Cav's Place

I appreciate how the early part brings readers up to speed, and obviously also the mention of discussing rules for creating new vampires and stating that it’d be like forbidding humans from having children, which is just the point. And Lestat, the Brat Prince, can still be said to be himself, some others also have a few moments, and there are some remaining glimpses of this enticing parallel world. But all of that mainly comes after the action’s over, in the last three chapters, which provide the true and proper conclusion to the series that this book was clearly intended all along to be.
The problem is that those three chapters contain almost everything of value and you’d lose little if you’d skip straight to them. When the book is short to begin with, there’s little space left between that introductory part and the ending for what should have been the “meat” of it, but worse is that the level of quality of writing and, if you’ll pardon my use of the term, of channeling Lestat that Anne Rice seemed to have once again found in the first two books from this modern cycle of the Chronicles simply faded away, the book just rushing to the desired conclusion, whatever needs to happen to get there being forced through, with little room for anything bar bland settings, noteworthy characters that, with the exception of the one-dimensional villains and Armand, whom I still can’t stand, are generally reduced to little more than fawning, swooning sycophants, and an amorphous, nondescript mass that makes up the rest. Gone are the signature decadent splendor, glamour and romance, the depth and wisdom of the characters, even their palpable power… That incredible atmosphere which had been rediscovered is simply brushed away, and while those last three chapters save everything and the remaining traces of that world and memories from the previous books may allow readers to mentally flesh things out to some extent even before that point, I’d call it more of a relief than a disappointment that there will never be another book “by” Lestat.

Rating: 3/5

Last year I was saying that it was terribly embarrassing to only manage to post a placeholder that was limited to a single paragraph at 4 AM on this day, but at least that was only the 20th September 27 if you also counted the first one, the real milestone, marking 20 years since she left, being this year… But here I am, on this milestone night, which is also the last September 27 before more than half of my life would have passed since she left, and I’m posting yet another placeholder that’s limited to a single paragraph. And last year I at least finished the post before going to bed, which can’t be the case now, not if I want to write anything meaningful and especially since I only started eating dinner at 3:50 AM, so I only added the rest in the evening.

Then again, it’d be surprising if I would manage to write anything meaningful. I mean, the post about this year’s half marathon remains basically a placeholder and the one about the Dream Trek that followed still misses most of the part about the actual run, while lately I’ve been resorting to posting old odds and ends in order to at least keep posting twice per week, since at least those are already written quite properly, while now not even the part about this week’s run is properly written in the file yet, not to mention anything that came after it. So the fact that I still didn’t have to resort to some of those old book reviews to create some more personal “slots” is rather surprising. And, on that note, I considered adding one now, not because I needed to but to mark the moment, especially since there are still a few that I connect to her, including the last one finished before she left, that I haven’t added, yet in the end I decided against it, hoping to keep all of them as a reserve for an even later time.
Since I got to reading, I was saying that the plan was to read Blood Communion two weeks ago but I didn’t even touch it then. Well, I’m reading it now, which seems quite fitting, another little way to mark the moment, and I should finish it tomorrow, making the quick review for it the week’s second post. It’d have probably been more fitting, following the pattern from back then, to finish it yesterday, but that’d have been out of the question even if I wouldn’t have gone out, and I’m not going to finish it today either, so I’m just aiming to leave relatively few pages for tomorrow.

I also mentioned that this is the last September 27 before more than half of my life would have passed since she left, and the day that would mark that moment seems to be September 9, 2026, so if I’ll still be around on September 10, 2026, and no miracle would have happened by then, I guess that will mark yet another stage. Not that a day more or less would really make a difference, at this point even a year probably doesn’t make much of one anymore, but the dates still have some symbolic significance, I guess. Just like this one and July 12 do every year.

