A Day in the Life Of - Part I, Monday

6:14am Alarm goes off a couple of times before I finally stir. Looks dark out, but getting brighter by the minute. I find Chandler curled up at the foot of the bed. I feel inspired from reading Michelle's blogs last week and decide to write a Day in the Life Of style post. Let's get dressed and do the Mile.

6:51am Back from my Mile. Jogged one complete lap around the park, walked another lap. My Mojo Mile. Went over tenets on my second lap. Paused at #2. Thinking, I frequently recite the tenets, am not frequently asking myself what am I pretending not to know. It wasn't as dark out as it appeared from bedroom window when my alarm went off.

7:26am Remembered during my Mile that I hadn't taken my meds on the weekend. The events of the weekend disrupted my routine. (Snap! Voice of Phil inside my head - the weekend didn't make you forget. Right, I am the source).

Having a conversation with Phil in my head is a little creepy - I think of Baltar on Battlestar Galactica, the inner conversations he keeps having. I morph Phil into Lori, with a red dress like what Tricia Helfer, wears on the show. Okay, not so creepy now, I feel calmer. But wait, what am I pretending not to know? Why am I identifying with the character of Baltar the traitor? Now that's creepy, and a little disturbing.

7:36am Idea - make a photo storybook about Chandler. I have enough pictures of him.

8:15am On the bus, on my way to work. Writing on the bus is difficult sometimes because the bus is shaky, bumpy. Just as I was about to leave for work J says, "Once again, you didn't answer my question". What are you talking about, what question? A question about when I will write her a certain check. What are you talking about, we had an entire discussion about that, I told you where I am with that and what I have to do to bring the funds together in order to give you that check. She starts saying my communication wasn't clear, blah blah blah. Have a nice day, I say and go out the door to work. I feel annoyed and don't want to to fall into that suckhole. While walking to the bus stop I think about the tenets. Tell myself the truth - what answer does J really want from me? Lead with cooperation, keep my word, keep my conversation aligned with my purpose.

11:09am Having trouble getting into "work mode". Looked up my mindmap from Friday - what should I be doing today? Oh yeah, test the changes I made when I added the Work Type dropdown list. I'll make a test plan, add it to my mindmap so I can later use it to generate documentation for my client - adding value - but that's very analytical thinking and my brain is just not there right now. It's that left brain/right brain thing (I always forget which side is which. Is it Right=Rational, therefore Left=Creative? Or is it Left=Logical, therefore Right=Creative?) I read Michelle's blog to balance my brain, feed the non-analytical side thinking that will help me get into an analytical frame. Michelle mentions something Neil wrote in his blog, so I go there too, read a few posts, and my mind goes off on several more tangents.

3:27pm I've completed my test plan. Called Jan at the hospital, got no answer. Called Jan & Fede's home number expecting to get voice mail; Fede was actually home and I chatted with him for a bit. He is frustrated with the beaurocratic limitations of getting one hospital to share information with the other hospital. I know Fede wrote this morning that he'll be too busy to post to the yahoo group for a while, so I offered to be his conduit to the 21CL yahoo group and to the men's team, to be his conduit to keep them informed of what is going on. One of the men on my team said he was willing to meet with Fede at the hospital tonight if that would be supportive. I checked with Fede and he has accepted the offer. My men's team is planning to visit another man tonight who is in bad shape, he tried to commit suicide several months ago by swallowing acid and his innards are all messed up. So tonight is an opportunity for my men's team to show up in a couple of men's lives and make a difference and show them our heart.

5:22pm I may have started off my day with a Mojo Mile but my mojo didn't stay with me, at least not as far as work goes. As far as day's productivity goes, it was a Tell Me Why I Don't Like Mondays kinda day. The highlight of my day, the moment at which I felt the most connection with my mojo was when I thought about what it meant to have my men's team visit two men as our team meeting. Frak the agenda, this is where the heart of a men's team is.

5:57pm So there are a couple of men on my team that are also hanging around downtown. We've been calling each other on our cellphones, coordinating plans to meet and eat before going to visit {the man who had tried to commit suicide}. Usually I don't have this kind of contact throughout the week with my team; I like this and feel more connected with my team.

I wait on King Street to meet Dan. J calls on my cellphone while I wait for Dan. She has a request for me and I feel uncomfortable about it. I tell her that. The conversation starts to feel like another sparring match; I end the call and turn off my cellphone. I walk with Dan to {meeting place}; I am distracted with thoughts of the conversation I just had with J. After a while I notice that I am barely present with Dan at all; I let him know that I am feeling distracted and share my thoughts and feelings about my phone call.

11:09pm On the subway, heading home after my men's team meeting. Now that was a meeting, I think the best team meeting we've ever had. A meeting in which we just threw out the agenda and made it all about context, made it all about showing up in someone's life and making a difference. And it wasn't just, let's make a difference we'll pick up some trash or bake brownies or paint a wall. This was make a difference when there is literally a life on the line.

12:31am Finally got home, got through my emails and cleared a couple of tons of spam and synced my PDA to my desktop. J is still up; she's hooked up the karaoke mike and is having fun singing. For me it's a late night. Stew, my coach, put forth this proposition, that Wealth = Health; when I take care of my body and eat properly and exercise then I am making a deposit, and when I skip exercise and don't eat properly and don't get enough sleep then I am making a withdrawal. Tonight I am making a big withdrawal by staying up so late. I know my balance is positive and tonight the return has been worthwhile. I'll have to watch my balance throughout the rest of the week though; if I keep making withdrawals a this rate I will deplete my balance. It's dark outside again, the day has come to a close. I enjoyed writing this Day In The Life Of post - thanks Michelle and thanks Neil for the writing inspiration.