Cav's Place

Four personal posts in a row isn’t a good start of the year, and a fifth is likely to get added next week, if not also a sixth. But I definitely can’t get myself to write about anything else, didn’t even catch up with what was missing from the year’s first personal update, so this is what I can do to stick to the rule of at least two posts, on two different days, per week. And I do want to catch up with the part about my hand in this post, at least. In fact, though it’s the last one mentioned in the title, I’ll just start with it, to get it out of the way.

I’m talking about that small but worrying injury in my right hand, noticed after getting stuck in that public bathroom stall, and which I pretty much ignored for about a week and a half but then got increasingly concerned about it, since nothing seemed to be changing. It wasn’t getting worse, but a small area around that spot was rather dark red and slightly swollen and something yellowish seemed to be in the middle, under the level of the skin puckering around it, seeming not to allow proper healing.
Didn’t know whether that was a sign of bad healing or of something from that public bathroom door being stuck there, but it was pretty clear that I had to get it out, so I took my nail scissors, put them in medicinal alcohol and passed them through the flame from the stove, and tried to do so, failing on the first day but then managing it after letting hot water run over that spot for a long time, after dad said that should help. Did a little bit more damage while doing that, accidentally cutting myself just a little bit, but what made me wonder whether I had done a good enough job was the fact that the scissors could easily get under the skin in one spot without blood flowing, meaning that there was some empty space there and something could have been left inside, and that was actually where it hurt a bit more when I pressed.
Either way, finally started covering the area after that and for the first two days, when I was just using medicinal alcohol and holding it there with the small bandage, it just looked like a very clean tiny wound but still wasn’t healing. That changed when I went to the December 10 protest and put a regular band aid on, finding that there seemed to be some healing by the time I got back. However, when I showered I noticed that it was likely healing badly, something yellowish seeming to grow there again, and for most of the following week I can’t say I saw signs of improvement. At that point, my first assumption became that I had probably torn off a small wart, though some sort of blister was also a possibility, and it was just going to get worse without the proper treatment, though I was of course still concerned about having scratched myself in that door or even in something like a used needle placed by someone in it, in which case the consequences could be a whole lot worse.
Still, after a few days of trying to put some stuff that should help healing, expired as it was, there and otherwise largely leaving the area alone, the skin seemed relatively healed and mostly level under a first layer, but with a few different layers growing oddly around there. So I picked up the nail scissors again, tried to clean up, and then put some tincture of iodine, also expired, there, at first just putting on a bit and seeing no change except the area being slightly reddish once it got cleaned away.
Since that didn’t seem to work but I wanted to do the most I could, on December 18, before going out to buy some things, I put more tincture on a small piece of gauze folded many times and held there by a bandage… And I sure felt it burning by the time I got back, which sensation got even worse after I tried to wash the area. Whether trying to clean even more or simply waiting, it was just getting worse and I was starting to panic, but looked it up and found that dabbing with alcohol should help clear away iodine, so despite thinking that using alcohol on a place that already stings badly will just make it worse, I started doing that and it actually started getting better. However, it looked quite bad, with the edges of the area affected by iodine red and stinging on contact with heat and the rest of it completely dry, while the edges of the injury were badly swollen, that spot where the scissors could get underneath the skin in particular seeming like it could just be torn off. If before that point I considered an infection the least likely problem, just then it sure looked like there was a bad one there.
That likely wasn’t the case though, because it slowly got better while I just kept occasionally cleaning, applying that same expired stuff to help healing and some marigold cream, and trying to protect the area a bit when I could. And then the dry skin started peeling off, at first just at the edges and eventually pretty much all of it just coming off when I showered the last time last year, which I think was Saturday night, so actually already on December 31 if I did that as late as I often tend to, though I’m not entirely certain anymore. Could still see a tiny mark there, but otherwise it seemed quite fine, the area having healed a whole lot better than before.
You can still see that spot, it’s still a bit red and the skin isn’t quite level where that yellowish bit initially was, but it all looks like skin and it may just be a scar, which was to be expected. However, it’s still definitely possible, and in fact likely, that a wart was there and may still be, especially since that mark seemed slightly smaller right after that dry skin peeled away, and even more so since I notice something that quite obviously is a tiny one a bit away, at the edge of the area that was burned by the tincture of iodine. And I know I had one on my index finger there, which I had checked out quite a number of years ago, getting told it was too small for any other treatment and to just try to burn it away with tincture of iodine. Also, keeping my hand on the mouse so much may make these things more likely, and I may have in fact noticed something on the palm before that injury, but I really can’t remember anymore, so I’ll just have to keep an eye on it and maybe burn away some more. And perhaps even have it all checked out again, eventually… But not just yet.

