Cav's Place

The plan for this week’s personal post was to start with the rest of the day of the marathon, picking up where I left off, and then continue with November’s runs, since I’m yet to post about any of them. But that’d have pretty much meant making a decision about the odds and ends left from August and September, with the exception of September 12 to 16, because continuing to ignore them had at some point to mean deciding to not post about them at all. So, even though the runs are, even for myself, likely the most relevant part of these posts, I decided to delay writing about those yet again and at least finish with August and September, with the exception of the hospitalization.

I’ll start with September though, quickly going through September 1, when I made and ate pasta in the evening, then also ate what was left on the pot after dad made himself mamaliga, finishing after midnight, and then started eating dinner at 3:25 AM. But the reason why I’m starting with September is that on September 3 I picked up the kit for the half marathon, and while I wrote about that day, I had so far skipped this. And there were also no visits recorded in either view on September 3, which is another thing to make a note of.
To start from the beginning, I got up at 1 PM and left at 2:40 PM, got there at 3:50 PM and saw the area where kits were to be picked up right away, but when I tried to go there I was asked for the bracelet and told that I had to first go all the way to the entrance at the other end to receive it. So I kept walking until another guard turned me away and told me to go around the fence, and I finally found those giving bracelets there, one checked that I was vaccinated and I was given one, and was told to keep it on until the race. Then I tried to keep going, but that direction was for the unvaccinated, to get tested, so I got told to go right, around the fence, but after just coming from there, I got confused and went left, around another fence. After being turned away again, I went all the way back, picked up the t-shirt and kit and checked what was in the bag, finding that the protein bar was squashed, there was no sponge and also no running magazines. Then I wandered around a bit, considered buying an energy bar but decided against it, and eventually went back to where I had seen that NGO I had chosen to run for, wrote myself down on their list and received a t-shirt from them, said I was unsure whether I’ll wear it, talked a bit, grabbed a biscuit at the end and was out of that area at 4:20 PM. Then I went to the Carrefour from Unirii, finding a bag of mostly good bananas among the spoiling ones and buying it, not being charged for the bag itself, and got back at 5:55 PM, after quickly checking the price of green onions at this nearby store.
After putting the whites, along with the t-shirt from the NGO, in the washing machine, having another banana, wolfing down a sizable lunch, finishing the book, hanging the whites to dry, putting in the reds, along with the official t-shirt, and starting the washing machine again, I went back out at 8:10 PM. Got to Kaufland at 8:35 PM, peed and washed my hands, but saw no bakery discounts yet, so I grabbed a number of other things that did have evening discounts. As I was looking through a crate of potatoes, a guy was looking through another, then moved it and saw that mostly large ones were in the bag that was in the one underneath, while those in the crates on top were small, so he used his keys to cut open the bag and I did the same, moving the crate I was searching through and the empty one underneath, cutting the bag in the next one in the same manner and getting large ones, like dad wants. And I learned how to no longer struggle to open such bags. Either way, I then checked the bakery area again, but only some buns had a discount sticker and it was well past 9 PM, so I also got some olives and went to the self-checkout… Only for the announcement that bakery products were 50% off to come while I was there, at almost 9:30 PM. And the machine asked me to place the correct product after I placed the watermelon on the scales, probably because I had left it in the bag, which added a little to the weight, but an employee was watching me and came right away to log on, scan it again and let me keep going. But I wanted to look at the bakery products too, so I stuffed everything in a cabinet, washed my hands again and went back in to grab a couple of those as well, having no issues with the self-checkout that time, and being out of there a bit before 9:45 PM.
On the way back a guy, possibly drunk, called to me as I was walking towards him, got in my way when I meant to ignore him, told me to come over a couple of times and tried to grab me, ending up jabbing me quite hard in the right side of my abdomen as I dodged and kept going, relieved that he didn’t follow. Since I was carrying some 16 kg, running away wouldn’t have exactly been an option, but as it was, I was back at 10:20 PM. Then I had the day’s third banana and the sweet pastry I had bought, wrote the quick review, washed the garbage can, which had been in the bathtub, and showered. There were still things to do after that, however, so it was around 1:45 AM when I started making the salad and 3:15 AM when I started eating dinner. Then I checked that quick review and translated it, for the version on Goodreads to be in both English and Romanian. Otherwise, felt irregular heartbeats both during the day and at night, forgot to take that iron supplement I was taking at the time, and got in bed at 5:20 AM.

