life in the old lane

Maybe next fall, I’ll Amtrak up to New England before going to Kona. Now, that’s serious long-range thinking for an old woman.

Been thinking about the triptych that MidJourney produced for me yesterday in response to “Imagine Old woman feeling mortal. I think I have gotten past the graveyard phase. I am not looking at a glass door with a light on the other side. But, I do feel like I am facing a stone wall that must be breached.  Am I teaching the process or is the process teaching me? 

A major concession to “mortal”.  Wheels. Decided that I really can not expect my body to tote my computer, photography, snorkel gear, plus clothes, on my back. I remembered that I have a tiny rollaboard that I used to haul my computer around in. So, it has been impressed into service. I had been using it to store tax returns. For now, the tax returns are in a Trader Joe’s bag. 

Covid booster discomfort was controlled today by some Tylenol. Expecting to be all good by tomorrow.

This morning, I made my annual pilgrimage to the tennis courts where Mr. C played and won his last tennis match.  I keep expecting the sign to be gone. But every time I go to the tennis court someone will see me taking a picture and ask about the sign. That makes me happy.

His AA buddies put up a plaque for him outside a church basement in Glen Echo. But, I haven’t made any pilgrimages to that small monument. 

Also, today was my annual trek to look at the Halloween decorations on North Jackson Street.

It’s not surprising that the displays aren’t as excellent as in the past. The people who own the houses have been doing this for 25 years. Or maybe it’s just me. Maybe I expect more. 

My 5th Covid shot flattened me. I was so tired when I finished wandering around the old neighborhood, I almost called for an Uber to get me home. I made it on the bus. But took some ibuprofen and hit the sack. 

Feeling very mortal today.  To see what might happen, I just ran Old woman feeling mortal through MidJourney. Interesting results.

Something to think about.

As one of my friends said: “Fire, booze, old people, rollators, what can possibly go wrong?”

Well, fortunately, nothing went wrong. 

Spent the day doing stuff that needed doing or maybe rearranging those deck chairs on the Titanic.  But I am now back on schedule to make my escape to Kona on Halloween.

Noticed that Great Britain’s train wreck of a Prime Minister had to resign after 45 days.  Then I look around and see all the train wreck politicians we have.  How did things so totally fucked up in my lifetime? Am I responsible? Using nuclear weapons in Europe, a fascist government in the US, things that were once fodder for science fiction are now all too possible.

On a positive note, I got my 5th Covid shot today. Think it would have been “smarter” to wait. But, I keep forgetting that I am actually one of those “vulnerable elderly”. 

Finally, finished up my Bat Diagram. I was so sick of it this morning that I almost went out to get a Covid Booster! But, I finished the diagram. The class is Monday afternoon.

My current jig. 

Our office was a hospital room. We had one desk and one computer. And a whole bunch of file cabinets.  Our computer system was an Access database and a bunch of spreadsheets. 

This is the first iteration of  Hello World. The one up top is number 6. By then I decided that I had wasted enough time. And I rather like the results.

It was 35° this morning. And, I spent all day glued to the computer.  Mostly, I was making folding directions for my Origami Bat Class.

Making origami diagrams is very tedious. At least for me. It doesn’t help that I am not very skilled at vector art.  I recommend Inkscape The price is right. And if I can figure it out anyone can.

More from work days.

I was having a bad hair day and what was it with that dress? The office was in a “Butler-type” building inside of a USPS warehouse. This was one great motley crew. I hired the “elderly” Vietnamese man, not because of his skills, but because of his application for employment. Question: “Reason for leaving previous employer?” His answer: “Fall of regime.”

Looked out my window this morning and discovered that I can no longer see the sun come up. It still manages to make it into the Old Bat Cave after it clears it rest of the building – but soon enough not a single ray of sun will make it in the windows. Of course, I didn’t know about this until Covid Winter of 2020-21. 

