Cav's Place

The plan for this week would have been to read Blood Communion and finish Dungeons of Dreadrock, with the quick review for the book being one of the posts and, ideally, the review for the game being the second. But I didn’t even touch the book, and while I did finish the game, managing to review it so quickly was always unlikely and so far I didn’t even try to start. And I went out again this evening, so writing anything else was also out of the question and I guess I’m resorting to continuing with these old odds and ends that are already written. I wonder when I started to write them properly in the file, since the oldest remaining entries, from July of 2023, after I decided to stop posting everything, are just in the form of notes. But if I keep going forward and not back, it shouldn’t be a problem, so I’ll just continue from where I left off and cover another month, which also happens to mean until the last run of 2024, which was on December 23.

On November 24 I did the day’s squats, posted a quick post, and left at 5:55 PM, first going to vote, after which I went to Kaufland, quickly checking the nearest Penny on the way and also picking up two recyclables. And when I got there I saw a cart with the coin in it and started pushing it back, but a moment later a woman asked whether she could connect hers to it in order to retrieve her coin, so I let her do that and then pushed both back, retrieving the one from the one which I had found after connecting it to the others. And then I put those recyclables, along with one more which I found there, in the machine, before washing my hands and entering the store a few minutes before 7 PM. The bakery discounts were just over 50% and I took the last two of the nicer cheap buns and a bread, and then I made use of a number of great evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, an employee telling me to hurry up as I was picking grapes, even if they were still from Moldova, though a few minutes were left before closing time, and in fact the closing announcement came just when I started to use the self-checkout, using both the voucher received for those three recyclables and the one which I had been left with the previous evening when I paid. And then I took quite some time to arrange the purchases, after which I washed my hands again, finally walking out at 8:15 PM.
I also went to Carrefour after that, picking up another recyclable on the way and putting it in that machine, and then picking up one more, of a kind that Carrefour’s machines don’t accept, when I reentered the mall, so I put that and the purchases in a cabinet and just got a discounted sweet pastry, also using that voucher when I paid. Then I retrieved my things and, after picking up two more recyclables on the way back, I put them in the machine from the nearby Mega Image and just cashed in that voucher. And when I crossed the road a car stopped to let me pass even though I wasn’t quite on the crossing when it reached the corner, so I hurried to go across and not delay the driver more than I had to and one of my gloves fell out of the jacket’s pocket and the car got going, but it didn’t actually run over it, the glove staying between the wheels as it passed, and then I picked it back up.
I got back at 9:20 PM, then just put the onions in their place and ate some of the grapes and the sweet pastry, eventually cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, and washed most of what was in the sink before going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash. And then I put the remaining purchases in their place and rearranged a little in the fridge, washed and cleaned a little more in the kitchen, and ate lunch between 1 AM and 1:15 AM and dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:15 AM. But then I waited to see who was going to enter the second round of our presidential elections, only getting in bed at 8:10 AM, when things seemed clear enough, though definitely not settled yet.

In the early hours of November 26, I wanted to at least take a first bite of dinner in my room at 3:35 AM, but when I saw that it was already 3:36 AM when I did that, I went back to taking it easy and actually started eating at 3:40 AM, finishing at 4:25 AM, after spending several minutes getting what was stuck on the plate. And then I got in bed at 5:20 AM and after getting up I had to attach BOINC to Einsten@Home, despite the crippling RAM use, since I was still on the old computer, because Asteroids@home ran out of work and I had been keeping a small buffer, since I kept meaning to switch to the new computer, and the Africa Rainfall Project from World Community Grid had no CPU work to offer either. And then I went out a little after 4:35 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and two broken things, a flashlight and a pair of headphones.
