Meeting from Hell

1-29-16

The trip begins today!

Ok, it isn’t like a huge expedition. If anything, it is the very definition of whirlwind. The good news is Ken is home today so he will be able to gather the last minute items and that way when the boys walk in the door they will simply set down their backpacks and head out to the car. Perfect all around, really.

Yesterday at work I found myself challenged. I opted to buckle to my coworkers’ requests to come to the company meeting. I had decided about 6 months back that I didn’t need to attend these functions. They are a complete waste of time and resources and really, as much as my company is good to me, I also don’t feel the need to mingle with most of these people.

The gathering of employees takes place in our larger warehouse and the good news is that they provide food for us while we are held captive. I was not feeling optimistic about the food choice as anything labeled Hawaiian food doesn’t automatically mean good. Thankfully, I was pleasantly surprised even to the point of declaring multiple times yesterday how phenomenal the food was. Seriously, I want to find out the place they ordered from and go there right now. Excuse me while I wipe the drool away.

It didn't look like this, but this looked nice and festive!

Ahem, so anyway…yes, the food was amazeballs, but (sorry, side note, did anyone else know that amazeballs is in the Word spellcheck as a real word? When the heck did that happen?) that, sadly, was the highlight of the function. The employees took their seats and the meeting did start promptly at 11:45 and they indicated that they had a lot to cover but assured us we would be done no later than 12:30.

A heavy agenda to me means really pertinent information. This should be things that perhaps have not been, or really are inappropriate for a mass email. Maybe this would be information on pay raises or a new building in the works. I should have been at the edge of my seat, listening expectantly to the wise words from my senior staff.

Yeah, um, clearly this was bullshit.

15 minutes. Yes, you read that right, 15 minutes, were spent on a fucking slide show. It was a bunch of pictures of our facilities. Mind you, it was all warehouses. They look very similar to the one we were SITTING IN WHILE LOOKING AT PICTURES OF WAREHOUSES!!!! How is it that this took place? How was this approved as a topic? How is this a good way to spend time? And if that wasn’t enough, they also had to put in little stupid jokes. Bad puns, photo-shopped images, and all around, it was just a bunch of people who want us to laugh because they are VP’s, dammit, and we should be so happy to be in their presence.

Not an actual photo I had to see yesterday

As if this wasn’t bad enough, there was a teaser listed in the agenda. It indicated we would have an extra day off. This has been a topic of discussion for years now, what with our company being rather stingy at our holidays, specifically between January 2^nd and Memorial Day. We don’t get ANY holidays off. No MLK, no Presidents, not even Good Friday. Mind you, many of these employees have kids, all of whom get off about 3 weeks worth of holidays and Spring Break during those months, but sure, yeah, let’s keep the entire staff on site with no vacation for 5 months. Like that is really good for morale, especially when there are actual Federal holidays during that time in which we can’t mail things, we don’t get checks, and overall, a good chunk of our customers are closed. It is absurd times a million. So the news that perhaps a new holiday was in the works should have been exciting.

I knew it would not be what we had hoped. I just didn’t know how right I was.

The day off program was a full slide of the breakdown of requirements that would just get your name in the proverbial hat for a potential of a day off. I wish I could find the list of rules in our public drives, but sadly it has not been posted yet. You had to have no absences (this included sick days, even if they were using sick time), and no late days, and there was something about no write ups. In addition to that, there was something about no accidents in the warehouse and something about your work performance. I think there was a goat sacrifice, too, but don’t quote me on that yet since as I pointed out, I don’t have the full list in front of me. It was truly remarkable at how complex and detailed it was, and it ultimately just said that if you somehow qualified for the drawing, only one person out of 459 employees would get said day off. I can assure you, I filed all of this under “not in a million years so I won’t even bother with learning the real rules”.

I think next time I attend a meeting I will need to live tweet the shenanigans. I can post every bad joke, every “look at me” moment senior management seemed to roll out. It would be an interesting social experiment, but then again, I don’t know that I have that kind of strength to even get remotely excited about this prospect. Thankfully, I can mostly say I am busy and not ever have to go again.

But did I mention the food? Holy crap! So dang good!

Wednesday is done

1-28-16

My crazy Wednesday is over!

Yeah, it was just as hectic as I had expected it would be. The agenda did indicate this, but there were also a couple of curveballs thrown in for good measure. Luckily, they were not horrible, but still things to cause distress. Specifically on my way to the dentist, my car told me once again how much it wants to just curl up and die.

I was driving along, noting how incredibly warm it was. I knew it wasn’t cold out, and the sun was blaring down on me as I headed towards Redondo Beach, but I still found it odd. I didn’t do anything as really, what is there to do? I turned up the vent, and even rolled down the windows a bit. I got down the road a little ways from this point and then my car started binging like R2D2 was cursing out C3PO. It was nuts! I wasn’t even sure what it was beeping for. I then noted the temperature gauge. Holy crap! My car was nearing the red zone and I knew this was not good. Lucky for me, I was near where I was heading so I was able to turn off the car and assess what the deal was. I headed in to my dental appointment and hoped that it would allow my car enough time to cool down.

On my way home, the temperature certainly was higher than it is normally, but it wasn’t in a bad place. I had to turn off the vent due to the warm air, but even with them off, there was air coming out that was almost hot. Windows down, worry in my head, I trucked on, thankful it wasn’t too far to get home. It never yelled at me during that journey. Ken checked my fluids (boy that sounds dirty) and flushed the system, so hopefully this afternoon we won’t have a repeat of that adventure. This morning I didn’t note any issue, but I also kept the vent off and it was 4:00 in the morning so not exactly warm out so that may have helped. Either way, I was very aware of every temperature change as I drove along.

