Finally Have the New ID, Though There Are Some Issues
To continue from where I left off, on the evening of November 30 I jogged to Kaufland, but still picked up two recyclables and put them in the machine before washing my hands and entering the store just before 8:05 PM. After getting some olives, I noticed a good evening discount for some sausages, so I got quite a lot, for dad, along with some expiring chicken parts, also for him. And since there was a 25% discount for one of their store brands, I got a bunch of biscuits and some sour cream, not finding other things that I’d have wanted… And I also grabbed two small bags of bagels of that same brand, and before the closing announcement I managed to find three onions that didn’t look as bad as the rest, since they had a good evening discount. But then I spent a lot of time in line, just two of the self-checkouts that accept cash working and those using them having problems or being slow, but I turned that in my favor by realizing that all of the employees would be in a hurry to leave by the time my turn finally came, being among the last, and nobody’d care to look, so after first checking one of the products of that store brand, to confirm that the 25% discount applied, I simply kept those bagels and the onions in the bag, so I made up for the recyclables “eaten” by the machines from Kaufland. And then I just threw everything else back on top of them in the bag and finally walked out at 8:50 PM, so 20 minutes after closing time.
Next, I went to Carrefour, picking up two more recyclables, putting them in the machine, putting my things in a cabinet, and wandering around the store for quite a while, wanting to leave close to closing time, so I won’t have to wait for the 90% discounts to be made at that Mega Image. So I first cashed in the voucher received for the recyclables, then just got two more things for dad and added a mere handful of beans, to be able to use the voucher received for previous purchases. And then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything.
Well, waiting until almost 10 PM proved a bad choice when I grabbed some more recyclables before leaving that mall, and left one more that I saw but couldn’t readily reach, only to get to that Mega Image just after 10 PM, so the machine was already off for the evening. So I put those recyclables and the bag with some of the purchases in a cabinet, entered with the backpack, where I had the rest, waited for the employees to finish placing the 90% discount labels, and got some mozzarella, some imported licensed chips, and some ready-to-eat salad. And then I waited until 10:30 PM, wondering whether they may still increase the discount for the bakery products after all, even if at a later time, but when there was no sign of that and they remained at 50%, I just bought those other things, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the new purchases in the backpack, and grabbed some more recyclables on the way back. Unfortunately, the last one was a glass bottle that I wanted to put in the bag and missed, and the bottom shattered, so I put the part that remained whole back in the bin.
It was close to 11:15 PM when I got back. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, I think grabbing two more recyclables from the garbage room, posted the initial form of that day’s post, ate a small citrus fruit, not sure exactly what, put the purchases in their place, which also involved rearranging a number of things in the freezer, so the sausages and the chicken parts would fit, after dad split and bagged them, and ate lunch. It was 2:05 AM when I finally went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, being done exactly one hour later. And then I saw that the candies that are in a bowl in the fridge were sticky, so I changed the bowl and washed them, with the obvious exception of those that are packaged in cardboard, and ate what I could of one that was melting there and one more after that. And then I had a lot to wash in the kitchen, cleaned up a little as well, and used one of the ready-to-eat salads, being surprised to find that nothing seemed spoiled but obviously washing what was there quite thoroughly, which took a while. So I ate dinner between 5:30 AM and 6 AM, realizing during that time that I hadn’t properly commented out the notes for the rest of November 26 from what I had posted before midnight and doing so then. And I got in bed at 7:15 AM.
Since it’s the National Day, we were hoping that the workers would have December 1 off, but we were woken up by them talking loudly right outside our windows when dad said it wasn’t even 8 AM yet, so I had barely fallen asleep, and then they started working right here. It actually sounded like they were working right at the windows, so I was panicking again and stayed curled up under the blanket until they seemed to move away, at 8:15 AM, by which time I had heard Liza going to the litter box three times, so I got up to clean it but just saw one spot where she had peed, so I don’t know what she did there, but I guess that she was at least as panicked as I was, and possibly more. Either way, I also peed, noticing that dad had gone right back to sleep, and after a while I also managed to fall asleep again, even if some work was obviously being done in this area, but not at the windows anymore. And when I woke up again, at 12:20 PM, dad said that they had finally put the EPS on the outside of our balcony, though the work he had done on the inside meant that there was foam and even a harder substance spilling on the outside, so the question is how well they did their job, and when dad looked he said that there were some gaps. But he was leaving then, so I waited for him to walk out and then, at 12:50 PM, I got back in bed, though that meant that I missed most of the workers’ break and moments later I heard them talking again. Still, I managed to catch another nap, being woken up again at 1:50 PM, when the noise was worse, and probably catching a couple more very brief naps even after that, until the really loud drilling started, frightening me again and making me stay under the blanket until it stopped, the good thing being that it didn’t last long. I was up for good a few minutes after 3 PM.
