January 31, 2024, Wednesday night, 7:08pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Drove to San Bernardino today for meetings with the marketing team. Afterwards I stayed and caught up with corporate visitors. I didn’t leave the office until after 5pm. I had packed an overnight bag just in case but decided to drive home instead of getting a hotel. I probably should have stayed the night. The drive was long, traffic was bad and gps took me all over the place. Now I am grouchy. Tomorrow I will appreciate the fact I came home early but for now I am annoyed.

January 30, 2024, Tuesday evening, 7:14pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Drove to Vista this morning for a business development meeting. Afterwards, I stopped by Aliso Viejo to see my daughter and eat dinner. When I got home I called my friend and talked to her while she drove to Orange County. I really like her on many levels but at the same time am a little put off. Oh well, it is nothing serious. At least it is good to be energized by someone.

January 29, 2024, Monday afternoon, waiting to pick my daughter up from school, 3:44pm, pacific standard time, parking lot in Laguna Hills, California, USA. Three years ago today I accepted a job offer in Phoenix, Arizona. Three weeks later I moved into my apartment in Chandler and kept it for two years. I worked there for 15 months, job hunted for three, then spent 7 months visiting occasionally as travel for this job allowed. the two years I lived there are such a nexus between past and present me. Everything in my relationship with place, work, people changed, mostly for the better. Arizona wasn’t perfect but it does sit well in my heart. I think about it often and am thankful for what it has meant to me all this time.

January 28, 2024, Sunday night, 8:02pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Went to lunch at the Stillwater restaurant in Dana Point with my fries I saw Friday. After eating, we walked through the park and back up Golden Lantern to Del Prado. She had to head back home before it got too late so we weren’t together very long but we did see each other twice this weekend. It is nothing serious, she wants to date after getting out of a long relationship. But I do enjoy being with her. She isn’t going to have free time next weekend and is traveling the weekend after so we won’t see each other for a while.

January 27, 2024, Saturday afternoon, 3:29pm, pacific standard time, parking lot, office building, Laguna Niguel,California, USA. I dropped my daughter off to meet a friend at the Aliso Viejo town center. To kill time before picking her up I went to the gym then the grocery store. I was hungry so I put a little snack tray in my shopping cart along with two big plastic water containers. Since the containers were heavy I didn’t lift them and used the handheld scanner instead. After getting to the car I realized I failed to scan the snack tray. I thought about going back to pay but was too embarrassed so I decided not to. Then when I went to eat the snack I noticed the meat looked funny. Turns out the tray expired a month ago. The universe has a way of balancing out.

January 26, 2024, Friday evening, 6:30pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Woke up at 2:45am this morning. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the operating review today. In the end everything turned out fine. We completed the presentation and leadership was appreciative of our effort. As soon as it was over I drove to pick the dog up from the groomers and my daughter from school. Now I am home, resting. A friend was going to come to town tonight but she is having car troubles so our plans might get canceled. If she doesn’t show up I will go to bed early.

January 25, 2024, Thursday evening, 9:44pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. I have been stressed all week in anticipation of our monthly operating review. It will be over tomorrow afternoon. I can’t wait for it to be done. I hate to say it out loud but new leadership does not feel supportive. Hence I work twice as hard and don’t get any guidance if things are correct. My current supervisor leaves at the end of next week. Once she is gone it will be significantly different. I am staying through thick and thin but am designed to this being a challenging year. On another note I drove out to Anaheim Hills to meet a friend for pizza and beer. We had a good time. Hopefully we can do it again soon.

January 24, 2024, Wednesday night, 9:40pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Day three of not working out. My back feels better. Not 100%, but improving. When I got to the office this morning the manager was there. That meant I could leave early. Got home around 4pm. Spent the night talking with a friend and watching basketball. It was good to reconnect with my friend. We hadn’t talked for a while and had issues to resolve. We will see each other Friday. I look forward to it.

January 23, 2024, Tuesday night, 6:45pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Victorville,California,USA. Another day in Apple Valley. My back is sore but feeling better. Still haven’t worked out this week and probably won’t until it heals. That makes me antsy but what can I do? I tried exercising through the discomfort but that only made it worse. Time to bite the bullet and just rest. I had meetings today and a couple scheduled for tomorrow. Friday is our operations review. I think that is why I am nervous/anxious. I will be glad when it is over. I might end up going home tomorrow just because I have a busy Thursday and want to be prepared for Friday.

January 21-22, 2024, Monday night, 6:58pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Victorville, California,USA. My original plan was to work from home today. However, a supervisor called in sick so I came to Victorville. Survey might show up tomorrow and a leader needs to be on site so here I am. If they don’t come this week I will head to Palm Desert on Wednesday. This morning was rough. I hate admitting it but I was in despair. I guess a rainy, Monday morning in January is about as low as you can go. Lately I have been struggling overall. I basically stopped talking with someone I met and really liked because my self -talk was debilitatingly insecure.