Practice was good last night. My folks came along to get their soccer fix what with there being no games for a couple weeks. We found out the next tournament for the Strikers will be Valentine’s Day weekend, which seems so far away, even though it is only a couple weeks. We also found out that Dax will not be missing a scrimmage this Saturday, which is happy making. JJ is now trying to schedule a scrimmage game during the week which would in place of a Striker practice. I am all about that! Very cool to have a game to watch during the week.

The rest of the evening was mostly spent at the Galaxy Center for Ken’s game. Dax was able to play with Nico and Bobby which was good for Dax to be able to do more soccer, and I always like it when Bobby is active, although I was concerned about his foot since he said he was a little sore afterwards. It didn’t look swollen when we got home so that was a relief for me.

Tonight is another practice, this time for the Pythons. The plan is Bobby and I will complete another walk from Steve to Wilson, but it may be in reverse as Ken may not get home in time to take Dax to the park. Not a bad thing, mind you, except that I will miss the scrimmage part of the practice which kind of sucks. However, Bobby and I can get home in time to make dinner for when they get home. Truly, it all works out ok.

Of course, when I get home I also realize I need to pack. I already have the boys stuff together. I will need to get their iPads and chargers tomorrow afternoon when I get home since they will still possibly use them today. I have decided I only need to wear one pair of jeans that will last me the weekend and I just need a couple of shirts. With this being such a quick trip, packing will be light and easy. The dogs will be left alone, but only for one day. We will feed them before we leave on Friday, most likely giving them a bit more food than normal. Then they will be on their own for Saturday, which should be fine. I feel bad, but at the same time there is no real reason to have someone check on them for just the one day. We will be home Sunday so it should work out ok.

Being a grownup is busy

1-27-16

For a crazy day, it was rather successful!

My reports were pretty standard. I did have a little issue early on, but luckily I was able to locate the problem quickly and it wasn’t too big a deal to correct. I have gotten most of the reports down to the point where I am shockingly efficient with them. Thank goodness!

In the afternoon before the boys showed up, Ken worked on a number of little projects and I helped him with specifically the installation of one of the security cameras. We now have one outside pointing at the front area that covers my car and the front door. They are actually quite clear and cover a good section which is nice. We also put one in the living room. I like the idea of having a couple inside specifically for when I am at a board meeting as I can then let the boys stay at home and I can check on them from my phone.

The installation isn’t quick since we need to drill holes and run wires. However, the system itself seems quite good and it will give us nice piece of mind. It has the capability of having I think 16 cameras and it came with 12. It will be nice when they are all up and running.

Ken also installed a light switch in the garage that has a motion sensor so that if the light is left on it will turn off after a little while. Super yay! I am shocked at how annoyed I get at lights left on and this particular one is always a pet peeve of mine so it will be nice to not ever have that light be a problem.

In addition to electronics, I spent some time trying a new dinner. We had picked up short ribs at Costco as I thought it would be good to branch out on types of foods. I looked up some recipes online and most looked pretty simple. It was almost as if they are hard to honk up. So I seasoned the meat and then seared it. Then I added wine and more seasonings and let simmer. I then transferred it to a casserole dish and threw in the oven for a slow cook at about 300 for a couple hours. It was surprisingly easy. When we got home from practice, the meat was crazy tender. I liked it, especially with some mashed potatoes. I was encouraged that Bobby had three helpings! I will try it again, next time with some different seasonings, specifically considering using my Gourmet Sauce from Costco (a thick teriyaki sauce we love). I felt like it was such a grownup meal, what with me making potatoes and meat and having a glass of wine with it.

I had been unsure of attending practice last night, but I asked Bobby if he would like to walk/scooter up to the park like we did before and he was super jazzed about it. Yay! We opted to take the dogs despite AYSO rules concerning dogs at anything soccer related. It was a very nice walk! It probably took us just shy of an hour and it was really great! We talked the whole time which is always a great benefit to hanging out with that kid. He and I discussed everything from selfies to cooking to old soccer sites being that we walked through a park in which I have practiced at when I was a Gunner.

When we got to practice I ended up spending a lot of time talking with one of the little sisters of a player who is a total sweetie. She loved the dogs and she seemed happy that I was willing to talk to her. She asked a lot of questions, including how old I was. She seemed surprised that I was 40 so I will take that as a compliment.

Tonight looks to be more hectic, what with the afternoon being filled with dentist appointments and homework and practice. In addition to this, Ken’s soccer game starts at 7, which means Bobby and I will go along as it means a lot to Ken that we go. There will be some logistics that need to be sorted out, specifically in the area of dinner. I get home right around the time the boys do today since my appointment is at 2 and will take about an hour and they have clay class, which gets them home about 10 minutes after they would normally arrive home. If we hope to eat dinner before practice, it means Ken will need to either cook or help with homework. Otherwise we will need to pick up dinner on the way from practice to the game. I don’t enjoy the crazy, but it isn’t always this extreme all that often so we will just have to roll with it.

Now to make my work day count!

Mission Madness

1-25-16

I need another weekend.

So Thursday afternoon was not fun last week. The boys got home and we started in on homework but it was noted that Bobby was injured. Apparently in a vigorous game of four square, he tripped over Dax and managed to hurt his foot. He went to the nurse’s office and iced it, but it was clearly pretty bad. To top it off, when he was walking over to show me, he stubbed said foot again, reducing him to a crumpled mess. Understandably so, as it was really swollen and black and blue. Not cool. The evening would be changed now what with there being practice and one of us would need to take Bobby to Urgent Care.

