Cav's Place

After Thursday, when Alma added herself to those sharing one of the many rotten articles popping up lately to bash NEETs, those living off their parents’ money in particular, and people expressing an unwillingness to chase any job available just to earn something in general, and I ended up writing some long comments and saving them in case I won’t be able to access them later, I was thinking I really should write a post on that topic. Of course, with those comments being in Romanian, there was nothing I could copy directly, but doubt I’d have quite managed to turn them into a post even if there would have been. Maybe I will, eventually, but it may require the mess started from that to get even worse, possibly leading to her no longer talking to me, which wouldn’t exactly be surprising at this point.
What was surprising was that she meant to hide the post from me, but apparently didn’t select the right option, immediately sending me a message to say so when I gave an angry reaction to the comments posted by others, who were also bashing those the article referred to. Obviously, that means she could have done that any number of times in the past and could keep doing it, so there went any trust from my side. Not that things haven’t been going in that direction ever since she opened her shop, became even more focused on “real life” stuff, gave up on her band, we’ve been talking a whole lot less and what conversations still existed often became even more frustrating.
Back to what happened, yes I was quite angry at that moment, snapped at her a bit, then went out for a run, needing to get back from the door to grab my stopwatch and only realizing that I had put on my regular shoes, not those I use for running, when I got there. But the run did help somewhat, so I could then get back and write calm replies, presenting a bit of my views on the matter to someone who asked what did I mean by my initial reaction. Not that I got anywhere, of course, people being determined to keep things as they are and of the mindset that if they struggle to “earn their living”, so should everyone else. Was also told that, unlike that one woman who at least openly disagreed with me there, a number of others privately asked who the fuck I was and how could anyone possibly have such fucked up ideas. Because, according to Alma, I’m the only one out of all her many contacts who’d disagree with the stance expressed in those articles. Which, sadly, I don’t find hard to believe. After all, if people wouldn’t support the way society works, it wouldn’t work this way anymore.
Either way, was also told she’s hiding posts because, on top of that, she is wary about sharing some supposedly great posts from someone else she knows after I commented with “bull” on one… Which was exactly that. Tracked it down now to see just what it said, and of course it was something related to positivity and creating your own happiness and other typical shit like that which only allows things to stay as they are or get even worse, pushing forward the idea that people are the only ones to blame for their unsatisfying lives no matter what the world does or does not do to them and should learn to take whatever crap comes and be happy with it instead of demanding things to change and accepting nothing less. So of course I shot out another retort to that… Which retort actually included quite a few more things that should end up in that post mentioned in the title.
While I’m at it, also mentioned things about freedom of speech, saying that everyone should always be free to express any opinion, but that also means accepting that anyone else is free to express any opinion regarding that opinion, which may well lead to debates and even arguments, this being added on top of something I had told her back when this began, when she was falling back on the usual thing of saying it’s just her personal opinion whenever there’s a disagreement, namely that something can be strictly a personal opinion only when it affects nobody except the person expressing it, otherwise it’s a call for debate, unless perhaps it’s supposed to only apply to those who agree with it, in which case it absolutely must include the details of exactly how that may happen without anyone else being affected. So, yes, things are probably tense with the person I’ve actually actively kept in contact with the longest at this point, apparently since early July, 2013.

Moving on, I mentioned running Thursday, and using my regular shoes instead of the running ones. That didn’t stop me from getting under 49 minutes again, the time being 48:51, with sector times of 4:28, 5:13, 5:56, 4:32, 5:08, 6:06, 4:33, 5:06, 6:03 and 1:46, making for lap times of 15:37, 15:46 and 15:42. That second lap wasn’t so good, not when you take the total time into account, but the third was the second fastest third lap and the final sector wasn’t bad either, especially considering the gust of wind trying to push me back as I was sprinting right at the end.

Other than that, Friday morning I woke up at 7:30 AM, so after only about an hour and a half of sleep, in order to get to the Ministry of Waters and Forests at 9 AM, when a petition was to be delivered, requesting to preserve access to the site used to track and report illegal logging and not remove any of its features. While most of those using the system use the mobile application, the site is a powerful tool offering more detailed information and for that reason it’s used more often by journalists or activists, yet the Ministry, arguing that the contract signed by the previous Government was illegal, ended the maintenance deal for it and reduced some of its functionality, stating that they will release another version of it, but only at the end of 2018.
What made it all little more than a formality was the fact that the Ministry posted a message regarding the issue the day before the petition was to be delivered, throwing a pile of accusations at the NGOs involved in this effort and at the opposition and stating that the site doesn’t even legally exist, as it was not finished and formally accepted, and that they’ll only accept the petition and reply to it with the documentation already published in support of their stance “out of respect for the citizens who have in good faith signed”, after supposedly having been tricked into doing so by the NGOs… Which is funny, because I thought they are required to accept and respond to any formally registered petition…
Either way, I was there, took a few pictures, then managed to shave my head, take a proper shower, make myself something to eat again, since I was alone, and get some three and a half more hours of sleep in the afternoon and evening, split in three parts due to waking up to go to the bathroom. Sure felt all messed up due to that lack of sleep, even if five or five and a half hours seems to be pretty much what I usually get, but at least I got some seven hours this morning, and the fact that I had both salad and watermelon during the day yesterday and therefore neither of them at night meant I only woke up to go to the bathroom once during that time and it wasn’t such a pressing matter even then, but sort of a case of happening to wake up and deciding I might as well go so I won’t need to go later.

And since, if not for the issue with Alma, I’d have started this post with this issue and titled it accordingly, I’ll end it by mentioning that there was no hot water for most of this week. Though notifications weren’t posted and this information was hard to find even on-line, water pressure tests were apparently scheduled for a large part of the city between August 21 and 23, and during those tests water was running through the hot water pipes and it was, of course, being paid as hot water, but it was actually cold. However, the worse problem was that issues were discovered as a result of the tests in plenty of areas, obviously including the one I live in, so hot water was not turned back on even Thursday, making me boil one liter that evening in order to shave and then use it for just a little bit of warmth at the start and end of an otherwise cold shower. Didn’t plan to do that, thinking that if I will shower at all it’ll be at night, when I’ll heat a larger quantity of water, but since I was there, hadn’t showered since Sunday and there had been the run that day as well, I just got it over with, somehow.
Considering that, it was rather frustrating when I noticed that there was hot water when I came back from Friday’s event, but since I wasn’t sure it was going to last, I left making myself something to eat for later and got first to quickly washing my hair while leaning over the side of the bathtub, largely to soothe the dermatitis to some extent, since it was getting pretty bad. Then I shaved my head, since I was starting to look like a clown again and the dermatitis sure seems to be worsened when more hair grows on affected areas, and after that I took a proper shower. And it was a good thing I did, because the water was only lukewarm when I washed the dishes after eating and cold again when dad got back in the evening, changing right into his bathrobe and going straight to the bathroom, since he knew there had been hot water when he had left that day, but finding that there was nothing to work with anymore. We do seem to have hot water again today, so let’s hope that at least now it’ll last, because otherwise these days sure reminded me of old times I’d much rather not live through again, referring here to the fact that no hot water was normal during the Communist days and then such checks took place every summer, actually lasting three weeks or a full month, until at least the early 2000s.