Cav's Place

It’s already February and I still have some things from December I still didn’t write about, so I’m going to make a separate post about this and leave current matters for later. As such, this post will be about the shopping and the long walks between December 18 and 30, which I kept skipping so far, just happening to mention one related thing in the post about the orders and another in the one in which I finally got around to write about that problem with my right hand.

To quickly go through the regular shopping, December 18 was the day when, as I already mentioned in the post about the hand, I wandered around after putting iodine tincture there and by the time I got back I really felt it burning. But I got a few things then, also successfully using that recycling machine again for a small discount, though the annoying thing was that the tofu I got on sale from Kaufland ended up being 40% more expensive than what I found in Carrefour some time later. Then just got a loaf of bread on December 22, I think going to Auchan directly after running that day. And on December 27 I went to all three hypermarkets again plus one nearby supermarket, getting cat food that my parents had asked me to get and a few things that were deeply discounted due to being close to expiring. Also used that recycling machine yet again that day, and split my purchase of cat food from Auchan in two in order to get one more receipt to enter in their contest, just getting a little the first time, putting that in my pocket and walking back in for the rest. Also that day, as I was standing in line in Kaufland, a guy came from behind, with I believe his girlfriend next to him, and asked me whether I could buy the can he was holding for him, saying he’ll pay me but they won’t sell to him because he’s a minor. Didn’t even really look to see what was in that can; just refused and turned around again.

The first long walk was on December 19, and it was in the rain too. When I had checked the forecast before going to bed that morning, it said 20% risk of rain, and when I woke up I saw a few drops but when I checked again it said it should stop by 5:15 PM, which was definitely after I had to leave, but told me it should at least be fine on the way back. However, it was raining even more by the time I got off the metro, around 4:45 PM, and definitely didn’t stop after that. Got back around 8:45 PM and it rained constantly during that time. Light rain most of the time, occasionally moderate, never heavy, but it definitely wasn’t comfortable.
The problem was that, after being out for some four and a half hours and walking a good part of that time in the rain, I had nothing to show for it. The plan was to go back to that store I bought that LED fixture and light at the end of 2016 from, so even if I now meant to use another route, which seemed less suspicious, and also got off the metro at another station, the distance was more or less the same, so that was a pretty long walk. The reason for it was to get three LED light bulbs, which would have been for my room but required changing the fixture as well, as this one has small sockets and the lights available for them from that store are too weak, and I had to give up on the plan on doing that not just then, but even now.
Either way, I didn’t get there in time. They close at 6 PM and I left just a little too late, got a bit confused on the way as well, didn’t run when I could have done so, and also spent some ten minutes in a mall, needing to go to the toilet but choosing to go up and also have a look at the prices of the movie theater that’s there, which I had previously been to once, instead of just using the one closest to the entrance. Anything could have made the difference, since I got there just a little too late, being outside for nearly two hours and walking in the rain for over one only to arrive just when the people working there were walking out the door, everything being turned off inside. So I just walked past them, took a look behind, took a few more steps, stopped to take another look, which at least one of them definitely noticed, and then just kept going, since there was nothing else to do.
Still, there was a Cora hypermarket nearby too, and I don’t usually end up at one of those, so I decided to have a look, since I was there. But there is a tram depot on the way and at first I just meant to go right through it, but there was a guard at the entrance and she asked me where I was going, so instead of asking whether I could just pass through, I just turned back and went around it, the problem being that in order to avoid the mud I had to either walk carefully on the tram tracks or on the sharp rocks around them and I chose the latter option, which made me worry that I might have damaged my shoes, especially since I had walked quite angrily. Didn’t even dare to check then, but they don’t seem to have been damaged so far.
Did find good pumpkins at a good price in that Cora, but carrying one of those large ones when I had to walk so much wasn’t exactly an option, so I just started on my way back without buying anything, at first planning to take the metro to another Cora and buy one from there instead. However, after having arrived too late at the store I meant to get to and also reaching other points on the way back later than I thought, I didn’t trust myself to manage to get there and back in time to give dad the metro card back before he left that evening, so I eventually gave up on that idea, ending up with absolutely nothing to show for all that time spent outside and all the walking in the rain.
Didn’t even get the band aids I meant to get from Carrefour on the way back, since there is one a short distance away from the route I had to walk on. Wanted to replace some of those I had used for my hand and had seen some at another Carrefour that were cheaper than I had seen them elsewhere, but when I got to that one I saw that they were significantly more expensive, in terms of percentage, and when I had calculated what money I had so exactly, I couldn’t make that purchase fit in the “budget” for those days. And there was one other thing I meant to have a look at, being on sale, but decided against getting that either.
The Christmas fair was also on the way and I did pass through it again, but only had a very brief look at some cutting boards, since the people there immediately tried to start talking to me, at which point I obviously turned around and quickly walked away. Didn’t even get any prices to compare, since I only saw one listed, for one of the sizes available in one place, and that was definitely too expensive. And also didn’t stop at the protest taking place across the street from the Chamber of Deputies entrance that evening, despite passing through it instead of taking the shortest route through the park to the metro station. Could have spent some time there, to be able to say that I did something that evening at least, but didn’t even do that much.
So I got back wet and tired and disappointed, wondering how I’ll manage to dry my clothes and having to still wear some, including those I changed into, to wear around the house, despite being dirty those days. Since I had been putting off washing any more because dad wasn’t putting his back in their place and therefore they were left on the thing we put them to dry on, even though they had been dry for a few days already, I didn’t even have clean boxers anymore, so had to resort to one of those old briefs I still kept around after deciding to switch. Needless to say, I was quite a mess that night, which made me worry about my hand even more, which made it all even worse.

