On Tuesday I am supposed to have an interview with Ruby and another agency about the adoptions program but it gets cancelled at the last minute. So I ride the motorbike on home and get in a heavy pull session with the weights. I also tend the roses, the impatiens, and the new not-yet-germinated grass. Afterwards I watch the recorded final ever 125 cc two stroke road race from Valencia. The 125 cc two stroke class is being replaced with the 250 cc four stroke Moto3 class. Since Karl called me today from Florida during the workday to relay a message to Mr Tree in Thailand, I call Mr Tree in Thailand and see how he is doing and to relay the message. There is still plenty of flooding in Bangkok and the situation is getting desperate.
In the midst of the workday I am feeling stressed out so I get out walking for about 40 minutes while I think about my work problems and my personal problems. It seems to help. After work on Wednesday I pick up Person Ti_Ca on the motorbike and we run an errand and then we go home. After dinner we start a serious and heartfelt conversation and it goes horribly wrong. By the end of the night we are sleeping in separate rooms.
I wake up early on Thursday - assuming that I had any sleep after the previous night - and get out of the house for work as soon as I can. I do not know what to say to Person Ti_Ca so I figure a day of "cooling off" will help. The day at work is farily productive and when I've run out of steam I skip a meeting and go home. I apologize profusely to Person Ti_Ca and ask for forgiveness and ask to work together to fix things and get back to where we were about a month ago when things started going wrong. We're going to try and fix things. We head off to run an errand and then I drop Person Ti_Ca off at school for his evening calculus class. I rush on home and get in a heavy workout for the push muscle groups and then veg out - because I have no mental or emotional energy for anything.
Friday starts early because I cannot stay asleep. The day isn't going to warm up, so I start out on the extended aquarium bicycle ride right near 7 am. It is a grey day with some wind, but my legs feel very strong and I have a great ride! I mow the lawn and lubricate the garage door hinges before taking a shower and running errands. I buy Godiva chocolate to apologize further to Person Ti_Ca and I pick up two books at the library. The instant I get home and put things away I get a text message from Person Ti_Ca and so I pick him up at his sister's store (his workplace) and we hang out for the afternoon. THe air contitioning and furnace maintenance man comes over in the afternoon and finds everything in very good order - I don't even need a new filter this time. But he's a talker, so the visit lasts twice as long as it should have. He-s a nice and competent man - just he's a talker too. In the early evening Person T_U comes over and the three of us drive to the movei theatre to see "J Edgar". It's a good movie and I'm glad that I recently read a book about 20th centruy leaders to fill in the holes of the movie.
Saturday ia a rainy grey day. At the end of the day it turns out that I could have gone cycling and not got too wet. But I play it safe and have a good, heavy pull muscle group workout and do some little things on the motorbike before grabbing a shower and lunch. Person Ti_Ca has been doing homework and when he's done we head to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Person Ti_Ca wants to go to the museum because he's seen the lights out front in a movie and wants to take pictures there. When we get there we take pictures in the daylight, then wander through a number of exhibits, and then take more pictures "in the light field" at night. I hope that Person Ti_Ca appreciates the art in the museum (as well as the lights). As we head towards home we stop off and lend Person J_VKPI some money (since a few things have gone against him recently) and then we stop in Thaitown to eat dinner. The drive home is uneventfull except for some rain that spatters down. I'm back at home at 8:30 pm after dropping Person Ti_Ca off at his house.
I wake up on Sunday morning at 2 am in a pool of sweat and cannot sleep. There is no nightmare or bad dream this, but I just cannot fall back asleep. I surf the Internet and organize the museum pictures before I try for sleep again at 3:15 am. Eventually I fall asleep and wake up at 6 am for the Grand prix of Abu Dabi. Unfortunately my favorite driver starts from pole and crashes out on the first lap due to an "immediate tire deflation" and my second favorite driver gets a somewhat surprising second. The extended aquarium ride gets shortcut because there is some sort of roadrace for runners starting just as I get near the ocean trail, so I turn around and run away from the runners as I hear their national anthem being played. At the end of the ride I go past my stop on the Los Angeles river and then backtrack for home to extend the ride. I feel strong and exuberant during the ride! After a longer-than-usual shower I start some laundry and run some errands. And then I relax around the house by doing some small cleaning tasks, oiling of wood furniture, and watching some football.