Moving on, I guess I can say I finished a first game this year, but that’s embarrassing, because it was on the new phone I got, started the day I got it, as I was just trying to see what was available, and actually finished two days ago. The game is Block Breaker 3 Unlimited, but the version that’s on the Nokia 230 sure is a whole lot simpler, and also much shorter, than what I see in what seems to be the original release thread. Still, with six stages and seven levels each, plus a boss level at the end, that’s 43 levels and a total time likely somewhere around two hours. Not that I’d really know that, but there’s a three-minute timer, after which you stop getting bonuses and start getting help to finish the level, and I finished most levels faster than that, some quite a lot faster, but some, especially earlier on, also took me longer, probably even five or six minutes in a few cases, so maybe it more or less evens out around that average time per level.

And on the topic of the phone, picked up the screen protector yesterday, finding that it’s actually made by a Romanian firm, and applied it today. That didn’t go too well though, because the “2” sticker, the one for the protective film on the front, covers the hole for the front camera, and since that’s to be removed after it’s applied, it’s very hard to get it in the right position. Now I assume you should place it first, just pulling that away a little in order to see when you get it right, and then apply those two guide stickers it comes with on the phone, then remove the protective film on the back, place it on by lining it up the exact same way thanks to those stickers, then remove the stickers and the protective film on the front. But I couldn’t quite figure out what to do with those stickers, where I could find room to put them, and also didn’t think to align it before removing the protective film on the back, so I put it on wrong, had to remove it, and then it just started gathering dust, which got caught under it, along with air bubbles. Could eventually, after many attempts, manage to clean both the phone’s screen and the sticky back of the protector reasonably enough, using that “dust absorber” sticker for the protector, so I can still notice just only one tiny bit of dirt still on it over the actual screen, though there are plenty of others, and air bubbles, on the edges. It can’t be said to be perfectly aligned either, but it’s good enough, so I’ll just make do with it as it is.
But while I’m on it, should also mention that when I went to pick it up, the person who was there brought two out, both orders having apparently been delivered even though I had written in the comments of the second that I wanted to cancel the first and then also sent an e-mail about it, when I received a first confirmation for both, and was told that the first was indeed canceled and to ignore any other e-mails I may receive regarding it, and at least the SMS telling me I can come and pick up the item was sent just for the second order. But apparently they still sent both, and the person there said that once the order is confirmed they can only send it back, but now maybe they won’t bring me two copies of League of Dragons too, whenever that will arrive, since they apparently deliver separately if items can only be brought at different dates. Of course, it’s their problem if they do, since I did cancel that first order and have the e-mail to prove that they confirmed that, but it’d still be awkward.

And that’s about it for now. This actually took less time to write than I thought it would, but I’m stopping here anyway, still leaving aside the long walks and the shopping not covered in that first personal post of the year, but maybe I’ll get to those too someday. Also leaving aside two current issues that have to do with my computer. One I’d rather not even think about, but for the other I actually worked out a temporary solution today, though I also admitted what I did right away and hope the honesty won’t come back to bite me. This should be sorted out next week, maybe even early next week, but if my honesty won’t trash my temporary solution I now have a fair amount of time available, so I guess I’ll add it all to a post after it’s no longer a problem, at least not for the moment.

This sure came as a surprise, but yesterday I managed a new record for ten kilometers, 47:22! Four seconds better than the previous record and I never aimed for anything of the sort. Sector times were 4:20, 5:10, 5:51, 4:21, 5:01, 5:47, 4:24, 5:00, 5:45 and 1:43, making for lap times of 15:21, 15:09 and 15:09, which also means a new fastest third lap. No new sector records though, just very good times in general, with the exception of the first lap’s second sector. And I should also mention that I’m almost certain that the second lap’s first sector was actually also 4:20, in the sense of being under 4:21, in fact maybe even being faster than the first lap’s first sector, but really couldn’t recall the exact time at the end of the first lap to know for sure, and either way I just go by the seconds in what I list, so it is what it is.
Though the route was quite clear this time and the reported temperature was 8-9°C, there was some wind that troubled me in some sections, which admittedly got weaker to some extent as time passed, and I didn’t really feel up to doing much anyway, so when I started I wasn’t even sure I wanted to aim to get back under 48:30, just wanting to make sure I’ll stay under 49 minutes. Did think I should get under 48:30 well enough after that good first sector, but then I just stayed on that idea until after the second lap’s second sector, so more than halfway through, when it just started looking like I might just barely squeeze a fourth time under 48 minutes if I pushed like crazy all the way to the end. So I did just that, but the next two sector times seemed to just barely give me a shot at that, until the third lap’s also great second sector time made me think it might just be possible to beat what so far was the second best time, 47:47. But with what I thought I had left, I had calculated 47:44 as the best possible time, didn’t think I could do better than that. Yet a great third sector of lap three put me on pace to just barely squeeze under 47:30, so getting very close to the record but still not there, not with what I thought I could still do. But I wasn’t even sure of that at the time, my brain wasn’t really working anymore at that point, so I didn’t trust my calculations and just pushed as hard as I could over that final sector, then checked the result when I was done and was surprised by what I saw.
Shouldn’t have been that surprised, since I had lost one second compared to that previous record over the first lap and four more over the second, then gained three over the third lap’s first sector and two over the second, so had the exact same time at the start of the third lap’s third sector, which I then covered four seconds faster than back then, meaning that I already had that advantage of four seconds after three laps, which I then just maintained over the final sector, which was covered in 1:43 both times. But, like I said, I didn’t think I had enough left to manage that, and right there at the end I wasn’t thinking much at all anymore.

