The Hungry Hungry Writer

Rap? Wrap…

I hate my job… Here’s why.

On Friday night…

Donna and I went to a restaurant called, “Zen Asian Bistro.” It’s a quiet yet hip restaurant on Honolulu in Montrose, CA. I’ve passed it before – usually on one of my long runs at night. And usually, it’s not packed, but always has some people dining in it. I’ve always been interested in eating there and when the bar across the street was standing room only, we decided to have a late dinner.

We ordered Chinese Broccoli, a chicken wrap and Kung Pao Chicken. The menu is a mixture of Thai, Chinese and Korean: hence the name an Asian bistro. I also ordered an Apple Martini.

The food was pretty good; the martini was bad. I make better apple martinis.

We got home around 10:30 PM and hit the sack. I was so tired and I had a run scheduled in the morning.

On Saturday morning…

I got to the Rose Bowl at 6:30 AM. It was still dark when I started my run. Liza, Steve and Vivian were to meet me there at 7:00 AM sharp so they could join me on the last half of my 10K run.

I was hoping to go out there and do a personal best 5K but I couldn’t get my legs moving and my breathing was horrible. It took me 2 miles to cough out all that gunk in my lungs while I coughed and gagged, desperate to clear up my lungs. It was horrible. I managed a pretty decent time and as I rounded the corner saw the cars parked up ahead with Liza, Steve and Vivian.

I yelled over to them, “Let’s go!!!” and away we went.

I ran a mile with Liza and Vivian before chasing down Steve to see how he was doing – and he was flying. I caught him in about 6 minutes and paced him for a while. He was running at a really fast pace. 8:13 or something but then leveled off at 8:50 before I left him to run back to see how Liza and Vivian were doing.

I ran the last mile or so with Liza, finished up with her with a very hard sprint, then ran back to get Vivian and finished up her 5K with her. Whew.

I ran a total of 6.88 miles and felt great.

I rushed home and Donna, Bella, Jake, Vivian and I went to get some bagels, then we took Jacob to his golf lesson.

It ended at 10:00… So from 6:30 AM to 10:00 AM I ran 6.88 miles, we went to Goldstein’s for breakfast, and I spent about thirty minutes on the putting green with Bella.

The rest of Saturday was a buzz of activity.

Bella turned 4 years old on Saturday. That was the big thing. I was so depressed the day before. I hate the fact that she’s not 3 years old anymore. It’s so depressing.

Well, after the golf lesson, Donna and I ran around getting cup cakes, balloons, flowers and picking up pizza at Numero Uno and Pizza Hut for lunch. We had a few friends over at Liza’s then later that afternoon Jacob, Colby, Steve and I went to the driving range and hit some balls. I was worn out.

By nightfall I was so tired that I forgot that Donna and I had tickets to the Clipper game. Yeah, we forgot all about it and missed it. That totally sucked!

On SUNDAY…

We got up lazily and got ready for Cecilia’s birthday brunch. We left the house around 9:45 AM and headed out to Malibu to eat at Duke’s. It’s always good at Duke’s. You see dolphins out on the Pacific Ocean and you eat all you can eat at the buffet. I had so much shrimp. It was so good! The only problem with Duke’s is the drive home.

You’re full, there’s always traffic, and it’s in the middle of the day.

I managed to lay on the bed when we got home and promised Jake we’d play golf. So after an hour of rest, Jake got me up, we cleaned out the Minivan, got a car wash and picked up Steve and Colby and headed out to Verdugo Hills Golf Course for my first game of golf.

We played best ball: Jake and I versus Steve and Colby. And if it weren’t for Jake, I would have had a really bad day! The kid hit straight most of the time while I shanked it left right and everywhere else a ball can go except straight.

I managed to hit the green on the last hole but didn’t manage to par the hole.

All in all, it was a fun day – especially the golf.

By 5:45 PM we were at Liza’s house eating dinner.

By 8:00 PM the kids were in bed asleep while I watched some shows on TiVo.

