On Monday night there is another good, hard-working, pushing/shoving, and clean ice hockey game. We get a 4-2 lead going into the third period but are lucky to escape with a tie (following the overtime).
On Wednesday I leave work and purchase my airline tickets on Thai Airways and railpass for the upcoming trip. I am excited. I am so excited that I have to go run to relax. I run for 7 miles and stop even though I am still excited.
On Thursday morning I see Dr. M. Usually the first thing that he says when he see me is, "Are you still playing hockey?", because he's an ice hockey fan. Today he steps in, looks at me, and says, "You lost weight. You look great!"
And I respond with, "You lost weight also. You look great too!" And we share experiences about the Atkins diet (his way) and a broken heart/emotional trauma/other stuff (my way). He refills my antibiotic prescription and others and gives me a number of refills this time - instead of having me have to ask for one refill at a time. I agree to come back in a few weeks to discuss the results of the tests.
Friday the 13th is a strange day! On Friday morning I get up early and go for a run. When I get back from the run there are two telephone messages at 5:07 am and 5:09 am from someone who shouldn't be calling anymore. Later in the day Person T* comes by my office, returns a few items, and ends things. Regardless of these events, Friday is sorta productive at work. When I leave work I do the laundry, do a supplemental lifting session for lagging body parts, go for a long walk with and without Nopesterini, and start shredding some of the stuff that Person T* returned to me. I'm in bed and asleep by 10pm.
I'm up early on Saturday morning and lay in bed for a while - trying to make sense of things. I record the lowest blood pressure and pulse readings in five years of monitoring. I realize that the two week break from life ended yesterday at two weeks and two days, actually, with the phone calls and the "end things". The two week break managed to get the evil out. Now it is time to enjoy the summer and have fun.
I start the fun with a good 40 mile bicycle ride up the Los Angeles river, across the dam and nature reserve, and down the San Grabirel river towards home. This is followed up with Canadian Grand Prix qualifying in the wet but drying conditions, a visit to Goodwill to drop off the "returned items" as well as other items from the Person, long calls with Persons SB, T_GG, and M_C, some art work, a great session with the weights, and a long walk. (Person M_C made it back safely from Indonesia even if they had declared martial law in a portion of the country when he was there.) On this walk I start out with Nopesterini but it is obvious that he isn't going to make it around the block, so we turn back for home. I drop him off and continue for a long walk on my own. Now I'm tired. But this day is not done yet.
I'm headed for West Hollywood a little after 9pm to pick up Person J_VKPI. We're going to meet many people, including Person ED_F, at a club to have fun and stuff. Person ED_F doesn't show up, but Person M_USC does. His first time here. The crowd is down tonight, but it's fun and I get a reasonable offer from Person E_K as I'm talking with Person M_USC.
As I'm leaving the club I stop and tell a friend of Person M_P, "Tell him that I said Hi and that I hope that things are going well for him". I turn to leave and knock over someone's drink. I apologize, reach into my wallet and toss some money on the table to replace the drink (despite the protests of the people at the table), and I go off to find an attendant to sweep up the broken glass and fluids. My streak of breaking glasses continues. I'm home in bed a bit before 3am.
On Sunday I'm out of bed a bit after 7am and get out for the Aquarium loop ride. Later I stock up on dog food for Nopester and watch the dry Canadian Grand Prix. I get out for about an hour of rollerblading before heading for home and doing some art painting. Phone calls from Person H_V, Person T_GG, and Person E_K are handled with professionalism and diplomacy. I manage to get a short nap in during the afternoon and read the newspaper to almost end this first weekend of freedom from stress and this first weekend of a sunny summer season.
Person H_V comes over and we hang out for a few hours and have long conversations about things. Person H_V leaves near 3 am on Monday morning.
I can tell that Monday is going to be a productive day coming off of 4 hours of sleep on Saturday night and three hours of sleep on Sunday night. And dinner with Person E_K to follow.