The next day made up for some of it, however. It’d have been better if I’d have known that dad wasn’t going to need the metro card then either, but while he later said he knew that when I had asked him before, I had quite clearly understood that he was going to need it then, so I couldn’t go that day, which I’d have preferred instead of even trying on the previous one. But, due to that obvious miscommunication, it was only after dragging myself to the kitchen, some 45 minutes after waking up for good that day, that I saw the card on the kitchen table and the note he had left. Not that it wasn’t hard to do so even then, but would have definitely dragged myself there sooner if I’d have known that!
Still, rushing as much as I could, not even taking a shit, I could just manage to go out the door five minutes earlier than I had the day before. Adding that to the fact that I didn’t need to go to the toilet on the way again and also didn’t get confused again about the route, I managed to get to that store at 5:40 PM, so I could buy those LEDs just fine… And then got to that Cora just fine too, no longer trying to go through that tram depot and also going the right way around it, so I didn’t have to step on those sharp rocks again.
Once there, I didn’t want to ask a guard to put the LEDs in a bag and seal it, as you should do with things you bring in, so I put one in each inside pocket, though they’re quite horizontal in that jacket and therefore things put in there are likely to fall out, and one more up my sleeve, the jacket being so large that I could more or less hide something like that as well. I’d have looked really suspicious if a guard would have paid attention to me, especially since I was worried that something will fall out or break, moved carefully and kept checking, which also resulted in my bag and cap falling out of the pocket I had them in without me noticing it. But someone else did and he called after me to point it out… At which point my first reaction was to say “sorry”, to which he said “it’s nothing”. Think we both stopped for a moment, a few seconds later, realizing that it wasn’t what should have been said in such a situation.
But I found oranges, apples and cabbage at good prices there, and also carrots that were just a bit more expensive than I had seen them elsewhere, so I got some of those too. Somehow made a mistake when I added it all up though, the total being 0.10 RON more than I could afford if I wanted to still have as much as I thought I’ll need later, and that difference increased when I got 2.20 RON in change when I gave a 10 RON bill for purchases costing 7.67 RON. Saw the cashier accidentally drop at least a coin when she moved to hand me the change, then look at the floor and not try to pick it up, but when I pointed out that I had received less than the correct change, she said she was out of small change and sent me on my way, and I had seen her ask other cashiers around her for change before getting to me. Did wonder whether I’d have been allowed to say I was out of change when paying as well, but made up for it by going the long way around on my way out and looking at the floor until I found a 0.10 RON coin.
Walked all the way back to the metro station after that, carrying the purchases, then got back here only to leave again after just dropping off the stuff and grabbing the few plastic bottles which had gathered, making up for what I still needed if I’ll be able to use the recycling machine again. And not only that I could do that, and also find a few more small coins on the floor, but since the machine was reporting that it was full and I had learned what to do in that case while the person who had tried to use it before me obviously hadn’t bothered, instead leaving quite a large number of bottles there, after looking around to see whether they were still around and not noticing anyone who seemed to be waiting, I decided to put in a part of those bottles that were left as well, until I ended up with a ticket for exactly 1 RON, at which time it also said that it was full again. That meant I not only had enough to get band aids from there, which had been my reason for going, but could also add a large bag of corn puffs, which I did.
The little lucky events didn’t end there though, because the person in front of me at the checkout said he didn’t want the 1 RON change he should have gotten, telling the cashier to keep it herself, and then to give it to some other customer when she said she’s not allowed to do that. So she handed it to me, I handed it back to that guy, he again said he didn’t want it and told the cashier to use it for my purchases, the cashier noticed the discount ticket I had, for the plastic bottles, and pointed out to him that if she didn’t use that for my purchases then I’ll just lose it… At which point she actually looked at the ticket and saw it was for exactly 1 RON, raised her eyebrows, at first put the bill left by that guy aside until he left, then she just handed it to me again and when I gave her a surprised look told me to just leave it like that, so I eventually took it.

