Cav's Place

In the early hours of April 26, using several of the worse leaves of lettuce and not rushing as much as I should have meant that, despite once again “cheating” to be able to say that I took a first bite in my room before 3 AM, it was close to 3:30 AM when I actually started to eat and 3:45 AM when I finished. And then I wrote what ended up being the two paragraphs about the issues I had during that week’s run properly, since I had left that part in the form of rough notes in what I had posted just before midnight. But then it took a long time to fall asleep, and while that was no longer the case after I got up to pee at one point, it happened again after getting woken up as dad was starting to get ready to leave, and I had probably just managed it when I woke up yet again when he put the key in the door, so I then decided to read for a while before managing to get some more sleep, and another nap after getting up to pee again. I got up for good after the alarm rang, at 4:55 PM, since I wanted to watch handball, and by then I had gotten a total that was probably around seven and a half hours or so of sleep, albeit split into several parts, so at least I didn’t add to my sleep debt, but I didn’t recover anything either. And dad got back well before 7 PM, despite having said that he was going to be back around 9 PM, and apparently called me just after 6 PM, while I was in the kitchen and watching the match, without also trying the landline when I didn’t hear, so even though I had told him, repeatedly and in detail, about the cat food that was on sale at Penny, he ended up buying a box of that kind that he won’t give Liza because she doesn’t wolf it down right away, claiming that he didn’t know and blaming me for it, of course.

The next morning, Liza once again woke me by going to the litter box, albeit around 10:15 AM, and while I just peed and got back in bed, dad also got up soon after that and then kept making noise, in good part because he tried to feed her some of that food he had bought, saw that she didn’t wolf it down right away, and then moved it into something else, I hope to take it to some cats that are outside, and took all of it out of the box from the fridge, just leaving the other kind there and feeding her some of it. And when he left, a little before 11:30 AM, and I went to see what all that clinking and crinkling and scraping had been about, I also found a note telling me to leave that food out, stop filling that box with it, because she doesn’t like it so he’ll eventually take it to other cats, in time. And if getting back to sleep after having been kept awake for all that time would have been difficult anyway, getting annoyed by that made it clear that it was pointless to even try right away, so I only got back in bed at 1 PM, managing a series of brief naps. I don’t think that I was awake for long between them, so I’d say that I slept the large majority of the time until just after 3:15 PM, when I decided to get up again, but with that sleep being broken into several short parts, it probably didn’t do that much good either. And then my nose, throat and chest started feeling like I was coming down with something, which was awfully concerning. On the other hand, I realized that the previous day I had forgotten to start taking the supplements that I meant to take until the race, but at least I started taking them then. And late in the evening I got back in bed and napped for what was most probably close to but not quite an hour, and then I shaved as well.

After once again putting peanut butter on all of the bread in the early hours of April 28, I set the alarm to ring at 2 PM… But then I kept being woken up. I got right back to sleep the first two times, when I got up to pee and when dad left, but things changed at 9:40 AM, when loud drilling started. After a while the noise got slightly less loud and there were some pauses as well, so I could get some more sleep, but it was obviously interrupted and agitated, and I also kept having to pee, usually quite a lot, almost each time I woke up. And at one point there was a cramp as well, in my left calf, the spot continuing to hurt after I got up. And what was annoying was that it was basically quiet after that. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of another slice of cozonac, with added honey, cleaned the litter box, took the first part of the supplements for the day, and it was almost 4:45 PM when I left, wearing the full running gear, still with the better shoes, and one armband, and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 19-20°C, holding steady.
The time was 1:48:20, with sector times of 4:28, 5:10, 6:09, 4:40, 5:11, either 6:12 or 6:02, either 4:33 or 4:43, most probably 5:18, 6:17, 4:50, 5:24, 6:19, 4:53, 5:33, 6:28, 4:55, 5:29, 6:26, 1:55, 6:11 and 1:59, making for lap times of 15:47, either 16:03 or 15:53, either 16:08 or 16:18, 16:33, 16:54 and 16:50, plus 10:05 for the final portion. The thing is that I never had any doubt about the times while running, only realizing when I wrote them down after getting back that I was missing ten seconds and had no idea whether those should be added to sector three of lap two or sector one of lap three. There’s also a tiny chance that they’re from sector two of lap three, but I really doubt it, so I’ll focus on those two sectors, because I was wondering whether I’ll stay under 16 minutes on lap two and was surprised by that sector three that seemed less slow than that of lap one and a lap that was apparently exactly what was needed for the average for the first two laps to be that 15:50 that’d be the target for them if I’d go for 1:48. But, not counting the unlikely case of the problem being with sector two of lap three, by the end of sector one of lap three I was obviously assuming a time of 31:50 after two laps, not 31:40. So was that correct, meaning 6:12 on sector three of lap two and 4:33 on sector one of lap three, or did I confuse the 50 seconds from that average with those from the total time at that point and it was actually 6:02 and 4:43? Losing a little time on the long straight of sector one of lap two, which may explain that sector being slower than that of lap three, while really not feeling like I had pushed on sector three of lap two and being particularly surprised when I thought that I had covered it in 6:02, makes me edge towards the first scenario, so I’ll go with it, but with serious question marks, since I really don’t know.
Either way, running a half marathon distance so soon after the previous time made me wonder whether I’ll even stay under 1:50, but the first two sectors were pretty promising… Only for the third to be noticeably worse than I thought it’d be, getting my hopes back down. So I was wondering whether I’ll even cover lap two in less than 16 minutes, which I thought was what I needed in order to keep having a chance to stay under 1:50, and thinking that I actually ended up covering it in 15:53 really got my hopes back up. That adds wishful thinking as another reason to go for that first scenario described above, since admitting that I had already gone over 16 minutes per lap would have made me worry again, but as it was, I started thinking of 1:49, even if keeping the loss of time in check seemed unlikely. And I’m certain that I had 47:58 after three laps, putting me over the target for 1:48, which I hoped to stick to at least until then in order to allow myself to lose more later. And after falling even more behind that target after lap four, the main goal was once again to at least make sure that I’ll stay under 1:50, hoping to at least stay under 17 minutes on lap five in order to be able to lose more after that. Only after managing that did I think of getting under 1:49 again, pushing more on lap six in order to make it even with 10:30 on the final portion. But when I saw that I had actually been a little less slow on lap six than on lap five I really went for it, hoping to somehow squeeze under 1:48:30 as well, and in the end I managed it by a very safe margin. And, while the time would be disappointing in itself, being less than a minute slower than the previous time when the runs were only days apart was quite nice.
There were warnings from my right knee and a little pain in that spot of my left calf muscle from the beginning, and later there were a few jabs in both hips, plus an overall feeling that I was running out of leg parts that I could make more use of in order to spare others. But I managed all of that, and the pain that I occasionally felt in the lower right side of my abdomen for a part of the run eventually seemed to go away for good. On the other hand, a certain pressing need first appeared on sector two of lap four, fading before returning on sector two of lap five, though it was never a serious issue. And the fact that my hands started to go numb towards the end of lap five obviously didn’t mean that I was as exhausted as I feared, looking at the times. My nose was once again irritated at the end, but that was to be expected.
Otherwise, there were some windy areas, and that contributed to the first notable problem caused by people, which was in fact a potentially dangerous moment. It was on the long straight of sector one of lap two, when I was catching up to another runner but trying to use her to shield myself from the headwind as much as possible, so I tried to make myself smaller and stay behind her until the last moment, then meant to dash around her… Only to find myself facing a cyclist coming from the opposite direction, who had just swerved onto the lane in order to get around other people, so I hesitated for an instant and then just managed to duck back behind that runner until the cyclist went past us. Other than that, on sector two of lap three I weaved my way through a couple of consecutive roadblocks and slowed as a result, while on the long straight of sector one of lap four there were three groups of three people, one behind the other, coming from the opposite direction, and the first two cleared the way in opposite sides, but the third had no time to do so after they could finally see me, resulting in a wall of people that made me hesitate and then have to pick my way past. There were smaller issues on sector one and two of lap five, and maybe also at some point on lap six, but I might have gotten away without a notable loss of time. However, on sector two of the final portion I hesitated twice, the first time being right at the start of it, when two other runners stopped right in front of me just after I came down the stairs, and the second time I believe because of two cyclists, the second coming just as I meant to use the space that the first had passed through, if I remember correctly.

After the run, I went to the nearest Penny, starting to jog at first, but then grabbing a recyclable, seeing two cartons as well, and wanting a bag to put them in, so I won’t get that sort of stuff in the ones which I had taken with me. And since I didn’t spot any right away, I slowed to a walk and started looking, eventually thinking that I saw a usable one in a bin… Only to see that it had been used as a doggy bag, so it’s a good thing that I had picked it up carefully and only touched the outside of it before quickly dropping it back and wiping my hands with some leaves. Either way, that meant that I didn’t take those cartons, but did grab a smaller one that I spotted a little later, leaving it and that recyclable in a cabinet that I didn’t bother to lock and getting a lot of the cat food that was on sale. The old woman who was behind me in line asked how many cats I had and I found myself saying three, so including mother’s cats, even if that food was just for Liza, but I guess the answer was good enough to avoid further questions, so I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet… And ended up using one of my bags for recyclables anyway, since I grabbed plenty more on the way back, including a crushed one that I thought I’ll be able to straighten. So I could have done that from the beginning, to get those two cartons as well… Even if it was hard to carry everything even so.
After cleaning the litter box again, I ate a banana before going to drop the bag of trash down the chute. Then I changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, straightened that crushed recyclable, and it was past 9:05 PM when I left again, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and the few gathered cartons. And on the way to Kaufland I gathered more recyclables, and also stopped at that Mega Image to put the cartons in that machine. Then I put the recyclables in the machine from Kaufland, minus that one that still wasn’t accepted.
After washing my hands, I entered the store, with that remaining recyclable, just before 9:50 PM, and grabbed a few products from the bakery area before the evening discounts increased to 75%, adding some more after they did, though at that point it seemed that the one for the nicer cheap buns wasn’t changing, so I didn’t also take more of those. Then I took a basket and an entire package of sugar, which I wasn’t going to carry around in my arms. And after also adding a box of mushrooms that were among the spoiling products and discounted by 75% even though they looked quite fine and a lettuce that I was uncertain about, since it had an evening discount but was rather small and wilted, I was at the self-checkout over five minutes before closing time… And still there when the announcement was made, mainly because the QR code on the discount label for the mushrooms was twisted around and I couldn’t fix it despite wasting some time with the attempt. The numeric code was visible, however, so I called over the employee and asked whether he could enter it, yet the full price showed up when he did, so he tried to pee off that label and enter another code that was underneath it, but that other label got torn in the process, so he told me to continue with the other products until he’ll get back and walked away with the mushrooms, returning a little later and entering a code that worked properly, which is something that I’m pretty sure never happened before at Kaufland, employees just saying that a product can’t be bought if it won’t scan and the numeric code isn’t fully visible either. And that employee also entered the sugar and the code for the store card, since the picture of that QR code wouldn’t scan either. And then I saw that the discount for the cheap buns had also increased to 75% after all. On the other hand, I left that lettuce there. And then I used the voucher received for the recyclables and the 10 RON one that I still had.
After struggling to get the sugar in the large backpack, adding the mushrooms on top of it, and arranging the bakery products in a bag, it was close to 10:45 PM when I finally walked away. And then I added something to the recyclables but still managed to reach that Mega Image that closes at 11 PM in time… Only to see no bakery discounts, so I just had a quick look at the expiring products, entering with everything, and then added some more recyclables before entering the non-stop Mega Image with everything as well. However, when I saw bakery products that I could take having the 50% evening discount in that location, I went back to the cabinets and used no less than three of them for everything except the large backpack, though I didn’t lock them. Then I entered again, just with the large backpack, and took two sweet pastries and an expiring product, using two vouchers received for cartons, since I had one left from another day as well, and having the exact amount needed on top of that, which was apparently quite a relief for the cashier, who had no change to give and had been struggling to figure out how to make it so the people who were before me could pay for their purchases, so when my turn came and I gave her the 3 RON that she needed for the previous customer and had the remaining amount in coins as well, she asked for a little less. And then I retrieved my things, gathered more recyclables, plus two cartons, on the way back, and also reached the nearby Mega Image in time, since it’s closing at midnight again, initially entering with everything and just walking back out after having a quick look at the expiring products but then thinking that the expiring pancakes looked interesting and going back, leaving the bags next to the door… Only to change my mind again and just retrieve those bags and walk back out.
I was back just after midnight, with just about 17 kg. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a little trash down the chute, talked to dad a little, ate a sweet pastry, put the purchases in their place, minus the pack of sugar and the one of six boxes of cat food, which I left on a chair, and it was 1:55 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and take a bath, which was actually a bit of a bubble bath, using something sent by mother a long time ago. I was done just before 2:55 AM. Then I moved something into a jar, washed what was in the kitchen, ate the pizza slices brought by dad, which basically added up to a full pizza, as lunch, on and off, between 3:50 AM and 4:45 AM, also dealt with those buns that I was going to use as bread, took one of those cold pills expired for over a year and a half and the rest of the supplements for the day, cleaned up some things left by dad in the living room as well, and finally ate dinner between 5:20 AM and 6:20 AM, while writing notes about the day. I got in bed at 7:10 AM, after rubbing cream on my hands and feet.

