The Simple Pleasures

It's Tuesday.  You couldn't prove it by me other than my iPhone says it is.  I've lost track of days.  And time, for that matter.  As I type this my laptop is telling me that it's 1:15pm and it actually feels like lunch time but I'm still sipping on my first coffee of the morning.

I've spent part of this trip selling the material "stuff" of my life away, $200 or so at a time.  Some of it I really liked, but whenever and wherever I go it's just "stuff" that can be replaced.  Bye-bye to my Klipsch Legend series speakers, and my bed.  The guy who bought the bed got it for his granddaughter and sent me a picture of it set up in her bedroom with stuffed animals on it - nice to know it went someplace where it's appreciated rather than sitting in a hot storage unit.

I'm scheduled to fly back home on Thursday, and suddenly there seems to be too much to do and too little time to do it in.  I'm not quite sure how that happens, especially given that if all had gone according to plan I would have left on Saturday and would be arriving home in the moving truck today.  What I do know is that I'm better mentally and physically thanks to the change in plan.  I forget how much I enjoy it here in between visits.

I spent most of Mother's Day with my ex-neighbors who live around the corner from my ex-.  We haven't seen each other in a couple of years but they're the kind of friends where time can pass between visits but when we see each other to catch up it's like no time has passed at all.  I love them, and had the most pleasant day there.

I'll also share that I ended up chatting with my ex- for a couple of hours.  We don't have much contact these days so it was nice to just catch up on life without tears, guilt, anger, or unkind words from either of us.  It's the kind of thing I had hoped we could do years ago.  But frankly, the trajectory of our relationship over recent years tends to be one step forward followed by a step and a half back.  We'll see.

I'm spending part of my time here re-connecting with things I enjoy and people I miss.  I hiked Squaw Peak yesterday morning.  It was tough.  There was a time when I was in really good shape when I could bound up the trail without stopping.  Not now.  I had to stop twice to catch my breath and get a sip of water.  It's quite the workout, and if all goes according to how I hope it will I'll do it again tomorrow.  I didn't get to spend as much time at the top as I would have liked because there were just too many gnats flying around my head.

At the bottom of the Squaw Peak trail....

The view across the Valley from "my spot"

I stopped by Dr. Meltzer's office to say 'hi'.  I visited with a friend I've come to know over email these past few years and it was wonderful to finally  meet her.

I played tennis once since I've been here, and hope to do that tomorrow evening again too.  I've been in the pool every day.  Between the hiking, the tennis, and the swimming being here is just physically healthier for me, and I've made a commitment to myself that a dozen pounds I'm currently carrying will be gone before the "official" beginning of summer a month from now.

The view from the pool.  

The days here have been warm and sunny....highs in the 90's moving to 100 or so over the next few days.  But the heat has never bothered me, and you'll never hear me complain about the heat whether it be here or in SC.  Cold is another matter.  The place where the contract I've been offered is gets cold in the winter.  We'll see how this plays out.

I'm not going to get into too many specifics of the work because there's an inherent need to be discreet. If you know what I do, you'd understand why it's particularly important in this new role.  Today I'm scheduled to visit their office here in the Valley to fill out paperwork and stuff.  I need to go get finger-printed at some point, too, either this week or next.  As I say - my days are filling up and there are lots of things I both need to and want to do before I leave.

One thing I wanted to do was visit my favorite mall in the world.  Scottsdale Fashion Square.  Ahhhh..the simple pleasures.

Scottsdale Fashion Square - my favorite mall

There was an article in the NY Times a couple of days ago on MMA fighter Fallon Fox.  I enjoyed the article (read it here).  One of the ironies is that I'd love to step into the ring with her.  The problem I've got is that after all the expense and trouble it took to get my face where I want it, I don't need to get involved in a sport that would specifically target it.  But I know the whole "Reluctant" things.....been there, done that a number of times.

I'll be in Charleston for less than 24 hours before flying to Rochester.  I'll be doing the keynote at the Empire State Pride Agenda Spring Dinner on Saturday (link here), so if you're in the area and can make it I'd love to meet up.  I haven't been to an LGBT dinner in a couple of years, so I'm actually looking forward to this (especially since it's in my home town).  The weather there over the next few days looks good, and I'm hoping to get out to the Lilac Festival on Sunday if I can.  I also expect that there will be more reconnecting with some dear friends I rarely see.  I guess there's lots of that going on in my world this week....

With that - gotta go.  As I mentioned there's more that needs to happen over the next couple of days than I have time to do it in.  I'm not quite sure how that happened, but I suppose it's just that some things never change.