Odds and Ends Between the 2025 Half Marathon and Dream Trek
The post about last year’s half marathon is still little more than a placeholder, but yesterday I finally finished the one about the Dream Trek, so I’ll mark the moment by posting the already written odds and ends, so the days that I didn’t already post about, between the two, not including the rest of the day of the half marathon, so starting on May 13, when I did the day’s squats, ate lunch, and went out at 8:45 PM, with the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, and those other things that I take to Kaufland, putting them in what may be the proper bin before entering the store a little after 9:10 PM.
Since I saw piles of green onions that were both better and even cheaper than those I had bought two days earlier, after the half marathon, I got five more bundles, along with a handful of really small regular onions, which also had some evening discount, some garlic that was among the spoiling products and not much cheaper than the one sold by piece but Romanian and looking good, a deeply discounted coconut that was also among the spoiling products, though it did look suspicious, some cat food, the last can of herring in tomato sauce of their store brand that I found, actually among cans of another kind, and one of those cheap yogurts. I also grabbed a can of sardines with lemon, calculating the total so I won’t need to break a 100 RON bill, but there was no price label at the shelf and when I used a price checker I found that those had a regular discount those days, so I wasn’t sure that the 30% discount, for pet food and canned products, would also apply to them and I grabbed two more packs of those biscuits that I thought also had a good regular discount those days, just reaching the self-checkouts when the closing announcement came, confirming that the discount did apply for the cat food and canned herring, realizing that I had forgotten to weigh the onions and using the scales from that area for that, and deciding to just get the biscuits and leave the sardines there, without even trying to see whether the discounts would stack. And then I used a table outside to arrange the purchases, walking away at 10:20 PM and picking up a few recyclables on the way back.
I got back at 10:50 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, picking up another recyclable from the garbage room, put the purchases in their place, ate an expired bag of corn puffs with powdered milk… And found that I really shouldn’t have taken that coconut, since it was completely rotten inside, so I spent a long time trying to see whether I could salvage anything at all and ended up with just a few little shavings. It’s quite clear that I shouldn’t have eaten those either, but I wanted to at least get a taste of it, even if it amounted to next to nothing. Either way, it was past 1:10 AM when I went to wash and almost 1:50 AM when I was done, and then I washed what was in the kitchen, dealt with my remaining bread, made a salad mostly out of green onions, using some of the older ones, and ate dinner between 3:50 AM and 4:20 AM.
On May 23, after once again being woken up by the upstairs neighbor, I went out at 12:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. And touching some more on the way made it even more of a problem when a bug got in my eye, since I didn’t want to touch my eyes. Either way, I also passed through the farmer’s market and got cheap apples, the cheapest ones I saw actually seeming somewhat better than what others were selling for a little more, and since I took all of that pile from that seller, he rounded down the price as well. Then, after putting the apples in the backpack, I went to that store that gives more for recyclables, picking up one more from there that wasn’t accepted and having one of mine refused as well before the machine reported that it was full and the cashier said that she couldn’t do anything about that because she won’t leave the store unattended to take care of it. I told her to at least try to shake the bag and she eventually did, but it didn’t help, and then she also told me to wait for five minutes before cashing in the vouchers, since I had split what I had managed to put in on two. I pointed out that I had been given the money right away before, but she insisted that the system wouldn’t allow it, so I waited, cashing in those vouchers when she called me over, and then I walked away with the remaining recyclables.
Since I had dad’s card, I then took the metro for one stop and went to Supeco, putting the recyclables in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and getting tea, mushrooms that were among the spoiling products, and a mustard. The one I took wasn’t expiring, but I noticed that a lot of that mustard was even already expired, and I let an employee know of it, though I don’t know whether she did anything about it, just buying those products, arranging everything, retrieving the recyclables, and then taking the metro to Carrefour Pantelimon, where I put the recyclables and the purchases from Supeco in a cabinet, but once again entered with the backpack with those apples, getting expiring eggs and roes and then retrieving and arranging everything before taking the metro back to Dristor and returning to that store, with plenty more recyclables than what I had walked away with the first time. And at that point the cashiers were different, there were no problems with the machine, which even accepted that recyclable which it had refused the first time around, though I was still left with that one which I had picked up from there, and I was given the money right away. And I picked up a couple more recyclables on the way back, leaving everything next to the door of the nearby Mega Image when I quickly checked it as well.