Moving on, on December 31, in the afternoon, I made orders from four different stores, then added a fifth, from yet another store, shortly before going to bed last Tuesday, so in the early hours of January 3, and then I made one more last night. Not sure when I’ll be able to pick up this last one, since it’s the first time I order from that site and I didn’t get any word about it yet, plus that I made it twice, with a message in the second to cancel the first, since the first was made just before midnight and then I noticed that after midnight the price of League of Dragons, which I had included in it after noticing that it was significantly cheaper on that site than anywhere else, had dropped slightly. Got all the others though, one being delivered on January 4, since delivery was free and they didn’t even offer the option to pick up the item yourself, while I picked up two others the next day and the fourth yesterday.
So I pretty much went through the savings made by being as frugal as I possibly could since summer, leaving just enough to extend my Emsisoft Anti-Malware license this week and maybe purchase an ebook I was considering getting, if I’ll have a way to do so, plus the amount needed for the previous sale price of one other thing I was considering, which sale had already ended before the end of the year. However, League of Dragons wasn’t included in that plan so far, so if I’ll also be able to purchase the ebook I’ll have to dig into those remaining savings for it, and I likely will dig into them anyway, since I have to recharge my phone’s prepaid card during the next two weeks or so in order to avoid losing the number. And I was also thinking of looking for new running shoes during the discount period that tends to start on January 15, but now that will depend on how much I’ll get these days, since I can still make do with these if I wear two pairs of socks to protect that right heel and there are at least two months left before I’ll start to more seriously prepare for this year’s half marathon, assuming I’ll be able to sign up for it.

On to what I actually got, the item that got delivered was the new mouse, ROCCAT Kone AIMO, which I actually almost purchased from the store myself on December 30 but then decided not to do so, worried of both problems with the mouse itself and with the lack of warranty documentation, both due to past experience, seeing as I was purchasing it from a store owned by the same chain I had purchased the XTD from back then. However, while the mouse itself seems fine so far, the documentation problem wasn’t changed at all by the fact that I ordered it on-line. I assumed that doing so will ensure that everything will be in order, while purchasing from the store might have required me to again demand some sort of documentation that they wouldn’t provide if not asked, yet there was no warranty certificate or any other similar documentation in what got delivered either, plus that the invoice listed January 2 as the date, which I guess is when they sent it to the delivery company, instead of January 4, which was when I got it, and once again there was no reply to my message about this so far.
Also, while I said that the mouse itself seems fine, that’s only in terms of nothing obviously malfunctioning so far. Both clicking and scrolling are awfully loud though, at least the right button is still too easy to click, maybe even easier than on the XTD, making me often right click by accident as I rest my finger on it, and the wheel feels just a little bit loose, though at the same time it appears to be anything but, clicking or tilting it being quite hard, with next to no risk of accidentally doing so as far as I can tell at this point, the risk being to accidentally scroll while trying to do those things, almost certainly if you mean to tilt it. Also, not happy with the grooves where the light strips are, as on top of being useless for me, those will be dirt magnets that will be next to impossible to clean. But other than that, yes, I’m quickly getting used to the shape and button layout, even though there are some differences, I’m already missing that button above the wheel less than I thought I would, have the functions I want and then some and the wheel is actually more useful, allowing me to set actions for tilting, at least as the alternate function, which I didn’t dare to do on the XTD, and even to consider no longer disabling the alternate function for clicking the wheel either. Doubt I’ll allow wheel clicking to have any important function in a game profile though, but at this point that’s not an issue, and I won’t lose any available buttons if I’ll keep it disabled there, since I had the button above the wheel set as middle button for the basic gaming profile before and I’ll probably use the lower thumb button for that in the future.
On the other hand, I have serious problems with the software. It definitely has pretty much any function you can think of and then some and I quickly started making use of a few that the XTD’s software didn’t have, but then I noticed all the new running processes, the fact that it seems to check the memory space of any other running program, and, worst of all, that it seems to constantly use a bit of processing power, usually 2%, occasionally dropping to 1%. Did send a support message about it and was told that’s for the AIMO system, monitoring everything you do on the computer in order to adjust the lighting accordingly, and that it can be turned off, but I never had it on to begin with, not only because I don’t care about fancy lighting on a mouse, just picking this model because it was the newest in the series that included the one I had, but, more importantly, because I definitely don’t want to have something monitoring everything I do like that, and I have any other monitoring and connection options off as well, yet the behavior continues. So I pointed that out and demanded a way to completely turn that off, and preferably to turn off those additional processes as well, especially the system ones that actually seem to require that processing power, but the only reply I got was that it’s not possible, there’s no way to turn off those processes and there’s no way to help with this issue. And that was it, no further reply when I replied to that to point out that the software seems to mostly function, with the only exception being automatically switching the active profile for a program started from a shortcut or by another program, if I force those additional processes to close, which switching worked just fine on the XTD without such additional processes, so it should be possible to work now as well, and that if I was told the monitoring for AIMO can be turned off it means the fact that I still see it doing something despite being off is a bug which needs to be fixed.
I guess I’ll be sending some more messages soon enough, see whether anything can be done. But the thing is that I don’t really need the software to run, and I may feel safer keeping it off anyway, even if they’ll make it no longer use any processing power and appear that it no longer monitors anything except perhaps mouse actions if those options are off. I mean, automatically switching the active profile was a nice touch, but now that I can feel confident enough in having an alternate action for wheel tilting, I can change profiles that way and not sacrifice any buttons for it, while those statistics about mouse usage that the XTD’s software displayed are no longer displayed in Swarm, possibly still being gathered if Swarm is running but apparently only visible through the app, which seems to only be available for Android smartphones at the moment, and the fact that it requires something separate to be installed being an awful choice even if a Windows version is apparently being developed as well. Yes, many of the additional functions, including that of directly opening a program, which allows opening multiple instances of it, which using a shortcut does not, only work with Swarm running, but I didn’t have those functions on the XTD and I guess I can make do without them on the AIMO as well, sticking just to what I had. Or, more exactly, what I had plus at least one more, since there’s no point in having a button on the default profile to open the software quickly anymore, and maybe two more if I’ll decide I can be confident enough to add an alternate function to clicking the wheel as well.