Sure felt tired after those days, and my legs hurt a bit, which is odd for me after just walking, but on December 29 I walked that same route yet again, deciding to buy four more LEDs of that kind after having replaced what CFLs I could around the apartment with those first three and seeing that there was one more which could be replaced this way, so I needed four in order to be left with the three which at the time I still planned to soon use in my room. And not only that, but I walked back with two bags and my backpack, which I had also taken that day, full with purchases, after going not only to that Cora but taking that same detour again in order to also go not only to the Carrefour I had checked the previous time, but also to the Kaufland that’s just in front of it, picking up things on sale from each, including that surprisingly cheap tofu I mentioned before, to add to what I already had.
Also that day, since I had by then more or less decided to get one, on the way I went to three stores that are part of a chain that had the ROCCAT Kone AIMO on sale, hoping to find one on display, at least in order to have a look at it through the box. At that time I didn’t know that the box it came in wasn’t like the one the XTD came in, with a flap that wasn’t held in place by a seal and could be opened in order to actually see the mouse inside and put your hand on it through the plastic, to get an idea as to how it’ll fit your hand and what the button placement is. Not that it mattered, since I couldn’t find it in any of those stores, so I just lost some time… And saw three guards that responded in three different ways to me walking in with purchases from other places, one seeming to quietly follow me around until I held up my bag so she’ll be able to see it over the shelves, at which point she moved away again, another leaving me be until I wanted to leave, at which point he placed himself in front of me, but only thanked me and quickly moved aside when I opened my bag to let him look inside before he said anything, and the third calling after me as soon as I walked in and moving to cut me off, telling me to leave my bags in the proper place and also pointing out the one door that actually had a key, telling me to use that when I meant to stuff them in a place that couldn’t be locked.

I wasn’t going to give up after just one attempt, however, so the next day I went out again. Needed to get some bread anyway, and a store that’s part of a chain also owned by the one owning those I had visited the day before, the name pretty much being the only difference, is next to Auchan, but I also planned a route that’d have taken me to more stores, from both chains, after that, using the free buses offered by Auchan to go from the first to the second and from the second to the third too. And after I had no luck at the first store from each chain checked out that day either, at the second from this other one I found a large gaming section and the mouse I was looking for on one of the shelves… At which point I of course also found that, as I already mentioned above, getting my hands on a box wasn’t going to be of any help, so instead of having a look at it in order to decide whether I actually will order it on-line or not, the question became whether I’ll purchase it then and there or not.
They actually had quite a number of gaming mice on display, as in out of their boxes, so people could actually get a good feel of them, and I checked out several of them, but this wasn’t among them, which I guess is not surprising, seeing as it had only been released in Romania on December 22. At the same time, they had a Logitech G900 out, which may not be new but is well over twice the price, so if they could let people try one of those, why not one of these as well? But at least trying them out told me that the G402 and G502, which I had at various points considered to some extent, are not an option, at least the scroll wheel feeling all wrong, like or even worse than that of a cheap regular mouse. It felt worse on the G502, in fact, but I found that one at one of the computers that were there, not among those on display, so it might have been used for quite some time.
Either way, picked one of the AIMOs up, tried to have as good a look at the box as I could, wandered around the store for a while with it in my hand, put it back, picked it up again, wandered around some more, and in between tried to work up the courage to ask one of the employees whether I could purchase it with extended warranty and whether there’s any chance they’ll have it available in the other colors, and in white in particular. Rather chased one employee around at a short distance as he kept being called by both other customers and other employees, without managing to get myself to say anything and get his attention, but eventually saw another one come to the gaming area and seeming to only have one customer to talk to, so I waited for him to finish and then did manage to ask my questions, being told that if only the black model is available now, that’s all they’ll have, as for the high-end models they only order more once the previous stock is exhausted, and he doesn’t think they ever brought white ones when different colors were available and he doubts that will change. And I was also told that extended warranty isn’t available for it, though of course he tried to say warranty isn’t even needed for ROCCAT, though I obviously know that not to be the case in the least.
In the end, though I had taken enough money with me, just in case, I decided not to buy it directly and order on-line instead, for the reasons I already explained in the post about the orders. Of course, as I also said there, that didn’t make me get a warranty certificate from them either, but there is more about the mouse in that post and quite a lot more to write later, as the whole mess isn’t quite sorted out even now and I definitely feel very uncertain about the one I’m currently using. So I’ll just end this by adding that I kept thinking about it on my way back from that store, almost going back quite a few times, even after having walked a good part of the way back, but in the end I stuck to the decision made in the store.