At 10 AM, I got woken up by noise which I had learned was indeed coming once again from the upstairs neighbor and decided to at least make some use of the time, getting a load of laundry in the machine. And later I cleaned the litter box again, ate lunch, did 200 squats, to make up for having skipped them the previous day, took the first part of the supplements and one of those for immunity, and since the guy who was making the bug nets was coming in the afternoon to do those for the balcony, actually wanting to do the work here, I decided to go out again… Only to find, just as I was at the door, that dad had taken away everything that was in a small basket as he rushed to clean up a little before that guy got here, and while he could hand me the store cards right away, the only issue there being that he had put those together with another one for Mega Image that he had made at some point and there was no way to really know which was which anymore, that found metro card had also been there, along with an old card for surface transit. The latter may not even be valid anymore, but I really wanted the “safety net” of that found metro card, so he started looking for it and soon found it in the paper bag, the problem being that he hadn’t just put it there, but had also crumpled it up, so he said that he was going to put it inside a book, to straighten it, but I had doubts that it’d still work.
Either way, it was close to 4:30 PM when I finally left, with a bag of trash that I dropped down the chute and the recyclables with the deposit symbol, grabbing a few more on the way to Penny Titan and putting them in the machine, minus the one which I somehow hadn’t noticed didn’t have the symbol, which I dropped in a bin. Then I got what I wanted, for dad, also used the voucher received for the recyclables, arranged the purchases a little, and picked up a few more recyclables on the way to Bebe Tei, being surprised to see a machine there as well and putting them in it.
After putting the purchases in a cabinet, I found the cloves that I had gone there for… But I had forgotten to check before leaving whether these supplements that I take were on sale, and while I was there I noticed that the one for the joints was, yet sometimes there are some small price differences between that branch and the main Tei and I didn’t want to buy some from there and then see that they’d have been slightly cheaper at Tei, so I considered beeping dad and asking him to check, but since he was probably busy with that guy, I decided to try to check on my phone… Which led to struggling for 20 minutes, at first trying various ways to deal with how poorly the site was loading, then making a couple of attempts to use Google only to be required to complete a captcha that never showed up, and finally managing to do it by using DuckDuckGo. And since I saw that the price was the same, I got two, since that was what I could afford with what I had on me, and also used the voucher received for the recyclables.
After retrieving the other purchases and taking some time to arrange everything in the backpack, I decided against continuing to either Supeco or Auchan and just check Carrefour on the way back, part of the reason why being that I was dealing with a certain pressing need… And at one point I feared that something more than just gas had slipped out, so after reaching Park Lake and putting the two recyclables picked up by then in the machine, I went to the toilet and checked, being relieved to find that it hadn’t been the case. Then I peed and washed my hands, put my things in a cabinet, and entered the store just before dad called to let me know that the guy had finally left. So I bought a few things, including a jar of mustard that was on sale for what I thought was a good price but forgetting to look for those snacks for dad and some garlic. Either way, after also using the voucher received for the recyclables, I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and grabbed a few more recyclables on the way back.
I was back for the first time just after 8 PM. Then I put what had to be put in the fridge and freezer there, spread out the other things, and had a look at the bug nets installed on the balcony… Immediately seeing all sorts of problems, the minor ones being that they’re a little loose in the frames, and wanting them tight and straight was why dad said he wanted frames instead of just fixing them directly on the wall, as I had suggested. But the serious problem is that they’re slightly torn all around the frames, and the large one has a pretty large tear that stretches top to bottom a little way away from the frame, dad saying that he picked the material so Liza won’t be able to tear them again, but it doesn’t take being bent or stretched, so when the guy stretched it and got it in the frames, that happened. I’d say that, if that guy took on the job of putting our nets into the frames he built and install them, he should have found a way to avoid this if he wanted to get paid, but dad waved it away and said that he’ll repair those areas by gluing or, as I suggested, sewing some strips over them. Either way, I then wolfed down a large bag of corn puffs and it was past 8:45 PM when I rushed out again, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, adding something to them despite jogging most of the way to the Mega Image that closes at 10 PM.
I got there a couple of minutes before 9 PM, putting the recyclables in the machine before the cart with the products that are discounted by 90% was brought. And that regular wasn’t there and the others who were don’t rush that much to grab everything, so I took some things, even if all but one that I got for my parents were imported, and at the checkout I saw that a pack of tofu, still with the 90% discount, had been left there, so I asked the cashier whether I could buy that one as well and added it to the two which I had grabbed from the cart when she confirmed it. And I also used the voucher received for the recyclables.
After arranging the purchases, I continued on my way, wanting to go to that other Carrefour as well, but when I passed by that store that’s on that route and which I had always ignored until them, I saw a sign listing a number of products that had discounts, including mustard at a much better price than the one I had bought from Carrefour, so I shouldn’t have bought that one, not that I could have known it at the time. Either way, I went in and bought two of those as well, the fact that I reached over to take the receipt and said that I wanted it seeming to surprise the cashier, who was just letting them print without even taking them to throw them in a bin or something, and the people who had been before me had ignored them as well.
After entering that mall through the parking lot, grabbing a couple more recyclables, and putting them in the machine, I entered Carrefour with the backpack, wanting to get some of those snacks for dad which I had forgotten to look for earlier… Only to find none left at the regular place on the shelf and just one discarded somewhere nearby, so I just bought that one and a little garlic, at full price, meaning to also use the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid… Only for the machine to say that it was unrecognized, and when I called over an employee she said that it wasn’t in the system yet and to keep it for another time, which I did.
It was late by then, so I rushed to Kaufland, though I still picked up another recyclable and put it in the machine from there. Then I added the new purchases in the backpack, washed my hands, and it was 10:05 PM when I entered the store, with the backpack. A kind of bread that I decided I could take had a great evening discount, so I took one, plus a couple of sweet pastries that were discounted by 50% and a few others, for mother, which were only discounted by 30%. Then I made use of a great evening discount for a lettuce, finding one which had been left by someone next to some scales and which was somewhat less small and wilted than the few left in the crate, and also added some beets and a few bananas, those having evening discounts as well. But I wasn’t sure whether I was going to take all of the bananas, so I weighed and labeled them separately, then grabbed one more thing, also for mother… And I also saw two bundles of green onions in a basket that seemed to contain things which had been recovered by employees after having been discarded by customers, so I took the better one, even if I looked for the price label and found that it was at full price. And when I passed by the bakery area again, I didn’t notice increased discounts… Only to see at the self-checkout, which I reached just after the closing announcement, that the discount for the sweet pastries which I had grabbed for myself had increased to 80%, so I should have taken all of them… And the machine didn’t accept the bag that contained those and the ones for mother, so I had to call over an employee and she logged on to override the error, and then she had to come back and do the same for the lettuce. And I did end up leaving one of the bananas there, and then I also used the voucher received for that recyclable.
After quickly arranging things a little, I continued to that Mega Image, putting the bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, but then just retrieving the bags and making my way back, the phone giving a low battery warning just after I walked out, so after six days. Either way, I picked up a few more recyclables and a couple of small juice cartons that I tried to drain. And when I got here I had a quick look in the nearby Mega Image, leaving the bags next to the door and entering with the backpack but seeing no bakery discounts and nothing else that was interesting, so I just retrieved the bags and walked back out.
It was close to 11:30 PM when I got back. Then I cleaned the litter box again, but wanted to eat the banana that I already had before taking the bag of trash to the garbage room, and before doing that I spread out the purchases… And noticed that those juices had dripped a little on the purchases, in particular in the bag with the bakery products and that other thing for mother, and the bakery products were in paper bags, so I took them out and threw away the bags, meaning that it was quite a while before I finally ate that banana and went to shove that bag of trash into the overflowing chute. And then I put the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, dealt with my bread, ate a sweet pastry that I already had, and it was 1:35 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash. I was done just under one hour later, and after seeing that the phone had turned itself off and set it to charge, I ate dinner between 4:50 AM and 5:35 AM. I got in bed at 6:50 AM, after taking the rest of the supplements and putting cream on my hands and feet.

At least I really slept, only getting up to check the time at 3:56 PM. I remember waking up twice before then, but I don’t know why and I got right back to sleep. And I didn’t need to pee too badly even then, so I just stayed in bed, only finally getting up when it was close to 5:15 PM, even though I was basically awake during that time, at most getting one more very brief nap. And minutes later there was some brief drilling, though there hadn’t been any while I had been awake, and when I went to the kitchen I saw that the water was off, quite clearly for the work being done at the apartment above, so I went to the bathroom sink to get water for the tea. And that day I decided to also take some of that vitamin C expired so long ago, at least on days when I won’t add something else that contains that. And at night, when I went to clean up a little after dad took a bath, I noticed another invasion of ants in the bathroom, so I used bug spray there again. On the other hand, it’s getting clearer that the filling that was last replaced in December, when I was told it couldn’t last, is getting loose again, and the gum also seems rather inflamed in that area.

