Category: The DayBook

My brain is in an interesting place today. I am deeply concerned about the general operation of the Asylum. We are slumping along into mediocracy at best. The elevators. The food. The grounds are so neglected that it hurts look at them. Systems are supposed to be in place to protect the frail residents. Those safeguards have failed too many times. Something is wrong. Something that is completely outside my capacity to fix.

My brain is in an interesting place today. All that angst aside, I am content. Tranquil. Relaxed. Perhaps, my brain knows that I’ll be dead before the Asylum completely collapses due to benign neglect.

It’s hard to get management excited about making anything better. They want to make things BIGGER. Build More Asylums. Management thinks they have 900 potential residents waiting to move in. Management would be happy if current residents moved out. (All residents pay a substantial non-refundable fee for the privilege of living here.)

But, on to my news for Carlton. Today, I just happened to check on the price of my train ticket to Seattle. It had gone down $312. I called up Amtrak and they credited my visa account with $312. It took about half an hour to make happen. I heard Carlton saying that’s $624 an hour you just made! 

Still have a wicked cough. My watch advised another “recovery” day. I decided to go for a nice walk. I don’t do what humans tell me to do. Why should I do what a watch tells me to do?

The Twilight Zone

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Recently at the grocery store, searching for a can of tomatoes, I was attacked by Old Age. The generic version, a perfectly acceptable choice, was nestled on the bottom shelf, a mere two inches from the floor. The brand-name version, on the other hand, was perched about four feet high. It was a dollar more expensive.

The store’s strategy was clear, get me to buy the expensive version. This time, the floor was just too far away. The thought of squatting down to retrieve the cheaper can was too much. I reached for the brand-name version. It was the first time I’ve ever paid extra for a can of tomatoes simply because I wasn’t sure I could make it back up to my feet in a dignified manner.

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Accomplished very little today.  Washed the summer blanket and installed the spring/fall blanket on the bed. “Upgraded” the Mac to Sonoma. It’s a big yawn, so far. Which is fine. Wondering a bit about the possibility of a new iPad Mini. Not that I need one.

My watch said that I needed a recovery day. Well. That sounded like a fine idea. Today, I did very little.

Another reason to do very little is our elevators. At least half of our elevators were out of service. And 11 floors are a lot to walk up when your watch has declared today a recovery day.

For several years, I defended Asylum management against claims of elevator maintenance negligence. I am no longer a defender. In the last 12 months, we have received 59 emails about the status of our elevators. 13 emails arrived in the previous 30 days. And 3 so far today.

Now, the optimist  says  “Isn’t it wonderful how management is keeping us informed about the status of the elevators?” A realist says “WTF is wrong? If management had to ride these elevators 6 or 7 times a day, I bet the elevators would be fixed”

Good soup notwithstanding. I will go eat with my friends tonight because friends are important to my mental health. And it’s free wine night.

Nothing special today. Sort of wrapped up the 11th Floor Origami Dojo’s contribution to the craft sale. The sale will be Wednesday. But, it’s good to have things set and ready early.

I might make a couple more of the huge balls. And, maybe a few more of the “normal” size ones. 

My partner in origami made 40 pairs of absolutely exquisite crane earrings. And someone asked us to sell her wonderful origami cards. We made about $750 last year. Hope we do as well this year. We’ll see. 

Three weeks from tomorrow, I’ll be on the Capital Limited heading to Chicago and the Empire Builder to Seattle.  Then on to Kona on Halloween. I am too old for this. But, I am not stopping. 

But watching the Arlington County Police tie a toe tag on your husband would look bad in Kodachrome. Death is a black-and-white event. 

Halloween Day 3 of 31

Gratitude

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All happy memories. Good times we shared. Bad times we survived. He missed COVID and Trump. Lucky bastard!

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I am getting over this cold crap. Just hope I don’t have a massive relapse.

Yesterday at this time I felt like I would have to get better to die. I had half a cheese sandwich and was asleep by 8 pm. By 5 am this morning, I felt like I might live. Here it is 5 pm and I am still alive. And, feeling better. Enough about me.

Gratitude

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Nothing like a couple of “sick days” to make you appreciate good health. Never mind that good health isn’t as good as it once was.

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Today’s “accomplishment” was assembling balls from the Sonobe units I folded on the ship. The craft sale is a week from today. So, it is time to figure out what I have to sell, how to price what I have to sell, and how to get people to buy what I have to sell. 

I have the worst cold that anyone ever had. (Maybe that is a little melodramatic.) But, when I took a NOT expired covid test this morning I was happy that “It’s just a cold”. 

Well if it had been covid I would be popping Paxloid. And getting better. Not getting sneezier by the hour.

Gratitude

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Grateful that this cold waited until I got back to the Asylum before attacking me.

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Enough bitching. Went to yoga via Zoom. Polished off 9 days of emails. Did my quarterly accounting. 

This started yesterday at about 10 am. It can leave anytime now. 

Today’s only accomplishment was to tweak up the one report that I still produce for the hospital. This evening I plan on “doing something with” all the emails I ignored for 10 days.

My orchids are blooming over time this year. Don’t know why. I didn’t change anything.

Okay. Now what? Where’s the unlimited avocado toast for breakfast? Where are the Cosmos?

Where are the dolphins?

Slipsliding back into reality. Walk today was in the rain around The Asylum. Laundry was processed. Some of the Sonobe balls were assembled.

I moved into The Asylum on September 24, 2015. A friend wondered how many days I had been away from The Asylum over the last nine years. Well, actually, I know 1,031.

We got off the ship at 8:15 and were back at The Asylum by 9:30. I unpacked and put most of my clothes back in the closet/drawers. I checked the snail mail and found nothing of importance. And, it’s a fine sunny day.

Gratitude

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Grateful to not be trying to update the blog using the phone. Real keyboards are good.

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My 3rd cruise of 2024 was not what I planned but it was fun.

Next week I am going to finish up this year’s origami project. This year’s project is very modest. I am not sure anyone will buy the damn balls. They are fun. But, that’s about all they are.

This has been some trip hasn’t it! I’m sure that it will not go down in the captain’s log book as one of his all-time favorite trips.

I didn’t do very much today. Got packed up. It’s been a little rough but nothing noticeable. Certainly nothing like Arctic Ocean. Or even the ferry up in Alaska. I slept well last night. But my watch didn’t think I was asleep. That happens on the train so I suppose it was a bumpy.

Tonight it will be drinks, dinner, espresso. And early tomorrow morning the travel goddess willing,  We will escape this ship before any further adventures. However, there does seem to be a tornado warning in our area. I can really skip a tornado when I’m in the middle of the ocean. Thank you very much.

As you can see it’s sort of a dull day. And that’s just fine. We’ve had more than enough adventures on this trip to Canada.

Formal night tonight on the ship. I can’t even wear a clean shirt. But neither can Christie. We’re eating Japanese tonight. 

Oh. No real issues from the hurricane. 8 foot seas. Maybe a little more breeze.