Cav's Place

Sunday there were no visits recorded again, but this post should actually start with that day’s early hours, so with Saturday night, when I checked Carrefour’s site and noticed that they offered free shipping on orders over 40 RON made up of products from a list of discounted ones made that weekend, and when I went through that list I found one thing I actually planned to go there to get, and another I was sort of thinking of looking for. I still needed quite a lot to get to 40 RON though, and while I did find some other things at good prices that I could add, I initially gave up on the idea and went to bed. However, when I woke up I kept thinking of it, and since I could get on-line then I did so and made that order after all, nine cans of sardines, which were apparently all those that they still had, making up more than half of the necessary value.
I had picked between 3 PM and 5 PM on Monday as the delivery time, but the delivery guy called during that period to let me know he’ll be about half an hour late, saying he’ll call again a few minutes before he’ll get here. However, there was no other call and he just showed up, actually a little after 5:30 PM… And he asked for 41 RON, when the price was 40.62 RON and I had taken care to have the exact amount. And he insisted when I handed him said amount, saying that he can’t give coins to the cashier, so I had to leave him there for a moment and grab 1 RON, which was in fact the only 1 RON bill I had around. Now I have no idea whether what he said was true and that’s Carrefour’s policy in case of paying cash on delivery, in which case they really should specify that when you make an order and list the actual amount you’ll need to pay, but I took it as making up for cheating on the scales when I had no reason to and shrugged it off, since I did otherwise mean to perhaps drop off some change in their donation box at some point. But, back to that delivery guy, this time I did ask whether he wanted the bag back, yet he said he didn’t, even though that text recommending that you do so is still printed on the bottom of the bag. Again, no idea whether that’s their actual policy now, not wanting to reuse bags, but if he refused there was nothing I could do.

Since there were other things I meant to get, I waited for the worst of the heat to pass and went out that evening, just after 7:20 PM. What was somewhat fortunate was that I also took the recyclables, including those things I drop off at Kaufland, and the bin that’s supposed to be at the corner wasn’t there anymore, so I went the other way, looking for other bins and meaning to go to a Mega Image first, for lemons, if I was going to use that route. And I did spot a bin before those I knew of, which made me decide to make a small detour and go to a different Mega Image than the one I initially had in mind… At which point I realized I didn’t have a mask, so I turned around and got back here for it, the good thing being that I at least didn’t get all the way to Kaufland before noticing that.
Getting back here at 7:45 PM, I left again five minutes later, with one more can to drop off, since dad had opened and emptied it after I left. And that can actually caused a bit of an issue, since that time I went first to the Mega Image I initially had in mind, getting those lemons from there, and didn’t spot any other recycling bins on the way, but I’ll get to that later. So, to stick to the chronological order, despite thinking I should go to Carrefour first, since that one closes at 10 PM while the Kaufland next to it closes at midnight, I nevertheless went to Kaufland first, dropping those things off but not finding any bins for metal there either, so still having that can with me after buying what I meant to buy from there, plus a couple of other things that were at surprisingly low prices, including a pack of those mushrooms I tend to get before a major run, which were at a third of the price but looked really nice. Actually, the bundle of green onions had been 33% off and the mushrooms 60% off when I grabbed them, but with Kaufland trying to get rid of everything before closing and dropping prices for fresh things more and more as time passes in the evening, by the time I got to the self-checkout the green onions were 66% off and the mushrooms 67% off.
Did need to rush after that though, since it was almost 9:30 PM when I was leaving Kaufland, but in the end I didn’t have to worry, grabbing some expiring yogurt and eggs and some tea from Carrefour and already getting my stuff out of the cabinet by 9:50 PM. Spent some time arranging everything in the bags I had at that point, and since I still had that can I also meant to finally drop it off in a bin, but I always found the bins from that mall confusing and that time it was even worse, since the first one I passed had the plastic bags shoved inside it and one of the sections was overflowing, so I couldn’t see the colors of the bags and, as I said, the labels never helped me, so I initially threw it in one section, then thought that was the wrong one, dug it out of there, put it in the overflowing one, then thought I had in fact been right the first time, but since it had ended up under the other things in that section I just left it there… My mind was stuck on that, however, so I didn’t use the escalator I should have used, ending up almost at the one leading to the other exit by the time I realized it and turning around. And, after all of that, I was sure I won’t get back in time to still catch dad here, so I stopped on a bench on the way and carefully calculated what I had spent… Yet still saw dad in front of the building when I got here, so we could exchange a few words and I was entering the building at 10:30 PM.

