Cav's Place

I’ll start by saying that this week I finally managed to persuade myself to get all the jars and bottles in one place, take a picture and send it to the woman who had said she’ll take all of those anyone has to give back when I first went to help with those recycling kits, back in September. Had asked Olga for her e-mail address after the second time I helped with those and she had sent an e-mail to both of us in order to share the address, but I hadn’t sent anything in all this time, which made this even more awkward. But she answered Wednesday to say that she could even come the next day, around noon, though the fact that I only saw that reply at night and told her it should be after 3 PM made the idea fall through. Still, she then said she’ll try Friday, or if not then Monday, and will call first. So, after the extra day meant dad also had the time to get those we had stored elsewhere back in, so I could add them to the bags, yesterday I waited for that call, or even for someone to come directly, around 3 PM. But nothing happened, and since my plan was to go out after handing those over, I left at 4:20 PM, and at the moment it seems the whole thing was rescheduled for Monday. It is of some concern that she said she didn’t give any sign yesterday because she didn’t feel well, so I said we may leave it for another time in that case, but she said she has some business in the area Monday anyway, though she’d prefer an earlier time, so let’s see what will happen.

The first thing needed yesterday was food for Liza again, since dad is letting her stuff herself like this, but with the price having increased at Auchan, I still had no reason to go back there and instead meant to go to that pet shop near that other Kaufland, also get to that pharmacy for dental floss on the way, and also check out the Carrefour from that area… But then I decided to do things the other way around, going to that Carrefour first in order to keep going after that and check out that recycling center I took plastic bottles and aluminum cans to back in September, to see whether it’s open again. After that, meant to also have a look at the new Kaufland which recently opened just there, then go to the other one and that pet shop, meaning that I was going to get back late, likely too late to even catch that pharmacy still open on my way back.
That proved to be a very good idea, because that kind of cat food was actually on sale at Carrefour, even though the on-line catalog didn’t mention it. The discount was small, only meaning that it was at what used to be the regular price at Auchan, but anything helps, and there were exactly 50, so I got all of them, though we’d normally get 20 to 30 at once. And that meant I no longer needed to go to that pet shop, so I had more time, and I got what I wanted to get from there first. Dad had also mentioned eggs, and I saw some with a big discount, so I got 20 of those as well, also another bag of cat litter, since that was also still on sale, the discounted peppers I had mainly gone there for, dad wanting some, some onions, which I knew should also be discounted now, some garlic, which wasn’t discounted but which dad had asked me to get anyway… And dental floss, which was also at a significant discount, also unannounced in the on-line catalog, so I had no need to go to that pharmacy either. Also got two cabbages, which were discounted, also without the discount having been announced, but which showed up at a higher price when I placed them on the scales. Asked an employee and he didn’t seem to know what was going on, tried it himself, checked, eventually asked another one over and was told the updated price will be applied at checkout, and that did indeed happened, and I also checked the price before that myself and saw that the scanner showed the lower price, even if the higher one was actually printed on the receipt. Then I also added a pack of those wheat things I hadn’t bought in a long time, since those were also discounted, even if the discount meant a price that was still higher than they used to be back when I was buying them, and some expiring biscuits, so it’ll all add up to a certain amount.
The problem I had at that point was that I hadn’t planned to stay there so long, and after drinking two cups of tea before leaving, I was just about to piss myself. Fortunately, didn’t have to wait at checkout, though I made myself wait after being checked out in order to put the stuff in bags and then drop it all in the one cabinet of the largest size that actually had a key, and then also returned to get the boxes the cat food had been in, since I had left them there after putting it all in a bag, and drop them off in a recycling bin. I didn’t even try to make it to a toilet stall after that, using a urinal because it was a few steps closer, and it sure was a relief that I even made it that far.
After that, left everything in that cabinet, went out, tried to see whether there was a more direct way to get around that mall… And caught a spiderweb. Since I’m trying to not touch my face, and also obviously had a mask on, even if nearly everyone else was keeping theirs off outside, that made it harder to even try to get rid of it, or to try to check whether the spider had ended up on me as well, but I just kept going, realized I couldn’t go through there, turned around and went the way I knew, reaching that Kaufland without any other issues. The one problem was that, other than just to check out the relatively new location, I had no reason to go there anymore, since spending all that time at Carrefour meant it was about 6:30 PM or so when I passed by that recycling center and it closes at 6 PM, so I couldn’t figure out whether it had opened again at all by now or not.
Either way, I was there, so I had a look through that new place and got frustrated with the large touchscreen things they have instead of the regular price checkers, since when I tried to use one to check the store map it took it about a minute to display it and then a similar amount of time, if not even more, to switch back to price checking mode, and it still takes several seconds for a price to show up, which seems to be the rule with Kaufland’s price checkers. But I was mainly there for the particularly cheap cornmeal, even if it’s not a good kind, so I got four bags of that, some bagels, some batteries for the kitchen remote, since we recently noticed that the ones in it are leaking, a bucket of yogurt which had an unannounced discount, and one bread. That kind of bread that I get from Carrefour was again at half price over there, but all of it was also again sliced, so I couldn’t get any and there were two of those that I can get from Kaufland left, and I just got one. That was a bit awkward though, since a while ago they gave up on the idea of keeping people away from the bakery area and having employees serve them, the person before me had just told the employee that there were no gloves left and she had placed some more there, but I didn’t use one, trying to just grab the bread with the paper bag directly, without actually touching it, which was obviously difficult, and the employee noticed me and told me to stop doing that with my bare hands and use a glove.
Just had two pretty small bags left, one of them already quite torn and the other flimsy, and the cloth one I use for bread, and just put the bread in that one and kept being worried that the cornmeal will tear the one I had it in on the way back, but it fortunately didn’t. So I got back to that Carrefour, but decided to first put the new purchases in that same cabinet and have another look inside, to see whether any unsliced bread had appeared, or whether anything interesting showed up among the expiring things. But there was no more of that bread at all at that hour, nor anything else interesting in that spot, yet I was just over 2 RON short of 100 RON spent on the things not purchased for myself, and dad had mentioned considering adding squash to what he means to cook tomorrow, so I got two small ones as well, then finally grabbed everything out of that cabinet, spent some time trying to figure out how to carry everything and arranging the stuff better, then finally made my way out. Meant to use one of those dispensers placed near the mall’s exit to rub some disinfectant on my hands before leaving, but it didn’t seem to work, so I just checked the time, seeing 8:31 PM, and started on my way back.
I had managed to stuff the cornmeal in that cloth bag, and since I also had the bagels and bread in there, it meant I kept a good five kilograms off my hands. Then tried to balance everything else, at first leaving that mall with the bags held in my hands, but quickly stopping to do what I did last time, hanging some from my wrists. The problem was that, in order to balance the weight easily, I needed the bucket of yogurt to be in the same hand with the eggs and cat litter, and hanging it on my wrist alongside the eggs meant I risked crushing the eggs with it, so I stopped again, at the first free bench after getting back to the actual park, stuffed a few small things in my pockets or that cloth bag and moved the yogurt to the other arm, keeping the eggs safe but ending up with an unbalanced weight. Eventually moved the yogurt off my wrist as well, since the handle was too tight on it, but then I took it slowly and got back here relatively well, a little after 9 PM, despite carrying what when I got back I saw was a total of 23 kg, actually only stopping one more time, after crossing the road after exiting the park, using the opportunity to switch bags around so they’ll hit my leg a little less. There was a somewhat awkward moment when I was close to the end of the trip though, since I heard someone behind me as I was about to pass in front of this Mega Image and slowed and stepped aside to let her pass, since the bags might have blocked the sidewalk otherwise, and she asked if what I was carrying wasn’t too heavy and whether I wanted her to help me, then saying that she really would help me when I refused, and again if I was sure I didn’t need help. I was almost here at that point, of course, and she looked to be just as thin as I am too, but it was nice of her to offer.

