Cav's Place

Meant to try writing this yesterday, but decided to clean around here a bit right after waking up, since I ended up being alone these days after all and what I did outside of my room as well will at least last until Saturday afternoon, when dad will be back. And then caught up on reading Elantris, since I definitely want to finish it this week, there are environmental protests that I want to attend both Saturday and Sunday, and I had fallen behind, after not reading the day before. So now I have to sit here and get this done this evening, somehow, though I want to make myself mamaliga again in the evening, and should also shave and shower… And just now I also signed up to plant trees on November 16. But to get right to the period covered by this post, I’ll start with the timed squats, which were 2:21 on October 26, 2:24 on October 27, 2:13 on October 28, 2:15 on October 29, 2:18 on October 30 and about 2:22 yesterday, give or take a second, since there was a replay at the end again. And, since I mentioned reading, Monday evening I decided to use the remaining $0.56 of that credit for The Count of Monte Cristo, since one edition was just this much, others being more. Realized after I got it that I likely read it when I was little, at my grandparents’, but I may give it another go now anyway, and it’s not like I had a better idea for that credit, and it was about to expire.

After being in bed at 4:35 AM, Saturday I got up at 7:30 AM, when the alarm rang, though I had been awake for a few minutes at that point, just staying buried under the blanket. Wasted some 15 minutes on the toilet before cutting my losses, since it wasn’t happening at such an early hour, and was out the door at 8:40 AM, being at the Botanical Garden at 9:20 AM, for the Autumn Cleaning this time. And it actually was 9:38 AM when Anca got us moving… Only for a few meters, since the area we had to clean was right next to the entrance, on either side of the alley going left, up to the point where another one goes right.
There were some 40 of us, which struck me as a low number and I actually said so to Anca at the end, but she said there are always fewer in the autumn and there are enough who signed up in total. Either way, she meant to split us in five groups, but despite saying there will be eight in each group, she started with a group of nine, I think because some wanted to be together and she didn’t want to remove someone she had already placed in that group, and then assigned nine to groups two and three as well, leaving too few to make two more groups, so she said that they’ll be “group 45”, anyone coming later will be assigned to them as well and they’ll handle one side of the path on their own, with the other groups getting sectors on the other side, towards the fence. They mostly had to rake on that side, while the rest of us mainly had to clear vegetation, to just leave the trees and large bushes, only a part towards the end of their area also being overgrown.
I was in group three, so I just grabbed shears, since there was a single saw for us, and got to work, spending nearly all the time cutting and pulling things. There were a lot of bugs, a lot of them being spiders, and while I had sprayed myself all over before leaving, that spray doesn’t repel those as well, and it took me a while to even get my trousers in my socks as well, to make it much harder for things to get in that way. So, between those and the ants, I expected to see quite a number of bites after getting back, yet I actually didn’t notice anything. Either way, after getting in the thick of it at first, as the break was approaching I switched to coming after the others and taking care of the smaller stuff they had missed or ignored, cutting the larger things closer to the ground if they had left stumps, and pulling out some root systems. And I continued that after the break, feeling tired but pushing through, and pushing even harder at the end, after we had pretty much finished our area and Anca said we should help with the overgrown part of the area assigned to “group 45”, to try to finish everything then, so it was back to getting in the thick of it. Only stopped doing that and switched to raking for a little bit at the very end, when Anca said we should finish up, as those carrying the leaves and branches away were about to make the last trip.
Grabbed a tea at one point, but everything else was during the break, which was at noon or so, when I had a sandwich and a cup of water, then rushed to the bathroom. Anca had mentioned cakes though, and when I got back I saw that somebody had brought quite a few boxes, some with eclairs and others with, I believe, brownies, so I grabbed one of each, and then a second eclair, since there were quite a few left and they were asking who wanted more. Meant to grab a second brownie as well, but the girls helping Anca had the last box and were just chatting and I couldn’t get myself to just walk up and take one more before they closed it to put it away. So I gave up on that idea and got back to work just before 12:30 PM.
With that last trip mentioned above being made at 1:45 PM, we couldn’t finish that last area as well, but that was that. Walked around a bit after that, searching for discarded tools, getting back to where they were being gathered at 1:50 PM, waiting with everyone else for the guys with the wheelbarrows to get back. After they did and the equipment was loaded in the wheelbarrows, I grabbed one to push back to the gift shop, and then was among the last to leave after the ending “ceremony”, only walking away at 2:20 PM and being back here at 3:15 PM.
Was thinking of taking a nap in the evening, but bumped my head while hanging the laundry in the balcony and saw quite a lump forming, though it hadn’t felt like a hard hit, so I decided against doing so. Went to bed when the hour changed that night though, so at 3 AM according to the new one, despite having stuffed myself.

