Daily Update

Yesterday was quite normal when i woke up, but changed drastically by noon, and even
more so by the evening. I think Kristen wanted to put me in my place when it comes
to running. About a week ago I invited her to come with. After she finished
laughing at me, she accepted. So I left work a little early. (One thing about nice
weather, it promotes the bosses leaving early too.) KA and I met up and went to my
usual track the Brentwood Country Club. It was a nice evening up to this point. I
intentionally wore my fast shorts, and a clean shirt, and of course the shoes that
have supported me through every occasion. She made it seem like a race at first.
We started. She then followed me for much of the first mile. That made me nervous
because I thought that she was taking notes on my performance. We traveled at an
average speed, typical of what had been my output lately. I think we arrived a
little to early for me to show her who all of my friends and ememies were. We only
saw Dreamy, the vice-commander of the ninja, and one other person who I recognized
from other runs. As we rounded the corner of the second mile. That is when She
decided to let her Gazelle like instinct take over. She lept ahead of me in a
single bound, and pranced forward with great ease. I don't have a problem following
people when running, especially when I can just watch their pony-tail bounce around
instead of watching my own feet. It sometimes helps me go faster. She stayed in
front for the completion of that second mile (lap 1) then just took off. I felt
good about completing the first lap, but as I started on the second, whoa nelly, the
output wasn't one of my best, thats for sure. I haven't trained myself to do that
yet. At that point Kristen yelled back to me 'see you at the finish line' and then
accelerated like a Champion Gazelle who had just kicked a lion's ass. I just kept
it in low gear for as I could. I had to stop for a minute and fight off the evil
band of ninja who had been lying in wait just around the second corner. I think
they noticed me in my weakened state, and decided to take advantage now, because it
dosen't happen that often. But after that I just continued on. I made some new
friends while running around. They were the Bus-Bench Trolls (instead of hiding
under a bridge). I only saw two, but I'm sure there are more. One of the ladies I
think I passed three times even, but she's definatly a troll, a nice one. As I was
comming up on the third corner of the course, I saw KA coming back toward me. I
guess you could call that her victory lap, since I was so slow compaired to her.
(For a second, I started looking behind me to see if she would be lapping me as she
completed a third lap around the course, but she was nice to my ego and didn't do
that.) She probably got bored hanging out by the cars, so she came back to make
sure I didn't stop and take a rest. I'm glad she came back to meet me for the last
stretch cause thats where most of the ninja warriors hang out, and I think they are
afraid of her cause when we were running together we didn't see very many of them.
And she obviously didn't have any problems while she glided ahead of me. I put out
a full effort to finish strongly, and felt extra good about being finished. The
best part of physical excercise is being done, (oh ya, and minus the dry-heaving.
Josh was right about that). I've been to much like a Zebra lately, hopefully in the
upcoming days I can work up to my once great supurb self, for a second time.

I slowly made it over to Jeff's place. Watched a little of 'the office'. Then
wandered over to someone else's house to discuss other business that I can't discuss
here. I don't think I can park over by his place for a while, due to the manner in
which I pulled away in my car. Lets just say that someone may be looking for me.

By this point in the evening my legs were sore, and it hurt to walk. I texted KA,
explaining this dificulty; when she replied, she said that runs like that were
usually just warm up's for her, and that she was ready to do it again tonight.
Quite impressive. She's either lying, or she's nuts,... or mocking me. But I can't
imagine why anyone would try to do that.

After enduring the late night Check-out lines at Ralphs, I sat at home sipping down
some chocolate milk and sketching away on my paintings listening to the sweet sounds
of the spanish guitar. Just fine tuning stuff, no pigments yet, but any day now.
With all the chocolate milk I drank, I think I undid some of the running I did
earlier. But it was so smooth doing down.

Work is busy.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvins. It was good. Afterwards I ran into Mr. Rider.
What a little school boy.

I listened to Greenday most of the day, but also listened to the new guy talk it up
in the office. He's becoming more and more interesting.

Daily Update

Right after work I ran over to Michaels on 4th street. I was looking for some
material for my Man-Box. I found nothing. There are evil forces out there trying
to hold me back I tell you! but they will not prevail. JoAnn's didn't have
anything either. I hate being the only guy in any store. It felt like I was
parading thru a battered women's shelter; the way they were looking at me, Brrrrr-
so cold.

