Cav's Place

On January 5, I got up after the alarm rang, at 1 PM, but after waking up the second time a little after 12:30 PM and deciding against going to pee again, I’m not sure if I managed to get back to sleep, and if I did, it was only for one or two very brief naps. Then I had the usual stuff, with the apple being a really tasty bio (organic) one and the sweet thing consisting of some nicer but expired biscuits, with added honey. On the other hand, after complaining that, on December 31, which should have been the last day of the campaign, I had attempted to take 50 RON in coins to Carrefour one more time but had been told, in two locations, that the campaign had already ended, I had received a message stating that they’ll be waiting for me at Obor in order to change those coins and also give me that gift card, so I asked for confirmation that what will happen was exactly what should have happened on December 31 and received it… But I also received a notification from Emsisoft, stating that my supposedly inactive device was going to be removed, since they had apparently introduced automatic removals of inactive devices, but that “inactive” device is actually my computer, since I’m managing to avoid connecting it to the “workspace”, so I asked them to not remove it, not knowing what would happen if it would be removed, and the initial reply tried to convince me that the “inactive” device was a different device and I must have another subscription for the active one. Things were sorted out a couple of days later, when they said that, following feedback, they disabled that “feature”, but at that point I was quite concerned. Still, I had to run that day, so I left at 3:45 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was about 15°C, dropping by a few degrees by the time I finished.
The time was 48:09.82, with sector times of 4:10.41, 5:17 (5:16.63), 5:51.84, 4:33 (4:32.13), 5:03.22, 5:59 (5:58.84), 4:33.31, 5:05 (5:04.85), 5:47 (5:46.84) and 1:51.75, making for lap times of 15:18.88, 15:35 (15:34.19) and 15:25.00. I gave everything from the start, hoping for another really fast first sector, to knock all of those with 4:08 out of the top ten, and what I managed was very disappointing, and in fact even concerning. Admittedly, I did need to squeeze through two roadblocks, one of them on the long straight, but without those I’d have probably only managed yet another 4:08, if even that. Either way, I then expected to be slow on sector two, since I had to recover, but that time was a little worse than I thought it’d be and even staying on the pace for 48 minutes on that first lap seemed unlikely. In the end, I just managed it, but it was clear that I won’t keep that up, so I was hoping to at least stay under 48:30, yet when lap two seemed to pretty much ensure that, I even wondered whether I could really push on lap three and get under 48 minutes after all. But that was next to impossible to begin with, and sector one of lap three made it clear that I had no chance, yet I still did my best, pushing even harder on sector three of lap three and actually managing a good time on that sector, though I only saw that at the end, since I didn’t check the time at the end of the lap. So it was another poor time, but at least the least poor one since November.
It was crowded, so I had to weave and go the long way around quite a lot, and a number of times, including those two from the first sector, I slowed in order to squeeze through or even wait for an opening in a roadblock, but the one brief stop was on sector three of lap one and it was caused by a dog that was off the leash and got right in my way. And there seemed to be a few moments when my heart once again felt a little weird, but maybe I was paying too much attention to that, especially after pushing so hard on the first sector, and I didn’t actually feel irregular heartbeats. And that was pretty much it; I wouldn’t say that there were other problems and even the lane was more usable than it usually is. I guess that I might have just squeezed under 48 minutes if it wouldn’t have been crowded, but that’s no excuse.

After having lunch, I left again a little before 6:15 PM, to actually take the book back to the Library, which had to be open again, but also taking the coins and the used batteries. I had dad’s metro card, which still had to be shown everywhere, and I got to the Library in half and hour, handing that book to someone and then deciding to look for another one after all, even if it was close to closing time. However, the title that was in my mind was that of one that I already read, so that was what I told the other guy when he asked whether I was looking for something, and handed him the Library pass, and what I searched for and then took when I spotted it, while he was still searching on the computer. So I ended up borrowing the wrong book and only realized it days later.
With that wrong book in the backpack, I returned to the metro station, actually going to the booth where I thought cards could be replaced and saying that it wasn’t being read anymore, but without actually asking for a replacement, and the person who was there didn’t mention the possibility, just telling me to go to the other booth, and when I did, that guy just opened the gate. So I continued with that card, getting off at Obor, going to that Carrefour and telling the people from the information desk what I was there for, and one of them, who was actually the same one I had talked to on December 31, called someone and said that the person with the complaint had arrived, and then she sent me to that central checkout. I also asked whether they had rechargeable batteries that day, but shrugged it off when I was told that they still didn’t and went in, finding someone waiting for me, and I handed over the coins and received the bill and the gift card and signed when I was asked to do so. Then I looked around the store and bought two cabbages, struggling to make them fit in the backpack, along with the book.