This year’s Australian Open women’s final finished a few hours ago, Caroline Wozniacki defeating Simona Halep 7-6 (7-2) 3-6 6-4 and not only finally winning her first Grand Slam title, but also returning to the top of the WTA rankings. Interestingly, after having initially climbed to that position on September 11, 2010, she had lost it at the end of the 2012 Australian Open, on January 30 that year, so she’ll regain the spot after exactly six years in terms of competitions, and six years minus one day according to the calendar, since the rankings will be updated Monday.
It was quite a match, started very well by Wozniacki, with an early break, but eventually Halep fought back and earned a break of her own to make the set require a tie-break, though Wozniacki won that quite easily. In the second set Halep seemed to be struggling more and more, and requested medical assistance at one point, but somehow she managed one break to Wozniacki’s none and won 6-3 to take the match into the third set… Which was a rather weird one, including no less than seven breaks out of ten games, when the first two sets had included a total of three breaks. Wozniacki held her serve in the first game, but four breaks in a row followed that before Halep could also hold her serve once, then break again to take the lead for the first time in the set. At that point Wozniacki also called for medical assistance, though Halep still looked to be struggling far more and barely holding on. And so it proved, when Wozniacki returned to break again for 4-4, then hold her serve and then manage yet another break, converting her first match point in a game that also included Halep’s first and only double fault of the match.
But Simona Halep must definitely be proud of what she achieved during this tournament, especially after injuring her ankle in the very first round. In spite of that, she somehow came out on top of a thrilling third round match, won 4-6 6-4 15-13 against Lauren Davis, likely with a fair amount of luck, Davis injuring herself after losing the second of three consecutive match points at 11-10 on Halep’s serve and pretty much struggling to even stay on the court after that, though she did somehow manage to hold her serve two more times before Halep finally got the winning break. And then, of course, there was the semifinal, against Angelique Kerber, won 6-3 4-6 9-7, again after saving match points. All of this took its toll and it definitely showed, so it’s even more impressive that she came so close to winning her first Grand Slam title today despite it all.

Interestingly, on top of both players having entered this final as a WTA number one, former and soon-to-be current in Wozniacki’s case, current and soon-to-be former in Halep’s case, without any Grand Slam title, it was also the first Australian Open final and the third Grand Slam final for both of them. The difference was in the fact that, while Halep’s previous two finals had been at Roland Garros, in 2014 and 2017, Wozniacki’s had been at the US Open, way back in 2009 and then again in 2014. So I guess another similarity is that both reached one of their previous two Grand Slam finals in 2014.

And yes, of course I remember the post I wrote after last year’s Roland Garros final, when I was saying that Simona Halep lost what probably was the best opportunity she’ll ever get. And while at the time I was referring to winning her first Grand Slam title as well as to reaching the number one spot, I did state that it was still possible she’ll climb to the top of the rankings later, which proved to be the case. However, that definitely remains her best opportunity, in terms of favorable circumstances, to win a Grand Slam tournament, the fact that she was so close now being quite an achievement which, I state again, she should be proud of, considering the circumstances and the matches she had to play. But, if she’ll manage to avoid serious injuries, she has plenty of years ahead and there will be more opportunities for a Grand Slam title, and maybe she’ll manage to convert one of them, just like she did in order to reach that number one spot… Which she may also regain later. Who knows, maybe also in style, along with that title, just like Wozniacki did today.

Micky sure was annoying again yesterday, when I didn’t quite close the door to my room, leaving it open just a crack, as I was bringing food here from the kitchen. Was just in the kitchen for a matter of seconds, taking the last things, but by the time I got back to my room, both cats were here, and while Liza ran out as soon as I walked in, Micky was next to my desk and squeezed herself through behind the computer, through the cables, seeming to again mean to sit under the desk after that. However, unlike last time, now when I tried to approach she even went behind the desk on the other side, behind the UPS, and then I couldn’t prevent her from going back out behind the computer again, and then get in again the same way.
Could eventually get her out by putting something there to try to stop her squeezing through the cables yet again and then reaching around the desk and grabbing her as she was lying down, but my computer showed up as being briefly disconnected three times while she was squeezing through behind it, likely because the thing that should hold the jack going in the switch in place in the cable connecting my computer to the switch is broken, so she was moving that jack as she was passing through. But at least she didn’t move any power cables in any way that caused problems, not in any obvious ways at least, so I could breathe a sigh of relief once I got her out… And again later, when I again left the door cracked open, this time behind me, since I meant to go back out of my room right away, and she got in again and tried to find a way past me when I moved to block her way, then tried again as soon as I turned my back after initially going out when she noticed there was no way through, so I eventually had to close the door for those few seconds I needed to be in here.

Monday I first went to Auchan, dropping off some more plastic bottles and aluminum cans and grabbing just something small, but also seeming to have it confirmed that the cashiers that work at the “fast” checkouts, where they just scan items and then you use a machine to pay, aren’t trained to do anything, because I went to one of those and when I handed her the ticket from the recycling machine she looked at it with some confusion, asked me whether it was that kind of ticket and then said she didn’t know what to do with it, starting to say something about those at those checkouts in general too, but I waved it away and said I’ll just go to one of the others. So I guess this makes it very clear that whenever I’ll bring stuff to be recycled there, I’ll need to use the “classic” checkouts, which is what I have been doing whenever I managed to successfully use such a ticket so far.
Either way, after using one of their free buses to get there, avoiding walking through slush and under snowfall and wind, I used one to leave as well, but just until the first stop on its route, since I just wanted to take it to the nearest metro station and I wasn’t quite sure how far that was and whether it’ll stop again there. Now I’m sure it would have stopped, but it wasn’t a problem to walk that short distance, worse being to go from where I got back out to Kaufland, to grab a couple more things, and then to the next station from there, since it’s pretty much right between two of them and I saw little point in going back when I had to keep going forward once back on the metro.
And the reason why I had to keep going forward was that I also borrowed another book from the Library that day, after having for some reason decided to read Ivanhoe. Now trying to read a “classic”, even one such as this, normally won’t go well and so far it certainly doesn’t, making me wonder whether I’ll even finish in two weeks and likely struggling all the way, but for some reason, earlier this month, I remembered taking a hard look at the old Romanian edition that was in these boxes of old books that ended up stored in my room before adding it to those donated, and grabbed the free Kindle edition as a result. But then I decided to see what the Library had as well and when I saw they also had it in English I decided to grab it from there instead, even if I had to go to one of the branches “for children and youth” for this copy. Did find a decent number of books in English there though, even without counting the classics, but nothing that seemed interesting at a glance.