I had dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Obor, putting the recyclables with the deposit symbol, including two which I found in a trash can from that parking lot, into the machine from Kaufland and then also leaving those broken things in the appropriate bin. Then I washed my hands and, while I didn’t find the cat food that I had gone there for, I bought a number of things, some of them after noticing that the sale for one of their store brands, which had been advertised as starting the following day, had apparently started the previous day instead. And at the self-checkout I also used the voucher received for the recyclables and scanned the picture for dad’s store app. And then I continued to Carrefour, putting the purchases in a cabinet and getting some potatoes and a cabbage, after checking that the cabbage did have the discounted price which was listed on-line, since the full price was still listed in the store. On the other hand, while there was a huge pile of expiring products, they were discounted by 30% instead of 50%, so I didn’t care for any of them, and was concerned about a change in their pricing policy for those products.
After retrieving my things, I returned to the metro station and went to Basarab, trying quite a lot of cabinets and not finding any available one that actually locked after reaching that Kaufland, so I ended up leaving my things in one that at least appeared to be locked, the knob turning freely, so it could be left in what seemed to be the locked position. And I did find that cat food over there, getting all three bags that were left, since I did have enough money for that even though the plan would have been to just get two. And I had just enough on top of that to add another yogurt as well as another product from that store brand, though it was listed as having a regular discount and I wondered whether that general 20% discount would also apply in that case, so at the self-checkout I first just scanned that product and then the picture for dad’s store app, and when I saw that the discount did apply to the price that was already discounted I went back and scanned the other products as well. And as I retrieved my things and arranged the purchases, I noticed two men who were also trying the cabinets, looking for one that locked, and I told them that they probably won’t find any free one that does but they could use the one which I had just freed, since it at least appeared to lock. And then I took the metro back, grabbing a recyclable after exiting the metro station and getting back here a little before 7:55 PM, with over 17 kg, when I only weighed 45 kg.

On December 1, after doing the day’s squats, I went out at 2:30 PM, remembering to take that small piece of fish again, in case I’ll spot a stray cat, but somehow I still didn’t, and forgot to at least leave it behind the building when I got back, so I came back with it again. Either way, after voting I continued to Penny Titan, picking up a recyclable and going through that part of the park that’s supposedly private property and seeing the felled trees. And I entered the store with that recyclable in a pocket, since the machine was once again not working. But I found what I was looking for, plus expiring chicken legs, so I also took a bag of those, and at the checkout I gave an amount that should have resulted in 6.50 RON as change, but the cashier said that I had miscalculated and she had no use for the coins, asking whether I had 1 RON instead, so I told her that I didn’t but also that she’d have no use for it… And she gave me 6.50 RON and also returned my coins, only realizing her mistake when I asked what had she done and she checked the display again, at which point she said that if she gave me a little more, so be it, so I deducted that small amount from what I have to recover from Penny because of past problems. She didn’t give me the receipt, however, and I didn’t ask about it.
Then I rushed to Carrefour, picking up another recyclable on the way and meaning to put my things in a cabinet before going to the machine but finding no free ones, so I went to put in those two recyclables, also trying one which I found in the bins that are next to the machine, but that one wasn’t accepted, so I went to the information desk with it, but the employee said that those should be accepted and the problem was probably that it was a little bent, so I should try several times and they won’t take it there. And I also asked about the other cabinets that used to exist but she just said that they don’t anymore, so I entered with everything, stopping a little later to move the purchases into the large backpack, since they were way too heavy to keep carrying in bags. And then I bought what I wanted from there as well, which included a 50 RON PaysafeCard code, plus a sweet pastry that was among the expiring products, and also used that voucher received for the recyclables at the checkout, still needing to use a regular one in order to pay with cash in that location. And then I arranged the purchases and made my way back.
I got back just before 5:15 PM, with 22.5 kg, and that meant that I had time for a shower before the race, so I just threw the chicken legs in the freezer and showered. And later I put all of the purchases in their place, ate an orange and lunch, with some expired bagels instead of bread, bought the codes for two of the old games that I meant to give away on GOG.com, Sid Meier’s Colonization and Lula: The Sexy Empire, and at night I ended up starting to eat dinner at 3:15 AM and finishing a couple of minutes before 4 AM. And before going to bed I also installed the TV tuner’s software, and it did find a few digital channels as well, but only a few at that point. On the other hand, no visits were recorded that day.