En route I got a call to dinner. I was to meet up with the boys at the check point
which had been established. Turns out check point 'Delta' was right next to a Taco
Bell. So we stratagized there for a little bit. I'll be honest, I don't really
like running for the Border. But they do, so whatever. (Here is where I leave out
the horrible directions, the misinformation, and the long waiting time descriptions
that they supplied me with.)

From there we rallied for another night of Man-Boxes. I had forgotten, but a few
nights earlier I had promised Josh that we would designate that evening solely to
Man-Boxes. Oops, well I also had plans of eating chocolate chip cookies at the
Greenfield Flat; but I felt bad (and got yelled at), so I had to cut that TV
whatching night short. I'm slow to get started with designing unless I know that
I'll have plenty of time, and in typical manner, I was asked to help out with
something they needed. Then I decided to bug the other guys who were studying, then
I had to leave for 20 min, then I started to draw something else. Good Grief
Charlie Brown! I got a good amount of work in. I'm so excited to send you all
images of the final products.

I got some more books and movies in the mail. I'm so excited. Two of the books
were about Man-boxes! (how wonderful.) Two of the movies had Chevy Chase in them.


And as a follow up, Don't worry everybody, the 'trouble in paradise' page has been
turned. The new page is titled 'Gentler Roads Ahead'.

A relative boring night. But trust me, tonight won't be that way at all. I'll make
sure of it.

Lunch was sponsored by Jamba Juice.

I'm listening to Frank Sinatra right now.

Daily Update

So by now I'm sure you've heard about the terrific New York radio guy who decided to
insult a womens basketball team. I find his hours of apologies quite entertaining,
and further insulting. Its quite suprising that someone can be employed by public
companies for so long. Tonight I'm going to write my old buddy Jeff Zucker an email
insisting that they fire him, and make him shave that dorky mop off his head. Imus
is just nuts. in every interview he's been in, he's gotten the host's name wrong,
ie. Matt Lauer, Al Sharpton, then some other guy. If you don't know what I'm
talking about, you're really not missing out, Just another racist retard.

Instead of letting all the venom from the daily work atomosphere run completely out
of my system, I went home and jumped into my phone booth, tore off my business suit
just like Clark Kent in order to change into my running attire. Then immediatly
found myself on the Brentwood track. I haven't been at top form lately; I've been
noticing that I've been slower then last month. It is taking longer for my
outstanding athletic from to reach the 'first wall' of endurance. Its a little
confusing because the clock in my car tells me otherwise. The clock in my car pats
me on the back every evening too, but that is another issue. Because of the time,
and the plethora of daylight, there were lots of people that I had to share the
track with. I think I saw most of the people that I have nicknames to: Ponytail,
Hot Pants, Duffus, Speedy, Blondie, Speed Racer, and there's a new one, we'll just
call her 'Dreamy'. The speedy Indian chick sprinted by me again. I wasn't angry
because she had terrable form; her arms were flailing about like a chicken being
chased.

I remember what store I wanted to go to a few days ago. There are only two or three
locations of the Nordstrom's Rack in the greater LA area, so I decided to find one
right after the run. They had lots of stuff, but not stuff that interested me. And
there were about 7 people following me the entire time. They obviously knew I was a
brilliant, well talented color and style expert. When I felt that they were
swarming, I just took off.

After that, my stomach told me pay more attention to him. So Jeff and I went to the
local chinese place then sailed over to jessica's to keep her entertained. Fun as
usual, but on the way out Josh called so we met up at jeff's. We were just
chatting, when Evan came in the room... I dont' feel like any of it is mentionable,
but lets just title that discussion "Trouble In Paradise".

I'm listening to some techno station.

Lunch was sponsored by Quizno's, the Letter R, the color green, and the number 8.

Daily Update

So we got a new guy at work. I think he's worked here before, a while ago. He
already knows everyone. I said Hi to him in the morning. Ta was away from his desk
most of the day. Dan walked by twice, Richard once. Different times though. The
phone rang 37 times. 12 were repeat callers. 9 were women. 2 were office
relatives. Emilio had a meeting. Richard asked Danny if he spoke Brizillian to the
clean up crew. Jim recieved 19 emails yesterday. Jim wrote 17 emails yesterday. 1
was work related. 2 were church related.