By 11:00 PM I was dreading going to work in the morning.

By midnight I decided staying up all night would be unwise but my goal was to make the weekend last for as long as possible.

I tossed and turned all night long and was up by 5:00 AM.

At 5:40 AM Donna calls me from work to tell me she’s pulling a double shift.

At 5:50 AM I call Liza to tell her about taking the kids to school earlier than normal so my mom could unlock the doors for the construction workers.

At 6:10 AM I wake up the kids.

At 6:30 AM I drop off the kids.

At 6:50 AM I am at doing something I hate: my job - instead of doing something other than something I hate to do: financial analysis. I hate my job, I hate what I do for a living and I hate the drive to work. It’s been a dilemma for many-many-many years.

AND ALL DAY LONG I kept thinking about how sick and tired of financial analysis I am. I had lunch with Stephen and we were talking about work and he goes, “You hate your job don’t you?” I was like, “How could you tell?”

He says, “It’s obvious.”

So there you have it. I wear my hate on my sleeve… or more appropriately, on my tie as that’s another reason why I hate my job – I have to wear a tie.

Can you see why now?

And you thought I was going to rap…

I’ve watched only a couple of movies in the past couple of months so there is nothing much for me to review. Here are two that I caught. One on HBO and one at the theater.

Roll Bounce (2005)
My rating: 8/10

Here’s a quick review for a movie.

At first I thought “Roll Bounce” was corny and a cheesy-wannabe-seventies movie with bad dialogue and try-to-hard characterizations.

What I eventually got was a fun, makes you laugh, quirky, heart-warming family film about a group of kids who roller skate in a skate competition.

It’s “Saturday Night Fever” on roller skates!

Bring back tube socks, is my motto!

Music and Lyrics (2006)
My rating: 7/10

Here’s another quick review for a movie.

At first I thought “Music and Lyrics” was an on-the-nose and tried too hard to put two leading romantic characters together on screen.

What I eventually got was a fun, makes you laugh, quirky, heart-warming romantic comedy about two people who need each other to succeed and eventually need each other because they are in love.

It’s like “Love Actually” except it’s only one storyline.

Bring back tube socks!

I just got into golf. It’s an evil game. I’m addicted and have only been to the driving range about 4 times - with one lesson on the putting green. Next thing you know I have a new set of clubs and found a slight pain in my knee that made me choose the driving range over a 5K run.

Was there really pain? Yeah - but not so much that I’ve had to sit out a great run in great weather!!! UGH.

I need to figure this balance out. Now I have to balance Golf, Run, Bike riding and swim training.

Good thing though - Jake is taking lessons which gives me an excuse to go to the driving range with him.

Now to get Donna out there with me.

Have you had an ice bath? What about a 17-mile run? What about a book idea? Would you consider an hour and a half of golf with your son after 3 hours of running? Well, this is how I spent my Sunday.

First off… we did it.

Steve (RW Forum Member: SteveInSocal) and I ventured out into uncharted territory on Sunday: we ran our first 17-miler. The bottom line is, we finished! We didn’t die, we didn’t fall and suffer and call for a helicopter air-lift to the hospital. We did, however, stop at Carl’s JR for NOT a breakfast sandwich but a bathroom break because Steve drank too much coffee before we ran. All-in-all it was a good run and a great day to run!

We started at 6:30 AM.

I stood out in the cold waiting for Steve to get out of his car as he downed his coffee. Not much was said as we just woke up like 10 minutes prior and were still asleep, but we synchronized our Garmin’s and off we went. It was cold.

Fifty Eight minutes and five miles later we were refueling with Cliff Shot Bloks and a granola bar. The first five miles just came and went. An easy five which meant a pretty good outlook for the next twelve. I felt confident at that point and continued on our trek West on Kenneth Road.

It was almost a perfect out and back because at mile 8 Kenneth ended and swooped down to Glenoaks Blvd which is another flat, straight run back home. We had planned on turning back at 8.5 miles but Kenneth didn’t give us that extra half-mile or so and we decided to try Glenoaks Blvd. as our ‘back’.