After getting in bed at 5:20 AM, on December 2 I was woken up by loud drilling at 8:40 AM, though after going to pee I eventually managed to catch a couple of brief naps, seeing 10:25 AM the next time I looked. And at that point I checked my e-mail and saw that I had a reply stating that my new ID card was actually ready to be picked up! Since I hadn’t received any notification and the site still stated that it wasn’t ready, I had sent an e-mail to ask about it on November 24, receiving a reply on November 27 stating that it had been printed and advising me to ask the office where I had submitted the request whether it had actually arrived there, and I did that the following day, the first reply asking for some personal information, and after sending it the second only came that morning. So I decided to go that day, before going to the Library to return the books, but at first I crawled right back in bed and tried to get a little more sleep, the noise level seeming to just about allow it, but I couldn’t manage it, a long time passing before catching what must have been the briefest nap, probably followed by a second one that couldn’t have been much longer before I got up, a few minutes before noon, so instead of using the workers’ break to sleep a little more, I used it to go to the kitchen while being less anxious about them being outside the window… Only to take a little too long, so a guy did walk right past twice while I was still there. But at least I could then eat lunch before leaving, at 2 PM, with a small bag of trash that I dropped down the chute and the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I knew that I was going to pass by a Mega Image and a Penny on the way, so I held on to the recyclables until I reached that Mega Image and then put them, with the exception of that one that still wasn’t accepted, in the machine from there, ending up with two vouchers since the machine timed out at one point. And, after cashing in the vouchers, I saw that the Profi that’s also in that area doesn’t have a machine, the message on the entrance stating that they take recyclables manually, so I went there and recovered the deposit for that remaining one as well. And then I continued on my way, reaching the place that I had to pick up my new ID card from a little after 2:35 PM and walking away, with the new one, a little before 2:45 PM, seeing October 31 printed on it, so if it really was printed then and could have been picked up a week later, as I had been told, I should have even been able to buy those state bonds under my own name, not to mention register for the tree planting event on November 29.
Either way, I then wasted a fair bit of time at my bank’s branch from that area, since there’s one right across the road and I went there to update my information, yet their system apparently didn’t work, so after being told that they heard that there may be problems with the new cards but it didn’t usually happen for them, they tried scanning it on different scanners, then probably exchanged some messages about the matter, and eventually one came to say that they had made a scan in order to have the information but there seems to be a problem with the system, so I could try another branch but it probably still won’t work and they’ll call me when it’ll be sorted out.
It was almost 3:10 PM when I walked away from there and to Carrefour Unirii, putting the few recyclables picked up on the way in the machine from there, though I wasn’t surprised when the one I grabbed from a number of glass bottles that were behind some containers from that area wasn’t accepted, and when I walked away from the machine I noticed several more recyclables in a cart and, while the rest might not have worked, there were a couple of those oddly-shaped bottles among them and I was pretty sure that those would eventually be accepted at Carrefour, but a cleaner walked up to that cart just when I was looking in it and I stepped away, letting him get them. And then I entered the store and grabbed some lettuces and broccoli that were among the expiring products, the lettuces being two wrapped together for half of the price of one, so basically at a 75% discount from a price that already had a regular discount those days. But after having a look at the lettuces and deciding on one of the bundles, I went to the toilet, leaving the bag where I still had all of those products on the bench from that hallway… Only for the guard to point me to the exit when I tried to walk back past the checkouts, saying that I had products in the bag when I said that I was heading back in the store, so I told him that I had gone to the toilet and hadn’t paid for them and some other guys came to tell me to either pay or leave products before I go there, not caring when I said that I had left them on that bench… So I guess that I could have just followed his instructions and walked away with the unpaid products before he figured it out, but I just walked back in, checked the bags of broccoli and just kept one of those as well, and also used the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid, obviously without charging myself for the bag that the broccoli was in.