In the end, it all comes back to the fact that I was too much of a coward to do what I had to do back then. Most preferably just that night, right after she left, but if not then while I was still there, or right after she got back, before I got thrown back here, or even shortly after I got thrown back here, before the pain switched from acute to chronic, to use such medical terms, and the passage of time made the direct connection somewhat less clear, perhaps not quite undeniable anymore, and therefore the odds of it giving me the strength and courage to do it decreased even further. After all, those who think of suicide may be cowards, but those who commit it are brave. And the fact that I’m still around just proves that.
Yes, there are those who’d look for things that I did since then and which I wouldn’t have done otherwise, like taking part in protests, running, or in fact becoming more active and fit and definitely much healthier in general, possibly even trying to write that book, even if I gave up on that long ago, and probably figuring out ways to be somewhat functional in general. But there’s no point in any of that and I don’t care for it to have a point. They’re just patterns and motions I’m forcing myself to go through because I’m still around and lying in bed in my own piss and shit would be even worse. Every day means only more suffering, plus using even more resources, having an even greater environmental impact, and in general just adding to the overall harm of existence, for myself and others, without anything to compensate for it in any noteworthy way, all the while getting closer to the inevitable end that will be that much more disappointing with every day that passes under these circumstances.
So, if it’d come to that question of what I’d use the ability to go back in time for, I guess my answer would still be that moment after she left, when I went to the balcony, and somehow keep trying until I’ll somehow find the strength and the courage to jump. Of course, it’d be great if I could find a way to fix things before that point, to make sure that she wouldn’t leave, or even after that point, to make her come back and ensure that we’ll stay together and things would truly work well between us from then on. But I have no idea how that could be achieved and there clearly isn’t one specific moment that could have changed the outcome, and it may well be that things wouldn’t have changed no matter what I’d have done, and quite certainly not if I’d have still been myself in any way. So that remains the only valid option, to have managed to do it when I had a chance, when it had a point, and before all of these years, now decades, of suffering and negative impact.

I expected Dungeons of Dreadrock to be a nice little puzzle game that I’ll be able to finish quickly, but after reading some reviews I had some concerns about the action elements, the required timing and reflexes, since even the hint system wasn’t going to help with that, and I also wondered whether I could “manage” to mess up the connected puzzles in a manner that’d lead to getting locked out of continuing. So it was a relief when my concerns proved unfounded and I finished the game without ever using the hint system, the video driver’s software claiming that it only took me six hours, though they were split over six days and the number surprised me when I saw it, since it definitely felt like it took longer.

If that sounded bad, let me assure you that I merely meant that I really didn’t think that my playing sessions were so short and that, seeing as there are 100 levels, each of them took me only a few minutes, on average. And that would remain the case even if that timer’s off by as much as a few hours. But what’s more important is that I wanted more when I was done, and not just because I generally want to spend a significant amount of time with a game I choose to play and count requiring anything less than quite a few tens of hours to finish as a negative, but because I actually found it enjoyable and satisfying. Plus that the story, such as it is, couldn’t just end there. And, indeed, it doesn’t, the series apparently being planned as a trilogy and the sequel having already been released… Though it’s unfortunately not DRM-free yet.
But that’s another issue, so let me get back to this game and say that the bite-sized puzzles are generally just right, with only a few threatening to be potentially frustrating by requiring more than a matter of seconds to reach a trickier final part, while in the large majority of cases you don’t really “feel” it even if you have to retry several times. And you also don’t really feel the increase in complexity or difficulty, the features being introduced gradually, most of them being intuitive, and adequate explanations usually being provided in the remaining cases. So there shouldn’t be more than a few moments when you’ll find yourself at a loss, and the hint function is available if you do find yourself in such a situation. But, as I already mentioned, I never used it at all, not even to test it, so I can’t say how helpful it actually is. What I can say, however, is that some features are pretty clever, those that involve connected levels probably being the most notable. And, perhaps more importantly, almost all of the solutions make sense and there are moments when the game will make you feel pretty clever for figuring things out on your own. Admittedly, there may also be moments when you’ll feel pretty foolish for failing to do so sooner, and a few solutions that may be rather strange. Since they could be seen as spoilers, I won’t give any examples, not even naming the one puzzle that I ended up solving by accident, just trying everything and then going to check a guide after it finally worked to find out just what I had actually done, but I will add that, at least in my case, the former far outweighed the latter. And I’ll also add here that those dream sequences do their job well enough, both in terms of the story, such as it is, and providing hints.
As for those initial concerns, the fact that I never had good reaction times or coordination and they’re definitely not getting any better as I get older did mean that the action and timing elements were an issue, and there were a couple of moments when I thought that there must be another solution because it didn’t seem possible to actually do what seemed necessary, but I eventually managed to scrape by. So you can make it if your reactions and finger movements are a “normal” kind of poor, but if they’re at a level that may or does indicate health problems, not to mention a disability, the only solution is probably activating the cheat mode and skipping levels. And that mode would also cover the worst case scenario of becoming unable to continue by messing something up in a level that’s connected to another in a manner that couldn’t be fixed normally. But I for one didn’t happen to find myself in any such situation and those levels are typically designed to assume that you’ll initially go for the easy or obvious solution of the first one, end up making the next one impossible as a result, and then go back and fix things. Sometimes that’s possible right away, in a few cases it requires restarting that first level of the pair after returning to it, but you can always restart a level at will and it seems to always be possible to find the solution normally, without even resorting to using the load function that allows you to go back to any previously completed level. And yes, you’ll clearly know when you may need to go back up because those are the only times when you can do so, a message stopping you otherwise.