Tuesday night, or Wednesday morning if you prefer, I again only got in bed at 5:20 AM, but there’s nothing else to say about those two days, so I’ll move on to Thursday, when I got up just after 2:30 PM, but obviously took it very easy, since I only meant to go out at 7 PM, to get an idea of how crowded the park is at that time, when I mean to start Sunday’s long run, even if things are likely different on Sunday compared to Thursday. Had the usual stuff plus almonds, but just some regular biscuits with honey as something sweet and drank most of the tea. Also, while I had the running t-shirt and tights, I wore the regular shoes, which I realized are indeed those that are rubbing my right heel but which didn’t cause a problem while running because of that, and again stuffed some things in my tights, the plan being to also go to Carrefour and Kaufland, and maybe have a look in that bigger Mega Image as well, after the run. So that was how I left at 7 PM, when the reported temperature was 28-29°C and there was hardly any wind, though there was a storm warning starting at 9 PM and sites listed a chance of showers after 10 PM, with the storms arriving at night.
Though there were actually stretches that were pretty much empty, where I tried to push to make up for some of the lost time, it was, of course, quite crowded, even if I only really had to briefly stop once, on sector two of lap one, when a cyclist who had his bicycle across the path decided to get moving just as I was getting to him, cutting me off. Otherwise, a lot of weaving and going the long way around, from one side of the path to the other, searching for ways through, taking to the grass or otherwise off the path several times, once on the grass for over ten meters, maybe even 20, around a couple of benches and garbage cans then and one or the other a few other times, and several times also slowing to wait for an opening. Biggest loss though was probably when I had to slow to a walk to see the time, since it was getting dark and the way my stopwatch lights up makes the times reasonably, even if still far from properly, visible when it’s really dark, but pretty much impossible to see when the light is just failing, and it was like that from sector two of lap three, so I slowed to a walk once on that sector and twice, and for a few more seconds, on the next, this proving necessary when I realized that, at least in this latter case, the actual time had nothing to do with what I thought I saw at first, when trying to get a look while running. Other than that, my spleen seemed to be bothering me a bit at first, until I started paying attention to my breathing, and there was a bit of pain in my right knee from the start of lap two, which stayed there until the end, but on the other hand my left calf, which had bothered me a little as I was just standing in my room, before leaving, seemed just fine while I ran.
Put the issues before the time because that was beyond embarrassing: 49:43.15, with sector times of 4:20.32, 5:07.14, 6:01 (6:00.58), 4:34.22, 5:15.70, 6:10 (6:09.88), 4:43 (4:42.30), 5:26.77, 6:11 (6:10.15) and 1:56.09, making for lap times of 15:28.04, 15:59.80 and 16:20 (16:19.22). I was thinking that, seeing as I think the shoes are worth about 30 seconds and it was so crowded as well, I’ll just aim for 48:30 but not be too disappointed if I’ll end up closer to 49 minutes, and that was still the target after the first lap, but the second made it quite clear that even 49:30 was unlikely, which proved to be the case. Maybe I’d have just managed it without slowing those three times to a walk to check the time, but I’m not sure even then, and it’d have been an absolutely awful time even so. The only good thing was that, while I simply couldn’t go any faster, I didn’t exactly feel tired, even thinking a few times to go for a longer distance or even switch to doing that long run then, though I quickly realized that it’d have been an utter idiocy to attempt that when I was unprepared for it, had those regular shoes and nothing to drink.

