Cav's Place

On the evening of November 22, I went out when it was almost 8:40 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up a few more and putting them in the machine from Carrefour. And then I bought quite a number of things, but since only half of the discount showed up right away for the first ones that should have been two for the price of one, I paid for those separately, seeing the rest of the discount applying at the end and using both of the vouchers received for previous purchases at that point and the one received for the recyclables after scanning and paying for the rest of the purchases.
After arranging everything, I rushed to Kaufland, but still picked up some more recyclables, putting them in the machine from there and picking up and keeping another which had been left there and which I thought should be accepted but wasn’t. And I added to what I have to recover from there after grabbing a crushed can which had also been left there, trying to straighten it without really managing it, and having it “eaten” by the machine. But after stepping away I noticed one more, putting that in as well, and before reaching the entrance I spotted yet another, going back to also put that in, so I ended up with three vouchers. And then, after putting my things in a cabinet, I went to pee and wash my hands, entering the store when it was past 10:05 PM and getting some beets that had an evening discount, even if it wasn’t a big one. And then I also dug through the crates of Moldovan plums, which had been set aside already, and picked a handful of those as well, the evening discount being good, before adding some cat food and using all of those vouchers received for the recyclables when I paid.
After retrieving what I had in the cabinet and adding the new purchases, I went to the Mega Image that closes at 11 PM, putting the bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, but seeing that the only discounted bakery products that were left were buns. But they did have the pumpkins that were on sale and I found one that looked good among them, so I bought that, using the scales from there for it, before retrieving what I had in the cabinet and then leaving the plums next to a homeless man who was probably sleeping on a bench. He had piles of bags around him, so he probably didn’t need them, but at least I gave a little something away. And then I checked the non-stop Mega Image as well, once again putting the bags in a cabinet and entering with the backpack, and getting one of those pumpkins from there as well before retrieving my things and arranging a little more. And on the way back I picked up some more recyclables.
It was past 11:40 PM when I got back, with 14 kg, and after cleaning the litter box I ate a piece of baked pumpkin and added some more trash into that bag before going to drop it down the chute. Then I put the purchases in their place, fixed and ate something sweet as well, and it was almost 2 AM when I went to wash. It was past 2:40 AM when I was done, but then I spent a little time on the computer, getting back to the kitchen at 2:55 AM, and I used the rest of one of those habanero peppers and some more of that banged up cabbage bought the previous evening. On the other hand, when I took the bread that I wanted to use out of the freezer, that piece fell out of the bag and ended up on the kitchen floor. And, just like the previous times something like that happened, it’d have been easier, faster, definitely much safer, and just better in every way if I’d have cut away the crust, but instead I just washed that piece, since it was frozen and I could do it, and then microwaved it for five minutes, which made it really tasty but also really hard to slice. At least it wasn’t an issue that, after also moving the bread to another plate and getting what was stuck on the one used to microwave and slice it, I ended up eating dinner between 5:15 AM and 6:20 AM, since the race started at 6 AM and I was going to watch it anyway. So I went to bed at 7:55 AM.

I woke up the first time after dad did, going to pee and check an itchy spot that seemed to be a bug bite on my left leg and then getting right back to sleep, but just before 12:45 PM I was very roughly woken up by a bad cramp that was pretty much in the same spot as that bite. Still, after waiting out the worst of it and peeing one more time, I got back to sleep yet again, waking up again at 3:05 PM and then probably getting another brief nap before getting up a little before 3:30 PM. And that evening I just managed to finish Loyal to the Sky, though I only did so a few minutes before midnight and therefore could only post the rating in time to have something as the week’s second post, editing it the following evening to actually add the quick review. And spending that time reading despite wanting to also make mamaliga led to only actually starting to eat in my room at 3:25 AM, initially trying to wolf it down, but while I wouldn’t have been done in 15 minutes anyway, having mixed in some fish brought by dad from mother, including some of the bones, and also having once again put some of a habanero pepper in the salad, meant that I was only about halfway through it by 3:40 AM, and then I took it somewhat easier, finishing at 4:05 AM. And I got in bed at 5:20 AM. On the other hand, that night I also noticed that cold air was coming in around the window from the small bathroom as well, in multiple places.

