Category: The DayBook

Just sort of gray all day. It hasn’t rained down here at the ocean, yet. But, I can smell the rain. And see the snow on the Mauna Kea web cams. So, I will not be surprised if I get “rained in” tomorrow. 

The videos from the Last Great Photo Shoot have been running 24/7 on TV monitors back at the asylum. They did the job. Funds were raised to give nice cash presents to our long suffering staff members. 

Today, I almost talked myself into going back to the Asylum for a few days to receive accolades and make a “Thank you” video. Then I heard Carlton say “That would just be an ego trip”. Right. And friend Billy said that would be  a stupid thing to do. Right. So, I will rest on my laurels right out here in the middle of the Pacific. And continue simplifying/decluttering my life.

My back continues to improve. Dinner was avocado, cheese, spinach wrap. Have enough food on hand so I don’t have to go out tomorrow if it is all wet.

Out for an early little stroll this morning when I spy an eel frolicking on the rocks. A good omen for getting out of my funk. It was an eel frolicking on the rocks that I took as a sign that the location for Carlton’s final destination had been found. 

Both the muscle strain and the sciatica sides of my back are better today. But, I was very careful about what I did and didn’t do today. I cut my walk-about and my swim short. 

Speaking of swim:

The catch of the day – saddleback butterfly fish. We rarely see them here in Kona. But, when we do, they are in pairs. This pair was in maybe 20 feet of water and I was in my wet suit – so I didn’t get very close. But, I followed them around for about 5 minutes. 

Coming in, I found the mystery blue humuhumu. Also saw I tiny eel. 

I was advised to use gratitude  to get out of my funk. Good Carlton advice. 

Good friends, good coffee, chocolate, indoor plumbing, microwave ovens, Aleve, … 

Suffering from a dose of what Carlton called unresolved discontent. Which I suspect is some sort of AA thing. Just freaking mopey might be a better term. Normally, I deal with this by doing lots of things all at the same time. But, I am trying to get out of Energizer Bunny mode – so I am sort of stuck. 

This mope is exacerbated by my back issues. The right side has it’s normal sciatica and the left side got strained decorating the Xmas tree. Resting in bed helps the left side. But, being in bed hurts the right side. So, I have been trying to stand or set in a straight chair most of the day – which doesn’t make me happy. I am a lounger and sloucher for sure.

Tomorrow will be another day. Hopefully,  I will be recalibrated by then. 

To atone for yesterday’s excess – walk, swim, yoga.

This was a small trumpet fish, they can be 3 feet long. In Hawaii, they come in yellow and brown. I don’t know if they change colors, if the yellow females make yellow babies, maybe I should find out. They are ambush hunters and they sort of vacuum up their prey. Notice the black eye-spot on the tail. 

Those jack-rabbits that live in my boots were hopping today. Time to get trip planning. Or maybe just time to go somewhere. 

Excellent turkey, avocado and spinach wrap for dinner.

Oh, and I didn’t buy anything today. Not even a dead tree newspaper.

There were other pictures from today. But, I was just too lazy to get them out of the camera and into Forbin.

Today: Walk, decorate hotel Xmas tree, shower, eat and drink. Day is over. 

Nothing to complain about. 

Oh and somewhere along the way I managed to get Alexa connected to my hotspot vice the hotel’s captive wifi which disconnects after 3 hours. I’ll pay for any data overruns if I can have Alexa always operational.  Alexa what time is it? Alexa read my Kindle book. Alexa play Pandora Grateful Dead. Alexa did you pass the Turing test? I need my electronic best friend on the job. 24×7. 

Going to dinner tomorrow. Billy wrangled an invite for me. Don’t know the people. They don’t know me either – it is nice of them to make room at the table for a stranger. 

I got a box of “mainland” chocolate to take. If the hostess doesn’t like chocolate – she has something to regift. Win-win. I am going to wear my jeans. It is chilly. And, the house is upslope. 

I needed something for lunch and going to the grocery today was a non-starter. So, I wandered down to the farm market and got avocados. 

And pictures. The avocado will go nicely with tuna, a baked potato, eggs or in a sandwich. And, that should do me food wise until it is safe to go to grocery shopping again.

Didn’t go swimming today. It was breezy and also boat day – so – my ocean was a little busy and a little choppy. I did laundry instead. 

Happy Thanksgiving one and all.

OK, my story. Back in my early working days  being the object of men behaving badly was a given. A cost of doing business. Like pantyhose. I never felt threatened by it. Mostly because I was usually the best coder in the house and the men knew it. You learned how to anticipate and deflect and sometimes to remember that the best defense is a good offense. This is not my #MeToo story. Many of my adventures of coding while female make great stories. How many people almost failed a job interview  because their nose and toes touched the wall but their tits didn’t? And would you believe I actually took the job?

