I need to get off my butt, do some house cleaning, set up the tables, put out the food, set up the game and get in game mode. It’s Mah Jongg at 6 and we only have 7 people showing up. I really wish we had 8. We will make do.
Per two weeks ago, we are having more than 4 people show up. There will be 7. I already opened up a bottle of wine to breathe.
I met Jim Yates, his wife, daughter, and mechanic along with his Race car- the Sunglass Machine.
I am not into muscle cars, drag racing or any of that but I was excited to see him, standing next to his car, next to his family, anticipating his race on Saturday at Infinite Race Way in Sonoma.
I even saw the inside of his truck/trailer, it’s huge, longer than any bus I have ever seen but it’s not a bus.
I walked away with a little more knowledge about drag cars, a little more knowledge about a traveling lifestyle, a little more knowledge that meeting can be held inside of these monster trucks and some free swag such as a shirt, autographed card and a poster.
Once a month, I make the hour long drive to Gustine, Ca to visit my Dad. Today is that day. I went to Safeway and bought my dozen long stem roses, brought my lawn chair and my camera. My camera has the time date stamp on it so I can email my Mom to show her pictures. Going to see my Dad is like going to Church in a way. I feel so cleansed after I made my visit with him. With the grass in, I can take my shoes off and sit in my lawn chair and just talk to him- out loud! I normally spend an hour there. It’s always a good visit and I feel so good when I leave. The drive home doesn’t seem so bad but getting there it’s a lot of lost feelings.
Today was really windy and it was hard to cut the flowers with the wind blowing, but I managed, I always do.
So, our normal routine is 2 movies we go see in a year, so far this month it has been 2, kind of weird and strange for us to do. We went to see “Wanted” with Angelina Jolie. It was a great movie, not what I expected. A good twist at the end. Unfortunately, Angelina was shockingly skinny, more so than I would want to picture any Mom to be. Yes, that thin!
My friend Juli is coming into town today and she will be a production assistant working on American Idol in San Francisco. It should be a fun visit and a chance to catch up on our lives.
We have both been a lot through this past year. We both lost our fathers. She understands my pain and I understand hers. It is something that has brought us closer and I am thankful to have her as my friend.
no, this is not a dating service. It’s Mah Jongg. There were only 4 of us that showed up to play which is perfect and it turned out to be a great night. My friend David made spaghetti, garlic and had wine. I brought a not so great pie- blueberry, it was very disappointing and a bottle of Pinot Grigio which was light and fruity to go with my not so great pie 
The game only last 2.5 hours but we made it through 11 games which is the way it should be, fast paced and not sitting on our thumbs waiting for someone who has digressed since the last time we played to finally make their move.
Mah Jongg won’t be until the 26th at my house. Hopefully we will have more than 4 turn up.
What could be better than dinner and a movie on a Friday night after a long week of work? The only down side, we both sit on our butts all day and then we have to sit through dinner and long ass movie. It’s a sacrifice, right?
So, we go to Hacienda Crossings and meet at “Across the Border” for a Mexican dinner and then off to see Hell Boy, now I didn’t see the first version but coming in on the second, it was a good movie. I thought it would be a scary, sci-fi with a large creature in it. But this creature had a heart and Selma Blair looked like a more goth version of Laura Croft except she’s on fire when she gets mad. We haven’t been to the movies in soooo long.
So, I started my new job as an Account Manager Assistant. Basically, I support the Sales Team and Sales mgrs/supervisors. I have been wanting a support role for sooooo long. I was sick of sales when I left my old job at the beginning of January and I wanted to find something different but in a similar environment. Now, I have it and I can’t wait for ………..
So my husband and I went away for the weekend. Sometimes the cost of gas isn’t going to hinder our fun or trying new things at least not now. Friday night we went to Chearie Heights in Trinidad. Unfortunately for us the fog was in and we couldn’t see the ocean or anyone lighting off fireworks. We could barely see fireworks through the fog, we just saw low lights and heard tremendous sounds busting through the fog breaks here and there. Dinner was awesome, Chaerie Heights is an Indian Casino and this was not a buffet, a sit down in fact. We sat and ate our dinner, drank some wine, enjoyed the company of my husband and my two cousins. Afterwards, there was a TNT stand and fireworks are legal in this “moist” county. So, I indulged and bought some fireworks for later on. On the drive back to Scotia from Trinidad, the night sky was lit up by all the cities we past having their fireworks and by neighborhoods having block parties.
Saturday morning- my husband, my cousin, her friend and I made the drive back up 101 North and cut over on 299 west to head towards the Trinity River to go rafting. I have never rafted on anything other than the Truckee River or the Sacramento River. For those that have been on those Rivers know that it’s nothing what the Trinity River can bring (class 2, 3, 4 and 5). Luckily for me, we didn’t go on anything past a class 3 but that was plenty of adventure for me. Little did my husband and I know that the water temp was snow run off. So cold, so much colder than the Alcatraz Swim I did back in 1994. Our inflatable kyacks even raced by several mountain sides that were burning, just burning with no intention of putting them out. As I have heard it ” just let it burn, it’s Federal Land and it’s a natural fire with just the underbrush burning”. “These are how natural burns are taken care of, just let them burn til they fizzle out”. That’s an insane way of looking at it but it has worked all these years and it’s the way it suppose to happen. Bizarre. That’s all. On our way out, the road was blocked due to a fire up ahead where the side of the moutain above was burning and burning trees and rocks were landing in the road. We waited on the side of that road for 2 hours and we didn’t know until later that a group of 25 cars were stuck in between road blocks. Several cars emerged with heavy ash, broken windows and dented sides due to rocks and burning trees. Luckily no one was injured. Speaking about very poor air quality, driving down to the place in the morning, we thought we would have to turn around due to the haze and cloud that lingered 10 feet above the water. We were in that 10 foot bubble where the smoke didn’t affect our day.
By the time we got back to the house it was time to get in bed, and sleep.
I just watched this advertisement for Cereality. I absolutely LOVED the concept and I really hope that this company makes the move from Santa Cruz up north to my neck of the woods. It’s a fairly new company and I will write to them to see if they would open up a new store in the Livermore, Pleasanton, Dublin area- a great opportunity and I know this company will make a ton of money if a store opens in one of these cities.
It’s all looks so yummy!