The following morning I was once again woken up by awfully loud drilling, just after 9:05 AM, and the noise continued for hours, but after it stopped I got some more sleep, getting the total to at least seven hours by the time I got up for good, at 5:40 PM, still feeling utterly exhausted but deciding that trying to get back to sleep one more time was a bad idea after having woken up by kicking the wall, apparently acting on what I was dreaming, and being very relieved that the big toe that took most of the impact seemed fine, even if it hurt a little. On the other hand, I spent quite some time reading, and in the evening I made mamaliga, realizing just before starting to eat that I had forgotten about the supplements and taking most of them then and the rest before going to bed. It took me a while to fall asleep, however, only finally managing it some time after 6 AM, since that was when I checked the time and decided to pee again, just in case it’d help.

After being woken up in the same manner and at almost exactly the same time, on May 2 I arranged some things in my room and then finished the book, getting back in bed at 2:10 PM, when the work in the apartment above seemed to have finally ended… Only for the cleaning to start, so there were more noises, albeit much fainter ones, so I could get some sleep, but only the first nap was longer, the total being unlikely to have reached two hours by 5 PM, when the alarm rang and I got up to watch the Formula E race. And then I made pasta and also wrote the quick review for the book.

On May 3, the first time I woke up it was because I had to pee, and then I quickly checked something on the computer, but I still got right back to sleep after that. It might have taken me a few minutes to do so again after Liza woke me again by going to the litter box, but after waking up one more time, a little after 11:30 AM, when dad got up, that I stayed awake for what must have been about an hour, since I peed again, exchanged a few words with him, and then got back in bed but was still awake a little before 12:20 AM, when he left. And then I think it was some noise from above that woke me again, a little after 2:30 PM, and while I just peed one more time and got back to sleep after that, when I got woken up again, I guess for the same reason, I ended up remaining awake for some time and eventually getting up, a few minutes before 4 PM… And then I found that the start time for the Formula 1 race had been changed and ended up giving up on the idea of going out later.
On the other hand, in the evening I made something sweet by putting some jam between biscuits and microwaving them, but since they still seemed somewhat soggy I then added a little more time, and that proved to be too long, leading to some of the jam getting partly burned and hardening on the spoon that I used to break up the biscuits, to get them to cool faster, and when I tried to scrape it off with my teeth, I heard something snap, and while a piece of that hardened jam did break off at that point, it’s possible that I also chipped some front teeth a little more. But at least I finally managed to write the post about the spring’s tree planting events, even if two paragraphs were still in the form of notes at 11:59 PM and I edited it a little later, to write those properly as well. However, at night I once again “cheated” in order to be able to say that I took a first bite of dinner in my room before 3 AM, but then opened that bio (organic) peanut butter which had expired by then, also cleaned the litter box again, and generally took it too easy, actually starting to eat when it was past 3:15 AM and finishing at 3:50 AM.

Despite waking up as my parents were getting ready to leave, since my mother had also been here, only getting back to my room after almost 40 minutes, after washing what was in the kitchen and cleaning up a little, and then picking Capital and Ideology back up and reading for just under one hour, I did get a total of some eight hours of sleep by the time I decided to get up, just before 4 PM. A reason for concern was some pain that seemed to come from my right kidney but was probably from my lower back, perhaps because of the position I had been in while reading, but it eventually went away.

Moving on to the early hours of May 5, after eating dinner between 1:20 AM and 1:55 AM and then taking the t-shirt from the half marathon of 2016 out, since I wanted to wear that one again, making the tea for the morning, and mixing the cereals and almonds into the expired and imported but really nice yogurt, having 200 grams, 8.5% protein and 2% fat, so that part will also be already done, I got in bed at 3:30 AM. And I actually fell asleep pretty quickly and either slept until the alarm rang, at 8 AM, or if I woke up at one point then I got right back to sleep, what I was dreaming making it difficult to be certain. Either way, I then ate an apple and that yogurt with cereals and almonds, with the sweet thing consisting of some cozonac, with added honey, left little more than gas in the toilet, which wasn’t that much of a concern after having filled it the previous day, took the first part of the supplements plus one of those for immunity, and left at 9:45 AM, wearing the full running gear, with that t-shirt from 2016 and the better running shoes. The reported temperature was about 18°C at 10 AM, rising to about 20°C at 11 AM.
The time was 48:05.17, with sector times of 4:09.73, 5:02 (5:01.69), 6:03 (6:02.60), 4:33.96, 5:05 (5:04.69), 5:55 (5:54.35), 4:31.12, 5:03.41, 5:55 (5:54.69) and 1:49 (1:48.93), making for lap times of 15:14.02, 15:33.00 and 15:29.22. I was wondering whether to just run ten kilometers again, for the first time since January, or turn this into the first morning run of 16 km, and if I’d have done this run a day earlier I might have preferred the second option, but as it was it seemed a little too close to the half marathon for that, so I pushed from the start and hoped to give myself a reason to just go for ten kilometers by getting back under 48 minutes. And that first sector was promising, but it was the same a year ago and then that run fell apart, so I only started to hope after sector two, considering it a given that I’ll cover the first lap in less than 15:10 and wondering whether I might even get under 15 minutes… Only to go over six minutes on sector three and fail completely. So returning under 48 minutes seemed clearly out of the question, but I still didn’t want to continue to 16 km, so I decided to settle for just staying under 49 minutes, sector one of lap two being somewhat concerning but the following two being better, and sector three making me wonder why couldn’t I have managed that on lap one as well and give myself reason to hope. But it was too late for that, so I just changed the target to 48:30, which after sector two of lap three became at least 48:20, if not 48:15, and 48:10 after the end of the lap. But that final sector was faster than expected, so I was frustratingly close to 48 minutes, making this still a poor time but the least bad one over this distance since the last decent one, in November.
The thing is that, on top of taking supplements for over a week, which should have improved things more than that, there were very few issues to speak of, and none of them notable. There were some warnings from the back of my right knee from the beginning, but they faded, that knee only bothering me again on sector three of lap three, when all parts of it were giving warnings, though it wasn’t that bad even then. And there was a moment when there was some pain that seemed to be reflected from my back, but that didn’t last either. And that was pretty much it, even the amount of weaving and going the long way around being relatively low, and the conditions being just fine.

Then I jogged back, though I also dashed into the nearby Mega Image for a quick look. Unfortunately, not long after I got back, dad got a call from mother, saying that she was not feeling well and in pain, so things were looking badly and he went there… But it wasn’t like I could have done anything about that, so after eating a banana, going to the toilet, and changing, leaving the running t-shirt on, I meant to rush to the nearest Penny… Only to think to try some recyclables which hadn’t worked before again, take them from the top of the fridge… And have one of those small juice cartons fall behind the fridge. And I didn’t know whether it was actually behind it or inside the radiator, and when I wanted to get the mirror from the bathroom and try to have a look that way, I didn’t find it there anymore, nor anywhere else. So I then tried to move the fridge, but it initially wouldn’t even budge, yet taking all of those recyclables which haven’t been accepted off it gave me a chance, so I unplugged it and struggled until I moved it just enough to be able to look behind it and see that carton there, and then I needed some more time to find a way to get it out, after which I took some more of those old recyclables, since I had taken them down anyway, along with the cartons, pushed the fridge more or less back in its place, put the remaining old recyclables back on it, plugged it back in, and finally left again just after 2:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, including some of those old ones, and the cartons, but without taking the headphones.
After grabbing another recyclable and the label off a crushed one on the way to this Penny, I had quite some time to wait at the machine, two people with quite a lot of recyclables being ahead of me and the machine stopping soon after I got there, though an employee quickly came to empty the containers… Apparently without replacing the one for glass, since when my turn came it said that it had no container for glass bottles. But I could put in the other “new” recyclables, plus two cans which hadn’t been accepted before, and when I walked away I saw that a recyclable had appeared in the bin and picked it up, putting all of those that I had been left with in a cabinet that I didn’t bother to lock and getting what I had gone there for, plus a jam that I decided to add. Then I also used the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid, retrieved those recyclables, and took some time to arrange the purchases… And a little later I stopped again and found a way to add the last bottle of tomato juice in the backpack as well, then continued to the Mega Image that’s next to Tei, putting the cartons in the machine from there and then seeing that the regular machine wasn’t working, but that other one that I only saw in that location, which is supposed to accept many recyclables at once, was, so I tried to use it for the first time, putting in the couple of recyclables grabbed on the way and a couple of those which hadn’t been accepted before, though the others that I tried, including a glass bottle which had been emptied by dad, were spat out.
I then decided to continue to Carrefour as well, grabbing a few more recyclables, including one without a label that was just the right kind for that one which I had grabbed earlier, so I placed it on it and then put what I had grabbed and a few more of those which hadn’t been accepted before in the machine from there, being left with three of those which hadn’t been accepted before, and one probably won’t be, since the bar code is faded. Either way, I then put my things in a cabinet that couldn’t be locked, but which for some reason had a coin left in the lock, so I took it. And then I bought what I had gone there for, plus a sweet pastry that was at half price and some garlic, since it had no price label but I checked on the scales, needing to search for it by name, since it wouldn’t show up in the menu, and found that it was discounted. But I once again forgot to look for those snacks for dad. Not that I could have carried much more with the bags I had with me, as even so, after also using the voucher received for the recyclables and the other one which I had been left with, it was a struggle to get the purchases to the cabinet and then find a way to arrange everything. But I eventually managed it, and on the way back I picked up a few more recyclables and another carton, putting those recyclables and one more of those old ones into the machine from the nearby Mega Image and then just cashing in the voucher. And then I grabbed one more recyclable before getting here.
I was back again at 5:30 PM, with close to 19 kg. Then I put the purchases in their place, set aside some things which had been on the fridge and which I decided to take to the recycling bin before putting the rest back up there, ate a small bag of corn puffs and the sweet pastry from Carrefour, and did 200 squats, after once again putting them off the day before until I forgot to do them at all. And dad called at some point during that time, saying that mother had been taken to hospital, those from the ambulance suspecting gallstones, and they had been waiting for an ultrasound for four hours at that point, since she’s in pain but they’re told that much more serious cases require attention. Either way, I left again at 8:40 PM, with the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin, and that last recyclable which I had picked up.
After grabbing a few more recyclables on the way, including one that someone had obviously tried to play a trick with, tearing off the label and dropping the part with the bar code inside it, so I used a stick to get it out, I realized that I had to jog the last part of the way to that Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, doing so and getting there just at 9 PM. And I managed to put the recyclables in the machine, sticking that torn bar code on that one, just before the cart with the products with the 90% discount was brought. And then I grabbed a few, being able to take my time to decide and calculate, since that regular wasn’t there, the two others who were also took their time to discuss and decide, and there were a lot of products of a couple of kinds. Those products included some oranges, and I wasn’t charged for the bag that they were in, then I used the voucher which I had been left with from that Mega Image that’s next to Tei… But I didn’t get to also cash in the one from there, the guard pulling me aside right after the cashier asked whether that was everything I was buying and I confirmed it and telling me to show her what I had in my pockets. So I did, and she even searched me, saying that she had been told that I had pocketed things and that if I’ll be found with anything I’ll be banned from the store. I told her that I could hand her my jacket if she wanted, but she was eventually satisfied, and then even apologized, and after she let me go and I stepped aside to arrange the purchases she came after me to apologize again and I mentioned that it had happened to me before, at Penny, and a guard from there even followed me outside.
Moving on, I continued to Kaufland, picking up a couple more recyclables, putting them in the machine, putting my things in a cabinet, washing my hands, and entering the store a little after 9:40 PM. I saw bakery discounts of 50% at that point and took some things that I meant to be for mother plus one more sweet pastry, though I had some doubts about it, and then looked around the store, not finding anything else to get. I passed by the bakery area again a little after 10 PM, hearing an employee mention new discounts to another and telling him to grab what he wanted before they ran out, but nothing was displayed or announced just then, so I wandered around a little longer, until there was an announcement of 75% discounts for some bakery products and I went back there to grab a couple more things, even if my hands weren’t exactly clean anymore. And I guess that I shouldn’t have taken those other products earlier, since if they’d have been left at that point they’d have probably been discounted by 75% as well, while this way the discount didn’t change, but that was that, and I didn’t put them back. So I just had two bags of bakery products when I got to the self-checkout, and the machine didn’t accept one of them, so I had to call an employee over and she checked and then logged on to override the error. And after paying, also using the voucher received for the recyclables, I weighed that bag and saw that it had only three grams more than what should have been the total weight of the products, so I’m not sure what the machine’s problem was. Either way, I then retrieved my things, arranged a little better, and walked out just after the closing announcement.
After continuing to that Mega Image and putting my things in a cabinet, I saw that some products that had the 90% discount were left and I took two, for my parents or grandmother, to also use the voucher which I had been left with from the other location… And I had just retrieved what I had in the cabinet when dad called to say that mother was going into surgery to remove her gallbladder. So I was a little shocked, but after a moment I walked out and stopped at that bench, arranging everything properly before making my way back… And it wasn’t until I grabbed one more recyclable that I realized that I had also thrown that dirty bag that I put them in into that cabinet from Kaufland and completely forgot about it when I retrieved the purchases. At least the only thing left in it was a cap used for a contest, and we have a pile of those and dad never entered any, and while finding several more recyclables in a bin would have been a problem otherwise, I also found a bag in there, containing two of them and seeming very clean, so I kept it and really filled it on the way back, also adding a carton on top of the recyclables. And when I got here I also had yet another look in the nearby Mega Image, leaving the bags next to the door, entering with the backpack, and then just retrieving the bags.
I got back for good a couple of minutes after 11:30 PM, and when I initially washed my hands, the water still seemed fine. But then Liza went to the litter box again, and when I washed my hands again after cleaning it and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute, the water temperature dropped rapidly. The site didn’t list any problem here, but in surrounding areas there are problems that are estimated to last at least until May 13! And letting the water run for a while confirmed that it was just cold, so I took out the four largest pots and started heating water on the stove, finishing putting the purchases in their place while waiting for it to boil and going to wash at 1:15 AM. Dad got back minutes later, and when I finished washing I realized that I had forgotten my towel, so I asked him to get it for me. I was done at 1:45 AM, and then I talked to him about mother, learning that the operation had apparently gone well and the surgeon had used the opportunity to look inside her abdomen and said that other organs looked fine, but it obviously adds another complication when she’s in bad shape anyway. Either way, I washed and dried those pots and eventually put them back in their place, ate lunch between 2:55 AM and 3:20 AM, made a “salad” out of a regular onion and a red one again, since I hadn’t found discounted vegetables that I cared to get that evening, and ate dinner between 5 AM and 5:40 AM. I went to bed at 7 AM… By which time the hot water had returned, which was frustrating. But more concerning was that I just realized that I had completely forgotten about walking the route of the half marathon, and there was no more time to do it.