Then I took the metro, having dad’s card, and went to the Library, the machine seeming to be rebooting after an error when I got there, so I waited a little even if the guard seemed to indicate that I could just leave the books, but eventually did just that when the other guy came and told me to do so while he tried to get the machine to work again. And then I got back on the metro and went to Kaufland Basarab, picking up one more recyclable and putting it in the machine from there, entering with those purchases from Carrefour, and getting two expiring products and two of those cheap yogurts, which were once again slightly cheaper. I might have looked into a few more things, but I pretty much only had what I had gained from the recyclables on me and that only left me with some coins. And then I arranged the purchases and took the metro back.
I was back at 6:30 PM. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the purchases in their place, ate an apple, a pretty large piece of brownie, some candies and a small bag of chips, timed the day’s squats, doing them in 1:56, and talked to mother for quite a while, since she was here, so it was definitely past 12:30 AM when I went to the bathroom, but I’m not sure whether it was only a couple of minutes later or somewhat more than that. Either way, I used the toilet and washed, being done at 1:35 AM, and then I washed what was in the kitchen and used the worse lettuce leaves for the salad, eating dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM.
While I got up to pee at 8:05 AM, I then got right back to sleep and stayed asleep until 10:40 AM, when I was woken up by awfully loud drilling and considered getting up for a while and then perhaps trying to catch another nap later… But that drilling didn’t last long, so I decided to stay in bed, yet I couldn’t get back to sleep until it started again. The level of noise varied after that, but I just caught a few very brief and agitated naps, only being mostly asleep as 1 PM approached, that being when I had set the alarm to ring. I was definitely dreaming that it was 12:40 PM before waking up, checking, and seeing that I had been quite accurate, since it was 12:37 PM, then caught another brief nap before checking once more and seeing 12:49 PM, and then I was definitely asleep again when the alarm rang, though I then took it easy and it was almost 1:15 PM when I actually got out of bed… And the annoying thing was that the work seemed over, and after the loud voices also stopped there was about half an hour when it was almost completely quiet, after which there were only pretty faint noises, so doing a part of the preparation earlier and then catching another nap at that point would have really been the right choice. But, as it was, I then had the usual stuff, with another bio (organic) apple, though the yogurt was a high-protein one, even if it had expired on November 27, and left at 3:40 PM, wearing the full running gear and that thing that goes on my neck. The reported temperature was 9°C, holding steady.
The time was 48:54.17, with sector times of 4:14.77, 5:18.21, 6:08 (6:07.97), 4:38 (4:37.19), 5:13.34, 6:00.29, 4:30 (4:29.96), 5:04 (5:03.69), 5:54.47 and 1:55 (1:54.28), making for lap times of 15:40.95, 15:51 (15:50.82) and 15:28.12. Since I was still paying for pushing so hard last week, I wasn’t going to do that again and didn’t really aim to stay under 48 minutes, so after a first sector that was all right I did mean to take it just a little slower… But when I saw just how slow the second sector had been, I realized that if I won’t recover the lost time on the third, even staying under 50 minutes was far from certain, not to mention 49. And I didn’t just fail to recover that time, but sector one of lap two was along those same lines, making me worry that I may go over 16 minutes on that lap, which would have definitely put staying under 50 minutes in serious doubt. So I gradually pushed a little more, and at the end of the lap it seemed like I was looking at getting under 49:30. But I felt that I might just be able to recover enough to squeeze under 49 minutes after all, so I went for it, being certain that I won’t be safe at the end of the lap and would need a good final sector to make it but being surprised when I saw that I had done just enough over the course of the lap after all, so I could approach the final sector more carefully, which was actually a good idea that day. Of course, close to 49 minutes is a bad time in itself, but I guess I’ll have to be content with it at this point.