One last thing left to mention about September, with the exception of the hospitalization, is that in the early moments of September 11 there was a dangerous moment in the kitchen. I had placed the beets in the oven and after a while turned it down and then heard a click and it sounded as if it was cooling, and when I checked the flame was out and I smelled gas, so I opened the window and moved it for a while, then carefully turned the oven back on, being able to finish baking those beets without it happening again. It was a sign of things to come, however, as since then it’s been turning itself off more and more regularly unless it’s turned up to a level that burns pretty much anything we put there unless we’re very careful and occasionally open the door to lower the temperature. The very good news is that it was the only time it smelled of gas, as since then it just turns itself off completely, the safety mechanism kicking in either right away if we try to start it without turning it up to a high enough level or maybe a minute or so after turning it down if we try that after starting it at a high level. I’m thinking that something probably dripped in there when dad cooked, so maybe taking it apart and cleaning that area would solve the problem, but it has other issues as well and my parents are talking about replacing it as soon as they’ll be able to afford to, so let’s see how that will go. Either way, to get back to the early hours of September 11, it was 5:30 AM when I went to bed.

Now I’ll get back to the oldest days I’m yet to write about, starting with the early hours of August 14, when I went to the kitchen late and just failed to make up for that time, starting to eat dinner at 3:05 AM, and that was after having lunch rather early that evening. But it’s the evening of August 14 that I have details about, since I went out a bit before 7:30 PM, meaning to take advantage of an even better deal for Micky’s and Rocky’s food, dad also agreeing to it then. But in the Mega Image across the road there were just four cans of one of the kinds Micky eats, and one was badly banged up, and I didn’t care to stand in line for just three. But I did buy the five of that same kind I found in the Shop & Go on that street. Then I decided to go to the larger Mega Image from the area after all, though the initial plan had included just Carrefour and Kaufland, and maybe the Mega Image next to the pharmacy on the way back. And I also stopped in another Shop & Go on the way, getting the rest of that kind of food for Micky, giving the cashier 13.06 RON, to get 0.60 RON back, but having her ask for 12.50 RON, take all the coins as well but still just give a 0.50 RON one as change. She asked what did I say when I mentioned I needed 0.10 RON more, so I repeated myself, but then muttered in annoyance, and at that point embarrassment, and left… Only to just find eight cans for Rocky at that larger Mega Image, and still none of that other kind for Micky. So I got those eight, then also checked the one next to the pharmacy and the one next to the farmers’ market on the way to Carrefour, but they had neither, the one next to the market in fact just having a total of four cans left, of a different kind.
I was in Carrefour at 9 PM, which was when I meant to be in Kaufland, but that couldn’t be helped, so I got what I meant to get from there, though I forgot to use the 10 RON code I had… And what I bought included cheese, which they just put in a bag, which caused a problem later. But at least that time I wasn’t charged for the bag, unlike the previous time I bought some of that cheese, admittedly from the Carrefour from Unirii. Either way, I then considered coming back, because of the watermelon, especially since the bag I had it in is torn on one side and was tearing more as I got going, so I had to make sure to keep it on its other side, but I still also went to Kaufland after all, getting there at 10:05 PM, struggling a little to put everything in a cabinet, washing my hands and then making use of evening discounts for two bakery products and some more green onions, plus what I had meant to get, which included that month’s National Geographic… And as I was rearranging everything in the bags and backpack, I threw the cheese in the bag with the magazine for a moment, and when I pulled it back out I realized that the brine from it had leaked, so all I could do just then was move the cheese to another bag and hope that the magazine would still be readable. Then, after stopping again outside to check that I had everything, I was finally walking away from Kaufland at 10:55 PM… And I caught at least one more spiderweb on the way, and around the hospital entrance too, where I didn’t want to stop and put the bags down to brush it off, so I’m not sure whether parts of it were still on me after I did stop to try to brush it off, a bit later, or I caught yet another before getting back.
Either way, I got back at 11:30 PM, having carried 17 kg, including everything, and while the backpack helped, that 8.2 kg watermelon made it harder than it would have been otherwise. And then I spent quite some time prying apart the pages of the magazine, since that brine was drying and they were sticking together badly, so it was getting quite seriously damaged and risked becoming impossible to read. As it was, I just managed to keep it readable. It looked bad and some pictures were quite seriously damaged, but only the last page was impossible to pry apart from the back cover in any decent way and ended up torn and unreadable, and there’s nothing to read there. But another issue was that I had to post what I posted that evening by midnight, since it was Saturday and I hadn’t posted anything that week, and I just barely managed to do so after finishing with the magazine and hanging it to dry. Then I drank the tea and had two plums and the pastry I had grabbed, with added jam, and it was 1:15 AM when I went to shower, not even going to the toilet. And I still had things to do after getting out, at 1:45 AM, so it was 2:40 AM when I started making salad, 3:55 AM when I started eating and 5:30 AM when I got in bed. My right foot was burning again, though at least the feeling didn’t spread higher on the leg, and when I got back and decided to check I saw a blood oxygen level of just 94%.