Still, I’d have felt much more at ease if manual saving would have been allowed, and I’ll always see it as a major negative aspect of a game, any game, when it’s not. Yes, Dungeons of Dreadrock lets you reload previously completed levels if you wish, the cheat mode means that even if the save is lost or corrupted you can get back to where you were, and the short levels mean that you lose very little in case of a crash, power failure or immediate need to quit, but not allowing manual saving, in different slots, still shows a lack of respect for the player’s time and doesn’t allow multiple people to play the game on the same account, and needing to use the cheat mode because the one automatic save somehow got lost, corrupted or overwritten may be disappointing. And there’s also the option to clear that save, and while it requires confirmation, it’s not impossible that someone would accidentally activate it.
On the other hand, I can find few other faults. I mean, yes, the game is too short, it doesn’t have much of a story, and the action and timing elements can prove difficult to manage even if you correctly figure out the solutions to the puzzles, but all of that is pretty much expected and should be known by those who look up a little information about the game before getting it, and the price is right for what it offers, especially considering the typical discount. There is the fact that you can’t customize the controls, but there are very few of them. And I wonder if being unable to skip those logo videos is some sort of Unity thing. And another potential tiny niggle that has to do with starting the game is that, in case of the GOG.com version that I played, it attempts to connect to, or through, the Galaxy client even if it’s not installed, leading to a pretty significant delay unless you add “, “auth_timeout”: 1” in the GalaxyConfig.json file from the game’s folder.

In short, if you know what you’re signing up for and can deal with the action and timing elements at least to some passable extent, it’s hard to go wrong with Dungeons of Dreadrock, especially when you can pick it up even for well under $1. It won’t be memorable, even less so in terms of the story, but it provides 100 bite-sized levels of generally enjoyable and at times clever puzzles that will make you keep thinking “just one more level” while you play and leave you wanting more at the end. Just keep in mind that there’s a single slot, used for automatic saving after each completed level…

On September 8, I could get some sleep, the workers apparently having that day free as well. I did get up just after 9:40 AM, after my parents went out, since my mother was here, and after cleaning the litter box and arranging some things it took me quite a while to get back to sleep, also because there was some more noise from upstairs, albeit not that loud, starting at 10:15 AM, and my parents also got back a little later, but I eventually did fall asleep again, and while I once again didn’t set an alarm, I got up at 1:45 PM, when Liza woke me by going to the litter box again and scratching at it for a long time… And then dad kept wanting to talk to me about some things, but I still managed to back up the system and have the usual stuff, which included the last of those imported bio (organic) apples. I considered using the last of the baked almonds with Himalayan salt, but eventually went back to the raw ones. As for the sweet thing, I had two more of those nicer biscuits, with added honey. And I left at 4:50 PM, wearing the full running gear and one armband. The reported temperature was about 30°C, holding steady or maybe dropping just marginally by the time I finished.
The time was 48:53.01, with sector times of 4:29.01, 5:03.40, 5:57.19, 4:34.28, 5:10 (5:09.47), 5:59.56, 4:34 (4:33.63), 5:10 (5:09.47), 6:02.59 and 1:55 (1:54.41), making for lap times of 15:29.60, 15:43.31 and 15:46 (15:45.69). Considering the previous run, the primary goal was still just to stay under 50 minutes and the first sector’s time was more or less what I expected, but sector two was somewhat better and managing to just squeeze under 15:30 on the first lap made me wonder whether I could get under 49 minutes. Sector one of lap two made that seem quite unlikely, and I was calculating the target times that’d lead to at least being less slow than the previous week, but after the following sector it seemed that I might cover the lap in less than 15:45, so I pushed harder and made it, which led to thinking that I actually did have a chance to stay under 49 minutes after all. So I kept pushing, and after sector two of lap three it seemed like I could even be safe at the end of the lap, so that became the target and I managed it, which meant that I didn’t have to push that hard on the final sector anymore. Of course, the time is still poor, but I didn’t expect something better after a cold…
There were quite a number of people, leading to plenty of weaving and going the long way around, but they actually caused no notable issues. I might mention one moment, on sector three of lap two, when I hesitated because a kid on a bicycle was about to turn in front of me, but I probably lost more time on some of the occasions when I had to really go the long way around. As for physical issues, I felt some warnings from the right hip from the start and there was a moment when it seemed that a pressing need was about to appear. But that quickly passed and it was only on sector three of lap three that my body pointed out that I was asking too much of it, my hands going numb, getting warnings from both legs, and starting to feel lightheaded.