What does make it worse is that once again there were hardly any notable issues to speak of, and there actually were pretty few people, leading to a less than usual amount of weaving and going the long way around. The only notable loss of time was at the start of sector two of lap three, when I stopped for a couple of seconds, to have a better look at the stopwatch. But I might have also lost a little on the final straight, which was really wet for some reason, and since I could afford to take it easy, I did so. As for physical issues, there was just a certain pressing need that I felt on sectors two and three of lap one, fading after that and only returning, faintly, on sector two of lap three.
Now I’ll once again leave the part about the rest of the day to be added later and skip to the fact that it was almost 9:50 PM when I got back. Then I fixed something sweet and ate it, and then dad removed the stove top and I washed it, between going to the toilet and washing myself. It was past 1:40 AM when I was done with all of that, and then I washed what was in the kitchen and made pizza, eating it, as a combined lunch and dinner, between 5 AM and 6:15 AM, and getting in bed at 7:20 AM. And then I could sleep until close to 12:40 PM, when I was woken up by some brief drilling, and was probably mostly asleep after that as well, even if that sleep was in the form of a series of naps broken up by occasional louder noises. I was awake for a while before getting up, but I only did so a little after 4:15 PM. On the other hand, my throat was really sore, and I while I initially hoped that it was only because of the hard crust of that pizza, I’m having serious doubts about that.
My throat continued to be sore the following day, when I got up a little after 1:30 PM, though I had been awake for about an hour at that point. And there was still no reply to the e-mail I had sent to my bank after having my card held by the machine, so I wanted to go back to that branch and shaved… And then I went to the kitchen right when a worker was outside that window, after they had been right outside mine until then. But at least I have the cardboard covering my window, even if there are a few small gaps, but in the kitchen he obviously saw me there.
Either way, I went out a little after 3:15 PM, reaching the branch of the bank where my card had ended up being held by the ATM just over ten minutes later, after picking up a recyclable on the way… And then waiting there for over half an hour, also because the two people who came after me went ahead as soon as an employee became available, and then the woman also walked out for quite a while, coming back with some cookies for the employee who helped them. And there were two others, a woman and her mother, who had been waiting even before I got there, so they went to the other employee when she became available and I had to wait for those two to be done. But at least I recovered my card, and the employee also confirmed that my information had been updated, and then she offered to reset the PIN but I said that I thought that I remembered it and wanted to try it, so she advised me to just try once and use it contactless, so it won’t get caught again if I’ll get it wrong one more time, and I did just that, at the ATM that’s inside, confirming that I had remembered it correctly. And then I had quick looks in that Mega Image and the nearby one and grabbed another recyclable on the way and two more for the garbage room.
I was back for the first time a few minutes after 4:30 PM, and then I cleaned the litter box and went to somehow shove a bag of trash down the overflowing chute. Later, I did the day’s squats, ate lunch, and went out again at 8:50 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and those other things that I take to Kaufland. So I went there first, putting the recyclables, including one picked up on the way, in the machine, and the other things in what may be the proper bin, before continuing to Carrefour, picking up three more recyclables from that mall, and putting them in the machine from there.
I just got an expiring bio (organic) yogurt from Carrefour, but waited close to 20 minutes in line for it, several people waiting at each self-checkout, and some of those joining the lines as closing time approached staring pretty much in shock, and occasionally taking pictures. So the store had closed by the time I was done, but at least I used the voucher received for the recyclables. And then I jogged to Kaufland, putting that yogurt in a cabinet, going to the toilet, entering the store close to 10:10 PM, and making use of good evening discounts for a nicer lettuce and two huge parsnip roots, though the label printed by the scales listed the full price for the latter and none of the price checkers seemed to do anything if I tried to scan either of those products. Either way, I also got two expiring breads, with a 50% discount, and three pieces of processed meat products that were among the expiring ones, with a 75% discount, all of these for dad, and three of those small yogurts for myself, waiting in line at the self-checkouts at closing time… And then I noticed that the label for those parsnip roots had fallen off, so I used the scales from there to get another one, which at least listed the correct price, and also used the voucher received for the recyclables. And then I retrieved that yogurt, walked out at 10:40 PM, and rushed to that Mega Image, putting my things in a cabinet and grabbing a bun and three sweet pastries, including one of those apple circles, even if the discount remained at 50%. And the bakery area was pretty much full, and when I reached the checkout the cashier said that she should have made that bet, making me wonder whether they had been wondering whether anybody’d buy any of those products if the discount got reduced so much, and I commented that it was a great time while those discounts were of 90%. Either way, I then retrieved my things, went to a bench to arrange everything, and grabbed some more recyclables on the way back.
