Cav's Place

It was a busy period here, with four protests, or three protests and one commemoration with an element of protest, in eight days. I don’t have much to write about the first one though, since I didn’t personally attend it and the media didn’t seem interested, so I didn’t find much information, though it was strongly supported by Demos and the leftist activists I know, who tended to also participate. It took place on October 27 and dealt with housing, the demands including increasing the stock of social housing by any means available to the state, easing access to such housing for those in need, stopping forced evictions without adequate relocation and implementing rent control, and from what I could find, it seemed to actually have more participants than the march for clean air. Not many more, but I counted at least 70 in what I saw, probably 75 or so, and there might have been at least a few more that weren’t visible. About the times, all I know is that the event was listed as taking place between 1 PM and 4 PM, and it would appear that there was quite a bit of time spent giving speeches at the starting location, which was the so-called Coltea Park, at University Square. When the march to Izvor Park, more specifically to that entrance that’s across the road from the entrance to the Chamber of Deputies, eventually started, the participants had to stay on the sidewalk.

Next came the commemoration of the Colectiv club fire, which I already covered from a personal point of view, but I will stress again that it took place on the first of a few cold days, and while it was raining as well, albeit not heavily. So the conditions were something of an issue, and that was probably why there were no more torches or large candles this time around, and possibly also had something to do with the lack of signs, other than the large banners, but it didn’t seem to harm the attendance that much, as people were asked to start gathering at the usual spot in Unirii Park from 6:30 PM and I found quite a crowd already there when I arrived, at 7 PM. Many news crews were reporting live at that time, of course, and the event obviously attracted much media attention, probably even more than it would have normally done, considering the just over 20 minutes of footage filmed during the initial rescue operation which had just been leaked, after having been kept secret until then.
People got moving around 7:25 PM, taking to the street, the march having been supposed to start at 7:30 PM. With the estimates tending to just mention “hundreds” at the start of the march, with a maximum of 1500, I guess it’d have been at the limit of being allowed on the street by the gendarmes if it’d have been a regular protest, but since it was primarily a commemoration, there was of course no question about that and traffic was scheduled to be stopped as needed for the march to take place. Either way, Bucur Square was reached at 7:50 PM, most estimates mentioning about 1500 people gathered there in the end, with a maximum of 3000. Unlike other years, the weather didn’t allow much to happen, the few large banners, one of them demanding the resignation of Raed Arafat over his handling of the situation and his reaction to the leaked footage, being fixed in places where they could be seen, and otherwise people lighting candles and leaving flowers and then walking away relatively quickly, the numbers having already dropped significantly by the time I took the last pictures and left as well, at 8:15 PM. Did see reports mentioning another large banner being brought and displayed minutes after I left, but it wasn’t a new one, made for this year’s commemoration.

On November 2 there was another march for clean air, following the one that took place in spring, with the route again being from the National Library to the Ministry of Environment. Organizers were once again NGOs I don’t otherwise know, but this time around the march was also intended to mark the fact that they had submitted a set of proposals, along with what I gathered was detailed documentation, to improve air quality and monitoring. The organizers again provided vests and signs, and masks as well, so the march was visible, at least inasmuch as a march taking place on the sidewalk can be, but it was, also once again, almost completely silent, a few attempts to lead some chants and shouts dying out quite quickly. It was bad enough that I was considering trying to lead some shouting myself a couple of times, but obviously didn’t. But at least this time around I have a handful of pictures.
People were asked to gather from 11 AM and, unlike last time, the weather wasn’t an excuse for the low numbers anymore. The early hour most likely still was, however, as was the fact that it wasn’t promoted by the activists I know of anymore either. The media was somewhat more interested, on the other hand, the event definitely featuring in more reports than the housing march, even though there were fewer participants, only about 60… Including one person from the Romanian Ecologist Party (PER), wearing a vest with the party logo, which didn’t sit well with plenty. There had been two of them, making a point of being very visible, but after being challenged by some other participants, the man got in the car and left at the start of the march, yet the woman remained, calmly explaining their stance and answering questions whenever needed. But to get back to the number of participants, whether there would have been a few more if they’d have waited a while longer to actually start the march, I don’t know, but some, apparently including the gendarmes, were pushing for an earlier start, and while the organizers appeared to have compromised on 11:45 AM, in the end the march started at 11:35 AM, one woman who seemed particularly bossy and a few others managing to rush things and leave the other organizers little choice. So the Ministry was reached at 12:15 PM, people only staying there for a little while, as it wasn’t even 12:30 PM when the end was called. The organizers only asked for the signs back, again stressing that we should keep the vests, and the masks as well, and this time I actually did so.