The following day there were some brief, occasional moments of drilling, the first that woke me being at 11:05 AM. And after another nap I read for a while, then caught some more naps, later had a look on the computer as well, and I got what must have been a total of some six hours of sleep by 3:40 PM, when I was once again woken up by a few seconds of drilling and decided to get up… But I was so exhausted that I couldn’t quite get myself to move until a few more seconds of drilling spurred me into it, and it was only at 4:10 PM, when there was some more noise, that I actually did get up. And by then the landline had rang twice. On the other hand, in the evening I took a quick shower, since I clearly hadn’t washed well at night, and after dad got back and said that mother was doing just fine I made mamaliga, with quite a number of things in it, and stuffed myself. And since the few remaining expired vitamin C pills actually looked bad and dad said that he wasn’t aware of having any others around, I took another one of those immunity supplements, the plan being to keep doing that until the half marathon.

I tried to eat a little earlier in the early hours of March 21, but since I kept doing stuff on-line, starting at 2:30 AM didn’t help that much, since it was 3:30 AM when I finished. And then I got ready for the morning and got in bed at 4:20 AM, after only partially covering the window with that cardboard, but I couldn’t sleep at all, so a few minutes before 6 AM I turned off the alarm and got up, eating a yogurt with quite a lot of cereals and leaving at 7:10 AM, after actually wasting a little time, since I decided against trying to leave something in the toilet, so I could have stayed in bed a little longer, not that it’d have done any good. Then again, who knows, because another half an hour or so might have meant taking a brief nap, and I had that time, since even so I left too early for once, using one of the two remaining trips on a metro card found at one point, panicking for a moment when there was an error but calming down when it worked on the second try, then having the metro arrive as soon as I went down the stairs and reaching Victory Square early enough to use the toilets from the metro station to pee one more time, have quick looks in three stores from that area, and still be in that parking lot at 7:50 AM. Admittedly, the e-mail had asked us to be there at 7:45 AM, but the buses were supposed to leave at 8 AM, which is exactly what the one that I got on did.
After having decided to set Capital and Ideology aside for the time being, and that would have been too big of a book to take with me anyway, I took another one and started reading it on the bus… Which was most likely one of the reasons why I soon started feeling nauseous. But another was definitely the smell. What I identified was perfume, so it wasn’t bad in itself, but it was too powerful and might have been a mix of perfumes from multiple people, plus that the air was stifling, I guess because of the heating. Either way, I also listened to the radio most of the way, at some point I wrote my name and signed what I had to, and it was just before 9 AM when we were dropped off, though walking to the actual location took a while and it was past 9:10 AM when I reached it.
After taking the first of the day’s pictures and initially standing in the line to sign the form, I heard that those who had signed on the bus didn’t need to sign again, so I switched to the other line and took gloves and a vest, ignoring the reusable bottles, since I have plenty and had also taken one with me. I’d have also ignored those things that go on the neck if they’d have offered them again, but they didn’t. And after fiddling with the vest for quite a while, I realized that the strap that was supposed to hold it in place had been cut and didn’t try to ask for another, just making do with it as it was. Either way, after the water heated up I took and drank a cup of tea and eventually also managed to grab a small pack of biscuits, which was rather lucky, considering how few seemed to have been brought and how quickly they ran out, so I ate them even if I frowned at an ingredient. And the speeches started at 9:50 AM and lasted for 20 minutes, after which there was the group picture, so I might as well also link to the “official” pictures now that I mentioned that.
After getting to the location that the adult volunteers were assigned to, there was the presentation of the planting technique, and it was almost 10:25 AM when we could get to work, though I actually started at 10:30 AM, after grabbing a spade and finding a free spot, which required walking to the other end of a row and starting from there, since I obviously wanted to work alone and my first attempt to plant on the same row as another guy who had started to work alone, meaning to alternate parts of it with him, led to him saying that we’d better not mix things and get in each other’s way, so he clearly wanted to do everything on his own as well. But I could keep working from that other end, taking a break a few minutes after noon, after 15 trees, and going to pee, wash my hands, and take another hot tea, which was already made at that point, so not just hot water that we put teabags in. And that did help warm me up a little, since it was rather chilly, especially because of the wind, so a little after 12:15 PM I got back to work, having a harder time finding spots to plant in but eventually managing to plant five more trees before stopping again, at 12:45 PM.
After washing my hands again, I had lunch, which was once again packaged and included those same buns that contained sugar and questionable fats. And after I finished eating, I peed again, dropped off the vest and the gloves in the appropriate places, and wanted to take one of the vegetarian lunches as well, but while a few others just grabbed a box and walked away, I had a closer look and hesitated, which led to one of those who was handling that area to ask whether she could help me, and when I told her what I wanted she said that she couldn’t give me one if I had already eaten, because someone else will be left without lunch. So I gave up on that idea and just filled most of the reusable bottle with tea and drank it.
Well, dropping off the vest and gloves proved to have been a bad idea when Petruta said that the buses were going to leave at 2:30 PM, so those who wanted to return to work could do so, on the other side, where there was more left to do. And, while I did without the vest, I wasn’t going to work without gloves and went to grab a pair from that box, wondering whether I could somehow identify those that I had dropped off, but when someone who was there asked whether she could help me and I told her what I wanted, she asked the coordinator whether she could give me new ones and then did so. And then I planted five more trees, finishing just before 2 PM and then looking around and taking several discarded spades back.
After peeing again and dropping off the gloves, I saw that plenty of food was still there, moved into a single box, and glanced at it again, but I didn’t make another attempt to take any, just making my way to the buses and seeing that two were left when I got there. Neither of them was the one that I had arrived in and I said so when I was asked, but I was told that I could get in either of them, since they both went back to Bucharest, so I picked one, getting on it when it wasn’t even 2:15 PM yet… And the other one was the first to leave, the one that I got on doing so right at 2:30 PM. But at least there were quite a number of empty seats and nobody sat next to me. And I read some more on the way back, feeling much better than I had on the way there.
After being dropped off back at Victory Square just before 3:30 PM, I walked to Obor, picking up some recyclables… And fighting the wind, which was quite serious. But since I was there early enough, I bought some apples from the farmers’ market, though I couldn’t see the weight displayed on the scales and when I checked I found that it was about the weight of a small apple less than what I had been told and charged for. But a couple of apples had fallen from the bag when the seller handed it back to me and while I was pretty sure that I had grabbed them again, it’s not impossible that I missed one, and either way it’s probably a smaller issue in itself than the fact that they place those scales so the customer can’t see for themselves, and better yet actually use them on their own.
Either way, after putting the apples in the backpack, I continued to Carrefour, putting the recyclables in the machine, with the exception of one that wasn’t accepted, grabbing one which had been left there and putting that in as well, getting a second voucher, and then handing that one that wasn’t accepted at the information desk and receiving the deposit for it. And then I entered the store with the apples and just bought a nice yogurt that was on sale those days, using the voucher for the single recyclable and cashing in the other one. And then I added the yogurt in the backpack and continued to Kaufland, I think going to pee before entering the store with the backpack and buying quite a number of things, noticing when the self-checkout rejected one of the discounted pieces of processed meat products that the discount label was for a different one and asking the employee to remove it. And then I took my time to arrange everything and made my way back, grabbing some more recyclables.
It was almost 7:30 PM when I got back for the first time, so I missed most of the first half of the handball match. Either way, I had carried some 12.5 kg, and then I put most of the purchases in their place and munched on some expired nicer bagels towards the end of the match, before going out again just before 8:40 PM, taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol and putting them in the machine from the Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, which I reached a couple of minutes before 9 PM. The bakery products were bagged at that point, but the cart with the products that had the 90% discount was brought before the 50% bakery discounts were made, and what was really nice but weird at the same time was that I was pretty much the only one looking in that cart, though it was quite full, so I got quite a number of things, plus one cheap bun from the bakery area, even being able to go back and get some more products that had the 90% discount and calculate the total in order to get to something that’d be very easy to pay with the exact amount, after also using the voucher received for the recyclables, assuming that I won’t be charged for the bag that the spoiling oranges were in, and I wasn’t. And when the cashier said that the total was just what I said, I said that I had strangely found myself alone at that cart and could take the time to calculate it for what I got, and he said that the regulars had been there the previous evening but there had been no such discounts then, which had probably made them skip that evening. Either way, I then continued to Penny, entering with everything and grabbing some expiring meat for dad that looked unusually good and some corn puffs, and then taking the time to arrange everything properly after walking out. I also had a very quick look in the nearby Mega Image when I got here, but just from the door, without even stepping in.
I was back for good a few minutes before 10 PM. Then I put all of the purchases in their place, ate the expiring fruit mix purchased from Mega Image and one of the apples from Obor, washed what was in the kitchen and cleaned up a little after dad had cleaned and split the expiring meat purchased from Penny, did the day’s squats, and finally went to the bathroom just after 12:40 AM, ending up wasting some more time on the toilet and washing with water that I’d have really wanted to be hotter at that point. I was done a few minutes after 1:30 AM, and then I took one more of those immunity supplements that aren’t expired and ate dinner between 4:10 AM and 5:15 AM, with some ten or so minutes spent gathering what was stuck on the plate at the end. After using cream on my hands and feet, I got in bed at 6:35 AM, so by the time I fell asleep I had been awake for just about 40 hours, during which I planted trees and walked some 13 km through the city, part of them in quite strong winds, plus what was added by the walking done at the planting location and wandering around inside stores.