In the early hours of December 6, I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM. Then, after being woken up for the last time a couple of minutes after 3 PM, by someone who was at the door, but only getting up half an hour later, I did the day’s squats, ate lunch, and it was almost 7:10 PM when I walked out, with the regular recyclables, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way to Carrefour Pantelimon, though I also had a quick look in Penny on the way, entering with the few recyclables which I had picked up until then. And I found a few more around the machines from that Carrefour, a couple of them even being accepted, along with those which I had picked up earlier, and then I put the labels with the deposit symbol from two plastic bottles that were too crushed to be accepted on others that didn’t have the symbol and those were also accepted, though each of them was on a different voucher, so I ended up with three. And I entered the store with those which weren’t accepted, but I didn’t find anything to get, and when I tried to cash in the vouchers at a checkout, the cashier told me to go to the information desk, so I did, receiving the money for the vouchers as well as for the remaining recyclables, which I handed in, along with the bag, though I was quite baffled by the fact that the employee had to use a calculator for the total and then even asked her coworker what it was.
I then continued to Kaufland Basarabia, grabbing just one more recyclable on the way and putting it in the machine from there, then peeing and washing my hands, using the room for disabled people since the men’s was being cleaned, and entering the store when it was almost 9:10 PM. And I saw bakery discounts of 75%, grabbing three buns right away, but some products still had discounts of 50% listed and others none at all, and an employee was checking them at that point, so I scanned a couple of labels, finding that a bread which I hadn’t seen before, with walnuts and figs, was discounted by 75% even though the label listed 50%, and one was left and, while it was obviously going to be sweet, it had no sugar or sweeteners listed among the ingredients, so I took it, along with two sweet pastries. Then I looked around a little, but somehow forgot to get the shaving cream that I wanted before going to make use of some great evening discounts for vegetables and bananas and making my way to the self-checkouts just before closing time, though I’m not sure whether I had started using a machine before the announcement. But I had forgotten to weigh the peppers which I had grabbed for dad, so I used the scales from that area for that, then also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid, and after I was done I used the scales that are next to the spot meant for arranging your purchases to check the weight of that bread and get some labels to hold the bags with the bakery products closed. And then I walked out, needing to use the emergency exit, and used the seat from one of the tables that are there to arrange the purchases.
On the way back, I also checked the non-stop Mega Image, putting my things in a cabinet and finding that they had just placed the 90% discounts, so I got some expiring products, though one just had the 50% discount. I should have gotten one or two more, but I changed my mind about one and thought that I was going to get charged for what another was placed in, checking the price and seeing that it was more than half of the price of the product itself, with that discount, so I left it there… Only to find at the checkout that I wasn’t charged for the other container, but I had seen that someone else had already taken the other product by then. But when the cashier had trouble scanning those discounted products and the total was different from what I had calculated, I told her that I thought that it should have been lower and paid what I was asked but then checked the receipt, which was rather confusing, some products having scanned at the full price and been removed multiple times, and the cashier had closed the checkout and wanted to leave, so she was asking whether everything was fine and pointed out what she had done, and I actually noticed that I had received an additional discount, for getting two of one of the discounted products, so the amount was lower, not higher, and I eventually said that it seemed fine. But then I found that I had once again left the key to the cabinet in the store, so I put the new purchases in another cabinet, without locking it, and dashed in to grab the key, knowing where it must have been, then retrieved my things and arranged the new purchases better. And on the way back I grabbed some more recyclables, but I no longer had a bag for them and the small one that I initially meant to take from a garbage can had a shit in it, so I quickly dropped it, relieved that I was wearing the gloves, and eventually grabbed a paper bag from another can.