It was a good idea because first, it was a flatter route than going back up some inclines on Kenneth, and most importantly, at the 12.5 mile mark, Steve needed to release himself of alllll that coffee he drank. We found a Carl’s JR, stopped our Garmins and Steve went in. I decided to stay outside because I was hungry and did not want to smell the food. I stretched my tight calve muscles.

We made our way back up GrandView to get back to neighborhood running as Glenoaks had too many lights. I also knew we had to make up about a mile because our turnaround came too short of our goal. So the detour North was both a good idea but a tough one as it was a pretty decent run up a hill.

This is the point Steve told me about his Sci-Fi story idea. Which I absolutely loved! Running with Steve always reminds me of the one thing I’ve always wanted to do since I was a kid but haven’t done yet – and that’s write a novel. Growing up, Steve and I were avid readers, reading Fiction and Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels. We read whatever we could get a hold of. From the J. R. R. Tolkien to Sidney Sheldon to Robert Ludlum to comic books – we read it all. So he pitched me a story and I’m really excited about co-writing this book. We’ll keep you informed.

Back to the run.

We prepared ourselves with hydration having about 70oz of hydration between the two of us. The CA sun would bare down on us around mile 9 and would wear on us for the rest of the run. Well, that’s what we thought. And yes, it’s better to be prepared than unprepared. I barely got through 15 ounces myself with a lot left over obviously. It stayed in the mid to low 60s throughout the run. It seemed even cooler around mile 13 than it did at mile 5!!! If there was perfect weather to do your first 17-miler, this was the weather. The R&R Marathon in June is supposed to be in the mid-70s, but with the sun out this could be a tough 26.2 miles.

Our sunglass never left our heads. It was great!

We stopped at mile 17 and felt good about it. We walked about a three-tenth’s of a mile home and soon discovered we should have kept running. It was so much harder to walk than to run believe it or not. Weird.

Now on to Ice Baths. During the run we discussed reading about ice baths and recovery. Supposedly an ice bath can take away the pain – as if you didn’t even run 17 miles! So Steve said he’d try it on his feet and let me know what happens.

I decided to put my feet into the tub and fill it with cold water. It wasn’t so bad and actually felt good after a while. I let the water run down my calves and as the tub filled I dared myself to sit in it.

It only took a couple of minutes to get used to the cold but I did it. And… it wasn’t bad at all. Grant it, it wasn’t an ‘ice-bath’ as I didn’t have ice in the house, but it was as cold as ice. And if you were to pour ice in there, I think I would have been able to handle it.

The results weren’t apparent right away. I struggled through the day with pain. Every time I got up from a chair or from bed I was tentative. I was in pain. It didn’t help that I stood out on the putting green and driving range with Jake for an hour and a half later that afternoon.

But this morning, as I got out of bed, I didn’t even think about the pain. I just got out of bed like I didn’t run yesterday. Yes, there’s a little soreness, but as I walked around I realized a 5K recovery run today wouldn’t be too hard. I also felt like I ran a hard 10K versus a long 17-miler! And a hard 10K isn’t that bad on my legs as a 17-miler so I’m feeling good.

So, my assumptions are this – a cold as ice bath helps… But an ice bath probably works like they say it does!

There you have it. Golf after a 17-miler, a cold as ice bath and a novel ready to be written.

Our splits:

MILE SPLIT
Mile 1 0:12:08
Mile 2 0:11:25
Mile 3 0:11:39
Mile 4 0:11:33
Mile 5 0:11:31
Mile 6 0:11:40
Mile 7 0:11:06
Mile 8 0:11:31
Mile 9 0:11:23
Mile 10 0:11:12
Mile 11 0:10:52
Mile 12 0:11:41
Mile 13 0:11:06
Mile 14 0:10:16
Mile 15 0:11:30
Mile 16 0:10:44
Mile 17 0:10:20
Mile 17.32 0:06:07

Total 3:17:44
Ave: 11:25 min miles.