It was almost 4:55 PM when I got back for the first time, then I put the purchases in their place, made the tea, since I hadn’t before leaving, ate lunch, did 200 squats, since I had kept putting them off the previous day until I ended up not doing them at all, washed most of what was in the kitchen, including the cast iron pot, to be able to leave the glass baking tray in the sink, and left again at 8:10 PM.
I picked up two more recyclables on the way to Carrefour, entering with them and getting an expiring bio (organic) yogurt and some pieces of cheese that were also in that area, the label stating that it was grated cheese though it actually wasn’t, so I assume that they had put the ends of some pieces that they couldn’t grate anymore in that box. And at the self-checkout I used the voucher with the smaller value out of those received for previous purchases that I had, and since the price of the box wasn’t added automatically and it’s not like I had asked to use it, when the machine asked how many plastic boxes I used I typed zero, so I didn’t charge myself for it.
After putting those purchases in the backpack, I continued to Kaufland, entering the store, with everything, when it was past 9:20 PM and getting the last small box of strawberries, with a good evening discount, and a lettuce with a great one… And I also saw one last pack of the same kind of mushrooms as those I had bought from Supeco, having an even better discount and also containing more than the listed weight, so I grabbed it as well. And while I was picking a few tomatoes, which also already had a fair evening discount, an employee scanned the label and told me that the price would get even lower… Only for the value that appeared on the electronic price label and at the scales to be even lower than what he had said! Either way, I also took a large bag of bagels, two regular breads, for dad, that were at half price, and the high-protein yogurt that I thought was the one that had a great discount if you used the store app. And the app should have also offered a good discount for some cheese, but I didn’t see it and when I asked the employee from that area she said that they only had it on the first day of the sale, so I then asked exactly which one it was supposed to be, to know just what to look for in other locations, not that it did me any good. And then, at the self-checkout, where I still was when the closing announcement came, I saw that I had picked the wrong high-protein yogurt, and I hadn’t seen another at any point, so that had most probably also sold out right away and I obviously called over the employee to take off that other one, after having had to call her over once before, to override the error when the machine didn’t accept those mushrooms as the correct product. And I found that the price of the tomatoes actually was what that employee had said, so slightly higher than what ended up being listed on the label, but I didn’t complain.
After arranging everything, I continued to that Mega Image, relieved to have been in Kaufland during the brief but apparently quite serious storm which had struck during that time. Either way, I put the bags and the bread in a cabinet, entering with the backpack and seeing that the bakery products were being discounted by 90% but the labels weren’t yet placed on all of them, so I stood around for a while and eventually took quite a number of things, including bread for dad that was better and even marginally cheaper than those regular ones which I had bought from Kaufland, so I shouldn’t have taken those, not that I could have known that at the time. And I had also taken some things that I considered giving away, but I didn’t spot homeless people on the way back, so the only other thing I did after taking some time to arrange all of those purchases and also retrieving what I had in the cabinet was to pick up another recyclable.
It was past 11:15 PM when I got back, and then I cleaned the litter box, but had already taken my shoes off, so dad went to drop that bag down the chute. Then I put most of the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, minus the big things, removed the bad parts from one of the worst apples and ate it, also ate the last of the expired packaged croissants that I still had and a small bag of bagels that had also expired, and it was almost 1:20 AM when I went to wash and 2 AM when I was done… And then I spent some time on the computer as well, so it was almost 2:20 AM when I went back to the kitchen, and I also dealt with one of my breads, put the remaining purchases in their place, salvaged what little I could from the worst leaves of that lettuce, and moved something into a jar, finally eating dinner between 4:15 AM and 5:05 AM, also writing some notes about the day during that time and spending the last several minutes gathering what was stuck on the plate. I got in bed at 6:25 AM. And the following night, after slicing two of dad’s breads and dealing with another one of mine, I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM.
