Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
I sorta wasted the entire day. Accomplished zero zip nada. But, I didn’t kill anyone.
Let’s see: the wifi is working. Octopus is not on the menu tonight. There is free wine tonight. So, I’ll put today in the “Good” column.
At least until I looked at my investments.
Gone bat shit crazy trying to make origami directions for this “easy” bat. I will never again criticize any origami directions. And I now totally understand why the person who does the diagrams gets a “credit”. But, it is keeping the elderly brain working.
I love getting “junk” emails from my travels. I haven’t a clue what they are trying to sell me. But, it brings back good memories and maybe another trip—this case to Norway.
Bummer. WiFi seems to have died again. Thank St. Synchronous for an excellent grandmothered-in data plan.
You know you need to get a life when having your blood drawn is the big event of your day. Other than being seriously caffeine deficient – my blood tested fine. Never mind that the container is showing its age. And, I am working on the caffeine deficiency.
But, I would love one.
I decided to be a grown-up and get my lipid and metabolic panels done and check in with my doctor. I could have it done here. But, I really don’t trust the Asylum’s health care operation. Which is rather sad. Because I moved in here for health care. (When I signed up to move in, my doctor was a part of the Asylum’s health care operation. Give me a little credit.)
One of our current doctor choices has this on her website: “…These procedures include a range of injectibles, such as botox, fillers, and mesotherapy, as well as Platelet Rich Plasma, colorfully known as “Vampire PRP.” Just imagine getting Vampire PRP from a doctor (me) who was born and raised in Transylvania! This procedure is in my blood!… ” She might be a very fine doctor. But, I ain’t letting her anywhere near my body.
It’s not easy making the diagrams. It doesn’t help that I haven’t used Inkscape in over 10 years. But, I am working on remembering the basics. Hey, it’s good to keep those neurons firing.
And, another good thing:
One bean produces a lot of beans. I am letting a few pods go to seed and I will plant another bean next year.
OK, time to face it. I am old. Old old in fact.
Adulthood is usually divided into several periods: young or early adulthood (approximately aged 20–39), middle adulthood (40–59), and old age (60+). Old age is typically divided into the periods of young old (60–75) and old old (75 and up). (Neugarten and Hagestead 1976).
So, what brought this on? Well, today I am achy and creaky all over. Well, especially my back. And, last night I was thinking about where to stash my granddaughter when she comes to visit and what might we do? (Already booked to nights at Volcano – hoping the Volcano cooperates.) A lot of things I just don’t do anymore. Don’t surf. Still have a PADI card, but I don’t feel safe diving anymore. I am used to swimming out to the ¼-mile buoy and then back to shore. I don’t know if I am going to do that this winter. I can not walk as far or fast as I could just a few years ago. No amount of exercise stops the degradation.
And let’s not even think about what’s happening to the brain.
The entire process is singularly unpleasant.
On a positive note. Nice pizza for dinner tonight. And. I discovered that Inkscape still exists. And it’s still free. I want to make some OldPeople-Friendly origami diagrams. It’s not all bad.
Seven years ago today, I moved from my much-loved apartment into The Asylum. The Old Bat Cave is a fine apartment. The location is marginal. My old neighborhood walkability index was 87. Here it is 66. For me that is huge. But, I knew that moving in. And I am safely ensconced in my “forever home”. Provided the joint doesn’t go broke. Or we have too many drive-bys.
Speaking of drive-bys. All is well in the ‘hood today.
And, more telephone wildlife photography.
I am amused by bird names. There isn’t a red feather anywhere near that woodpecker’s belly. It doesn’t matter what sex or what age the bird is. It never has a red belly anywhere except in its name. Carlton’s theory was: The people who named birds were falling down drunk. Works for me.
Remember the strip mall shot? Well, today the strip mall was a huge crime scene. It’s the first time in my entire life that my daily exercise program was interrupted by the police.
It was too chilly for a walk before 7 this morning and I had about 4 hours of pretty serious work to do – so, I decided to put the walk off until after the work was done.
