To pick up where I left off, even if some people were already gathering, the pro-EU demonstration that was taking place in Victory Square that evening was supposed to start at 5 PM, while the “main event” was supposed to take place around 8 PM, and since the bus dropped us off right there after the tree planting event at 4:20 PM, I had some time to waste and initially started walking to Unirii, thinking that I could have a look in that Carrefour and get back by the time anything notable would happen. However, moments later I gave up on that idea, realizing that it was going to take too long, so I turned around, used the toilet from a pizza place to pee one more time, and then checked the Carrefour Express and the Mega Image from Victory Square, entering the former with the backpack but putting it in a cabinet, albeit without locking it, in the latter, and retrieving it on my way out.
That way, after taking the first of the pictures taken there that evening, I was walking into the area where people were gathering just after 5 PM. I actually got there pretty much at the same time as one of the “old guard” activists, and over the course of the evening I noticed a number of others, including some which I hadn’t seen in a long time, but otherwise not much happened for the first hour or so, and after walking around for a while I actually picked a spot to sit down and read some more of the book. Three weeks later, I’m actually yet to continue, that evening remaining the last time I read from it so far, but I was still reading when the first brief speech was made, a little after 5:40 PM. And later, since I had seen people holding what looked like newspapers, I found those who were handing them out and took one, seeing that it was in fact little more than the way some investigative reporters had picked to promote themselves and call for donations, so after looking through it I set it down somewhere.
The event really started a little after 6:10 PM, a number of people speaking from the stage that was set up and occasionally calling for some chants, expressing support for European values and the EU, and in some cases also for Ukraine, and opposition to the far right and Russia, and while at first I still tried to move around a little and take pictures of a few more signs, that was becoming difficult, the crowd getting packed, so I eventually picked a spot and stood there, limiting myself to some crowd shots and a few largely failed attempts to take pictures of the speakers.
As for the “main event”, the heart that was going to be created, volunteers handed the blue or white sheets of paper to the participants and it was announced that it was going to happen at 8 PM, but a few minutes before 7:30 PM people started holding up those sheets, many lighting them with their phones, I guess everyone assuming that it was happening then because others were doing it, despite the lack of an announcement. However, some five or so minutes later we were told to put down the papers, though it was also mentioned that an actual rehearsal will take place at 7:45 PM, and it ended up starting a little before that hour and lasting for another five minutes, participants being asked to pack more tightly together but leave a space between the white heart and the blue background, and the fact that we should use our phones to light the papers was mentioned as well. And then it was announced that more people were needed for the heart, so I moved to that area, taking a white paper and holding that up and lighting it with my phone at 8 PM, the moment lasting for five minutes and turning out well enough, I’d say.
When it comes to the number of participants, the organizers limited themselves to saying that there were over 10000, though the authorities estimated around 15000. And yes, authorities estimating more participants than the organizers do is as unusual as it seems, and I personally find even that number to be rather low, since traffic was stopped in most of that area, even if people weren’t really packed together except in front of the stage or while creating the heart, so I was thinking of a few tens of thousands. But it’s been a very long time since I last made such estimates and, as I already said, I didn’t wander around the crowd that much either, so I’ll just leave it at that and say that people started scattering after we were asked to put down the papers and volunteers came to take them back, the speakers taking a moment to announce that massive pro-EU events were taking place in other countries from the region as well, though in those cases they were actual protests, against the position of the respective governments, and asking for a show of support before calling the end of the event, a little after 8:10 PM.
After putting my headphones back on while walking away from Victory Square, I started jogging to Obor, but immediately realized that I couldn’t do so with the backpack as it was, those rope straps being far too loose, so I crossed them and then did jog pretty much all the way there, picking up two recyclables with the deposit symbol after reaching that area, entering that mall just after 8:45 PM and putting those recyclables, plus one more which I had found there, into the machine before going to the toilet again. And then I found one more recyclable with the deposit symbol, so I put it and my other things in a cabinet before entering Carrefour and getting some beer and expiring bread for dad, a little garlic, and some sweet pastries and one other bakery product, these having the 50% evening discount. It was rather unpleasant when an employee who was probably gathering products for an order ushered me away from the scales while I was weighing the garlic, so she could use them, though it’s not like there were no others available just a few meters away, but at least that rushed me, while on the other hand I lost a little time when one of the expiring breads also scanned at the full price at the self-checkout, the discount label not covering the regular bar code properly, and I had to call over an employee to remove that, and then I had to call her again to authorize the sale of beer. Either way, I then also used the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid and retrieved what I had in the cabinet.
