Monkeys!

I will be writing this post in segments throughout my day which consists of eight hours of free time and two hours for a meeting. I will start my adventure at 11am by having lunch with my cousin that I have been connecting with on Facebook since my release from prison, but whom I have not actually seen in....... Holy shit, 15 years. We're meeting at my favorite restaurant Saji-Ya, which in Japanese simply means Saji's Place.

Today is Saturday, January 23rd, and I started my day by finishing a project my mother hired me to do painting the long hallway in the condo. I think I actually did a pretty good job, and the limited light available in the old corridor is now amplified by a cheerful very light yellow enamel.

11:20am. The restaurant doesn't open until noon so my cousin and I decide to meet up at Nina's Coffee Shop. While I'm waiting for her I see an open table and head for it. I accidentally knock a woman's purse off of her chair, possibly because her purse is three feet wide and hanging over into the open floor/clearly designated walking area. I say, "Oh shit!" and I proceed to pick up her purse for her and hand it back. I hold up my mug and proudly proclaim, "I didn't spill my coffee!" At that point she opens up her novelty size purse and says, "Well my phone better be okay, I have a very expensive case." Bitch.

Now this is how I know I'm a better man than a year ago. I just walked away. I definitely thought of mean things to say. Wait, no, I mean I thought of true things to say, and the truth sometimes hurts, but I know that sometimes the smart thing to do is say nothing. Secretly, I hope her phone case breaks later in an "unrelated" accident. People in this particular establishment can be very snobby, but one of the female staff I find to be quite attractive so I put up with it. She isn't here today, so I'm very proud of myself for not making a scene.

3:43pm. I'm sitting in front of my grandmother's house waiting for her to get home. I just finished lunch and a trip to the zoo with my cousin. It was a very fun afternoon.

6:25pm. Well, my grandma showed up. Now I'm at home with an hour to spare before I leave for my meeting, so I can write for a bit. If you didn't already know, I do all of my blogging from my phone, typing every word you see with my right index finger. I can type maybe twenty words per minute provided they are short words and I don't have to back up too many times to correct my auto-correct. I ducking gate auto-correct, but I think it helps more than it hurts.

Anywho, after our sushi lunch, we headed over to the como zoo/conservatory to check out the winter scene. The place was packed! We did the rounds through the gardens which I hadn't been to since maybe my early 20's and then we saw the primates, aquatic animals, then the place where the polar bears should have been but they were at a meeting or something. We both agreed that I could beat bears and gorillas in arm wrestling, and we each went our separate ways.

These little fellers are my favorite.

A rainbow roll and a No. 9 from Saji-ya

This is a rare look from the inside of the Mir space station.

I helped my grandparents carry in the groceries and I listened to the problems they were having with technology and I took a look at another painting project which I will start next week. I'm not too terribly good with computers but I did get their internet working again and I helped my grandma learn how to use predictive text. I also ate many cookies and sweet chewy things from a glass dish.

I can say that today I felt very productive in many ways. Every week I continue to do things that involve the most important people in my life, and every week I feel a little better about myself.

Soon I will head out and meet my sponsor at a meeting after which we will read the Big Book together for a little while. I'll be starting my journey through the steps very soon. It was pretty tough last time I did it, 13 years ago. I'm sure this time will be no different. But tough or not, they are a necessary part of my recovery, and its the only way I'll ever be able to completely let go of my past and move forward with the best part of my life. It's time to start fixing broken.