Greater Than

Went to Zumba on Saturday then spent the bulk of my day with the 'Fugee since it was her birthday. It was a joint celebration because the 'Fugee and her niece's birthday are days apart.

I enjoyed everyone's company and it seemed like the birthday people enjoyed themselves. I know that we all enjoyed the toddler's company. It's amazing how the little ones are fascinated and ready to engage with technology. At some point, our youngest party participant, went and got her sunglasses so that she could take a selfie. She was also very fascinated with her aunt's "real" camera.

At some point, I started talking with the toddler's mom about how life is home...work...home...work -- for the most part. I also mentioned that I'd bought several tickets for this most recent 450 million lottery. She said that winning the lottery would be nice but she has a feeling that everything she earns will be with her own ten fingers. Yeah, I know the feeling...

Something small-ish had been weighing on my mind. I bought a used lawnmower last year and the guy told me to make sure that I drained the gasoline. Grass-cutting season was much longer in 2017 so I didn't get around to it but  I did yesterday and was so relieved that I finally got the chance to check something off my list.

Back to the party. The 'Fugee's niece has such delightful dishes. It made the eating experience so much more joyful -- that and the sweets and the half and half in the coffee.

On another note, I'm feeling a bit weary. Feeling like a 9-to-5 soldier -- marching in step -- trying to get things done but barely making a dent in the tasks that I need to do but I guess that I'll keep marching on...

Out of all the signs that I saw about the Women's March, this one brought tears to my eyes and I'm not quite sure why.

Crowds returned to the streets yesterday a year after millions of people demonstrated in cities around the globe in an extraordinary rebuke of Donald Trump. Organisers hope the anniversary rallies and marches will help galvanise the movement ahead of the 2018 midterms. #womensmarch

A post shared by The Guardian (@guardian) on Jan 21, 2018 at 1:01am PST

No Balance

News from 2009

Cindy and Tim were in town so I had a climbing date with them on Sunday at a branch of my gym. Between the "accessible" area being roped off for a class and the high volume of 5.10s, I could barely find anything to climb. So disappointing. I've always liked the new gym for how it's organized (bouldering area, lead climbing area) and for the variety of routes but the latter has changed. Can't say that I'm thrilled about the route selections at my regular gym either.

Not everyone is a highly skilled climber and I just see no balance with the kind of routes being offered. Ugh...

We had a little surprise gathering for my uncle's birthday today. There was an overflow room which held about five people and my uncle ate in there even though we tried to encourage him to go and eat with his birthday well-wishers.

It was really funny when my aunt Debbie and I walked in and found the birthday boy in the overflow room reading a newspaper and it was even funnier when I realized that the paper was really old.

And I laughed because reading in the midst of a party is something that I would totally want to do.