On May 25, I left at 2:15 PM, taking two bakery products that I was thinking of giving away and jogging to Penny Titan, to get cat litter from there, since we were out, dad kept forgetting to go and it wasn’t certain that he was going to find any left at the nearby one when he’ll get back in the evening. But I found it there, so I bought two bags, along with an expiring product, which I put in the backpack before walking out and also checking Carrefour on the way back. They seemed to have removed the keys, so no cabinets locked anymore, but I nevertheless put the cat litter in one, entering with the backpack and just getting a sweet pastry that was among the discounted products. Then I retrieved the cat litter and, on my way back, I handed one of those bakery products to a beggar, even if he sits next to the entrance of the church, so he probably gets quite a lot, and even more so on a Sunday. Either way, I also checked the nearby Mega Image, leaving the cat litter next to the entrance, entering with the backpack, and buying a cabbage, then retrieving the cat litter.
I got back a few minutes before 4 PM, with some 14.5 kg, and I even managed to clean the litter box and go to drop that small bag of trash down the chute before the start of the race. And then, since it was going to rain later and dad could leave the metro card the following day, I decided against going out again that evening, so I ate another apple and that sweet pastry, did the day’s squats, and after the race I washed, seeing some red mark high on my right leg, close to the hip, and wondering whether something had bitten me or something was appearing. I also had this feeling that I had seen something like that before and then just ignored it, so I wondered whether it might have appeared some time before and I had forgotten about it, but that seemed unlikely when it was so obvious, and after a couple of days it faded. Either way, later my phone once again gave that SIM card error, for the third time in a few days, apparently when dad tried to call me, and at that point I actually removed the SIM and put it back in. And after dad got here I ate some snacks while writing what I posted that evening, and at night I made pasta, ending up eating it, as lunch, on and off, between 3:10 AM and 3:55 AM. As for dinner, I once again ended up doing what I do when I have cabbage again after a long time, which is badly misjudging the quantity, so even if the “salad” consisted solely of cabbage, I ended up with about twice as much as I’d have wanted, and it obviously also took much longer to make, so I ended up eating dinner between 4:45 AM and 5:35 AM and getting in bed at 6:30 AM.
I’d say that it was roughly around 10 AM when the drilling started again upstairs, since I stayed in bed for a while longer and it was 10:20 AM when I got up, talking to dad for a while and getting back in bed just before he left, at which point the drilling had stopped and I eventually got back to sleep before being woken up by some more drilling a little after 12:30 PM. But that was brief, and then I could sleep some more, probably getting a total of six to six and a half hours of sleep by the time I got up, after dad called to say that he hadn’t found the cheese that was on sale at the Kaufland that he went to on the way to mother. And one idea had been for me to go and check other locations in that case, but considering the rain and the fact that it seemed that I might be able to do that week’s run, which was planned as a half marathon distance, on May 29, I decided to leave that for the next day, and instead I turned the old computer on once again to install the month’s Windows updates, which seemed to go well enough, and then I also installed Comodo Firewall on it, which made me aware of the very long-running file hash issue that they refuse to fix, which is going to make me really anxious when I’ll finally install it on the new computer as well, despite apparently being harmless. And it also said that it detected a crash a number of times, but the dump file that it wanted to send was the same one each time and the name and timestamp indicated that the issue was with the installer, and everything seemed to be working otherwise.
On May 27, after doing the day’s squats, I left at 4 PM, taking two bakery products that I was thinking of giving away and passing by an old man that I’d have really wanted to give at least one of them to, but my mind was elsewhere just then and I only realized it a few steps later, while crossing the street, and I didn’t turn around, thinking that I was likely to pass by there again on the way back… Only to fail to do so because I crossed to the other side of the road at the first opportunity and didn’t cross back when I realized that I won’t pass by him again that way. Either way, that first trip was to Kaufland Popa Nan, since I wanted to check multiple locations, knowing that the chances to still find the cheese and the high-protein yogurt that had great discounts until that day were next to none, seeing as I hadn’t found them even on previous days. And that proved true, but at least I found a few other things and, since I was thinking of going to the one from Basarabia next and that meant passing by this area anyway, I then decided to get back here and drop off those few purchases, picking up just one recyclable on the way.
That decision proved good, at least in one sense, because when I got back for the first time, close to 5:25 PM, I found that dad wasn’t going to leave again in the evening, so I could take the metro card, which also meant that I could afford to stay and eat lunch before going out again at 6:35 PM, still taking those two products with me and still just coming back with them. But the fact that the metro wasn’t going to get me to Kaufland Basarabia any faster made me decide to go to the one from Basarab instead.