On the way back, I picked up two recyclables and a label from one that was too crushed, putting those two in the machine from the nearby Mega Image but not staying to cash in the voucher, since there was a line. Then I finally installed the Windows updates for August, the usual errors still appearing but nothing else seeming off. Either way, I also did the day’s squats, ate lunch while talking to mother, changed, and left when it was almost 8:50 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I went straight to the Mega Image that closes at 10 PM, getting there a little after 9 PM, finding the employee still placing the 90% discount labels on the bakery products, and eventually taking two bags from there. Then I started putting the recyclables in the machine while waiting for the other products discounted by 90% to be brought, which actually happened a little after the machine had stopped, displaying that the PET container was full. But there wasn’t anything interesting in that cart, or at least not anything left by the time I reached it. And the machine had apparently recovered on its own, so I went back there and continued, stopping after finishing my recyclables and then putting in those emptied by my parents as well, only being left with the one recyclable which hadn’t been accepted before either. So I had three vouchers that I cashed in before buying those bakery products, also using the voucher from the other Mega Image when I paid.
I considered going to Kaufland Basarabia from there, but it’s a good thing that I went to the one from Pantelimon instead, and that I went straight there instead of checking Carrefour first, since they had just changed the closing time back to 10 PM, so I put my things in a cabinet and rushed in a little after 9:40 PM, seeing that they still had a lot of those large bio (organic) cucumbers, looking worse but being discounted by 90% instead of 75%, so I grabbed several, plus some bundles of green onions, with a great evening discount, and one Gala apple, since it was supposedly Romanian, a little less expensive than elsewhere, and I had none left to eat before runs. And then I spent the remaining time picking some Moldovan grapes, which had a very good evening discount as well, going to weigh them when the closing announcement came, then dashing to have a quick look at some of the expiring products that are close to the checkouts before going to the self-checkout. And, after retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging everything a little, I used that machine to change a 1 RON bill into two 0.50 RON coins and walked out at 10:10 PM.
I then continued to that Mega Image, putting my things in a cabinet, using one of those coins to be able to lock it… And finding that they had already made the 90% discounts and the bakery area was mostly cleared, other people holding the products that they had just grabbed, so I just took one sweet pastry out of what was left, then found some cheese that was the only product with the 90% discount left in the regular place for the refrigerated expiring ones. It looked bad, but I nevertheless took it, along with two other things that I dug out from under the expiring meat products, somebody having likely meant to hide them there, since they weren’t meat products. But the cashier said that the cheese wouldn’t scan, at which point I said that it looked bad and I had doubts anyway, so maybe it was a sign that I shouldn’t take it and didn’t try to press, nor did I got back when, after waiting for the guard to put a basket full of discounted bakery products in his bag and then retrieving what I had in the cabinet, I heard that cashier tell the guard that she had figured out why none of those products scanned, so there had probably been others, and the reason was apparently that they had to be weighed first. So I just walked out, stopping for a moment after crossing the street to try to arrange my things a little. And on the way back I picked up some more recyclables and also checked the nearby Mega Image, leaving my bags next to the door and once again seeing bakery discounts of 90%, leading me to believe that they’re actually made at 11 PM after all. But just two bags of things were left and I didn’t care for either, so I just retrieved my things and walked out.
I got back at 11:15 PM, ate the remaining watermelon, cleaned the litter box yet again and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, then put the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, also ate a large doughnut, adding jam on it, and went to wash at 1:20 AM, being done at 1:55 AM. And I took a first bite of dinner in my room at 3:15 AM, but actually started eating five minutes later, since I had boiled my remaining tea again before putting that supplement in it, after seeing that my parents had replaced the plate I had placed on it and thought that I had noticed a small bug inside it, and it was still too hot, so I had to slowly sip it. Either way, I still managed to finish at 3:40 AM anyway. On the other hand, I realized that the filling that was only replaced in June is almost certainly loose again. And then I decided to play just a little more Dungeons of Dreadrock before going to bed, which resulted in getting in bed at 5:20 AM…

