still cranking

Met some deadlines at work, making it through the audit a bit at a time, new tasks and deadlines raising their ugly heads. Got the okay from my manager for some time in June, so I'll get to spend some time with my dad [yay]. The Prodigy concert is coming up next month...we thought about going to see NIN, especially since Will had heard that they weren't touring anymore, but apparently they are pimping themselves out all over the place, so it looks like we'll have plenty of chances. <grin>

Weather has been wacky, with near-100 degree temperatures in the day and 50s in the evening. Bad side: no AC. Good side: crank the windows open at night to let in the cooler air, which helps mitigate the heat during the day. Dogs seem to handle it well, cats are none the worse for wear. Cooler weather coming for the weekend [huzzah].

Still not sleeping well, and it's showing...random crap like sending email to wrong folks, or losing things, or not being able to find the right words in the mental thesaurus. With luck, the cooler weather and a weekend will set things right.

Hmmm...what else...saw 'Fast & Furious', which was fun [I'm sooo not a chick-flick chick, so this was my kind of movie]. Not a lot going on outside of work lately...go to work, go home, relax with Will or some friends, toss-turn-try-to-sleep, get up, go to work, repeat. Things will settle down eventually....there is good stuff coming up, like Dad's visit, and Disneyland, and putting miles on my motorcycle. So in the meantime, I keep cranking, keep breathing, relax when I can, and keep my eyes on the horizon...

catching up

Summary: good days, rough nights.

Got out on my motorcycle for the first time on Saturday...very, very different from the lower-to-the-ground Suzuki GZ250 I rode in the MSF class. The center of gravity is way higher, and the four-cylinder engine makes for a less forgiving clutch/throttle when first starting out...need to rev it higher to keep it from stalling, and the friction zone is really small. Once it's going though, it's very smooth and very forgiving...and much, much quieter than Will's V-twin [at least until I get confident enough to rev it up, then the high-pitched inline-four "VREEEEEEE" will be heard throughout the neighborhood]. It was much more tiring than I expected, so much going on: brain thinking about every little move and movement, trying to coordinate entire body and be quadridextrous. A learning curve, but one that will pay off.

90+ degree days meant I didn't get to ride beyond that first outing...way, way too hot. Spent Sunday cleaning up my lawn furniture and getting it set up in Will's backyard, then chilling with him, a beer, a couple dogs, and some music. Much needed relaxation and downtime...got zero hours of sleep the night before [been battling the insomnia since I got back from Ohio, but that was by far the worst night yet]. Sadly, not much better the next night [or the night after]...hence "rough nights".

Now trying to keep my muzzy brain focused to get through the workday...insomnia can have some subtle effects that creep in, especially when dealing with email and spreadsheets and mind-numbing audit details. Blegh.

[but I got to ride my motorcycle...yay! and share good off-the-grid time with Will...yay! and watch some entertaining movies...yay! So it's not *all* bad...]

without the chick in the way

Here is a better pic of the bike, all shiny and new:

vroom

(well, maybe not quite "vroom" yet, but I'll get there...soon.)

it's official...

...as of today, I am a motorcycle owner.

double w00t.

it's official...

...as of yesterday, I am a licensed motorcyclist.

w00t.

still breathing

Struggling, but still breathing. Missing my mom, missing my dad. Trying hard to get caught up at work, but it's rough since there is no one cross-trained on what I do [so when I am out, nothing gets done and it all waits for me to return]. People as individuals are being amazing, but the bureaucracy is unforgiving...because the team is *supposed* to be able to cover if any one person is unavailable, management doesn't/won't make any allowances for my time away. Plus they've moved a deadline *up* by a week and a half, right in the middle of an annual audit...I'm trying hard to keep it all together.

But hey, I've got the okay to work as much overtime as I need to... [sigh]