Still on the matter of books, Friday I was notified that League of Dragons had arrived as well, even though the initial notification listed the delivery date as between January 24 and February 6. But I of course had the money for it set aside, so I just got dressed and rushed over there to pick it up, mentioning that I hoped they didn’t deliver both copies again, as in including the one from the order I had canceled. But, of course, they had, or at least the person there said so, but now that she knew of the issue she just brought out the one in the second order, which was slightly cheaper, and what happened to the other one is their problem. And I also mentioned the whole thing when I got an e-mail asking me to fill a brief survey about my experience with them.

In between there was Saturday’s protest, of course, which also marked the first time I used my boots again after they got fixed. Was wondering whether they’ll hold, considering the weather, but they did, though that of course didn’t mean my feet didn’t get soaked, since they’re not made to keep water out. Definitely took me quite a while to put shoelaces on them again though, since dad had taken the old ones out before taking them to that guy to fix them and, with those being quite torn anyway, had bought new ones for me recently, which meant I had no model to take after. But I eventually figured it out, so it was just a matter of some lost time.
On the other hand, since that was my first protest with a phone that can also be used as a radio, I meant to use it as such in order to get information on the way, but found that I couldn’t quite do that. At first it was a matter of having a bit of a hard time keeping it on the same station, since locking the keys doesn’t seem to affect those that change station, and likely also volume, so stations were changing as I walked with it in my pocket before managing to find a better position for it… Only for it all to become quite irrelevant because it can’t work as a radio underground, so as soon as I reached the metro station it went quiet and it was therefore a good thing that someone else said out loud that we should go out at Romana Square due to the problems at the University Square station.
I could have still used it as a radio after that point, at least, and did so until I reached University Square, but other than a brief mention of the trouble at that metro station as I was walking there I didn’t hear anything useful. Still, after turning it off there, turned it back on after we got moving, trying another station as well, but my hopes to still get some useful information died out soon enough, one of the stations I thought would be focused on the protest playing music most of the time and the other having a talk show about it, with just a very brief intervention from a reporter before I gave up, because that sort of talk was just diverting my attention without offering anything useful.

And I guess I’ll end this post here. Sure meant to finally catch up with those long walks from December which I’m yet to write about, and had looked for and copied the messages written about them back then for this purpose, but this is long enough and definitely took far longer to write than I thought, and I still want to struggle to read some more this evening, plus that there are a few other things to do as well. I definitely mean to catch up someday, but I have no idea when that will be.

A few more events took place since the previous protest report I posted, including a campaign during the last week of 2017, during which a group of people sent e-mails to members of the Parliament, mainly those who voted in favor of the changes to the laws concerning the justice system, or a band’s attempt, stopped by gendarmes, to film a video for a protest song in Victory Square on December 29, or a very small event in front of the Iranian embassy on January 3, meant to show solidarity with the Iranian protesters and not announced until after the fact. In addition, a silent protest took place in Victory Square today, being part of the international “Stolen Justice” protest, which from what I gather was initiated in Poland, a few other countries also participating.
That’s all I’ll say about those other events, however, and there have been at least one or two others which I didn’t save anything about and therefore won’t mention at all. This post won’t exactly be detailed either way, but what details it does contain have to do with the main event announced since last month, which was this march on January 20, when people from all over the country were asked to come to Bucharest, though protests took place in other cities as well.

Should start with something that took place before the protest itself though, and that’s the “March of Hope”, started on January 10 by a few people from Cluj, who walked all the way to Bucharest, being joined by a handful of others on the way. The last leg of the march took place just on January 20, starting from Otopeni and eventually reaching University Square, finally once again the starting point of the main protest, in the afternoon, after passing through Victory Square on the way as well. Don’t know many other details and see little point in adding the few things I happened to spot, so I’ll just finish this bit by saying that their effort and dedication can’t be stressed enough.

