I continue to fight off the sore throat picked up from...um...somebody. I abuse the Vitamin C where applicable. But I also try to maintain a schedule of physical activities to keep the blood flowing.
After a Friday morning run I drive the Toyota truck to work. I stay late at work and head up to West Hollywood afterwards in order to see a movie and go clubbing. I see the movie "Spun".
Angeles addicts and dealers captures the mind-blowing blur of life on crystal meth. Those put off by the effects of substance abuse should steer far clear of this film, which colorfully satirizes the lives of a group of drug pushers, users and producers.The movie was beyond raw, beyond harsh, and just plain bad. It was disappointing. I turn my mobile phone back on and find 5 messages in the 110 minutes of the film (as well as my voice mailbox being full). Calls came in from Karl (former tennis doubles partner who wants to visit with his wife Kikumi), Person Roy, Person G, and others. I return some of the calls. Seeing that I am in West Hollywood, I call Person J_VKPI but can't get through and I head to a club to hang out and listen to music. I run into Person W_V who reminds me to go to Club Asia on Saturday night. "Maybe, we'll see. I have a busy day scheduled for Saturday." The evening is uneventfull except for one guy, who has been exchanging smiles/glances with me all evening, who comes over and says, "What happened to your boyfriend? Didn't you have a Philipino boyfriend?" Though I don't say it, I want to say, "Oh, you didn't hear? He got caught in crossfire between Iraqi soldiers and coalition forces. Dirty shame. Senseless violence." But I do not say that. Instead I say, "That was last summer." I'm in bed just a bit after 2am on Saturday morning.
I'm up on Saturday a bit after 6am to run errands, do the laundry, watch the Brazilian Grand Prix qualifying, and perform a few other tasks before the main events start. Person T* and I take the new mountain bicycles to an offroad trail and we start pedaling away. It is a decent ride. But Person T* falls three times during the ride and I fall once. Person T* was smart enough to have all of her falls on dirt whereas mine was on cement (as I tried to make a sharp turn before a steep climb and the front shock bounced back unexpectedly). We later go comfort each other. But then I have to leave because I have an ice hockey practice session. So I run on over to Torrance and have a good workout on the ice. When I finish I realize that the impact on the bicycle with the cement was a bit more than I thought as a few body parts start to hurt. I return a few telephone calls and get ready to go to Club Asia.
Person W_V greets me at Club Asia with a big hug. And we have good discussions throughout the night. I also run into Person D_V and Person T_U and the three of us agree to go for a run or a bicycle ride one of these nights or weekends. Seeing that we lose an hour tonight, I leave the club to the disappointment of my acquaintances just after 1am and I'm dropping off to sleep at 1:30am (which becomes 2:30am).
I'm up early to get in a good bicycle ride even if almost everything is sore right now. (From the bicycle accident, the ice hockey workout, and the 4 hours of sleep on each of the last few nights.) I watch a wet, wild, and whacky Brazilian Grand Prix where the winner of the race is not the first one to cross the finishing line! I find time to take a monthly update of the roses for April.
After a good and sunny hour of rollerblading in Long Beach I sit down to watch the (taped) Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix. With all of the major factories and riders involved this year, I'm excited about the prospect of a good fight. Shortly into the race there is a horrific crash with the motorcycle pieces strewn all over the track and a lump of a body laying in the middle of the track. You can see the safety workers come out and pick up the lump and put it on a stretcher and run off. But the lump isn't moving. I look at the timing and scoring for the next lap to see who's missing and my worst fear is confirmed. My favorite (or possibly second favroite) rider, Dajiro Kato, is missing from the timing and scoring. There is no word at the end of the race when my second favorite (or maybe favorite) rider, Valentino Rossi, wins the race as to the condition of Dajiro Kato. But a visit to the website isn't good as they talk about Kato not having a pulse when first found and being on life support. Though Japan is ahead of us, I have found no updated information on Kato's condition and the best that I can do is pray for him and his wife and daughter on this day before his birthday.
There are many telephone calls throughout the weekend to Karl and Kikumi (who invite me to go to Australia now and Japan in June with them), Person Roy, Person J_VKPI, Person M_USC, Person T*, Brandon, and Person M_C. But I am tired and on the verge of tears, so I'm laying in bed by 8:30pm with every telephone turned off. I need to collect my emotions and my thoughts and I just plain need some sleep.