The last event taking place during this period was also the biggest, estimates mentioning about 4000 people attending the March for Forests on November 3, which seems fair, since I was thinking that there were some 3000 at the start of the march. The killed forest rangers likely had much to do with that, but while some who chose to only remember the largest environmental protests expressed disappointment, expecting many more, those who know something about how these things work, including the organizers, were in fact pleasantly surprised. Actually, I reached the gathering spot, which was the University Square fountain area, at 5:45 PM and there were already hundreds of people, even though the event had asked people to gather starting at 6 PM, yet even then those from Greenpeace Romania who were talking to the gendarmes were saying that they had listed 1000 in the protocol and they weren’t even sure about that, considering how few said that they’ll attend the event, so they were attempting to negotiate for the march to at least be allowed on the street where the sidewalk will be particularly narrow or blocked, not all the way. But, of course, the numbers changed things, and the gendarmes allowed us on the street without problems when the call was made to start the march, at 7:05 PM.
Getting back a bit, many signs and banners had been brought, the organizers coming with many of the banners, as well as with some people dressed in animal costumes, and also handing people badges. However, the banners were mainly displayed behind the fountain while people were still gathering, not in front of it, lights being set up in that area, so it’ll be easy to take pictures, which I obviously did as well. And it was that fact that caused something of a problem at 6:40 PM, when speeches started in front of the fountain while those behind it started shouting and chanting, and I actually made my way back there to tell the girl with the loudspeaker that she was breaking things up. She said it didn’t carry all the way to the front, but I said that it did and she actually stopped after a bit, even though I hurried away from her as soon as I said that, this having already been just about too much for me, so I wasn’t even sure that she had heard that last part as well.
Once the march started, banners were arranged quite well, most being on the side, towards the other half of the road, since we only walked on one side, and people were leaving some space in front of the few banners that were held inside the crowd as well. There was one huge banner that was something of a problem, and I for one couldn’t even see it during the march, being far too long for a picture or to even see at once, so I put off even trying to look at it until, at one point when the march had paused so those falling behind would catch up and the banners would be displayed more clearly again, it was gathered up again, leaving me to only find out what that was about when I saw a post after getting back. On the other hand, Greenpeace did a good job with their large one, hanging it up both at the start, behind the fountain, and at the end, in front of the Ministry of Waters and Forests, and in fact managing to already have it up in that new location when the march reached it, at exactly 8 PM. And there was another place where something was set up, the march at one point reaching a spot where the road was briefly cordoned off as a “forest crime scene”.
Quite a large group did keep going after the Ministry was reached, the intention at first appearing to be to make room for everyone in that area, but when they got too far and didn’t give signs of stopping an organizer ran after them and managed to get them to turn back, and eventually everyone gathered in front of the Ministry, where there were shouts, chants and speeches, while a number of messages were projected on a nearby building. The event was listed as ending at 10 PM, but there was little to do for that long, so instead of trying to drag it out the organizers made the call to end it at 8:40 PM, the large majority of people clearing the area within minutes. However, a small number did stay behind for some more shouting and chanting in front of the large banner, and for a little while I was among them, leaving at 8:50 PM and still hearing the handful that were left as I was walking away.
Overall, I consider it an event that turned out much better than expected, in terms of turnout as well as when it comes to how it was organized, and how the various NGOs worked together, and it was also nice to see many of the “old guard” there again, though that made the absence of those who were missing stand out even more. The destination ended up being a bit unfortunate, as the new government, which was voted in the next day, no longer includes a Ministry of Waters and Forests, having been incorporated into the Ministry of Environment, but that is in fact as it should be and the march had been planned for some time, when the situation was different. Now it will remain to be seen what the effects will be and how well the new Minister of Environment and all other relevant decision makers will understand the message we delivered that evening, what measures will be taken to protect the forests and their protectors and how soon.

Elantris starts slowly, major developments relatively few and far between in its almost exclusively political first part. That led to me focusing on that aspect as well and noting when the author was unable to make characters as wise as quite clearly intended, even if overall that’s another limitation that he works around better than most, or certain promoted concepts that I disagreed with, such as the low-level, everyday greed and selfishness that can be taken as the theoretical basis of capitalism or people assumed to find purpose in their jobs and needing to focus on them to be content and withstand pain and problems.
After the first part, however, much of that is ever more easily forgotten. The pacing likely also plays quite a part, the book growing and speeding up as it goes along, the structure itself reflecting that as well, with the second part having shorter chapters and the third having those shorter chapters split in sections that go from pages to paragraphs to even mere lines, switching points of view and portraying ever more significant events, ever more actual action, at an ever faster pace. Yet that’s not only not at the expense of depth, but quite the contrary, the systems used, the important characters and, to some extent, the world becoming more fleshed out, more of their complexity being revealed, even though the fact that it’s a single book does place obvious limitations on this.
While the path to a sequel is wide open and one has been announced, albeit as a lesser priority, Elantris stands well enough on its own, containing a complete story. And the additional material included in the edition I read, the author’s comments, the deleted scenes and even the foreword, all of that does indeed add to its value.

Rating: 4/5

Meant to try writing this yesterday, but decided to clean around here a bit right after waking up, since I ended up being alone these days after all and what I did outside of my room as well will at least last until Saturday afternoon, when dad will be back. And then caught up on reading Elantris, since I definitely want to finish it this week, there are environmental protests that I want to attend both Saturday and Sunday, and I had fallen behind, after not reading the day before. So now I have to sit here and get this done this evening, somehow, though I want to make myself mamaliga again in the evening, and should also shave and shower… And just now I also signed up to plant trees on November 16. But to get right to the period covered by this post, I’ll start with the timed squats, which were 2:21 on October 26, 2:24 on October 27, 2:13 on October 28, 2:15 on October 29, 2:18 on October 30 and about 2:22 yesterday, give or take a second, since there was a replay at the end again. And, since I mentioned reading, Monday evening I decided to use the remaining $0.56 of that credit for The Count of Monte Cristo, since one edition was just this much, others being more. Realized after I got it that I likely read it when I was little, at my grandparents’, but I may give it another go now anyway, and it’s not like I had a better idea for that credit, and it was about to expire.

