Seriously: never idle

Friday: 

• Arrive home from work to the sounds of apartment maintenance (thankfully, once the paint's dry, it's done!)


• Go for a drink (but it's never just one)


• Dinner back at home


• Packing + more drinking


• 1:00+ -- crash

Saturday:

• Up at 7:3045


• 10 minutes on the 110 to Dodger Stadium; 20 minutes from there into DTLA


• Exit freeway, get a little lost in Downtown, get back on at Convention Center


• Drive in good traffic to LAX


• 3:30 p.m. local: arrive in Kansas City, MO


• Taxi to hotel


• Transfer hotels due to plumbing issue


• Get ready at new hotel


• Taxi to church; attend wedding


• Reception


• Taxi back to hotel


• 1:00+ crash for 5 hours

Sunday:

• Up at 6:0030


• Shuttle to airport


• Sleep during most of the 3-hour flight


• 10:00 a.m. local:  arrive at LAX


• Receive call from DC's visiting friends


• Meet them in Redondo Beach, hang out for the day


• 4:30 p.m. head home


• TJ's run


• Make hodgepodge dinner


• Crash

Happy, happy birthday weekend, DC.  Very-very love.

Never idle

Thursday:

• Evening Target run w/ BFF


• Pack for the weekend (including prepping laundry and baking ingredients)

Friday:

• Drive to work (instead of taking the bus); leave earlier to park + climb >150 steps


• Work through lunch; leave at 4:00


• Head down to HB in the midst of rush hour traffic


• 6:00 -- Korean food dinner w/ friends (BH's first KBBQ and last night in L.A.)


• Meet BH's friends at local bar


• 12:00+ -- crash

Saturday:

• Quick breakfast of coffee, bagel, and fruit


• Farewell to BH at John Wayne Airport


• IKEA run ('cause it's right there)


• TJ's run


• Laundry


• Siesta


• Fire up charcoal grill (minus man-points for DC)


• Al fresco dinner of chicken, mashed potatoes, and wine


• Walk to liquor store; buy small flask of brandy


• Prepare cookie dough + bake


• Prepare sangria + refrigerate/marinate


• 12:00+ -- crash

Sunday:

• "Sleep in" until 9:00


• Laundry


• Pack up; head back home


• September Sunday Sangria party with old friends


• Facilitate workshop


• Church


• Meeting with pastor


• Dinner


• Crash

Monday:  Off in observance of Japan's Respect for the Aged Day

[exhale]

4 p.m. - 10 a.m.

Before regular sleeping hours, on a free evening, one can:

• balance a checkbook (even after years of not looking at a register)


• draw a rudimentary but fairly accurate floor plan of one's new apartment

• reorganize one's kitchen a bit better

• cook a just-what's-in-the-fridge dinner (egg noodles and bok choy stir-fry)


• wash the dishes (doesn't always happen the same night, don't tell my mom)


• overturn a pot of succulents and break them all (but replant tips and keep fingers crossed)


• wash a skein of newly acquired secondhand yarn

• paint one's toenails; and


• fix and restore photos to previous blog posts.

Then, when a bout of insomnia has one tossing at 3 a.m., one may decide to get out of bed at 3:30 and:

• organize mail, coupons, and receipts


• wind leftover and stray yarn into balls


• clean off the coffee table


• finish a sock; and

• still get two hours of sleep.

After waking up and getting ready, one may even have time to take photos of some accomplishments before leaving for work. This may cause one to miss breakfast and be 10 minutes late, but, in any case, one may start the second sock on the bus.

And, if one, is lucky, one may find a trail bar in one's desk drawer, and be blessed by coffee and strawberries from a coworker.

What an incredible 18 hours for one!