Well, one thing that surprised me when I got there was that accessing the toilets required scanning a receipt! Of course, anyone could grab one out of the trash and use it, so it’s little more than a nuisance, but a pretty baffling one, so I took a picture of that gate and the message before entering the store… And obviously still not finding what I was looking for, but I got a few other things… And as I was walking away I saw a guy who stopped in surprise before that gate and looked around, so I held up my receipt, rushed over and used it to let him through, exchanging a couple of words over the matter before putting the purchases in the backpack and going back to the metro station.
After getting off at Obor, I entered Auchan with everything and got liquid soap and some cat food that was on sale, then arranged everything in the backpack and continued to Carrefour, picking up a crushed can on the way, putting everything in a cabinet but not finding anything to get, and waiting for them to finish making the bakery discounts only added to the wasted time, since nothing that I’d care for was left there either. So I just retrieved my things and put them back in a cabinet when I got to that Kaufland, not bothering to move them to another when I realized that the lock moved freely. Then I peed and washed my hands, entered the store just after 9:10 PM, and picked up a large lettuce that had a pretty good evening discount, two expiring products, and a small kohlrabi. But the QR code on one of the expiring products was unreadable and I had noticed that, but at the self-checkout I asked the employee whether it could still be entered… And when she came and said that there was no way, she also grabbed the pile of coins which had been left in that machine’s change tray. So, while I had been considering it anyway, to make up for the remainder of what their recycling machines had “eaten” before, at that point I decided to at least brazenly steal that kohlrabi, just leaving it in the bag even though another employee had placed her products all around it and had quite clearly seen it, and she didn’t say anything other than to ask me to take my things off the scales so she could use the machine while I was trying to put the lettuce back in the bag. Either way, I was just leaving the checkout area when the closing announcement came, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything, walking away at 10:05 PM, taking the metro back, and picking up just one more recyclable. And I also made a detour to have a quick look in the nearby Mega Image when I got here, entering with everything.
I got back a little before 10:45 PM, ate the expiring bar from Kaufland and an apple, put the purchases in their place, went quickly to wash, then spent some time in my room, and while I actually went back to the kitchen a couple of minutes before 1 AM, there was a lot to wash and clean after dad had cooked, and while I initially didn’t mean to, I eventually also used a few of the worse leaves of the lettuce for the salad, also eating some expired bagels while I was there, before eating dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:45 AM, albeit finishing after almost 20 minutes spent gathering what was stuck on the plate. And then, after cleaning the litter box and then deciding to put that bag into another one, because otherwise dad was pretty much certain to spill it, and then blame me for it once again, I ended up getting in bed at 5:30 AM. But at least there was no drilling and I slept until well after 3 PM, only waking up once to pee and getting right back to sleep after that.
After running the previous day and getting in bed at 5:45 AM in the morning, on June 3 I was up by 11:25 AM, woken up with a start by drilling, even more annoying being the fact that after that there were just a few brief periods of it, with long pauses between them, so it didn’t look like a lot was being done with the power tools, but I still couldn’t have gotten back to sleep. But at least I finally got around to installing the Windows updates for May, and while I thought that nothing had messed up at that point, two days later I realized that I couldn’t search the start menu anymore, though after rebuilding the index and rebooting it worked again, and at that point I also set the minimum speed for the better case fans to 60%, since the speeds still didn’t change… And then I saw that, in system information, the RAM was listed as running at the base speed of 4800 MHz and the OS was supposedly version 2009, though Task Manager correctly listed 5200 MHz and winver also correctly listed 22H2, and at least the part about the wrong version seemed to be a known issue. But, getting back to that day, after dad got back and could give me the metro card, I did 200 squats, since I hadn’t done them the previous day, and eventually, at 4:55 PM, left again, with the regular recyclables, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, those other things that I take to Kaufland, and the remaining recyclables with the deposit symbol, including some which hadn’t been accepted before and which I wanted to try again. And I picked up a few more on the way.
There was quite a line to use Kaufland’s machines… Or machine, since only one was still working. And there didn’t seem to be any employee there at first, but a guy went to call someone and a man came and started working on the machines, though by the time he got to the last one he had to start over, and one seemed to have serious problems recognizing many types of recyclables, so I still had to wait quite a while, and after I started he asked whether I’d let him clean the machine I was using, so I stepped back and waited for him to do that, meaning that I ended up with two vouchers. But at least I picked up some more recyclables which had been left there, a few of them being accepted, and so was one which hadn’t been accepted the previous day. On the other hand, none of those which I had taken to try again, after they hadn’t been accepted before, worked, the stranger thing being that I had two beer cans of the same kind, one just emptied by dad and one which I had found at some point and which wasn’t accepted at that other store, and dad’s was accepted and that other one still wasn’t. Admittedly, I didn’t check whether the product code was the same.