Moving on to April 18, I got in bed at 4:15 AM and did manage to sleep until the alarm rang, which was at 6:15 AM that time around, but that meant less than two hours when I was already awfully exhausted. And when I got on the computer and tried to use the keyboard shortcut I had set to open Vivaldi, Ctrl+Alt+V, nothing happened, yet I had set it back after the last update. And removing it and trying to set it again resulted in it clearing the moment I pressed the V. It did set correctly if I just pressed V, Ctrl+Alt being set automatically, but it still didn’t work. Other shortcuts still did, even Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V, but that one just refused to, even when using the On Screen Keyboard. And I had no time to fiddle with it, so I ate a yogurt, with cereals, got dressed, deciding to wear the regular clothes that I wear outside, and left at 7:20 AM, using the last trip on the found metro card which I had also used at the previous such event, going to the toilet before walking out at Victory Square, and reaching that parking lot just before 7:50 AM.
The first surprise was seeing buses going to two different locations for tree planting events organized by this NGO, later learning that the other location was for the employees of a certain partner company. But at that point I was confused and even more hesitant to ask when I only noticed one person with a vest with that NGO’s logo and it wasn’t anyone I recall having seen before. But I eventually did ask, and she confirmed what the correct one was, so I got on it… And then we just waited, people and even the driver starting to get restless and wonder what was going on, at which point that coordinator said that she was waiting for people to sign the list… Which was unusual, since that was always done on the way, so people pointed that out and told the driver that we could get going when he asked, which finally happened when it was almost 8:20 AM, my turn to write my name and sign coming after that.
Either way, I had taken The Alchemist in the Shadows with me and started reading, without listening to anything, since there was music on the bus. And I even had some time to read without moving, because that coordinator had asked the driver to let her know when we’ll be 15 minutes from reaching the location but just when someone else said that, according to their phone, we had 14 minutes to go, we stopped at a gas station, so people could go to the toilet, and quite a few did, to the surprise of whoever was called by that coordinator, who pointed out that there were toilets at the planting location as well. Admittedly, a gas station’s toilets are much preferable to those portable ones, but it was an additional delay, and it also made it even clearer that the coordinator was most probably also a volunteer and had ended up in that position because the event had been rescheduled, having initially been scheduled for March 28 but then postponed because of the weather, and the actual coordinators were probably at the other one that took place on that same day, prioritizing their corporate partners over actual volunteers. And there was another delay after we should have been dropped off, since I noticed the sign on the dirt road but the driver didn’t, and the coordinator continued to be clueless, so we drove past it before stopping, and then the driver asked the coordinator, who called and tried to get directions. I said that I had seen that sign, but the driver said that he couldn’t drive on a dirt road and waited for the coordinator to get more information by phone even though I said that he should just drop us off in front of that road and let us walk from there, as it’s usually done. So it was past 9:30 AM when he finally did just that, after turning around… And then we had such a long way to walk that we were wondering whether we really were in the right place.
In fact, I was the first to reach the actual planting location, and it was almost 9:50 AM when I did so, people continuing to arrive for quite a long time after that. And only gloves were handed out, not even vests being available anymore. And there was still no sign of fruits, just like the previous time. At least there were more biscuits, but most were of a kind that I hadn’t seen before, and when I checked I saw that they were made for Lidl Serbia, and the ingredients seemed the same as those of those which had been available the previous time as well, so after initially taking a pack of each, I put the one of this second kind back and replaced it with another one of that kind that I at least knew, eating one pack despite still frowning at an ingredient and keeping the other, ending up giving it to dad after I got back. And I also took and drank two cups of tea. As for the speech, it started a little after 10:05 AM and was given by a guy who presented himself as a forester, none of the known members of that NGO seeming to be there at all. And while there was a group picture, none of those from that event seem to have been posted so far, but I do have the ones I took.
It wasn’t yet 10:15 AM when we could get to work, and I quickly found a spade and an available row and got to it, all but a couple of the holes being easy to dig, so I only stopped a few minutes before 12:30 PM, after 25 trees. And after going to pee and wash my hands, I had just filled most of my reusable bottle with hot water and put a teabag in it when lunch was announced, at 12:40 PM. It was once again packaged and included those same buns, and there were no tables and only a few benches, the large majority sitting on ragged blankets that were laid on the ground, but I managed to find a spot on one of those few benches, straddling it and eating like that. And there was plenty of food left when I was done and a few people were taking more, but after grabbing another bun and two salads, I once again meant to take a vegetarian meal as well but hesitated long enough for the person who was there to ask whether she could help me and then say that she couldn’t give me one if I had already eaten because someone else will be left without food. So I wandered away and ended up eating the bun, despite the questionable ingredients, and putting the salads in the backpack, ending up eating them that night. And, after drinking the tea, I refilled the bottle with hot water and put another teabag in it, keeping it for later as well.
It was 1:30 PM when I had it confirmed, by that forester, that the buses were going to leave at 3 PM and we only needed leave at 2:30 PM, to have time to reach them, so I got back to work… And decided to put music on my phone, since they weren’t playing anything on the speakers anymore. And I didn’t use the headphones, so those who were around me also heard and that seemed to prompt another guy who was also working alone nearby to chat with me for a while. But we remained mainly focused on working, and after a while I probably ignored him rather pointedly, so I managed to add seven more trees, getting the total to 32 before stopping again, a little after 2:05 PM, when I felt drops of rain and noticed that forester starting to gather things. And moments later he actually called out that we had to stop, because the buses were going to leave and rain was coming, so I took the spade and the bucket of saplings to the truck, dropped off the gloves where I was told to do so, and peed again, though there seemed to be no more water in that portable sink, so I couldn’t wash my hands anymore.
It was almost 2:15 PM when I started walking to the buses, hearing a guy say that he had two free seats in his car and could offer a ride there but just ignoring him, despite the worsening rain, so at that point he just took a woman. And since I soon started jogging, I actually stayed ahead of that car until the area which had actually been designated for parking, which was some way away from the planting location. But at that point I stepped aside to let it pass, since it was just catching up to me, and by then it was raining hard, so when the guy stopped to ask whether I wanted a ride and confirmed that he had a free seat when I asked, I got on, being dropped off when we reached the road, where the buses were waiting. And there were two of them, with the one that I had gotten there on being the second, so while the woman who had shared that ride with me said that she didn’t care which was which and dived into the first, I ran past it and got on that other one… Which was just closing that middle door at that point, so I had to push my way through. And while I had initially sat alone on the way there, that coordinator had moved to sit next to me during the drive and she was back in that seat at that point, so even though she got up to let me through, I just plopped myself down in another available seat, next to a woman, who confirmed when I asked that the seat was free but asked me to take off my jacket, since there was water pouring off it. And that coordinator said that there were 40 people on that bus when we left, just before 2:30 PM, though there had been 36 on it on the way there. Either way, I read some more on the way back, and there was once again music on the bus, so I didn’t listen to anything else.
The bus reached Victory Square just before 3:35 PM, but I had heard the coordinator ask the driver about his route after that and whether he could drop her off at Obor, so I asked whether he could drop me off there as well and stayed on, getting off just after 3:45 PM, when he stopped close to Obor. And since I was there and on that side of the road, I wanted to have a look in a confectionery store, but only saw a couple of employees there, no products and no price lists. And then I also glanced in a Mega Image before making my way to Kaufland Pantelimon, the rain catching up to me but remaining light. Either way, I picked up some recyclables and put them in the machine before putting my things in a cabinet with a lock that turned freely, so I turned it to make it appear locked and left it like that, grabbing some expiring germinated wheat, discounted by 80%, plus an expiring product for dad, discounted by 70%, and using the voucher received for the recyclables. And after retrieving my things and arranging a little, I made my way back, grabbing a few more recyclables.
I was back just before 5:30 PM, so I missed most of the first half of the first handball match… And then I saw that dad had cleaned the litter box, and also cut open the new bag instead of opening it properly, so it will likely tear when I’ll stuff paper and cardboard in it after it’ll be emptied. But the first thing I had to deal with was the last recyclable I had picked up, which had been just in front of the building, likely left by the workers, and was rather banged up and dirty and also contained some liquid, and when I poured it out in the sink from the small bathroom I saw that it was oily, so after washing the bottle a little I washed that sink, rubbing with my hands when it was clear that water alone wasn’t going to do much and then using detergent and eventually a brush, and then I thoroughly washed and disinfected my hands, not knowing what that substance had been. And that was before cleaning the litter box, since there were things in it again, and going to drop what I had gathered down the chute. And then I put what I had brought and some of my things in their place, seeing that the salads had leaked, so I had to set the backpack and some bags to dry, and ate what was still usable out of a badly spoiling apple before meaning to write some notes about the day between the two matches… Only to feel that I really had to use the toilet, so I rushed to do that, more quickly than I usually would, so I only lost the first minutes of the second match. And by the end of the first half I made popcorn, munching on it during the second half.
Even if I was so tired, I didn’t know whether I’ll find anything, and it meant losing the first part of the evening’s football match, which I also meant to watch, I decided to rush out again after that second handball match, to that Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, but dad got back as I was getting ready to leave and delayed me a little, so I left again at 8:50 PM and jogged almost all the way, just grabbing one recyclable and getting there seconds after 9 PM… Only to see just a few imported vegetables left in the cart with the products discounted by 90% and a customer with a basket full of such products, including some that I’d have clearly been interested in. And the bakery area was also mostly empty, and another customer had a basket full of products from there, with the 50% discount. But I grabbed one last sweet pastry that I rather like… And the customer who was in line in front of me gave the cashier 2 RON more and said that she was also paying for my purchase, which was 1.50 RON, just before walking away. I tried to refuse, and had the money in my hand and meant to hand them to the cashier, but he just scanned the product, handed it to me, and told me to have a nice day, just smiling and ignoring the money I was holding when I muttered that it was awkward. So I took that pastry and walked out, feeling awful and meaning to give it away to a homeless person… But I only saw a man who might have been homeless, though I’m not even certain of that, and he was smoking just then, so I didn’t want to give him anything, and I ended up carrying that paper bag around in my hand, and also picked up a couple more recyclables. And on the way back I also had a quick look in that Profi and the Carrefour Express, entering with everything and buying three expiring bio (organic) yogurts discounted by 70% from the latter, without receiving the receipt.
I got back at 9:40 PM, feeling like crap… But I put the few purchases in their place, briefly argued with dad about what he did in the morning at the litter box and with that litter bag, ate a banana, took another one of those cold pills expired for over a year and a half, did the day’s squats, and it was a little after 11:40 PM when I went to wash, being done just before 12:30 AM. Then I gathered my clothes from the rack and cut my toe nails, spending quite some time trying to sort out that one that fell off multiple times and is growing in layers stacked on top of each other, so basically in thickness instead of length. I have no idea if I did anything useful or quite the contrary, made it worse, but I tried. And it was close to 1:10 AM when I went back to the kitchen, and then it took me a long time to slice what I used instead of actual bread, since those things were hard and crumbly. But using the salad grabbed from the tree planting event meant that I still stuck to the dinner schedule. And then I also rubbed cream on my hands and feet before getting in bed.

