Holy shit, I haven’t been this exhausted in a long time. After a busy week painting a mural, two DJ gigs & and hours of driving, I spent all day in bed today. I slept in, watched movies & tv, napped, and watched more tv & movies before calling it a night. Tomorrow I’ll get started on the things I wanted to do today.

I was still feeling worn out from the weekend but I was invited to go for a walk along the Guadalupe River Trail and walked almost 3 miles. My friend and I saw a mural soon after it was completed and explored the trail and streets we’ve never been down before.

I’m still recovering from yesterday’s hike up to Mission Peak. My feet, legs and even shoulders are sore so I took it easy today. Tomorrow, and this weekend, I’ll be working on my taxes so everything will be ho-hum till Monday. After tax day I’m gonna try to get a hike in at Grant Park then prepare for a flea market day on Saturday to get rid of a bunch of stuff.

After two and half months of constantly calling Covered California (Obamacare), Medi-Cal (Medi-Care), and Kaiser Permanent, after an error caused me to lose my Premium Tax Credits and pay full price on my monthly health insurance premiums, I finally got confirmation that my money was refunded and my PTC were retroactively applied. It was a huge pain in the ass because no one new what caused me to lose my PTC, and once that was fixed there were more hoops to jump through in order to get my money back. I hope I never have to go through that again.

No purging or scanning today. Instead, a friend and I walked the Coyote Creek Trail from Silver Creek Road to Hellyer Park and back. It was a beautiful day and would have loved to stay out longer.

I’m still hiking and feeling a little stronger every time! My last two hikes have been shorter distances with a higher elevation. Today I stopped at a few benches to rest and draw in my little sketchbook.

Yyy

Today I hiked the Penitencia Creek Trail at Alum Rock Park again. I was able to hike without stopping till I reached the end then I took a 40 minute drawing break before heading back.

I had a shitty afternoon and was pissed off for most of the day. I didn't do shit besides sit at a McDonalds for an hour and half, eating junk food and sketching, waiting for my car's oil change. I spent the rest of the day on my phone or TV watching YouTube videos. I haven't had a bad day like this in a long time and it fucking sucked.

Hiking the Penitencia Creek Trail at Alum Rock Park was relatively easy for me last summer. Before it got really hot. Before my knee injury. Before packing on the extra weight. Today I had to stop and rest multiple times, both ways, where as before I would only sit at the bench at the very end of the trail to draw before heading back. Another ass whooping. 

Tonight I went to watch the new Scream movie at Eastridge. The best part was leaving the theater and walking past my mural. I saw, for the first time, the freshly installed placard on the wall. The placard was proofed right after the community paint day, where mostly small kids left the mural looking so bad I didn't want my name attached to it anymore. I didn't want anyone to see the mural and think I painted it. Local Color insisted I keep my name on it so we settled on Designer credit. That's why it says, "Design by Frankie Mcfly, Painted by San Jose Community." This was before my artist friends Elba & Lucia helped me clean up the mural and made me feel proud of it again.

I hiked up to Eagle Rock again. It's still kicking my ass. While I was up there I parked my ass on a bench and drew in a sketchbook for 20 minutes before going back down. After the hike I went to pick up my new prescription glasses. My first pair. It's cool to be able to see things clearly again but it's going to take some getting used to. They're progressive lenses that my see farther away through the top half of the lens and read things up close through the bottom half. I'm already thinking of getting dedicated glasses for driving and reading so I don't have to constantly tilt me head up or down.

At least I'm trying to. After a long hiatus due to the summer heat, a knee injury, and a month and a half of working on the Eastridge mural, I can't hike the same distances, or elevations, like I used to. I was able to hike 10 miles in 5 hours with 2,000 ft elevation gain and now I get my ass kicked hiking a lot less. Today I did 4.68 miles, with 500 ft of elevation, at Alum Rock Park, in just over 2 hours. It feels like I'm back at square one. 

I finally went and did something I'd been putting off for at least a year now. I got an eye exam. My vision is blurry when I read things up close and from a distance. The doctor said I have astigmatism and it's common for people when they hit 40. I'm not looking forward to wearing glasses but I do want to see clearly again. I tried on a few frames and found an inexpensive pair that I liked (didn't hate) and will be ready in a week.

I took a day off from working on the mural today and went on an impromptu hike at Alum Rock Park before sunset. There was a sharp elevation gain after the first mile and I realized right away that I am no longer in hiking shape. It kinda bummed me out since I had been hiking regularly, and kicking ass, for a year before my knee injury in September. My knee feels better now and I hope I can get back to knocking out 10 mile hikes with 2000 feet elevation gain like I did before.