My family and I have been staying at a hotel during the remodeling phase of our kitchen and re-insulation of the house. We’ll be at the hotel for 6 days as they demolish a wall and vacuum the current insulation throughout the house. We decided to move out during this process as the dust and filth in the air and on everything in the house was too much to handle. Especially with asthma and allergies abundant in my family genes. It was a good decision to stay in the hotel.

Except for the cost.

You can get a cup of Starbucks Coffee for under $2.00 - and its damn good coffee. I don’t know what coffee this particular Hilton brews at the restaurant, but for a large cup, which isn’t even close to a Grande at Starbucks, is weak, has no flavor, and costs $3.25 for a cup. Three fricken’ twenty five!

What is the arrogance of a hotel, one star or five, to charge that much for a cup of weak coffee? It’s as if they spent too much money on a shipment of beans, let it sit in storage for years, and unlike wine, it got worse with age. And, to at least make up the profit margin for the beans, they charge $3.25 a cup, which is probably a percentage markup higher than what the local jewelry store uses!

The hotel rooms are expensive enough and yet if you were to order room services a percent of gratuity is added to the bill and then you have to tip the person bringing the food to your room. And in the end, you tip the staff after your stay when all they do is bring you towels. Trust me, no room service was delivered to us during this stay.

On our first morning there, I woke up to a worker’s strike outside the hotel. The hotel charge all this money- from parking, to the room rate, down to a little cup off coffee, and they can’t pay their employees a decent wage? Although this information is all assumption on the wage thing, but THREE TWENTY FIVE for a cup of coffee should throw flags up in the air on what they make and what they pay. I mean, if I worked there, got paid nothing and charged people $3.25 for a cup, I’d be pissed.

What’s so special about this hotel anyway?

Okay, okay, I’ll step back and look at the good side. What’s special? What can I get out of the hotel that most people don’t? And what other reason would I want to stay here instead of moving back into a dust filled, no-kitchen house right now?

Aside for all the money wasted on a stay at the hotel when it’s NOT vacation, here’s are some plus – money aside.

There’s a bar on the first floor. Need a beer? Need a Kahlua and Cream? Need some pineapple juice in your Malibu Rum or a double martini: go downstairs and get it. Convenience.

And my favorite part, which is included in the daily rate: the fitness center and pool. Down at the lower level is a decent workout gym. Outside there is a quiet pool that is long enough for lap swimming. One length is around 25 yards. And what makes the outdoor pool even more perfect; it’s been 80 degrees outside! My workout totals while at the hotel are: approximately 10 miles on the treadmill, 1,700 yards in the pool and 30 minutes doing weights along with several hours of leisure time in the pool and “cacuzi” as Bella calls it. This is probably more than what I would have done if I were at home this past week – except for the running. It’s been way too hot to run in the afternoon, so I’ve been on the treadmill. Unfortunately, the treadmill is boring!

So there you have it. Convenience. Everything is convenient. If you want food, call for it. If you want a mixed drink, it’s right downstairs. A run and a swim, just hit the “LL” button on the elevator and go-go-go: take advantage of what the hotel has to offer and get the most out of your daily rate. I, for one, sure do.

Okay, that being said, it still does not justify a $3.25 cup of coffee and $9.95 a day for Internet service!

I’m not so sure it’ll be good to be home. Yes, if the kitchen was up and operating, yes, if we could use the air conditioner, yes if there were no dust and I didn’t have allergies, it would be good to be home. But no… none of the above.

Oh, the best part of the stay at the hotel… I was already in the shower extremely early when Isabella woke up to pee proclaiming “I almost pee-pee in my pantie!” Stressing again she “ALMOST did.” After she got off the poddie, I got out of the shower and helped her wash her hands. As I held her up to the sink she sniffed my arm and said, “You smell yummy, Papa!”

Joy.

