23 minutes ...

The meditation minutes increase so slowly at one per day ... but scheduling them is now becoming a nontrivial task.

I don't know why, but last night I was sleepy very early, before 8pm, and then I slept all night long, zzz.  When I finally got up I wanted to go running, so didn't meditate until 9am, right before starting work.

Dax got a rare mid-day trip to the playground today, because with both smoky haze and the remnants of hurricane Sally approaching, there wasn't much UV rays.  I only spend time under the sun if the UV Index is 4 or less.  After doing aerobic exercises Monday-Thursday, plus my weightlifting workout on Tuesday, I think I need a day off from vigorous exercise tomorrow.

Which is good, because I'm hoping to quit work early tomorrow and head to the condo for Toy Time.  Not sure yet whether K will be able to join me or not.  Then Saturday evening T and I will have dinner with another couple -- for the first time since Quarantine began.  It will be a joint birthday dinner for me and one of the others, we were born just a few hours apart.  I've spent time with K, with B, with KWC, and now will spend time with two additional fellas who both live together.

My enjoyment of Tell Me Why has me spending a bit more time on video games, whereas earlier during Quarantine I felt like I didn't have time for them.  T configured the Xbox in my bedroom as his "home" console, so now I have access to ALL of his games at no additional cost, and wow he's got a lot of games.

I'm starting to catch up with the work deluge that began on Friday, otherwise I wouldn't be thinking about quitting early tomorrow.  But it is likely I will do some work on Sunday.  I'd like to start work on Monday morning caught up with everything.

OK, work break is over.

other stuff

I've modified my personal budget spreadsheet to account for my Green Communism plan over the next three years, donating 3% of 2021 take-home pay, 6% of 2022, 10% of 2023.  That's as far into the future as my spreadsheet goes right now.  Mainly it works via (1) holding my spending steady in nominal terms, while inflation increases my take-home pay, and (2) some of my debts will be paid off over the next few years, such as my car loan.  Part of my retirement plan is to become debt-free, except for the mortgage, by the time I retire.  This will also make it easier to reduce my "consumption" before I retire, although debt service isn't real-time consumption, it is making up for past consumption, or amortizing durable goods like a car.  But the amount I give toward carbon offsetting (aka abortions) will increase.

While eating dinner, T and I watched episodes 4 & 5 of Star Trek: Lower Decks, the new animated series.  The ending of episode 5 had me laughing harder than I have in months, wow :-)  I found the first two episodes of the series more jarring than entertaining, but it's growing on me as we get to know the characters better.  It's good light entertainment to enjoy with T.

It looks like B and his husband are moving steadily toward their agreed-upon separation, with his husband looking for an apartment up in the Northeast.  If and when this really happens, I could suddenly get both a lot more Time to Self at the house, and a lot more companionship with B when he visits the house.  Like things used to be?

But K's departure date marches steadily closer.  I expect to have another date night with him at the condo tomorrow, although I have a bunch of work to accomplish tomorrow before I quit for the day.  I'd love to quit for the day by 2pm, but this may be out of my control.  The number of times I'll see K before he leaves must be countable on only one hand at this point.  After he leaves, Robin will be my first choice for regular play partner at the condo, we'll see how often he's available.

I seem to have the superpower of motivating my subordinates to work long hours when needed, as one is doing tonight ... I'm not sure I'm proud of having this superpower.  At least they can earn credit hours that allow them to take offsetting time off.