Holy shit. I spent the whole day in bed. It started last night. I couldn't sleep and tossed & turned till around 7 in the morning, when I finally was able to pass out. I woke up a few hours later feeling really tired, with a headache, and upset stomach so I slept some more. I woke up feeling the same. Then I went back to bed and repeated the process. It's now 1:00 AM and I feel a tiny bit better but far from 100%. I hope tomorrow is better. I've never felt like this before, if it doesn't go away I might go to the doctor or ER. This sucks!

Today I went on my first hike in over a month. I hurt my right knee riding my bike at Viva Call in September and it's barely feeling good enough to start going for walks. I did the Penitencia Creek Trail which is 5.4 miles long with only 541 feet of elevation gain. My legs and feet are really sore from not working out but I still feel good. I'd been feeling stressed out and a little depressed lately and today's visit to Alum Rock Park helped alleviate those feelings. I remembered how much hiking helped keep me sane during lockdown and it still works! Today's highlight was seeing a baby snake on the trail!

I was up late working last night and didn't go to bed till after 4 in the morning and today I paid for it! I didn't have enough energy to make through the day and had a to take nap before sitting down to work on the monthly newsletter for Local Color. I've crept back in tweaker vampire hours after not needing to go in to work in the mornings. I must get back to normal people hours.

After biking 13 miles last Sunday, hurting my knee, working 7 days in a row and ending the week DJing the Local Color Estate Sale, I finally took a day off to rest. I spent most of the day in bed watching TV (two episodes of Star Wars: Visions) & movies (The Outsiders & Die Hard). Tomorrow I go back to work on 31 Skulls duty. Figuring out how we're going to run this year's fundraiser.

On Sunday, I fucked up my right knee at Viva Calle, and I didn't even crash or fall off my bike! When I got downtown, I rode a couple of blocks, then got off and walked my bike through the crowded activity area on First Street. When I got back on my bike and started pedaling, I felt minor pain in my right leg between my foot and knee. It wasn't that bad, so I kept riding my bike for the rest of the event. Yesterday and today, my right knee was hurting! It's swollen, and it hurts when I walk or try and bend it. I've been limping around for two days now, and it sucks! I came across this sketch yesterday. It's years old but still relevant! 

I went on a 7.4-mile hike this afternoon at Alum Rock Park. It's been a week since the last time I hiked, and I wanted to get a workout in before Viva Calle tomorrow. Viva Calle is a public event where they block off city streets from cars and open them up for bicyclists & pedestrians. They also have activities at different locations along the route. Tomorrow will be my first time participating, and Tonight I spent a couple of hours learning how to remove my bike's rear wheel and replace the inner tube. It had been sitting with a flat tire for months and waited until the last day to fix it. Hopefully, my bike doesn't fall apart on me tomorrow!

I went on a 7 mile hike tonight at Alum Rock Park. After only going on two short hikes in July, and feeling bad about myself, I decided to start going on longer hikes again and being more consistent. So far I've hiked 5 out of 11 days in August going out every other day. Go me! A couple weeks ago I was ready to rejoin the gym but with all the new cases of coronavirus being reported, and restrictions being enforced again, I figure I'll keep hiking in the meantime. Where else am I gonna see foxes taking shits on the trail?

I was feeling pretty disappointed with myself after only going on two short hikes during all of July so I really wanted to go on a nice long hike this weekend. Today I went to Alum Rock Park and hiked South Rim and a few other trails. I was feeling out of shape so I stopped to rest at a few benches along the way. I drew myself during one of those breaks. I did a total of 6.2 miles, according to my phone's GPS, in 3 hours and 14 minutes. (It would have been closer to 2 and a half hours if I didn't stop as much as I did)

I did not anticipate was how out of shape I was before DJing last night after a 12 month hiatus. Before covid shut down all weddings & events I'd been DJing every weekend for 7 years straight. I was used to the physical demands of the job. And although I'd been hiking on a regular basis for the last year, I wasn't prepared to be standing for 11 straight hours yesterday. Today I was practically dead to the world. I slept in late and when I woke up my feet, legs and back were all crazy sore. I stayed in bed most of the day, watched a couple movies and only left the house to go eat. I hope tomorrow's better because I gotta start sourcing materials and preparing for Saturday's event. I'll be doing an interactive live painting thingie downtown. It'll be my first time doing something like this and I need to figure out how I'm gonna accomplish it by Friday. It should be a lot fun and hopefully a lot less taxing on my body.

Another busy day. I spent part of it calendaring upcoming events, something I haven't done in over a year, marking my wall calendar at home and updating my Google Calendar online. Things are opening back up! I already have one DJ gig booked in less than 2 weeks and 3 vending events happening  in the coming months. Regardless of how busy I get, I need to stay physically active, so tonight I went to Alum Rock Park before closing and hiked up to Eagle Rock before sunset.