Like The Cardinal’s Blades, The Alchemist in the Shadows is still a swashbuckling adventure set in an alternate history, with little room for depth or thought-provoking moments, and featuring stereotypical characters, the main ones being certain to make it through pretty much anything thanks to their great fighting skills and even greater luck. And Ballardieu is relegated to a background role and not as much of an annoyance anymore. On the other hand, the fantasy elements are somewhat more notable this time around, but the actual historical setting and characters are emphasized even more and described in greater detail. Yet it remains a pretty light read that you can just get through, without requiring much focus and definitely without any reason for concern regarding the outcome of any situation.
Then again, those descriptions of historical events and characters are usually rather dry information dumps that do require more attention in order to fully grasp, yet they’re not that relevant to the story and can give the impression that the author is largely showing off, so glazing over them will speed up reading without much risk of missing anything important. But what may slow reading is that, while the scenes still succeed rapidly, the previous book’s short chapters are replaced with a fixed structure where each part has four chapters, the last one being very short but the second being particularly long, and the other two also being longer than those from The Cardinal’s Blades.

Rating: 3/5

After initially finding it probable that Romania will once again fail to have any team in the Final Four of the EHF Women’s Champions’ League, last month I restated that assessment but also hoped to be proven wrong. And today I was, CSM Bucharest finally finding a way past Esbjerg, after having met and lost to them in this stage of the competition in 2022, 2023 and 2025. And they had also lost, albeit by a single goal and away, in the first leg. But today they simply trashed Esbjerg, winning by ten goals a match that started with them leading 6-0 before Esbjerg scored the first goal, and during which they never seemed to be in any danger of failing to qualify.
On the other hand, Brest proved to be far too much for Gloria Bistrita, who lost by six goals, away, after having also lost by one in the first leg, at home. Admittedly, during the first half they looked good, leading most of the time, often by two goals and a couple of times even by three. But things changed towards the end of that first half, which finished with Brest leading by one goal, and in the second half Gloria just collapsed, never giving any impression that they could recover.
Still, the last time we’ve had a team in the Final Four was in 2018, so CSM qualifying, especially when it was against their “nightmare” from recent seasons, is already something. It does feel rather weird to have it happen in the first season without Cristina Neagu, but let’s not turn that into a reason for complaints and just look at what’s ahead, the draw being tomorrow. Admittedly, since all other favorites, so also including Gyor and Metz, qualified as well, my impression is that CSM is the weakest of the four and fourth place is the most likely. But maybe they’ll prove me wrong once again and at least make it into the final.

Since I’m still yet to write the parts about either of the tree planting events that I took part in this spring, I’ll start this post from April 19, so the day after the second, when the upstairs neighbor’s dogs woke me just after 2 PM, though I guess that was when I was rested enough to be able to wake up, since I don’t know anything before then, so I slept for some eight and a half hours straight. And I didn’t need to pee even then, so I remained in bed until just before 4:50 PM, though I only caught a few more brief naps during that time, otherwise just sort of drifting in and out, and I was fully awake for a while before getting up. And then I decided to go out again that evening, at least to put the recyclables with the deposit symbol in a machine from Kaufland, to make it easier to make use of that period when the deposit was doubled and also get back earlier, since Kaufland closes earlier on Sunday. So I did the day’s squats and left just before 7:20 PM, deciding to go to the one from Vitan because there are four machines there. There are four at Obor as well, and dad had gotten back and given me the metro card, but if I went to Obor I was going to want to also go to Carrefour after Kaufland closes and I wanted to get back earlier.
Well, going to Obor definitely couldn’t have been any worse, because after picking up a few more recyclables on the way, finding a cart with the coin still in it in the parking lot, and struggling to take it to others even though the wheels seemed mostly stuck, I was just connecting it to those others and retrieving the coin when an older man walked up to me, saw the bags with recyclables, and said that the machines were turned off and he had been the last one to use them. And that was indeed the case, the gates being pulled down and a message being posted stating that the machines were out of order. And I saw an employee emptying the garbage bins in front of the entrance and asked him whether there was any chance for them to be started again that day and he said no, explaining that the recyclables aren’t picked up over the weekend and more people obviously bring them then, so their storage area fills up and they have to stop the machines until Monday. So I had to leave the recyclables in a cabinet, then washed my hands and entered the store just before 8 PM, deciding to get a sweet pastry, discounted by 75%, from the bakery area, after asking the employee which kind it was and being told that it was the one with apple, though it didn’t smell like it and she said that the one next to it was the same, though that one quite clearly smelled like cheese and that’s all I can go on for those things, all three kinds looking the same on the outside. Either way, I then grabbed a spoiling large cucumber, discounted by 80%, and made use of good evening discounts for some bananas and red onions, trusting what was listed even though the scales printed the full price, making my way to the self-checkouts when the closing announcement came, and then waiting in a long line.
After arranging the purchases and retrieving those recyclables, I decided to go to the other Kaufland as well, even though the chances of that machine still working were very low if the situation was the same and they obviously don’t even try to service them after closing time, though the system does keep them running until 11 PM if there are no problems. And on the way I received an SMS letting me know that the external blinds were ready and they wanted to install them the next day, which was much earlier than expected and meant that I had to move the desk, which obviously implied turning off the computer just a week before what’d have been a new overall uptime record, considering the one set by the old one. But, to return to that part of the walk, I also picked up some more recyclables… And I was just trying to straighten one when a woman with a dog passed by me and I felt something grabbing my leg. The woman had already pulled the dog off me by the time I turned to look and apologized before scurrying away, but I was left wondering just what had happened, the most likely scenario seeming to be that the dog had tried to hump my leg. And at least I didn’t notice any teeth or claw marks when I had a look, so I continued to that Kaufland, starting to hope when I saw that the gate wasn’t down… But the machines were stopped, so I made my way back, grabbing some more recyclables, plus a milk carton.
I was back a few minutes after 10 PM. Then I ate a banana, cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, talked to dad about the following day, put the purchases in their place, wrote a quick post, ate lunch, and went to wash just before 1 AM. I was done a couple of minutes after 1:30 AM, and then I washed what was in the kitchen and still managed to stick to the dinner schedule, albeit by “cheating” in order to be able to say that I took a first bite in my room before 3 AM. On the other hand, the middle button of my mouse started double clicking badly again.

Since that SMS had mentioned 2 PM, albeit stating that it was just an estimate and I’ll be called about an hour before they’ll get here, I had set the alarm to ring at noon, but I was woken up at 8:07 AM by another SMS asking whether it was all right if they’ll come between 1 and 2 PM, and when I checked I also saw an e-mail sent just after it, which stated 1-3 PM. So I replied to the e-mail, saying that the initial estimate was after 2 PM and while I’ll be home earlier, I had been told that the desk and PC, which are in front of the part of the window that doesn’t open, should be moved before they’ll start working and I may not manage to do that if they’ll come earlier. And then I spent some time on the computer, also making a quick backup on the stick, and got back in bed at 8:35 AM. But it was hard to get back to sleep, and the fact that I had been feeling like I had to go to the toilet ever since washing at night and hadn’t definitely didn’t help, and I was starting to feel like something I had eaten didn’t agree with me either. Still, I did eventually get back to sleep, but it was very agitated, with dreams that made me question when I was asleep and when I was awake, so in a way it was something of a relief when the alarm rang. And then I started moving what I could without turning off the computer, and at 2 PM I sent another e-mail, saying that I hadn’t been called yet, and the guy replied to say that it should be another hour or so and then I was called and told the same by the one who was actually going to do the work, so a little later I turned off the computer and took it out of the desk, though I didn’t also move the desk.
So I couldn’t challenge the old one’s uptime record at this point, and who knows when I’ll get another chance, but at least I set a good new one for this one, 104 days, 21 hours and 33 seconds, according to the screenshot taken then and timing how long it took for it to turn off after I took it. But according to the system log, it was 104 days, 20 hours, 57 minutes and just under 44 seconds, and I realized that this should be the more accurate one, because I assume that Task Manager counts the seconds that pass for the computer’s clock, but since that gets a little ahead, as I see whenever it synchronizes, some time gets added and that difference grows over such long periods.
Either way, those guys came some time after 3 PM, but while there were two of them, I have no idea why one was here, other than to initially throw the blinds and a bag of parts on my bed. He took them off when I said that I’d prefer it if they don’t put things on the bed, but the deed was done. And then he threw his vest and as the work was being done piled up some trash on my chair… And that was basically all he did, occasionally give the guy who actually did the work some things and take what was to be thrown away. But the guy who did the work really seemed to know his business, working quickly and apparently pretty well despite also chatting, more so as time passed and dad got into a conversation with him, apparently finding a lot of common ground in terms of conspiracy theories and political opinions, so the whole discussion became more and more infuriating for me. But I tried to ignore it and stick to the matter at hand, and after he was done I started cleaning up a little while he talked to dad about the bug nets, going around the apartment, taking measurements, discussing dad’s plans for that, and at the end also giving him an estimated price… But he never mentioned the fact that we still had the remaining half of the price of the blinds to pay, so I did, showing him the contract and giving him the money, and he sent an SMS about it, but while his boss had replied to my e-mail and said that I could pay that guy and they’ll send me the receipt by e-mail, he only did that two days later.
Either way, all of it, including those discussions with dad, was done in about an hour, maybe just a little more, and that guy even cleaned the glass of that window that doesn’t open on the outside, since he had removed it in order to install the blinds on that side and when he was done he asked for a rag and some window cleaner and wiped the worst of the dirt off it. But what truly mattered was that I finally had external blinds again and could stop putting cardboard in my windows! And then I initially turned the old computer back on a little, then used the vacuum cleaner’s blower function to quickly get what dust I could out of this one, put it back in the desk, and cleaned my room to some extent, doing less than what I normally do when I mention this, and without changing the sheets, but nevertheless doing enough to count. And blowing that dust out of the computer seems to have reduced the CPU temperatures by some 10°C, though on the other hand I once again forgot to unplug the power LED and didn’t put the monitor exactly back in its place, so it wasn’t quite aligned with the chair and keyboard. Either way, after that I made pizza, in two parts but leaving the first one for dad and eating the second, as lunch. But I had also put a load of laundry in the machine earlier, so when I should have gone back to the kitchen I hung the clothes to dry, and then there was plenty to wash and clean in the kitchen, dad having cooked some things as well, so it was past 2:30 AM when I finally started working on dinner, and then I also cleaned the litter box and made the tea for the morning, ending up eating dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:10 AM when the appointment for the ultrasound was at noon, and I didn’t take the specific pills against gas that they had told me to take either. But I did take four of those regular ones during the evening and night.