Luckily, Urgent Care is right next to Wilson Park. Ken and Bobby were there for all of an hour, which included x-rays that showed his foot was not broken. It was very very bruised, though, so he was told to ice it and keep it elevated, you know, the whole RICE treatment. Luckily, he was also in good spirits.

Friday morning, I ended up only working part of the morning, coming home early enough to even drive them to school, which made me feel better what with his foot being sore. It also gave me the opportunity to work like a mad woman on the house, including cleaning a lot of my desk up. It also gave Dax the ability to call me from the office at recess, asking me to bring him his binder that he had left on the floor. I suppose in some ways I should not have done it, but then again, I feel his pain. I was that same student in elementary, often running to where my mom was the TA, asking her to run me back home to get my homework. It isn’t a great habit, but it is something that I understand.

When the boys got home, we spent some time on the Mission Project for Dax’s class. It went better than expected, what with him typing way faster than I expected. He has learned a lot in the last year! In fact, we had a bit of fun with it. I sat on Bobby’s computer, looking things up, while Dax typed what was needed. We discussed the items we were writing, and it all went pretty well. In fact, over all, the mission work wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We still have one small section left, and he has to write a page on Father Serra, but I think we can get most, if not all of that done tonight. Yay!

Saturday was long, but not as bad as suspected. We went up to Su La Brea around 9 for the planning meeting. We finished around 3. There was one point in which one of the remaining people who have been in the region for a long time and I snipped at each other. It all was due to the suggestion that we contact more of the kids who have not been evaluated to get them to come down to our evaluation times slots in order to get them rated. Players that are unrated make for a wild card for team balancing, and truly, it would best to have all kids rated. We understand there will be a few, but right now, we have 1/3 of the player base not evaluated. This is bad. It is one of the reasons Dax’s team was so good. We had 4 players not evaluated and they all ended up being quite good. This is a problem for the region as it can result in teams not having a chance against other teams.

This is a big deal, so I suggested we encourage all players, even if they got rated, to come down and get rated. A handful liked this. The problem is, there are 900 players so the two people who do evaluations don’t want to do it. Mind you, they could get help. They could train coaches, they could train other people to come help, but they don’t. They simply whine about it. It truly is pathetic. So I suggested we print out a list of rated players to have at registration so that when kids come in to register, we check the alphabetized list quickly to make sure the kids’ name is on it so that if it isn’t, we tell them they have to do be rated. Many people liked this. One dude in particular, was pissy about it. He started getting all cranky saying that they have tried all of these things to get players rated but they don’t work so why bother. I snipped back pointing out that this particular idea had NOT been tried (this was confirmed by someone who has been around as long, if not longer, than him) so he needs to stop crapping on ideas and to stop giving up so easily. It was crazy. The RC stepped in and stopped the discussion, and my idea stands and will be done. Still, it was this kind of crap that still drives me insane. There are old timers that seem to think the only way to do things is the way they did it in the 80’s and 90’s. Mind you, things have changed. We have better resources to accomplish things, but they still fight it. It is absurd. Thankfully, they didn’t fight anymore after that.

I also opted out of multiple functions that I personally think the region should not spend their money on. Too much is spent on a volunteer dinner for people that is really only a handful of people. I appreciate the region doing something nice for the volunteers that do help, but like with this dinner; they wanted it to be no kids. Look, I am doing this volunteer crap because of my kids. They volunteer as much of their time as I do, so dammit, they should be there. So I told them that Ken will most likely be there, but not me. It was amended to include kids, but the fact that these things are not considered because the ones making the decision have kids old enough to be left at home makes me frustrated. I am not going to the EXPO this year, either. I don’t need to sit though boring classes and really, why should I have to make arrangements to either have my kids go stay with someone, or drag them along? I see no purpose to this, so I am not going. So then they were talking about the dinner for the people going to EXPO and how they are going to Dave and Busters. They asked me again, doesn’t that sound fun? Don’t you want to go. NO! I have zero desire. I would much rather go there with my children on my own. I don’t need to spend this time. I think people were surprised, but it is what it is. They were a little concerned when I pointed out I wouldn’t be at registration events all day this year. I told them, I have tournaments and I have the PV League games to watch. It will have to be worked around me, not the other way around. And for that matter, I am not going to give you my full availability. Sometimes I just want a Saturday I don’t have to be somewhere. It will be interesting to say the least over these next 7 months. I think I need to be more active in my search for a replacement Treasurer.

Sunday was productive. We cleaned up some things, did a Costco run and we even took some time to relax. I know this was my last day of this for some time. The boys were invited last minute to a birthday party, which allowed us to do Costco without them being drug along. Mega Bitch was there, who continued her quest to never acknowledge me. I was ok with this, but it is still comical to say the least, especially when her kids are nice to me. Makes me wonder what she says about me in front of them. I also wonder how it will go when Bobby invites these boys to his party.

Today I am just trucking through work. Tomorrow I am swamped due to reports so I spent time today making sure I was all ready for the crazy tomorrow. I like report days as it means my day goes by quickly.

I also am hoping to pack this afternoon. I know this seems crazy early, but with practice being much of the week and the fact that I have to get a filling replaced on Wednesday, it would be in my best interest to get things done ASAP. We head out Friday and I am looking forward to seeing this mission what with all Dax and I have learned about it. I will take a million pictures so that come next Monday, Dax and I can print it all out and put together his report which is due on the 3^rd. I am glad we have a couple days after our trip to put it together as we can most likely include the pictures in the midst of the text itself. I already have a folder for it (thanks to me for cleaning out my desk and finding a good one!) and I am hopeful it is everything he needs. Yay!