The initial plan was to then go straight to Penny, to use one of those discount vouchers, and I was pressed for time, needing to give the metro card back to dad before he’ll go to work, but I wanted to compare prices, so I decided to also check Kaufland, entering with the backpack and spotting deeply discounted bags of oranges that seemed to have had one removed from them, but the remaining ones looked good, so I grabbed three, and then I also saw two employees coming with some yogurts and placing additional discount labels on them. They did give the impression that they might have been discounting them in order to buy them themselves, but an old man started talking to them, and while they seemed to know him, I also had a look and saw that the discount was 85%, so even though those yogurts expired the next day, I took two. And then bakery discounts of 65% were announced, surprisingly early, and while the buns didn’t have discount labels yet, I took the regular labels, searched for a working price checker, since the one from the bakery area wasn’t working, and found that the discount applied to them as well. I hadn’t washed my hands and didn’t immediately spot gloves, but I just went for it and took some buns, with my hands as they were, after dropping the oranges and yogurts and the Penny catalog, where dad had marked and I had written what to look for… And then I apparently forgot to pick that catalog back up, but I remembered everything, and it no longer mattered just then anyway, since it was already clear that I’ll need to rush right back, so after also getting some beer for dad I looked around a little more.
At the self-checkout, at first the machine said that the buns weren’t the correct product, so I called over an employee and he checked and then logged on to override the error, but then the first bag of oranges gave the same error, so I called him over again and told him that it’ll probably give that error for each of the bags, since they’re not complete, and he logged back on and entered all of them, and also noticed and cleared the purchase of beer while he was there, so I didn’t have to call him over a third time after I was done. But as I was rushing to grab my purchases and let the next person use the machine, I threw everything into one bag and one of the handles tore when I picked it up, so I just freed the machine and then found a way to carry that bag out of that area, then put it on the cabinets that are before the exit, took the oranges out of it, since I could carry those bags separately, and tied that handle. And I was approaching the metro station when dad called to say that he was leaving, but I reached the station just in time, the metro arriving when I showed the card, so I was about to walk out of this station when dad called again, and I didn’t answer at first, thinking that he wanted to let me know that he was there. But he wasn’t, so I waited for him to call again and he said that he was still on the way, so I went a little farther, meeting him next to the church, giving him the metro card and quickly exchanging a few more words.
It was close to 8:55 PM when I got back here, with just about 17 kg, and I still had to go to Penny, so I dropped everything off and less than ten minutes later I was out again, rushing to Penny Titan and checking whether they had that cat food that dad keeps giving Liza, and buying for her regardless of the price if I don’t look for discounts, even though she still has plenty of the other kind that I used the vouchers I won last year for. Since it was also discounted those days, that was going to make up much or even most of the amount required in order to use that discount voucher, so if it’d have been sold out in that location, I’d have had to rush to the next one, but that was fortunately not the case, so I then started looking for the other products and trying to calculate how to exceed the required amount by as little as possible… Which took way too long, because I got confused and kept recalculating and making small changes even though I basically ended up replacing one product with two others that cost only a little less, and the previous total had exceeded that minimum amount by more than the difference, so it should have been clear, but I was getting ever more stressed as closing time was approaching and my brain wasn’t working anymore. But it was still a few minutes before 10 PM when I was finally convinced that everything was right and rushed to the checkout.
Well, everything was fine with the products and using that voucher, but I gave the cashier the bills and told him to wait because I had the coins as well, yet I had just given one and was digging the others out of my pocket when he closed the register, so I placed those remaining coins on the counter and took a 0.01 RON one that was already there, since I had rounded up, what I gave being 0.02 RON more than the actual total… But I ended up actually paying less, because the cashier left those coins on the counter, gave me the receipt, and then just put on his coat and walked out, leaving me alone in the store. I looked around and didn’t see anyone, not even a guard… So I retrieved those coins, then stopped at the cabinets for just a moment, only to arrange the purchases just enough to be able to carry them out, and when I walked out I saw the guard and that cashier chatting outside. Then I stopped a few steps away and arranged everything in the backpack. Since I had taken that cat food in a box, in order to make it easier to carry, I didn’t want to just throw that box in a garbage bin or, worse, simply leave it there, and I also didn’t want to turn back and use one of the recycling bins from Penny, so I took that with me as well, holding it in one hand and meaning to look for another recycling bin.