There’s dust EVERYWHERE. There are awkward confrontations with the contractor about he-said, she-said issues. There are hotel expenses to deal with because its just too dusty to stay at home and an apple martini costs TEN BUCKS at the hotel bar and I make them better at home! All I have to say, thank goodness its March because that extra paycheck will come in handy.

One thing good about being in a hotel so close to home is well, it’s close to home. Get clothes when needed, grab some drinks, check the construction. It’s convenient yet inconvenient.

Today we spent four hours in the pool, just passing the time. Emo Lana watched them most of the time while I worked out in the fitness center. I ran a mile and half yesterday and then four miles today. And for some reason the treadmill I ran on felt tougher than the ones at the gym. I did some weights and although I’m way behind on mileage for the week, I put in a good effort today.

We’ve spent too much money at the bar but… it’s all worth it. Except for the apple martini.

The kids were worn out after their swim. And as we all get: hungry! My aunt made us dinner three nights in a row, but tonight we decided to go out to eat. Jacob chose Panda Inn for dinner and Emo Lana, Donna and the kids and I took the one mile drive down to Panda Inn. And before we even got there, both kids were asleep.

I managed to wake Jacob up for dinner and he ate like he hadn’t eaten all day long. Bella slept on Donna all through dinner and she was the one complaining about being hungry.

On our way to drop Donna off at work Isabella finally woke up and said, “Are we at Panda Inn yet?” We all were laughing as I said we already ate and she was asleep through dinner.

“NA-AA!”

“Yes we did Bella.”

“Noooo! Are we almost there?”

Poor little girl was so hungry and she had to wait till we dropped Donna off and got back to the hotel before she ate rice and braise string beans – her favorite dish at Panda. Jake’s is Panda Beef. Mine – Moooosh0000 Chicken!

Whew, so now the kids are finally asleep. Emo Lana left and I’m able to blog. I haven’t blogged in ages! I’ve been too preoccupied. Month End at work was hectic, packing boxes and covering them to protect them from dust for the remodel was nuts, and I just haven’t had the motivation to sit and write. I promised, tonight I will blog. So here I am. Blogging.

Oh, did I mention Jake had his second golf lesson today? The coach made him switch from left to right. I was thinking about doing the same thing because when I looked online to price golf equipment, from kids to adults, seems lefty stuff was harder to get.

Funny thing, the coach said the same thing. He said I’ll be thankful in the long run. I said, heck, no problem, he can adjust – and he did. At first he looked awkward – it wasn’t that natural follow through from last week. There was a lot of front foot movement, he was lifting his hips, readjusting his grip as he lifted his club: it was weird grip thing he did.

We bought him a set of clubs and a bag at Roger Dunn and I had him swing some of the clubs and he adjusted really well. It was really cool to see him take that big driver and swing it back then straight through the grass, sweeping the grass, then coming around with the follow through. I have yet to try it and I doubt I can do it as easy as he does.

Donna and I are thinking about taking lessons as well. Damn that’s an expensive sport. Do I want a new bike with better components or a set of golf clubs? Hmmmm… My birthday is coming up – I want a new bike! Cheap clubs for me!!!

It feels like a Sunday night. A saving grace I think. Because I’m beat tired but at least I have a Sunday left before work. Jake and I will be at the Clippers game at noon. There goes $20 bucks in parking. I hate how they charge so much just to park. What a rip off.

And that, as they say is that.

Saturday night in a hotel with nothing to do. Alcohol is too damn expensive, your kids are with you and the wife is at work. Kinda sucks, huh? Might as well sleep…

Oh wait… I can read a book without Bella telling me to turn off all the lights! She’s asleep.

Eragon, here I come!

(if you never got this in the mail it is probably because we didn’t send you one. But here’s our YEAR IN REVIEW.)

In the tradition of many cards and letters we have received for the holidays, Donna asked me to write a ‘year in review’ for an insert for our Christmas cards this year. Well, ‘asked me to write’, in not so many words… She basically ‘told’ me in the way, “Maybe you can write one of these this year?” Well, what is that supposed to mean? Read into the subtext and discover she was really ‘telling’ me, “You need to write one of these this year.”

