On Tuesday I try to be productive at work and then go visit a doctor. During Tuesday's work day I walk very slowly to the cafeteria at noontime for lunch and two people stop me and wonder what is wrong with me. I do not give them good answers but both offer to help in any way that they can. After work I go visit a doctor who makes a routine examination and wonders why I can see perfectly out of my left eye but my right eye is way off. I tell him about the recent bicycle accident where I did hit my head on the right side a bit and I tell him my blood pressure is a bit elevated and I tell him of all of the self-induced chaos going on in my life. So he does some exploratory work on the right side of my head but doesn't find anything out of the ordinary. Besides the other tests that he runs he insists that I come back in a short while for a quick re-test of my eyesight and then we'll try to debug from there. After the appointment I can actuallly lift some fairly heavy weights - even for the bench press. I do not try any rowing exercises since they involve too much pressure on the ribs but I hnestly feel on the road to physical recovery from the bicycle accident after today's lifting session.
On Wednesday I continue my heroin hangover look at work and get a few more offers for help. But I non-chalantly decline them and try to be productive at work. At mid-day I go for a long walk and have some "eureka moments" about recent events. After work Person Ti_Ca and I have a quick dinner and I explain to him the heroin hangover look and he enjoys the concept. But also says that I would look good with a shaved or buzzed head. I wonder if that is in my future?
Thursday is the final day of the heroin hangover look. I haven't shaved since Saturday and I spend a few minutes each morning in the bathroom at work "gelling" my hair to get it to look like I haven't slept if four days. (This takes a fair amount of gel since the motorcycle helmet has already scrunched the hair down quite a bit.) By the end of Thursday I've had 15 offers of people asking me if I need the phone number for Employee Assistance, if they want me to have them come with me to Employee Assistance, and/or if I need them to call Human Resources for me to get some help. I go see the dentist and have to explain the heroin hangover look to her and her husband, but they've known me for a long time so it works out well. Person Ch_C comes over and we have a three hour discussion. Person Ch_C is struggling. After Person Ch_C leaves I call Person Ti_Ca to talk and we end up talking until 1 in the morning. And my alarm is going to go off at 5:30 am. Friday will be my own struggle!
On Friday I decide to get revenge against the bosses who run into my office and say "This effort has to be done by 1 pm today or the world will end". So I put together more than 100 PowerPoint charts and send out a Friday morning email that says, "These charts must be reviewed and commented on by 3 pm on Saturday or Monday's review will be delayed day-for-day and etc etc and the world is coming to an end". Most of the bosses understand what I'm doing with the email and charts and get a good laugh over it. One doesn't quite understand it, responds with a shortened email and set of instructions, and schedules the review for Monday.
On Friday I go for another long walk at mid-day to clear my head, exchange some increasingingly emotional text messages with Person Ch_C who is struggling badly, and then go home for work early. I rapidly mow and clean up the lawn, do a load of laundry, take a shower, and head to a bookstore. From the bookstore I coordinate with Person T_U and Person Ti_Ca to meet up and watch Green Hornet 3D. I enjoy the 3D effects a lot and the movie has some very funny lines in it. I can tell that Person Ti_Ca is also enjoyng the movie and that makes me happy. After the movie I drop Person Ti_Ca off at home and have the deepest 6 hours of sleep - since the entire week's sleep patterns have been disrupted with many issues.
Saturday starts with a warming day and the extended aquarium bicycle ride. On the way down to the aquarium a lot of people go past me on their road bicycles - am I that slow on the mountain bicycle today or did I just happen to hit the time when the roadies are cranking along? Afterwards I pick up Person Ti_Ca and after some errands we come back to my house to hang out. Person Ti_Ca wants to see my motorcycle and after he sees it and I let him sit on the back with me, he insists that we go for a ride. So we put on helmets and start out riding down to Long Beach beach and rest. That's not enough for Person Ti_Ca who is just having a blast (despite this bike not being made for two people). So soon we're headed down the pacific coast highway to Seal Beach, Sunset Beacm and then Huntington Beach. By the time we're down to Huntington Beach it is time to turn around and head home (since Person Ti_Ca is meeting friends for dinner and hanging out). On the way back home I feel Person Ti_Ca pressing more and more on my back and I can tell he is getting more and more uncomfortable with the seating position. But when we get home he cannot wipe the smile off his face because he's enjoyed it so much. And he insists that I come to pick him up regularly on the motorbike when we hang out. After Person Ti_Ca leaves I try to relax with the football playoff game but Person Ch_C knocks on the door. I do not let Person Ch_C inside the house and instead we have a long phone conversation until my mobile phone battery dies. I head for sleep early and sleep well - it has been a long day.
On Sunday I ride the mountain bicycle north on the Los Angeles river on a timed ride. I'm tired this morning and even thought about not riding, but I get out anyway. Near 11:30 I walk over to Starbuck's and meet up with Person Ch_C (since he's not welcome at my house anymore). I keep repeating "I want to pursue things with Person Ti_Ca" but this falls on deaf ears. EVentually I head for home and put myself into a state of oblivion with anti-inflammatory and anti-pain medicine (since my ribs hurt so much and my emotions hurt so much). The ribs hurt from Person Ti_Ca holding on so tightly on Saturday's motorbike ride. My emotions hurt so much from dealing with Person Ch_C. Eventually I wake up after the entire football game has ended and I stagger around the house a bit until I make it to bed.