I know, I know

1-21-16

I am behind again.

In all fairness, the past day at work was a little more busy than expected and this morning I found myself in multiple conversations along with the task of finding a hotel for next weekend. Yeah, it’s been a little crazy, but then again, the day has flown by, which is awesome.

I managed to finish A Little Life this week, which was no easy task. When my mom told me she was practically crying days AFTER reading it, I was not looking forward to the waves of emotions it was likely to create. Sure enough, I was a total wreck after completion. I had read a lot of it at work, but opted to read the final 100 pages at home. This was a good idea since it would have been rather alarming for coworkers to come to my desk seeing me in that state. It was hard reading it at home, too, since I couldn’t see the words on the screen what with all the water works. Stupid feelings.

It has been a playful couple of days, what with Bobby’s two friends, Parker and Ian, coming by on a daily basis now. I didn’t let Bobby play on Tuesday as I ended up having to go pick him up from school early due to him complaining about stomach pains. He was better by the time they came over, but he also had been stuffy and coughing so I opted to not let him go. However, yesterday he had only a little homework so I encouraged the time spent. It actually was sweet since they also asked if Dax was coming to play, too. He was working on homework so I let him go play and had him finish his math when they were done since really, he doesn’t have gobs of free time on a weeknight so I should encourage this.

There is soccer practice this evening that I will be attending. Not sure if Ken will come along, but I know I had indicated I would be around to sign some checks so I suppose I should keep my commitment. I may or may not opt to walk to the park again. I haven’t decided. I would like to, but I will see how everything goes this afternoon.

I also need to get on Dax to work on his mission project, most likely even doing much of the work over this weekend. I figure I will have him do some of it tomorrow afternoon, then some Saturday evening, but I am hoping to do most of it Sunday. We have only next week and it is due the Wednesday after we get back from his mission, so truly the trip will not be spent working on it. Then again, I might be able to have him do some now that I think about it. We will have a lot of downtime once we are done with the mission. I have chosen a hotel with an indoor pool (it is supposed to be raining that weekend) so even though yes, they can swim much of the day away, I can steal an hour or two where he will work on that while Bobby reads. I have to assume that next week Dax is going to end up having 4 practices, what with two being Striker and two being Python, so evenings will be scarce.

I also signed up for the San Juan Capistrano trip. I am unsure if Ken is joining me or not. If he isn’t, I will go alone, which isn’t too bad. Now that I have been there, I think I will have an easier time and should not have any issues with getting lost.

Sadly, I can’t attend Dax’s LACMA trip. It falls on a day where I am doing reports for work, and it is truly one of the only days during the month I can’t miss work.

I still feel like my house needs some tending to when it comes to cleanup. The afternoons have been crazy so hopefully next week I can start to get back into routine. Sunday we will finally pack up the Christmas stuff. It is all down, but we need to really go through much of it and pack it up nicely. I am hoping that this in conjunction with putting away other boxes in the catio will result in some stress reducing good vibes. I am also looking into obtaining lockers for the catio, specifically for the boys to put their sports gear into. Dax currently has his soccer backpack (they both do) that is used 

constantly, but I would like it to be able to be placed into the locker when not in use. It would allow for me also to have less in the way of soccer clutter. Ken also was going to look into shortening the ball cage and we can hopefully move it into a better position in the downstairs. Now that there are more kids coming by the house, I would like that room to be able to accept company easier.

I have an hour left of work and I know it is going to drag on. Bleah. 

Area 1F Champions!!!!!

1-18-16

I should have taken the day off.

I am (barely) operating on maybe 3 hours of decent sleep. I went to bed early last night and did get some solid sleep until about 11:30, at which point I woke up and remained restless until the alarm went off this morning. I know I drifted off a couple times, but only for short bursts and ultimately I actually felt a little ill when I drug myself out of bed. I considered just going out and sending an email indicating my status, but I opted to suck it up which is why I am here.

The good news is I am still feeling proud and elated at the amazing soccer from this weekend. Dax’s team is now the Area 1F BU10 champions! That means they are the best out of 92 teams. The outcome is fantastic, but the watching of the soccer itself was stressful. It’s a wonder I didn’t just pass out when I went to bed.

On Saturday’s game, we started slow, with it being 3-1 at the half. Dax was a mess, really struggling to not completely crumple with how frustrated he was. He was even the one responsible for the 1 we had but it didn’t result in his normal jubilation. He was also still reeling from his PK over the net which resulted in him falling to the ground in near anguish. It was awful to watch.

At half, I pulled him aside and talked him through it, having him do his Aang breathing. He was calming down and he went back out there, ready to play. The team has always been slow to start, and this was a match that clearly was one of those ones where they were even slower than normal. That being said, they turned that game around and by the end of the day, they had scored 7 more goals, didn’t allow any more to be scored on them and Dax walked off that field having scored himself a hat trick. It was truly an amazing game that had me so stressed I was actually glad it was over.

The first game Sunday was a tight match, back and forth action the whole time.  We were super concerned as we had heard it was a really great team, with one player in particular that was their superstar. He really was a good player, but for whatever reason, we were able to shut them down and we then were guaranteed a spot going to the Section playoffs in a month. If we won, yes, we would go, but there was a wild card spot available that would go to the other team as well. This was very cool to know.

That last game I was a wreck. I wondered if I should have taken a hit just to make it through the game. Jerry and Nicole came down, too, which is awesome. Dax scored twice, both awesome goals and we came out on top, leaving the Blue Pythons’ record still as undefeated. It was amazing!!!