Even though there wasn’t much noise the following day, after waking up to pee at 9:10 AM I remained awake for a long time, since dad got up just after that and then there were various other noises. With the exception of just a couple of seconds of loud drilling and a few more seconds of hammering, I’d have likely managed to sleep through the rest, but getting back to sleep was another matter. But at least I eventually did manage it, and it was much easier to do so when I happened to wake up again, with the exception of the last time, since I was awake for quite a while before finally getting up, close to 4:40 PM. And after that I checked more properly and found that cold air was coming in around the window from my room as well.

Moving on to November 25, the guys who had installed the windows were supposed to come and try to fix the problems, but they didn’t… Yet the nightmare that I’ve been having on most days, often multiple times per day, ever since the work started, became reality. I mean, it begins with workers pulling away my external blinds and then continues either with them coming in through the window and beating or torturing me, maybe stealing stuff, or with monsters or animals appearing and attacking me, and it’s all very “real” and sometimes I can’t tell that I’m dreaming and other times I realize it but either can’t wake up or, worse, I dream that I woke up, feel relieved, but after a few seconds the nightmare continues, seeming even more “real”. And that morning, at about 8:30 AM, I got woken up by what turned out to be two workers pulling away the external blinds, taking a chunk of the EPS with it, since it was still temporarily held in placed by two screws burrowed in that, and then staring at me as I startled awake. Then I jumped out of bed and went to tell dad about it, since he had just woken up and was on the toilet, and he opened his window and asked them whether they were doing some work around the windows, laughing about it and seeming content when they said that they were and dismissing the fact that I was so bothered by what had happened. So I ended up on the hallway, in front of my door, first just standing there for a while and then crouching there, I don’t know for how long, until I went to his room for a little while, when the workers seemed to have moved away from his window and to mine.
When they seemed to have gone back there I went back to my room, put a box in front of one window, tried to find something to cover the other one with as well but couldn’t, and then curled up under the blanket and stayed there until what I think was close to 1:40 PM, when they seemed to be done for good with my window, after having returned to it, and I probably even caught a few brief and agitated naps, obviously “featuring” the same nightmare… And it was another day when I didn’t open the window at all. But at least in the evening I managed to cover the other one as well, and also spent some three more hours in bed, sleeping for about two of them. But dad once again dismissed what I wanted to be done around the windows and my priorities and ideas in general about the work that we should be doing in the apartment after this, and I was increasingly panicked and whimpering and just unable to deal with anything… And I also noticed a slight prickling sensation in the tips of some of my fingers, plus in my lower left leg, and before going to bed it appeared in my lower right leg as well, though that might have been caused by how I was sitting. And I decided to take some pictures of the windows, which led to getting in bed at almost 5:25 AM.

