Day 15 - LA County moves into yellow tier

At Kura Revolving Sushi Bar with L. for my birthday…

5/17/21. Monday

9:30- 10:00 – I’m awake so I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal. She’s awake, too, but wants me to rub her tummy, so I do. She grabs her tennis ball and we go outside, where she runs around, chasing birds. She does her business and we return inside: cold cuts and old pieces of cheese from the charcuterie box 2 weeks ago and coffee for me.

I go upstairs.  I weigh 99.5 pounds today.

10:00-11:00 – Grade papers.

11:00-12:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. I take out my braids and listen to The Daily.

12:00-1:00 – Blog posts. I check email at College Nos. 1 and 2. One of my students sent me a “short film” that she created and I watch it – it’s good!  I really like it. There is a problem with the Flex hours I submitted at College No. 2, so I have to resubmit the form.

-L. leaves to run some errands.

12:00-1:00 – I start a load of laundry then grade more papers.

1:00 – 3:30 - L. surfaces.  Today’s Mother’s Day/Birthday gift is lunch at Kura Revolving Sushi Bar in Sherman Oaks!! Before we leave, I ask L. to watch the short film so we can discuss it on the way to the restaurant.  L. watches the movie but both of us are having difficulty interpreting it, even though I actually love the “short.”

-Driving

-This place is so great! L. and I eat inside, but the door to the restaurant is open and since we’re in Yellow Tier, restaurants can only seat at 50% capacity.  I hate crowded spaces now. There are pexi-glass dividers between the booths, not that pexi-glass provides any protection, but it provides mental comfort at least.  Waitstaff are still masked and customers are expected to mask whenever they get up from the table.

L. and I order 2-piece sushi plates from a touch screen and the food shoots out like a cannon ball to our table.  Very cool. Within 30 minutes, we’re full (insert smile emoji here).

We leave around 2:30 and head to Philz Coffee for a pick-me-up before driving home. Philz Coffee is hiring and L. wonders aloud if she should try to pick up a second job and apply. She’s seriously considering it.

3:30-4:15 – Driving

4:15 – 5:00 – Home. I enter the house and OMG!!  L.’s friends, N. and P. are there, and a tube of confetti explodes!  The entire downstairs is covered in birthday decorations and L. immediately puts a tiara on my head, along with a sash and Mardi Gras beads. This is so fun!! There is a huge balloon sign strewn across my cabinets that says “Happy 25th Birthday!” L. secretly purchased 6 gourmet cupcakes from Lady Dis, my favorite bakery.  She lights two of the cupcakes and they all sing Happy Birthday to me.  L. takes pictures. I love it!

I spend some time talking to N. and P., then head upstairs to grade papers.  I’m still wearing my sash and tiara.

5:00-5:30 – I finish Raising a Thief.

This is an excellent book about a couple who adopts a Russian baby – uh oh, cue the sinister music – who turns out to have Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) and is a complete psychopath.  She lies and steals constantly, but everyone finds her charming, just like Rhoda in the 1956 movie The Bad Seed. Beginning at age 14, the couple unload their daughter at “camp” after camp [the camps are really just high-end mental institutions, in beautiful scenic locations, and cost about $100,000 a year] until, at the age of 16, they dump Sonya in the final camp and never hear from her again [by state law, she’s released at age 18].  Later, her Dad and the author of the memoir, follows her on Facebook and sees that she drinks, gets high constantly, and was also convicted of fraud. The memoir details the entire train wreck. Highly recommend.

5:30-7:00 – Grade papers.

7:00-8:00 – I take the dog for a walk.

-L. leaves for N’s house so she can play with the new dog they’re fostering.

8:00-10:00 – Gardening. My hose caddy broke and I spend a good hour disconnecting the hose and then manually wrapping it around the cylinder. When I’m finished, my hands are absolutely filthy. I sanitize the Astroturf with Simple Green, then water all of my plants. What a mess!

I go back and forth between the yard and my kitchen, filling the bucket that I’m using to sanitize the Astroturf and also picking up the confetti and pull down most of the B-day decorations in the kitchen.  I leave a few of the decorations up to remind me of the great time I had today. 

10:30-12:00 – I have two pieces of sushi and one shrimp tempura leftover from today’s lunch and read Le Consentement, the translated version.  I still can’t read French.

12:00 – 12:30 – I take the dog out and, again, she refuses to go potty. I stand around for 15 minutes, then we return inside, and I start the “potty process” all over again until she finally goes. I make my coffee for tomorrow and lock up.

12:30 – 1:00 – I have a glass of champagne and read a Money Diary.

1:00-1:30 – I do a 20-minute Insanity – Cardio Abs workout.

1:30 – 2:30 – Grade papers. I work on a blog post.

2:30-3:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.