I kinda like ‘em: the whole ‘year in review’ thing. But, I just couldn’t see myself writing one. I ‘blog’ nearly every day, so it should be easy but for some reason it’s not. Make no mistake, 2006 was a year filled with many life accomplishments: Isabella started pre-school, Jake is reading chapter books and is now a pianist, Jessica is a starter for her JV basketball team and plays in a marching band in Texas, Donna accepted a new job at Children’s hospital and I thought I found my voice as a writer (maybe next year).

As you see, there is a lot to write about. But I wanted to do something different if I were going to do anything at all.

So here’s my attempt at a ‘year in review.’

Written ten years later…

LIFE IS BUT A DREAM

by: Lewis Carroll (1832-1898)

BOAT, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July–

Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear–

Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.

Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.

Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.

In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;

Ever drifting down the stream–
Lingering in the golden gleam–
Life, what is it but a dream?

December 7, 2016

Dear Family & Friends,

So here we are, a full year has gone by and it’s now December, 2016…

Isabella decided that she wanted to quit gymnastics and stick with dance and ballet. Her performance as lead in “The Nutcracker” has been a huge success and we have been frantically looking into Performing Arts schools in the SoCal area. She’s dead set on ‘papa’ moving with her to New York, where I can write, and she can attend NY’s School of Performing Arts. Donna has made it clear that she can only take a little cold weather, but not the whole winter in New York, and is not about to move out of sunny San Diego just yet. Maybe Isabella can stay with Uncle Des and Auntie Sherry in their Manhattan loft and experience the life in NY that I so wanted to experience as a teen. We’ll see how it goes.

I’ve taken the same approach with her as I did with Jessica when it comes to boys: open and honest. At least as honest as you can be: as a daughter talking to her dad about boys. But she seems to be handling it perfectly well. She has more important things to concentrate on than being in love as she says. She’s looking more and more like Donna too. It’s going to be tough as she starts high school and all the boys start knocking at our door - more reason to send her to NY so I don’t have to deal with the stress.

She’s also become the perfect editor. The editor I’ve desperately needed the past fifteen or so years. I can learn a few things from her that’s for sure. And not one final draft of an article or script gets submitted without her approval - maybe she should read this before we send it out. And the best part – it’s free! Well, that is until she starts asking for a new pair of ballet slippers and more lenses for her Digital SLR for ‘her work’ as papa’s editor. The slippers I can handle… the collection of lenses for her camera is another story. But it all has paid off as two art galleries have featured her work this summer and she made her second sale just last week on a series of shots, which will be used to decorate a private Law Office in San Diego — thanks Uncle James on the lead! She’s a 13 year old Ansel Adams.

She’s not three anymore, but she’s still my little princess.

Jake has been a handful. It’s so hard to keep up. Right when he turned 16 he was ready for his own car. Daddy’s little boy isn’t so little anymore! It sucks and I think about it every passing year. It was only yesterday when he stood up on stage at the Glendale High School Auditorium singing, “Silent Night,” fighting to stay awake since it was already way past his bedtime and it was only 7:00. He’s been playing winter ball and is really gearing up for the spring season where he can continue the hot hitting streak from this year when they won the State Championships. I continue to tell him not to think about it and he’s better at doing the day-to-day thing than me. For a kid who has always been a standout since tee-ball, I’m so proud that he has yet to let it get to his head. If only I didn’t have to hear the smack-talk as we play John Madden’s Football 20XVI on the Nintendo Dish. Oh, and he has a ‘serious’ girlfriend now. Two weeks and going strong! A world record. And she’s a cutie — looks like Donna. What a mama’s boy.

I’ve begun to feel my little Jakey-boy, who I played Xbox with, is gone, and in his place - an independent individual who challenges me everyday, with interests in everything he comes across that he has a hard time figuring out what he really wants to do: from baseball, to writing, to Triathlon to collecting comic books, and dating. He reminds me of me. That’s scary.