I planned on rushing home to go to the store, but when i got home I forgot which
store, so I sat at my desk in a stupor of thought. I ended up doing research for
one of my paintings. Nothing bad I assure you. They were all renissance paintings
that i was looking at. All in the name of art, right. I then started sketching on
the canvas that I was doing for ...someone. As I would sketch deeper into the
painting I became more integrated with its intentions. With every line I drew I
felt like I was actually building each wall or column. Not only would I draw a bed,
I would make it, and then fluff the pillows, and then bounce on it as well. As each
wall appeared on the canvas it was like opening a door or a gateway to the next
decision that I was to make. Yes, just like Alice wandering thru wonderland. As I
so desperatly searched for the Cheshire Cat more options became apparent. Although
I haven't found the cat yet, I feel that it is simply hiding just around the corner.
And when I find it I will make sure it stay's put! As my nurons continued to fire
at an incredible rate, I was so abruptly interupted by the daily call from Jeff. I
was happy to chat, but oh the disruption, the pain that the call caused to my
painting might be unmeasurable. I realized then that I couldn't look into the
rabbit hole, while I continued to run deeper into it at the same time. Reality
snapped back quickly. I could only immerse myself a little bit back into the canvas
after the call. I finished building the back wall of the castle, as well I finished
furninshing the bedroom that I was in. After fixing the drapes I stepped out of the
canvas, and went to FHE. Needless to say I was late. [I'll tell you more about
what the painting will be when I'm allowed to, thus far, its kind of top secret].

At FHE they had an easter egg hunt. I was late, and wasn't to into it. As soon as
Jeff got there, promptly at 8:30, we went to do Man-Box stuff. It was pretty
productive. Josh got a lot done (with lots of help from me) and Jeff continued to
draw. We got to welcome a special guest to the Man-Box Circle, Kristen joined us.
I'll be honest, at first the guys were skeptical, mostly because she's a girl. It
took a few minutes for me to convince the guys that girls aren't all that bad. Plus
she smells nice. Luckily I got there before she did, so I could take all the 'No
girls allowed' signs down from our clubhouse. We gave her a quick orientation to
what a Man-Box should be, and after urging her, we helped her tap into her south
american/pre-columbian roots (since the rest of us have molded ours into themes).
You see, 'Diversity' isn't just an old wooden ship!

I ate more of my plethora of pancakes this morning. It was just as delightful as
the second time I ate them. Oh the buttery walnut goodness, chills just ran down my
spine.

Lunch was sponsored by In N' Out. I was impressed with them today. First time ever
to serve me in under 10 minutes.

I'm listening to the news right now.

They determined the father of Anna Nicole's baby was Larry B., as suspected.

Daily Update

Friday night Catherine and I tried to see 'Wicked' a nice wholesome family type
play/musical, (its not a porno Joe). It didn't work out, they ran out of tickets to
early. Later I ran into Jeff. He shaved his grizzly man beard, so now he looks
like a 'Skippy'.

So on Saturday morning around 11:30 we went to the Griddle. Wow was it good! I got
the 'yellow brick road' pancakes. Imagine a stack of three enormous pancakes, 14
inches in diameter, at least 1 inches thick. Luscious bready pancakes mounds
intermingled with chunky walnut pieces. Carmel and Butterscotch poured
strategically on top with a healthy dusting of powder sugar, Oh, and don't forget
the mountainous smathering of whipping cream on top. Its meals like this that make
me happy to be alive. Jeff came with this time, after whining enough about 'not
being invited' last time, Renee dared him to finish all his food, cause he was so
confidant in his eating ability. Needless to say he barley made it to the 25% mark,
then would talk up all the possible factors about what could have prevented him
finishing all his food. (did you see that? I just rolled my eyes too.)

Saturday afternoon I wandered around the 3rd st. Promenade. I was shopping for more
shorts and shirts. Of course I need more. I think next time I go shopping, I'm not
taking any guy friends with. I don't think they like the way I shop.

That evening we were going to meet up with Renee and her friends from CO, until they
wanted to just hang out and relax (her friends were on vacation) That pissed Jeff
off something fierce. He needs fun and excitement, not hanging out and relaxing. I
think he's an adrenaline junkie.

I was at church at a meeting when the bishop opened the door right in front of me
and said "Ah Jim just who I needed to talk to". So I respond, "Oh Great! what did I
do now" as if something bad had happened. He then told me he wanted me to be the
new something-or-rather. I then explained that I would only sign on under certain
conditions: no speaking assignments, no more meetings (less even), and a signing
bonus of a 2% reduction in tithing. He wasn't to apt for that, but I still signed
on in good faith.

