Back in Socal, back to being pretty much full time employed, back to the land of no rain and lots of people. Zoom and Teams meetings, deadlines, project plans, people problems and customer calls. All the stuff I left behind in 2018 except for the godawful commute. I have commitments to the companies I’m working with right now, but I’m anxious to wrap some of this up and get back to being an unpaid, unpublished wanna-be author. Call me stupid.

It was definitely great to see my dad, the kids and grandkids, my brother, and KY in the spring. It’s been a long time since I was there for the early spring redbud, forsythia and daisy blooms. There’s a singular beauty about KY in late March.

The airline trip there and back was fine, though much more crowded than I expected. Flights and airports were packed. And on every flight there are one or two jerks who push the limits about wearing a mask – the rules don’t apply to them. On my final flight into San Diego, one guy who kept being passive aggressive about sort-of kind-of wearing his mask, requiring the flight attendants to remind him constantly, was met at the landing gate by police. I don’t know if they arrested him or just wrote him a citation, but I was glad to see that being an asshat has consequences.

Age also has consequences. I was really tired after the trip, and regular sleep has eluded me. I used to time-shift with no effort, but that seems to have vanished. Gettin’ old ain’t for sissies…

It’s hard to know if I’ve jumped back into the traveling life too soon. Pandemic best practices are anyone’s guess right now. I figure getting fully vaxxed and taking reasonable mask/hygiene precautions while out in the world is the best we’re going to be able to do for quite some time (years?), so I made my move. Time will tell.