Cav's Place

Wednesday I got back to Eschalon, and I’m actually trying to push forward, since I know I gave up back in 2017 because I was too wary of doing so and don’t want to let myself get like that again, so I’d rather get back to it now instead of writing this, but I guess I’ll try to get it out of the way first. The date of the last save was May 19, 2017, and it was actually made after an important main quest moment, but the previous save was from May 10 and the playing time was just 0.2 hours less, and the one before that was from April 16, with the playing time only 0.1 more hours less, and basically just a handful of steps away from the May 10 one. So I guess those last two were the last attempt from 2017 to get back to the game, after having been too wary to continue in April, and then I thought I had been wrong to continue and just gave up for good. Of course, since I can’t remember exactly what I was thinking then, I can only hope it was just a case of me worrying and my perfectionism getting in the way and not that I actually realized I had done something wrong, as that’d imply that continuing from that last save will eventually put me in a bad position, but I guess I’ll keep both the April 16 and May 19 saves around, just in case.

This week’s run was Thursday, after initially meaning to run Tuesday and giving up after opening the window that day. According to the forecast at the end of last week, there was going to be a short break between the days of freezing rain, which caused thousands of trees to break or get uprooted by the weight of the ice, plus countless branches breaking off those that survived, poles also falling, cables snapping, hundreds of cars and all sorts of other things getting damaged, and the regular rain, which was supposed to start Wednesday afternoon, so I thought Tuesday was my only chance. However, by then the forecast had changed, the rain still being supposed to start Wednesday afternoon but stopping between Thursday morning and evening, so if I was to believe that new forecast I had a second option, and decided to make use of it when I opened the window after waking up Tuesday, heard what appeared to be rain and quickly realized that it was all that ice melting, causing not only what in effect was rain if you were under anything but also, worse, a “rain” of icicles that simply made it unwise to go out at all. Plus, I had seen all the branches and even entire trees gathered at best in piles everywhere the previous evening, and the pole which had fallen across the street and still hadn’t been picked up, so if the sidewalks looked like that, I doubted that the path around the lake was clear enough by then.
The thing is that the weather turned out to have been good for running Wednesday too, and I woke up before noon, when dad left, so there was no danger of the rain coming before I’d get back, the forecast pushing it to the evening anyway. However, it’s possible that it was actually too warm Wednesday, 8-9°C, the lower limit for running with just a t-shirt on and I didn’t intend to do that, so in the end Thursday proved to be the better choice. The rain just ended in the morning and the sky remained overcast, so it was wet, a lot of humidity in the air, some wind too, though I can’t say I felt it after I started running, but the reported temperature of 6-7°C meant I could wear my training shirt as well. Still thought I’d overheat, dressed like that, but I didn’t.
Pushed every step of the way, meant to at least get back under 50 minutes and managed it, the time being 49:11, with sector times of 4:21, 5:09, 6:05, 4:33, 5:04, 6:03, 4:34, 5:15, 6:12 and 1:55, making for lap times of 15:35, 15:40 and 16:01. After the first sector I wondered whether I had even recovered my normal speed, realized I hadn’t after the next two sectors, but then the second lap, sectors two and three in particular, made me hope to even get under 49 minutes. That ended after I saw the time for the third lap’s second sector, but I still pushed to see how close I could get, despite feeling that I was simply out of energy.
Still took my regular shoes, there were some puddles to go around, the piles of fallen and cut branches had been pushed to the sides but there were a few areas with small branches not swept away, which were slippery under those conditions, and there were three spots, one in sector one and two in sector three, where branches that are usually low were even lower and needed to be avoided. The other two were fine, but one of those spots from sector three required me to dodge quickly the first time, and then, despite thinking that I’ll remember it and know what to do on the next two laps, found myself likely thinking of something else just at that moment on lap two and very suddenly dodging out of reflex when the branches were just in front of my eyes, leaning left and making my rib hurt a fair bit, though it wasn’t much of a problem otherwise. The other issue was that on lap three’s third sector I felt like I needed to take a crap again, despite having gone twice before leaving. Not terribly so, but it was another thing to manage. Other than that, breathed out mostly through my mouth, but obviously never in.

Since I mentioned the rib, it still hurts quite a lot when I wake up, so it definitely doesn’t agree with my sleeping position, or with something I do in my sleep, but it’s not much of a problem anymore otherwise. Using creams twice per day, usually one with natural ingredients, the other one just the first time and before running. It still feels swollen in that spot, and it got worse before getting better though, something just snapping Saturday, when I was in the kitchen after wiping the dust in my room and also getting over the corner of the bed from the other bedroom to take a picture of something, and the pain definitely getting worse after that moment. Not that I let that stop me, since I had started cleaning my room after a long time and I finished in spite of that, changing the sheets too.