After being in bed at 4:35 AM, Saturday I got up at 7:30 AM, when the alarm rang, though I had been awake for a few minutes at that point, just staying buried under the blanket. Wasted some 15 minutes on the toilet before cutting my losses, since it wasn’t happening at such an early hour, and was out the door at 8:40 AM, being at the Botanical Garden at 9:20 AM, for the Autumn Cleaning this time. And it actually was 9:38 AM when Anca got us moving… Only for a few meters, since the area we had to clean was right next to the entrance, on either side of the alley going left, up to the point where another one goes right.
There were some 40 of us, which struck me as a low number and I actually said so to Anca at the end, but she said there are always fewer in the autumn and there are enough who signed up in total. Either way, she meant to split us in five groups, but despite saying there will be eight in each group, she started with a group of nine, I think because some wanted to be together and she didn’t want to remove someone she had already placed in that group, and then assigned nine to groups two and three as well, leaving too few to make two more groups, so she said that they’ll be “group 45”, anyone coming later will be assigned to them as well and they’ll handle one side of the path on their own, with the other groups getting sectors on the other side, towards the fence. They mostly had to rake on that side, while the rest of us mainly had to clear vegetation, to just leave the trees and large bushes, only a part towards the end of their area also being overgrown.
I was in group three, so I just grabbed shears, since there was a single saw for us, and got to work, spending nearly all the time cutting and pulling things. There were a lot of bugs, a lot of them being spiders, and while I had sprayed myself all over before leaving, that spray doesn’t repel those as well, and it took me a while to even get my trousers in my socks as well, to make it much harder for things to get in that way. So, between those and the ants, I expected to see quite a number of bites after getting back, yet I actually didn’t notice anything. Either way, after getting in the thick of it at first, as the break was approaching I switched to coming after the others and taking care of the smaller stuff they had missed or ignored, cutting the larger things closer to the ground if they had left stumps, and pulling out some root systems. And I continued that after the break, feeling tired but pushing through, and pushing even harder at the end, after we had pretty much finished our area and Anca said we should help with the overgrown part of the area assigned to “group 45”, to try to finish everything then, so it was back to getting in the thick of it. Only stopped doing that and switched to raking for a little bit at the very end, when Anca said we should finish up, as those carrying the leaves and branches away were about to make the last trip.
Grabbed a tea at one point, but everything else was during the break, which was at noon or so, when I had a sandwich and a cup of water, then rushed to the bathroom. Anca had mentioned cakes though, and when I got back I saw that somebody had brought quite a few boxes, some with eclairs and others with, I believe, brownies, so I grabbed one of each, and then a second eclair, since there were quite a few left and they were asking who wanted more. Meant to grab a second brownie as well, but the girls helping Anca had the last box and were just chatting and I couldn’t get myself to just walk up and take one more before they closed it to put it away. So I gave up on that idea and got back to work just before 12:30 PM.
With that last trip mentioned above being made at 1:45 PM, we couldn’t finish that last area as well, but that was that. Walked around a bit after that, searching for discarded tools, getting back to where they were being gathered at 1:50 PM, waiting with everyone else for the guys with the wheelbarrows to get back. After they did and the equipment was loaded in the wheelbarrows, I grabbed one to push back to the gift shop, and then was among the last to leave after the ending “ceremony”, only walking away at 2:20 PM and being back here at 3:15 PM.
Was thinking of taking a nap in the evening, but bumped my head while hanging the laundry in the balcony and saw quite a lump forming, though it hadn’t felt like a hard hit, so I decided against doing so. Went to bed when the hour changed that night though, so at 3 AM according to the new one, despite having stuffed myself.

Now I’ll skip to Wednesday, when I attended the march commemorating four years since the Colectiv club fire. It was raining and the temperature had dropped significantly that day, and it was dark as well, so I took the old camera and, fortunately, two pairs of batteries found in the living room, at least one of them used. Also took 20 used batteries from the box in the kitchen, to drop off at a place which should have given me four new ones in return, so I walked there first, but they told me they were out of batteries, so I only got to a metro station at 6:20 PM after seeing 5:53 PM after going out the door, and also “managed” to step in a puddle on the way and splash water, and a bit of dirt, on my pants and sock, for nothing. And then I spent some more time walking in the rain after I got off at Unirii, looking for another place that was supposed to give new batteries in exchange for old ones at that rate, but I couldn’t find it, noticing after I got back that I stopped pretty much just before I’d have been able to see it, since I hadn’t planned to go there and hadn’t looked well enough at the location on the map before leaving.
Reached the gathering place, in Unirii Park, right at 7 PM and didn’t realize it, so I squeezed in for a few pictures of the large banners, which were on the pavement at the time, and probably ended up in the shot of every news crew that was there and reporting live for the 7 o’clock news. Saw the cameras, but I was focused on getting the shots, preferably before pissing myself, so I only realized what was going on after taking those pictures, which in the end I didn’t even include in those I kept and posted. Rushed away at that point, but it was probably too late. But at least it wasn’t too late from the other point of view, since I then went to the bathroom at the McDonald’s across the road, struggling for a while due to my hands already freezing but eventually managing it and getting back just as they were about to get moving, at 7:25 PM, with the march having been scheduled to start at 7:30 PM.
Had a plastic bag wrapped around the camera at first, with four rubber bands holding it in place, but had the used pair of batteries in it and those stopped working as I was trying to take a few crowd shots in a better lit portion of the route, not even halfway through the march, and after struggling to get it off and replace the batteries with the other pair, I didn’t put it back on, just trying to protect the camera as much as I could without it. Had already ended up towards the back because of it anyway, so after taking those crowd shots I was focused on catching up to the head of the march again, just managing it by the time we got to Bucur Square, at 7:50 PM. Then I took some more pictures, lit the candle I had brought and left early, at 8:15 PM, the rain and cold driving me away, the camera acting up as well, and feeling that I was going to have to pee again if I didn’t start on the way back quickly. As it was, was back pretty much exactly three hours after leaving.