Monday through Wednesday are training class days at work. We learn some new productivity tools to help with our test and analysis models and correlation. I'm looking forward to trying the tools out. On Monday night I get home and have a heavy workout for the push muscle group. It feels good but a few joints are starting to hurt a bit so next week's week off from lifting is due. At the prodding of Person Ti_Ca I call my friend Tree in Thailand and express concern over the flooding and his situation and then I tell him about Person Ti_Ca. Mr Tree says that he knew this was going on since he reads my diary and that he expected it to happen for both of us since we are so far apart and only see each other once a year. I can sense the disappointment in his voice but I can also sense his happiness for me. We continue the conversation and we both talk about seeing each other when the four of us can meet each other and be friends.
Monday night and Tuesday morning is another night where I wake up from a deep sleep in a pool of sweat and cannot fall back asleep. I surf the Internet for a while and read and finally fall back asleep. I struggle through Tuesday's training class and then head for home. The heavy session for the pull muscle group is very good and surprising since I missed so much sleep. And afterwards I walk to the grocery store for supplies and then relax.
On Wednesday I wake up early and go run before work. As I'm finishing I run into two of my neighbors who go walk/run regularly ad I cool down with them before taking a shower and heading for work. I finish the training class and then leave to pick up Person Ti_Ca. We stop in at the t-mobile store because they are giving him a hard time about cancelling his service and then we go home. We really don't do much tonight except relax. Edda, the German neighbor lady, comes over and shows me some paperowrk that looks like a scam. We look up the company on the Internet and eventually call the police. The police refer her to the fraud and forgery division and she'll call them tomorrow during the day. Person Ti_Ca's sister picks him up from my house and I go to sleep.
On Thursday, despite my best effort, I keep making mistakes or having unsatisfactory results with models and simulations. But I just keep plugging away and hope that Friday brings better results. After work I walk to the store for supplies, trim the roses, water the new grass, and then get in a very heavy weights session for the puch muscle group. This should be the last push session for a week or so as I've planned a week off from lifting to rest the joints. But it feels so good that I may delay the rest week.
I have a productie Friday and get the tasks finished that I needed to complete before I go on vacation. I leave work a bit early, get in a heavy pull workout, and then do some de-weeding near the bushes in the front yard. Later I pick Person Ti_Ca up and we relax at home. Person Ti_Ca is having a difficult day due to a few recent disappointments so I'm getting the silent treatment. But at least it is nothing that I've done wrong. After we watch some television and a movie we go to bed and have a long talk about his disappointments. And later, when I wake up at 2 am and cannot sleep, I get up and surf the Internet to kill time until I might be able to sleep again.
Saturday starts with an extra extended aquarium ride where I feel very strong throughout. At mid-mornng Ruby calls and I wish her happy birthday and Person Ti_Ca and I take her out for a birthday lunch. We spend a long time at the restaurant catching up on things and make a quick stop at the Home Depot for paint samples before letting Ruby go home for other activities. Person Ti_Ca get down for an afternoon nap and when I wake up I do some laundry and some grocery shopping. Later in the evening I drop Person Ti_Ca back off at home and I get to sleep early.
On SUnday I get out the door before 7 am for the xtra extended aquarium ride because it is supposed to rain today. It is a windy and chilly ride with an eerie feeling near the aquarium since I am the only one around. But I battle the wind and end up with a great ride with the legs feeling strong. I immediately do some yardwork including re-seeding a small area of the backyard in advance of the rain. And a warm shower feels good after the chilly morning activities. Just after I finish it starts raining. Throughout the entire afternoon and into the evening it rains and rains and rains. I stay inside the house, warm and dry, watching football games and reading.
Monday starts with a cold and wet extra extended aquarium bicycle ride. After a few miles I'm warmed up and the legs feel strong throughout the entire ride. After the ride and a warm shower I run some errands that include ordering a new air cabin filter for the World Rally Car and buying paint for the hallway. Just before 1 pm I join Person Ti_Ca and his brother (who I'm meeting for the first time) at the Compton DMV for Person Ti_Ca's driving test. Thrity minutes later Person Ti_Ca is all smiles as he passes the driving exam. And as we're driving to his college he's texting all of his friends about passing. Eventually we both drive home to take a nap before meeting two of his friends. Except that as we are walking out the door to pick up one of Person Ti_Ca's friends, we get a text message and the plans for dinner get all messed up. We'll try again another time soon. Person Ti_Ca drives on home alone 9for the first time) and I relax with the football game and some reading.