items (being stored during the refinishing). When I get home on Wednesday only the youngest is at my house - trying to figure out how to turn on the television, satellite receiver, and surround sound processor. We get it figured out and he is able to watch some of his favorite shows. Everyone else comes by later and we have dinner (via Subway) before they head for the airport.
Thursday there is a move afoot to get me to fly somewhere across the country on Monday for a Tuesday meeting (and return Tuesday night for Wednesday and Thursday meetings in Los Angeles). "Here. Take my mobile phone number because I will not be at work on Friday. Just get me some flight reservations and email them to my home."
Thursday after work I visit Dr. L - for the last visit for many months. Except that Dr. L sees something that he doesn't like. There is a quick phone call to Dr. B and before I know it I am rushing over to Dr. B's office to be seen by him before he leaves to deliver a paper/address in Canada. Dr. B doesn't like what he sees and suggests that we keep an eye on it by having me visit Dr. L again in a few weeks. So much for no more visits to doctor's offices.
I cannot take the nervousness and unproductivity that would result as we await the decision on the HUGE spacecraft contract at TRW. So I take the day off. I get out for the 52 mile bicycle ride again along the LA river, across the Whittier Narrows dam, along the San Gabriel river, along the ocean, and up the LA river trail towards home. I'm wiped out and I spend the next few hours recovering with laundry and watching the news. The HUGE decision is to be at 2pm PDT but I cannot stand the waiting. So at 1:35pm I start trimming bushes and mowing/edging/trimming the front yard. I walk into the house at 3:45pm and there are many voice mail messages for me. But I am not ready yet so I go and mow the backyard and put everything away. I might now be ready.
Sometimes your direction in life comes down to a single, solitary moment. I feel that retrieving the voice mail is that moment. Much like the first call to a potential partner or the first call to potential job interview. I take a deep breath and retrieve my voice mail.
TRW Wins $4.5B NPOESS contract! (National Polar-orbiting Environmental Satellite System)
I am too exhausted to celebrate so I lay down and take a half hour nap. And decide to celebrate by heading out to Fire Island. There are many conversations with Person G, Person M_USC, Person M_C, Person J_VKPI, and others before I get out the door to Fire Island. I arrive at the club just before 11pm. I enjoy listening to music and, for the most part, being left alone tonight. When I am tired and my back is too sore for me to stay, I head for home and am in bed just after 1am.
Saturday I am physically hung over, but I lift weights and get out for the Aquarium bicycle ride in order to keep the blood pumping and to enhance the lactic acid clearance process. After a few other errands I lay down for another nap. I'm interupted by a phone call (about an hour and a half after laying down) from Person M_C and soon he is at my house and we're heading for a remote location for a potluck dinner and video.
The people at the dinner are nice and soon the video starts. It is an interesting video about a set of Thai drag queens who play volleyball and win a national championship in the process. The video, originally in Thai, is overdubbed in Mandarin and subtitled in Catonese and English. Everyone has fun with some of the typical and atypical experiences in the video.
Person M_C and I leave near 9:45pm and stop in at a club in West Hollywood. We run into Joe and Vincent and settle in for some decent music. I lose myself in the music and lights and, fortunately, people also leave me alone. Person M_C and I decide to leave near 12:30 am on Sunday morning. We're headed for home and Person M_C is nodding off. Soon Person M_C's head is resting on my shoulder as I'm driving as he stretches out as best as he can in the confines of a small Toyota truck. I don't bother to remove Person M_C's head from my shoulder because I don't want to wake him and because I like the way it feels. Person M_C is rested enough to drive home and I'm getting to sleep near 2 am on Sunday morning.
The alarm goes off at 6:20am and I'm up and out the door for another run. Throughout the day there are two motorcycle races (from the Czech Republic), an auto race (from the Isle Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal), a noontime Aquarium bicycle ride, and some reading of the newspaper. It is Sunday afternoon, I am tired, my back is sore, and I am restless. So I grab the rollerblades and head for the ocean trail in Long Beach. (I realize that I am not even going to get to the Sunset Junction Street Festival, but the allure or rollerblading near the ocean is too much.)
Now I've really done it! By the time that I've finished rollerblading and had dinner every muscle in my body hurts. I can barely stand up because something in my lower back is a bit tweaked. I just want to lie down and go to sleep. But I cannot.
I start packing for the trip and continue to get interupted. There's a phone call from Person J_VKPI and there's contact from a very distant past, "Are you going out with anyone now - we should get together for dinner." I would hope that this is the end of the Sunday night. But it isn't.
I've come unglued into a highly emotional state in the last few hours. I put on the video tape of a Rolling Stones concert from 1999 (or so). I need to hear some heroin music and "Gimme Shelter" is just the ticket. ("If I don't get some shelter...It's just a shot away.") Even though life has recently had a number of upticks, there are tears in my eyes as I sort through a few...um...issues? Um...no...problems? Well, there are tears in my eyes as I recall and sort through a number of...um...recent occurences and issues in my life. I lay down on the kitchen floor with Nopey and hold him for stability. He lays there because his hips are hurting. I lay there because my emotions are hurting.
I eventually make it to bed at a reasonable hour. The alarm goes off at 4:25am to start the week.