Surprisingly, it was quiet again, and with my parents only leaving later and since I didn’t need to pee either, it was past 1 PM when I initially got up, thinking that it must be much earlier. And when I saw that time and since I still didn’t really need to pee, I got back in bed, but I didn’t fall asleep again and eventually got up for good about half an hour later. Then I had lunch, did the day’s squats, and went out again at 6:45 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Obor.
I grabbed a few more recyclables on the way, put them in the machine from Carrefour, and then took that one that wasn’t accepted there either to the information desk, receiving the coin but being told that I could clean recyclables before handing them in, which made me feel rather embarrassed. Either way, I bought some expiring yogurt and a bag of spoiling apples, so I really shouldn’t have bought that one from Kaufland, not that I could have known that at the time. And the label stated that those from the bag were Gala as well, but the bag was torn and when I weighed it I saw that one apple was obviously missing, plus that at least one other one seemed to be of another kind, so I replaced that one and added one more, the weight ending up being exactly what it should have been, and those two apples were also starting to spoil, so it seemed a perfectly fair thing to do. On the other hand, bio (organic) watermelons were supposed to be on sale at Carrefour, but I couldn’t find any left, which wasn’t surprising. Yet the regular kind was cheap, so I bought one of those. And I also bought another PaysafeCard code, and I hadn’t yet used the GOG.com wallet funds purchased with the one bought on August 25 and the exchange rate was marginally better, so I should have waited. But that was another thing that I couldn’t have known… As was the fact that the rate would get even better later, if admittedly too late for that particular sale, and after I had already made purchases. But, to return to that day, when I paid I used the voucher received for the recyclables along with the one received for a previous purchase, and then I struggled to put the apples and the watermelon in the backpack and then put it on, a guard hovering around for a while and eventually helping me.
I picked up another recyclable on the way to Auchan, then entered with everything, also noticing that the cabinets had been removed anyway, put that recyclable in the machine, and just bought a small pack of cheap biscuits for dad from there as well, to use the voucher received for the recyclable and not have to ask to be allowed to leave and increase the risk of needing to take off the backpack and show a guard what I had in it. I was worried that it was going to happen even so, but it didn’t, which was quite a relief.
After picking up another recyclable, I sat on a bench for a little while, since it was too early to check the Mega Image from that area that closes at 10 PM for discounts of 90%. And it was still too early when I decided to walk in, putting that recyclable in the machine, entering with everything, and wasting a little time, but eventually deciding to walk out without waiting for 9 PM or even cashing in that voucher, not really caring for anything that could have received that discount. And then I picked up two more recyclables on the way to the other Mega Image from there that also closes at 10 PM, across the road, once again entering with everything… But finding no discounted products whatsoever. So I just cashed in the voucher received for those two recyclables, keeping the other one, since they can be used in any location of a chain but only cashed in at the one that they’re received from. And then I took the metro back and picked up some more recyclables, including one without a label that seemed to fit the label picked up the previous day.
I got back just after 9:45 PM, with over 12 kg which felt like far more because of that watermelon in the backpack and the rope straps really digging into my shoulders… And which most probably caused my current back problems. And that watermelon cracked badly when I started cutting from it, proving how ripe it was but also meaning that it won’t last as long. But at least I didn’t lose it completely, though it was a close thing, since I almost dropped it as I picked it up to take it to the fridge. Then I ate some of it and put the purchases in their place. And then I also made some microwave popcorn, using some which had expired back in June of 2023 and eating it towards the end of the match, even though it tasted rancid and I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some mold as well, since it’s not like you can check that kind of popcorn before using it. Either way, I also ate a small chocolate bar and then went to wash, being done around 1:05 AM, which seemed early enough to stick to the dinner schedule. However, I moved two things into jars and took it easy, and I also moved the slices to another plate and got what was stuck on the one that I microwaved them on before going to my room to eat, which led to eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:20 AM. And I didn’t take that supplement anymore, though a couple of pills were left.