After stopping on a bench to write down the times and the sectors when I had to stop or slow to a walk, not that any of it was necessary, I went to that Carrefour after that, just quickly grabbing another expiring yogurt, which was an interesting kind and in fact only expiring five days later, even though things placed in that section normally expire in no more than three days, and usually one or two. Then I went to that Kaufland as well, getting what I meant to get plus some more beets, which had an unannounced discount, and an expiring jar of mustard, in case dad wanted it. Needed to spend some time selecting the plums though, since those were actually the main thing I had gone there for but I only found a handful left, most of them pretty bad. Still, did manage to find enough reasonably good ones and, as I was passing through that section, happened to notice that they also had a discount on that kind of yogurt I had grabbed from Carrefour, yet while it was also expiring on September 8, it wasn’t placed where the expiring products are and the price was significantly higher. Either way, after waiting in line at the self-checkout for quite a while, a single one of the machines accepting cash working and being used by two guys who were taking their time and also had a lot of products, even if the limit is supposed to be 15 when using those machines, I was leaving just after 10 PM, when the first drops of rain were starting to fall. For that reason, I didn’t also stop at a Mega Image I passed on the way and which was still open, thinking that the chances of finding anything interesting there were too low anyway, and got back here just before 10:40 PM, just when the drops were becoming a drizzle, with the actual rain starting not long after that and storms coming at night, making the forecast listed on the sites I check far more accurate than our national weather service’s alerts.

And now that I got this week’s second post out of the way as well, I’ll see how much I can also read today and then try to prepare for what the shape I’m currently in makes the really crazy and terribly unwise plan I have for tomorrow, which is to run 11 laps around the lake, so 35.2 km, again. The target is still 3:30, but I of course hope to be at least a little faster than two years ago, so I’ll aim for 3:25, yet at this point I find the prospect really scary and doubt I’ll even manage to cover the distance, much less do it in that target time. As a general rule, 3:30 would mean 18 minutes for the first five laps, then two in 19 minutes, two in 20 minutes and two in 21 minutes, so 3:25 would probably require covering the first three laps and the fifth in 17 minutes, and probably the fourth in 17:30 and the sixth in 18:30, since I mean to drink from the tea I’ll take with me on laps four, six, eight and ten and likely eat the protein bar I’ll also take on lap seven, though I may leave it for lap nine if I won’t feel the need until then. But, considering Thursday’s lap times, that really doesn’t seem likely, and my right knee is still bothering me, this actually seeming to be a somewhat more serious issue, so, again, I find the prospect downright scary and doubt I’ll even manage to cover the distance, plus that I wonder whether I’ll be allowed to keep running in the park after 10 PM, and after 10:30 PM if I won’t finish in that target time. But at this point it’s too late to back out, so let’s see what will happen…

