Thursday, October 7th

Yesterday I had a real hectic day. It was pouring rain here. It was definitely the hardest rain I have seen here in L.A. I tried to go out and do my workout for the morning but I had to call it off rather quickly because when I would sprint, my sneakers would slip on the pavement and it was getting dangerous. I came home, dried off, packed some food in my backpack, and went to wait for the bus. I took the bus to the doctor's office only after going too far on one street, having to stay on the bus at the end of the run waiting for it to go back the way it came, and then not going nearly far enough in THat direction. I got to the doctor's about 40 minutes late even after the operator of the bus system had told me I would have 40 minutes to spare before my 2:00 appointment. Anyway, when I finally got there, the Dr. Bautista took for ever because he was switching between 3 different patients (I learned to watch what I said, making sure not to give him any reason to leave the room because he would never return). But in the end, he gave me some good treatment solutions and just confirmed the obvious - I have to stay off the skates until it heals. I had called the office so many times, either scheduling, asking questions, or pleading for directions from somewhere in Lakewood, that I developed a friendship with the receptionist Alice before I even met her face to face. That ended up incredibly beneficial as I was going to be late for practice for sure if I took the bus home, but Alice waited an extra half hour after she was off and drove me home as she too lives in Lakewood! That was a godsend. I got home at 4:30, stuffed down some peanut butter and jelly, and jogged to the rink, arriving there perfectly - just as the group was finishing their warm-up jog. We did a killer dryand before, in which Wilma was constantly yelling at me to work harder than everyone else because I was not skating. She said after that she was happy and she could tell that I am determined as ever. I helped with pads and then ran a ton and stretched a ton while everybody skated and then helped take off the pads and did the turncable workout after. Wil said it was the best I've looked on the up-downs ever. Ya, it felt good.
  Wil gave me a ride home and then I actually cooked a very delicious dinner - Pasta with a meat sauce and broccoli - and watched Mariano close out the Yankees' first win of the postseason - hope there's many more to come!
  This morning I showed up at the rink after ice and did the turncable workout vigorously. Wil gave me a looooooong workout to do in the gym and she took no mercy on me saying, that's to make up for not skating! haha - I wanted that though - its gonna be good. I had a big lunch after a nap. I practiced and now I will go to the gym and sign up for a new membership. Hmmm, what will I cook tonight?