Since I wanted to get to Kaufland as well, I was really running out of time, so I then rushed there, though before walking in I still took a moment to put that recyclable in the machine from there, at which point I found another one which had been discarded for some reason and put that in as well. Then I put my things in a cabinet and entered the store at 9:45 PM, getting some beets that had a good evening discount and a bucket of yogurt and using the remaining time to snatch some canned mushrooms and sardines and the one jar of the regular zacusca of their store brand that I managed to still find, all canned goods having a 30% discount those days if you used the store card. Then, after the closing announcement, I rushed to the self-checkouts, also using that voucher received for the recyclables and a few more that I was yet to use, retrieved what I had in the cabinet and walked out, to use one of the tables to spread and then arrange everything, so it was 10:25 PM when I finally walked away. And on the way back I grabbed a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol, but when I wanted to use some leaves to wipe my hand after taking one of them I ended up pricking a finger in a bush, realizing as I reached for it that the leaves were too tiny to be usable and the bush itself could be thorny but being too exhausted to really “process” that and stop myself in time.
It was almost 11:25 PM when I got back, with about 14.5 kg. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put a few of the purchases in their place, made a tea, ate a bag of chips brought by dad, and it was almost 1:10 AM when I went to wash. I was done at 1:55 AM, and then I put the remaining purchases in their place, which also meant rearranging some things, washed what was in the kitchen, drank the tea, took some medicine that was expired for over a year, just in case and hoping that it at least won’t harm, ate dinner between 4:25 AM and 5:10 AM, and then stayed up to watch the race, getting in bed at 8:10 AM. And the following night I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but at least I still finished at 3:40 AM. And I’ll also mention here that the kitchen light bulb was already flickering again at that point and it continues to do so, sometimes quite badly, and taking it out and screwing it back in tightly didn’t change anything, but at least so far it still works.
The original plan also included writing about March 18 in this post, but let’s just say that the reason why was the fact that I thought that I could make one more detour and still make it back without pissing myself and was proven wrong and leave the embarrassing details and the pointless odds and ends for another time. But I’ll also mention here that, in the early hours of March 20, after eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:15 AM, I grabbed Syberia: The World Before, the code being just dropped by someone on the GOG.com forums. And I got in bed at 5:20 AM.
To get to the early hours of March 21, I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:05 AM. And then I set the alarm to ring at 9:30 AM, to watch the Formula 1 sprint qualifying, staying in bed while doing so, which I hoped would help me get back to sleep faster after it was over. And I’d say it worked, so after going to pee and moving the alarm to 2 PM, I got back in bed just before 10:20 AM and did fall asleep pretty quickly. Then, after the alarm rang again and I got up, I had the usual stuff, though the yogurt was a just expired “Greek” one with 5% protein and 10.1% fat and I finally used those last four unsalted baked almonds plus some hazelnuts from a chocolate, so I won’t bother with the bag of baked almonds with Himalayan salt that day. As for the sweet thing, that consisted of an expired energy bar, with added honey. And I left at 4:40 PM, wearing the full running gear and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 16°C, supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I finished, though I couldn’t check at that point.
The time was 49:35.57, with sector times of 4:24.95, 5:19 (5:18.97), 6:07.06, 4:43.00, 5:15 (5:14.78), 6:09 (6:08.69), 4:38.12, 5:09 (5:08.78), 6:00 (5:59.85) and 1:51.37, making for lap times of 15:50.98, 16:07 (16:06.47) and 15:47 (15:46.75). The target was obviously to get under 48 minutes but the first sector was slower than I thought it’d be and that made it quite clear that I won’t manage that, and after sector two I was even worried about staying under 50 minutes, and in fact even covering that first lap in less than 16 minutes didn’t seem certain. At least I managed that much, but on sector one of lap two I lost almost as much as I could afford to lose until the end if I was to at least stay under 50 minutes, so from then on I just had to push and hope it’ll somehow be enough. That hardly seemed likely when I ended up being slower after two laps than I had been the previous week and needed lap three to at the very least match lap two’s time if I was to have any sort of chance to even just squeeze under 50 minutes, but I just went for it, giving everything, even if that wasn’t much, and the times obtained on sectors two and three of lap three were closer to being acceptable, and the final sector was actually a few seconds faster than I thought it’d be. But, of course, that’s a bad time, and particularly concerning at this point.