I was woken up just after 8:30 AM by the sound of a chainsaw, and when I went on the balcony to have a look it seemed that a tree had been cut down, though I couldn’t be certain. And then, a little over an hour later, I was woken up again by a pair of messages from my provider, at which point the phone gave a low battery warning as well, this time after less than a week, though it had admittedly been used more during that time, considering the tree planting event. Either way, I set it to charge and got back to sleep… And another pair of messages woke me up again, at 10:15 AM, and while I managed to get right back to sleep once more, it wasn’t for long, the alarm ringing at 10:30 AM. And then I rushed to use the toilet, drank at least half of the tea, took one more of those pills against gas, had a closer look at the external blinds and noticed that there is a small space between their frame and that of the window, especially at the top, and it seems worse for the window that opens, where there really shouldn’t be any distance, so I’ll need to use something there, and it was several minutes after 11:30 AM when I walked out. After locking the door, I considered coming back to grab the book, but I decided against it.
Well, that was a bad choice, because I jogged most of the way, reached the clinic a few minutes before noon, when I had the appointment, was told that I’ll be called in when my turn will come, and then had to wait until after 12:30 PM, and I still didn’t put on the mask despite having it with me… And I had to pay those 20 RON, as I was told when I made the appointment, though I’m quite sure that’s illegal. But at least the ultrasound went fine after that, though it took a while, so I walked out just before 1 PM, nothing particularly notable being found, though it was written that it was difficult to see some structures because of the contents of the digestive tube and gas, and that’s despite not eating anything before leaving and taking those pills…
By then, I had to pee, but I didn’t go to the toilet in the clinic, so things got rather desperate on the way back, as I picked up some recyclables and checked the Profi, Penny and Mega Image from Decebal, getting some cat food and two expiring yogurts from Penny and then entering Mega Image with them. And I wasn’t sure that I could make it back, so I went to the toilet in the gas station, after which I could take my time to look for some more recyclables and also had a quick look in another Mega Image and this Carrefour Express, entering with everything both times and finding cheaper expiring yogurts in the latter. But I already had those from Penny, plus that I still had two of those bio (organic) ones and those were already expired, so that was that.
After also grabbing a milk carton from the garbage room, it was a little after 2:05 PM when I got back. And then I put the few purchases in their place, ate an apple, that large sweet pastry from Kaufland which did prove to be with apple, and one of those bio (organic) yogurts, with cereals, put dad’s recyclables into the large backpack, arranged the rest into bags, straightening two of them, and it was several minutes after 4 PM when I left again, with all of them, including the cartons. And on the way to Kaufland I picked up a few more recyclables, and also stopped at that Mega Image and put the two milk cartons into that machine, keeping the voucher for another time. I had a third carton, but it was a very small one and I wasn’t surprised when it wasn’t accepted, so I dropped it in a bin.
When I reached that Kaufland, all machines were off, and one had a note stating that it was out of order. But at least the gate was up that time, and those who were waiting were looking towards the store, making me assume that somebody was supposed to come soon, and that was indeed the case, the three functional machines eventually working again, though I had to wait for a while after that as well, everyone having large bags. But my turn eventually came and I could put almost everything in, splitting dad’s recyclables from “mine” and just being left with one that wasn’t accepted despite not being among those that I had any doubts about and that small oddly-shaped bottle that I expected to be “eaten”, so I actually stepped aside without trying it at first, grabbed another recyclable that I was sure was going to be accepted but which had for some reason been dropped by someone in a bin, and when the line had cleared and I wasn’t going to hold anyone up I put that one in and then tried to use the phone to film what happens when I try that oddly-shaped one… Only for it to just be rejected repeatedly, not “eaten” as it usually happens, so after a while I gave up. And then I calculated and confirmed that, while I wasn’t quite at the maximum amount that they’re doubling the deposit for, I was close enough to not be worried that I’ll reach it in the evening.
After putting those remaining recyclables and the large backpack in a cabinet, I washed my hands, got cheese, and then looked for expiring and spoiling products, finding piles and piles, many with good discounts, so I got quite a number, including two bags of oranges that looked just fine but nevertheless had a good discount, plus the last two of those instant soups for dad that have for some reason been deeply discounted for a while. And then I used all of the vouchers received for the recyclables, retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged things a little better, and just after walking out I spotted another recyclable, so I put that into a machine as well before walking away and grabbing a few more on the way back, plus another carton.
After getting back, I put the purchases in their place, did the day’s squats, ate lunch, took one of those immunity supplements that aren’t expired, and left again at 9 PM, leaving that small oddly-shaped bottle and the carton and taking those recyclables picked up on the way back, a few more which had been emptied by dad, and that Pepsi bottle that I still thought should work. And those emptied by dad meant that I didn’t need to look for more, and he had gotten back by then and gave me his metro card, so I decided to go to Basarab and basically ran to the metro station, since that Kaufland closes at 10 PM, though I still happened to spot a recyclable on the way and grabbed it. And the metro came right away and a card was left on a seat, next to a woman, so I sat on the next seat and initially ignored it, expecting it to have no trips left. Yet when that woman got off the metro I picked it up to have a look and saw that it seemed to have four trips left and, while the machines often fail to print, that one seemed to have last been used at 8:52 PM that evening, at Obor, making it highly unlikely to have been used four more times since then… And in fact making me wonder how had it ended up on a metro that must have gotten moving from Dristor only some ten minutes later, seeing as it should have needed some seven or eight minutes to get there from Obor and just having the conductor move to the other end and switch controls would likely take more than a couple of minutes, even without any sort of break. Still, I took it, meaning to check it… Only to see that the old machines from that exit can’t be used to check the cards, so I had to leave that for later.
When I got to Kaufland’s machine, I tried that Pepsi bottle again, straightening the part of the label with the bar code as well as I could and eventually getting it to be accepted, and then I put the rest of “mine” in, getting a voucher for what was left to get to the maximum that could be obtained during that campaign. But two recyclables had been left there and while one didn’t work and I took it and kept it, the other had a discount label from Mega Image over the bar code, so after getting that first voucher I stepped aside and struggled to peel it off, eventually managing to uncover a strip of the bar code, at which point I put it in, followed by those emptied by dad, getting a second voucher.
After putting that remaining recyclable in a cabinet, I went to wash my hands, finding that gate there again and the message that access required a receipt but just pushing my way in. And after entering the store, at 9:35 PM, I went straight to the bakery area but didn’t find much left, though that didn’t have to mean that customers had almost cleared it, because the employee who was cleaning had likely taken things away, so I rushed to at least grab a couple of plain buns, at half price, before she cleared those away as well. And then I checked the expiring products, initially grabbing a mozzarella that was only discounted by 30% but had an expiration date of May 1, so I wondered why it was there, what was really wrong with it, and decided to only take it if I’ll find nothing else. And I did find more of those soups for dad, with the same low price but listed as being regular, not a discount, and I grabbed three at that point, then spent the remaining time picking some more of those Moldovan grapes, with the best evening discount I had seen in a long time. And then, after adding the last few after the closing announcement, I was surprised to see the scales attempt to guess the product, which had never happened before. But it seemed that only the approximate color was detected, considering the options that it asked me to choose from. Either way, I also dashed to have a quick look at the non-refrigerated expiring products, and then ran to grab three more of those soups, so I was able to use all three vouchers received for recyclables, so including the one left from earlier, and leave that mozzarella there.
After retrieving that remaining recyclable and washing my hands again, that time having a receipt to scan but not bothering to use soap, since I was just trying to get some of the stickiness off after digging through those grapes, I went back to the metro station… Only for dad’s card to be rejected repeatedly, and I tried a few different machines, until someone came to ask what was wrong and let me through after having a look at it. But after getting off at this station I checked it and it seemed just fine, and I also checked that found card and saw that four trips were indeed left. And I grabbed a few more recyclables as well.
It was 10:50 PM when I got back. Then I put the few purchases in their place, ate the last of the grapes that I already had and a slice of cozonac, with added honey, washed the few things that were in the kitchen, and it was just after 12:40 AM when I went to the bathroom, using the toilet and rinsing a large bag left by dad in the bathtub before washing. I was done with all of that in just over an hour, but then I spent some time on the computer, only getting back in the kitchen at 2:25 AM, and then I also added the part of something that was left in a second jar into the one containing the rest and moved something else into another jar, but licking what was left on that plastic box and that second jar made me decide that I wasn’t going to put anything on the bread that night, and then that I won’t even bother to slice the bread, ending up eating in the kitchen, between 3:55 AM and 4:15 AM. And after getting back to the computer I confirmed that my attempts to realign the monitor, keyboard and chair had been quite successful. And I also rubbed cream on my hands before getting in bed.

After a little over an hour in bed, Liza woke me by going to the litter box, and then I woke up again some two and a half hours later, but I didn’t need to pee and got right back to sleep both times. However, about half an hour after that second time, just before 9:25 AM, she went again, after dad got up, and that time I changed and got up to clean the litter box and also exchange a few words with dad, and after peeing and getting on the computer for a while, at 10:05 AM I got back in bed and read for 45 minutes. And then I waited for dad to leave, peeing again after he did… And noticing that he had taken the opened cat food from Penny, and probably wiped Liza’s plate of it, confirming after he got back that he had taken it to some cats that are outside because she didn’t wolf it down right away as she does with these other ones… Which was just the point, why I had bought some from there again, and I had told him that, plus that she had eventually eaten what he had given her in the evening, just little by little, in time, which, again, was just the point. Either way, I managed to get right back to sleep after getting in bed again… But after a while some noise started, and while I was exhausted enough to keep getting back to sleep, I was woken up multiple times, and eventually I remained awake for quite a while before getting up, a few minutes after 5 PM.