When I mentioned having another quick post in mind, but avoiding it because it required more time, attention and, most importantly, skill, I was referring to one stating that, with how things are going, we’re getting to the point where we’d need a new and proper lockdown implemented worldwide, with only military and medical personnel normally allowed on the streets and systems, which should have been created and tested by now, to distribute the necessary goods and provide the necessary services to people, free of charge, in order to completely end this in a couple of months and also have a proper test run on the largest scale not only for the measures meant to quickly end any similar pandemics in the future, but also for parts of the economic system the world needs to move to. But, as I already mentioned, even scratching the surface of such a topic would require far more than I could offer even if I’d dedicate days to it, and now I’m just throwing this post here in an hour or so.
Under these circumstances, I’ll just stick to what’s going on here, where in late July the number of confirmed daily and weekly cases reached some three and a half times the highest levels seen while we were under the state of emergency and the much more important one of deaths exceeded the highest levels reported then around the same time. Worse, while the number of confirmed cases has remained quite steady, there are an increasing number of deaths and people in intensive care, both numbers reaching new records yesterday, which records I’m sure will soon be broken yet again, and the 14-day cumulative number of deaths per 100000 people is by far the highest in the European Union, double that of second-placed Bulgaria and four times that of third-placed Spain and Malta. And, back to those records, the fact that they were reported yesterday is even more notable because that was when the measures supposed to limit spreading the virus were relaxed even more, indoor restaurants and theaters also being allowed to open as of then, even if at reduced capacity, so I’m expecting another sharp increase in a week or two… Which will be just in time for the schools opening as well, on September 14, which will quite certainly lead to yet another increase, which should be seen just in time for the local elections, scheduled for September 27, by which time the collapse of the medical system will become even more probable, if not pretty much certain. Not that it was working well to begin with, or that it can properly cope even with the current situation, which keeps causing even more cracks to appear and leaving even more people suffering from any other ailments without the care they need.
Though such statements strike me as unwise even there, maybe Germany can keep going in this manner, having a medical system which has continued to cope with the situation in a manner that, all things considered, can be described as exemplary, and likely also a larger part of the population willing to be responsible, more individuals, groups, businesses, institutions and other organizations doing their part, despite the idiots striving to undermine all these efforts. Also, though this should be seen and used as the great opportunity it is to move away from classrooms and towards distance and individual, and also far more personalized, learning, maybe some other countries that are reopening schools despite the growing number of cases can also manage the situation, at least when it comes to those that are only seeing more confirmed cases with mild or no symptoms and which are followed by a full recovery, which may simply be a result of more and better testing, the number of serious cases and deaths holding relatively steady or even decreasing. But Romania is in no way in either of those situations, and yet the current decisions seem determined to make things much, much worse, the president again stating today that he was assured by those responsible that, as things currently stand, the situation can be managed sufficiently well to allow matters to progress as scheduled.
Remaining as “allergic” as usual to conspiracy theories and sticking to Hanlon’s razor, “never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity“, I’ll just say that this is criminal incompetence and negligence, and I’m accusing all those responsible for this state of affairs of those things, from authorities to businesses and interest groups, and to individuals who don’t actively demand better, not to mention those who actually push back against even what is still being done. And yes, I see that I was completely wrong when I thought that the current situation showed what we can do when we admit that a crisis exists. I guess the rule remains the same: “Analyze the problem, choose whichever strategy makes least sense and then do it.“

This will be another rushed addition, but these rushed additions have been making it a good year for this series. The posts are written in a hurry, including fewer bands, possibly less information about each, and with the picks being selected with far less care, often after listening to only a handful of songs, or in a few cases even without listening to any except those I linked to, but at least I keep adding them. And the fact that I’m no longer checking those groups, or anything else for that matter, for other bands I don’t yet know means I’m not adding to the list, so the number of bands simply forgotten on it is dropping. The number of those included in such posts is only very slowly increasing, but going through the list to see which of the rest released something this year means that I’m at least learning that bit of information about many, and in a few cases I also learned about name changes while I was at it.

This time, I’ll start with Bendida, which is another band that released a full album this year, though again only back in March. Something I just noticed now is that, despite being Bulgarian, they seem to have a Romanian label, and they apparently also had a concert here to promote this album, but that doesn’t really matter, so I’ll move on to the pick from this recent album and go with Music of the Spheres. And since I actually took quite some time to select that one, I’ll get back to the easier method for the second pick, just looking at the few older videos they have and going with Land of Perun, which also includes male vocals and some harsher sounds but not growls or anything that really bothered me. They do have some songs with growls or sounds that are too harsh, however, and many sound rather unpolished and maybe also, for lack of a better term, uncertain, as if they weren’t quite sure what they wanted to do, but the potential is there and there are plenty of nice parts, and songs that are nice enough overall.

Another band that has an album released this year, this one back in February, is Ye Banished Privateers, and out of the few songs from it that are officially posted I’ll go with Elephants’ Dance as the first pick. As for the second, I’ll again reduce my options as much as I can and actually go with Annabel because I remember it and think it was actually how I first heard of them. It’s possible that both of these are exceptions, other songs that I happened to listen to, as far as I recall in the past as well, tending to be harsher, funny or both, and I didn’t care for the harsher ones while the funny ones tend to lose their appeal quickly, but these are nice enough, and I’d say particularly serious as well, and there are others like them. Not that the band’s sound or theme fit with what I add to these posts otherwise, or listen to in general, but they’re definitely good, I might even go as far as to say outstanding, at what they mean to do.

