Nobody is Promised Tomorrow. . .
A con man, a buffoon and a bigot walk into a bar.
The bartender asks: What’ll you have, Mr. President?
I spent a lot of time today being annoyed at the not for profit that runs the place where I live and their charitable foundation.
Mostly, I was getting annoyed with the salaries of the management dudes and dudettes. You can take the old woman out of the ILWU but you can not take the ILWU out of the old woman.
You would think that I had enough photographs to deal with and I wouldn’t be going out and taking more pictures. If you thought that you would be thinking about a normal person. Not me.
Had a strange sort of a day. The morning was devoted to doing the first cut processing of the 600+ photos that I took on Thursday evening of our residents.
People agreed to hold up a blank piece of paper and I get to write stuff on the paper. I promised to make the signs say thank you. And they believe that I am an honorable woman.
I am about 1/3 of the way through the first cut of this project. Maybe by this time tomorrow, I’ll be 2/3 of the way through.
Then I had a little snack and went to the grocery store to pick up my BP drugs. Surprise. The price had changed since I last filled the script. HUGE SURPRISE, the price went down.
Then it was nap time. And later, one of my friends had a little party for her family and graciously included me. Excellent mac and cheese. Doesn’t get much better than good mac and cheese.
Came back home, too early to get into jammies and read. So, I knocked out a few more of the 600 photos.
But, now it is after 8, so, I can hop into jammies and read for a couple of hours or as long as my eyes hold up.
Note to self: Remember this isn’t easy.
What isn’t easy: Creating “awareness” among our community of the need to remember of staff members via our annual “employee gift fund”. The Asylum has a vigorously enforced no tipping policy. But, we should tip the waitstaff, the bar tenders and the cleaning crew. Not to mention the front desk and the drivers. So once a year – we residents collect money to pass on to the staff.
A couple of years ago, I did the Last Great Photo Shoot and made an environment photograph of every employee – that would be 400 of them. And produced an hour long loop of photos that ran in our lobbies 24/7. It was very well received. But, it was one of those things that are only effective one. Maybe 5 years from now it could be repeated. But not now. And not by me.
This year I am trying to make four 2-3 minute “commercials”. But, it is still hard.
It would be much easier if I lived somewhere where I could just tip the damn staff like a civilized person.
But, you play the cards you are dealt.
I always love going to the grocery in Japan.
Japan is a pretty serious place. But, it does have quirks. Like the Golden Turd Building. Exactly what were they thinking?
A nice clean and ironed nightshirt showed up in my room every day. Japan is the only county I know of that gives you jammies with your hotel room. Even in the cheap hotels you get jammies. More expensive hotels just have nicer jammies.
I would have been happy to wear the Tokyo Station Hotel jammies as a dress.
Busy day today. Time for nite nite.
I understood this woman’s desire to get the shot.
She was trying to get this entire building in her shot. I did not resort to laying on the pavement. I got this one by bending over and shooting through my legs.
Dubai was just the greatest place for night shots. Would I go back to Dubai? Yes, I would. Not for the days. But for the nights.
It was a perfectly fine place for an old woman alone. And, strangely enough, the women in total niqab frequently spoke to me and even invited me to eat with them. There were lots of women out in small groups alone. They were not escorted by some male protector.
I got lost one day (no surprise there) and ended up in the parking garage under the most expensive part of the shopping center that was next to my hotel. I wasn’t bold enough to take pictures – but they had a really nice lounge area where the chauffeurs waited while their employers shopped or just strolled around. Not like a doctor’s waiting room. More like a 1st class lounge at an airport. Comfy chairs, big TV, wifi… and coffee.
Just a couple of photos from London today. And I decided to leave the giraffe up top for another day or two.
Went back to work and yoga today. Survived both. Work and dentist tomorrow.
A very impressive amount of rain fell this morning. Our building seems to have missed the absolute worst of it. And, I decided not to go to the hospital this morning. Mostly because I was lazy. Not because I was smart.
Speaking of smart. The stupidest thing that I did or allowed to happen on the RTW adventure was I seem to have switched GPS recording on my phone photos off on the second day of my trip. Well, I guess if that is the worst thing I did, I shouldn’t beat myself up too much. I know where I was anyhow.
From the Honolulu Aquarium. It is a small, but really nice aquarium. And, most of the critters are from local waters – so it’s like seeing old friends.
If octopus lived longer, I believe that they would be running the planet. And, they would be doing a better job of it than we humans.
The hair of the dog. Seems to me the best way to get over a trip is to plan another. Not an adventure mind you. Just a trip.
Yesterday, I made this little to do list.
Made some progress on it today. And, here are a couple of photos from UK.
In 1820, they didn’t have anesthesia or antiseptics but they had damn good drugs.
Well, actually there are several “What Nows”.
That should keep me busy for a while.
Oh, and there are 2,623 photos to cull and catalog. You will be seeing some of them.
The food doesn’t actually come out of the vending machine. It is a very early version of “online DIY ordering”. You figure out what you want. Push the right buttons. Insert the correct amount of money. And out comes your order printed on a ticket. You give the ticket to the cook. Who gives you your food. What I got was usually a surprise. But, I like most Japanese food – I don’t share their fondness for raw eggs – but most everything else is OK and usually really good.
Carlton and I loved Independence Day. And, our last July 4th was no exception. In this picture I was playing around with the remote release feature of my new camera and Carlton was polishing his sword. If he were still alive he would most likely be rattling it this July 4. I didn’t think anything of this image until after Carlton died. That Is when I realized that it was our last picture together.
I am taking a pass on this July 4. I have closed my blinds and do not plan on watching the fireworks. Or the flyover. Or the tanks. Or listening to the speech. I may watch the annual PBS July 4 concert. Or maybe not. The only thing that I would like to see is the Trump baby blimp. Which the FAA will not allow off the ground.
I am not as perky as I would like after my victory lap around the planet. Getting old sucks. But, it beats the alternatives. For now. The trick is to keep the brain and body sort of synchronized. Don’t want one to fail before the other. Mine seem to be degrading gracefully and in sync.
23,450 miles. Doesn’t seem like that far.
Got back to the Asylum before 5 o’clock and had a great dinner with the Asylum sisters. And brownies and cinnamon ice cream.
Good news is I lost a few pounds on the trip and my clothes fit a lot better. Now let’s see if I can refrain from eating everything in sight. On a trip food isn’t around 24/7.