Category: The DayBook

Last night was not good. (Well, I didn’t die. So maybe it was OK after all).

Notes from the Old Bat Cave on a Saturday Night.

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It’s about midnight. Maybe an hour and a half ago I woke up with a racing heart, instead of its normal 60 beats per minute. It was zooming along at 80. Now that’s not normal. For me

I haven’t been feeling great for maybe a couple of months, but definitely, since Thursday I’ve just had this feeling that death is on my doorstep.

So is it time to call the nurse? Is it time to call 911? An intelligent person would have done one of those two things.

My heart rate isn’t high enough to justify going to the ED on a Saturday night. My blood pressure was just barely below ED levels. So what did I do?

1. I packed up my purse for a trip to the ED just in case. Phone charger. Medical power of attorney. Advance directive. Comb. Earbuds.
2. Hopefully I’ll be smart enough to pick up the phone and the iPad if I do have to go to the ED.
3. I changed out of a ratty t-shirt and put on bra, panties and a real t-shirt—another just-in-case move.
4. Got back in bed with some chamomile tea.
5. Then I decided maybe I should braid my hair. Seemed like a good idea so I did it.
6. So here I am all ready to die.
7. Heart rate back down to about 75 BPM.
8. So, what if this is it? What if I don’t make the bell tomorrow morning.?
I think everything is pretty much in order. I have entirely too much origami paper. And I’d be embarrassed if anyone discovered how many trashy books I have on my Kindle and how many trashy audiobooks I own.
9. I don’t have any good connections in the cardio medical community.
10. I may take myself to the ED tomorrow morning just to get checked out. I’m almost certain if I called our Asylum nurse they would probably call an ambulance and stuff me in it and that’s just not going to happen. Well, maybe I should say I don’t want that to happen. I’d rather take Uber

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At breakfast, my friends stage an intervention and cart me off to Urgent Care.

Happy that they made me go. I passed the EKG. The EKG was what I really wanted. My blood pressure was back to my “normal” normal. 

I have declared myself FINE. And, I plan on going to the dentist tomorrow morning as planned.

Gratitude

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FRIENDS.

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OK, I have been home for a week now. It’s time for this jet lag shit to be over. Yesterday, I could barely stay awake. Today, I did awake pretty good until about 1PM.

Gratitude

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Grateful to have gotten 2 miles walking in today.

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The rain seems to be over for now.

Birthday gathering tonight. There will be cake.

Rain is still good. And since I am still feeling old and fragile, it’s a fine excuse to just laze around the Old Bat Cave.

Gratitude

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Grateful for Happy Hour with friends. That will be happening soon.

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This year’s project will not bring in as much money as we got last year. But, every little bit helps.

Rain today. That’s a good thing.

Gratitude

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I am having a hard time with gratitude lately. I am feeling very old and fragile. Today, I am grateful for books that allow me to escape from myself.

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All caught up with my “coming home” chores—even the laundry.

A serious visit is scheduled with the dentist on Monday. Either an extraction or major repair is on the radar. And frankly, I am not sure I will live long enough to justify either of those procedures.

OK, I think it’s getting better. I still woke up at 0300 hours. But I went back to sleep. And I mostly did stuff until noon. Then I stopped doing stuff and napped.

Gratitude

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Grateful that I can still walk outside and cover a mile in less than 20 minutes.

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How bad can the Orange-Dictator-Presumptive get?

We have a chance to avoid a Donald DoOver. Just a chance.

That’s more like it.

Still jet-lagged. Still waking up at 3am. But, hey, I am waking up. And that’s a good thing.

Gratitude

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After all these years, I still grateful for my apartment at The Asylum. I may not love The Asylum, but when I get into the Old Bat’s Cave and shut the door, I am happily home.

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And what’s the one question? Who would let Elon Musk stick anything inside their skull?

Still jet-lagging around. So, what do I expect?

Gratitude

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Air Conditioning. That’s what I am grateful for at this instant.

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And I am trying to ignore the hit my portfolio took today. When you are young days like today are buying opportunities. When you have short positions you cover. When you are old, you hang on and hope for the best.

The Asylum periodically has delusions of modernity. My elevator lobby is a dose of reality.

As for my jetlagged self, I don’t think I damaged anything or anybody today. That’s about as good as it gets. I have cleaned up most of the damage caused by the credit card disaster I experienced at the beginning of last month. That’s about it.

Those buildings are parking garages. How do people ever find their cars? Do they put an AirTag in the glove box? Not my problem.

Amtrak was on time. No issues with the Red, Yellow and M16 lines. Easy trip home.

Jet lag is a whole different story. I am currently exhausted.

Gratitude

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Grateful that I was able to make the trip. And survive.
Grateful to have the Mac back. Got tired of doing the blog using the phone.

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Packing report: I took two items that were neither used nor needed: Rain Jacket and Cashmere Hoodie. But, I would have taken them in any case. Everything else was used. Well used. The single most used items were the black skirt and black shirt. Oh yes, and my one pair of shoes. All day every day. 

I can not imagine never seeing Tokyo again. So, I won’t.

At the airport. Waiting. Wandered around some. Getting mentally ready for 15 hours in the air.

Made it to New Jersey. No problems. Thunder and lightning. So, I don’t know if I could have made it all the way to DC. Train might leave at 9:10 tomorrow. Or not. With Amtrak you never know.

So last day. Still blazing hot. Over 10,000 people a week are taken to hospital in Tokyo due to heat-related problems.

Note to self: avoid Tokyo in the summer.

You can not visit Japan without going to a shrine, getting your fortune, and filling out an ema. You can tick off these boxes at any of the major. Shrines or you can make an adventure out of it.

The adventure begins by taking the Subway in rush hour. 

As The story goes long long ago, a lord on his way back from falconry was beckoned by a cat at the temple gate and decided to stop by. While spending time at the temple, thunder suddenly rang out and rain began to fall. Having gotten well out of a thundershower with an enjoyable conversation with the temple master, the lord was impressed by this luck that the cat brought. The lord was Naotaka Ii, the lord of Hikone domain. Financially backed up by Naotaka, Gotokuji temple was rebuilt in 1633.

Thus the Maneki Neko began.

On to the ema.

In good time on of the monks collects the ema and they are burned sending the wishes to the gods.

Leaving tomorrow. All checked in. Solid on how to get to the airport. I decided to spend the night in New Jersey and come on home on Saturday on the train.

I went walkabout in the 95° heat. Maybe it wasn’t my smartest move ever. But what do I got to lose? I survived but I did subway back. I must not have looked like I was about to die because nobody offered me a seat. I consider that an accomplishment.

This afternoon I escaped into the underground. There are four layers of underground in this area. It goes on for blocks and blocks. And I can get royally lost. But, it’s air conditioned.

I wandered through an upscale grocery.