This week’s run was Monday. Woke up to pee a bit before 12:30 PM and noticed the low hot water pressure, but just set the alarm to 2 PM and got back in bed, then just stuck to the plan despite confirming after getting up that there was no hot water… And despite being a bit messed up by the dream I had just before getting up, and being unable to write down details. It was about Andra and at the end I was writing a poem about the events from it, and I remember that at least a part of it actually sounded quite nice, and then I woke up shortly before the alarm rang and was “seeing” myself writing down what had happened in the dream, I guess still being sort of in between dreaming and awake, meaning to have it all “written” in my mind that way before getting up to type it… And then the alarm rang and the memories just vanished in an instant, all I was left with being what I already mentioned, that I had written a poem about it in the dream and was “writing” the details in my mind after waking up, with nothing left about what had actually happened in the dream. And then I couldn’t take a crap either, and was still feeling some joints and muscles after Saturday. But, as I already mentioned, I stuck to the plan, having the usual stuff and going out at 3:55 PM. The large spider I saw at the door delayed me a bit, but only until it dropped low enough for me to not need to lift my foot too high to take care of it. With a reported temperature of 18°C, hardly any wind and being mostly sunny, though the Sun was setting by the end, it was clearly the best day for running this week, after all, and pretty much the only possible one for me.
The time was 47:34.05, with sector times of 4:28.88, 5:08 (5:07.30), 5:53.35, 4:22 (4:21.94), 4:56 (4:55.93), 5:44.12, 4:25.32, 4:59.01, 5:50 (5:49.34) and 1:49 (1:48.86), making for lap times of 15:29.53, 15:02 (15:01.99) and 15:14 (15:13.67). Was just aiming to stay under 48 minutes and started in a rather controlled manner, but when I saw the first two sector times I was worried I’ll barely manage 48:30, so I pushed from the third sector and it worked out, traffic making me fail to get under 47:30 as well in the end. There were plenty of people, and on top of weaving and going the long way around, there was a bit of roadblock at the end of sector two of lap one, under the bridge, people walking on one side and fast cyclists coming from the opposite direction, so I had to slow and wait my turn. Then there was another roadblock, formed of people with kids moving slowly, just before the bridge, I’m pretty sure on sector one of lap two, though there’s a small chance I’m not remembering it well enough and it was actually on lap three. Either way, had to slow again and squeeze past, stooping under the branches of a willow tree. But it definitely was on sector one of lap two when I had a pretty fast runner ahead of me, giving me a target to first catch up to and then stay ahead of for a while, helping me settle into a better pace for the rest of the lap as well. On the other hand, I think it was on sector two of lap three when I breathed something in, either a bug or a little leaf, and I probably lost a bit of time as I tried to first blow it out and then sort of spit after accidentally breathing in through my mouth while doing so. My right knee, both calf muscles and some stuff around my left ankle gave me warnings, but held. And hot water was back in the evening, so I could shower too.