I had to slow in order to squeeze past people once or twice pretty much on each sector, but on sector one of lap two I almost stopped when I wanted to get back on the lane and let a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction pass more easily but two people were walking on the lane right in that spot, while on sector two of lap two I did briefly stop after a silly dance, doing so again on sector two of lap three, that time because of a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction on the lane. And as I was climbing the stairs at the start of the final sector a kid was hopping down on the same side and I briefly stopped once again when he jumped down right in front of me. Otherwise, there were some gusts of wind during the first part of the run, and this was the first time in a long time when I wore a cap again, which led to feeling like it was going to blow off and adjusting it quite a lot of times, especially during that same first part of the run, only starting to feel like it had more or less settled in place about halfway through or so. As for physical issues, the main one was that I simply couldn’t go any faster, I was trying to push and simply couldn’t seem to switch to a higher speed, since the only specific thing I felt were some warnings from my right knee and even hip at some point, though I couldn’t say exactly when and they were only faint anyway. And I couldn’t say exactly when I stepped into holes that were under the lane either, but I did so twice and, while the second time wasn’t much of an issue, my ankle had to take quite a bit the first time, so I was relieved that it held without problems. And my nose was once again irritated after the run.
Then I jogged to Carrefour and just got a discounted pretzel for my mother, then jogged to Auchan, picking up a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way and putting it in the machine from there before entering with that pretzel and getting a bread for myself and a liquid soap, using that voucher when I paid. There were quite a few promoters offering things to taste, but I didn’t take anything. Then I jogged back, checking two Penny locations and two Mega Image locations on the way, entering with the purchases each time but not getting anything.
I got back just after 8:35 PM, then quickly went to the bathroom, using the toilet, doing the day’s squats and washing, ending up missing the first five and a half minutes of the match. And then I ate a Mandarin orange and a sweet pastry that I already had, put the few purchases in their place, and then also had lunch, with a bag of peanut snacks which had expired a week before and had been in the kitchen all along instead of bread. Then I went back to the kitchen rather late, took another one of those expired medicines, ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM, watched the sprint race, and went to bed at 5:55 AM, setting the alarm to ring at 9 AM, at which point I got up to watch the qualifying for the main race as well… Though I should have probably recorded it instead, since I stayed in bed and kept dozing off while trying to watch, but after it was over I went to pee, dealt with a couple of things that dad hadn’t taken care of before leaving, and when I got back to my room I noticed that the computer was busy with something but I couldn’t see anything in the logs, which made me rather worried and chased away the sleep, so I set the alarm to ring at 5 PM and got back in bed at 10:25 AM, but it was a while before I got back to sleep and then I kept waking up, so I stayed in bed but the sleep was agitated and interrupted before finally turning off that alarm and getting up a little before 4:30 PM.
In the early hours of March 24, I ate dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:55 AM, putting the last, small, red onion in the salad, since I once again didn’t have green onions. Then I set the alarm to ring at 2 PM and did get up at that point, but it was almost 1:40 PM when I woke up to pee for the third time and if I got back to sleep at all after that, it was only very briefly. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, the yogurt being the rest of that expired “Greek” one but finally switching fully to the baked almonds with Himalayan salt, without any of the others being left. As for the sweet thing, it consisted of a large doughnut, with added honey. It was past 4:50 PM when I left, wearing the full running gear and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 19-20°C, once again supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish, though I yet again couldn’t actually check at that point.
The time was 1:20:38, with sector times of 4:29, 5:17, 6:08, 4:35, 5:16, 6:12, 4:40, 5:22, 6:10, 4:41, 5:23, 6:19, 4:43, 5:22 and 6:01, making for lap times of 15:54, 16:03, 16:12, 16:23 and 16:06. I wanted to push from the beginning, hoping to get under 1:18, though just squeezing under 1:20 would have also been acceptable, especially if I’d have obtained really good times on the first lap or two and gotten much slower at the end, but I felt right away that I was way too slow and simply couldn’t do anything about it, the first sector’s time already making me wonder whether I’ll even match the previous time, and while after sector two I still thought that I’ll manage a decent sector three and cover the lap in about 15:45, when I failed to do even that, I was really worried. And already going over 16 minutes on lap two, especially after also going over 6:10 on its third sector, made me start thinking quite desperately of what was needed in order to at least not be slower than that previous time, the goal becoming to cover lap three in about 16:10, to be able to get slower on the last two laps. But the first two sectors of lap three definitely didn’t add up to that, so I pushed more on sector three and at least ended up being close enough, which made me hope that I might at least squeeze under 1:21 in the end. So I kept pushing, aiming for 16:20 on lap four and being encouraged by the times on its first two sectors… Only to be very unpleasantly surprised by the third, especially since I hadn’t felt that I had been slower. And when staying under 1:21 meant that I couldn’t afford to lose more than a few more seconds on lap five, I just gave everything, especially after stopping for a few seconds at the start of its second sector, and even more so on the last sector, just pushing to the end and managing the least slow sector of the day… But the time remains a bad one.
