This week I had a couple of days off in the middle of the week, and I'd been itching to get a few things polished off on my Jeep....namely getting an oil leak(s) taken care of that has seemingly gotten steadily worse over the last month after I replaced the valve cover gasket (I do my own repairs when I have the tools to do so). After some other routine maintenance things on my tires at Firestone and a machine job at the brake shop in town, I, or rather, all of us concluded that the oil pan gasket needed to be replaced.
This lead to some probing, and YOUTUBE channel education on 'How-To' change and replace the gasket only to discover I likely needed to change out the rear main oil seal, which was much easier to to do then originally thought. In the end and after some de-greasing, I checked the bolt sizes to make sure I had the right sized sockets. Sure enough, as I was sizing them up, I found the entire front end of the pan bolts were not tight at all. Go figure that this stopped the oil leak as yet! It saved me about $60 and four to five hours of labor time, which is nothing compared to the $660 any of the garages wanted to charged me to do both...OMG!! Thus far, the I've replaced the brakes (front and back), the front and rear shocks, and the plugs, wires, cap and rotter. Yeah, I'm still MexiCAN!
ON THE JOB: My client schedule has varried every week which sometimes gives me a day or two off during the week; it just depends on what the patient population needs. The reasons vary from their G5 being delayed, 'on-set' delays or stresses, and the occasional they over worked themselves on-set, and now they're a mess! LOL. I get it, and they get it, and that's why the office is there and they come to us. So, a little schedule flex between weeks.
My name plate is in the process of being created and will be replacing one of the names presently listed at the hallway door. It's a place of honor and humility, and it also validates that 'I know what I'm doing' considering the Malibu population. Beyond just having a enough raw talent, I'm sure there's an element of luck in there somewhere. Hahaha.
ON THE SOCIAL ARENA: I was having coffee with Al the other day to go over some of the places and things we want to try and get to on days we have off together to keep it real and share a few things. Between her ER schedule and my revolving day schedule, there are chances we might actually have off together less her kids' schedule. In between all of it, we laughed at her new dating or 'not dating' experiences and her overall life and friend transition that has occurred for her in the last year. Not one of the people that were her friends, outside of her kids' parents, are in her life present day. All of those friends that either picked her now X-husband to stick with or just decided to not participate are gone. That amazes me. It makes me think about all the reasons people are in our lives at all besides the momentary experiences we share with them. I'd like to think that if you share enough of them that you have some kind of substance between you and those people so that when difficult things happen they stick it out, but I'm not sure that's every really been the case. When I see all of the people around me or hear about other peoples' lives and experiences..or even my own experience last year, I take in a deep breath and let it go...slowly.
In that light, I put a face-value amount of energy into the people I meet or even see regularly because in the end, one has to interact with the world if not only to make sure you're not loosing it or too disconnected from it. This is the same for me at Starbucks, the gym, and now at my work place. Even when I do see my former KC from time to time at the gym or some other place, I realize it just that moment in time and nothing further. Sure I look forward to seeing the people that I regularly see because it gives me a sense of belonging but not necessarily being apart of their lives or them mine; I think I miss that part..the having someone being involved in my life more than just a regular passer-by. You would never know anything different if you knew me. I smile the same (OK maybe you don't see quite as many of my teeth when I'm not fully smiling), and it's usually welcoming and looks like I've gotten a lot of work done on my teeth even though it's definitely not so. LOL. 
Then I recall, why I feel good about those experiences and why I smile or feel mildly apart of the moment...because the experiences are generally neutral to positive in nature. I have no expectations of those people going or doing anything different making them, the experiences, at least pleasant. The more of them I have-positive or even neutral moments with people-the more likely I will be open to them for more of whatever necessarily allowing my willingness to be more vulnerable with them to go up. So, I smile. It makes me hopeful knowing this very simple non-activity may be able to change my experiences or other peoples' experiences with me to a more even one..one that is neutral and ultimately will become positive. And if I can achieve that without an agenda, I will be more apt to be content, feel pleasant, and eventually open up more to people..even ones that the experiences were mixed or less than neutral. I was just thinking all of this as the sun started to show today. In time, I'll expand on my thoughts in the weeks to come. The pics are of a few friends including Al that have stood the test of time, crap, and distance. I guess I better get to the drive over the hill and get to the job. Till next week, "Be well. Do good work," and come on back next week.
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