Moments later, I did end up leaving that box on a garbage bin, but only temporarily, because I decided to check that Mega Image as well, entering with the backpack. And I found some sausages that were discounted by 90% and took one box for dad, and an employee stared hard at me when I went towards that area, then walked away when I started looking, and then I saw her with other products, also discounted by 90%, at the checkout, and I hadn’t seen any of those products among the discounted ones, so I initially thought that I had missed something and rushed back, looking in another place as well and then just going back to the checkout when I still didn’t spot anything else. But when I saw the cashier put all of those products which had been purchased by her coworker in a basket and under the counter and then, as I added the sausages in the backpack, another employee, whom I had seen checking shelves with one of those machines that I think are used to generate those discount vouchers, came to the checkout with more deeply discounted products which I hadn’t seen, I got the distinct impression that I was bothering them while they were discounting products that were about to expire in order to buy them themselves, only those that they weren’t interested in being placed in that area. Either way, I then retrieved that box as well, putting it in a recycling bin quite some time later, when I finally reached one, even if that meant waiting for the next green light. And I also very quickly checked the nearby Mega Image, just entering with everything and then leaving again.
I was back for good at 10:45 PM, then I finished the fruit salad from my mother and also ate the last slice of that cake made by that friend of hers, did the day’s squats, in the kitchen, put some of the purchases in their place… And noticed that, before leaving, quite clearly when I grabbed my headphones, I had knocked down the miniature clay jug that Andra bought for me when she dragged me to a fair at one point. Fortunately, it didn’t break, though I’m not entirely certain that the rough spot on the bottom was there all along, so it’s possible that a tiny shard came off from that spot. But I had placed the first toenail lost because of running and the first white hairs I noticed on my head in it, and those were no longer there, and while I recovered the nail, the hairs must have gotten lost. Either way, it was 12:05 AM when I went to the toilet and to wash, being done a couple of minutes before 1 AM. Then I had a quick look on-line before going back to the kitchen, putting the remaining purchases in their place, eating a good part of some walnuts with pepper that I already had and putting the rest in the salad, so I got 850 calories just from those, and also washing what I had to wash. I started eating dinner at 3:10 AM, but still finished at 3:40 AM. And I’ll also mention here that the following night, so in the early hours of December 7, I received and redeemed Contraption Maker, along with its Wonderstructs and Battling Cards DLCs, though the message had been sent during the evening. They were given by that same guy who donates so much, after his Doc’s Intergalactic Clown School event.

In the early hours of January 12, I started eating dinner at 3:10 AM, but still finished at 3:40 AM, and had some more of the old peanut butter on some of the slices of bread. The alarm was set to ring at 1 PM, but I woke up when I think it was a little before 10:15 AM, though it might have been up to ten minutes later, since I checked the time twice and instantly forgot what I saw both times, and I doubt that I managed to get any more sleep after that. I didn’t hear noise just then, but something had probably woken me, because drilling started before I got back to my room, after peeing and having a quick look at what dad had brought in the morning, and while there weren’t only periods when there was just dull hammering but even a couple of quiet periods, and I tried to get back to sleep, I don’t think that I did. Or, if I managed it at all, I must have woken up again mere moments later. So, when I heard dad getting ready to leave, I checked the time again, saw that it was 12:45 PM, turned off the alarm and went to exchange a few words with him… And what was annoying was that the noise stopped not long after that, and didn’t restart until I left. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing being a slice of cozonac from my mother, with added honey, and left a little after 3:35 PM, wearing the running gear, an undershirt, another t-shirt, the shirt from the old training suit that I wear inside, the gloves, and that thing on my neck, pulled up on the way to the park, when I obviously also wore the jacket, keeping it tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was about 1°C, dropping to 0°C when I finished.
The time was 48:56.07, with sector times of 4:20.48, 5:13.09, 6:08.37, 4:36 (4:35.79), 5:10 (5:09.28), 6:01.37, 4:37.13, 5:08 (5:07.87), 5:56 (5:55.72) and 1:47 (1:46.97), making for lap times of 15:41.94, 15:47 (15:46.44) and 15:41 (15:40.72). Considering the cold, I was thinking that just staying under 50 minutes might just be acceptable, and I’ll be quite content with beating that 49:41 from December 4, yet after the first two sectors I was quite certain that I’ll cover the first lap in less than 15:30 and perhaps just give myself a chance to stay under 49 minutes. However, despite thinking that I had been pushing on sector three of lap one, that poor time made me think that even beating that 49:41 will be a struggle, so I pushed more on lap two and was somewhat relieved at the end of it, when it seemed like getting under 49:30 was pretty much certain. But that made me wonder whether I could do better after all, and while I briefly wondered about getting under 49 minutes once again, I quickly discarded that idea as impossible and meant to at least try to be no more than a minute slower than last week. And the first two sectors of lap three seemed to give me a pretty good chance, so I pushed on sector three of lap three, hoping to be more or less safe at the end of the lap. But when I saw that I had managed that, I wondered whether I still had enough in me for a really good final sector and somehow just squeeze under 49 minutes after all, so I pushed like crazy and actually made it with a few seconds to spare. Not that this is not, in itself, a bad time, but I’m quite content with it, considering the circumstances, and that good final sector, plus the fact that the only decent sector three of the day was on lap three, showed that I could have pushed harder.
