life in the old lane

Yesterday I was mopey and lacking life forces. Today, I am just not focused. Oh well. All I really have to do is be at the airport on time with my ID and cell phone. Oh and credit card. Anything else will just be lagniappe. 

Did some walking today. Inside and outside.

Near our “sitting area” and “writing area” is the “Wait, before you get on the elevator – check and see if you put pants on area”. They tend to collect flowers-both quick and dead. And knickknacks – like the Penguin Holy Family (see Friday, October 12).

Called my friend the Hotel night auditor. She said that my room will be ready and that she will stock me up with avocados and star fruit.

Hoping that everything is fine in Kona. It has been every winter since 1994, so, I am hoping that there is at least one more good year on tap for me. 

 

I was too lazy to wander around indoors taking pictures today. And, I was so not into going outside. I half-ass did some things that I felt I should do before going to Kona. I felt my life force was rather low today. Tried to kickstart my afternoon by having pumpkin cheesecake and coffee for lunch. But that didn’t help. And, the cheesecake wasn’t even very good. A waste of calories.

Speaking of cheesecake: note next week’s featured sandwich here at The Asylum:

By this time next week, I will already be tired of cooking for myself and will be happy to have a Philly Cheesecake! Of course, nothing says that I actually have to cook. I can eat out. Couldn’t do that when Carlton was alive. The man didn’t eat out. So stop will all this whining already! RIGHT NOW. 

Let’s think about Happy Stuff.

1. It is free wine night.
2. I am listening to a favorite old fantasy Wizard’s First Rule. And, boys and girls – in case you have forgotten The First Rule is:  People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it’s true, or because they are afraid it might be true. And nothing that has happened lately has disproved The First Rule.
3. After 4 more sleeps, I’ll be heading off to Kona. 
4. And, it is with sadness that I leave because I will miss my Asylum Sisters. This is a good thing. Because it means I have wonderful friends here.
5. The stock market was closed today and it will be tomorrow. 

Carlton always laughed at me for fussing so much about “what to take”. His idea was to take a handful of stuff out of every drawer and cram it into his suitcase. He would do that the night before we were scheduled to leave. 

Not me, I gotta fuss. And change my mind a dozen times.

More horrors from The Asylum. This time it is our “writing areas” located next to yesterday’s “sitting areas”. Hey, when I am getting my exercise by hiking around and around the building I have to amuse myself somehow. Maybe tomorrow, we’ll look at the waiting for the elevator areas. Or the fake plant areas.

There are all manner of horrors at Halloween. One (or rather 8) is/are our “sitting” areas. In my building, we have 8 of them. Each one a tiny little time capsule of what Mom or GrandMom might have wanted in her living room. After a couple of weeks, walking by your own “sitting area” 6 or 10 times a day – your eyes glaze over and you don’t see them. 

OK Peg, time to get as in gear Hawai’i-wise. Repeat after me:

They sell clothes in Hawai’i
I have clothes in Hawai’i
Not so much need for clothes in Hawai’i
So, stop fussing and get cracking packing.

Birthday Caking with the Asylum Sisters tonight. Chocolate.

Ok, today was a very bad day in the stock market. So, let us move on to another topic.

Ok, today was a very bad day for the republic, pipe bombs sent to many vilified by the extremists on the right. So, let us move on to another topic.

Or maybe, let us move on to Kona. One week from today. 

Best part of the day – coming back from dinner, where sardines on toast was the so-called “special” – to find a wonderful full moon peeking in my window.

(I did not have the “special”. There is nothing “special” about sardines. I did have Salad Niçoise with a very fine bread pudding for dessert) As soon as I get to Kona: Let the dieting begin. Either that or start buying clothes with elastic waists! Not happening. 

Let us see. Today: work, help a friend with computer task, little odds and ends about the Old Bat Cave. Sort of an ordinary day. Ended with dinner with the usual suspects. My tokhes was barely in the chair when a big glass of red wine appeared at my place. I am entirely too well known around here. I mean, what if I had wanted white wine? Or pink wine? (wine is free. beer isn’t.)