On Monday I make a good presentation and two of my bosses say "That's exactly the type of flavor we should be using for everyone's presentation". So I turn to both bosses and tell them, "Make sure you tell my functional manager that you thought I did an excellent job". And everyone knows my functional manager is already in the audience, so people have some fun with that. After the presentation and another meeting I am worn out so I leave work. I trim a front bush and then spend a fair amount of time cleaning up the rose beds of dried up leaves and weeds and junk. After a quick shower I catch Sunday's Desperate Housewives while eating vegetables and cheese and crackers and salsa for dinner. And then I'm bored for the rest of the evening.
On Tuesday I tell me bosses that I'm worn out from the chaos in my life and tell them that I'm going home early to work out, go to sleep early, and then shut off the alarm and come in on Wednesday whenever I make it in. THey agree to this plan and I get in a good session with the weights and actually play around in the dirt near the roses and flower beds before taking a shower and eventually heading for sleep fairly early. But I do relent and actually set the alarm for Wednesday morning.
On Wednesday my boss comes into my office and catches me napping. He says, "Ray, come quickly. We need your help in a meeting." He knows I'm going through chaotic times right now and doesn't say a word about my mid-day nap. When I get home on Wednesday I dread this workout for abdominals and lower back because I think the ribs are going to prevent me from doing anything productive. But to my surprise I get in a pretty darn good workout and stop the abdominal work when the ribs tell me that I've gone to the point of "active recuperation" but before the point "further damage". I visit with Person Ti_Ca for a short time but our wires got crossed up so it's just an hour visit or so.
Friday starts as I awake from the deepest sleep that I have had in a month and with two very very strange dreams. I have to lay in bed for a while to figure out where I am and to consider how deep the sleep was. Was the deep sleep due to the heavier lifting yesterday, the slightly better eating habits of the past two days, or the sharing of deep emotions with Person Ti_Ca over the phone just before sleep time? As I'm reading the news I see the a cyclist has been fatally crushed by a metro blue line train right at the crossing I usually use to get to the Los Angeles river. I note to take extra caution for this morning's upcoming ride. I continue reading the news and see the first USA-based interview with Aung San Suu Kvi since her "release" from house arrest. The tears are streaming down my face as I watch and listen to "The Lady" (as she is called in Myanmar/Burma) talk about the plans for the future of Myanmar and freedom and democracy and what she has been through. A true inspiration like Rigoberta Menchu and Nelson Mandela.
Friday continues with the aquarium ride and then Ruby picks me up for a business meeting in Santa Monica. There is no real traffic getting to Santa Monica at 11 am, but there is a fair amount by 3 pm (on a Friday) when we're headed home. I jump in the car and buy some new bicycle shoes, pedals, and a rear tire and then pick up Person Ti_Ca. Person Ti_Ca do the laundry, do some grocery shopping, cook dinner, and watch silly television shows. Later I drop Person Ti_Ca off at his home and head for sleep.
On Saturday I wake up with a very happy dream about some sort of awards show where the winner is about to be announced and the underdog ethnic-based nominees received a standing ovation just for being nominated. I, unfortnately, wake up before the winner is announced and there are tears of joy flowing down my cheeks as I keep hoping to fall back asleep and hear the underdog winner's name announced. A very stupid and silly dream - but somewhat based upon yesterday's interview with AUng San Suu Kvi and the fact that award season is coming up. I get up and do more laundry, get dressed, and pick up Person Ti_Ca.
We drive on out to Palm Springs and take the tramway up to the top to the adventure center and go play around in the snow for almost four hours. Person Ti_Ca decides he needs to build a snowman, so I end up digging up all of the icy snow for the snowman and he shapes it as desired. The snow as melted and re-frozen a number of times so the top layer is crusty - and digging up enough snow for the size of snowman that Person Ti_Ca wants to build is hard work. But we get through it. There's other fun including sliding down slopes on sleds and just holding each ogether and rolling down hills. Near four hours we're both tired so we take the tram back down to regular elevations and I drive home while Person Ti_Ca sleeps for a majority of the drive. We have a quick Japanese dinner and then I drop Person Ti_Ca off at his house and I hope for deep sleep.
Sunday starts with recovery from some good sleep. I clean abthrooms and do other little things around the house until the morning has warmed up. At that point I take the mountain bicycle out with brand new clipless pedals and new shoes for a fun extended aquarium ride. The pedals and shoes (and seat post) need adjustment, but I love the new pedals and shoes! After a shower, I get a haircut, do the grocery shopping, and get ready to relax for football games. After Friday and Saturday spending time with people, I enjoy the solitude of Sunday.
Monday is a reasonable day at work and I get in a great workout with the weights afterwards (minus any rowing-type exercises that still hurt the ribs). I'm approaching heavy weights again after the long lifting vacation break and bicycle accident break.