Either way, before walking in the store I found two more recyclables, putting them in a cabinet along with those which weren’t accepted, then washing my hands, putting those other things in what may be the proper bin, and just getting some more spoiling pleurotus mushrooms, an expiring product for dad, some salt, and a bunch of cheap soap, using several of the vouchers that offered a 10% discount on soap, which were being offered in exchange for recyclables those days, since I couldn’t find the biscuits that I wanted and had to check another location anyway. And using those vouchers for the soap meant needing to call an employee to log on, since they can’t be placed on the scales. And then I found that I had miscalculated the total, so instead of using the voucher with the highest value I ended up using the second highest and the lowest and adding a little more on top of them, but it wasn’t much of an issue.
After arranging the purchases, retrieving those remaining recyclables, and putting those two found ones in a machine, finding that at that point they were all working and just one was in use, I decided to go to Kaufland Basarab and to walk to Mihai Bravu metro station instead of Dristor, thinking that I’ll get off at Grozavesti and then walk. And by the time I got on the metro I had found just the five recyclables that I still needed to get to the maximum of 100 that they doubled the reward for… But I had also realized that it’d have taken much longer to get to Basarab that way, so I decided to cut my losses, take the metro in the other direction, and go to Kaufland Basarabia, still picking up some more recyclables that I happened to spot and peeling the label off a crushed one. But there was quite a line there as well, and that location only has two machines, and while they were working better and an employee was there and quickly dealt with any issue, it still meant a long wait, plus that the guy who got in line after me kept trying to edge ahead while also striking a conversation, at which point the woman who was ahead of me also let me know that the employee was actually behind her, and then I ended up turning my back to that guy as he kept standing next to me and trying to talk, and eventually, without talking to each other, me and that woman placed ourselves so we blocked that guy from getting ahead. But as I got my turn and meant to also grab some more recyclables which had been discarded in the bucket that was in front of the machine, that guy reached over to pull it to him and do that, so I just put in the five that I still needed, then put my things in a cabinet and washed my hands again.
With 8 PM approaching when I entered the store, it was too early to stay there but almost too late to go to yet another location, so I rushed to look for those biscuits, and finding them meant that I didn’t have to go to other Kaufland locations. But I still wanted to go to other stores, yet some vegetables already had evening discounts, I couldn’t decide what to do right away, and by the time I grabbed two large and quite nice lettuces and two bundles of radishes, albeit without meaning to keep the radishes unless the price would drop more, and looked around to see what else I could add, it was even later. And I had found two bags of nectarines where the expiring processed meat products are and wanted to check where they were from, eventually seeing a label stating that those sold by piece were imported from Spain, though none were left in the regular spot, so an employee had probably bagged and discounted all of the remaining ones, though how had they ended up where I had found them is another question. And I considered them expensive even with the 80% discount, but eventually decided to get one of the bags, mostly for mother, putting the other one back, by which point 9 PM was approaching and I clearly wasn’t going to go anywhere else. But I still made two purchases, paying for the biscuits, those nectarines, a little cat food and another cheap yogurt, to use all but one voucher of a small value, dashing back to leave the bag with the lettuce and radishes behind some cat food, going to add those purchases in the cabinet, and then going back in, retrieving that bag, and wandering around, still hoping for new or increased evening discounts… But nothing changed, though I ended up spotting some vinegar that was on sale and buying a bottle, along with the lettuces, using the last voucher and leaving the radishes at the self-checkout. Then I retrieved my things and arranged everything, walking out just after the closing announcement.