The bloodletting continues in my portfolio. My “investment” guy is losing money way faster with what he manages than I am in the part I manage. Makes me ask WTF am I paying him for? But this is a first class problem.  Life on the planet as we know it is facing far worse than my incredible shrinking net worth.

Work, dentist, yoga. Done. And, I ticked some things off my to do list. Looking forward to dinner with my witchy friends. And early to bed this evening.

RIP Earl Bakken.  For the last 25 years, he lived in a fine old beach house on the west side of the Island of Hawai’i. He was hugely generous to the Big Island. He was about as good as any person could be and he lived a long and generous life. Don’t know who Earl Bakken was? If you have a pacemaker – you owe your life to him. 

 

Notice anything different 6 years to the day. Anything other than my view of the Washington Monument was better!

Yes, you noticed it. Fall color is missing.  But, it is damn chilly and windy out there. 

Later in the day, I was trying to figure out witch cameras and lenses to take to Kona:

When I updated all my systems to the latest releases about a month ago, I did not update my elderly iPad Mini to iOS 12. Well, I decided to do that today and I do believe that it is more responsive.  I will take it to Kona and leave the grand iPad Pro home alone. I will take Forbin the MacBook Pro, Shamu 2 the phone, and the Kindle as well. 

Work, dentist and yoga tomorrow.

Sort of gave myself the day off today. I did take some baby steps vis-à-vis getting ready to go to Kona. 

The oldest Grand posted a picture of herself on the job being an adult today.

And back home in Kona, 

and

So, for a comfortably well-off, old, straight, white woman – the world is a pretty good place this afternoon. For everyone else, I am so sorry. We believed our own shit. We thought we had fixed everything. Honest, we did. I now know how good people must have felt in Germany in the 1930’s. I wish I didn’t.

Day got off to a rather scruffy start when one of my front teeth chipped on a granola bar which I was calling “breakfast”. Got an appointment to have it repaired on monday morning.

Made it home by 4PM today, then off to cocktails and dinner with friends. I am so lucky to live at The Asylum. It is rather like every night eating at your “club”. But, your “club” is only an elevator ride away. I had shrimp that was only “OK”, but the company was great. 

Waiting for the bus at Ballston – I violated most of the rules of photography and shot into the sun with Shamu 2. 

In good time the 25B bus arrived and I hopped on and snuggled down into my seat. Glad that my work week was finished. Also glad that the stock market closed. Now for 2 entire days I’ll not lose money. 

As for the annual migration to kona – well – maybe I’ll spring into action tomorrow. But – it snowed there last night

I have been cooped up in my office and in the Old Bat Cave waaaaay too much. So, I walked over to the old neighborhood in search of Halloween. Put 6 miles on the Fitbit. Stopped off at the old apartment building. Same crew works there. Went to my old Starbucks. Dropped by Carlton’s tennis courts. His little sign was still there. Then I found Halloween, just where it should be, on N. Jackson street. And, eventually, I made it home.

And, I still haven’t done anything to get ready for Hawai’i.

Thinking that the foil one might be the best one. I still want to try some more papers. Then I might want to try another bat. Or work on the dollar bill version.  

Work again today. And tomorrow. And Friday. This is starting to be a lot like work!

Wiggled into the trusty old wetsuit last night, after a lavish dinner. (Soup, goat cheese omelet, broccoli,  apple pie, ice cream, red wine, coffee). I looked like an anaconda that had just swallowed a small water buffalo. It was not pretty.

Maybe it is time to spring for a size larger wetsuit. I could just have Amazon send one to me in Kona. 

I spied a little flock of lime scooters outside of my hospital this morning. These are Lime scooters and they are more or less identical to the Bird scooter that I took for a test run a couple of weeks ago. I am pretty sure that I have zero business riding one around. Not sure how many people should actually ride a scooter to the hospital. Wonder if one would come  as far as The Asylum. I might have to drop it before crossing over the Arlington County line. BUT WAIT. I am too F-ing old to go riding around on an electric scooter!!!

Howz about Canada legalizing pot? Oh Canada!  Wonder when I’ll be able to order some throwback alice b toklas brownies from Amazon? No smoking of anything allowed in the Asylum. 

Did nothing – except try on my wetsuit – about getting ready to go to Kona.