r&r weekend

Survived the week. It helped a lot that my boss finally released me from one of the major jobs we've got going right now, the new website, and redirected me to the major documentation project that feels like a huge wall I have to scale before I can rest. Or maybe more like a many-tentacled octopus. (Yesterday somebody sent me a dramatic video clip of an octopus ambushing and devouring a shark. Very tough critters, those octopi. Shocked the hell out of scientists manning the aquarium, who had hoped the octopus's camouflage technique and strength would be enough to keep it safe from the prowling sharks. Oops. Every morning, it was, "Where are all these shark carcasses coming from?")

So this is the weekend I try to relax and recharge. Started very well last night on the way home from work, at the home of an excellent massage therapist. I had a wonderful hour of heaven on his table, despite the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't quite get my shoulders to fully release their tension. It was delicious, but my upper back is aching today.

And this morning, after dropping ms. squarepeg at school at 8am, I went to the gym -- have only managed twice this week; must get to three time to see results. Three is the magic number. Oh yeah, the diet is important too. Okay, it's MORE important, I know, I know. Just polished off some chocolates the kid created at a trip to a chocolate factory a few weeks ago, following a lunch of hamburger and fries. What is WRONG with me?

So after the gym, I met a friend at the beach and we sat around talking for about three hours. There's lots of catching up to do with this friend, who I worked with 20 years ago and have been mostly out of touch with in the intervening years, as he's been living all over the place since then. But he's back now for four years. It's very different having an old friend to talk to ... a very special quality. I have almost nobody else like that in my life, certainly not here in Israel, who knows so much history and sees the evolution, rather than a more superficial snapshot of who I am. Another dimension.