But to finally move on to the last part, the other purchases had to do with my new phone, a Nokia 230. It’s the dual sim model since that’s the one that’s easy to find and cheaper, not that I’d have any use for that. Other than that, it seemed the least bad option out of what was available and at a reasonable price, though I have plenty of complaints about it if I think about it for a moment. Obviously not compared to the old Alcatel 512 I had so far, but compared to what I’d want from a feature phone now, even considering how little I’m likely to actually do with it. But I’m not going to write more about that, at least not yet. For now, I made a choice after all this time and, in good part just because it’s not something I’m used to using, unlike the mouse for example, it is what it is.
Still, should say what I actually purchased. Started with the phone itself with a two-year warranty extension, for a total of four years, using that voucher I won several months ago to cover more than half of the amount. Then, also Friday, went to a second store, one specialized in such things and which I had obviously never had anything to do with before, to pick up the case I had ordered, and which I can’t seem to find any “official” link for. Next, yesterday, I could go and pick up the 32 Gb microSD card I had also ordered, the version with the included adapter, just because it was somehow cheaper than the one without. What I’m a bit confused about is that, while the product page on the store’s site lists lifetime warranty and the manufacturer offers it, the warranty certificate has two lines for the duration, the second being “lifetime” but the first saying 60 months, and I couldn’t get myself to ask what that was about while I was there, though I stayed for a few minutes after actually picking it up, in order to put it in the phone and make sure it saw it properly.
As for the remaining order, that was initially for a screen protector for it, with the book added when I noticed its price, like I said. I’d say I could use that if I mean to really take care of this phone, because that screen sure gets dirty right away, despite the case and the fact that I’d have no reason to touch it and try not to, and now that I held the phone to my ear for a bit this evening, when someone doing a survey called, it got quite greasy as well and as I was trying to clean it I also noticed what seem to be a few faint scratches already. Wonder whether those were actually caused by me trying to wipe it, since I used my clothes so far, even if I tried to be gentle, only now trying to use something more appropriate. Also notice what may be a tiny flaw or a little bit of damage on that case I bought, on the side of the transparent part that actually holds the phone. But, again, what’s done is done, I guess.
The main problem is, of course, the very fact that I replaced that old phone, seeing as Andra gave it to me. Yes, this was the plan I mentioned when I posted about it turning 15, and I’ve been thinking about it and turning it on all sides for a long time, but it doesn’t make it any easier. And what’s worse is that the old phone won’t work without the SIM card, only displays a message to check the SIM card, unlike this one for example, so I can’t just keep it on just to still see it there. I did turn it back on for a bit on Saturday, to check some things and try to record both the ringtone I was using and one Andra had recorded of Bijou meowing on this one, though that didn’t turn out too well, but other than that… Sure, I can keep it in the same spot where I’ve usually been putting it so far, turned off, and at the moment I am doing that, but I think I’ll put it back in its box soon enough, with the battery removed so that won’t cause problems if left charged and connected but unused for a long time, and just keep it there as another of the ever fewer actual links to that time when there seemed like there might just be a point in anything, when life seemed like it might just be worth living and the future wasn’t made up only of terror and hopelessness.