After church I moped all the way home. Then decided to go running. The only bad
part was I only decided to run AFTER I ate something, but was still willing to risk
it. You see, that is one of my rules: Not to go running within at least an Hour of
eating. But whatever. I wasn't' that into it so I decided to take it easy. Easy
like a zebra. I had on my blue and yellow stripped Rugby shirt, so I fit the
description. I don't know what came over me but I almost decided to stop and walk
for a second. Then I got mad at myself for letting that happen. After working on
technique for a few weeks, now I'm working on lung capacity. I just don't have it
in me like I used to. I think I was on the track at the same time as the ninja
master. He has been the only person to pass me and exceed faster. I think he was
taunting me because he was only on the track for the first 2 legs of the race, then
he just took off. what a cheater. But I still had good timing.

We ended up hanging out at Plewe's house for everyone's Easter dinner after party.
We watched a movie and got Jeff to make Pazookies. Mmmmm. Then we talked late into
the night.

Lately, shopping for donuts in the morning is like playing a slot machine. At the
local Ralph's by my work, the Pay-yourself machines are random when they give back
change. The dispenser where coins come out isn't exactly straight, so sometimes
they roll out gracefully into the coin tray, and sometimes I get the guy there to
jam a coat hanger in the slot, so all of the collected change rolls out into my
hand. Oh Ya. So this morning I struck it big. 33 cents.

Lunch was sponsored by Marvin's Breakfast Burrito again :), the number 2, and the
color yellow.

I'm listening to the Black Crows, Led Zeppelin, and Five-Man Electrical Band right
now. But not all at once.

Daily Update

I stood on the path, awaiting the starter gun. Bang! It was like I was shot out of
a cannon. I had almost forgotten what it was like to break the sound barrier. My
ears popped. As gravity pushed my feet to the ground I hit the pavement briskly. I
quickly realized it would be another hard day. The constant pounding of my feet
emulated the metronome in my mind, trying so hard to keep a steady beat. That is
part of being a champion: doing good, looking good doing it, and feeling good about
doing it; on the surface and beneath. I can usually keep a steady beat between my
footsteps, breathing and heartbeat; but this time I ignored this champedic combo. I
know I know, I shouldn't have, but I did. Again it was still new to my senses that
the daylight lit my path, for the first half of the trek anyway. There wern't as
many other people either. There was a guy who passed me while running. I think he
was trying to intimidate me. Well, it didn't work. He must have been a ninja in
disguise. I had the urge to stop and walk for a minute, but I overcame that. That
urge came from Tuesday night I figure. I hadn't fully recovered from that run.
Part of my self diagnosed remedy was to 'run it off'. Now I'm even questioning
that. I was thinking of switching my experimental Sunday morning run location to
the beach, but I don't think I'll get up that early.

So after that I ended up over at 1609 Veteran. I brought most of my european photo
albums (non-mission) over there to give the guys ideas on what I've been planning
for our September trip to Europa. oh, which reminds me...

'The Office' wasn't even on when I got over there. How annoying. They were just
being boring so I tried to recruit people to go with me to find food. Jeff, in true
plewe/rowley fashion, as I told him about food and he agreed to come with, decided
to start eating everything else in the kitchen. I told him I wasn't just doing a
survey, and actually had intentions of leaving in the next 30 seconds. From there I
proceeded into the first bedroom where Plewe and Hammer reside. It was mostly just
a corgial invite, being that they live there, and I invited everyone else. I was
just saying hi for a second, when jeff sauntered into the room with more slop in his
bowl. I again re-confirmed my intentions of leaving in the next 20 seconds and I
thus described how and where jeff should put the bowl of slop he was stuffing into
his Pie-hole. As I said it I realized I had let the ... yes, old jim slipped out.
so then I took a few deep breaths and we all held hands on the way to the car. Evan
came with us. He had to get away from court case that was happening the next
morning. He needed a little guy talk rational. We could tell he was frustrated
with frustrated people/signifigant others. I thought of proposing before the other
J's that we give him an honorary 'J' name,like we did with Scott(Justin) but didn't
say anything cause even I realized Evan is only a temporary fixture, and he will be
dead to us in a month.

We ended up watching The Three Amigo's at Josh's. It was late, and got even later.
But what a great show. We came up with a few super-fantastic stuff for potential
Gong show material! But you didn't hear that from me, and we're still undecided.

Then I had to make an ultra late trip downtown to the bank. There were lots of kids
still up on campus. Thrusday is still the party night.

Lunch was sponsored by The Brighton Cafe in Beverly Hills.

I'm listening to some old paino concerto in D minor.