I got back a little after 11:30 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put most of the purchases in their place, ate a banana and a slightly sweet bun that I already had, and it was a little after 1:15 AM when I went to wash, being done 40 minutes later. And then I also dealt with that bread, eating a part of it that night, and used the worse leaves of the lettuce and the radish leaves for the salad, ending up eating dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:25 AM. And I got in bed at 5:55 AM.

On December 11, after installing Windows 10 on the old computer as well, putting it in the living room while I did so, and sending a message to the bank that issued the debit card which I had found the previous evening, with them asking for the card number in order to cancel it and then saying that I could bring it over to a branch just to be recycled, since someone else having had access to it means that they couldn’t give it back to the owner, I did the day’s squats and left at 7:25 PM, taking that card, which I handed off to an employee when I got to that bank’s branch from Park Lake. Then I put the two recyclables which I had grabbed on the way in a cabinet and just grabbed a sweet pastry that was among the discounted products, but I still had to use a regular checkout and the cashier didn’t give me the little amount of change, so after retrieving those recyclables I started looking, first for coins, but then for recyclables, making use of the fact that my right ankle was still hurting to lean on the recycling bins and have a better look, finding some before leaving the mall and more after I left, plenty having just been dumped in a pile, close to Kaufland, so I then put all of them in the machine from there.
After peeing and washing my hands, I entered the store just before 9 PM, but I didn’t find anything in the bakery area that I was interested in and which had the 50% discount, and I scanned a couple of labels, confirming that the plain buns weren’t discounted, and those slightly sweet buns were still “not found” by the price checker. Still, I wanted some sort of bun, and I grabbed one whose price had just increased, making it marginally more expensive at half price than the cheap buns are at full price, but there were no more paper bags, I didn’t tie the plastic one that I had to use, and when I meant to arrange the few other things which I grabbed, that bun somehow fell out of that bag. It fell on a box, which probably wasn’t much worse than the shelf from the bakery area, but I went to put it back, leaving it in that bag, so it’ll be clear that it had been taken by someone and then returned, before going to the self-checkout, where I had to call over an employee to authorize the sale of alcohol, since I had grabbed some expiring beer for dad, and the total allowed me to use the voucher received for the recyclables.
Since I still wanted buns, on the way back I checked three Mega Image locations, but it all proved to be a waste of time. In the first one, I put my things in a cabinet and then wandered around for a while, seeing no evening discounts in the bakery area and wondering whether they were yet to make them before giving up and retrieving my things. But in the second one the cabinet that I put my things in wouldn’t lock and wouldn’t release the coin either, so after I tried for a while the guard came and he also kept trying, needing quite some time to finally force it out, at which point I just left my things in there without locking the door. But the cheap buns weren’t discounted there, and while I’d have bought an expiring product, when I saw the line I gave up on that idea, just retrieving my things and walking away. And then I also checked the nearby Mega Image, but just as I walked in the guard told me to hurry because they were closing, so I asked if it wasn’t non-stop anymore and he said that it closed at 11 PM, so I just walked back out. And I only grabbed two more recyclables on the way back from Kaufland.
I got back right at 11 PM, and after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put the few purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, put together something sweet and ate that before also eating lunch, with half of the last piece of that bread that I made back in March, which was still in the freezer. It was past 1:15 AM when I went to shower and almost 1:50 AM when I finished, and I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM.

On December 13, after doing the day’s squats, I went out again, leaving a little after 7:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. I first went to Penny Titan, but the machine from there still wasn’t working, so I put the recyclables in a cabinet, without locking it, and just got something for dad, then retrieved the recyclables, picked up two more which had been left next to the machine, and took the metro, since I had dad’s card, to Carrefour Pantelimon, picking up a few more recyclables on the way and going to the machine, but just having a look in the bin, without finding anything else, and then turning around, since I didn’t know whether I was going to find anything to buy and didn’t want to have to go to the information desk to cash in the voucher again. But, after putting my things in a cabinet, I spotted something that I could buy for dad, and then grabbed two expiring products as well. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the new purchases, and went to Kaufland, picking up one more recyclable on the way and then putting all of them in the machine from there, the two bottles with that odd shape requiring multiple tries but eventually being accepted as well.