Today I am just glad Trusty is out and most likely it will be a quiet day. Ken and the boys are coming for lunch which will be nice. I can show them off and then head home where I wish I could say would then be rest time, but really it means I will work on some chores before Bobby and I head out for our teeth cleaning. It will be Bobby’s first cleaning since his braces so that should be cool. When I get home Jimmy is coming by to pick up a check but then after that I can hopefully be changed into my sweats and relax a bit. Woo!

hunger beast

1-15-16

I feel so loved when people tell me they are reading!

Note to self regarding substance for the children; always make the decision for them when they are tired. Holy crap, was Dax a mess last night. We left practice and were going to pick something up to eat. We were heading to fast food when we noted the food truck event they have every Thursday at Narbonne. Sadly, they had nothing interesting, but Dax could hardly contain himself. He wanted a taco. He wanted to eat at a place. He only wanted a certain kind of taco. He was teary and not being assertive enough when we made suggestions but just cried more when we started to settle on something he said he was fine with. It was crazy. Bobby wasn’t much easier, but he was just flustered and indignant. When we decided on Alfredo’s, afterward he made arguments rivaling the best lawyers out there on how he felt he had been patient regarding Dax’s meltdown and that now he felt he was owed desert. He even pointed out how we didn’t bring his iPad to the soccer field and how he had walked to Wilson Park with me against his will. It was hard to not laugh. It was hard to not get annoyed, too. Fairness seems to be the challenge of the land these days and quite frankly I am sick of it. I allowed him his soap box moment and then explained to him how late it was and that perhaps we would consider a sweets run this evening instead. He didn’t object verbally, but his body certainly twitched in anger but he kept his mouth shut. Man, these kids!

Despite his objections, our walk was quite pleasant. Plus, he is the one who actually suggested a longer walk so if anything I can say this was his idea. We hit up the library on the way and I got my book and library card renewed. Bobby used his scooter the whole way, which may have even been more of a workout what with the hills we encountered. The whole adventure took just shy of an hour I would say. I am tempted to make this a weekly thing, especially since he has expressed interest in the chess class after school on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I could most likely stick around with him once he got home from school (Dax of course arriving sooner) and help with homework and then we could set out to the practice. That being said, as much as I love watching Dax play, it may be something where I stay home with Bobby since it would allow me to make dinner as opposed to picking up food. It would also prevent Bobby from having to be at the soccer field every day. I haven’t worked all of this out in my head, but it is a work in progress. Sadly, it all reeks of the theme I had mentioned above, which as I have pointed out I am done with.

Dax plays tomorrow at noon, which has me in a bundle of nervousness that is relentless. I am trying to focus on just him having fun. I also am able to divert my energy to just making sure we have all his gear together and that we get there on time. Ken will be heading out earlier than us, most likely reffing a match before our game. Dax may in fact opt to go early with Ken just to watch games, but we shall see. As much as I want him to win, I know that no matter the outcome we will need to prepare him for being both a gracious winner and loser.

Thankfully my evening looks clear so I will be able to get home today, toss on my sweats and not worry about anything specific. I keep wanting to run by Savers on my way home to see if I can duplicate my luck in finding more of the long sleeve undershirts Dax favors. But today I think aside from stopping for fuel, I am just going to go and use my afternoon to do nothing. I may even start my library book which sounds actually like quite a wonderful afternoon. Now let’s hope my day at work goes by swiftly.

Week of sad

1-14-16

Well this day is stating poorly.

I noted when I got into my car that the glove box was open. This is the telltale sign of someone clearly was tampering with my vehicle. All of the change was still there, though, and my ipod adaptor so I assumed they were hoping for more cool stuff when really there is nothing truly of value in my car. I also noted that the driver’s side visor was slightly down, but it didn’t occur to me until I was driving that my garage door opener was missing.

It is amazing what will completely wake you up in a jolt. The realization that my house had been compromised was that very incident this morning and any amount of lingering groggy that was happening was quickly lifted and I was wide awake.

Luckily, Ken was able to reprogram the remote and opener so that the one gone stolen would no longer be functional, therefore keeping the house safe for now. The desire on Ken’s part to invest in one of the camera systems for the outside of the house is starting to become more of a priority in my mind now, especially with the recent tagging of our wall.

I arrived to work, still kind of flustered when I noted the breaking news this morning that Alan Rickman had passed away. I am still kind of reeling from the death of David Bowie but this particular actor truly hit me hard. I have loved him in so many roles, two of which are holiday classics in our home. We had also just watched Galaxy Quest in the last couple weeks. On top of it all, he was a huge part of one of my favorite films of all time by my personal lord and savior, Kevin Smith. Dogma still is one of those flicks that can incorporate deep thought with fart jokes. It is a fine line to walk, one in which Kevin does often and having Alan Rickman don giant wings and spitting tequila out was part of that magic. Mr. Rickman, as Snape still is the only image I can get when I am reading the books. I am hoping these important people in my pop culture existence stop dying on me.

On the plus side, I was able to finally locate a digital copy of A Little Life, a book my mom has loaned me that is on many of the top lists of last year. I was hesitant to read it if only due to how incredibly sad it made my mom after she read it. I have had my share of devastating books of late and I wasn’t anxious to dive back into that pit of sad that results from fictional characters tugging at my heartstrings. However, to have it available to me at work is a stroke of wonderful luck. It is very long which allows for a longer time to read. Hopefully it doesn’t result in me having to make excuses for tearing up at my desk.

My afternoon looks clear with another Python practice in the evening. Bobby and I are going to walk to the practice, leaving around the time Dax and Ken do. The plan is to stop by the library on the way as I need to renew my library card and I also have a book on hold there. Yeah, cause I don’t have a large enough stack of reading material at my disposal I felt the need to borrow another one. However, this one in particular has also been on my list of to read for some time and I would like to ingest its goodness sooner than later.