The fact that the lane was rather frozen actually made it more usable, and there were just a handful of small patches of ice, but I did slip twice, slightly, on sector three of lap two and sector two of lap three. A light snowfall started at the end of sector two of lap one and it bothered me for the next few minutes, getting in my eyes, but on lap two it got even lighter and was no longer a problem. It picked up a little on lap three, once again bothering me a little, but not as much as on sector three of lap one, and the dark cloud it came with wasn’t quite dark enough to make me need to slow significantly in order to see the times, though I probably lost a little bit of time in order to do that, and I likely also lost a little time whenever I took off the glove in order to press the button and then put it back on, since I only kept it off on the final sector. But the relatively few people caused no notable problems and just occasional weaving and going the long way around, and physically I felt better than I expected, considering the cold. I did feel rather stiff at first and my lungs were starting to hurt before they got used to that cold air, but those problems went away quickly, and while my nostrils were tightening a little, it wasn’t a notable problem except on the final straight, when I pushed so hard, and I managed to get enough air even then.

Since I once again heard drilling when I got back to the building, I went up the stairs until I identified the source, on the sixth floor, also seeing the nice decorations on the fifth floor in the process. Then I ate a banana and lunch, changed my pants and left again when it was past 6:20 PM, dad just getting back to leave the metro card, which I still had to show everywhere, a few minutes earlier, before leaving again, saying that he was going to a neighbor for a drink. But I couldn’t have left earlier anyway, and dad had called to ask whether I needed him to get back a little sooner, so he had nothing to do with the fact that I left rather late.
Well, this time around it was too late, seeing as I wanted to return that book which I had borrowed by accident and get the correct one instead, but I reached that location of the Library around 6:50 PM and found that it was dark. The gate was still open, however, so I tried the door, but it was locked. I saw some activity at a side door and a girl who walked through the gate at that point went straight there, so I don’t know whether she worked there and had things to do after closing time or just knew what to do when you get there just before closing time, but one of the guys came to close the gate when I was just turning away from the door, so I rushed to him, asked to be allowed to leave and muttered, repeatedly, that I wanted to return a book but it seemed that they closed early. He said that it was five minutes before closing time, I said that I was at the door at 6:51 PM, and then he said that if I just wanted to return a book, I could give it to him, so I did that, without mentioning that I’d have liked to borrow one as well, since that quite clearly seemed to be out of the question. Then he took the book away, asking me to wait for him to confirm that it was returned, so I did that and a little later he came with a receipt.
Then I took the metro to Obor and first went to Auchan, getting the toothpaste for dad and some walnuts with pepper that were among the expiring products. But when I used the self-checkout, there was a message that I needed assistance, so I called over the employee and he sorted it out. However, those walnuts were of their own brand and 5% of the value should have therefore been placed on the store card, which didn’t happen, probably because they were expiring products and what showed up on the receipt was something generic, so the real discount was lower, but I didn’t comment, just putting the purchases in the backpack and continuing to that mall.
After quickly checking that bookstore, I entered Carrefour, with the backpack, and took two expiring products out of that huge pile, the roes actually being in the full cart that was next to the refrigerator, but I didn’t think that it was going to be a problem, and it wasn’t. Then I saw what seemed to be a wrong price for garlic, as if the first digit had fallen away, but I checked on the scales and confirmed that the listed price was correct, the reason for it becoming obvious when I actually looked at the garlic and saw how bad it was. But I had some time, so I stayed there for a while, selecting some that was still good enough, and since the employees had started making the bakery discounts a little earlier, that also meant that the bread that I get from there was discounted by the time I was done, so I got two. But those vouchers with 20% of the value applied to salty snacks again those days, so I wanted to get some more of those small bagels, and possibly also some corn puffs, but the bagels were not in the area where the signs were, so I asked an employee whether they were included and she didn’t know, telling me to see at the checkout, when it was going to be too late. So, before going to the self-checkout, with all of those and a few other products, plus some sweet pastries for my mother which had also been discounted by then, I asked the employees who were at that desk that’s in that area, and one checked on his phone and confirmed that they were included. I still paid for them separately, however, to make really sure. But the problem appeared later, when I scanned the corn puffs and saw a price that was higher than the listed one, so after scanning everything else I called over an employee and asked him to remove them and take them away, not bothering to say why I didn’t want them or asking for a price check, since I didn’t want them that much anyway.
