Perfect Balance and the end of MMR

You may or may not have noticed, but the Monday Morning Rant feature here on The Midnight Q Lounge has been rather absent lately...only making brief appearances every now and then.  The reasoning behind this is twofold.  First, my blog has predominantly been a travel based and picture based life blog recently.  I’ve been doing a lotta cool things, and therefore there’s been a lotta Q’s Adventures posts going up.  Squeezes out the MMR posts.  Second, and probably more importantly, I really haven’t had much to rant about recently.  Life is good.  And while I’ve not always used the MMR as a place for true ranting…and as of late it had become just a blanket heading for posts I made on Mondays…I just felt like using the MMR title when things are so good to be a little misleading.

So, the Monday Morning Rant feature on this blog is officially dead.  Posts will go up as I see fit, and under whatever heading I feel like using.  Doesn’t mean I’m not going to rant here and there…but the time for me having an official ranting post is over.

Why is my life so good, you may ask?  Well, I was driving home to see my parents yesterday afternoon, and I had a moment.  Right there on 101.  I had this feeling that my life seemed to be in perfect balance.  I’m not sure I can adequately describe perfect balance, but I’ll do my best.  I think the best place to start is to describe my weekend.

This past weekend was a weekend with “no plans.”  I really didn’t have anything much on the calendar as recently as last Monday.  But that seemed lame, so the schedule filled in.  First a bachelor party was added to Saturday afternoon and evening.  Then lunch plans with friends in Palo Alto before that on Saturday.  Sunday became a day of doing necessary house/shopping related things, but also hanging out with the roommates and enjoying the weather.  Finally, I added in a trip to have dinner with the parents to close out the weekend.  And all of a sudden, my weekend was booked up!

Lunch on Saturday was really quite pleasant.  Palo Alto seems like a nice downtown area…and it always nice to see C, Nina, and Keith.  We met at The Counter, which is supposedly a legit burger joint.  I say supposedly because, in true Pat Version 2.0 form, I chose against eating a big, fatty, greasy burger.  I had just had a delightful egg white omlet for breakfast a few hours before, and was planning on having an energy bar for lunch later on.  I was there for the company (and to try the churro shake…one sip’s worth, anyways.  It was underwhelming), and the company was glorious.  We had a great time, and the weather was just perfect for sitting outside in the sun.

Then back home, and off to Dan’s bachelor party.  The bachelor party started at 2 and ran into the wee hours of the morning.  We kicked it off with over 3 hours of baseball out at the park.  Once again, perfect weather for such an event.  Then back to the house for a BBQ and various shenanigans (the goings on of a bachelor party are not for public consumption…just on principle).  Needless to say, it was a great time.  And I got to catch up with some old friends from college who I hadn’t really seen since graduation…so that was epic!

Sunday I woke up, had another egg white omlet, and the roommates and I went to the farmer’s market in Mountain View.  I hadn’t been able to make it to the farmer’s market for like a month (see: Q’s Adventures…I’ve been busy!), so it was awesome to get back.  Once again, perfect weather for being outside.  I picked up all my veggies…broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sweet potatoes, artichokes, and some Italian broccoli; as well as some grass fed pork Italian sausage and garlic stuffed olives!  A mighty haul.  (side note:  just had some of the broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots for lunch…steamed…and it was incredible.  So much fresher than the store bought bags I’m sometimes forced to procure!  Especially the cauliflower.  I could eat that shit all day!).

After the trip to the farmer’s market, it was time to bring the veggies home, and then more shopping was needed.  So Darren and I went to Campbell to hit up Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and PetSmart, while Chris went with Celia to the Milk Pail Market in Mountain View to get some fresh fruits!  Trader Joe’s was fruitful as always…Whole Foods is always good for fresh fish…and PetSmart was necessary for cat box supplies.  Home we went, and put everything away.  Swapped out the cat litter, got the trash ready for pickup this morning, and then Celia made a fruit salad out of the fruits they had picked up, and we munched on that while enjoyed the gorgeous weather outside.  Must say, while the blueberries, raspberries, pineapple, and bananas were good…the mango stole the show.  It was so soft and sweet…literally the most amazing thing I ate all day.  Incredible.

After that I wandered home to Morgan Hill…windows open and sunroof open and music blasting…the sun beating down on me, trying its damndest to make me less pasty white...that’s when I had my moment of realization about a life in perfect balance!  Consider my weekend.  I spent time with three distinctly different groups of friends, doing three distinctly different things.  I spent time inside, I spent loads of time outside.  I ate healthy, I played around and got a little exercise.  I got some necessary chores done.  And now I was headed home to see my parents, who thankfully live close enough for me to do so.  I mean, does a life get much more perfectly balanced and wonderful than that?

And to top it all off, we ate a dinner of filet mignon and lobster, outside, during a nearly full solar eclipse!  How often can one say that during a lifetime?

Or maybe I just enjoy the perfect California weather.

Either way, life is good, and I had a great weekend.  The next three weekends will see me out of town…which is another part of the balance in my life, right?  South, then North, then South.  Three different friends on three different trips.  This week will see me start on a self-created 5 week workout regimen, play some golf, play some softball, and hopefully play some Diablo too.  I have a date playing mini golf on Thursday.  All in all, it should be another pretty great week.  You know, if I can survive the doldrums of work.

Also gonna slowly be changing up the template of the site a bit…give it a slightly new look.  You’ve seen some of those changes already (background, banner).   I’m thinking I need a new name for the blog, though.  I’ve been The Midnight Q Lounge long enough.  Sadly, nothing better comes to mind.  If you have any ideas, let me know!

Cheers!