For the first two laps or so, I still felt like my cap was coming off, so I kept adjusting it, though after that point I only did so a few more times. Otherwise, besides a more or less normal amount of weaving and going the long way around, whether because of people or because of the damaged lane, on sector one of lap five I briefly stopped when I had to squeeze between a man and a woman who had been walking on either side of the lane and chose to close the distance between them and block the lane just as I was about to reach them, while on sector two of lap five I stopped for a few seconds, until my eyes finally focused and I could see the time. But the real issues were the physical ones, and while the only specific things were warnings from multiple parts of my right leg that started from the end of sector two of lap three, the real problem was that I simply lacked the energy and the capacity to push, an alarming sign of exhaustion appearing even before the end of sector two of lap one, when I started feeling some prickling in my arms and even legs, as if my arms were about to start going numb and my legs were going to start to burn. That didn’t really happen, at least not at the level of what happens when I make a point of mentioning it, but things were definitely not right and it didn’t get better, as the times show.
Since I had seen a can on the grass on sector one of laps two and three and after that I had been too focused on pushing to look there again, after the run I made my way to that spot, stopping a few times for very quick stretching exercises, but it wasn’t there anymore, unsurprisingly, and I didn’t spot any other recyclables with the deposit symbol either, so I just wasted some time before going to Carrefour and getting some expiring beer for dad and a single head of garlic. At least that self-checkout machine that accepts cash worked, and the employee from the computer noticed that I needed her to clear the sale of alcohol and did so from there without me having to call for her, and then I also used two of the vouchers received for previous purchases which I had taken with me, put those few purchases in a bag and continued to Kaufland, though I had a quick look in another store on the way and when I was about to walk out the employee asked whether I had walked in with those purchases and I pulled out one of the bottles, to show her the discount label from Carrefour, at which point that flimsy bag started to tear a little, and one of the handles tore completely moments later, so I had to stop and put it in another bag. Either way, I also picked up two recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way, putting them in the machine from Kaufland before putting those purchases in a cabinet and peeing and washing my hands.
It was 8:10 PM when I entered the store and the single interesting discount I saw among the fruits and vegetables was for radishes, and it wasn’t exactly good enough, but I eventually took seven bundles, thinking that I could put some of them back if the discount won’t increase, plus a handful of leaves which had been torn by someone from another bundle. And a woman commented that I was touching every single bundle and wondered what could I be selecting, so I asked just as rhetorically whether I wasn’t allowed to do that and she didn’t say anything else. On the other hand, I found a piece of kashkaval and one of cheese among the expiring products and took those as well, the problem being that, after digging through those refrigerated products while just wearing the running clothes, I couldn’t shake off the cold, shivering as I wandered around the store to look for warmer spots and couldn’t find any that were good enough. Either way, I also took some salt and, since the discount hadn’t even increased at 9:30 PM, put back four of the seven bundles of radishes. But I still waited for 9:45 PM before getting to the self-checkouts… At which point I found that the price of the radishes had dropped to a third of what it had been! So I shouldn’t have discarded those bundles, and it’s not like I couldn’t have left them there if the discount wouldn’t have increased, but I didn’t go back to get more at that point, just once again manually entering the code for dad’s store app off that slip of paper, also using the voucher received for the recyclables, and then retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging the purchases before struggling to jog back, the weight making it quite a challenge. And I spotted and grabbed another recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way.