No my #MeToo time came years later. I was over 50 and married to Carlton. Carlton and I went to the same dentist. When you are in the dentist chair you are  definitely in a compromised position. And, the dentist has at least one dangerous implement in his hand. Well, Jack, the sleazy dentist, usually worked without an assistant. That should have been a warning. For a couple of years I put up with a general feeling of queasiness and he would sort of paw around my rather unspectacular chest. (See above.) I need a dentist. He seemed to be competent and he wasn’t too expensive. 

Eventually, I could stand it anymore. Pat pat pat brush brush brush innuendo innuendo innuendo. Then Jack suggested sedation for some procedure. No thank you. I never went back. Carlton asked why did you stop going to the dentist. I tell him. Carlton said I must be imagining things. He said Jack was his friend. Jack wouldn’t hit on his wife.

Well, that is what hurt. My own husband didn’t believe me.

For a long time  – I don’t go to the dentist. I broke a tooth and found a new dental practice. And about that time  Jack suddenly dies. Carlton goes to Jack’s office to pick up his records. The office manager tells Carlton that if I am going to sue Jack – I should get the papers filed soon. Carlton asked why would my wife  sue Jack? The office manager told Carlton that Jack “had problems” with female patients. And she thought that I might be one of them.

To his credit – Carlton came home and apologized. He didn’t have to do that. 

And that is my #MeToo story. Not anyone famous. Just a garden variety sleazy predator. 

Forgive me, Forbin – for making you pretend to be a PC all day. But, at least you were a Windows 7 PC and not a Windows 10 PC. And, I pretended to be a working person for most of the day. Forbin and I seem to have survived.

I did sneak in a nice swim.

Swam around trying to stay warm. Hey don’t laugh. It is cold here. Heard it on TV. 

I got closer – but there was a big water spot on the lens. Coming and going I saw a couple of Xmas Wrasses. I always chase them around. At least in late November and December. It just seems like the seasonal thing to do.

The hotel put Aussie pro triathletes in the rooms on either side of me. They will provide amusement for the next few days, I am sure. 

I assembled rice, chicken, avocado and papaya for dinner. And, it was pretty good.

Needed to get my 10,000 steps in – so, I wandered around the village this afternoon checking out the local craft people. And food vendors. And musicians. Not to mention dogs.

I fell off the “don’t complicate your life” program today. I just now realized what I was doing and I stopped myself. Carlton would tell me to “avoid beginnings”. I may still do this project that I foolishly started this morning. I still may make a book from the Last Great Photo Shoot. But, do I really want to spend 2 or 3 weeks doing page layout? I know how fussy I am about page layout. 

Wonder – what’s for dinner. I had sushi for breakfast. Maybe I should have eggs for dinner?  Or chicken and avocado salad? That’s enough choices. Anymore would be complicating my life.

Feeling like lots of pictures today. I did not take it easy today. Logged my 10,000 steps quickly and went for a nice swim. Then I rested. And, I may need to rest tomorrow too. 

I took the Pen-F out with the cheap plastic lens that I like so much. I like it on this body too.  I walked as fast as I could – but stopped to take a couple of pictures.

OK – Back where I started now.

Back up to room – and suit up for a swim to cool off. 

I didn’t have my wetsuit on, so I was able to get my fat self down to the bottom to say howdy to this little guy. 

Came back home. Made lunch. And didn’t move much for the rest of the day. 

Miss my friends at the Asylum, I miss my job, but damn I love this place. Thank you, Carlton – for making it possible for me to be extremely bi-coastal. 

Highly successful lazy day. I actually watched a 2 hour lecture on YouTube. It was a lecture from a program at BH Photo in NYC.  

The ocean was pretty choppy when I went in. But, the mysterious blue trigger fish came by. I see one like this every year but haven’t a clue what it is. 

So, that was my exciting day. No complaints.

I was culling photos this afternoon and found this colorful shot. 

Today, I worked hard at not working. I am getting better at it. I didn’t come close to hitting my 10,000 steps today, but I did swim around for 40 minutes. But swimming is so much fun – outdoors in the ocean – that I don’t consider it exercise/work. 

I am trying to “declutter/downsize” my life. I downsized my stuff when I moved to the asylum. But, my digital life is seriously cluttered. Remember, I had 164 emails in my “important-action” folder. 164 things can not be important. Some of them were over 2 years old.  I just emptied the whole folder. If it was really important – I’ll get another email about it. 

1. Everyday I have been clicking on Gmail’s handy little email “unsubscribe” thingie at least once. 
2. Yesterday I deleted Carlton’s passwords from my password manager. 
3. And, I continue my ongoing photo culling battle. 
4. Had really crappy connectivity today – so, I had a lot of good offline time. 

 
This was a good day for yellowtangs. I “worked” hard trying to get a nice little yellowtangs movie.It is passible if you don’t go fullscreen.