On Thursday night Person N_V heads down to San Diego to visit his family for Easter (after his tennis). I relax and try to get to bed early.
On Friday I hear of an unplanned event in Fort Wayne where the engineering development unit sensor is dropped and gets wedged into a handling/lifting fixture. How can this be? They can't get it out of the fixture! And now I am told that I have to fly to Fort Wayne to solve the problem. But I resist with, "I have to vote in the Long Beach city council election on Tuesday and I can fly out after I vote. Besides, we should gather photos and facts before I fly out in case we can solve the problem from here."
I get home on Friday a bit early to mow the lawn and fertilize the lawn. Except that the fertilizer speader breaks during the backyard feeding. So I go run, take a shower, and have dinner. There is still light left, so I get to the hardware store and buy a new spreader - the Scott's AccuGreen Model 1000 drop spreader for smaller lawns and lighter use even if I wanted to buy the Scott's AccuGreen Model 3000 drop spreader with precision spreading calibration and wider wheelbase. I get the spreader assembled and actually manage to get the rest of the fertilizer down before nightfall. Later I take a Kava root extract dose as I feel that I need extra sleep. The sleep tonight is very deep when it comes even if I wake up a few times during the night and think about Person N_V and other things.
On Saturday I'm up at a reasonable hour to go for a bicycle ride, wash the car (with a little car wash incident described in the next paragraph), buy new rollerblades, and relax for a while. I'm finally confident enough in the health of my L4/L5 discs to buy new rollerblades (as this was long overdue since Christmas). I try out the new rollerblades by skating over to Mom and Dad's with two chocolate bunnies and two chocolate chicks for their Easter presents. When I get home I try to take a nap but get interupted by Person J_VKPI and Person N_V. So I get up and lift weights - the first session with the weights since I took the 8 days off to rest and recover all of my joints. As usual with the first weights session after a brief respite, it is a light weight day and still I struggle. Afterwards I do some digging in the backyard to fill in holes and plant some grass in bare spots.
The car wash incident is now described. About 4 or 6 weeks ago I took the car to the car wash to be washed. A potential ChiChi was also there and I smiled, of course, at the potential ChiChi and he kept looking over at me. I ignored the staring and continued reading the cryptography book at the time as the car was washed and dried. The potential ChiChi finishes first and he drives off in his Nissan Altima. This past week the potential ChiChi, Person M_P...um...that has already been taken so let's use Person M_Fl, contacts me electronically and says that he recognized me from my website and the car wash. Paraphrased I ask why he didn't introduce himself and talk with me and, paraphrased, the potential ChiChi says that he's shy, he saw that I was reading, and that he couldn't quite place my face until after he had left the car wash. Well, Person M_Fl and I agree to have friendly discussions as I explain my on-again/off-again relationship with Person N_V.
After 9 pm on Saturday night I'm headed up to K-Town to pick Person J_VKPI up to go clubbing. Because there are separate parties in Los Angeles and Palm Springs this weekend, the crowd is light. The music is pretty decent with mostly techno/trance/eurodance music played with very little hip hop or oldies played. (Oldies being music from 6 months ago.) There are a few people who want to make offers, including Person John from a few weeks ago, but I manage to avoid all unwanted offers. The cute young indeterminant ethncity girl (CYIEG) or boy, I don't know which one, is present for a short time and I bite my tongue and make no comments to her/him about the cuteness of her/his eyes. Because the crowd is light we leave a bit early. After dropping Person J_VKPI off at his apartment I am in a hurry to get home. There's a transition ramp on the freeway that has a 40 mph speed limit posted which I take just a whisker short of 90 mph - the all wheel drive providing the grip and traction needed to make this speed feel comfortable and for me to know that there is at least 10 mph more out of this corner. I'm laying down for sleep at 2:45 am on Sunday morning.
I'm up early on Sunday morning to squeeze in an hour ride around the aquarium before church. Before what? I go to St Matthew's catholic church for the 10:30 am Easter service. Why? Because there are people that I need to pray for. I pray for Ruby (who is having health/medical problems), Joseph (whose family is having health/medical problems), and Person N_V. For myself, I pray for continued sobriety and health - that is all that I really need or want. As the catholic mass starts there are tears welling up in my eyes and the lump swelling in my throat. This continues on and off - mostly on - for the first 45 minutes of the mass. The priest talks about spreading hope during this easter season to those who have lost hope or are about to lose hope. And the tears keep welling up, though I manage to choke them back for the most part. Only a couple of times do I have to wipe my eyes. It is just emotional for me to be in church with all of the things that are going on with me, with my friends, and with the spring/easter season of renewed hope and rebirth. I did not expect this, but here I am. A number of times I can only mouth the response to the priest because I am so choked up that nothing comes out of my throat/mouth.
After the mass I go home, change clothes, and go skate for about an hour. These new rollerblades are very nice though they don't have the special "rock" that I put into the previous pair. And they are pretty fast. Granted they are not speed skates, but they are certainly faster than my roller hockey skates were. I like them!
I get home, reload the blood sugar and muscle glycogen supply, and drive Person T* and her son's easter presents over to Fullerton. They are not there so I just attach them to the front door and come back home. There has been no call from Person N_V since 9:30 pm on Saturday and that is probably just as well because I'm sure that I'm going to lose it as soon as I have to say something to someone, or anyone for that matter.
Late on Sunday afternoon there is a 45 SECOND phone call with Person N_V from San Diego saying that he'll be home late. Shortly thereafter there is a 45 MINUTE phone call with Person T*. What is wrong with this picture?