Cav's Place

Hope I’ll make this quick, because everything I had gained by reading more at the end of last week was lost when I didn’t read at all Monday and I still have to get to a certain page today if I’m to finish Saturday, especially since I’m not sure how much or even if I’ll be reading tomorrow. If I won’t, it’ll be quite a push to finish Saturday anyway, and also writing the quick review then would be even less likely, but that’s just why I want to finish Saturday, so I’ll be able to wait one more day and still have it as this week’s second post.

To get right to it, Monday I moved things around and sprayed the rest of my room, accidentally using the new catalogs from two hypermarkets to put on the floor instead of old ones. Had removed old newspapers from the pile in the kitchen for that purpose, but threw them on top of those catalogs, and then I saw them there and, completely forgetting that I hadn’t removed any catalogs from the pile and that dad had put the new ones there, picked them up instead, since they’re better for the purpose. And that was a bit of a nuisance because they don’t put them on-line until the day the offers start while they send the paper ones a few days earlier, so on top of just having something to look through while eating at night or on the toilet, I do use them to plan purchases as well, despite frowning at all the wasted paper.
Either way, I did glance through them as I picked them back up after I was done, before going out, so had an idea of the few things I meant to wait a few more days before getting and one plan would have been to buy the other things I meant to get this week then. But in the end I just checked prices in two hypermarkets, then sort of wandered away, not quite certain what I meant to do next, ending up looking for one branch of the Metropolitan Library and getting myself a pass. Had been sort of considering it for a while and I guess I finally got around to it. Annoying that they ask about education and occupation though, and I did wonder aloud about the relevance, and also not keen on the fact that the passes have a chip, but there shouldn’t be any information on it that I may want to be able to see myself and I won’t have the pass on me unless I intend to use it that day, so I guess it works.
That done, I then checked prices in a nearby supermarket as well, then walked back to one of the hypermarkets to just get a couple of things, leaving anything else for another day. Could have wandered around a while longer, as the smell in my room was still quite strong when I got back and, as I already stated, I didn’t read that day anyway, plus that I didn’t clean the room or move anything back that evening, so I ended up sleeping on a bed that was rather in the middle of the room, with the boxes of books and the bookcase right next to it, but that’s how it worked out that day I guess.

When I woke up on Tuesday, I really didn’t know what I meant to do that day, but eventually ended up going on the Library’s site and reserving Quiet, or the Romanian edition of it, to be exact. Not keen on reading translations, but for something like this I guess it may not be quite so bad, and I didn’t think I’d be purchasing this but was curious about reading it for some time now, even if I’ll probably just get annoyed for various reasons, so I decided to make some use of that pass now that I got it. Not that I knew how the whole thing worked, and it didn’t seem to me that much was happening if you did reserve a book on-line, but the option was there and I used it.
After that, I first went for a run. Or, more exactly, I first went out without my stopwatch, realized it on the way to the park, came back for it, then went for a run, the time being 49:34, with sector times of 4:35, 5:10, 6:06, 4:36, 5:10, 6:01, 4:38, 5:13, 6:12 and 1:53, making for lap times of 15:51, 15:47 and 16:03. Rather poor final sector, lap three wasn’t too good either, but it counts as another regular run in less than 50 minutes, albeit one on a quite clear track, so I could have done better if I’d have meant to push harder. But my right hip was not happy anyway, so it was good enough.
When I checked the Library’s site again when I got back, I saw no change in the book’s status, so I decided to just go and see how things actually work, having quite a long walk after my run, since there was no copy available in the branches that are closer. That walk was made even longer by the fact that I missed a turn required for the planned slightly shorter route on my way there, only getting things right on the way back, but I didn’t get lost and was in no hurry, so it wasn’t much of a problem.
Either way, once I reached the Library, I tried to look for the book myself, but was looking at social sciences instead of psychology, plus that I was looking for a white cover when this edition is, in fact, gray, so I couldn’t find it. Not that I expected to find it, of course, since I had reserved it and assumed it’d be put away somewhere, so it won’t be grabbed by someone else. As a result, I then walked up to one of the people there, handed her my pass and said I reserved a book on the site, expecting her to just pull up the information based on the pass. Instead, however, she asked me what book that was, searched on the computer for quite a while, asked if I looked for it myself, then went somewhere else to search when I said I couldn’t find it, returning to say it’s not in storage and going to the shelves to look there herself… Only for me to spot it almost right away once I saw which shelves she was looking in. Felt rather bad about that, making her wander around when I could have just picked it up myself if I’d have only looked in the right spot from the beginning, and then I could have taken it without interacting with anyone, since it’s all done by having a machine read the chips in the pass and the book and hitting loan or return on the screen, which she also did for me when she saw me just standing there confused. But at least I now know what to do when returning it, and in case I’ll get anything else in the future.
Might have ended up losing it even before getting back though, as I put it in a bag and then left the bag on top of some fruit or vegetables, forgot exactly what, in a nearby store, where I stopped to grab some cheap cucumbers. Couldn’t figure out where the weight was showing up on the cashier’s screen, so kept leaning over to look as I added more and saw absolutely nothing relevant, leaning in even closer and searching every little bit of the screen with increasing confusion as he read the weight to me a few times, until I reached the one I wanted, and then once that was done I just paid and had to get out of there, taking the cucumbers but not the book. Fortunately, realized I was missing it very quickly and ran back, finding the bag exactly where I had left it, a woman perhaps trying to work her way around it to get to the fruit or vegetables it was placed on. So all’s well that ends well, I guess.

As for cleaning, I did start Tuesday evening, but only wiped the bookcase, vacuumed the corner it’s normally in and the area behind the bed that was exposed due to the bed being in the middle of the room, then put the bookcase back and the books back in it, then changed the sheets and moved the bed back as well, leaving the rest for some other time. Which other time was supposed to have been yesterday, but yesterday I didn’t do much of anything, so I only finished cleaning today… And also “managed” to break the handle from another of my desk drawers as I tried to lean against the desk in order to be able to push the boxes back in place just right, to allow my chair to move normally. They’re made of plastic and the one on the bottom drawer broke some time ago, but they’re made of two parts and if just one snaps in one place, they may still be used if you don’t pull too hard, but this one broke in four pieces, so I couldn’t just leave it like that and tried to glue it back together. Seems to work for the moment, but I may need to get new ones eventually, and I already started looking for metal ones.
The thing is that the fact that I left cleaning for today complicates matters a bit, as I perhaps should have used the day to buy some things instead, after deciding against it Monday. Doing it all, including trying to go to that market again as well, for more apples and probably also green onions, and maybe something else as well if I’ll see what I’m looking for and manage to get it, will take quite a long time and Friday evening tends to be crowded anyway. But I’ll see what I’ll do, how late I’ll get back and how much I’ll manage to read. Sure hope it’ll be something, at least, because I’ll barely manage to get as far as I planned for today now, no way to have a buffer as well, and then I’ll probably go out again at least once during the weekend, the destination meaning another particularly long walk and therefore a lot of time spent not reading or writing the quick review. Some may be spent thinking about it though…