Moving on to the early hours of August 16, after again thinking I’ll manage to start eating dinner before 3 AM, I nevertheless ended up doing so at 3:10 AM, admittedly after having a large bag of corn puffs in the evening and lunch earlier. Also chased cockroaches, which were starting to roam out of the bathroom, killing one in front of the fridge and another in the kitchen but missing one in my room, which ran under the bookcase, so that was obviously worrying.
Getting to the afternoon, I left at 3:25 PM, first checking this larger Mega Image again, not finding any more of the food for Rocky nor that second kind for Micky, but finding an expiring pack of two nice cakes… Which I didn’t buy, since I was thinking of a long route, going to Obor. So I kept going, to the Mega Image near the clinic, also checking a Shop & Go on the way but not finding any of that cat food there. I did find 24 cans for Rocky at that one near the clinic, however, so I got all of them, as well as some biscuits that were on sale. And since that was the main goal, I then went back to the larger Mega Image from this area for those cakes, but hadn’t hidden them, in fact leaving them on top of the other expiring things, and by the time I got there again they were gone. That box actually seemed to be the only thing from that area which was no longer there, and definitely the only sweet thing, since I remembered the others and they were all still there. So I just went back out and got back here at 5:10 PM.
I was out again at 7:25 PM, however, grabbing the little plastic and metal which had gathered and dropping it off in a bin on the way and also taking tea with me again. Had done so the first time too, and only drank it before leaving this second time, then put the new tea in the bottle… And didn’t drink that either. But, returning to the chronological order of things, I first went to the Carrefour from the park, just finding two cheap eggs that didn’t have code three and also weren’t cracked… Or they didn’t seem cracked at first, since at checkout I noticed that one of them did have a little crack. And I also realized after I told the cashier that I just had two eggs, the word being the Romanian equivalent of balls in English, that it must have sounded weird, and she gave me a look, but there was nothing to do about it then, though I tried to mutter something about the others being all messed up. Either way, after forgetting about it two days earlier, that time the amount was far too low to use that 10 RON code I had.
Peed and washed my hands before leaving that mall, then went to Auchan, looking for bread, for the planned runs, and before going in I put the eggs in the sturdy bag I had and then carefully placed them in my backpack, so I won’t have to deal with the guard and maybe have another awkward moment. Didn’t find that kind of bread though, and in fact I think just two kinds, both white, were still unsliced, and there wasn’t much left in general, the employees in the bakery area already cleaning. So I just bought vinegar, again having to use a regular checkout because those using machines had closed by that hour. And nobody said anything about the backpack, though I had the tea in it as well, so the weight was obvious, but I did just put the bags, which I had taken out before going inside, back in it while standing in line, then put the vinegar on top of them, so it could be seen that I had empty bags in there… At least on top…
That wasn’t the end of it, however, since I also went to that newer Kaufland… And when I was placing my stuff in a cabinet an older man came to retrieve his, and I tried to hurry, just taking a few seconds, but he was waiting for me, keeping the distance, and muttering that I was so slow. Then I peed and washed again, found no bread left for myself but grabbed two bakery products that had the evening discount and an expiring bread for dad, plus three lemons, finding them at a price that’d normally be high but which at that point meant quite a discount compared to the very high prices they otherwise had at the time. Also meant to get another discounted bundle of green onions, and returned for it when I realized I had left it somewhere, but then saw what seemed to be a discount on some ice cream I was thinking of getting, so I dropped the onions back in their place… Only to scan that ice cream and find that there was no discount after all, so I just went with those few other things to the self-checkout… And the screen flickered and it didn’t accept the lemons as the correct product, so I had to ask for help… And then had to do so again when that expiring bread wouldn’t scan, the discount sticker being placed so I could find no way to keep it straight, despite trying for quite some time… Only for the employee to just scan it right away. And putting together that with the fact that I had also told the guard what I was struggling with, the issue with that older guy, and the embarrassment from Carrefour, meant that my brain rather disconnected. And I was also surprised when the machine registered 0.66 RON as having been paid when I selected to pay, so somebody must have dumped them in the coins slot and it hadn’t spat them out.
With my mind in that state, I couldn’t remember whether I had grabbed the 1 RON bill I should have received as change, so after washing my hands again, since I was sticky after touching a discounted jar of jam, realizing why it was discounted once I did, I stopped outside to count what I had left, then kept trying to calculate how much I should have, struggling with it for quite some time on the way back, until I knew it was fine. And I also tried to find that slightly shorter route through the park, which was definitely not recommended when I was in that state, so I ended up taking even longer instead, being back at 11:10 PM. Then I had the sweet pastry I had grabbed and it was just after midnight when I went to shower, being there for half an hour, and since I started making mamaliga after that, it’s quite something that I just managed to start eating just before 3 AM. And there was a brief power failure while I was in the kitchen as well, though it only lasted for 20 seconds. It was 5:25 AM when I got in bed, however.

