Cav's Place

Despite the cautionary tale of the half marathon of 2025, that post still being the two paragraph placeholder posted then, I really need to move past this year’s Dream Trek and post about the following runs, and since I don’t post about runs out of order, I’ll just post what’s initially just a placeholder that skips the actual run, picking up from the end of the “before” post, when I did leave at 8:15 AM and then jogged part of the way to Park Lake, getting there in 12 minutes, which was just fine, the gathering place proving to be right past the entrance of that mall that was mentioned in the e-mail and Radu’s speech starting at 8:29 PM. And, while after this first paragraph I initially skipped straight to what I did after walking away from University Square, I’ll also mention here that Radu did warn us that access to toilets was going to be a problem during the run, so I was worried about what I’ll do about the other thing during the second part of the night when I went to pee after that speech. Either way, after that there was a brief warm up that also took place right there, plus a first group picture, and then we actually started running a little early, at 9:01 PM, even though sunset was at 9:03 PM.

After walking away, at 6:20 AM, I took the metro to Unirii, since I had dad’s pass, grabbing two more recyclables on the way and using a cabinet when I reached that Carrefour. I didn’t buy anything from there, but I used the toilet, having to grab some toilet paper from the room for disabled people, since there was none at the men’s, and then being embarrassingly loud, since what I had was once again mostly, albeit not entirely, gas. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, grabbed a carton, took the metro to Obor, had a look through the farmers’ market, grabbed another recyclable, and used Carrefour’s machine before washing my hands, putting my things in a cabinet, and entering the store right at 8 AM. And then I got plenty of things, including a product that was among the expiring ones and at half price even though the listed expiration date was July 3 and also used the voucher received for the recyclables before retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging everything to some extent. And then, since I was there at such an early hour, I wanted to get some more doughnuts from that place… Only to find that it’s closed on Sunday, and in fact also on Monday. And I was really struggling to carry everything in the bags that I had, so I then stopped again and took the time to rearrange everything more properly before taking the metro back, and also grabbing a label with the deposit symbol.
I got back at 9:35 AM, with over 12 kg which sure felt like more when I carried them in those two bags. But after cleaning the litter box and going to drop what I had gathered down the chute, I went back out and checked the nearby Carrefour Express, getting a carton of expiring eggs and one of the supposedly spoiling cabbages, though it looked quite fine, with the 40% discount. And, after also checking the nearby Mega Image, entering with those purchases but not finding anything interesting, it was past 10:05 AM when I was back for good. And then I put the purchases and the things I grabbed during and after the Dream Trek in their place, discussing with dad what he was going to take to mother, and after he left I rearranged the munchies from my room a little, ate a bag of peanuts, even if they were expired, so I got some 950 calories from that, made tea, did the squats for the previous day, and finally went to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 12:50 PM. I was done a couple of minutes before 2 PM, and then I ate an orange, washed the pile of stuff left by dad in the kitchen and cleaned up a little after him, read a little, drank most of the tea… And then I noticed another invasion of ants, not quite inside but getting around the bug net from the small bathroom, the space left around the nets installed by dad making them basically unnoticeable for crawling bugs. So I opened that window and used some bug spray… But the air current blew it right back into my face, including in my eyes, so I had to be careful as I continued spraying and then did my best to thoroughly wash my face and eyes. And then, at 3:55 PM, I finally got in bed, getting some two and a half hours of sleep before finding myself awake, reading for almost an hour and then spending about one more drifting off a number of times but probably for little more than mere moments.
What finally made me give up and get up was that dad got back, somewhere around 9:30 PM, which at least meant that I had plenty of time to finally finish Capital and Ideology and even write the quick review. On the other hand, I gave up on the idea of making pizza that evening, doing the day’s squats, dealing with those small baguettes that I was yet to deal with, and ending up eating something brought by dad as lunch, munching on something instead of bread, between 2:20 AM and 3:20 AM, while working on dinner, which I ate between 4:10 AM and 5:15 AM. I got in bed at 6:05 AM, after rubbing cream on my feet.

Well, it didn’t seem like I was going to fall asleep for quite a while, and I was still awake when Liza started meowing for some reason. And while I finally fell asleep after that, around 8:35 AM she woke me by going to the litter box, and then I couldn’t get back to sleep, especially since some time after that dad got up as well. I stayed in bed until he left, just after 10 AM, but I only wasted time and it seemed that I was going to waste even more, so at that point I got on the computer, eventually even starting to read The Ordinary Bruja, which I had won in a giveaway at some point, before finally getting back in bed at 11:45 AM and getting an hour and a half of sleep, maybe a little more, until I found myself awake once again, decided to pee, just in case… And then, though I only got up for good just before 4:45 PM, I mostly wasted time. It’s possible that I caught one or two more naps that weren’t that short, but the few other times I drifted off it couldn’t have been for more than mere moments, and otherwise I just tossed and turned and got increasingly frustrated, unable to sleep but too exhausted to get up again. But at least I made that pizza later, one part in the evening, to eat as lunch, and the other at night, to eat as dinner. And in between, after midnight, I posted the Romanian translation of that quick review for Capital and Ideology on The StoryGraph and Goodreads.

On the morning of June 23, it still felt like I wasn’t going to fall asleep when I got in bed, but I guess I did quite quickly… Only to wake up again when it wasn’t even 6:45 AM. So I peed, just in case… And then Liza went to the litter box, twice, so I changed and cleaned it again, after having also done it before going to bed, and then got on the computer for a while, changing back and returning to bed at 7:20 AM… But I couldn’t sleep, there were small noises from above as well, and after dad woke up, coughed and spat crap, went to the bathroom, and fed Liza, I got up to look for something, seeing that it was almost 8:20 AM and then getting on the computer again, even if dad got back to bed. I only peed again, in case it’d help, and returned to bed a little before 9 AM, eventually getting back to sleep, albeit after a long time… And it was around 11:15 AM when I got woken up as dad was getting ready to leave, going to pee again and seeing him in the small bathroom when I came out, after what must have been less than a minute, and when I asked if he couldn’t have waited or said something he complained that I had sneaked there, since he saw the door closing slowly and that supposedly wasn’t normal movement. Either way, he kept coughing, and still does, but obviously dismissed it when I said that he had something again. And I finally got back in bed yet again at 12:50 PM and managed to get a total of some three and a half more hours, split between a few naps, before dad got back, at 5:10 PM, and I got up for good. And then I shaved my head, took a sample of a supplement for joints expired for over a year, and made mamaliga, “cheating” to take a first bite in my room before 3 AM, being too unconcerned when I actually started eating around 3:10 AM, and finishing at 3:45 AM.

I could finally sleep the next day. It didn’t seem like it at first, when I only got about an hour and a half before waking up, and after going to pee and getting back on the computer for a little while, also reading a little, Liza went to the litter box, twice, just after I got back in bed, so I changed, cleaned it, and then changed back. But I fell asleep again after that, and got back to sleep almost immediately the two times I got woken up by noise made by dad, and that was also the case after getting up to pee again, at 1:30 PM. Admittedly, I was awake for almost half an hour before finally getting up, at 4:40 PM, and I still felt exhausted, but it was a huge improvement. And before going to the kitchen at night I took a sample of a magnesium supplement expired since 2024.