Saturday was a pretty bad day in terms of how I felt for other reasons too. Then again, was panicking before I got to bed that morning too, feeling that tickling again in my chest and coughing again a bit, so I went to bed at 4:30 AM and again had to blow and spit stuff out when I woke up. It wasn’t much, but it was again yellow, possibly even with a trace of blood from the nose and what was coming from my throat and chest maybe even getting greenish again. Still felt that tickling too, though it did seem somewhat different, more like a normal feeling after having to cough and spit stuff out. My left hand was also twitching and it took quite a while to stop, and even when it wasn’t obvious anymore, after taking a nap late in the evening, before taking a bath, I could still feel it wanting to do that a few times. Still, after the bath and while eating that night I started hoping that the treatment had indeed worked, since that feeling making me cough didn’t get worse, and might have even felt a bit better, though I again got worried when it did get worse before going to sleep, so got in bed at 4:45 AM.
The next day I no longer had much of anything to blow, but there was still some stuff from throat and chest, and definitely that unpleasant color again. That feeling that made me cough was much reduced though, and remained so after I got in bed, even if it was noticeable again then. And that’s more or less how it’s been since then, still noticing a bit of that feeling but not really making me cough anymore except when I wake up, when there may still be a bit of stuff to spit out, though the color seems to have mostly cleared, and late at night, or early in the morning if you prefer, just before I get in bed and while I am there, before falling asleep. It’s not bad then either, not even something I need to really make an effort to manage anymore. On the other hand, a tooth, in the upper left side, seemed to want to start hurting, this getting quite noticeable Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning, when a combination of this, the fact that I had napped late and being worried by some noises the HDD was making made it very hard to fall asleep. Does, however, seem to have gotten much better on its own since then.

Other than that, Monday evening, a bit after 7 PM, I went to Carrefour and Kaufland, dropping off the recyclables on the way as well. Got a few things for myself and more that my parents wanted, needing to ask about the coffee, since in the spot where it should normally be there were just the smaller boxes, which weren’t on sale, those that were on sale having been moved to the main alley, so at the end of a shelf, but that being the one with cereals, not coffee, so I hadn’t noticed them and assumed they had sold out before somehow managing to work up the courage to ask an employee and being told where to look. Either way, after going through the mall Carrefour’s in again on the way back, I saw two carts outside, one definitely having a coin in it, so I just connected it to the other and grabbed the coin. Didn’t spot a coin in the other, but didn’t mean to take them all the way back for it anyway, so can’t say I looked too hard either.

And now, after taking a break to sort of listen to the second half of a match while checking some other stuff on-line, let me get to yesterday as well, when I went to get some more things, since I definitely needed bread. Found myself waking up around 9:45 AM and got up a bit after 10 AM, waiting for dad to leave first, then put the plastic bottles which had gathered in a bag and meant to leave at 11 AM, yet couldn’t make it and decided to wait for the next free bus, going out at 11:30 AM and waiting ten minutes, since it came pretty much exactly on time. Saw the recycling machine open when I got there, but it was quite clear that it was just getting emptied, so I wandered around for a bit and could use it when I got back there, knowing that I didn’t risk it filling up either. Then got some stuff from Auchan, but couldn’t come right back because I couldn’t find one thing I was completely out of, and according to the price that was in that spot on the shelf it’d have been a bit more expensive than at Kaufland anyway, since Auchan apparently increased prices a whole lot lately, this actually being one of the smaller increases I noticed.
So I had to go to Kaufland too, and meant to take the free bus that’d get me closer to it more directly, yet ended up missing it. Thought I had more than enough time when I got in line, but it took a while and I ended up in the station right when it should have left, yet it had apparently left at least a couple of minutes early, since I didn’t see any bus driving away when I got out either. Still, since that bus has a short route, there should have been another leaving in 15 minutes, so I waited, yet when that one should have left the driver and one other man started working on the engine and it didn’t go anywhere, and I ended up waiting for 23 minutes and taking the next bus coming here, which also left a couple of minutes early. Did use it to get closer to Kaufland, in fact being able to get off it a little bit closer than if I’d have taken the other one, just that it doesn’t go there directly, so I wasted a fair bit of time and would have likely gotten there faster on foot.
At Kaufland I managed to find the thing I still needed, though at first I thought they were also out, since the box with those little bags was behind another, the spot where that price label was being empty. So got two of those and one more thing, and even found a 0.05 RON coin a few steps away from me when I got in line and had a look around, this allowing me to give the exact amount to the cashier. And then, after almost giving up on going inside Carrefour as well when all the cabinets were full when I got there, changing my mind after a girl came and got her stuff out of one a few moments later and I could use it to store my purchases, the same thing happened there as well, though in that case I found that coin right after getting the two things I got from there, on my way to the checkout, and it didn’t allow me to give the exact amount but one that left the cashier just needing to give me back 0.50 RON. Then found two more 0.05 RON coins after walking away, one right past the checkout, and also one 0.10 RON one at some point, though can’t recall where anymore. On the other hand, for once I left a cart that clearly had a coin in it next to the exit of that mall, since I saw it but was in a hurry. Had lost time getting there, then a few more moments checking out the nearby sporting equipment store for something dad’s looking for, and I had seen ski jumping starting at 3:35 PM in the TV schedule, though I thought the round started at 5:10 PM, so was wondering what that was about and was already late, only getting back just before 4 PM and seeing that I had missed the first 15 jumps of the qualifying, which had likely started at 3:45 PM.