Moving on to the early hours of August 18, there was another brief power failure while I was in the kitchen, at 2:07 AM. It only lasted ten seconds, but the power strip the living room TV was plugged into no longer worked that evening and I wondered whether the previous night’s failure had anything to do with that, so that new failure made me worry about other things breaking, the first reason for concern obviously being the fridge. Fortunately, everything seemed fine, and I started eating dinner in my room at 3:30 AM, though while in the kitchen I had licked a fair bit of sour cream off the thing I had purchased it in after moving all I could, and had also had lunch in the evening.
As for the evening of August 18, I was getting worried that I might have had too many fluids, and after doing the leg exercises I was doing at the time and keeping my legs up for a while, something seemed to be in my chest too, making me try to cough at night, and the health concerns I had meant that something I’d have hardly paid attention to before made me worry of pulmonary edema as well, and the swelling also seemed to have spread higher on my right leg, though the foot was less swollen than before, oddly enough. And I meant to go to bed a bit earlier but it was still 5:20 AM when I did, after cleaning the litter box just then… Only for one of the cats to go again soon after that and apparently not even bury the shit, since dad also had to clean it when he got back from work.

Back to how I was feeling at the time, I actually felt quite well after the run on August 23, and my feet also looked fine during the evening and night, though that shouldn’t have been surprising, after also walking a fair bit that evening. However, at 7:30 AM on August 24 I was again woken up by that odd feeling in my arms, decided to get on the computer and spent an hour winning another battle from the Fantasy General expansion. After that, I wrote some more notes about the previous day, got back in bed at 8:55 AM… And even though that feeling had gone away shortly after getting on the computer, it was a long time until I managed to get back to sleep and a short one until I woke up again, that feeling having returned. And then I just tossed and turned, only getting up after dad left, at 11:45 AM… When, oddly enough, I finally started feeling sleepy. I did try to get some more sleep in the afternoon, but shortly after I managed to fall asleep dad got back and I got up. Then I had lunch in the evening and went back to bed after dad left, getting back up at 12:55 AM. However, after spending quite some time dealing with some more of the radishes bought the day before, using some of the leaves in the salad, I only started eating dinner at 3:55 AM, and got back in bed at 5:25 AM.

On the morning of August 25, I got up to pee after dad got back and before he left again for a while, and we briefly talked about the cat food we were looking for then, which he hadn’t found at the Mega Image he had checked, being told that it had been delivered but not placed on the shelves yet, those employees coming in later. And before 8:15 AM I was awake again, got up and left at 9:20 AM, but didn’t go to that location he had checked. The thing is that all cat food not otherwise discounted was 30% off at Mega Image that day, and those medium bags of that kind of food had been 20% off for the week ending on that day, so I checked and saw that the 20% discount remained for those bags, while the large ones had the 30% discount, but oddly enough had a sufficiently higher base price that they remained more expensive for the same quantity. So we shouldn’t have waited until that day. But we did, so I first checked the larger Mega Image from the area, but the specific type we want of that kind of cat food seemed to be the only one missing. Then I went to the one that’s near the clinic, finding just three of that type, though there were again more of the others, so I even asked an employee and he said that they only had what was on the shelves, but hadn’t received all of it, so maybe they’ll get more later that day. Not that it helped me, since I couldn’t exactly stand around and wait, so I bought those three and an expiring raw vegan cake, then wondered where to go next, eventually deciding on the location that’s next to the pharmacy. Walked past Kaufland on the way, without going in, but did quickly check two Shop & Go and two small Mega Image locations I saw, finding no bags of that type in any of them, though in one Mega Image I found a 0.50 RON coin.
However, once I got to my destination I found just the three more bags I wanted, reaching past the older woman who was looking at them at the time and grabbing them, saying out loud that they were just the three I wanted. But I turned back after a few steps, to have another look while wondering whether I should give a bag to that woman and get one of the other type that Micky ate at one point for us. But she was holding a bag of that other type, seeming to be looking at that kind of food in general, and she looked up and asked which ones the 30% discount applied to. So I explained it to her, including the fact that the medium bags that it didn’t apply to still ended up being cheaper than the large ones that it did apply to, and she took a medium bag of some other type. Then, after purchasing those three bags, walking past the pharmacy and around the corner and seeing another older woman who seemed to be looking for something in that area, I realized I could grab some grass for Micky as well, finding some that hadn’t dried out in the shade of a car and spending some time discarding the other weeds and dry parts. Then I went to the farmers’ market, not getting anything since I didn’t find cheap enough apples or corn, and also had a quick and pointless look in the Mega Image next to it. And on the way back I stopped again to check my bags, wondering how that cake was faring and whether the bag with the grass had come loose, and it had, so I discarded some more dry bits and tied it again, then noticed that the cake had started leaking, softening in the heat, so I took it out and carried it in my hand the rest of the way.
Got back a bit after 12:45 PM, had that cake and watermelon, showered, then meant to get some more sleep… Only to wake after about an hour, at 4:30 PM, needing to pee, and moments later that neighbor started drilling again. It didn’t last long, and I hoped to get back to sleep, but after a while he did it again. It was again only for a moment, and then I actually did nap for a few minutes… Until he did it yet again, at 5 PM, and I got frustrated and started reading, not getting back to bed… Even though that was the last time he did it. Either way, I had lunch in the evening and started eating dinner at 3:25 AM.