Since I had the purchases from Carrefour in two bags, I just put those bags in a cabinet when I reached Kaufland, then washed my hands and entered the store with the backpack, at 9:35 PM. There weren’t many bakery products left, but there were only a few labels with discounted prices and the employee who was there was asking for another one to give her the new ones, since other customers were asking, so I scanned a couple of labels and also checked on those sheets of paper when they were brought, and since one more interesting product didn’t have a discount, I just took two regular buns, then got yogurt, some spoiling mushrooms, and some beer for dad, since it was heavily discounted those days. This probably wasn’t exactly a good idea, but before getting to the reason why I’ll also mention that the closing announcement came when I was either waiting in line at the self-checkout or even already using it, and I obviously needed to call employee to authorize the sale of beer. And then I had to try several times before the cabinet unlocked, but it eventually did and I arranged the purchases, walking out a little before 10:10 PM, though I then stopped one more time, to move two things which had been left in a bag into the backpack.
I got back at 10:45 PM, with a little over 13.5 kg, and saw that dad was taking a bath and the bathroom door was ajar, but I dropped the bags and backpack and took off my jacket and shoes before greeting him, and then going there and even knocking on the door when he didn’t reply. When he still didn’t reply, I entered… And found him sleeping in a bathtub that was almost completely full, with the water still running! So I woke him, at which point he turned off the water… And splashed some of it on the floor, but dismissed it when I pointed it out, and when I told him to release some of the water he told me to leave him alone because it was fine. And he sounded drunk, and this time around I could pick up on it, unlike that first time, when I was panicking and also had never seen him drunk before, or at least couldn’t remember any such occasion, so I didn’t even consider the possibility until after the fact. At least I arrived just in time to prevent him from flooding the place again. He later insisted that he had set an alarm and I had arrived just before it was supposed to ring, but that bathtub was moments away from overflowing and I didn’t hear any alarm just then.
Either way, I then put most of the purchases in their place, ate something sweet and those walnuts with pepper, so there were once again 850 calories just from those walnuts, cleaned a little in the kitchen, keeping myself busy for as long as possible, and it was past 12:10 AM, maybe closer to 12:15 AM, when I asked dad whether he was going to stay there any longer… And he said that he was and even asked why, though when I said that I’d like to wash as well he did get moving, finally coming out after a while… And just walking past the kitchen a couple of times, rather sheepishly, then saying bye and wanting to go to bed. At that point I asked whether he had too much to drink and he said “not exactly”, but I disagreed and reminded him that we should have talked about the next day, and also about money, as hard and annoying as that is, so he said that he’ll stay for another hour, but I wanted to wash, plus that a serious conversation with him seemed rather improbable at that point, so I just asked when did he plan to leave and, after he told me, whether he could do so later, so we’ll have time to talk before that. And he agreed to that, then fell asleep pretty much the moment he got in bed.
It was 12:30 AM when I went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, and then I mopped up some more water and moved a few things, walking out of the bathroom at 1:40 AM. Then I gathered my clothes which were hung to dry, cleaned a little after dad in the living room as well, and put the remaining purchases in their place, finally being done with those things at 2:30 AM, and then also dealing with one of my breads, so it wasn’t bad that I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:05 AM. On the other hand, while working on dinner, I heard two cracks that seemed to come from the freezer and sounded like plastic breaking, the first one being fainter and the second one being quite loud. I didn’t notice what it could have been, neither then nor later, but it made me worry about the fridge once again. Either way, I got in bed at 5:40 AM, and it took me a while to fall asleep, and after waking up to pee at 9:50 AM I couldn’t get back to sleep at all, even though there was only faint noise coming from that neighbor and dad only got up at noon, so I finally gave up and got up as well soon after that. But at least I got some more sleep in the evening.

After only starting to write in the evening and really struggling with it and taking breaks, just posting the parts about the two actual runs before midnight was all that I could do, leaving the parts about the rest of these two days for some other time. And it was only in the early hours of Thursday that I managed to post the part about the rest of January 12, since I had meant to write that directly and therefore didn’t have many notes, so I wanted to write it first. As for the part about the rest of January 5, I only managed to add it Sunday evening.