As for Tuesday, woke up around 9 AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Napped a bit more, but mostly tossed and turned, eventually getting up at 11:30 AM and going out a bit after 2 PM. First walked to that pharmacy, just to check prices, then took the metro and went back to that Auchan in that other part of the city, again getting off a stop early to first go to that bakery I had noticed there, getting two loaves of their whole wheat bread. Then walked to Auchan, getting there around 3:20 PM but first checking that pet shop again, seeing more of the old kind of that cat food but again leaving it for later. After that, rushed to the toilet, struggling to get things done one-handed, holding the bread in the other, and then ending up with the bag with the bread being placed in another bag and sealed by the guard at the entrance to Auchan, because he didn’t want to just put a sticker on it. Either way, just got two yogurts and shaving cream from Auchan, using the self-checkout again, and I shouldn’t have even bought those yogurts from there, though I of course didn’t know that then. Then got back to the pet shop, counted 21 packs of that cat food, so I could buy 20, getting 0.10 RON less in change and mentioning it but then saying it didn’t matter and walking away, having already found more in Auchan. Had taken it easy, after seeing 4:05 PM when I left Auchan and knowing that the next free bus of the number I needed was to leave at 4:30 PM, so I was only out of that pet shop at 4:20 PM, and the bus was a few minutes late anyway.
Due to the traffic, it took a while for the bus to get to the metro station I had gotten off at, and when it did I got off there, having noticed before leaving that there’s a Kaufland in that area as well and deciding to walk to it. Also found a shopping cart discarded in the parking lot, with the 0.50 RON coin in it, and took it back and took the coin, then got what I meant to get from there, and also meant to get one more yogurt, still not knowing that I should have waited until reaching Carrefour and seeing that it was just a little more expensive than it had been at Auchan and it expired four days later, so I could get one more. However, after grabbing the other stuff, I forgot about the yogurt, so I used the self-checkout again without issues, put the stuff in a second cabinet, rushed to the toilet again, went back in to buy that yogurt as well, still using the self-checkout, grabbed the stuff from the first cabinet I had used… And then found that I couldn’t open the second one anymore, the code not working. No idea whether something was wrong with it or I had pressed a wrong button when setting the code, as that’s very easy to do there, since they don’t even seem to be actual buttons, but some sort of touchpad, but the problem remained, so at first I told a guard, who told me to tell a Kaufland employee and then, when I ended up just looking around, quite at a loss, to ask a cashier to call someone to the information desk, since there was nobody there then. And I did that, and somebody eventually came, but she had to deal with three other people first, one of them having a similar problem. But at least she opened that cabinet as well in the end, and I could get my purchases back and finally get out of there at 5:45 PM.
Got back on the metro, getting off at Dristor and going in that Carrefour from that area at 6:35 PM, being surprised to be able to fit all my stuff in one of their cabinets, getting what I wanted from there as well… And being surprised to see that yogurt cheaper there than it had been in Auchan or Kaufland, and with some having the same expiration date as those from Kaufland, so I could have bought all three from there. Sure, it’d have just saved a little bit, but the exact amount struck me as interesting after I got back, when I saw that, if I’d have purchased the yogurt from there, I’d have had exactly 1 RON left in change. But there was nothing to do about it then and I couldn’t even get more, considering when they were going to expire, so I finally got out of there at 7:10 PM and struggled to carry everything while still rushing as much as possible, just managing to reach this nearby store before it closed, knowing from last time that it only stayed open until 7:30 PM, and getting some sour cream again, a bit more of it this time around. Took me a few moments to find the correct change and then also pick all my bags back up and the woman who was there seemed in a hurry, and she came right after me and closed the door the moment I stepped outside, and I guess the clock she had was a bit ahead, since I saw 7:32 PM on the receipt, while it was actually 7:29 PM when I stopped again, to arrange things better after crossing that street.

It would appear that this need for non-personal posts does make me add more to this series, and this one actually reduces the number of bands not included in such posts despite only including three, because it would appear that the guy spamming the Power of Female Fronted Metal group, cross-posting stuff, got banned yesterday. I hadn’t checked it in two weeks, increasingly daunted by the prospect of going through all the new stuff, then went through about one week on Friday, leaving the rest for yesterday and today, but when I looked again yesterday I only found a handful of posts left in that period, and very few of them relevant, and then I looked again and found none of his anymore… Which at least means I’ll be checking that group again more, and will relatively rarely actually find new stuff, so if I will somehow keep this up I’ll actually have a chance to eventually go through some of those I had stumbled into in the past again. On the other hand, few actual new finds may mean I won’t add more of these posts after all.

Still, at the moment I do have one new find, out of the posts I went through on Friday, though the band itself is over 20 years old. It seems that Kârma were a cover band for a long time, however, and only their third and most recent album is in English, and also a metal one, so I haven’t checked any older material. In fact, hadn’t checked anything other than Path of Light before starting to write this post, and that one made a good first impression. Unfortunately, now that I’m listening to the rest of their album, which is available on their Bandcamp, I must say that it doesn’t come anywhere near the expectations created by that song. But the other better one that I can find is Sorrowful Dawn, so I’ll go with that as second pick. It seems odd to talk of potential for a band that’s over 20 years old, but with this actually being their only material intended as symphonic metal, and also their only material in English, I guess I can say that there is potential there and it remains to be seen what they’ll do with it.

Though they’re not an actual new find, don’t even have new material released this year and, while I don’t have particular reasons to complain, I can’t say that they stand out in any way either, the name of Kârma’s label reminded me of Alcyona, and since Samhain seems to be their one new song since their first album, I’ll take that as my first pick. Besides, it also happens to be quite fitting, considering the date. And then I’ll make it easy for myself for the second pick, just sticking to what’s easily available, so I’ll go with their first song, The Lost Valley.

As for the third and last band in this post, that’s Cathubodua, and the fact that they just released their first full album does offer a good reason to mention them now, even if I had otherwise known of them for some time as well. The song used to promote said new album is Hero of Ages, so I’ll go with that as first pick, and I guess Scarecrow will be the second, to have something older as well. The older sound is a bit harsh for me, but it was nevertheless good enough to catch my attention at the time, and Hero of Ages is quite obviously better, that harshness being more controlled. Haven’t listened to other songs from the album, however, so I can’t say anything more than that.