And the last day I’ll include in this post is August 29 when, after that rough awakening, I eventually went out a bit after 6:15 PM, taking the plastic and metal and the stuff I take to Kaufland. I first checked Carrefour, finding that bread I get from there still discounted and unsliced, but didn’t want to wait in line twice and didn’t know what I’ll find in Kaufland, so I hid two behind some quite expensive other kind and went to Kaufland, where I first waited for a while for a woman who was arranging a lot of purchases in bags right in front of the recycling bins, taking the opportunity to wash my hands during that time. Then I found evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, but not for bakery products, and in fact there were very few bakery products or even sliced bread left, and I later noticed that all freezers were empty and seemed off, so something rather strange was going on. But I made use of the evening discounts that were available for quite a few things, and also got one 11 kg watermelon, a weekend discount applying to that and seeming good enough that I didn’t even try to look for a smaller one. Then I added the few other things I meant to get and made sure it was past 8 PM when I got to the self-checkout, in case the discounts would increase, which actually happened for some of the products.
I was back in Carrefour at 8:20 PM and went straight to the spot where I had hidden that bread, finding it still there even though the three expensive ones I had hidden it behind were gone. So I grabbed it again… Only to then see some of that other kind which they seemed to have started baking around that time, though I’m quite sure it hadn’t been there the first time I looked, so I got one of those and only kept one of the two I had initially hidden, putting the other one back in its proper place. Then I also got two breads for dad, a tea and some more onions, to get the total to exceed 10 RON and finally be able to use that code, actually getting to 10.01 RON on the first try, with the onions I picked before weighing them.
After standing in line for a while, I took a fair bit of time to try to arrange the purchases in the bags and backpack, the watermelon being the big problem, and it was past 8:50 PM when I walked out of that mall… Only to stop again right away, at a bench, and spend a couple more minutes to try to arrange things a bit better. And then I thought to hang the other two bags on my arms and carry the one with the watermelon in both hands, but one of the bags was dangling a lot, kept hitting and unbalancing me, and I soon had to give up on that idea and return to holding the bag with the watermelon in one hand and the other two in the other. And the backpack was also unbalanced, which caused one of the rope straps to dig into me, getting worse as time passed. Still, I managed, getting back at 9:25 PM, having carried a total of 23 kg.
I was in the kitchen until around 12:30 AM, putting things in their place, slicing the bread for dad and handling mine as well, but also eating a banana and a late lunch, finished after midnight. Then I showered and got back there at 1:15 AM, but spent some time talking to dad at that point, only starting to make the salad at 2 AM. And, after taking some more time to also mix some things, it was 3:55 AM when I started eating dinner, and 5:30 AM when I got in bed. Felt some more irregular heartbeats that night.

And of course I’m again doing what I’ve been doing lately, posting the first part, about September, when I could get on-line in the evening and then editing to add the rest later. But at least that was more relevant, the edits just adding what’s left from August, which is quite a lot but doesn’t include anything important… And the first edit, made while eating that night, just included August 14, the second, posted before going to bed the following night, including August 16 to 24, while the last part was written Tuesday evening and posted when I got on-line that night, so in the early hours of Wednesday, at which point I also changed the time to 11:59 PM, maybe as a small indication that this wasn’t finished when it was posted.