After putting my things in a cabinet and washing my hands, I entered the store just before 9:25 PM and went straight to the bakery area, seeing the employee placing labels listing the 50% discount, those that were placed at that point listing 30%. However, even though the nicer cheap buns and those slightly sweet buns were left with those labels with the 30% discount, when I scanned them, they showed up as being discounted by 50% as well, so I took one of the sweet ones and four of the others, then spent the remaining time picking some fruits and vegetables that had good evening discounts, grabbing the last few and weighing them just after the closing announcement. But the total was lower than the value of the voucher received for the recyclables, so I wanted to cash that in after paying for the purchases normally, but when I told that to the employee who was waiting for me to finish using the self-checkout machine, she went to the next one, which was no longer available for customers, and cashed it in for me while I picked up my purchases, leaving the money for me to grab, along with a few coins that were in the change tray. Then I arranged the purchases a little, washed my hands again, since they were sticky after digging through some more grapes from Moldova, retrieved what I had in the cabinet, walked out through the emergency exit, arranged the purchases a little better on one of the tables that are outside… And realized that I didn’t seem to have the rope backpack anymore! So I rushed back in, asking the employees whether they had seen it, then ducked under the gate to get back out and looked around, but eventually found it after patting myself down and realizing that it had fallen inside the jacket, through the torn pocket.
It was past 10:15 PM when I walked away, and then I also went to that non-stop Mega Image, picking up another recyclable when I got there, putting everything in a cabinet and getting a few products that were discounted by 90%. The cashier didn’t give me the 0.20 RON which should have been the change at first, so after setting the purchases aside, since they were about to fall out of my hands, I picked up a 0.10 RON coin which had already been on the counter and mentioned that I needed one more, which she gave me a moment later. Then I retrieved my things, added the new purchases, and picked up some more recyclables on the way back… The problem being that I decided to also check that dirty part of that small green space, turning a bottle over with my foot in order to see whether it had the deposit symbol, which it didn’t, and also moving some soiled piece of clothing while I did so, at which point I realized that I was likely to have picked up fleas or some other bugs and stomped and shook my feet after walking away… But it was obviously not enough.
I got back at 11:30 PM, went to drop a small bag of trash down the chute, put most of the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, ate a clementine and a small bar, and went to the bathroom at 12:35 PM… At which point I noticed a bite around my right ankle, and then what seemed to be a flea… And then I noticed more, both fleas and bites, but also realized that, if those were fleas, then what I had noticed on my arm while I was in the living room the previous day must have also been one, as was what I had picked up off the back of my neck in the kitchen some days before, and dad had said that Liza had fleas when he had taken her to the vet, so while I had probably picked up more that evening, we already had fleas in the apartment for some time, and I had been feeling and seeing them for what must have been months without realizing what they were. So after using the toilet I rushed out of the bathroom to throw the clothes which I had worn outside in the laundry basket and spray some medicinal alcohol on the bites, then washed. I was past 1:40 AM, if not even past 1:45 AM, I didn’t really memorize the time, when I finished, and I kept being worried about the fleas, and when dad got up to go to the bathroom I told him about it as well, and also put disinfectant and medicinal alcohol on my legs, all the way up to my knees, and also on my arms and neck. Otherwise, I put the remaining purchases in their place, and ate lunch, on and off, starting at or just after 2:20 AM, but I’m not sure whether it was 3:16 AM or 3:26 AM when I finished. Either way, I also moved something into a jar and then ate dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:20 AM. And I got in bed at 5:50 AM, after finding two more fleas while checking myself when I changed into my pajamas.