Dax was finally assigned his mission and it is up in Sonoma. Bleah. It is farther than San Francisco. It means we will most likely leave on Friday the 29^th right after school and come home Sunday. It will be a lot of driving for one day of exploring. On the plus side, we won’t have to take too much stuff and really, Dax will be quite happy. Over this next couple weeks we will need to write up his report so that it is actually done before we go. The trip will mostly be for pictures to include what with the report being due that Wednesday after we get home. I figure he can write an additional 2 paragraphs or so when we get back talking about how it looks now. That would be a nice way to end the report overall. However, it looks to be a crazy couple weeks what with soccer and report writing.

I am thinking that I am ready for this week to be over.

  

Your presence is requested

1-13-16

Tonight I will use my mamarazzi skills to capture pictures of my husband.

Ken has asked me recently if I would come watch him play so I feel like it is the least I can do. Plus, Dax sometimes gets to play with them, so that would also be fun to watch him take on grownups. Normally I don’t go simply because the game is at 8 or sometimes 9. This is clearly way past my bedtime, and I like the idea of getting to go to bed sort of early on those nights since I let Bobby stay up until they get back and he gets time to play his video games in the living room. I promised I would go to the next 8 o’clock game and then I seemed to have lucked out this week with it being a 7 pm game, which is awesome! So I will be snapping photos and hopefully not cringing due to either of them getting hurt.

My plans last night changed when Alyssa was running a fever of 102. I assumed perhaps Sarah and I would just go, but it looks like now we will go Saturday night. I am a little concerned about Saturday what with it being a night I spend with my family and it will be after a long day of soccer, but it is only one night and it means I can stay out later and sleep in which is all good. Hell, if I wanted to I could have Ken take me and I know he wouldn’t mind coming and picking me up. That sounds appealing, so it might be pretty cool over all.

Not going to dinner last night meant I was able to go to practice. The best part was that Bobby and I explored the park. The adventure started as just trying to find suitable cement that he could drive his remote control car around. We hit up multiple locations, all with success. It was nice hanging out with him and to be perfectly honest, not having to sit and chit chat with parents. I like the parents on the team, but it isn’t always what I want to do during practice. We also got back in time that I could watch some of the scrimmage, which really is the best part of practice. Dax even had his goal set up during the practice, which I know he felt all proud of having.

This afternoon I have to decide between working on chores or perhaps just relaxing. Sadly, the only way I can relax is if the house is in order so it is possible I will be choring as opposed to resting. Then again, I may sit on my butt for a while and then while they work on homework I can tackle some of the more troublesome spots in the house.

I am frustrated that I don’t know the full details of what is going on in Bobby’s classroom for his Adventures in Art tomorrow. I would like to come help, but I don’t know if they already have enough people doing it. I truly should probably wait for the next one since this is so close to the holidays so it would be silly to work that half day now when I could use that time for a more significant time in the classroom. We shall see. If I can find the email address of the lady working it I can get more detail. That may be my task for this morning.

Skipped a day, but look, I make up for it.

1-12-16

Well shoot, I have already slacked off!

It was a crazy weekend full of plenty of highs with one incredibly stressful almost low. Dax played his first game like a superstar. The opponent was tough with the score being within one just about all of the match. Dax scored a hat trick, including one that was a header that was his favorite of the three. I personally enjoyed the second one as it showed off his skill set in his timing and power. The game resulted in a win for the Pythons which was fantastic.

Our second game wasn’t really a game. As much as I am happy they still end up with the win, a forfeit isn’t what you want. I felt so bad for the 4 kids that did show up for the other team. They forfeit their second game on Sunday, too, so it is very sad to me that their team didn’t commit. The good news was that we opted to do a scrimmage with the kids that did come. We rotated out some of our kids to their team so that it was even and we let those boys play some soccer. You could see the absolute joy on most of their faces. Dax in particular was in hog heaven. He managed a pretty sweet bicycle kick that would have been fun had it gone in the goal. He also made a kick from the half line as a keeper that just about scored as well, which you could tell tickled him greatly. We only played 3 quarters as it had started to actually rain, which was not what was expected. It didn’t matter since really they just had so much fun.

This is where things got crazy. Bobby and I, pleased that we didn’t have to rush due to the shorter game time set out to get him to the birthday party for his friend, Izzy. Dax could have gone but opted to stay and kick his ball and watch Ken referee.

The address indicated Western so the assumption was it was very close to Steve what with it making sense that a classmate would live near the school. Turns out I couldn’t be more wrong. However, the map programs on my phone certainly were competing with each other on who could be the most far off from the actual location. Some of this was the result of the wrong city listed when I was looking it up, but once again, this was assumptions based on school district. We drove what seemed like the length of Western, going old school by looking at actual street signs to determine which block we were on. This took us back close enough to where the fields were that Dax and Ken were at that I opted to head back and let Ken figure this shit out.

We got to the field, and I was a flustered and crazed mess. It was raining pretty hard at this point and my nerves were fried what with him having gone from 30 minutes early to us now being 20 minutes late and still lost. I looked up the address one last time on a different map program and it indicated our destination was a mere 6 minutes away. Bobby, who was a stoic and impressively calm passenger in our navigation from hell encouraged me to try this address. It was literally down the street and we found what was clearly the right building.

Our adventure wasn’t quite over what with the directions into the secure building were not exactly clear. We asked for assistance from a snooty couple with one of those tall poodle looking dogs who answered with complete distain and pointed us towards a door with no other information. Luckily, said door had a note with instructions on how to get to Izzy’s party. Woo hoo! It turned out that other party goers were also late, but the cheer from the attendees that Bobby had arrived made me feel so good about my son’s friends that I was calmed significantly.