Last Friday I just quickly checked a few things after waking up and then finally restored the system from that older backup, also taking the opportunity to uninstall Flash after the updater supposedly ran twice but nothing happened, then reinstalled the updates and Venetica. Somewhat oddly, Comodo Firewall took issue with Venetica this time around and I hadn’t changed the setting to make prompts time out after ten seconds, and it just seemed to be in a loop, not forcing the program to close eventually, so after a while I tried to terminate it blindly, but whatever I actually did froze the system completely, requiring a hard reset. Since that was before making another backup, I was, and still am, worried that there might be issues carrying over, but it is what it is, and still have that older one as well, in case of need. And both are “clean” at least, since I only started the trial of Bitdefender Antivirus the next day… And that has certainly gotten even worse, as now I see I can’t even permanently disable automatic update checks, can at most do it until reboot, and that’s on top of still not being able to set it to prompt in case it thinks it finds something. And there are other oddities with the advanced threat prevention, the first being that it completely, and silently, blocks Vivaldi from starting unless it’s added to exceptions there. But at least it doesn’t seem to cause other problems with it once that’s done, at least so far…
But I mentioned Venetica, and since I did properly start it after installing it that day, the first thing I want to do now is keep playing. And the third thing, which I don’t necessarily want to do so much but know I really should, is finally finish Kingmaker, since taking another break definitely won’t help and I should be close to the end. But there’s something else in between, the second thing, and that’s to continue reading Elantris, which I started Monday, after I ended up getting it, Warbreaker and Free-Wrench Collection: Volume 1 last Wednesday, using the $10 credit I found myself receiving last month, possibly because I seem to recall syncing the Kindle software when I read Swallowtail and Sword. Couldn’t figure out why I received that then at first, especially since it was weeks later, so changed the password as well, but it may make sense in that case, since it’s possible that I had never clicked that before. And, either way, I eventually decided to use $9.44 of that credit for those three, and I may grab some classic with what remains. Or maybe not, since I’m not usually interested in classics and those things are actually free otherwise, but that amount will expire by the end of the month anyway.

Since I mentioned last Wednesday, had to get bread then, and before I left dad said that we were running low on that cat food that became hard to find. So I took out the recyclables and walked to Auchan, also checking a Mega Image on the way and more or less intentionally losing a fair bit of time after deciding to go to Supeco first, crossing through a park, ending up going almost straight through instead of diagonally and then turning the wrong way once I was on the other side. Realized it quickly, but decided to keep going and explore a bit, using it as an excuse to get back too late to still have the time to restore from that backup that day. So I checked prices at Supeco, then also had a look through that Penny Market that’s next to Auchan there, then finally went to Auchan and got what I wanted from there, though the cat food was the new kind, and there seem to be some differences on top of the fact that it now has 85 grams instead of 100 but costs the same, since even now Liza keeps looking oddly at it and waiting for some time before finally giving in and eating. But she eventually does eat, at least.
Getting back to that day, just bought one bread of the kind I prefer, and two small ones of another kind that had no price listed. Since you can’t check the price for those yourself, I asked an employee and she rather seemed at a loss before telling me a price… Which price proved to be wrong, being lower than the actual one, but I bought them anyway, since I couldn’t find the other cheaper kind that I used to get. Then I walked back to Supeco and got the few things I wanted to get from there, and it was only when I walked out of there and was arranging things in my bags that I realized I had forgotten to get garbage bags from Auchan, and the kind we’re using are their brand, so they’re only available there… Or they used to be, because they don’t seem to be making them anymore, but since I hadn’t even looked, I didn’t know that then. Decided to leave it for another time though, which also meant not going back to use Auchan’s free bus either, since it’d have felt strange to walk back there and not check, but going in with all those purchases would have been an issue as well, since they don’t have cabinets, so I just walked back, getting back here at 7:10 PM.

The next day I went to the Botanical Garden again, leaving just before 3:20 PM and not running to or from the metro station, having too much in my pockets for that, which led to me reaching the gate at 4:01 PM. Had seen in the file that the gift shop schedule had changed again, closing at 6 PM, but checked the Garden’s site as well and saw that as of October 16 the closing time is 5 PM, so I asked at the gate and was told that it is indeed 5 PM, and that it applies for the gift shop as well, leaving me to think that I’ll barely have time to do anything. That wasn’t quite the case, however, since I asked the guy at the gift shop as well and he said it’ll close at 6 PM, which at least allowed me to do a little work. It still wasn’t much, since I wanted to rake as well, at least to finish the first alley, which had been worked on up to a point, but I first carried away the piles of leaves left from the day before, then swept the rest of that first alley and the central area, and that took up all the time I had, just managing to take those leaves away as well and get back to the gift shop to return the tools and wash my hands in time to leave just moments before 6 PM.
Ended up with a bit of a blister on my right hand, but other than that, the one weird moment had to do with the fact that I had left the rake behind while sweeping, and as I was getting close to finishing I saw a guy and two little girls walking to that spot and one of the girls picking it up and fooling around with it, so I walked straight to them, broom in hand and with what was intended to be a mix of a stern and questioning attitude, which seemed to be enough, as she put it down as soon as she saw me and the guy led them away, telling me that she “didn’t break anything, just did some craziness there” as they walked past.

