On New Year's morning I pick up Person Ti_Ca and we catch the blue line train to the red line train to the gold line train to a station near the rose parade in Pasadena. This is my first ever rose parade (and Person Ti_Ca's first also) and we follow the crowd and end up with relatively good standing positions to view the parade. We both take many pictures and then head for home via the three trains after the parade. We stop in for lunch and watch the parade (replayed) on television at a pizza place and then we go relax at my house until it is time for me to drop Person Ti_Ca off at a party that he is going to. An hour later Person Ch_C comes to visit and we hang out until I can no longer keep my eyes open.
On Sunday I wait for the morning to warm up a bit, but if I'm going to go cycling I have to go early since it is supposed to rain today. So near 9 am I get out for the aquarium bicycle ride and it is very cold. But it feels good to be on the bicycle after Friday's accident and only a few bodyparts hurt. Throughout the rest of the day there is some very very hard rain in Long Beach and so I stay at home and read the newspaper and watch football games. I note that my right hand is turning alll sorts of purples and blues though it doesn't hurt much.
Monday starts with heavy rain - so cycling of any sort is out for the day. At mid morning I put on the weight lifting gloves, grab the mouthguard, and go see what I can do with all of my injuries. Bench presses are out since my ribs won't even allow me to budge some ridiculously low weight. And I know the rowing for the back muscles will be out since it entails laying face down on the ribs. But I'm able to work some other muscle groups fairly well without oo much pain from the ribs. After a shower I go help Person T_U set up his surround sound stereo components and I finally tell him that he needs to buy some speakers that are more recent than the Reagan adminstistration. We'll see if he takes my advice. After a text or two I pick up Person Ti_Ca and we hang out for a while watching a movie, eat lunch, buy some medicine since he's feeling a bit under the weather, and then hang out some more. After 6 pm I drive Person Ti_Ca back home and tell him that we'll hang out on Friday - maybe all day or maybe all day and all night if we decide to go clubbing together. And then I relax on Monday night as I get ready to go back to work after a long vacation and a long Christmas holiday.
On Tuesday I go back to work and have an unproductive day. I leave work and go for a 50 minute walk and buy lottery tickets for the multi-state lottery that is up to $350 million. ANd eventually head for sleep. Except that Person Ch_C comes to the front door near 1 am and we have a discussion whcih results in us not seeing each other anymore.
On Wednesday I struggle through work with a good heroin hangover look going. As I'm walking across campus a number of people say to me "Rough night last night?" or words to that effect. Others, who I possibly do not know, cross away from my path and avoid having to walk near me. I have to struggle through explanations of recent voice mail ("I hate you. I never want to see you again"), bicycle accidents with possibly broken ribs, and 1 am visits from partners who will not be partners anymore. I have a number of people who offer to look up the phone number for EMployee Assistance or Human Resources to get help for me, but I decline each offer. When I leave work I lift weights (to the best that I can with my injuries) and go walking to the liquor store to cash in the $4 lottery winning from the previous night for more tickets for Wednesday's drawing. And eventually I head for sleep to forget about my problems.
After cleaning the roses and trimming some tree branches, I do the extended aquarium bicycle ride. It hurts the ribs to trim the branches and to breathe deeply during cycling. After a shower I pick up Persin Ti_Ca who inssits on accompanying me to the hospital for a checkup. I pull Person Ti_Ca into the checkup room and into the xray room as I go through the process of debugging my pain. The xrays show no broken or fractured rbs and the doctor gives me some extra strong Ibubrofen and suggets I take it easy for a while. Aftwerwards Person Ti_Ca and I eat Japanese food, hang out at my house for a while, and the go clubbing to an 18 and over club in West Hollywood. I admit that I have focused so much on Person Ti_Ca's smile during the entire clubbing time that I don;t even know if any of my clubbing friends or acquaintances are present. When the club closes we rush on home for deep sleep.
Staturday starts with more work on the roses and trimming the fallen tree branches. The ribs hurt but they must be exercised. After a shower Person Ti_Ca and I head to the Santa Monica promenade to hang out and shop. THough I don't like shopping at all, I've gone with Person Ti_Ca as a compromise. And I actually almost enjoy it. After the shopping I miss two freeway turnouts and take a long way back to drop Person Ti_Ca off at his home. And then relax at home watching football playoff games.
Sunday starts with more work on the roses and cleaning up the downed tree branches. Its still early, so I go out cycling early in the chilly weather. Today I run into a group of 12 men from India and after I ask them where they are from, they want to know how to get to Hollywood without car. So I direct them to the blue line and red line trains and tell them to expect an hour train ride. I hope they enjoy their visit to the USA. When I get home I make a quick trip to the grocery store and then I watch football playoff games. How come my own choice of medicine (i.e., Aleve) works so much better than what the doctor gave me for free (600 mg Ibubrofen) on my rib pain?
Monday is a slow day at work and at home. I'm in a stupor - pondering the various outcomes of life. There are not many that look good now.