And the third band is FlowerLeaf, which just has one song that’s actually new, All My Life, released this year, so that must be my first pick. As for the second, I’ll go with Girl in Pearls. Some of the other songs seem to suffer more from a lack of polish and also that uncertainty that less experienced bands often struggle with, while on the other hand a couple are harsher, even including guest vocals for growls, but I quite like this second one, and a couple of others as well, actually spending some time to decide which of them to pick, so it’s another case of the potential clearly being there. And they also seem to want to make a point through the lyrics.

Saturday I started reading The Count of Monte Cristo and now I’m just shy of a third of the way through, on pace to finish it in less than three weeks, so I hope I’ll manage that and at least remain two books behind this year. I still believe I read it before, at my grandparents’, likely in my early teens, but maybe I didn’t. And, even if I did, I’m not sure how much I understood from it in that case and can’t say it seems familiar, and the fact that it would have been translated in Romanian then and in English now may also make it somewhat harder to make the connections after all this time, so it’s as if I’m reading it the first time anyway.

Sunday I finished that second sudoku magazine bought by dad, when he messed me up by doing it, so I should have bought that other one myself only now instead of back in June, and I’m in fact still to replace that old one with it on my desk… And then, Sunday night, I made those additions I was mentioning to my Games Played list.
Also, while I’m at games, I’ll add here that last night I got a third game, or in fact a third title, since it’s a pack of two games, for that giveaway I mentioned, along with Syberia II for myself, just because I happened to play the first and buying this one now resulted in completely draining the Paysafecard code I had, actually leaving 0.00 RON on it. And I actually plan to start it soon, maybe even next week, because it should be a game I’ll be able to finish relatively quickly, with a guide if needed, since I don’t exactly care for it anyway, and with it and Grim Fandango Remastered, which I should also finish eventually, relying more on the guide if it drags on too much otherwise, I’ll get to four this year, giving me a chance to get to that target of five, which would be pretty much impossible otherwise.

Getting back to the chronological order, Monday evening I had another fucked up “talk” with dad. I was in the kitchen and he came to comment on a news piece, I started to argue against his stance and, as he keeps doing, he was just talking over me, repeating his position and arguing against any few words I could get out, which obviously weren’t my actual argument, so I had to react to the apparent misunderstanding and couldn’t even try to get the argument out anymore. So I said that if he just talks, without listening, I’ll shut up, and he asked if I only talk when the other allows me to, saying that if you have arguments you must talk over the other and state them like that, otherwise it means you have no arguments. I said no and as he walked away he repeated that fucked up concept, then said that in this world it’s not like in school, raising your hand and waiting your turn to speak, again saying that if you have arguments you say them over the other, otherwise it means you have none. I didn’t say anything else after that, and the only other thing I’ll say about it now is… Just… Wow…