Moving on to the January 20 protest itself, the starting time was set at 6 PM and, as I already mentioned, the location was once again, finally, University Square. There were voices that kept demanding going to Victory Square, in front of the Government building, again, though Romania doesn’t even have a Government at this moment, and apparently known plans to divert the march to the Cotroceni (Presidential) Palace, which I’d have considered a fair target, seeing as the President rushed to accept the ruling coalition’s new nomination for Prime Minister, without even attempting to fight it, causing many who still believed there may still be allies in high places, at least when it comes to this issue, to feel terribly betrayed and angry, justifiably so. However, the plan was to start marching at 7:30 PM and head straight for the Parliament, passing by the nearby National Audiovisual Council (CNA) on the way and also going to the left after reaching Constitution Square to “target” the Constitutional Court (CCR) as well. The post also mentioned passing by the Romanian Ombudsman, but that’s definitely not on the planned route, so not sure what that was about.
Either way, people started arriving quite early, some having joined the March of Hope through Bucharest and therefore being there even a couple of hours before the announced start time and more and more gathering after that, thousands filling the area before 6 PM. I for one only arrived after 6:30 PM, maybe actually around 6:45 PM, so I didn’t personally see what happened before then, but reports state that the gendarmes had installed fences and tried to keep people on the sidewalks, not allowing them to take to the street, which made the situation get increasingly tense as people tried to push their way through. In addition, as of some point, people weren’t allowed to exit the University Square metro station either, plus that some were being searched and had their identification checked, the Gendarmerie stating that they found a toy pistol and a few knives, chains and knuckles.
Having heard the news about the University Square station being blocked as I switched trains at the Victory Square station, I got off at Romana Square, along with plenty of others who were on that train and heard that piece of information, walking the rest of the way. As such, as I already mentioned, I got there quite late and by the time I did there was no sign of the earlier problems, things apparently having calmed down very quickly after the protesters broke through and occupied the street, which I gather happened a few minutes before 6:30 PM, around which time the gendarmes stopped blocking those trying to come out of the metro station as well, no longer getting in the way after that point. As for any troublesome elements among the protesters, there was a firecracker after a while, which prompted shouts of “not like this”, but nothing else that I’m aware of.
The crowd was too large to be able to get a good idea of it and, also considering the constant snowfall and the slush and puddles that were forming, since the temperature was above freezing, I didn’t even mean to start taking pictures at first, but once I did start I ended up taking quite a number, even if they only reflected a small part of what was there. Once I ended up inside the crowd, I stopped having any sense of where it began and where it ended, which is entirely unsurprising seeing as reports state that the column took up to one hour to pass by an observer and that the entire route was filled with people, the relatively short march meaning that the head of the column arrived in Constitution Square long before the last people even left University Square, and quite a number apparently joined at Unirii Square as well. Not that I’m too certain when people got moving, for that matter, just noticing that those in the area I was in started doing so at some point. Reports seem to state that the march began around 7:20 PM though, so a little ahead of schedule.
Past this point, there’s not that much to say. As I already mentioned, the gendarmes didn’t get in the way and there were no problems that I’m aware of, so people just marched along the planned route. Didn’t notice anything having to do with those rumored planned attempts to divert the march to the Cotroceni Palace, nor anything in particular happening when passing by the CNA, nor any clear indications that people were supposed to make a point of stopping at CCR as well at the end. But with a crowd that size, anything might have happened in a different spot, and more likely at the head of the column, which I was apparently far from, since I for one reached Constitution Square around 8:20 PM and I see reports that the first ones were there just before 8 PM. I find that a little surprising, not thinking I was that far behind, but it’s definitely not impossible, and just goes to show how little sense I had of that crowd, due to it being so large.
Once in Constitution Square, people spread all around, trying to avoid the worst puddles but for some reason many also choosing to stay back, the crowd gathered past the Square itself, on the street in front of the Parliament, in front of the line of gendarmes, being pretty scattered. And slowly, as more kept arriving, some started leaving, though probably not that many before the last scheduled moment, at 9 PM, when once again people were asked to turn on lights and sing the anthem. The part with the anthem didn’t turn out too well though, seeming to just die out after the far too large crowd failed to synchronize and more and more gave up, plus that some were shouting other things all along.
After braving the weather until then, the crowd started clearing away quite quickly after that moment, and I was among those leaving within minutes, reports stating that the protest had pretty much ended around 10 PM. The estimates are of 50000 participants or more, some saying 60000 or 70000, though I saw 40000 as well. Considering the weather, that truly was a pleasant surprise. Unless I’m missing something, those numbers would actually make this the biggest march so far, and it sure seems that neither those who tried to organize it to some extent nor the media sources supporting the protests expected anything like this. But, of course, the question is what comes next, how to actually win not just this battle, against certain proposed changes to the justice system and some of those that are part of the ruling coalition’s “fiscal revolution”, but how to turn the tide on a larger scale. And I’m not just referring to Romania anymore. Not in the least…