And this is about it for now. What wasn’t included in that previous “catching up” post won’t be included in this one either, so not sure what will happen with that. But this is long already, plus that I slept little today, waking up early to go to Auchan and get bread, since the type I want seems to sell out quite early and they don’t make more later, so I again didn’t find any when I went yesterday, and couldn’t sleep for more than another hour or so, maybe up to one and a half, in the afternoon. But at least I also dropped off the plastic bottles and one can which had gathered, though the machine only accepted 18 of the 27 bottles, rejecting all of those of a particular type, and in general I no longer have the problems I had at first while using that machine, so I now regularly do this and get a tiny discount for it. And I also got yogurt from Carrefour, after noticing the price when I checked it and Kaufland between picking up the microSD card and going to Auchan last evening, and not just for this week, as initially planned, but until the end of the month or so, depending on how many days I’ll skip.

A year and a half after the previous such post, I’d say it’s time for another. Didn’t copy the times for distances below seven kilometers, nor for the final sector on 4.1 km runs, as I didn’t cover those distances again since that post, and I didn’t copy the explanations either, since this is just for my own use anyway. As for the notes, they’re between square brackets and the first number represents the distance and the second the lap on which that particular time was achieved, with the few times remaining from 4.1 km runs obviously not having a second number since that included a single full lap. And should also just mention that this post wouldn’t in fact cover Monday’s run as well, but there were no top times in it anyway, though lap three’s second sector came surprisingly close, so it doesn’t matter.

7 km (through the park)
1. 33:48
2. 34:01
3. 34:02
4. 34:19
5. 34:35
6. 34:44
7. 34:46
8. 34:47
9. 34:48
10. 34:50

10 km (through the park)
1. 47:26
2. 47:47
3. 47:51
4. 48:01
5. 48:04
6. 48:08
7. 48:11
8. 48:14
9. 48:19
10. 48:20

16 km (through the park)
1. 1:19:45
2. 1:24:06

Half Marathon (21.1 km)
I. Bucharest Half Marathon real time
1. 1:54:56
2. 2:02:38
II. Through the park
1. 1:53:19
2. 1:56:41
3. 1:59:11

Lap around the park lake (3.2 km)
1. 14:51 [10-1]
2. 15:02 [10-1]
3. 15:05 [10-2]
4. 15:06 [10-2]
5. 15:12 [4.1]
6. 15:16 [7-1]
7-8. 15:17 [10-2] (twice [10-3])
9-12. 15:18 [7-1] (and a second [10-3], third [10-2] and fourth [10-1] time)

Lap sector one [10-1 unless otherwise specified]
1-2. 4:14 (twice)
3-4. 4:17 (twice [10-2])
5. 4:18 [4.1]
6. 4:19
7. 4:20 [10-2]
8-11. 4:21 (and a second, third and fourth time)

Lap sector two
1. 4:52 [10-1]
2. 4:55 [10-1]
3-5. 4:59 [10-2] (and a second [10-2] and third [10-2] time)
6-7. 5:00 [4.1] (twice [10-3])
8. 5:01 [10-3]
9-13. 5:02 [7-1] (and a second [10-2], third [10-3], fourth [10-3] and fifth [10-2] time)

Lap sector three
1. 5:42 [10-1]
2-4. 5:43 [7-1] (and a second [10-1] and third [10-1] time)
5-6. 5:45 [4.1] (twice [10-1])
7-9. 5:46 [7-1] (and a second [10-1] and third [10-2] time)
10-11. 5:47 [10-2] (twice [10-3])

Final sector on a 7 km run
1. 2:51
2. 2:52
3-4. 2:53 (twice)
5. 2:54
6. 2:55
7-8. 2:57 (twice)
9. 2:58
10. 2:59

Final sector on a 10 km run
1-2. 1:42 (twice)
3-5. 1:43 (and a second and third time)
6-8. 1:44 (and a second and third time)
9-11. 1:45 (and a second and third time)

Though it’s been a while since it happened, this is the first actual personal post since then, not counting the one about my phone turning 15, so I guess I should start it by mentioning that the “emergency” post I initially wrote back in August of 2016 and which has since been set to post at 11:59 PM on Sunday, the date normally being changed after writing each week’s second post, ended up posting at 11:59 PM on December 17 and stayed up for two hours and some ten minutes before I noticed and pulled it again. Unlike the previous time this happened, at the end of July, I really did forget to change the date this time. Didn’t do so before Sunday and then on that day I got up at 2:35 PM, left at 4:15 PM for the protest, spending the time in between getting ready while watching some ski jumping, and then got back at 10:20 PM, all wet and frozen, spread my clothes around to dry a bit, went to take a bath, made some food and when I finally got on the computer again I saw it up. So I’m obviously neither dead nor in hospital, as that post says is likely the case if it shows up, but I am a bit worried that it’s starting to lose its purpose if it ends up posted in error like this. I’ll probably get rid of it if it happens one more time.