I woke up a little before 9:30 AM, probably because of what dad said was somebody knocking on the elevator door, since it repeated and we both assumed that it was at our door and he went to open. And then I spent a little time on the computer, after which I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I eventually got up again, getting back in bed at 2:15 PM. At least I did get back to sleep then, albeit still after a while… But a little after 3:45 PM I was woken up by dad calling to say that he was coming back earlier than he had said and to ask what ingredients he had for what he wanted to cook, and I didn’t get back to sleep again after that, especially since I made mamaliga again in the evening, taking a first bite of the salad in my room just before 3 AM but then taking it too easy, actually starting to eat here at 3:10 AM, still doing something on-line as well, and noticing that I won’t be able to quite finish wolfing everything down at 3:40 AM, so I slowed down again at the end and finished at 3:45 AM. And then I used the wallet funds purchased with those PaysafeCard codes for gift codes for the Betrayal at Krondor Pack, Ultimate Body Blows, Vampire: The Masquerade – Redemption and Wacky Wheels, which I mean to give away, plus Vampire’s Fall: Origins, which I bought for myself. The latter game isn’t one that I’m likely to care much about, and it was a little cheaper in the past, but it had ended up on my wishlist after Alma talked about it and that way I could use all of those wallet funds.

The following day, it was still quiet, so I could once again sleep. Then I did the day’s squats and left just after 7:45 PM, with a little trash that I dropped down the chute and the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up one more on the way to Titan, then taking the metro, since I had dad’s card, to Carrefour Pantelimon, picking up another recyclable when I reached the machine from there, and then putting all of them in. And then I just bought some tea from there, but forgot to use the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid for that and, while they at least added self-checkouts that accept cash in that location, there didn’t seem to be an option to cash in those vouchers, so I had to use a regular checkout for that.
From there, I walked to Kaufland, and after peeing and washing my hands I entered the store, with the teas in the backpack, a little after 9 PM, seeing few evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, and only a couple that I could be interested in. But I found deeply discounted pieces of processed meat products that I got for dad, along with some sausages that had an evening discount, and eventually I just took a lettuce for myself, making use of that evening discount, and adding a couple of loose leaves that seemed good. And at the self-checkout the employee was hovering around me and when only the last of those discounted pieces of processed meat products wasn’t accepted she said that she expected that and logged on to clear the error… And then she saw the total, grabbed a 0.10 RON coin left in another machine’s change tray, and handed it to me, so the change would just include a 0.50 RON coin. But I had also found such a coin in that machine’s tray, yet despite realizing that and saying so, she still left me that coin as well. And then I walked right out, to do so before the closing announcement, and used the carts to spread out and arrange the purchases, walking away a couple of minutes after 10 PM and finding two recyclables by the time I reached the machine, so I put them in and kept the voucher for another time.
I found one more recyclable on the way to that Mega Image, putting it and the backpack in a cabinet and finding that the 90% bakery discounts had already been made, so I grabbed some things, plus some lemons that were discounted by 50%, and then I wandered around, waiting for the other products discounted by 90% to be brought, the one good thing that came from that being that I noticed that the bug repellent that mother wants was at half price! The discount was listed as lasting all month, but I took three right away, which was as much as I had money for at the moment. I could have just managed four if I left the lemons and didn’t take anything else, but I was hoping to have something to add when those other discounted products would be brought… However, after wasting all of that time, I was a couple of steps away when the cart was brought out and the few women who were waiting right at that door snatched everything that might have been interesting before I even got there! It couldn’t have been more than a couple of seconds, but I didn’t even get to see what had been in that cart before they took everything except the ready-to-eat fruits and some fresh spices! And I had no interest in those, so I only saw that there had been things that I would have been interested in when I glanced at what they had in their baskets. And then I also forgot to use that voucher received for a recyclable that I had been left with from two days earlier. Either way, I then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged everything, and gathered plenty of other recyclables on the way back.
I think it was 11:55 PM when I was at the door. Then I put most of the purchases in their place and ate some plums while dad washed, going to wash myself a couple of minutes before 1:30 AM, after he was done. And I was done some 40 minutes later. Then I ate a sweet pastry, fixed something that counted as lunch and ate it, on and off, between 3:20 AM and 4:15 AM, during which time I washed and cleaned what was in the kitchen, which included the grill that dad had used, and used the worse lettuce leaves to start making the salad. I also took one of those supplements again and, since I had used one of those small baguettes instead of bread, I moved the slices to another plate and gathered what was stuck on the one that I had microwaved them on, before finally eating dinner between 5:10 AM and 5:40 AM. I got in bed at 7 AM.