Two nights ago, so in the early hours of January 17 in Europe and still on January 16 for those east of GMT, to be exact, I accidentally updated WordPress straight from version 4.5.12, which I was using, to 4.9.2. Saw that 4.9.2 was released and that it was a security update for previous versions as well, but instead of doing what I’ve been doing all this time and look for 4.5.13, I just downloaded this latest version and then went through my usual process of backing up the database and manually updating by replacing what I had with it. Then, continuing my usual process, I tried to do a database upgrade even though minor version updates don’t require one, and finally realized what I had done when I saw it say that such an upgrade was required. Could have gone back at that time, not going through with the database upgrade and replacing 4.9.2 with 4.5.13, but was worried there may be issues and I guess I wasn’t thinking too well at that time anyway, so decided to let it go ahead.
Been considering going up one step, so to what would now be 4.6.10, been considering it for a while, perhaps starting my way up to 4.9 step by step, as new updates are released, since the planned inclusion of Gutenberg in 5.0 pretty much ensures I won’t be going past 4.9, probably ever if I can help it. But saw no need or benefits in doing so and only potential issues, so definitely didn’t mean to do even that one-step major update, much less this leap. So if anyone happens to read this and does notice any problems, do let me know. Personally, I didn’t notice any immediately obvious ones at a quick glance, but I haven’t tried much and, either way, I’ll definitely be keeping that database backup made before this update for a long time, to know the older entries are at least safe in case something pops up at some point.

Still on the topic of the site, days with no visits seem to be getting more frequent, at least according to Google Analytics, in the view I made to filter out obvious spam. Previous one was August 11, and now I had another one on January 14. And that actually came after two days in a row with a single visit each. Assuming any of that’s right, at least, because the unfiltered view sure is showing up some odd results lately, including totals displaying one visit or view more than the actual sections do or, actually just yesterday, listing one additional apparently legitimate visit that doesn’t show up in the filtered view, even though it seems to have the exact same details as two others that do, leading me to wonder whether it was actually a single visit that somehow got recorded three times, one of the three being discarded when checked again in order to go through the filters despite not having anything that should have been blocked by them. But I can’t really do much except assume that the filtered view is more or less correct and go by it.

Moving on, or in fact further back, realized that in the previous post I forgot to mention that last Wednesday I went to get another cabbage, since most of the one dad had bought had to be thrown away, and could have ended up coming back with more money than I had when I left. As it was, ended up actually spending only a quarter of the price of the cabbage, since I took back two empty shopping carts, one I found at the door when I went in the mall this Carrefour is in and another left in front of a store close to the exit as I was going out, and took the coin from each when I connected them back to the others, and also found two smaller coins on the floor. The thing is that there were two carts at the entrance at first, but instead of connecting one to the other, taking the coin from it, and then pushing them both back to their place and also taking the coin from the other once there, I just took one, for some reason, and that second one wasn’t still there by the time I got back, the one in front of a store clearly being a different one. Not that I know why the person who left the second cart at the door didn’t connect it to the first and take their coin back that way.

Next, one of the issues mentioned at the end of the previous post has to do with my license for Emsisoft Anti-Malware, which was expiring on January 14. Unlike before, now I saw they have a partner in Romania too, so a new license could be purchased, though that required paying on-line as well, the only difference, an important one, being that it’d have been a payment to a seller from here and therefore not a problem for the cards dad has. However, only new licenses could be purchased that way, even those at a price over 20% higher than that obtained if purchasing directly from Emsisoft, the discounted renewals not being available at all. So I still had to ask for a favor, having someone else make the purchase for me after I sent her the money, but now she had some problems and I couldn’t have sent her the money before the license expired, and I couldn’t find anyone else who could do it either, so there was a moment when I thought I’ll have to let it expire, do without for a day or two, and hope things will be sorted out Monday or, at worst, Tuesday, since they had already confirmed that I’ll still be able to renew at the same discount even after the license expires.
That didn’t need to happen, however. Not because the issue with the payment could be worked out sooner, but because of Emsisoft’s Referral Rewards Program, granting not only 180 free days if a new customer referred by you actually purchases a license, but 30 days even if they simply successfully install and activate a trial, checking of course that each person is counted only once and that you can’t gain rewards from yourself. Hadn’t made use of this before, but now I used my link and could get help that way, from a trial version that was installed, and then uninstalled the next day, to grant me additional days as well and get me through this period. Also admitted doing it, and the fact that the chances of them getting a sale out of it are basically zero, to Emsisoft support, since I had been discussing my options, and they said it’s perfectly fine that I made use of this facility. And, while I only really needed two days, since things were worked out and the payment made on Tuesday, this at least pushed the date when my license expires to February, which may help in the future, assuming I’ll keep using it, since such problems may appear again at the start of the year.