One day someone smuggled a polaroid camera into our office in the Kunia Tunnel. I am pretty sure we would have been court marshaled if caught. But we were very arrogant code-slingers. The black spot over my head was a rubber bat that I hung from the gunite ceiling. The computer,  Control Data 1700, was in it’s own room a couple of football fields away. 

In the upper right-hand corner, you will see the red EMERGENCY OFF button. Some high-ranking officer type was touring the site and walked up and hit the EMERGENCY OFF button. He then wanted to know “What are you going to do to prevent this from happening again?” I recalling say “Sir, the system is soldier-proof, not officer-proof.” 

As I said we were arrogant code-slingers. 

And, in two weeks, I’ll be about a couple hours away from landing in Kona.  I so miss my islands. 

Wondering what to take. And what to leave behind. Will make a serious effort to keep my load to 20 pounds. If need be, I can always mail my wetsuit and mask home. I would only do that if I acquire stuff (that has happened) or if the weather/air travel looks to be iffy on Dec 24-25. 

Well, I do have a window since WFH started during Covid. 

This picture illustrates why I am so happy to be supported in my dotage by a wonderful circle of women friends.  I was one of the guys for a long long time. But, I was really good at being one of the guys. 

Today was another less-tech day. Main events: water orchids, forced march around the big block, brunch, major nap, and soon salad and coffee for dinner. 

Such is the active life of an old woman. 

More on Robert Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children. Yesterday, I mentioned there was no mention of “screens” in the 2200 century. Well, moving along into the book, a video phone appeared. The video phone was in a phone booth!

Oh, and the salad and coffee for dinner turned into pizza and dessert and coffee. Exercise on tap for tomorrow. 

Sometimes I need to “Step away from the computer” to get anything done. I had things that needed doing. Some of them required using the computer. Investments to investigate. Donationations to make. Tax maneuvers to set up. Serious stuff. But, I managed to do all of that without online shopping, gaming, Ai Art making, or mindless surfing down rat holes. I did do one online shop – I installed my last printer cartridge. So, I allowed myself to order a backup cartridge.

I read the dead tree version of WSJ. Listened to the news on the radio. Yes, I have a tiny radio. You never know when you might need a radio. And read a book on my Kindle. For me reading the Kindle is just like reading a book except you really don’t want to use it to kill cockroaches. 

Read Robert Heinlein’s Methuselah’s Children. Written in 1941. First read in the late 1950s by me. It is fun to look at his future history view of the universe. People still smoke in the 22nd century. And Heinlein seems to have completely missed the TV exhibition at the 1939 NY World’s Fair. Because there doesn’t seem to be anything “screen-like” in the 22nd century. There are radio-like devices, typewriter-like devices, and even torn-tape-like communication devices. But no screens. So, a good book for a low-tech day.

Time to get off the computer and back to the kindle.

It’s time to go to Kona. The sun is slipping behind the building. The dark days are coming. Zero sun will come in my windows for about 3 months. I didn’t know this until Covid kept me home during that horrid winter. 

Today’s one and only accomplishment was getting a flu shot. And my reward for that is a sore arm. 

I read, walked and played the rest of the day away.

Sometimes I wish I were just a nice little old lady. But wouldn’t that be boring?

Lots of pictures of greats and grands around The Asylum. I am happy to show off my great-grand cheetahs.  They were born here in Virginia but now live in the Honolulu Zoo. My granddaughter, also born in Virginia, is their keeper.

Went to see my doctor this morning. How could she not say I was fine since she is about 2.75 miles away and it was raining and I walked? We agreed that I did need to try something different for my blood pressure since what has worked for 20 years doesn’t seem to be getting the job done anymore. It’s great to have a doctor who says “shoot me a text if you have any questions or problems”.  (My doctor is in that ugly silver building)

Kinda lost today because midmorning I had one of my fortunately infrequent attacks of variant angina. I have had them for almost 40 years.  It isn’t really dangerous. But, it always leaves me a little unsettled, tired, and off-center for a while. So, I spent a lot of time reading, napping, and resting. That’s sort of what old women are supposed to do, right? WRONG.

Oh, and playing with MidJourney.