week of thompson

My Friday bday surprise was goofy golfing, batting cages, arcade and homemade by Mark brownies with candles. A blast. But, I lost the SD card with the proof on it. Eva arrived Saturday evening (right after I got home from taking Stephanie to the airport.)

Venice Beach drizzle sand castle Sunday

Eva's kids are very industrious sand architects. After we built this castle, we built a hot tub.

Hollywood Boulevard Monday

They have street performers and costumed people for photos with tourists all along here. Chana had funny run-ins with both. First, a guy who did the robot really good got her to do a "white girl dance" in his show. Later she realized that what looked like red tights on this costumed guy was really just red paint on his skin - and he was only wearing a little leather g-string with tassles on his belt. She went over to try to clandestinely take a picture of his bare bottom to show her friends and he turned around and caught her. After that, he kept winking at her and waving, and then later came over, stood right in front of her, and started shaking his booty at her. It was one of those painfully funny embarassing things.

I had a good time hanging out with Roger, which I did a lot of thanks to our common love of roller coasters. Likewise for Mark and Eva with their common disinterest in coasters. (They went to the park together with the girls on Wednesday when Roger and I ditched them for the siren call of Magic Mountain.)

Knotts Berry Farm Tuesday

All but Mark went to Knotts. That park is perfect for a family with varying tastes in ride intensity. Roger, Chana and I (and sometimes Sade) broke out of Snoopy's Camp for some high-thrills. The Xcelerator shoots you like a rocket 80 mph in 6 seconds for 32 seconds worth of straight up, over a hump in the track and straight down into some loops. The Silver Bullet is probably my favorite (because the wooden coaster is closed for repair this year) - the bullet is a smooth, feet dangling coaster with lots of loops and cork screws. But the highlight of the day was seeing Aubri and Marissa become the next generation of coaster junkies. Aubri's quote, "That was awesome! Let's go again! My favorite part was when the skin on my face felt like it was falling off. Did you feel that, too?" Marissa also loved the rides, but was not big enough to feel her face fall off (she would have if they'd have let her.) So she stuck to the log ride, which was the scariest in her height bracket - and rode it 11 times.

Six Flags Wednesday

Roger, Chana, Sade and I hit the big-kid coasters. We rode every coaster at Six Flags except Superman and Tatsu. We worked the park pretty good. I've been to this park a lot of times, but surprisingly had not been on very many of the rides. The Riddler you ride standing up. The X2 - well, that one is really unpredictable - one minute you are laying on your back going up the track backwards, the next your seat swivels unexpectedly to face your head next to the track right before you plunge down. You just never know where you are going. We sat in the front row. My favorite is Batman or DejaVu. I learned that you can get too much of a good thing - after throwing up all night and still feeling like I was on a coaster all day at work the next day.

Wicked @ Pantages Thursday

I could watch this show every week. Poor Roger. Little did he know what he was in for when he insisted that he and Eva should do more for my birthday than just visit me. They treated me to this show - and it was a wonderful performance... I cried again. And I realized that one of the reasons I like it has a little to do with Eva (The Good One) and Mona (The Green Sheep) mirroring the storyline's path through friendship with one another, and ending up being Changed For Good by one another.

This one is for Eva: You asked for it.

Hollywood Driving Tour & Universal City Walk Friday

Mark took the fam on the usual drive around local points of interest. A very good Journey tribute band was playing the City Walk - and some b-boys gave a modest show. I hold Marissa to tell me I was hip, and she called me a hippo.

China Town Saturday

I collect paper money from around the world, and I got some Chinese Yuen and some Iraqi Dinar (with Saddam's face - but Mark thinks it's fake.) I don't have any pictures because I forgot to copy Eva's SD card before she and her beautiful family left today.

not perfect, but not too bad

That's how my exam went. Not well enough to suppose that I passed, but well enough to have a small ounce of hope.

As for the rest of the day, some scrapbooking and a second delightful serving of WICKED which was just as good re-heated as it was fresh from the oven. Stephanie is still making fun of me for actually crying at parts. (She also liked the show.)

As for catching ya'll up on my step-o-meter - my current daily average is 11,674 -
Day 6: 12,347
Day 7: 16,456
Day 8: 13,833
Day 9: 11,722
Day 10: 8,947
Day 11: 7,595
Day 12: 16,793
Day 13: 8,516

(I unapologetically studied on day 10 & 11. I have no excuse for today. And I did not do a weigh-in this week because I blew the diet during the few days leading up to the exam... but no more of that. I'm back on track.)

stuff that is keeping me from posting

Diet: Counting every calorie and writing it down - three weeks in. This also means cooking. I have already seen some happy making numbers. Let's see it last, so I can have some food-as-a-reward and undo it. Catch-22. And why is it that as soon as you go on a diet, everyone in the world invites you over to dinner?

Exercise: Doing the Global Corporate Challenge. Officially starts tomorrow, but I have been walking to ease my way in. My goal is 10K+ steps per day on average. Basically, you take a virtual walking tour around the world, visiting different cultures by putting in your steps and following a trek. We start in Chile, so for the kick-off tomorrow, I am preparing a Chilean dish for a lunch. My whole department is on my team and we are competing against 15 other Farmers (and our parent co Zurich) Teams.

Study: Test is not next but the following week. Totally not ready. Also, reg'd for a vocational training course, required supplement to actuarial exam - which is the equiv to a college course in three weeks. That starts day after exam. This ride never ends. Sorry, I mean "learning adventure."

Reading: Okay, so I totally took a much needed break from my brain and read the book WICKED in two days. It was really dark, and exceptional. I feel really guilty, but deep inside, I'm smiling.

Summer planning: getting airfare, tickets, etc arranged for our action packed fun. So far, I have my Texas airfare for 4th of July w/ McKay, SeaWorld passes, an annual pass to Six Flags, and cheap seats to see WICKED again with Stephanie. More fun to come... fuh-shuh.