Finally, we got Jessica married off. And she did it a day before Donna and my twelve year anniversary! What a treat — not. But, it was the only Sunday available in September and we sacrificed our special weekend to celebrate hers. And it was worth it to see her happy. It was a simple wedding with only a few guests. She took our advice – spend the money on the honeymoon! So they did. They had a blast in Paris. I’m so jealous. I have yet to leave the country and Jessica did it before I did. I didn’t want her to get married until she ‘settled down’ somewhere. But her husband, Jonah, is a great guy with wonderful parents, and is a big time exec. at Microsoft – although I have yet to get that deal on the new MS Home/Office Net. Jessica’s three-year residency in Pediatrics at Children’s Hospital in Seattle is halfway through and it will be up in the air to where she’ll be practicing medicine. She’s dead set on staying in Seattle. Good for her.

It’s funny, she’s still the same ol’ Jessica: still caring, still loves kids, but now is a doctor, yet still plays video games. She video messages me almost every day on my phone, sometimes with a little patient who wants to say ‘hi’ to the guy who wrote, “ZEN and the Dog from Planet X.” So, finally, we have a doctor in the family and she can start paying her own bills now.

Donna makes it hard for me to stay fit. Her AOS degree in the Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking program was both a blessing and an evil in disguise. But she deserves it. She had a goal: to finish culinary school in a 60 week intensive program and she did it with flying colors. She also remodeled the whole kitchen during the program and is now looking into catering private parties with Jenny. And boy, it is a pleasure to eat her pastries. I just have to run a little extra every time I sneak a bite.

And now, after hating football her entire life, Donna is a bigger fanatic about San Diego getting into the Super Bowl for their third time in five years, than Jake and I combined. Go Chargers!

Donna and I made fewer trips to New York this year, compared to the last couple of years, as both of us have been extremely busy. And finally, after sixteen years of talking about it, Donna and I went to Las Vegas for a weekend together. It took sixteen years, but we did it! And I won! Then lost it all on craps. @#&! I hate Vegas.

I’m still waiting for the Ironman Championship lottery to pick me to go to Kona for the Ironman Championships. Maybe 2017 will be the year. And maybe Jake and Bella will both be doing a Half Ironman with me in 2017 as well. Jake is ready: having done a few Olympic distances already. Bella gets bored with anything more than a sprint but can out swim and run us both. Donna still won’t venture out in the water but is addicted to Duathlons and her $5,000 Orbea road bike. I have a feeling she’s getting me one this Christmas. Right, honey?

One last thing…

I woke up the other night on the couch, after a ten hour rewrite to meet a deadline, and Jake was asleep in the living room too. I thought I was dreaming at first, thinking he was only six years old and I had to get him to bed. But I soon realized he wasn’t a baby anymore. I couldn’t stop staring at him; he still looks the same, he’s just bigger. And there he slept, on the couch, where he used to nap not so long ago as child. The same couch where I would read to him: his head on my lap as I rubbed his back. I wanted to pick him up, lay him on my chest and pat him on the back till he fell asleep. He’s 16 now and not 6 and that would have been weird. But the thought crossed my mind as I closed my eyes and tried to dream about those days when he and Bella would crawl in our bed and argue about who got to sleep next to me. It’s as if I closed my eyes, fell asleep, woke up, and it’s now 2016 and not 2006. Where did the time go? How did they grow up so fast? I miss my babies.

So there you have it: a year in review. If you want to know about what I’ve been up to, I still ‘blog’ and still race Triathlon. You can read my blog here:
http://squint.tv/TheHungryWriter/nfblog/

I can’t believe it’s already going to be 2017…

Heed my advice - Cherish the moments of your life: even if it’s just for a few seconds. Because if you don’t… you’ll wake up one day and wish you did.

“Life is but a dream.”

Merry Christmas, everyone.

The Magas Family