The plan was to run on November 26, but with someone supposed to come and fix the windows in the morning and dad saying that he was going to get up at 7:40 AM, if not even earlier, because he had to move the car before 8 AM, if I caught any sleep at all by then, it must have been in the form of one or two brief naps. And after that it was probably the same, so I was awake at 10:10 AM, when the guy came and dad knocked on my door… And he was really quick, making the other windows no longer open further or close on their own even if he didn’t actually straighten them, fixing another snag with the one from the bathroom and putting some foam around the bottom of dad’s so fast that I had barely managed to change out of the pajamas and remove the cardboard that I had covered my windows with when he was done with everything else and had to come in here, sorting out my window as well in a matter of seconds. And then I did some other things, wondering whether I should just stay up or try to catch another little nap, eventually deciding on the latter, covering the windows again, even if having things on the inside meant that moisture was already gathering on them, and getting back in bed a few minutes before 11 AM, setting the alarm to ring at 11:50 AM.
Well, moments later dad got back, after having gone out for a little while, and said that the person reading the meters from the heaters was in the building and asking me to read them so he’ll hand them to her when he’ll go out again. And then he made two trips to bring some old windows from a neighbor who allowed him to take them, after mother said that she wanted to use them there, Liza meowed in between, and after a while there was some loud hammering as well, so I got up when the alarm rang, but after just wasting that time… And the frustrating thing was that the workers did take their break at noon, and dad didn’t come back again during that time, so I’d have had a chance to catch a nap during that hour. But I had decided to get up then in order to be able to watch all the ski jumping, the qualifying starting at noon and the actual competition at 4:10 PM, so I wanted to be back by then. So I then had the usual stuff, including the usual sweet thing, though the apple was another bio (organic) one, the yogurt had expired on November 21 but still seemed perfectly fine, and I replaced two of the almonds with apricot pits. And then dad got back and said that he had met the guy who had come to fix the windows and was asked whether he had taken those old ones, and when he confirmed it, also stating that the owner had given them to him and even helped him carry them, that guy said that they were “his” and he could give dad some for 150 RON a piece! So it’s a good thing that it happened after he fixed ours, since dad blew him off and I guess that a lot of bitterness resulted from that, if the workers are used to taking and selling what they remove. Either way, it was past 2:50 PM when I left, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 14-15°C, holding steady.
The time was 47:47.88, with sector times of 4:06.26, 5:28.69, 5:42 (5:41.28), 4:20 (4:19.90), 4:56.25, 5:53.22, 4:38 (4:37.47), 5:06.75, 5:45.16 and 1:53 (1:52.90), making for lap times of 15:16.23, 15:09.37 and 15:29.38. I did notice that I was unusually quick from the beginning, but was still really surprised by that time on the first sector, especially after my sprint on the long straight was somewhat broken when I had to get around the truck that was being loaded with bags of fallen leaves. However, when a shoelace got loose right at the start of sector two and I lost over 25 seconds to retie it, it seemed like I had to give up on any hope of getting back under 48 minutes. Yet I kept pushing, and for just over one full lap, between sector three of lap one and sector three of lap two, another runner made me push much harder than I’d have done on my own. That did mean that at the end of lap two I had a chance to get back under 48 minutes despite that loss of time, but I had pushed way too hard and was in a lot of pain, so I took it easier on sector one of lap three, to try to recover to some extent. That sector’s time made me fear that I was going to fail after all, so I then pushed again, and really gave everything on sector three of lap three, thinking that there was no way to be safe at the end of the lap but wanting to have a good chance to just manage it in the end… Only to notice that I was definitely safe, and while I wouldn’t say that I took it easy on the final sector, the main goal became just to get to the end. So I got back under 48 minutes for the first time in a month, the actual running time was quite close to that one, considering those 25 or so seconds lost with that shoelace, and there’s a change in the top ten times I ever obtained on the first sector.
To say a little more about that other runner, he seemed a little older than me, massive, as in large and muscular, and was running in a way that struck me as particularly inefficient, but I quickly realized that I had to push harder in order to even edge a little closer… And he probably noticed when I got behind him and pushed harder as well, edging back ahead until we passed another runner and he went on the outside while I went on the inside, ending up almost alongside him. At that point he let me ahead and fell in right behind me, staying there until I suddenly no longer heard him, maybe just a little more than one full lap after having first noticed him, and when I turned to look he was nowhere to be seen anymore.
The thing is that I had been feeling a little pain from the beginning, and while at first it was probably reflected from my back, seeming to spread in my chest and upper abdomen, as I pushed that hard it kept getting worse and seemed to come from my liver, so I tried to pay attention and breathe in when I put my left foot down, as you should in order to avoid that problem, and it seemed to help to some extent, but the pain remained bad while I kept pushing that hard, with that guy behind me, and it eventually even spread lower. Things did get noticeably better after slowing on sector one of lap three, but it was as if the total amount of pain hadn’t diminished that much, but that it was more diffuse, having spread over a larger area, getting all the way down to my butt. So I knew that I had pushed unwisely hard, but I didn’t yet know how much I was going to pay for it… Either way, focusing on dealing with that meant that I wasn’t aware of any other physical problems, and other than the issue with that truck on the long straight of sector one of lap one I don’t think that I had notable problems caused by people, or vehicles, either. But, of course, the big loss of time was on sector two of lap one, when I had to stop to retie that shoelace. And at the start of sector three of lap three I decided to stop for just an instant in order to see the time properly without struggling, thinking that I might end up losing more time otherwise, if my eyes wouldn’t focus.