After looking over myself again when I got up to pee and finding two more fleas, when I got up in the afternoon I sprayed myself with bug repellent and then also used some bug spray in some places from my room, on my jackets, in the shoe cabinet, in the bathroom, on the bags with the recyclables with the deposit symbol from the balcony, and in a couple of other spots, being wary of spraying more because of Liza. Plus that the bug spray didn’t list fleas among the bugs that it targeted anyway. Either way, I also put my clothes, and a few others, in the washing machine and selected the 60°C “Hygiene” program.
When I checked myself again after getting up the following day, it seemed like I was going to spot fleas as long as I kept looking on my socks, got seven or eight before giving up, and then I sprayed a little bug spray on my slippers. And it did seem that the bug spray was working, since there were a lot of fleas on the floor when I had a look in the evening, dead or seeming to not feel well. Otherwise, I got in bed at 5:20 AM.
After getting up, I vacuumed a little more in my room, mainly my chair and the sides of my bed and under it, also using some more bug spray on my chair and on the sides of my bed. And I’ll also mention here that I used a little more of that regular bug spray on the floor, around the bed, on December 22.

On December 17, after shaving, eating lunch, doing the day’s squats and sewing my pants, the holes seeming far more visible after that thorough washing cycle, I left a little before 8 PM, taking the regular recyclables, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, as well as those with the deposit symbol, grabbing one more on the way to Carrefour, putting them in the machine from there, splitting on two vouchers, and then just cashing them in, still needing to use a regular checkout in that location. Then I continued to Penny and just grabbed three small bars, but actually stole the one of the kind that seemed nicer in order to make up for most of the amount that I still had to recover from Penny, finding a single one of that kind on the shelf and eventually slipping it in a glove and just paying for the other two, at which point I saw some more of those at the checkout, so I guess that they had few of them left and they were only there otherwise. And then I grabbed three more recyclables and put them in the machine from that Kaufland, and then I spotted one more in the bin from there, putting that in as well and getting a second voucher… And then I spotted a 14 RON voucher on the recycling bins, but I didn’t try to take it and see whether it was still valid, so I just washed my hands, entered with those bars in the inside pocket of my jacket, saw that the bakery area was basically cleared and the evening discounts weren’t good enough, and they didn’t increase even if I waited until after 10 PM, so I eventually just cashed in those two vouchers, following an employee out.
Since Kaufland had switched to the holiday schedule, closing at 11 PM, that still gave me time to go to the other location, so I jogged there, though I made a small detour in order to just look through the window at the bakery area of that Mega Image and also stopped for a moment to grab one more recyclable, which I put in the machine from there. Then I peed and washed my hands and entered the store, still with those bars in that pocket, a little before 10:30 PM, first grabbing a nicer lettuce, with a good evening discount, and then three buns from the bakery area, one of them being of that slightly sweet kind, discounted by 75%. Then I scanned two labels that didn’t show discounted prices, confirming that one product wasn’t discounted and finding that the other was only discounted by 50%, so I just added one more of those slightly sweet buns, after asking the employee why were the last two of those set aside, the last products which hadn’t been put together with the other remaining ones, and being told that she simply hadn’t gotten to move them yet. And then I made use of a few great evening discounts for vegetables and some more of those Moldovan grapes, just starting to use the self-checkout machine when the closing announcement came, and I also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid. And, after arranging the purchases a little, it was close to 11:10 PM when I walked away, and I grabbed one more recyclable on the way back.
I got back at 11:40 PM, ate a banana and one of those slightly sweet buns, with some things added in it, washed what was in the kitchen, spread out the purchases, only putting the grapes and the buns in their place, and went to wash at 1:20 AM, being done at 1:50 AM. After that, I put the remaining purchases in their place and ate dinner between 3:35 AM and 4:15 AM. And the fleas were getting even more worrying, since I was paying attention to them…