Moving on, I have no less than three runs to write about in this post, starting with the one on December 22, when the time was 48:11, with sector times of 4:19, 5:06, 5:56, 4:28, 5:07, 5:48, 4:30, 5:07, 5:56 and 1:54, making for lap times of 15:21, 15:23 and 15:33. The temperature was around freezing and I was wearing two training suits, with the jacket wrapped around my waist since I wore that as well on the way to the park and back, but at least the route was quite clear and in the end the time was a bit better than I expected. The little race I had with another guy probably helped with that, since he got on the path around the lake at the bridge on my second lap, so just before the end of that lap’s second sector for me, and I pushed to get ahead of him after a while on the third sector. He stayed right behind me until what for me is the end of the lap, but then immediately overtook and pulled ahead bit by bit. I seemed to be just slightly closing in again on sector three, doubt I could have caught up by the end of the lap even if he’d have kept that pace, but at a turn he glanced back and sped up a bit more, leaving me with no chance at all but keeping me pushing hard. Maybe a bit too hard, since that effort resulted in a final sector that was one of the slowest final sectors ever on a ten-kilometer run, and the slowest of any such run completed even in less than 50 minutes, not just out of these under 49.
Ran again on December 27, when there were plenty of people in the park even though that’s not a legal holiday, so finding my way through was at times a problem, but at least the weather was nice, and the reported temperature up to 13°C. As such, despite all the weaving around, the time was 48:08, with sector times of 4:29, 5:13, 5:43, 4:29, 5:04, 5:51, 4:30, 5:01, 5:58 and 1:50, making for lap times of 15:25, 15:24 and 15:29. That means I could have clearly managed another time under 48 minutes, and likely a new sector three record on that first lap, if the route would have been clear, but then again maybe I wouldn’t have pushed that hard then.
As for this week’s run, that was yesterday, on about an hour and a half of sleep and with the route full of people. Thought it’d be rather empty in the first part of the day, but only meant to leave around noon either way, so doubt that’d have helped that much, since I eventually ended up leaving at 12:50 PM. Still, while I didn’t manage an eighth time under 48:30 in a row, I stayed under 49 minutes, managing 48:44, with sector times of 4:27, 5:16, 5:56, 4:29, 5:05, 6:00, 4:31, 5:03, 6:05 and 1:52, making for lap times of 15:39, 15:34 and 15:39. Interestingly, the previous time over 48:30 was also 48:44. But this really took everything I had, not only physically but even mentally to some extent, on so little sleep and needing to constantly search for a way through and calculate speeds and directions to see where and when I could slip through without losing more time than I had to. Was drenched in sweat and winded at the end, but at least I managed to stay under 49 even under those circumstances, always weaving around, pushing as hard as I could when I was in the clear for a little bit to make up for the time lost when I had to slow or even briefly stop otherwise… Actually expected a worse final sector after all of that, especially since I had to pretty much walk the first few steps up those stairs the sector starts with, since there simply was no way through, and then had to switch from one side to the other multiple times while climbing. But then I pushed like I was going for the record once I got to the top, and I guess that was enough.

Since I mentioned running on an hour and a half of sleep, that was because I first woke up that morning at 7:30 AM and had just barely managed to fall asleep again when Liza woke me up scratching something hard and then meowing loudly. Checked to see whether something was wrong, since she had seemed more scared than Micky by the fireworks the night before, but everything seemed normal, and she is in heat these days, so I went to the toilet and tried to get back to sleep… Only to hear heavy footsteps from the apartment above, all sorts of movement, and keep wondering about that, also keep stressing about the orders made the previous evening, so no chance to get back to sleep. Eventually, at 8:20 AM, I went back to the toilet for the other pressing issue I had felt when I got up the first time as well but had decided to leave for later, and for all the 20 minutes I was there I kept hearing water being turned on, some seconds of splashing, then the water apparently being thrown down the toilet, this cycle just repeating over and over. Couldn’t hear much of that from bed when I got back to it, but when I did try to listen for a bit, about half an hour later, I got the impression that it kept going on.
Either way, there was no chance to get back to sleep, but I stayed there for a while longer and only got up at 9:50 AM, since the original plan was to get up no later than at 10:15 AM and that was close enough. After having washed my running clothes, wanted to iron them just a little before using them again and hadn’t done that yet, plus that I wanted to enter some codes in a contest during those early hours of the year, when I thought fewer were likely to do the same, the hourly prizes starting at 10 AM. But that came to nothing, and I only got to the ironing part quite late and it took me quite some time too, plus that I then went to the bathroom again, something not seeming quite right, all of this leading to me going out later than planned despite having woken up earlier.
Back to the noise from above, after waking up and going out of my room again I heard pipes vibrating and banging, as they do when the water is turned on with a lot of pressure and then quickly turned off in the bathroom, and water constantly flowing down what seemed to be the pipes for the other column of toilets. That was still going on at 10:30 AM, after I had gone to the kitchen and managed to step in something that made a small hole in the uselessly soft bottom of the cheap slippers I had bought a few days before, my old ones being quite torn for quite some time, and which I had just started wearing that morning. The hole doesn’t go all the way through, but it makes it clear that I can’t actually use them, so deciding to just go for the cheapest ones pretty much meant I wasted 5 RON ($1.28 or €1.07), though I’m now wearing them in my room and changing to the old ones when I go out, and having separate ones for here isn’t that bad of an idea actually. It still means I need another pair though, a better one.
Either way, could hear the same sort of noise when I went to the bathroom again and even when I went out to run, which I already mentioned happened at 12:50 PM. Tried to look for signs of flooding from above but didn’t notice anything, though that area is stained from previous such events, so I can’t be entirely certain. Either way, I guess whatever it was got sorted out one way or another at some point. I also guess it had nothing to do with the screams I heard in the afternoon, not long before dad got back, saying he saw an ambulance leaving from here, but of course I can’t be sure. I believe the person living above is still an old woman I believe is approaching 100, so anything’s possible.