On the way back, I picked up some more recyclables and also checked that Mega Image, putting the purchases in a cabinet that I did lock and the recyclables in one that I didn’t, since I just had one 0.50 RON coin. And the bakery discounts, of 90%, were just being made at that point, so I took a number of things, including something that I meant to give away… And also pointed out to the employee that some labels were wrong. Not that I was the only one to do so, even one of her coworkers pointing some out, and she was complaining about being called out on it, but she corrected one issue, where the correct product was significantly cheaper than the one on the label, but let me know that another was actually more expensive than what was listed on the incorrect label and left it as it was, so I took it, for dad. But there were no other products discounted by 90%, and while the fact that a single product, discounted by 50%, was in that area made me think that they might make those other discounts later, I couldn’t be sure and had wasted enough time that evening, so I just bought those bakery products, the cashier waving the matter away when a coin fell in a slit on the counter when I paid. Then I arranged those purchases, retrieved everything else, and did give away that bag, initially sort of chasing after a guy who seemed homeless and was walking around quite quickly only for him to say that he wasn’t hungry and refuse and then handing them to a woman who was even more clearly homeless… Only for her to call after me and ask whether I could also get her a coffee, so I rather snapped that I had already given her something and walked away, biting back the other comments that were coming to mind.
I got back at 11:25 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, talked to dad for a while, getting annoyed that he had moved things around on the balcony and also taken quite a bunch to the car, supposedly to leave them at mother, then put the purchases, with the exception of dad’s bread and the lettuces, in their place, ate a nectarine and one of the sweet pastries from Mega Image, washed what was in the kitchen, and went to wash myself at 1:30 AM. I was done a little before 2:10 AM, then had a few more things to wash in the kitchen, selected the worse lettuce leaves and the worse parts of some green onions dad had bought to use for the salad and put the rest of the lettuces and dad’s bread in their place, moved something into a jar, and ate lunch, on and off, between 3:25 AM and 3:50 AM, and dinner between 4:35 AM and 5:15 AM, also writing notes about the day during that time. I got in bed at 6:50 AM. And the following night I ended up eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:05 AM.
In the early hours of June 6, I ate dinner between 3:35 AM and 4 AM and got in bed at 5:20 AM, after my hand slipped as I was squeezing the traces of toothpaste left in the tube on the toothbrush and some drops ended up in my eye, so I had to wash it out. And since I had finally set up the automatic daily backup and happened to get up to pee at 7:45 AM, I then got on the computer, read some news and waited for 8 AM, to check that it ran correctly, getting back in bed at 8:05 AM… And just before 10:45 AM I was woken up again by drilling from upstairs, so I got back on the computer for a while, then back in bed, then back on the computer, then back in bed again, the occasional noise making me hope that I could at least catch some little naps but preventing me from doing so. At least it stopped just before dad got back, and while I didn’t check the time, that must have been around 1 PM or a little before that hour, and after he fed Liza I could catch another nap or two, probably just about an hour and a half in total. And later I had lunch and, several minutes after 7:30 PM, I went out, taking the backpack with the clothes and shoes that were to be thrown away, struggling to carry it in a bag, since I didn’t want to actually put it on, and leaving it in a bin meant for such things which I knew was on the way to Auchan.
Despite hurrying, I had picked up a couple of recyclables, so I put them in a cabinet before entering the store, at 8:15 PM, and finding one last of their whole wheat breads. It wasn’t quite where it should have been, so somebody had probably taken it and then changed their mind, and it wasn’t as large as some others may be either, but I had no other option, so I took it, along with the tea that I was close to running out of, a bag of those corn puffs with powdered milk, plus paper towels and canned sardines, both of these having deep discounts those days. Then I arranged the purchases, retrieved those recyclables, and it was almost 9 PM when I walked out, so I really had to hurry if I wanted to be able to get something from Kaufland as well. But I still picked up a number of recyclables, plus a discarded label that also had the deposit symbol.
After putting my things in a cabinet and peeing and washing my hands, I entered the store a little before 9:30 PM, having already heard a deep evening discount for green onions being announced, so I grabbed several bundles, and during that time bananas also got a deep evening discount, and quite a number of good ones were left, many of those even being green, so I got just about 2 kg. Then I saw that some expiring bread that I could get for my parents was deeply discounted, so I grabbed that as well, and in a basket of expiring products placed just in front of the self-checkout area I spotted two more things that I grabbed, before starting to use a machine just when the announcement that the store had closed was made. And that machine didn’t accept the green onions as the correct product, but the employee who was there came over as soon as the message appeared, saying that they had problems with green onions all day and logging on to override the error. And then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged everything to some extent before walking out, and then went to one of the tables and took my time to spread what I had and arrange properly.