Walked to the Auchan from that area after that, looking for garbage bags and more bread and finding neither. But I had checked the site first and had seen those bags listed as available only in two other locations, so took the metro and went to one. Actually, waited for the second train, since the first was overcrowded, but that second one, which came five minutes later, was quite full as well. And I got off one stop early, being uncertain of the exact route from the nearest stop, which also meant that I walked past a bakery on the way and had a look inside, making a mental note to perhaps get some bread from there if I still won’t find any at Auchan and will walk back. But things got a bit tricky after that, since I was reaching that area where that Auchan is at 7:30 PM but it’s a huge area with many stores, with the first one separated from the rest by a fence, and I somehow lost sight of the signs listing the other stores and assumed I had passed that entrance, turning back and going through that first store’s parking lot and ending up losing seven minutes before I got back on the road, after seeing that there was no way through that fence.
When I eventually reached that Auchan, I also noticed another one of those pet shops there, so I went in there first and saw a few more of the old kind of that cat food. Didn’t buy them then, first going into Auchan, still not finding those bags or the bread and just ending up getting some tea and some other kind of bags, using the self-checkout without problems, but I did go back for them after that, getting all seven that were left… And cutting my left hand in the corner of one, so I ended up struggling to avoid giving bloody money to the cashier.
Was wondering whether to walk back from there, being certain to reach that bakery again, or use a free bus and risk missing the stop, but since the bus I knew I needed, after having checked the routes when I got there, was just getting to the station at the same time I was, I just rushed to it, also hitting my head as I went in… And, of course, I missed that stop, so gave up on the idea of getting bread from there and went all the way to the Cora from that area, thinking to get bread from there instead.
Well, I did get off in the right place, but wasn’t sure how to get to the entrance for Cora from there, and I guess that instead of taking a few steps one way I ended up walking around that place for some time, before returning and finally finding a way in. But at least I found some bread I could get… And then spent quite some time in line, with few checkouts still open at that hour and plenty of people. Went to those for people with few products, but one of the two closed just as it’d have been my turn, the guy that ended up in front of me at the other one had plenty of products and also wanted to pay using two cards plus cash, and the paper roll finished just as it was my turn as well. Also saw I think 150 RON on the floor as I was waiting, next to an old woman standing in another line, and asked whether they were hers and she picked them up, though I have no idea whether they actually were hers or not.
After eventually leaving, I sort of followed someone out of there and ended up exiting on another side, so neither the one I had used to go in nor the one I was actually aiming for, and not realizing it, walking for a while and wondering why wasn’t I getting to the metro station already, until it was clear that I won’t be finding any metro station that way and turning back, finally reaching it at 9:35 PM. That wasn’t it for the mess, however, since I somehow “managed” to fall up the escalator when I was changing trains at Dristor. Hit my toes a little as I tripped, hit my elbows worse against the sides when I tried to catch myself, and since I failed to do that, scraped my knees a fair bit, and my hands a little more as well. Eventually got back at 10:20 PM, but that spot that bothered me after covering another half marathon distance, where I was worried about the start of a stress fracture, was definitely not happy with that fall, and it hurt a fair bit as I was walking back. But it got better since then.

Sunday I decided to go get onions, so I left at 1:35 PM and was back a bit before 3:10 PM. Took out the recyclables, including the stuff I take to Kaufland, but went to Carrefour first… And caught a spider web on the way, and I’m not sure whether I still had bits of it on me on the way back or I caught a second one then as well. Either way, left those things behind the cabinets and got some more of those croissants for dad… And dropped them as I was waiting in line, since I hadn’t taken a basket. That led first to an older woman offering to help and handing me a plastic bag to put them in, which I quite angrily told her to take away, moving a bit away as well, to make it clear that I wanted to sort things out on my own and definitely not use even more plastic. But apparently it wasn’t clear enough, since after she walked away, another woman came and also handed me a plastic bag, which I refused even more angrily, turning away again. An employee stopped next to me then, coming to that computer that they have there, and I heard a “hello?” after a few seconds, but I ignored her, tried to calm down and eventually managed to gather them again. Then I grabbed those things that may or may not be recyclable again, dropped them off at Kaufland, and got onions from there, using the self-checkout without any problems. Picked up a few coins I found, but that was less than 0.20 RON and I left a total of probably around 0.50 RON where they were for some reason.

The more concerning thing that happened Sunday, however, was that my back started hurting in the evening. And then, after struggling to find a less uncomfortable position to sleep in, at some point Monday morning I had quite a bad dream as well, something about a bad flu or something of that sort and my mother sneaking into my room to perform some ritual while I was sleeping. Recalled something about the numbers 27 and 38, 27 apparently being my age when that was happening, and the whole thing left me both furious and frightened. Nevertheless, the plan was to run that day and I meant to do so if at all possible, so I eventually got up at 2:30 PM, had the usual stuff I have before a run except the sweets, for which I used some more of those raisins in chocolate, which I mixed with the yogurt and cereals, and went out a bit after 4:10 PM. The reported temperature was 25°C, it was sunny and there was hardly any wind, but my back still hurt when I moved in certain ways, my knees were scraped and I was still worried about that possible potential for a stress fracture, so I was thinking that 48 minutes would be great, 48:30 good enough, and I might even take a worse time if necessary. Instead, I ended up with a new second fastest time on a ten-kilometer run, if not necessarily over the distance, 46:24.86, with sector times of 4:24.11, 4:56.04, 5:41.33, 4:19 (4:18.71), 4:53.37, 5:36.31, 4:21 (4:20.90), 4:53 (4:52.40), 5:37.54 and 1:44.15, making for lap times of 15:01.48, 14:48.39 and 14:51 (14:50.84)!
There were some people in the park and, while it was usually just a matter of weaving or going the long way around, I probably lost a little more time than I otherwise would have because of them, since I was always careful when turning right and tried to avoid sudden moves, being careful with my back even though it didn’t hurt while I ran, and in fact got much better after that. The only more notable moment was on sector two of lap one, when a kid was pretending to be asleep on his bicycle, weaving a lot and ending up blocking my path completely just as he ended up in front of me, so I had to briefly stop and go around. But, after a cautious first sector, I was already pushing on that second one, and even more from the third, and just kept doing so all the way to the end. On lap two I was wondering if I’ll manage to complete it in less than 15 minutes, after being so close on the first, but still assumed lap three was going to be slower and was only thinking that maybe I had a chance to get under 47:30. But I could just keep pushing, and there was also a pretty fast guy who ended up in front of me towards the end of sector two of lap three, so I had a target to overtake and then stay ahead of, and after that sector I was certain of getting under 47 minutes and wondering about 46:30. Highly doubted it even at the end of the lap, but in the end I managed it with a good five seconds to spare.