Going back from there, spent New Year’s alone, which I’m quite sure is a first, that night otherwise tending to be even worse than others since I got thrown back here, with parents being up and around even longer, in the first years even having others over, and me not even going to the kitchen until morning. So at least this time the fact that I’m terribly lonely wasn’t made even worse by not actually being alone and I could largely treat is as a normal night, just making myself some popcorn earlier, then watching some fireworks and turning on a TV for a while around midnight, checking on the cats a little around that time too. My mother called a bit later, which I could have done without, but I could just shrug off the common thing that’s said at this time, not giving the depressing reply I usually give to that, and she didn’t start saying other things to make it worse.

Going back a little more, Wednesday evening I sure gave the washing machine a hard time when I put in all the colored clothes which had gathered. Noticed I had to shove them in quite hard and knew it was well over the 3 kg that’s the listed maximum for the normal program, but I was thinking I was maybe around the listed maximum for the machine itself, 5.5 kg, which the manual states is actually only valid for the cotton program, which I’m not sure was ever used in all the years since this machine was bought. Well, I weighed them after pulling them out, and while there was some water to add to the weight as well, 9.7 kg is a whole lot above that maximum, so I sure made the poor thing struggle. Good thing it didn’t break, or at least it’s not yet obvious that anything is failing because of it, but it remains to be seen whether there will be any consequences.
It definitely couldn’t rinse all those clothes properly though, and not sure how well it washed them either, but at least I now know that all those white stains that kept appearing on colored clothes after my mother washed them, and which appeared again now despite this not happening the previous few times I washed colored clothes, were caused by overloading the machine, because when she left instructions about using it I learned that she was using the gentle program for colored clothes, the listed maximum load for that being 1.5 kg, and when I pointed that out to her she said she never put anywhere near that little, yet until then had kept saying she had no idea why those stains kept appearing. So I guess I’m just learning the things I find myself needing to take over now, and hope I won’t break things while I do… But sure hope something will be worked out so I’ll end up living on my own somewhere in the foreseeable future, because needing to keep anything in order with dad around is a real pain.

Further back, since I was alone all day on Christmas I kept myself a bit busy, cleaning my room a bit and also shaving my head. Been a while since I had cleaned here again and that was a good moment, so I could finally get around to it, and it was definitely a good moment for shaving my head. It wasn’t as bad as at other times in the past yet, but was starting to look a bit like a clown again and with highs around 12°C all those days, I got it out of the way sooner than initially planned, as I had meant to do it Tuesday or Wednesday at first. Not that having some hair helps much when it’s colder, seeing as I’m bald to the top of my head, but it helps a little bit, so if and when it will be colder now, at least it won’t be immediately after shaving, and I won’t need to do it again until it’ll get warmer again.

Regarding protests, attended the two “main” ones that took place during the period covered by this post, and the one on December 17 sure messed me up. As I already mentioned at the start of this post, pretty much used up that entire day for me, but also resulted in me getting soaked and freezing. Left at 4:15 PM, needing to walk there and back, since dad had the metro card, in what started as rain and ended up being sleet before I got there. Then there was this winter’s first snow, which was a bit nice at least, some snow managing to settle at least on parked cars, but by the time I got back, at 10:20 PM, it had turned back to rain and perhaps sleet again. My hands were so numb that I spent some two minutes trying to get the keys out of my pocket in front of the building door, and then I couldn’t unlock the apartment door, so dad unlocked it for me eventually, hearing me fumbling with the key but not coming in.
Either way, as I mentioned in the post about the protest, wandered away soon after reaching the Parliament and had a quick look at the Christmas fair as well. Just a quick look, took me some 30 minutes including walking there and then back to where the remaining protesters were, not really even approaching stalls, so the people manning them won’t assume I’m interested in buying something and start talking to me, but I did take a bunch of pictures, despite the conditions. The rain made them turn out even worse than usual, so I hadn’t even posted them until now, only having those from the protest up, but now that I mentioned them, decided to post them as well, since I had them anyway.