The work is finished. I am looking out my window drinking coffee. Noticed that the traffic was really strange. Way too many cars coming down my street. And a couple of police cars. I have some flowers to arrange. While I am doing that I get a text:
Shelter in Place
This is a message from the Fairfax County Police Department. F C P D is requesting residents near three five four four South Jefferson Street shelter in place due to police activity in the area.
Well. That’s interesting. But not scary. Not like the infamous BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL that I got in Hawai’i in 2018. That was scary.
Friends on the other side of the building look at the strip mall and they report lots of police cars.
Social media kicks in and soon there were reports of a shooter targeting the strip mall. Or rather cars parked at the strip mall. Equipment kept coming.
In the end, nothing happened. At least nothing happened that was reported.
Seems that it was just a generic drive-by. The police response might have been a little over the top in retrospect. In fairness, part of the excessive police was due to our location which is right on the county line. Each jurisdiction brought its finest to the incident.
I will walk briskly around the strip mall on my walk tomorrow morning.
Don’t expect me to take serious photos. This was the day’s adventure. Coming up with a web-worthy photo of the Asylum Coach AKA Executive Director. Well, if employees are now “team members” – there has to be a coach – doesn’t there? Maybe he is the General Manager? I despise senseless jargoning. This really isn’t a team. When I was a “kid programmer”, I remember the project officer announced, “we are on a first name basis here and you can call me Colonel or Sir for short”.
Oh, the WiFi left much to be desired today. Seems that the WiFi kept tripping a circuit breaker.
Finished a surprisingly good audiobook. Atomic Adventures by James Mahaffey. Think you have to be a little warped to enjoy it. But I am and I did.
They are screening the bocce ball court with a zillion arbor vitae. My “plan” was to organize a coed bikini and speedo bocce games. Then the neighboring building residents would rush out and plant bushes on the outside of the fence to hide our sorry saggy bodies from their view.
A variation on that “plan”. Some of us have had it with masks. A friend says that management has a choice: She will wear clothes or a mask. But not both. We seem to have gone from no resident covid cases to 12 since last week.
Great lunch today. “My” green beans, bacon, tomatoes, and a nice slice of bread and butter.
On the downside. Wifi has been sketchy this afternoon. So, I’ll get this posted while it is in working mode.
Which isn’t to say that they don’t have some fine shows. I just like the way it looks when it is empty.
Big news around The Asylum this afternoon is that our COO will leave at the year’s end. With her departure, the entire “upper management” team will have changed within the last 3 years. Of course, this is unsettling. I like to control change. I do not like change thrust upon me.
Awake in the middle of the night, I was pleased to find the moon out my window. This shot was with the Pixel. In “camera” mode not “night sight”.
I didn’t really expect to be fascinated by the Queen’s funeral. But, I ended up glued to my external monitor. Part of me was watching for something dreadful to happen. But most of the time I was delighted by the wonderful lines of sight and camera angles. And Emma the Pony. Who wouldn’t want their favorite pony at their funeral?
After being lost in wonderland all morning, I went for a longer-than-usual forced march. And sort of wasted the rest of the day.
This old lens doesn’t play well with the Pen F. It might work in manual focus mode. But, my old eyes don’t manual focus all that great.
One of my friends here at the Asylum was saying this morning that he was having a hard time accepting that the brain says “that sounds like fun” while the body is yelling “wait a minute” and the body wins the argument.
The Asylum had its first Regular Monthly Sunday Brunch since February 2020 today. Maybe the Covid nightmare is coming to an end.
The Buffet was today’s main event. But I did snag a couple of rooms in Volcano NP for mid December. You can never tell what Madam Pele will be up to. Or what the weather will be like. Hoping that I get lucky. My guests are young. They can go hiking. I can sit by the fire and read. The Volcano House.
Note to Asylum Sisters. If I don’t make the bell tomorrow – put this picture on The Table of the Dead. (And cancel my reservations at Volcano House!)
Did more Triangle Boxes. Decided to pass on hexagon and octagon boxes.
One of the boxes went directly to recycling.