Went to bed at 4:30 AM that night, but I’ll make this the “odds and ends” section and mention that, after I showered that evening, the remaining bathroom LED tube died too, after having been blinking in one spot for a few days. Temporarily replaced it with the one from the small bathroom, but I’m still waiting for dad to see what the problem is there, to make them burn out one after the other like this. Otherwise, the timed squats during this period were 2:18 on October 19, 2:22 on October 20, in the kitchen again, 2:20 on October 22 and 2:22 today.
I’ll also mention here that I went to Auchan two more times, Tuesday and yesterday. Tuesday I had to go for cat litter and realized that the free bus would come soon after I got up, so I just got dressed, peed and went out just after 12:15 PM, catching the one going to the other location, which came a few minutes later. Added just two biscuits, which I could cover from what change I still had, but when I went back out I saw that I had just missed even that other bus, leaving ten minutes later, so I went back in to stand around for some 20 more minutes and then went back out to catch the one dropping me off right here. As for yesterday, we were going to need detergent soon and I saw on the site that they finally had a somewhat good price on the largest bag, containing 13 kg, again, so I went out again at 7:45 PM. Meant to use the free bus again, but the one heading for the main location didn’t show up at all and the one going the other way didn’t stop when I crossed the road when I saw it coming and waved. So I ended up walking to the usual location and getting the detergent, but with ten minutes until the next bus at that point, I didn’t like my chances, so I decided to get a couple more things and stand around for a while longer before heading to the checkout. And I’d say that was a good thing, since I reached the bus stop eight minutes after leaving the checkout area, carrying that bag. Admittedly, took it slowly and stopped twice, but I doubt it could have taken me less than five even if I’d have rushed, and I still have to watch my back.

Mentioned above that I went out again yesterday because that was after running again, making use of this great weather to add to the buffer. Got up at 1:30 PM, a guy who visited dad still being here then but leaving just a couple of minutes later, so I could start getting ready quickly. Also quickly got even more annoyed, when dad said my mother will be here next week, while he’ll be away and I hoped to just be alone. But I had a goal and focused on it, having the same things as two days before and going out at 3:55 PM. The reported temperature was 22°C, it was again sunny and there was no wind to speak of, I really can’t recall the last time I really didn’t feel anything like that, but I felt a bit tired from the start, that scrape on my left knee still bothered me a bit, my right hip sent me a few warnings early on as well, even if that didn’t last long, and there were more people as well. Still, while not like Monday’s, 47:17.46 is still a very good time, and the sector times were 4:23.00, 5:02.71, 5:47 (5:46.43), 4:23.71, 4:56 (4:55.50), 5:46.29, 4:24 (4.23.55), 4:54.59, 5:52 (5:51.68) and 1:50.00, making for lap times of 15:12.14, 15:05.50 and 15:10 (15:09.82). During the first lap, and even the first two sectors of the second, I was thinking I’d do well to even stay under 48 minutes, but sector three of lap two made me think of 47:30, knowing I’ll have to push hard for that and doing so right away, from the start of lap three, ending up aiming to be less than a minute slower than Monday after sector two of lap three and managing that in the end.
Other than weaving and going the long way around, also had to squeeze past people a few times and a dog went for my legs on the very first sector, I think even touching my pants before being pulled away, which probably led to me losing a few seconds, likely more on the next sector than on that one, as I was trying to see whether it had managed to tear them, albeit without stopping. Did briefly stop and sidestep on sector three of lap two, when I was going through a pretty narrow space, with people with kids on either side, and a cyclist coming from the opposite direction was aiming for the same opening. I would have had time to clear the way for him if I’d have reacted immediately, but I again had a brief “deer in headlights” moment and that resulted in needing to quickly get out of the way in that manner. And then there was a roadblock on sector three of lap three. Actually, there was an odd moment just before it, with a young couple, when I’m not sure whether she tried to step in my way and he pulled her back or he was the one who pushed her, but she was laughing and I managed to avoid her, yet just as I got past them I had other people on one side and a guy with a dog on either side, coming from the opposite direction, on the other, leaving no room and forcing me to briefly stop before being able to get through.