I then set out to get back to the field, concerned that my other boys were drenched to the bone. I arrived back at the field where Ken was only just finishing up with his ref assignment. My timing was shockingly on par. I gathered them and we set out for home where I used my special meds for a more significant dose in order to get back into the groove of my evening.

Sunday was less chaotic, but productive. I managed to clean up a good portion of the house, including removing the last remnants of Christmas from the living room and kitchen. They currently reside in boxes in the catio and the small village of Christmas bears have taken over the downstairs couch, but at least they are getting closer to their home in the garage. My house getting more organized is my goals for this year and this was a huge step in accomplishing this.

Ken had a game to ref on Sunday morning, which resulted in 2 games and lack of communication for this extra time spent at the field. I was still slightly rattled from the prior evenings adventures and was angry at this being that Ken didn’t arrive home until close to the time we needed to set out for the team party. It was discussed, and there is no more animosity about it, but I do know going forward we will need to work out better communication concerning these tournaments and what both they need and what I need.

The team party went well. 4 kids weren’t able to make it, which was a shame, but the bowling itself went over well. It always does. Those kids have a lot of fun with it and it makes for a good time had by all. I spent much of my time with one of the moms I am friends with. It was nice getting to know her better what with us being able to just sit and chit chat. She lives near Eydie and her daughter is in Dax’s class. Bobby is also quite fond of her son, who is on the team. I am hopeful that we will see her around even though the kids are not on the same team anymore. With her daughter being on a travel team, we will most likely bump into each other at various tournaments, which will be fun.

I ended my Sunday with the Golden Globes and getting annoyed with the lack of discipline the boys have with their timing. Screen time has been reduced to the point where no one is allowed to use the computer/iPads after 7 pm unless otherwise stated. It sounds harsh in some ways. In addition to that, I worry this will mean less free time for me. I have come to rely a little too heavily on my digital babysitter. Last night was the first go at it, but it would be hard to truly know how it went what with homework taking almost 3 hours last night and we ended up watching Labyrinth what with the sudden passing of David Bowie. Tonight there is practice and I will be out with Sarah and Alyssa which will most likely result in a difference of scheduling. Going forward, though, my hopes are to have the boys read after 7. Maybe it will allow them to wind down differently. Plus, it means once they finish homework, play or practice won’t be delayed due to the time they are reading. It is all a work in progress so I am trying to be optimistic.

I am anxious to get information hopefully today about which California mission Dax will be assigned for his project. I doubt that we will end up with the same one as Bobby, but I am also hoping it is one that isn’t too far away what with the plan being to go and visit. Perhaps Mrs. Van Wie will remember that we went to the one last year and will maybe consider assigning him one sort of close and different. The plan now is to go the last weekend of January, what with that looking to be the last free weekend for the foreseeable future. Tournaments start up in February along with the PV league. In addition to that, we have our annual planning meeting this month and a couple of registration dates in there.

It is going to be an interesting year for registration what with the tournaments coming up. We don’t have exact dates yet, aside from a couple, and during the planning meeting we tend to make our schedule. This is going to allow me to really start looking for a replacement Treasurer, or even an assistant as I cannot keep doing it based on my upcoming commitments. I will still handle social media since let’s face it, I rock that. It just seems as though it would be better for everyone if I step down and have someone new handle the books. Sure, I have it down mostly, but the paperwork that I need to sit down and organize is a daunting task that I just don’t know where I will find the time to reconcile. Plus, I already know I will be fully assimilated into what AYSO truly stands for, which is All Your Saturdays Occupied, but I would like the occasional option to sleep in a little on a Saturday knowing I don’t need to fill water bottles and find missing cleats. It’s a dream, but I am holding on to it.

My day is dragging, so I need to find a project this morning to speed up time. I will make every effort to continue my quest to blog again tomorrow. 

Meat Head

1-7-16

Is it assumed that fat people don’t understand why they are fat?

I ask this question based on the conversation I had with our trainer yesterday. Our company, which has a pretty kick ass gym also employs a personal trainer that comes once a week to help employees with their fitness goals. It is a fantastic benefit to working here and I have in fact even used the gym. I am even considering doing so again in the near future.

Our trainer comes to my neck of the woods to speak to my department as the cubs next door to me house 3 avid users of both gym and his services. I have never actually spoken to this particular trainer before yesterday. We have had several come through here, all of whom have been very kind and encouraging to everyone attempting to better themselves. This gentleman didn’t realize that someone actually resided in my little corner of the room and was genuinely surprised when he peeked his head around my cube wall to find a live person!

He introduced himself and you could actually see the combo of disgust and excitement in his eyes when he was standing there shaking the hand of this morbidly obese woman. I became his “project” and I could already tell he had extensive workout notes for me to jump on immediately.

The first question he asked me was, “How’s your health?” What a loaded question on so many levels. I won’t even get into the idea that he clearly meant only my physical health, not my mental well-being. I responded, already on the defensive, that I was feeling fantastic. It wasn’t an outright lie, either. I had truly been feeling more robust of late and truly feeling inspired at this idea of walking with Bobby during practice having already completed one walk this week of two miles and anxious to do some more this evening. He looked skeptical at my response and it was at this point my opinion of him plummeted.