But I mentioned a tiring day, referring to Tuesday, so let me get to it, leaving Monday for some other time, since what I did then can be considered the first step in something that will be sorted out later. And the first reason why Tuesday was tiring was that I ran, 16 kilometers instead of ten, with the temperature below freezing and some snow and patches of ice on the path around the lake. For that reason, wore my regular shoes instead of the running ones and had two training suits on, two t-shirts as well, plus the jacket wrapped around my waist, since I wore it on the way there and back. Admittedly, overestimated how cold it’ll feel and I wonder if I even needed that second training suit, and could have definitely done without even both t-shirts.
Either way, the time was 1:23:45, so exactly four minutes slower than when I last covered that distance, but still 21 seconds faster than the first, and so far only other, time, and just beating that first time was my target, considering the conditions. Sector times were 4:31, 5:14, 6:09, 4:45, 5:25, 6:21, 4:55, 5:29, 6:33, 4:59, 5:38, 6:36, 5:05, 5:36, 6:29, making for lap times of 15:54, 16:31, 16:57, 17:13 and 17:10. The first lap was an attempt to see whether I could manage to stay under 15:40 and have a chance at covering ten kilometers in less than 49 minutes again, but I fell short despite pushing at an unsustainable rate, so I then tried to maintain that level of effort over the second lap’s first sector, to see what I’ll manage, and once I saw how much slower I had been it was clear I had to go for 16 kilometers in order not to have an embarrassing time, aiming for a second lap in 16:30, then 17 minutes for third and fourth, to allow 17:30 for the fifth. And on that second lap I just lost one second too much on the third sector, but then gained three over the next lap, compared to the target. The fourth didn’t go so well though, the 13 seconds lost being exactly all I could afford to lose and still allow for that 17:30 on the last lap. But I pushed a bit more then and managed to even be slightly faster than I had been on lap four, though that’s not surprising.
Lap five being faster than four isn’t surprising because I started lap four by trying to unwrap one of the two candies I had taken in my pocket and failing to do so, struggling for quite some time before giving up and putting it back, and that must have translated in a few seconds lost over the first sector. And then, during the second, a little dog without a leash started barking and ran at me, so I had to avoid it and also get ready to try to do something if it’ll try to bite, and just seconds later the first of two boys pulling sleds as they came down on the path around the lake cut me off. With that taken into account, lap five’s first sector was awful and the second wasn’t too good either. The third was decent, on the other hand, maybe also because the pain I had been feeling in my left ankle pretty much since starting that lap had lessened by then and I wasn’t worried about it anymore.
The main problem was slipping and not having enough traction. The thin layer of snow made it somewhat harder as well and there were also those patches of ice that I had to be careful of, but I was learning to adjust my path in order to avoid them as I went along, only slipping more seriously once but managing to avoid falling even then, so the real issue was that I was slipping just a little bit many, many times, and that obviously made each step require just a little more effort and likely cover just a little less distance, which made it impossible to be fast enough to just run ten kilometers again. If after setting the previous record on that distance I ran 16 kilometers because I considered just staying under 49 minutes to be too disappointing after such a great time, now I’d have definitely been completely content with that, yet it was not possible and I ended up once again following a new record on ten kilometers with a run of 16.

That wasn’t the only reason to be tired that day, however, as after my run I went over the details regarding the payment for Emsisoft and then left again. Did also mean to send her the money for and ask her to buy some ebooks from Amazon for me, initially replacing the first one I had in mind with two others, but the price of those two was the very most I could possibly hope to afford and then when we checked what buying as a gift means we saw some added taxes which don’t show up when buying for yourself, so I just gave up on the whole idea. And that worked out well enough, since the money I now have left are less than two thirds of what I ended up not sending her compared to that first plan, and a little over one third of what I saved compared to the second one. Does mean I don’t have new books though…
But to return to leaving again, it was a good thing I could use the metro, dad not needing the card that evening, so I first went to charge my prepaid card at a place next to the nearby metro station, the number otherwise being about to expire soon, then took the metro to Cora, where there’s also a branch of the bank I had to make the deposit at. Once that was done, after standing in line for quite some time, I made my way to the hypermarket and got a pumpkin weighing just over seven kilograms, two cabbages, what was the last pack of its type that I could find of yogurt, a large cutting board that was also on sale and should prove useful seeing as the larger one we had broke some two months ago and the one mom got is of poor quality and already not doing too well, and a pack of butter at a supposedly heavily discounted price that’s actually what until recently would have been a normal price that at the time I considered too much, seeing how the price of butter pretty much doubled in a short amount of time. Obviously, mainly due to the pumpkin, carrying all of that back would have been somewhat difficult if I couldn’t have taken the metro, though I still walked over a third of the distance I’d have had to walk if I’d have gotten back on foot.

After all of that, when I woke up yesterday, admittedly after sleeping more soundly than I had in quite some time, I just grabbed something to eat and checked a few things on-line, then went out again, hoping to do as much as possible before it’ll start raining. So I first passed through a farmers’ market on my way to Auchan, to see whether I’ll have any reason to return there on my way back or I’ll be able to use the free buses they provide to get me closer to Kaufland, then kept going despite having found some nice and cheap apples, which was what I was looking for. Returned there under a light rain, after getting bread, tea and some liquid soap from Auchan, bought some apples, and kept going to Kaufland, from where I bought some oranges, a pomelo and some black radishes, making my way back under what I could call a more proper rain. Some of my muscles aren’t too happy with what I put them through over these past few days, but they’ll have to recover before Saturday’s protest, even more so since I may need to walk there and back.