Moving on to the December 23 protest, it sure felt cold, despite the lack of precipitation and the fact that I didn’t need to walk there and back again. Of course, I had previously worn a training suit under the street clothes and a sweater as well, even two at times, when staying out for hours in cold weather, but then I had just washed the thinner training suit, which I had worn during the previous march and then also around the house since then, as the other one hadn’t been washed to change to it after that, and both sweaters as well, being left with just an anorak with a malfunctioning zipper, which keeps me significantly less warm than a sweater. And while I knew it’d be pointless to get there long before the scheduled start time for the march, of 6 PM, so I only arrived at 5:40 PM, the march only started at 7 PM and even then there were only maybe 300 people, even 200 according to some estimates, in that entire area, so no warmth from any crowd and pretty much nothing to do.
Not that there was much to do during the march either. The pace was normal, so a slow one for me, there wasn’t much of a column to speak of, there was even less reason to even try to go back and forth along it too much, and the fact that the march was on the sidewalk meant that often there wasn’t much room to do so either. So I pretty much walked somewhere in the first part of the column, stopping now and then and then making my way back to the head, which definitely wasn’t enough to help me keep warm. Still, did what I could to take a handful of pictures before leaving, around 8:30 PM.

Speaking of pictures, I tend to take a very long exposure shot of the sky in a dark place on a street when I come back from somewhere well after dark, have the camera with me, the sky’s clear and there’s a parked car conveniently placed in such a dark place. I place the camera on the car, so it won’t shake, but I used to hold it tilted instead of just leaving it pointing straight up, so the image ended up badly shaken anyway. But more recently, when I also found a darker than usual place nearby, I started to just leave it pointing straight up, and the results started showing, so I took what’s probably my best picture of the night sky yet on my way back from that December 23 protest. There’s a bit of a tree in the way in that one and I managed to take another a few days later in pretty much the same spot without anything in the way, but there’s more light pollution in that second one, so it’s probably not as good. Not that either of them are much to speak of, but it’s what my old camera can do, set to the maximum exposure time it allows, 15 seconds, and at ISO 800, which is also the most it can do, with a two-second delay so any movement caused by me pressing the button and then taking my hand away won’t be a problem either. There’s of course also the lens issue that results in that darker patch, but, again, it is what it is.

Unfortunately, I don’t have much of a chance of seeing stars from my window anymore, since this heating station or whatever it is behind the building here had powerful lights installed on the outside. Can see two from here, but one’s more to the left and can get hidden behind a tree, so it probably won’t be much of a problem when trees have leaves, but the other one is quite an issue, more so than the other lights in this area. I have solid blinds on the outside on my window, so that’s not the problem, the light doesn’t get in my room, though it sure is noticeable in the rest of the apartment, but trying to look outside and at the night sky is becoming pretty pointless. So now I’m once again worried that I won’t see another star from here, as I was after getting thrown back here. Didn’t take me long back then to start to figure out how to spot at least a few, and there were times when the lights closest to my window weren’t working, which made it better, but now my chances really don’t look good.

And this is a long post already, so, like the title states, I’ll leave for later the part about shopping, orders and long walks, as well as that about messing up my hands even more, though things finally seem to get better to some extent now. I just want to mention that I did manage to finish the 12th actual book in 2017 right on December 31, while eating the popcorn I had made, and posted the quick review for it at 11:25 PM, spending some more minutes after that to look over it again. On the other hand, couldn’t finish what I believe to be the final scenario in the Nomad campaign on Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic and didn’t even try to get back to that sixth “Divine Empire” scenario in Disciples, so I’m left with just Torchlight and Driftmoon finished in January and the bunch of protest games played in February, which I guess may count as one finished short game if put together, and nothing else since. But I’m now trying to recover as much information as I can about which games I finished and exactly when in recent years, currently using my post in the old “Games Finished in 2016” thread on the GOG.com forums to list what I find, going through 2014 and 2013 today. 2012 should be easy in terms of games, not sure if also in terms of dates, but it’ll get harder after that. Still, if I’ll at least get as far as 2010, it’ll be nice, and then maybe I’ll find a way to include the information in my games played list.

This may be a rushed review, but there wouldn’t have been that much to say either way. Hammers in the Wind is pretty average, or perhaps a better term would be common, in terms of writing and action and has little of note in terms of depth, worldbuilding or characters. For those reasons, coupled with the fact that it’s quite short but split in a relatively large number of chapters, which in turn are usually split into sections as well, it reads pretty quickly at least.
While I did notice some spelling and grammar issues, I wasn’t that bothered by them, though of course the fact that the book gave me few reasons to actually care for it may largely explain that. What did bother me, on the other hand, was the fact that events, decisions and revelations tended to just happen, without carrying the weight they should have carried, and plenty of things don’t quite seem to follow. That’s usually a matter of how it all feels, perhaps in large part due to that lack of impact I mentioned, the issues not being easy to quickly verify, but a few obvious continuity errors that struck me were how Boen was close to 50 in the inn but 60 on the ship, how in the last chapter Maleela was surprised by a certain character’s identity despite quite clearly knowing who he was and what he had done both before and immediately after, or even how the next book in the series is titled Wrath of a Mad King at the start of the excerpt but, correctly, Tides of Blood and Steel at the end of it.

Rating: 3/5