I mentioned my recent fitness goals of walking with my son and he looked unimpressed. He then launched into a whole clearly regurgitated script of how people are often fat because they eat too late or drink milk late at night. He didn’t even try to sugar coat his thoughts on my physical appearance. He also clearly knew nothing about me, including the fact that I am not snacking late at night because my ass is in bed by 8 most nights with dinner scheduled for 5 on most evenings. I explained these things to him and I sensed I had derailed his train of arrogance. He quickly tried to put on the brakes and try a new tactic but by this time I had already effectively dismissed his attempts and he left soon after looking rather defeated.

I appreciate the idea that yes, I am not the healthiest person around. I also am well aware of not only that I am fat, but that I know how I got there. Trainers and many fitness folks seem to not realize that there is no secret on getting in shape. It isn’t as though people who are rounder than the average person are shocked one morning to wake up and see that they no longer fit in their clothing. We are not stupid simply because we are large.

Sadly, his cold call of trying to sell me on his fitness methods was reminiscent of a Jehovah’s Witness coming to my door or the crazy ladies at the makeup counter thinking that somehow I want to be sprayed with their perfume. Trust me, I am fine with not believing in your god and I don’t need to smell like a whore.  It is this delusional approach to helping people that truly just comes across as cocky and clueless to the idea that people don’t choose everything they do lightly. An obese person doesn’t choose to be fat in the way one thinks. They have chosen a path that isn’t healthy and they understand this. It isn’t always a good decision, but they understand eating greasy foods 3 nights a week with limited activity will most likely result in pudge.

I know that ultimately I will in fact have to change my lifestyle for many reasons, including everything from health to making sure I can still be a good parent. I can assure you, though, it wasn’t because some burly man came over to my desk once and indirectly ridiculed me without any knowledge of who I am. I have to do it for me, and if at that time I need an expert’s help, I will seek them out. And sir, you are not one of the candidates I am looking at. 

2 days in a row!

1-6-16

Look! Another blog!

This morning started well being that on my way to work I saw two coyotes. They were not near home, which is probably better. They were near my office and both were alive and well on Road Kill Highway which is a remarkable thing. I saw a fox the other day, also alive. There is something very cool about urban wildlife.

Poor Dax had a rough day yesterday. The rain prevented him from being able to have a real recess and his homework was rather time consuming resulting in a fair amount of frustrated tears. All in all he kept it together with some help from Ken who during homework fielded a call from an LA Galaxy rep that he has been working with behind the scenes. There is a very real possibility that Dax and his team will be able to participate in some either before game or halftime activities during a Galaxy game which I know would be amazing for Dax.

Today we have to go to the orthodontist to get Bobby’s new retainer. Thankfully this orthodontist is awesome and is replacing the one that Bobby broke for no cost. I would imagine this is a standard policy. Either way it will be good for him to get it back in his mouth being he has been without it for a couple of weeks.

I started the tedious process of taking down Christmas decorations. The tree is no longer “up” but it is still in the house and not in the body bag it should be in. I figure I have about an hour when I get home in which I can work on gathering more of the random items sprinkled throughout the house in order to make it more festive. I know I have been slightly tense about the state of the house due to holiday clutter and I know that once it is all put away it will allow me to relax more. I see multiple cleaning projects ahead of me and although some people may think that would be a daunting endeavor; those are the events that excite me right now.

I managed to secure my very own permanent parking spot yesterday. The current rotation schedule that has me parking in one lot one month and another every other month has always been a point of contention with me. Yesterday an email was sent indicating the lot I use for January was not available for a month due to auditors that storm the building at this time each year. I have noted that the lot I used in December has had open spots available during the times I can’t park there. I considered just rebelling and parking there sans permission. Instead I opted to tactfully email the parties that make these decisions and managed to convince them that in fact I should be allowed to park in that lot every month. They agreed and I now feel like I have a wonderful victory under my belt. Yay me!

I keep looking at my calendar here at my desk and each time I forget that it is December’s, not January. I suppose I should fix that. However, choosing a calendar is always such a big decision. You have to choose something that is going to represent you for 12 months! What if it gets dull after March? These are the silly things that keep me up at night.

Let's rock 2016

1-5-16

New Year, new attitude.

I have always found comfort in writing in my journal. It is something I have tried to do since I was about 14. It allows me to reflect on things that have taken place. It allows me to voice an opinion on topics. It also is a great way for my kids to have physical proof of how crazy I am for the funny farm when I am older.

The one thing it started to become in my mind (not sure if it was in real life) was a lazy person’s way of keeping up with who I am. I worried that friends used this platform as a way to feel ok with not checking in on me because as long as I blogged, it meant I was alive and (mostly) well. In addition to this, there are people that I am not close with that could very well be reading this in an attempt to keep me in their life despite their very blatant ways to keep me out of theirs. Yeah, Brandy, I’m looking at you. I have no idea if you even read this, but rest assured, I kind of stopped because I felt like if you didn’t want me to know you, then dammit, you didn’t get to know me.

All of this being said, it all comes down to being incredibly petty on my part. I have noted a decrease in my ability to think as rationally as I once did on random happenings and it took a text from Sarah to really kick me in the ass to realize how stupid I am being. She was talking about how she is doing a website/blog in which she discusses her ways to get better after having dealt with thyroid cancer. She is healthy (one of the healthiest people I know) now, but obviously there are things that can take their toll and it is because of this she wanted a way to keep on track with her recovery. I texted her this very observation and it made me think. I know, shocking, right?

So what I am saying, in a not so eloquent way is that I am back. I plan on making this blog thing my priority again. I am not going to fancy up the format unless for some reason I am feeling like I can for a day. I can’t guarantee pictures or even anything interesting being typed out on my word document. All this is will be is my way to process the gobs of data in my head in a slightly public forum which will hold me accountable.

Thank you for enjoying, or at the very least, reading, my journey.