Rebirth Of The Red Lantern: Volume 1, Chapter 8

WHAT’S ON MY MIND

Finances. I now have all of my 1099s, so next week I’ll start the process of getting my taxes prepared and paid. I always pay, but how much remains to be seen. There's qualified dividends and foreign taxes to consider.

I checked my investment portfolio upon my return to Le Crash Pad and everything is fine, even after I spent over $1,500 on my Palm Desert adventure. Ara ara!

WHAT BOTTLE I OPENED 

A To Z Oregon Rose Wine. I updated the 2025 Wines page before my trip and I was unimpressed. Let’s hope for a better outcome when I open a red that I sampled at Total Wine last month.

WHAT I BOUGHT

You saw everything during my trip, and I honored my commitment not to buy anything on Friday. Moving on…

WHERE I’M GOING

Since I’ll need to remain local I’d like to visit a Starbucks or a cafe inside Barnes & Noble. I really enjoyed working on my novel “away from home” during the past week, but I have something to say about the beverage I sipped at the end of the post.

WHAT I LISTENED TO

After watching RuPaul’s Drag Race last night, I busted out The Best of Lita Ford on my hard drive late last night. Can you blame me after that lip sync at the end of the show?

WHAT SACRED TEXTS I READ

• The Millionaire Next Door
• All Quiet On The Western Front (in progress)
• The Dangers In My Heart, Volume 10
• How Do I Turn My Best Friend Into My Girlfriend?, Volume 3
• Cat + Gamer, Volume 7

Also in progress from J-Novel Club 

• The Hero And The Sage: Reincarnated And Engaged, Volume 4
• The Poison King: Now That I’ve Gained Ultimate Power, The Bewitching Beauties In My Harem Can’t Get Enough Of Me, Volume 4
• The Villainess Is Dead! Long Live The Empress! Redoing The Story After A Poisonous End, Volume 1
• My Fiance Cheated, But A New Love Rings!, Volume 1
• My Tiny Senpai (manga), Volume 1

WHAT I WATCHED

Other than RDR, the only thing I streamed were anime shows. The TV mounted on the wall in my hotel room streamed background noise presented as the local news during my writing sessions.

WHAT MADE ME HAPPY

The quickest path home. I took Highway 60 from Interstate 10 in Beaumont as noted in my prior post. Despite running into some traffic here and there, Miku and I made it nonstop from the hotel parking lot to Le Crash Pad’s front curb in exactly 2.5 hours. 

THE TOMMY MILNER SALUTE GOES TO…

A few careless drivers in Cathedral City. They received their awards in real time on westbound Highway 111.

A FIST BUMP GOES TO…

I forgot the bartender’s name over at Tommy Bahama, but his wine and dish recommendations were the absolute best out of everything I ate this week. 

WHAT’S UP WITH MY HEALTH

I got in my workouts but I really wanted that weight training session for my arms on Thursday. I stepped on the scale this morning and… I GAINED FIVE POUNDS?!?

I obviously made a few bad dietary choices during my vacation, but some that I made had hidden dangers. The 90 calorie dragon fruit refresher at Starbucks has nearly as much sugar as a can of soda and 26 grams of carbs to boot. Ara ara!

I’m not angry at myself. I’m assuming this is something all travelers experience at some point. I’ll take this as the teaching moment that it is and make better choices while still enjoying myself.

Temecula and its wine country await me in three and a half weeks. I’ll do better next time.