The Hollywood Experience

So I woke up today and 3 things simultaneously came to mind. I'm going to Hollywood Health Center first thing, it's Thursday and the week is almost over, and it's the last full day of Johnnie and Lisa in Maui and they're coming back tomorrow. Which also makes it the last full day + night that I have to myself. As I drove to Hollywood I remembered that first year I would drive to the same place, that being my new workplace way back in 2013-2014 before we moved to the FRB. I would go down Sunset from Westwood. I liked working at the MOB. I remembered doing my walks in the parking lot in the middle of the August heat. Like it is now. It was just as hot today. I did my 5-minute deal, tried to help out as much as I could by giving out cookies to the crowd when questions were answered correctly. I thought about my days as a stage helper for Tony Robbins running up and down the aisles with the mic. Such an attention hound I am aren't I. And a subtle one at that. And so I did the Town Hall, stuck around for the IS Team Meeting right after and then headed on home. And I took Sunset Blvd route. I had all these memories come up on the drive back. The Metro station on Vermont and Sunset. The Crescent Heights and Sunset intersection. That one dated way back to Cedars-Sinai. Driving down Robertson to get to home. Took a good 45 minutes. But it was barely 11 AM and Claire was still napping when I got back. I never know what to do after taking her out for her walk. Except to get out of my dress blues into my regular clothes first thing. It had been a really long time since I've worn work clothes for this many days in a row. All it means is that I have more laundry to do this weekend than usual. And actually that isn't true since I don't have Johnnie's laundry to do either. I did not feel like pushing myself to work in the afternoon. I mean it IS Thursday after all. I had that Annual report for the Board to write up but I simply could not get off the mat to do it. I finally did manage to move money from my checking account to fund the new TD Ameritrade account so I can learn options for real. But really I ended up watching more 12 Monkeys more than anything. Once again I am binging on a show about TIME TRAVEL. Something about travelers from a dystopian future trying to fix it by changing the past. For me in particular, there IS a thread. I have to fix my past too. But I don't need to travel back to it. I just need to recognize the mistakes I made while also appreciating that because of those mistakes, my life ended up where I am in the here and now. And so I do appreciate them too. I mean who knows what would have happened if I didn't decide to just willy nilly not care about working at General Dynamics part time with no income plan whatoever. Talk about irresponsible. I mean I had a mortgage, TWO cars one a BMW and I thought maybe I could do Amway without having built that business first? Who know what I was thinking at the time except that maybe perhaps I would give myself the advice of getting another job... only because it was what I knew best at the time and then work on the side hustle until I had enough cash flow to transition to work-for myself entrepreneur. It took a while to get that job at Cedars-Sinai but I didn't work on the side hustle. I was in survival mode. And the side hustles I was involved in didn't give me the guaranteed income I needed. THAT WAS KEY WASN'T IT? To give myself the assurance that money was coming in every week, every month, every quarter. Steady income. I needed to build something then. I got the next urge when I left the dental school. No plan again then. But the distraction was definitely there. It was Lisa. And although I would never take that time back, I still should have kept up the side hustle activity. When I left USC, getting a job was so simple I didn't NEED to think about a side hustle. And so that lesson applies today doesn't it. Create the cash flow first. THEN RETIRE. LET MY MONEY WORK FOR ME.

I thought about all this while walking around my neighborhood, enjoying the last night I'm sort of alone. A beautiful evening it was. And the work week is coming to a close...