Now I’ll skip to Wednesday, when I attended the march commemorating four years since the Colectiv club fire. It was raining and the temperature had dropped significantly that day, and it was dark as well, so I took the old camera and, fortunately, two pairs of batteries found in the living room, at least one of them used. Also took 20 used batteries from the box in the kitchen, to drop off at a place which should have given me four new ones in return, so I walked there first, but they told me they were out of batteries, so I only got to a metro station at 6:20 PM after seeing 5:53 PM after going out the door, and also “managed” to step in a puddle on the way and splash water, and a bit of dirt, on my pants and sock, for nothing. And then I spent some more time walking in the rain after I got off at Unirii, looking for another place that was supposed to give new batteries in exchange for old ones at that rate, but I couldn’t find it, noticing after I got back that I stopped pretty much just before I’d have been able to see it, since I hadn’t planned to go there and hadn’t looked well enough at the location on the map before leaving.
Reached the gathering place, in Unirii Park, right at 7 PM and didn’t realize it, so I squeezed in for a few pictures of the large banners, which were on the pavement at the time, and probably ended up in the shot of every news crew that was there and reporting live for the 7 o’clock news. Saw the cameras, but I was focused on getting the shots, preferably before pissing myself, so I only realized what was going on after taking those pictures, which in the end I didn’t even include in those I kept and posted. Rushed away at that point, but it was probably too late. But at least it wasn’t too late from the other point of view, since I then went to the bathroom at the McDonald’s across the road, struggling for a while due to my hands already freezing but eventually managing it and getting back just as they were about to get moving, at 7:25 PM, with the march having been scheduled to start at 7:30 PM.
Had a plastic bag wrapped around the camera at first, with four rubber bands holding it in place, but had the used pair of batteries in it and those stopped working as I was trying to take a few crowd shots in a better lit portion of the route, not even halfway through the march, and after struggling to get it off and replace the batteries with the other pair, I didn’t put it back on, just trying to protect the camera as much as I could without it. Had already ended up towards the back because of it anyway, so after taking those crowd shots I was focused on catching up to the head of the march again, just managing it by the time we got to Bucur Square, at 7:50 PM. Then I took some more pictures, lit the candle I had brought and left early, at 8:15 PM, the rain and cold driving me away, the camera acting up as well, and feeling that I was going to have to pee again if I didn’t start on the way back quickly. As it was, was back pretty much exactly three hours after leaving.

This week’s run was Monday. Woke up to pee a bit before 12:30 PM and noticed the low hot water pressure, but just set the alarm to 2 PM and got back in bed, then just stuck to the plan despite confirming after getting up that there was no hot water… And despite being a bit messed up by the dream I had just before getting up, and being unable to write down details. It was about Andra and at the end I was writing a poem about the events from it, and I remember that at least a part of it actually sounded quite nice, and then I woke up shortly before the alarm rang and was “seeing” myself writing down what had happened in the dream, I guess still being sort of in between dreaming and awake, meaning to have it all “written” in my mind that way before getting up to type it… And then the alarm rang and the memories just vanished in an instant, all I was left with being what I already mentioned, that I had written a poem about it in the dream and was “writing” the details in my mind after waking up, with nothing left about what had actually happened in the dream. And then I couldn’t take a crap either, and was still feeling some joints and muscles after Saturday. But, as I already mentioned, I stuck to the plan, having the usual stuff and going out at 3:55 PM. The large spider I saw at the door delayed me a bit, but only until it dropped low enough for me to not need to lift my foot too high to take care of it. With a reported temperature of 18°C, hardly any wind and being mostly sunny, though the Sun was setting by the end, it was clearly the best day for running this week, after all, and pretty much the only possible one for me.
The time was 47:34.05, with sector times of 4:28.88, 5:08 (5:07.30), 5:53.35, 4:22 (4:21.94), 4:56 (4:55.93), 5:44.12, 4:25.32, 4:59.01, 5:50 (5:49.34) and 1:49 (1:48.86), making for lap times of 15:29.53, 15:02 (15:01.99) and 15:14 (15:13.67). Was just aiming to stay under 48 minutes and started in a rather controlled manner, but when I saw the first two sector times I was worried I’ll barely manage 48:30, so I pushed from the third sector and it worked out, traffic making me fail to get under 47:30 as well in the end. There were plenty of people, and on top of weaving and going the long way around, there was a bit of roadblock at the end of sector two of lap one, under the bridge, people walking on one side and fast cyclists coming from the opposite direction, so I had to slow and wait my turn. Then there was another roadblock, formed of people with kids moving slowly, just before the bridge, I’m pretty sure on sector one of lap two, though there’s a small chance I’m not remembering it well enough and it was actually on lap three. Either way, had to slow again and squeeze past, stooping under the branches of a willow tree. But it definitely was on sector one of lap two when I had a pretty fast runner ahead of me, giving me a target to first catch up to and then stay ahead of for a while, helping me settle into a better pace for the rest of the lap as well. On the other hand, I think it was on sector two of lap three when I breathed something in, either a bug or a little leaf, and I probably lost a bit of time as I tried to first blow it out and then sort of spit after accidentally breathing in through my mouth while doing so. My right knee, both calf muscles and some stuff around my left ankle gave me warnings, but held. And hot water was back in the evening, so I could shower too.