On the morning of April 23, Liza once again woke me by going to the litter box and scraping around for quite a while, so I peed, changed, cleaned it, changed back, and got back in bed. But then, at 11:20 AM, just as dad was getting ready to leave, I dreamed that I got caught in a thick spiderweb and a spider the size of my fist was scurrying around on me, so I woke up brushing myself off desperately, went to pee again, and then got on the computer to check the errors I had noticed before getting in bed had appeared in the logs the previous morning. They were saying that there was a timeout while creating a shadow copy, and when I checked I saw that some components of VSS were still “waiting for completion”, but the logs also stated that the restore point had been successfully created. And when I looked for other events around that time I saw that the system time had been synchronized and two updates had started to be downloaded, though they might not have been applicable, because nothing showed up as having actually been installed. But I guess that those things might have gotten in the way of each other and caused the issue, and when I then manually created a restore point, things seemed fine, even if when I checked after that, I saw even more components supposedly “waiting for completion”. And I’ll also mention here that the keyboard shortcut used to start Vivaldi works again, so I guess that just required a reboot, though I wonder why it had stopped working in the first place.
Either way, I then connected the phone to the computer and copied some things, during which time it also fully charged again. And since in the e-mail with the receipt for the blinds I had also been asked how they presented themselves, I mentioned that small space between their frame and the window’s and that I did feel some air getting through the holes for the cables, which may be an issue in winter, and also sent a picture to show that they didn’t seem to be quite straight, saying that it’s not an issue in itself but wondering whether it won’t increase the wear on one side, receiving a reply that said that they tend to look like that if something isn’t quite straight but it doesn’t affect their functioning.
Otherwise, I did manage to get over two hours of sleep in the evening, probably more like two and a half, depending on just how long it took me to get back to sleep after being woken up by something falling or being dropped, I believe in the apartment above. But then, after going to the toilet first, I got back in the kitchen rather late and also used too much of what was still left of that lettuce brought by dad, ending up with too much salad, and while I once again “cheated” to be able to say that I took a first bite of dinner in my room before 3 AM, it was 3:25 AM when I actually started eating, putting peanut butter on all of the bread, and 3:45 AM when I finished, despite wolfing down as fast as I could.

When I got up to pee a few minutes before 8 AM, I saw that dad was already awake… And shortly after I got back in bed, Liza went to the litter box and scraped around for quite a while, so I changed, cleaned the litter box, exchanged a few words with dad, and then changed back and got back in bed. I was worried that I’ll have a hard time getting back to sleep, since the workers had started making noise, but it actually didn’t take too long, and I only got up one more time, I think just after 12:10 PM, peeing again and then getting back to sleep once more. I did wake up again before the alarm rang, at 2 PM, but it’s actually possible that I had gotten back to sleep one more time just before it did. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, with the yogurt being an expired bio (organic) one, and the sweet thing consisted of another slice of cozonac, with added honey. And I left at 4:30 PM, wearing the full running gear, still including the better shoes. The reported temperature was 21°C, holding steady, but it was rather windy.
The time was 1:47:26, with sector times of 4:28, 5:14, 6:02, 4:38, 5:13, 6:04, 4:31, 5:17, 6:20, 4:45, 5:21, 6:17, 4:48, 5:28, 6:11, 4:53, 5:30, 6:18, 1:55, 6:16 and 1:57, making for lap times of 15:44, 15:55, 16:08, 16:23, 16:27 and 16:41, plus 10:08 for the final portion. The target was once again to stay under 1:48, though I still feared that I’ll end up closer to 1:50, especially since I felt tired from the beginning. And after the first two sectors I had to push a little more on the third, which showed, so what I gained on lap one compared to that target of 15:50, I lost on lap two, and even that required once again pushing harder on the third sector. However, another runner made me push even more on sector one of lap three, and trying to at least keep him in sight made me keep the loss of time in check on sector two, but then he got too far ahead and that effort took its toll, the time on sector three being a particularly unpleasant surprise and leading to falling behind the overall target. And the first two sectors of lap four meant that I needed a less bad sector three to recover, but I once again pushed and did exactly enough to be back on track for 1:48. And, while sector two of lap five was rather concerning, sector three was surprisingly good at that point, and I hadn’t felt like I had pushed that hard, so I started wondering about 1:47:30, that becoming the target after sector two of lap six. It was going to require really pushing all the way to the end, so that was what I did, doing just enough each sector to still think that I had a chance. It was touch and go all the way, but I made it in the end. That’s still far from a time that can give me any hope for the race, but at least I did slightly better than two weeks before. It took everything, however, and that spells trouble for Tuesday, when I plan to cover the distance again.
It was pretty crowded, leading to plenty of weaving and going the long way around, but the first notable problem was on sector one of lap three. That started with that other runner catching up to me and making me push, then overtaking me but seeming to hold back on the straight, so I overtook him again only to have to briefly stop at the boat dock, when a kid cut across the lane and the woman who was with him followed without looking. And on sector two I had to slow and squeeze past a little girl who stretched her arm out and blocked the only way through a roadblock. And I had to take a couple of steps off the path on sector three, and again on the long straight of sector one of lap four, though that time I remained on a paved area. I might have just gotten away with squeezing through a couple of roadblocks on sector two of lap four without a notable loss of time, but on sector two of lap five I went off the path and slowed to a walk for a couple of steps because a couple was coming right on the lane with their dogs on either side and the rest of the path was blocked by other people. And since I don’t think it was before that point, I’m pretty sure that it was on sector one of lap six when I hesitated twice on the long straight, first because another runner coming from the opposite direction was just checking the time and edged towards me and then because a cyclist sped past me and then slammed on the brakes, not stopping right in front of me but startling me nevertheless. And I’m not sure if I got away with everything on sector two of lap six or there was something there as well. But the last issue came at the start of the last sector, when I hesitated as I was about to go up the stairs and had to go around two women coming from the opposite direction who also went up and cut me off.
Other than that, there were windy areas, the worst being on laps three and four, and in fact it was right on the long straight of sector one of lap three when it was particularly bad, which probably explains why that guy held back and let me get ahead again despite being clearly faster otherwise. As for physical issues, there was a warning from the back of the right knee right after I started running, but then it went away and that knee was quite fine, more warnings coming from the left calf muscle for much of the run, though those weren’t much of an issue either. I was rather concerned that I was exhausting myself completely when my hands started to go numb as early as sector one of lap four, and on the next sector a slight pressing need also started to make itself known, but it never became a notable issue. I was really exhausted by the end, however, in fact feeling quite out of it for the last two sectors.

After picking up a recyclable on the way back, I ate a banana, cleaned the litter box again, did 200 squats, after putting them off the previous day until I forgot to do them at all, put two kinds of jam and the tomato sauce left by dad in a fish can on a huge doughnut and ate that as well, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and it was almost 8:50 PM when I left again, taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol and picking up one more that had the symbol and a few that didn’t on the way to the Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, since I mostly jogged and didn’t take time to really look. And I grabbed another juice carton as well.
I got there right at 9 PM, but that was just in time to see that regular grab most of the products that were discounted by 90%. But I managed to snatch one thing, and when I got back I noticed that it wasn’t even expiring, the date being April 28, so I’m not sure why it had been discounted like that. Either way, I took a bag with two bakery products as well, with the 50% discount, put the recyclables in the machine, being left with that one that still wasn’t accepted and those without the symbol, and then waited around for a while, because that regular was using a self-checkout but had asked the guard to come over and help her, which was taking quite some time, so I was wondering whether she’ll give up on something, even if at a glance from the distance it didn’t seem like anything particularly interesting had been there. But she eventually seemed to buy everything, so I just bought those products and then cashed in the voucher. And then I picked up another recyclable on the way to Penny, putting it in the machine, which didn’t accept that other one either, dropping those without the symbol in the bin, and then putting my things in a cabinet and buying some cat food of another kind, also using the voucher received for that recyclable before retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging a little.
I picked up some more recyclables on the way to Kaufland, putting them in the machine from there, just that one still not being accepted. Then I put my things in a cabinet, washed my hands in the room for disabled people, the men’s being closed, and entered the store just before 10 PM, seeing low bakery discounts, and that plenty of bakery products had no evening discounts at all. Those discounts only improved, to 50%, after 10:15 PM, by which time I had made use of other evening discounts to grab a particularly large lettuce, even if it didn’t look too good, and a few bananas, trying to only use my left hand, so when I saw those better bakery discounts I grabbed two buns, which I eventually decided to use as bread, and a few sweet pastries, having doubts when the listed ingredients for one of those which I had decided against getting before seemed fine again but nevertheless taking one as well. And then I saw a whole pile of packaged vegetables that were discounted by 90%, and while the celery and parsley roots were listed as being imported, the carrots and onions were supposedly Romanian, and I just wanted the carrots for myself, so I grabbed several packs. And then I made use of another evening discount for just a few red potatoes and added two beets, even if those only had a regular discount, if you used the store card. And a few minutes before closing time I rushed to check the expiring products as well and saw a lot of vegan falafel that was deeply discounted, so I grabbed one, even if it was imported, without taking the time to fully read the label, so I wrongly thought that it was ready to eat. Either way, I reached the self-checkout after the closing announcement and eventually left one of those packs of vegetables there, then used the voucher received for the recyclables.
What was unpleasant was that I worked up the courage to ask for another one of those 10 RON vouchers, since they had once again been out of green onions, but when I went to the information desk, a guy was there and signing something and he was obviously higher up, since he told the others that they couldn’t hand out those vouchers after closing time, even though that’s probably when I got most of them before. Either way, I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, walked out through the emergency exit, and took my time to arrange everything, walking away at 10:45 PM.
After putting my things into two cabinets that didn’t lock when I reached that non-stop Mega Image, it was a few minutes before 11 PM when I walked in… But it was a long time before the cart with the products that were discounted by 90% was brought out, after employees went to the back and picked what they wanted and also restocked some shelves, one of them finally acting like he had just remembered something when he walked out of there empty-handed and saw those two regulars still waiting, finally bringing it out when it must have been almost 11:30 PM. And I added a few things from there to the small and rather wilted bundle of green onions which I had grabbed by then, wanting to make sure that I had one for Tuesday and thinking that it should at least be at half price, according to the sign. I’ll admit that I might not have read that sign that carefully, but I asked the cashier to confirm that it was at half price and she did, and I had apparently miscalculated the total, so nothing seemed wrong at the time and I saw no reason to actually check the receipt, just retrieving my things, arranging everything, and picking up some more recyclables on the way back.
It was just after 12:15 AM when I got back. Then I cleaned the litter box one more time and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, drank a drinkable yogurt, put the purchases in their place… And at some point I checked the receipt from that Mega Image and saw that I had actually paid full price for those green onions, despite the hour and their state, so I meant to send a message to complain, but then I looked it up and saw that the discount apparently only applies between 7 PM and 10 PM, not between 7 PM and closing time, or between 7 PM and midnight in case of non-stop locations, even though the included vegetables obviously don’t get any fresher later. So, in case that piece of information is also included on the sign, I guess that it was my fault for not reading properly, though it still seems hard to believe that I missed something like that. But, to return to last night, it was close to 2:10 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, and a few minutes after 3 AM when I was done. And then I washed what was in the kitchen, fixed something to eat as lunch and did so, on and off, between 4:35 AM and 5:30 AM, dealt with what I was going to use as bread, also used what little was usable out of a few of the worse leaves of that lettuce, took another one of those immunity supplements, and ate dinner between 5:55 AM and 7 AM. After rubbing cream on my feet, I got in bed at 7:30 AM.

Well, at 9:05 AM I got woken up by dad, feeding Liza and getting ready to leave, and after going to pee, just in case, and exchanging a few words with him, I couldn’t get back to sleep, so just before 10:15 AM I finally cut my losses and got on the computer, only getting back in bed at 12:20 PM. And at least I managed to get back to sleep, but it wasn’t quite immediately, some time later I woke up again for a little while, and I was once again awake for a bit when I decided to get up, a little after 4:05 PM, so after a total of only some four hours of sleep, four and a half at the very best. And later I added another hour or so, but I’m, unsurprisingly, just crushed.