On the way back, I went to that Mega Image as well, picking up some more recyclables and struggling to stuff the bags that I held in my hands into two cabinets, entering with the one that hangs from my neck and the backpack and waiting for the employee to place the 90% discount labels on the bakery products. I had very little money left, but I could get two sweet pastries and two breads, then retrieved my things and made my way back, picking up more recyclables. I considered giving away a few bananas, and possibly also one of the sweet pastries, but the only homeless person that I was sure I saw was the one who had asked whether I could also get her a coffee a few days earlier and I definitely wasn’t going to give her anything else. I did see another guy when I passed through the park and I even stopped at a bench and tried to get a better look at him from there, but I wasn’t sure and didn’t want an awkward situation, so I eventually walked away.
It was close to 11:45 PM when I got back, then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the purchases in their place, talked to dad a little, searched for what he wanted from the freezer, ate a banana and a sweet pastry, washed what was in the kitchen, did the day’s squats, and it was close to 1:40 AM when I finally went to wash and past 2:10 AM when I was done. And then there were a few more things to wash in the kitchen, I also dealt with one of my breads, and ate dinner between 4:20 AM and 5:05 AM, with the last several minutes spent gathering what was stuck on the plate. I got in bed at 6:25 AM.
On the morning of June 8, after seeing that there had been no visits the previous day and also that WindowsPackageManagerServer.exe was once again running, as it had been after that week’s run, so I turned off networking yet again, I got in bed at 5:20 AM. And after getting up in the afternoon I turned the computer off, unplugged the power cable, waited for at least 30 seconds, and then plugged the power cable back in and turned the computer back on, to also use the moment to see whether a certain shutdown would sort out the issue with the fans, like it did on the old one. But it still didn’t. Either way, after doing the day’s squats and eating some milk rice brought by dad, in which I added some jam, since it was slightly sweetened anyway, so it counted as both lunch and dessert, I went out at 6:25 PM, leaving a note for dad to call when he’ll get back… So I was quite surprised when he called only a few minutes later, thinking that I had somehow failed to see him on the street, but he just wanted to ask something, so I also asked him whether he wanted me to look for the cucumbers or the beer that had discounts if you activated them in Kaufland’s app, which I had done on-line before leaving, and he said that he wanted both.
Since it was early enough, I checked Carrefour first, which proved a waste of time, and it also added a reason for concern, since I saw that most expiring products were only discounted by 30% at that point. But going there meant that I also passed by that the store that offers 20% more for recyclables on the way to Kaufland, and while I hadn’t risked taking them, since that day and the next were public holidays, for Pentecost, and I didn’t want to end up carrying them around if it’d somehow be closed, I could confirm that it was open and there was no notice that it was going to be closed the following day either. And, while I hadn’t spotted any until then, I did pick up two recyclables before reaching Kaufland, so I put them in a cabinet and entered the store a little after 7:15 PM. I couldn’t find those cucumbers, but I got a lettuce with a good evening discount, some spoiling mushrooms, a few carrots, even if their evening discount was small, the roes that were on sale, the beer for dad, and two of those cheap yogurts. I was in line at the self-checkouts when closing was announced, and after needing to call over the employee to clear the sale of beer, I retrieved those recyclables and took my time to arrange the purchases.
On the way back, I picked up one more recyclable, decided to also check the non-stop Mega Image, putting my things into two cabinets and then just retrieving them, and then went to Penny as well, once again putting everything into a cabinet and entering the store when it was close to 8:45 PM, the closing time being 9 PM on Sundays. But I just got some pasta… And ended up waiting for quite a while in line, a single checkout being manned, and a guy with a kid was allowed ahead as well, which is admittedly the law, though that makes it no less annoying. Either way, I then retrieved my things, added the pasta in the backpack, and after walking out I saw several recyclables left in front of the machine, in a bag, so I took them and stopped a short distance away to empty those that still had something in them, also using what I hope really was just water from one to wash one hand a little, and arrange them in my bag. And when I got here I also checked the nearby Mega Image, leaving the bags near the door, entering with the backpack, and buying an expiring product before retrieving the bags.