As for Tuesday, woke up around 9 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Napped a bit more, but mostly tossed and turned, eventually getting up at 11:30 AM and going out a bit after 2 PM. First walked to that pharmacy, just to check prices, then took the metro and went back to that Auchan in that other part of the city, again getting off a stop early to first go to that bakery I had noticed there, getting two loaves of their whole wheat bread. Then walked to Auchan, getting there around 3:20 PM but first checking that pet shop again, seeing more of the old kind of that cat food but again leaving it for later. After that, rushed to the toilet, struggling to get things done one-handed, holding the bread in the other, and then ending up with the bag with the bread being placed in another bag and sealed by the guard at the entrance to Auchan, because he didn’t want to just put a sticker on it. Either way, just got two yogurts and shaving cream from Auchan, using the self-checkout again, and I shouldn’t have even bought those yogurts from there, though I of course didn’t know that then. Then got back to the pet shop, counted 21 packs of that cat food, so I could buy 20, getting 0.10 RON less in change and mentioning it but then saying it didn’t matter and walking away, having already found more in Auchan. Had taken it easy, after seeing 4:05 PM when I left Auchan and knowing that the next free bus of the number I needed was to leave at 4:30 PM, so I was only out of that pet shop at 4:20 PM, and the bus was a few minutes late anyway.
Due to the traffic, it took a while for the bus to get to the metro station I had gotten off at, and when it did I got off there, having noticed before leaving that there’s a Kaufland in that area as well and deciding to walk to it. Also found a shopping cart discarded in the parking lot, with the 0.50 RON coin in it, and took it back and took the coin, then got what I meant to get from there, and also meant to get one more yogurt, still not knowing that I should have waited until reaching Carrefour and seeing that it was just a little more expensive than it had been at Auchan and it expired four days later, so I could get one more. However, after grabbing the other stuff, I forgot about the yogurt, so I used the self-checkout again without issues, put the stuff in a second cabinet, rushed to the toilet again, went back in to buy that yogurt as well, still using the self-checkout, grabbed the stuff from the first cabinet I had used… And then found that I couldn’t open the second one anymore, the code not working. No idea whether something was wrong with it or I had pressed a wrong button when setting the code, as that’s very easy to do there, since they don’t even seem to be actual buttons, but some sort of touchpad, but the problem remained, so at first I told a guard, who told me to tell a Kaufland employee and then, when I ended up just looking around, quite at a loss, to ask a cashier to call someone to the information desk, since there was nobody there then. And I did that, and somebody eventually came, but she had to deal with three other people first, one of them having a similar problem. But at least she opened that cabinet as well in the end, and I could get my purchases back and finally get out of there at 5:45 PM.
Got back on the metro, getting off at Dristor and going in that Carrefour from that area at 6:35 PM, being surprised to be able to fit all my stuff in one of their cabinets, getting what I wanted from there as well… And being surprised to see that yogurt cheaper there than it had been in Auchan or Kaufland, and with some having the same expiration date as those from Kaufland, so I could have bought all three from there. Sure, it’d have just saved a little bit, but the exact amount struck me as interesting after I got back, when I saw that, if I’d have purchased the yogurt from there, I’d have had exactly 1 RON left in change. But there was nothing to do about it then and I couldn’t even get more, considering when they were going to expire, so I finally got out of there at 7:10 PM and struggled to carry everything while still rushing as much as possible, just managing to reach this nearby store before it closed, knowing from last time that it only stayed open until 7:30 PM, and getting some sour cream again, a bit more of it this time around. Took me a few moments to find the correct change and then also pick all my bags back up and the woman who was there seemed in a hurry, and she came right after me and closed the door the moment I stepped outside, and I guess the clock she had was a bit ahead, since I saw 7:32 PM on the receipt, while it was actually 7:29 PM when I stopped again, to arrange things better after crossing that street.