On Thursday Daniel from San Francisco visits and we have lunch in Belmont Shores. Daniel keeps says, "I hate LA", even as he describes the idiocy and chaos going on at the high school in San Francisco where he teaches. After lunch, Daniel says that he is going back to his parents' house to pack and go back to San Francisco.
Thursday night sees me headed via train to the Staples Center for another Kings' game. Tonight's game is weird - the first four goals are strange ones. Two of these goals are on shots taken from behind the goal line and they end up in the net after bouncing off the goalies. But the Kings prevail in overtime. I run into a former ice hockey teammate whom I haven't seen for a while. After the usual greetings, the first thing he says is, "So what have you been up to for the last year except losing weight?"
And I cover the emotional trauma reason with, "I don't need to carry that extra weight if I'm not playing ice hockey." He doesn't buy this reason (because I'm playing again) but it gets us to the next topic.
Friday I meet up with Dao and we drive out to Palm Springs and head for the tram. The tram takes us up about 6000 feet in ten minutes and delivers us to a snow-covered hiking, skiing, and sledding area. We go off hiking, sliding, and falling in the snow as we grab pictures of the valley below (including Palm Springs). It is in the high 30's and my feet are wet, but it is a fun time. We end up hiking for about 4 hours before grabbing lunch, taking the tram back down, and driving to Palm Springs for a walk. There is nothing in Palm Springs for me, so we head back for Los Angeles. After checking email at home, I lay down to go to sleep just before midnight.
Saturday I have a scratchy throat (From the cold weather and wet feet?), so I take it easy. I lift weights and get out to a nursery to buy roses, but that just about sums up the day. Except that Person J_VKPI calls and later I'm headed to K-Town to pick him up to go clubbing in West Hollywood.
I wait outside Person J_VKPI's apartment for more than twenty minutes. I finally get fed up and leave. I make it almost all of the way to the club in West Hollywood before Person J_VKPI calls and wonders where I am - this means it would have been a half hour wait beyond the designated meeting time. I profusely apologize to Person J_VKPI for leaving but I also strongly assert that I am tired of always waiting. Person J_VKPI is not happy, but I can't help that.
Thus I arrive at a club in West Hollywood alone. I run into Person N, Person W, and Person JP_P and make small talk with each. The night passes quickly and before I know it the DJ announces that the club is closing and I find that I have agreed to give a friend of a friend of a friend a ride to his apartment (because it is on the way home for me). But before leaving Person JP_P wants to meet someone who neither of us know. So, as I did for Brandon, I go and talk with the desired introductee and finally introduce Person JP_P to the desired introductee. And then I rapidly leave as the hour is late. So Person M_P and I have a good conversation on the way to his apartment and outside when we get there. I am laying my head down for sleep (alone) in my own bed at 3:45am on Sunday.
On Sunday I'm up at 7:45 to lift weights, walk Nopey, continue for a longer walk, and buy the newspaper. As the day is nice and sunny, I get on the bicycle and ride about 20 miles. I run into a fellow cyclist on a recumbent bicycle and we talk about how bright and sunny the day is, how crisp and clear the air is, the condition of the cycling trails in/around Long Beach, and what a great sport cycling is. I finally turn off and head for home as he continues on the 50 mile loop that I did a short while ago.
After the ride I plant 10 rose bushes. These are bare root plants of 4 and 5 star quality that I plan on nursing to good health and then crossbreeding (because rose genetics is a fun topic). I'll have to buy another 7 plants to fill the other holes that I recently dug, but these 10 will get me started for a few weeks anyway.
And then, inexplicably, my emotions and feelings start to play on me. So I do what any rational-minded person who has lifted weights, walked, and cycled on 4 hours of sleep would do - I go to the liquor store, cash in my winning lottery ticket (for $9), and buy a small bottle of whiskey. Amidst the drinking I start to realize there are at least 3 people who want me for my intellectual capabilities (related to algorithms, search capability, and web site development abilities) and another 6 people who want me for romantic purposes. I do not want to think about these topics and feelings because I want and need to be left alone in light of recent relationship developments. The bottle of whiskey helps me forget about these feelings and should suffice until sleep sets in. Except that people come to visit and the telephone starts to ring. I do my best to carry on conversations at this point, but I really want the day to end so that I can close my eyes and sleep. Finally, mercifully, the demands end at approximately 9pm and I am able to collapse into bed and drift off to a world where everything is on two wheels, everybody develops an IQ greater than 75, and people are polite and giving.
On Monday, a day that I desperately need to be left alone, there are demands. Dad and I go shopping in the morning for Christmas returns and birthday presents. Then we work on programming the surveillance video camera controller. But it doesn't want to accept motion sensor inputs, so we have to send the controller back to the manufacturer. Person T* drops by and meets Dad. Person T* does not look happy that I am busy geeking out with the controller, but that is too bad in this instance. In the afternoon I go with Person Dao to buy art supplies and just hang out. I am tired, so the conversations that I attempt to carry on lag. Finally it is 6pm and I need to leave. Leave to be alone? Hardly. Leave to go play some ice hockey. But I get in a good workout anyway.
On Tuesday I buy painting supplies (for the dining room), more roses, and groceries. I head out for a good 26 mile bicycle ride and then start in to cleaning up the backyard and planting more roses. By 1:30pm I am tired. But at least I have been left alone today. Except that I have agreed to meet a friend for dinner, so at 3:30pm I'm headed towards K-Town for dinner. We have a nice dinner in West Hollywood and then have coffee/cider at a coffeehouse. I am in bed and asleep before 10pm.
I wake up on New Year's day and find that I have slept through five telephone messages since collapsing into bed at 10pm. But today is a day to be left alone, so I don't return the calls (for a while), walk the dog, read the newspaper, get out for a reasonable bicycle ride, work on an art project, go rollerblading in the sunshine for about an hour, and work some more on an art project. A good productive day to start 2003!