Otherwise, Tuesday morning I again kept waking up, and at 10:37 AM I received a message notifying me that the replacement phone will arrive that day. Went back to bed after that and thought I was still awake at 12:50 PM, this being the second time I had woken up again after that message, but that was when I thought I heard the UPS activate, which I assumed was for a battery test, since the sound seemed to last for more than a couple of seconds and it wasn’t beeping. But that sound wasn’t going away after ten seconds either, so I turned the monitor back on to check and saw that it wasn’t active at all, making me think that perhaps I had fallen asleep yet again, or was about to, and in that state between asleep and awake I thought I heard things that weren’t really happening.
Either way, it meant I hadn’t fallen asleep again yet when, a bit after 1 PM, there was a call, the delivery guy telling me to open because he had already rang the intercom. I told him I expected to be called before he showed up and to give me a moment, hung up, threw the pajama top off, ran to turn the intercom on and open the building door just as it was no longer ringing, saw dad with his pants down as well, just changing, and trying to hide himself in the living room, but I unlocked one of the locks, told him to unlock the other if it’s still locked and ran back to my room, to change my pants as well, throwing them on without underwear before the guy got to the door and I went there to open it. What’s odd is that this new phone’s screen seems to have a smudge in the same spot the old one did, and I’m also seeing that the last few digits of the serial number listed in the service document differ from those listed on the store’s site. I actually haven’t yet checked which, if any, is the correct one, and I really should, but at least so far it’s working, and it also deals much better with the SIM card. It’s the exact same model and the old one had supposedly had its software updated as well, but it had always required importing contacts from the SIM card, never reading them directly or saving to it, while this one does that just fine.

Wednesday I had a really hard time falling asleep in the morning, possibly after the nap taken Tuesday evening, but I finally managed to at some point after 7 AM, maybe around 7:30 AM, woke up to pee at 11:25 AM, got back to sleep… And was woken up with a start by dad clinking things in the kitchen while making a salad, just after 1 PM, and when I drowsily made my way there he shouted a hello right in my face that made me freeze. Wanted to tell him to choke on it but couldn’t, couldn’t even move for several seconds, while he was saying that’s how you do it, not sneaking in or being quiet, but making sure you’re heard, that your presence is known. And then, when I could move again and picked up the bag with Liza’s food from where he had left it, he also told me to stop putting things right and in their place, so he’ll be able to just grab them again when needed. I just wandered away to the bathroom, wondering what the fuck had just happened. Then, in the evening, barely managed another brief nap, of less than half an hour, while he kept making noise in the kitchen while cooking something else. Was already awake again when he called me to find some receipts for him though.

I guess that already falls under odds and ends, but there are others as well. There’s the huge black cockroach I saw in the kitchen when I went back there after eating Tuesday night, losing it under the cabinet. Then there’s the fact that I timed the squats again Thursday, the time being 2:16, and that I finally played some more Lionheart before eating that night and used an autosave after forgetting to enable searching again after selling stuff, so I hit traps a pretty nasty battle plus the slow trip back to sell and return after the previous save and didn’t feel like doing all of that again, so I hope nothing got messed up, since I tend to never trust autosaves. And the last thing is that, after carrying so much in the evening, last night I only got in bed at 5:20 AM and was up before 1 PM today, likely awake for the last time around 12:30 PM, and didn’t sleep well in between either.