I got back just before 10:15 PM, so I lost less than half an hour of the match. Then I ate something sweet and lunch, with an expired bag of nicer bagels instead of bread, put the purchases, with the exception of the radishes, in their place, did the day’s squats, watched the recorded broadcast of that first part of the match which I hadn’t seen live, and went to wash at 1:10 AM, being done just after 2 AM and then selecting the radish leaves and using those that could be used in the salad, which took a long time, so I ate dinner between 4:30 AM and 5:10 AM and got in bed at 6:30 AM.
In the early hours of March 31, I finished shaving at 1 AM, but then I talked to dad for a while, dealt with one bread that I was yet to deal with, rearranged some of the bread in the freezer, and ended up eating dinner between 3:35 AM and 4:05 AM, once again not having green onions, but having green garlic and wild garlic, the salad being mostly made of that, just adding two small beets. And then I got in bed at 5:20 AM and got up after the alarm rang, at 2 PM, the concerning thing being that the hot water was cold, and while the site reported that there should be no problems in this area, a large area not far away was listed as not having hot water or heating pretty much all week because of a malfunction, while work done to modernize the infrastructure was the reason given for other areas being in a similar situation. But the plan was to run, so I hoped it’ll be better at night, had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of another one of those expired energy bars, with added honey, and left at 4:40 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 17-18°C, holding steady.
The time was 48:35.16, with sector times of 4:17.63, 5:11 (5:10.66), 5:56.00, 4:29 (4:28.91), 5:10 (5:09.81), 5:59.31, 4:34.34, 5:09 (5:08.72), 6:00.41 and 1:50 (1:49.37), making for lap times of 15:24.29, 15:38.03 and 15:43.47. The target was to get back under 48 minutes, but I tried to push hard from the beginning, aiming for about 4:10 on the first sector and meaning to leave dealing with the resulting exhaustion for later, but when I saw the first sector’s time it was clear that things were bad and I was going to struggle to even stay under 49 minutes, and that became even clearer when I didn’t even manage to stay under 15:20 on the first lap. So I did my best to keep pushing, sector one of lap two being somewhat reassuring, and at the end of the lap I wasn’t just quite certain that I was going to stay under 49 minutes, but even entertained a passing thought of squeezing under 48:30. But that was highly unlikely and sector one of lap three made it even more so, and after sector two of lap three I just aimed to stay under 48:45, that target becoming 48:40 by the end of the lap, which I did stay safely under in the end. But that is, of course, a poor time. A full minute less slow than two weeks earlier, the most recent better time actually being a month and a half earlier, but this was pretty much the last time when I should have gone for speed before the half marathon, so a proper target time would have been around 47 minutes, and preferably even below that.
As if being several seconds slower than I should have been on the first sector despite giving pretty much everything wasn’t a strong enough message, my body made it even clearer that I shouldn’t ask more of it when I tried to sprint on the long straight of sector one of lap two, since after only some 50 meters I felt fatigue just flooding my muscles and had to give up, and when I tried the same thing the following lap I couldn’t even start sprinting, only speeding up a little and having to give up even on that after a similar distance, and the same thing happened on each straight after that. Otherwise, I had to go all the way on the outside of a turn, taking a couple of steps on the grass, on sector one of lap three, while on sector two of lap three I went wide, hesitated and then had to quickly cut in the opposite direction after trying to make room for a cyclist who tried to do the same for me, so we kept moving in the same direction until we ran out of road and then suddenly turned in the other direction, while at the end of lap three I hesitated because of a silly dance. But, of course, those are minor issues, and while there were no specific physical ones to speak of, the main problem was that I just couldn’t go any faster.
After having a quick look in the nearby Mega Image on the way back, I ate lunch, changed, and left again a little after 8:15 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up some more on the way, putting them in the machine from Carrefour, finding an empty can with the deposit symbol placed among the expiring products after entering the store and picking it up, and then just cashing in that voucher, since I didn’t find anything to get, though I didn’t exactly have a good look at the discounted bakery products, since an employee was just taking that entire shelf back to the bakery area and, while she stopped when I looked at it, I couldn’t get myself to hold her up like that and walked away.