I got back at 11:30 PM. Then I once again cleaned the litter box and went to somehow shove what I had gathered down the chute, put the purchases in their place, ate that apple circle, and went to wash when it was close to 1:25 AM. I was done at 2:15 AM, but then I spent some time on the computer, only getting back in the kitchen at 2:40 AM. And, after taking a pill, even if it was expired since May, I ate dinner between 4:20 AM and 5:05 AM and got in bed at 6:35 AM.
I was only woken up at 12:05 PM, by what sounded like metal being cut nearby, but I didn’t even need to pee, the noise didn’t last long, and I could then get back to sleep, even if for what ended up being a few naps separated by a couple of brief periods of being awake, until I woke up yet again, saw that it was a little after 3:50 PM, and decided to get up. And that night I made mamaliga and, despite trying to “cheat” in order to be able to say that I started eating in my room before 3 AM and taking some bites in the kitchen, I only actually started eating in my room at 3:20 AM and finished at 3:55 AM. And then I had a hard time falling asleep, in part because, after having gotten better over the course of the day, my throat was bothering me again. And I also kept having to pee after the mamaliga, so I got up to do that for the first time at 6:15 AM, without having fallen asleep yet, and some more time passed until I finally did.
At least I could get right back to sleep after the following times when I got up to pee… Until 11:30 AM, when I went again after dad left and right when I got back in bed some scraping sounds started coming from upstairs, there was some occasional banging as well, and at one point there were even a few seconds of drilling, so it was once again hard to get back to sleep. I eventually did, but the naps were rather agitated and more interrupted than they had been until then. Either way, I got up after the alarm rang, at 2:50 PM, to watch the race, and it was just after 5:15 PM when I went out.
I went to vote first, and my new ID card caused problems there as well, the person who handled it saying that it was only the second one that did so that day, but it worked when she entered the information manually. And then, since they no longer place stickers on these new cards and I had taken the old one as well, with just one small space left on the back of it, I asked the guy who had the list that I was in to put a sticker on that one, though he wouldn’t put it in that spot, initially trying to put it over the oldest one and when I pointed him to that spot he put it over the sticker that was above it, so I then peeled it off and put it in that spot myself, though the annoying thing was that it came off with a part of that old sticker that a part of it had been placed on.
After that, I went to Penny Titan, picking up a few recyclables and putting them in the machine… And realizing that I had forgotten to take another one of those vouchers from their coins campaign, so the fact that I found those packs of cat food there was frustrating, because it’s a pretty rare opportunity to use those vouchers and I didn’t want to get any without using one, so I just got two expiring yogurts and one piece of that cat food of their store brand, since that’s also discounted, to use that voucher without needing to cash it in. And then I rushed to Carrefour as well, entering with those purchases and getting a juice for dad, though it was a little bit more expensive than when I had checked the price for it in the other location two days earlier, plus two sweet pastries and some oranges that were among the expiring or spoiling products and a red cabbage, once again waiting for a while at the self-checkout because the two girls who were using it when I got there apparently had some problems that an employee had to sort out. But at least the next couple was done quickly and they left the pile of coins that were in the tray there, so I took them. And then I arranged the purchases and jogged back, picking up one recyclable from there and two more when I entered the building.
I was back just after 7:10 PM, so I missed the start of the handball match. Either way, I then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put the purchases in their place, helped dad finally bring my external blinds in, ate one of the oranges and one of those sweet pastries, vacuumed the mess made by those blinds, did 200 squats, since I had kept putting them off the previous day until I forgot to do them at all, and I did them in the kitchen and in the clothes worn outside, and then I also ate lunch. And tonight I’ll finally be moving my desk back, after having pointlessly kept it in this uncomfortable position all this time, because it would seem that those who’ll drill the holes for those fans are likely to come tomorrow, so we want it to be very clear that they absolutely can’t drill the hole on this side of the room. On the other hand, I’ve been having a foul taste in my mouth which only got worse today, and it’s still there now.



