A Little Off-Routine

So this being a Tuesday I had a Business Continuity Meeting at 9:30 AM, the IS Team Meeting before that and the usual Johnnie drop-off first thing. Routine stuff actually. It was actually, other than the observation that it is now getting colder in the morning. I guess I have to finally put my fan away. And start wearing layers and long pants. And there is definitely the smell of fall in the air. If the smell of summer and late spring is the pungent aroma of those summer flowers, then the smell of fall is that of wet grass. Wet everything. Stuff drying out. Not too cold yet, but not summer warm anymore either. Still it turned out to be a pretty nice day out once it started to warm up. So much so that I was motivated to clean my back yard once I took a break after the BC meeting. It was 10:30 when it done and as soon as went back in after taking Claire out for a walk, I basically shifted into Mr Clean and started sweeping the backyard. I hadn't cleaned up this place in forever. I am embarassed to admit I had cleaned it maybe once before and I've been here more than 3 years. There's dirt and leaves all over and cobwebs all over everything that was back there. Well, no more. I cleaned it up and patted myself on the back for the win. Looked good too. Rewarded myself with a hybrid beef stew lunch. That's rice and taco meat ($4) and a can of Campbell's steak-and-country vegetables soup. It was pretty good too. Filling anyway. And all for less than $7!  A millionaire's lunch it was not. But me the millionaire ate it today and I'd eat it again in the future. I tried to reward myself with a nap after working this morning. One of those self-care things I know I should be doing. Instead I ended up watching TV. Y-the Last Man. Although I am not sure what about that series captures my attention. Just something to watch while Claire rested on my feet on the couch is all. Not exactly something I'd be able to do if I were at the office right? Although I would be walking around downtown. Hey, I walked around my neighborhood at lunch. Couldn't waste such a beautiful day now could I?

So I went about my real job in the afternoon. That would be Johnnie's Dad. I said as much to Karl while we were texting about what my next thing would be. Retire from the work-for-others-world is what.  Live off passive income, be Johnnie's Dad. That's the plan. That and find a way to provide massive value to others. That's the plan too. Karl wasn't surprised when I told him I could retire as early as the end of this year. He seemed excited for me in fact. I figure I have just a few years left until Johnnie morphs from being that playful kid on the monkey bars (see pic) and the kid eating popcorn while watching Madagascar into something different. A young man. Then a man man. Anyway my plan is to enjoy those Johnnie childhood years as much as I can. BTW he was playing on those monkey bars WHILE he was also letting me know he took another spill today and that he was injured. True enough he had burn marks starting to scab on his elbow and on his hip. That is my active little boy. Is it weird that I'm glad he has war wounds? That means he was playing full out. And he was probably having fun. Let's not even debate the probably. He WAS having fun. Funny though he had to limp to me to show me he got hurt today and then 10 seconds later he's up and away on the monkey bars. I told him the second we had some Panda Express teriyaki chicken in him he would be as good as new. And so off to the Sawtelle Panda Express we went, and might I add that here is where I practice parking manifestation skills. I always get a spot on the ground floor closest to the stores. My focus would be off for sure if I didn't get one is how I look at it. In the meantime I fixed myself some nice shrimp yakisoba with some broccoli for MY dinner. And then the Johnnie routine was dinner, then snack, then a little Wild Kratts video, a writing exercise (he has to write about something about his day at school today... he wrote a little bit about basketball actually). All routine. Except tonight, I added a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It IS Tuesday so I had to make cookies tonight like we used to do since a couple of years ago. That fell out of the routine somehow. As did making Italian sausage for us. But hey, tonight, we'll revive the cookies. We also goofed around and as previously mentioned, I talked Johnnie into watching Madagascar just to break up HIS routine. He gladly agreed just so long as he got some popcorn. It was a deal. And then lastly, we did some goofing around singing to stuff on YouTube. Tonight it was Love's Holiday by EWF. Had to catch a video and send to Karl. I was very impressed. Not at Johnnie's singing prowess, but definitely his ability to remember. I don't recall playing the song for him recently. But he heard it plenty on my music player in the car. And so maybe it wasn't such a surprise that he knew enough of the song to sing it. Anyway, Johnnie fell asleep on the couch tonight. And so I carried him to bed, changed him there and let him sleep. I went back to the living room and watched the Dodgers force a winner-take-all Game 5 in the NLDS. Exciting! Someone is going to get eliminated on Thursday. But tonight it wasn't the Dodgers. Cool!