Speaking of walking away, as I was walking away from the store, I saw a woman with a small dog in her arms, smiled at the dog… And she asked, in English, whether I was from here, and after I confirmed that, as well as the fact that I spoke Romanian, we switched to Romanian and she asked whether I had two minutes to hold her dog while she went to buy some underwear. And, while rather shocked, I agreed and she passed me the dog, telling me to stay around there and touching a jacket and a bag that were nearby, though they were placed next to some attraction for kids where someone was with their kid, so whether that meant that the items were hers or belonged to that person and she just accidentally touched them while gesturing, I don’t know. Either way, the poor dog seemed just frightened, shaking badly, stretching its neck whenever she was in sight and curling up when she was hidden by the racks of clothes or that store’s entrance, but it didn’t try to get away or make as much as a sound and I passed it back to her after a few minutes, when she came back out of the store, saying that she couldn’t find anything and wouldn’t have dared to ask me to hold it otherwise, but she can’t exactly enter stores with it. But I thought that the mall was pet-friendly and said so, and she said that it is, but many stores aren’t, and then asked whether I knew what other stores are there, because she hadn’t been in it in a while. So I said that I generally only go to Carrefour and maybe check a bookstore, forgetting to even mention the sports stores, and after telling her where that bookstore was, since she asked, I wished her a good day and walked away, though she quite obviously felt like talking and I did wonder whether I was getting either picked up or set up for a scam, especially considering that she said that she was looking for underwear.
Either way, I then continued to Kaufland, but the recycling machine wasn’t working, so I entered with that can and just got some sour cream, at full price, and then managed to reach that Mega Image in time to be able to put that can in the machine from there before it was stopped for the night. And then I grabbed a bag of oranges that I found among the spoiling products, an expiring high-protein pudding that was discounted by 90% and which I picked up even if it was imported, and a bun that had the 50% evening discount, also using that voucher when I paid and not being charged for the bag that those oranges were in. And on the way back I picked up a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I got back a little before 10:55 PM, then ate a banana and the apple pastry that I already had, put the purchases in their place, washed some of what was in the kitchen, and went to the bathroom just before 1 AM, using the toilet and showering with the cold water that we had. The site had finally updated to state that there were problems in this area because of the work done to modernize the infrastructure in other parts of the city and I had considered heating some water, but that wasn’t going to be comfortable either, so I just dealt with it, first washing my head, ears and the back of my neck while leaning over the side of the bathtub, then washing my cock in the sink, and then getting in… And initially failing to persuade myself to just go for it, so I put some water from my hands first on my arms and underarms and then also on my torso and back, then used soap on those areas, and then finally managed to get myself to use the shower directly, albeit quickly and probably not well, since my armpits were still smelling a little and some spots were getting itchy later. But at least continuing with the lower part of my body was easier, and I was done a little after 1:45 AM, after which I did the day’s squats, heated and drank the rest of the tea, and also took some of that medicine expired for over a year, just in case. Then I had some more things to wash in the kitchen, peeled and boiled carrots for the salad, also used some olives and moved the rest into a jar, mixed some cheese with the sour cream and needed three jars for the resulting mix, and finally ate dinner between 4:55 AM and 5:25 AM, forgetting to put seasonings in the salad and not going back to do so. I got in bed at 6:50 AM. And there were no visits recorded that day.
After napping for a couple of hours in the evening, the following night I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but actually finished at 3:30 AM. But things were particularly unpleasant in the morning, when terrible construction noise coming from the apartment that’s right next to ours, in the other part of the building, so where we used to live way back, woke me up just after 9 AM, at which point that spot in my back also felt really bad and my legs and even arms were going numb, so I must have moved in some bad way. At least that gradually faded, but getting back in bed after going to pee didn’t do much good, so even though it was past 11:30 AM when I got up, any naps I managed to take during that time were very brief and agitated. Still, since sleeping was out of the question, I then finally got around to installing the Windows updates for March, also doing the day’s squats before that… But then I found another problem that was likely caused by those same neighbors, in the form of ants at the door to dad’s bedroom, apparently coming out of that wall, so I’m guessing that they were driven away from that apartment and came out there after going through the wall. Either way, since the noise had stopped by then, at 1:50 PM I got back in bed and slept for another hour and a half or so, and then I spent some time killing quite a lot more ants before eventually getting back in bed once more, though sleep didn’t come as easily that time around, so I’m not sure how much I actually got before getting back up after another hour and a half or so. But at least I didn’t see more ants at that point. And the “hot” water was lukewarm, so I eventually had lunch and just before 8:20 PM I went out, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I first rushed to Tei, putting the recyclables in a cabinet but not bothering to enter a code, since it was ten minutes before closing time. But I grabbed the few things I wanted to get for dad and was at the checkout in four, then took a moment to put those purchases in a bag, to at least protect them to some extent from the rain, retrieved those recyclables, and continued to Kaufland, picking up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from the parking lot even though it had quite obviously been driven over, quickly entering another store to ask about some bio (organic) cloves which I had seen on their site but being told that they didn’t have them in that location, and then managing to straighten that recyclable well enough for the machine to accept it after a couple of attempts, along with all of the others.