I got back a little before 9:30 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop that bag down the chute, and since dad had taken the blood pressure monitor from mother, still refusing to believe that he had a serious problem despite the increasingly, and alarmingly, high readings from his, and had just used it, I asked him to take my blood pressure as well, the reading being 108/74, which was also a way to show him that it worked properly. Either way, I then watched the Nations’ League final, during which I washed what was in the kitchen, ate a nectarine and something sweet, put up the placeholder for the post about the half marathon, then ate some expired nicer bagels as well and cleaned and washed a little more in the kitchen, including some pots. Since the match got to penalties, I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and shower, when it was almost 1 AM, being done a little after 1:45 AM, and after also moving that expiring product from Mega Image into a jar and using the worse lettuce leaves for the salad, I ate dinner between 4:05 AM and 4:50 AM… And the filling which had also fallen just over a year before, being replaced on May 15, 2024, and which has been replaced again since then, fell out. But at that point I managed to push it back in, and when I went to floss and brush my teeth I took it out again, cleaned it and the hole better, and then put it back again, though that obviously couldn’t last. On the other hand, I also noticed what I initially thought was an eczema on the right side of my head, close to the temple, but that usually appeared on the other side, and later it became pretty clear that it was actually a bite, probably from a spider, so I wonder if it had been on my headphones when I had put them on. But I just put some alcohol and some cream on it and got in bed at 6 AM.
The following day, after eating lunch during the storm, then shaving and doing the day’s squats, I went out again, leaving at 7 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. And I grabbed some more and also passed through the farmers’ market, without getting anything because the two small piles of cheap apples were really bad, on the way to that store, where I put them in the machine… Which reported that it was full in a moment when the cashier had gone to the back, so I had to wait for a while, but then she shook the bag and the crate a little and I could continue, getting a second voucher after I was done with “my” recyclables and a third at the end, the machine once again reporting that it was full just when I had finished. Oddly, it also opened on its own at that point, so I guess that the cashier hadn’t closed it properly, but the receipt was there and I was done, at least with what was accepted, since a few recyclables weren’t. Either way, I then cashed in the vouchers and went back to a nearby garbage bin, realizing that one of the bottles without the symbol which I had seen in it was just what I needed for one of the labels that I had, so I grabbed it as well, along with one other recyclable that I spotted in that area. But I obviously didn’t go right back, continuing to the metro station, since I had dad’s card.
I took the metro to Unirii, picking up a few more recyclables and putting them in a cabinet when I got to that Carrefour. Then, after peeing and washing my hands, I bought a number of expiring products, including some roes that were discounted by 70%, and I also found quite a pile of coins in the self-checkout machine and took them… But forgot that I had two vouchers received for previous purchases, so it’s a good thing that they weren’t about to expire. Either way, I then retrieved those recyclables and went back to the metro station, deciding to go to Basarab by first taking the metro to Victory Square and then switching there, which ended up being a very bad idea, since after waiting for at least five minutes for the first metro, I waited for ten for the second, so pretty much any other option, including going to other locations, would have been at least a little faster. But, after putting my things in a cabinet and entering that Kaufland a little after 9:40 PM, I found those cucumbers that were discounted if you activated a voucher in the app, so I bought as much as dad had asked me to, the closing announcement coming a couple of minutes early, when I was looking for something else to get. But I didn’t find anything, so I just bought those cucumbers, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took my time to arrange everything. And, after taking the metro back, I also checked the non-stop Mega Image that’s close to this stop, putting the recyclables in a cabinet that I didn’t lock, entering with the backpack, and seeing that some bakery products were just being discounted by 90% there as well, so I took several sweet pastries, then retrieved those recyclables and picked up some more on the way back.
I got back just after 11 PM, then put the purchases in their place, ate a sweet pastry that I already had, at which point that filling fell out again and I just left it out, and ten pumpkin seeds, just to say that I had something else as well, and went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 12:40 AM. I was done just before 1:45 AM, but then I also cut my nails, from both toes and fingers, so it was 2 AM when I got back to the kitchen, and there were some things to wash as well, and I also scraped what dad had left in a can, eating dinner between 4:05 AM and 4:55 AM and getting in bed at 6:05 AM. And then, after starting working on what I wanted to cook rather late and then pausing what I was doing for quite a while after my parents got here, dad bringing mother over, the following night I ended up eating lunch, on and off, between 2:20 AM and 3:20 AM. And then, after finally doing the day’s squats, since I hadn’t until then, I ate dinner between 4:10 AM and 4:40 AM and got in bed at 5:45 AM.