I pretty much ran back as well. Then I did 200 squats, since I was a day behind, ate lunch, changed, albeit leaving the running t-shirt on, and left again a little after 8:35 PM, with the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin, and the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up a couple more on the way to the Mega Image that closes at 10 PM. I got there a few minutes before 9 PM and saw the bakery discount labels being placed, but decided to put the recyclables in the machine first, just being left with that one which hadn’t been accepted before either… But when I went to the bakery area, I noticed that the discounts were only of 50%, and other people were surprised as well, some not even noticing at first. So I walked away and checked the other discounted products… But somehow missed the moment when the cart with the products that did still have the 90% discount was brought, since I eventually saw such products in other people’s baskets and an empty cart. And, with those bakery discounts remaining at 50%, I just cashed in the voucher received for the recyclables.
Then I continued to Kaufland Basarabia, picking up one more recyclable and putting it in the machine. Then I put that other one that still wasn’t accepted in a cabinet that didn’t lock but at least looked like it did, washed my hands in the room for disabled people, the men’s being cleaned at that point and only a little trickle of water coming from the tap in the baby changing room, and entered the store a little after 9:40 PM, feeling really weird when I saw that a full film crew was there, probably getting everything ready in order to be able to start filming the moment the store closed. Either way, I considered getting a sweet pastry that had the 50% evening discount, but I decided against it and just made use of a good evening discount for some radishes. Then I added cat food and a couple of pieces of processed meat products that were among the expiring ones, for dad, and after wandering around until 10:15 PM but seeing no new or increased discounts, I also used the voucher received for that recyclable at the self-checkout and then retrieved that remaining one from the cabinet.
When I reached that non-stop Mega Image, I put my things in a cabinet and saw that the bakery discounts had been made, but they were once again only of 50%, so I wandered around the store and waited, my butt hurting worse while I was standing there… And I really had to waste a lot of time, since after 11 PM an employee was gathering more products that had already been discounted by 50% in a cart, but she only brought it back, with those products having been discounted by 90%, around 11:30 PM. But at least I did get some things from there… Only for the guard to bring some of those products for the cashier just when my turn was about to come and tell her that he’ll take over and let her have a look at them, and when one of my products scanned at full price he tried to tell me that the total was correct, even telling me to have a look at the display to see that everything was discounted. So I did and pointed out that product, at which point the cashier took over again and sorted it out. But she didn’t give me the receipt and was starting to check out the next person, so I reached over behind her and grabbed it, at which point she complained about it and told me to never do that again. Either way, I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the new purchases, and finally walked away when it was close to 11:50 PM. One of the people who’re usually waiting for the 90% discounts was still dallying around the entrance and kept looking towards the bakery area, probably hoping for an employee to come and start increasing the discounts, but I wasn’t about to waste even more time… Though, after crossing the road, I stopped at a bench and took some time to arrange everything better. And on the way back I picked up a couple more recyclables.
I was back for good a little after 12:20 AM. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute… And then I banged my head, hard, against the corner of the keyboard tray of the desk, so I cut some ice from the freezer, put it in a bag and held it in that area for a while, as I tried to help dad search for some keys that we couldn’t find at that point, though I found a spoon that I liked and he thought he had lost, as well as the other one that he wanted to use that night. And he eventually found those keys as well, albeit at a later time. Either way, after eating some baked pumpkin and putting the purchases in their place, it was close to 2:15 AM when I went to take an actual bath, noticing that I even had two small scratches in that area where I had hit my head, and one spot did swell a little despite the ice. And my butt was really bothering me and felt like something had been pushed out a little, so I actually stayed in the water for a while, eating a bag of corn puffs with powdered milk during that time. I was done a little before 3:15 AM, and then I had plenty of things to wash in the kitchen, also selected and threw away the clearly unusable radish leaves, even if I didn’t use any of the rest and therefore had no real reason to do that then, and finally ate dinner between 5:45 AM and 6:20 AM. It was past 7:05 AM when I got in bed.