After washing my hands, leaving those purchases on the sink in the men’s to dash to the room for disabled people for soap, I entered the store, with those purchases, just before 9 PM, and got three lettuces and some potatoes, these having evening discounts, and most of the handful of onions that was left, at full price… And at one point, as I was digging through the potatoes, I realized that I no longer had the bag with the purchases from Tei! But when I rushed back to look for it, thinking that I had probably left it next to some scales, I saw it placed on a shelf, below the one where I had seen the employee who was working in that area place a couple of other products which had been left by people next to scales, so she must have recovered that bag as well. Either way, as I was having a quick look through the rest of the store, I spotted an empty plastic bottle with the deposit symbol, so I picked that up as well, then also used the voucher received for the recyclables at the self-checkout before arranging the purchases and walking out just after the closing announcement.
On the way back, I checked two Mega Image locations, putting my things in a cabinet both times and just getting a bundle of green onions from the second one. And that was a good thing, since I had considered getting them from the nearby location, where they had seemed better when I had checked two days earlier, but when I got there, meaning to still have a look anyway, I found that the store was closed until the end of the week. But at least I picked up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from there.
I got back at 10:55 PM, completely soaked. Then I set the clothes and bags to dry as well as I could, washed what was in the kitchen, ate an orange and a slice of cozonac with some added jam, put the purchases in their place, and at 12:45 AM I went to the bathroom, using the toilet and then once again showering with cold water, even that temperature which I had felt before leaving being gone by then. It probably did have a few degrees more than two days earlier, the fact that the mirror fogged over likely proving that, but I didn’t feel much difference when it touched my body, so I once again washed my head while leaning over the side of the bathtub, also continuing with my ears, face and neck, and then got in and went for it somewhat faster than the previous time, so it was just before 1:25 AM when I was done. And then I heated and drank the remaining tea, also taking a pill that actually wasn’t expired, just in case, used the worse lettuce leaves for the salad, and finally ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 4:45 AM. I got in bed at 6:15 AM, after checking the system logs and noticing that, one hour after rebooting to install the updates, there were two instances of an error with id 2545 which had previously appeared, also twice, on November 29, so when I switched to this computer, and December 18, so when I installed the second NVMe and also plugged in the new UPS, and I see that I also installed updates on December 18, but on November 29 there was no “main” update, though there were many updates to various components. Either way, another thing I noticed was that those errors with id 1796 that were caused by Secure Boot being disabled no longer appeared, and I did confirm that Secure Boot remains off, and it would make sense to suppress such errors, and in fact any related checks, in that case, but I wonder whether they actually fixed things in that manner or something else is going on.
Admittedly, before going to bed I only noticed that those errors had appeared and the other ones were no longer appearing, only looking more into it after those neighbors woke me up again, albeit a little later, around 9:50 AM, and “only” with drilling, not with more of that truly terrible noise, and I didn’t see any more ants either. So, about an hour or so later, I got back in bed, though for one more hour or so I pretty much only wasted time, since if I managed to fall asleep at all, it was for mere moments. But around noon or so, as the drilling faded and eventually even stopped, I did manage to get back to sleep, even if various lesser noises continued and I was occasionally waking up again. And, after needing to unclog the toilet again in the evening and taking the opportunity to also clean it, as well as the bathroom sink, to some extent, I napped some more late in the evening, then ended up eating dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:50 AM. What was really concerning, however, was that my legs were once again going numb after that late nap, and my left one in particular, which is even more worrying, since it’s the right one that’s usually affected, and has been for decades.
At least things were more or less normal once again when I got up yesterday, as in there was only that slight numbness in my right leg that I’m so used to. And, even though the site had updated yet again and stated that there won’t be hot water even that day, it actually returned in the afternoon, and that finally made me clean my room a little again, for the first time since October, not counting when I just vacuumed only some parts after realizing that there were fleas everywhere, before what Liza was given finally had an effect, and even that was back in December anyway. Either way, I also changed the sheets and turned the mattress around, though I still didn’t also turn it over, since it was still on the “summer” side. And then, after washing, I made mamaliga.