But the main purpose of this post is to write about this week’s run, which was Tuesday, after actually managing to sleep quite well, getting back to sleep quickly after the few times I woke up. Was awake when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, but only for a few minutes, not even checking the time by then. So I had the usual stuff plus almonds, and two of those old oat biscuits with honey as something sweet, and drank most of the tea, meaning to leave at 4 PM. However, even though the forecast said it won’t rain and there shouldn’t be too much wind either, it was overcast, I heard thunder and a little before 4 PM it did start raining, and also got really windy. The reported temperature was still 30-31°C, but I wouldn’t say it felt like it when I nevertheless went out, at 4:15 PM, wearing the full running gear minus the cap, thinking that the wind would have likely taken it off and it didn’t seem needed when it was so cloudy. It wasn’t raining anymore at that point, but when I got to the park it started again, so I waited under a tree for it to stop and eventually started running at 4:40 PM, just as the last drops were falling and the sky seemed to be starting to clear.
Before the conditions changed and I also ended up starting later than intended, I was wondering whether to only run 16 km again or go for another half marathon distance, but under those circumstances I put the idea of that half marathon distance out of my mind and the time for 16 km was 1:18:48, with sector times of 4:27, 5:13, 6:05, 4:32, 5:12, 6:02, 4:32, 5:11, 5:56, 4:34, 5:10, 6:03, 4:36, 5:14 and 6:01, making for lap times of 15:45, 15:46, 15:39, 15:47 and 15:51. Did start carefully, also because it was wet and rather slippery in some areas, but when I saw how that first lap was going, I thought I was looking at struggling to stay under 1:21 again, even 1:20 seeming again out of the question. However, with lap three offering the best conditions, its time made me realize I should be able to stay under 1:20, making covering each lap in less than 16 minutes the next goal, which I also achieved. Pushed really hard on lap four for that, and when I saw the time at the end of it I decided to aim to stay under 1:19, which I also managed, but lap five being the slowest was rather disappointing, even if not surprising after all that effort made on lap four. So I guess I should consider this time as acceptable, especially considering what I was fearing when I started, but it’s nevertheless disappointing to not get back under 1:18, especially when it’s quite clear that I lost that time on the first two laps, in large part because of the conditions.
Speaking of those first two laps, the path was really clear then, but some of the few people who were there still managed to make me need to go the long way around and even take to the grass a couple of times. Some more people appeared later, but it wasn’t at all crowded. And the rain didn’t start again either, so the path was drying a little and getting less slippery as I went along, and while it was rather sunny during much of lap two, it became mostly cloudy again after that, and I can’t say I felt the heat. Did feel the wind on laps four and five, however. There was some on lap one as well, but on sector two of lap four it really picked up and remained noticeable all the way to the end, sector two of lap five again being pretty bad, and I guess pushing against it as much as I had to made various muscles and joints complain as well. I can’t seem to clearly remember whether it was the calf or the thigh, but a muscle in my left leg was hurting a little from the beginning, and while that got down to the level of a very faint warning on that lap three when I could really push, from that sector two of lap four my right knee and calf and my left ankle started giving me some serious warnings, which in case of the right knee and calf turned into pretty sharp pain two minutes from the end. That knee was still hurting the next day, though it’s better now, but there’s still a strange feeling around my left ankle. But, to get back to the run, on sector two of lap five I also started feeling like I needed to take a shit, though I had done so quite fine before leaving, so that was another thing to manage to the end.

I had a quick post on an entirely different topic in mind for today, but that not only deserves but actually requires much more time and attention, not to mention skill, while I might just get away with it when it comes to another addition to this series. So I continued to search for bands on the list that released new material this year and it wasn’t long before I found quite a few more, including a few with full albums, albeit still released no later than in March. It’ll again be rushed, with the picks being selected just out of what I could see posted officially at a quick glance, making a point of restricting the potential options as much as possible since I couldn’t stay on-line and listen to more, but it’ll have to do for now.

The first band I’ll list here is Emerald Mind and, while they don’t have a full album released this year, they do have two singles, and out of them I guess I’ll go with We Are One as the first pick. As for the second, I wanted one from one of their full albums, in which case they’re saving me a lot of time, because the only such song on their YouTube channel is Astronaut in Her Space, though you can listen to everything on their Bandcamp if you want. It’s those two recent songs that really got my attention now though, the vocals in particular, which vocals I’d say are notable in this second pick as well, so I’m pretty content with it even after actually listening to more of their songs while writing the rest of this post. Not exactly keen on the composition, the overall sound, this bothering me more on the other songs I listened to than on these ones, but there is definitely potential here.

Crimson Sun did release a full album this year, albeit back in January, and I’d go with The Beast Within off it as the first pick, perhaps in part to avoid picking songs with the same name from two different bands included in this post. As for an earlier one, I’ll go with Awaken. Must say that it’s not a sound I’m exactly keen on, but it may well be a subjective matter and it bothers me less on these two songs than on the others, and there are good elements as well. They wouldn’t be here, or on the list at all, otherwise.

And the last band I’ll add here is Xtasy. They also released a full album this year, back in March, and while my memory may be wrong, I actually think I only stumbled upon them around that time, if not even more recently. Either way, my pick from that album would be Welcome to My World, while for an older song I’ll go with It Is You. This second pick is a ballad and unusual for them, at least out of what I listened to, though I guess the first one is softer as well, so they may not accurately represent the general sound of the band, which seems to be in the general area of classic rock, but I’m picking according to my preferences, after all. They strike me as a more established band than the other two in this post, more professional and confident, and the vocals are definitely right for the genre.