November 5, 2023, Sunday evening, 6:59pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Today was the equivalent moment I was laid off from my job in Phoenix. 10 days short of 15 months. Which means I have officially worked this job longer than that one. I thought about this moment a lot the past two months. Now that it has arrived, it is anticlimactic. There really isn’t much to note except its finally passed. At least I can now say this job is the longest tenure of my operations career. That counts for something. Today was very nice. To begin, I forgot about daylight savings time ending so I enjoyed an extra hour of sleep. Then I walked and worked out, grocery shopped, did laundry, showered, took the company car in for service, got a haircut, returned items to the mall, bought clothes, walked around the mall, drove out to Aliso Viejo, went for a walk with the dog, ate dinner and returned to Dana Point. It was an extremely productive day. Yet, I can still think of a dozen of things I wished I had done in addition to my adventures. When all is said and done you simply cannot have it all. You will always enjoy what you have and want that which you currently do not possess.

November 4, 2023, Saturday evening, 6:09pm, pacific standard time, Pasadena Convention Center, Pasadena, California, USA. Spent the day at the Pasadena anime convention. My daughter met up with some friends she met online. I hung with them some but mostly they spent the day together and I checked football scores. I am happy she is having fun. Her friends seem nice and they agent along. I however, am tired. We have been at the convention for 8 hours. I am ready to leave and head back to Orange County.

November 4, 2023, Saturday morning, 6:55am, pacific standard time, parking lot of gym in Laguna Niguel. I am thinned skin. I do not accept feedback very well. This past Wednesday my supervisor put a one-on-one meeting on our calendar for Friday afternoon. I spent the two days in between fretting about what she would say. Turns out it was just to catch up and talk about needs at different branches. We even talked about opportunity to advance in the organization. Yet, all I did was worry about what negative things she might be mentioned. I wish I was braver and more resilient but I guess deep down I am insecure.

November 2, 2023, Thursday night, 7:15pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. I drove to Dana point from Palm Desert this afternoon and arrived at 5pm. I had picked up dinner earlier so all I needed was to change clothes and turn on the television. I ate dinner and watched a movie. Looking back I realize tonight was the first time in over a year and a half I physically went to work then came home to eat dinner. Usually I am going back to a hotel room or, more infrequently, working from home. The experience brought back memories of Phoenix and my apartment in Chandler. I don’t miss the job I worked in Arizona but I do miss my apartment.

November 1, 2023, Wednesday night, 7:0pm, pacific standard time, hotel room in Palm Desert, California,USA. This morning on my walk I had a moment of peace. Memories from past experiences waded through my mind and washed over my emotions. I remembered my dad, friends from high school and experiences long forgotten. Something about the start of a new month evokes renewal. October especially. With Halloween ending October and All Saints Day starting November it is the perfect time to reflect on all I am grateful for. I hope the sense of contentment remains throughout the coming weeks. It is nice to feel happiness.

October 31, 2023, Halloween, Tuesday night, 9:29pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Went to our friends house in San Juan Capistrano for a Halloween get together. The holiday falling on Tuesday dampened enthusiasm some what. We ate pizza and candy before starting a game of Clue. Before long constant trick-or-treaters forced the girls to sit outside and distribute candy. The parents ended up sitting at the table just talking about life, retirement and jobs. It was a fairly somber evening ti tell the truth. We didn’t walk around the neighborhood like I had hoped. I guess the girls are officially too old for trick-or-treating.

October 30, 2023, Monday night 6:50pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Today was a rare Monday at home. For the past three years I have spent most weekdays in Phoenix or on the road. It is nice to be home but I don’t want it to become a regular thing. I like my work life and my home life separate. That way I am focused on being a good employee during the week and a good dad on weekends. Today is the 14 year anniversary of my last day as a chaplain. I would have missed that fact if I hadn’t gone back and read posts from last year. So much has changed since then, lots of Utah memories surfaced today, most of them good. Finally, The infection I have been dealing with the past four weeks hasn’t gotten better. I have seen three doctors and completed three rounds of antibiotics yet nothing has worked. I am starting to get frustrated. Not sure what to do next. It seems like such a minor problem but no tests have diagnosed the issue and no treatments have resolved it. Hopefully tomorrow is a better day. The doctors office called and left a message wondering how I am doing. I will call them and see if they recommend any other treatments.

October 29, 2023, Sunday evening, 5:59pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Had a good nights sleep, ended up staying in bed until 6am before going for a walk and workout. My daughter didn’t reach out until eleven so I finished laundry by noon. She and I ran errands and killed time at the mall today. She bought a figurine and pants while we were there. I returned an item at the sporting goods store and picked out a pair of jogging pants that need to be returned. They are light colored and the front pretty fits snug. So they are a little revealing, if you know what I mean. I left Aliso Viejo at 5pm and came home ti call mom. She told me about her visit with my niece and all the adventures they had. Sounds like a good weekend for everyone. Now I am in bed reading the Nick Offerman book I picked up yesterday.

October 28, 2023, Saturday night, 9:44pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Went to see the new Five Nights at Freddy’s movie at Cinepolis in Laguna Niguel tonight. The movie was alright. Regardless, it was nice to spend time with my daughter, her mom and our friend. Earlier this afternoon we went to the Spirit Halloween Store. We bought a hockey mask for her costume and a long sleeve t-shirt. I decided on a NASA jump suit for my costume. Later, we went to the book store and bought two books each. She got manga, I got Nick Offerman and Tom Segura books. Then we walked to the dollar store to get candy for the movie. After dropping everything off at the car we walked to the grocery store to buy a drink called Prime. It is syrupy sweet and loaded with caffeine. We took a sip each and threw the rest away. After that we went to the UPS store to return some hockey masks that were purchased for Halloween but didn’t fit right. Then we went to CVS to buy surgical masks for her mom and finally stopped by the Hamburger Habit for dinner. On top of all that I went to workout this morning and visited the urgent care in Irvine. It was a busy day. The good news is I think we finally found a way to treat the infection I have been dealing with for four weeks. I hope so. I am tired of lab work, antibiotics and doctors visits. Time to feel healthy and get on with life.

October 27, 2023, Friday afternoon, 3:52pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Woke up at 3:30am, worked out, then drove back to Orange County from Palm Desert. Attended virtual meetings the rest of the morning, picked my daughter up from school early, grabbed a hamburger for lunch before taking her home then I came back to Dana Point to nap. I have been low key and grouchy all day. No particular reason. Tonight we are going to see a friend’s theater production in San Juan Capistrano. After that the weekend starts. Not sure what is planned for tomorrow.