I was really concerned when there were a few seconds of loud drilling in the morning, when I couldn’t have gotten more than three hours of sleep, if even that, but then there were few other louder noises that woke me and I could pretty much sleep until around 2 PM. And then, since it was still hurting badly, I spent quite a long time massaging my butthole, until I eventually decided to try sticking a finger in, hoping to somehow set things right again, since it had been quite clear when I had looked after that bath that something had been pushed out a little. And it apparently worked, the area seeming normal when I had another look and the pain immediately switching to a more familiar one, even if at a level that I hadn’t felt in a long time, so I got back in bed, though I only caught another nap or two that couldn’t have been too long until I finally got up, at 5:05 PM. And then I started reading A Life on Our Planet. And my butt hurt less and less over the course of the day, even if when I had another look, after getting up, it no longer looked quite as normal as it had the previous time. And when I rubbed that cream there before getting in bed in the morning it felt like the hemorrhoid did end up also being external and was awfully swollen, like it had to burst before things could get back to normal, though at least the rest of the area felt just fine.

Dad had called someone to do some work on the balcony on November 28, and he had to go with him to buy some materials first, so I was woken up at 7:30 AM, just as he was about to leave, though I could just pee and then get some more sleep until he got back, with that guy. But I initially just stayed under the blanked and might have even caught another brief nap, only getting out of bed to dash to pee one more time a few minutes before 10 AM. The hemorrhoid was still painful, however, and louder noises made by the workers elsewhere in the building added to the fainter ones made by that guy, so I couldn’t get any more sleep after that, eventually getting up at 10:55 AM. But at least I slept for another two and a half hours or so in the evening. And when I used the toilet, things seemed surprisingly fine, considering how much the area still bothered me otherwise.

That remained the case, on both counts, yesterday. But I’ll also mention that I first woke up when dad left, which he said should have been around 10 AM, though I didn’t actually check. Either way, I got back to sleep almost immediately, being woken up again a few minutes before 11 AM by a few seconds of loud drilling. I went to pee at that point, just in case, but then I had a hard time getting back to sleep, being anxious because I heard workers in this area, sometimes even walking past my window. And a little later there were loud noises again, possibly from upstairs. But things eventually went quiet and I could sleep some more, waking up again just after 2:45 PM. That was it, however, since I couldn’t get back to sleep one more time despite spending another hour in bed. On the other hand, in the evening I finished A Life on Our Planet and wrote the quick review, albeit only in English despite reading the book in Romanian, so I want to also add the Romanian translation of the quick review on The StoryGraph and Goodreads.

As for today, after eating mamaliga at night, I had to pee multiple times, and while I got right back to sleep after the first time, the second time was a few minutes before 10:30 AM and I was yet to get back to sleep again when Liza went to the litter box, twice, so I got back up to clean it, so dad won’t get on my case over it again, and that pretty much chased away the sleep, as it usually happens, probably at least in part because I also thoroughly wash my face after doing that. And dad got up soon after that anyway, the little noises only making it harder to fall asleep again, though I might have just managed to drift off for what couldn’t have been more than mere moments at one point. I was definitely awake again by the time he left, but some time after that I did finally get some more sleep, getting up to pee one more time at 1:15 PM and then falling asleep again until just before 3:50 PM, the alarm which I had set to ring at that time in order to watch ski jumping ringing just as I grabbed my phone. But the ski jumping was canceled, so I stayed at the computer until the start of the race, doing the day’s squats during it and rushing out after it, at 7:45 PM. And I initially meant to edit this post to add the part about the rest of the day as well, but then I realized that, since I posted it before midnight, I’ll have to stop at that point, which would be weird, so I’ll do what I did in this post as well and leave that for the next one, though I still edited it Thursday evening in order to properly add the part about the rest of November 26, since in the initial form I skipped from the end of the run to the moment when I got back for good in the evening… Or I meant to, though I failed to comment out the rough notes about that part.