June 17, 2024, Monday night, 7:43pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point,California, USA. Yesterday afternoon I took a deep relaxing nap in the apartment in Aliso Viejo. It was the kind of carefree sleep seldom found in old age. Afterwards, we went to the mall for a late lunch. Then we shopped at the stores. I bought my daughter an outfit from lululemon. It was expensive but I don’t mind. The clothes fit her very well and she seemed happy. Tomorrow she can to wear them to play tennis. This morning I drove to Victorville for a meeting then turned around and drove home. Perhaps I should have stayed the night. However, I was there last week and the thought of staying didn’t interest me. Besides, I have to be in San Diego for the next couple of days. I didn’t want to drive further than I already have to.

June 16, 2024, Sunday morning, 9:52am, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point,California, USA, Father’s Day. Went and picked up the dog for a walk this morning. Afterwards, we got coffee and a pup cup from Peet’s. I dropped her back off then went to the gym and worked out on my way back to Dana Point. Now I am doing laundry before we go to the PF Changs in the Mission Viejo mall at 2pm. It has been a great morning. I have been thinking about being a chaplain in Utah and the apartment we had in Layton. It was 21 years ago yesterday I moved in with the dog before my wife joined us in September. I loved that time. I was able to compartmentalize work and free time. Everything felt magical. Evoking that memory fills me with joy. I keep thinking this is the best time of my life. I am playing with house money as it were. I have a good job, I have been at it a while and when it ends I can be thankful for what I experienced. I am going to move through moments carefree from now on. Of course that is easier said than done. Regardless. I will enjoy this summer and not worry about anything beyond.

June 15, 2024, Saturday night, 10;32pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Got up early, did the Blue Lantern walk, grabbed coffee at Dunkin, then worked out at Planet Fitness. Around 10am I drove to Walgreens in Aliso Viejo to pick up photo prints I ordered online. Just after noon my daughter and I met friends at a bowling alley in Irvine. After that a friend drove to Dana Point from riverside county to hang out with me. We had dinner, walked to the beach and watched tv at the apartment before she left for home.

June 14, 2024, Friday night, 7:02pm, pacific standard time, apartment complex parking lot, Dana Point, California, USA. Today was just a terrible day at work. It started yesterday afternoon with a bad idea by one of the branch directors and now has snowballed into a big kerfuffle with hurt feelings and overreactions. Some days I just want to scream. This afternoon was good though. My daughter, her mom and a couple friends wanted to see the new Inside Out movie in Irvine at 3pm. I joined them and went to dinner afterwards. Even though work continued to blow up it was nice to have a moment to relax.

June 13, 2024, Thursday morning, 6:39am, pacific standard time, hotel in San Bernardino, California,USA. I am still happy I found this hotel. It has one of the best hotel gyms I have ever seen. It isn’t perfect, the cleaning wipes were empty, I couldn’t find the remote for the big tv and it had drinking fountains rather than a filtered water system. But size wise it was far superior than most. There are two pull up bars and a free weight barbell bench press . I have not seen that in a hotel gym before. I am drinking coffee watching the weather and doing NYT puzzles. I will head back to Orange County later this morning.

June 12, 2024, Wednesday night, 6:14pm, pacific standard time, hotel room in San Bernardino, California,USA. Woke up in Victorville, went to the office there for a little while, headed to San Bernardino and visited that office. I was done by 1:30pm do I drove out to Palm Desert, got gas and provisions then turned around. I am staying in a new hotel. It is newer and a lot nicer. Glad I made the switch. Now I am watching the basketball finals and eating BJ’s pizza. Reminds me of fond memories nine years ago in Palm Desert. Ta Wednesday night, watching the finals, eating dominos pizza. I guess I know what I like.

June 10,11, 2024, Monday/Tuesday morning 9:23am, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point,California,USA. Yesterday was a usual stressful acclimation back to work. so much going on with resignations, holiday coverage, HR issues. I am half way through the commitment to work four years at this job. The joy has gone out. I like a lot of things but now I am just counting days. Back in high school, college. seminary, and my first job I spent four years at a position/school pretty regularly. However, by the start of the third year I would get antsy. I guess not much had changed.

June 8,9, 2024, Saturday/Sunday night, 6:22pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Yesterday was my daughter’s moms birthday. I got her cards and a balloon from pavilions, some cash from the bank and a couple little gifts from Denault’s hardware store. In the afternoon we went and saw The Fall Guy movie at Cineopolis luxury theater. I did a survey afterwards and got a $15 gift card to the theater. In the evening I stayed home and had a friend come over for a while. This morning I thought about what I would do if I could do anything with my time and not have to work. My answer was write these blog posts for $1000 each. That way I would have money and do something that comes naturally. I know it is absurd but it did lessen Sunday anxiety so it was fun to imagine.

June 7, 2024, Friday night, 10:44pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point,California,USA. Full work day. Lots of meetings. Which is annoying on Friday. Preliminary financials came out today. Our area did pretty good. This afternoon I picked my daughter up from school. She had a party in the afternoon so wasn’t hungry. I ended up ordering beer, salad and pizza for dinner from 3 different places. My daughter stayed in her room and her mom went to dinner in Trabuco Canyon. I hung out with the dog and watched a show called Tires on Netflix.

June 6, 2024, Thursday night, 8:46pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. I have been thinking about Utah a lot lately. Fond memories of a simpler time. Or at least it seemed simpler. Regardless, it makes me happy to remember certain things. Like Thursday nights. I used to love Thursday’s in utah. It was the precursor to the weekend. Fridays were easy work days back then, practically a day off with little challenge. So Thursday’s were carefree and happy. Anything could happen Thursday night. I would grab beer and a burger on my way home and watch sports until it was time for bed. Now Fridays are just another day. Thursday’s just another night.