After being woken up by a call at 10:10 AM, I decided to play some more Dungeons of Dreadrock, only getting back in bed a couple of minutes before 11 AM, and just after 12:20 PM I woke up again when dad went out, and when he came back he let me know that the guy who was supposed to replace something at our heaters was coming, so I had to get up. And after that guy left I finished the game. But in the evening dad’s computer wouldn’t turn on again, and unplugging the CPU and motherboard power connectors and plugging them back in, which tended to eventually do the trick in the past, didn’t fix it… And when I went back to the kitchen at night I dropped something on one of Liza’s plates and it broke in two…

After waking up when dad left but then getting right back to sleep, the awfully loud drilling started again upstairs around 9:30 AM, though I’m not entirely certain of the time, since I curled up in a ball for a while and it was 9:50 AM when I got up and checked the time… And at 10:15 AM there seemed to be a power failure, and after letting the computer run on battery for 16 minutes before turning it off, during which time I kept wondering how did the guy above keep working, I opened the door and saw that the building did have power, so I beeped dad and he called back and when I told him he told me to check the fuse panel and indeed one switch was down, and so was the master switch. That one that was down seemed to control all lights except the one from the entrance hallway, so I wondered whether the electrician working above had touched something in that floor, so in our ceiling. But nothing seemed wrong after flipping the switches back on and testing the lights. And when the noise stopped, just after noon, I got back in bed, being woken up by dad calling again at one point but then getting back to sleep and only getting up just after 4:45 PM. And there were no visits recorded that day.

The following day it was quiet, being Sunday, but I woke up at 11:15 AM, while dad was getting ready to leave, and if I initially got back in bed and might have even caught a very brief nap before he actually left and I woke up again, after that I couldn’t get back to sleep, so I got on the computer for a while, getting back in bed just before 1:30 PM and sleeping some more, though I had been awake for a while when I checked the time, saw that it was 4:10 PM, and decided to get up, albeit after staying in bed a little longer and taking it very easy. Then I had lunch, did the day’s squats, and went out when it was almost 7:10 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and despite rushing to Kaufland I still picked up some more on the way.
Since Kaufland had gotten back to closing at 8 PM on Sunday and people with full bags were in line at the machine, I left the recyclables in a cabinet, since even so it was 7:35 PM when I entered the store. And some price labels showed that there had been some interesting evening discounts, but only some white bell peppers were left at that point, so I got a handful of those, after which I added cheese and kashkaval. I was also looking for some cat food that was on sale, but none of the specific kind that I wanted to get was left. So I was waiting in line at the self-checkouts when the closing announcement came, and when a machine freed I first checked that the 30% discount applied for that kashkaval, the employee coming to ask whether I had anything left to scan when I did that and telling me to hurry up when I said that I did but wanted to check that discount first. And the next person placed her things on the machine as I was paying, also using the voucher received for recyclables which I had been left with three days earlier, and before I could get my change she almost moved into me, only then seeming to notice that I was still there and apologizing, admittedly after having argued with that employee about a price difference, so her mind might have really been elsewhere. And as I tried to hurry away, a bill fell from my hands, that employee fortunately letting me know.
After retrieving the recyclables, I went to one of the tables that are outside and put the purchases in the backpack, then went to Penny, putting the recyclables in the machine, entering with the backpack, buying some things… But, even though in that location the posters about their coins campaign still exist, albeit only on the registers, faded and possibly because they couldn’t remove them from those places, since those from windows have been removed, and the cashier actually told the next customer to ask me for the store card in order to get a discount, since he didn’t have his, and the moment when I turned back to hand it over would have been a great opportunity to ask whether they actually still had vouchers in that location, as I had been told to do when I had asked by e-mail, I just couldn’t get myself to do it, so I just arranged the purchases and rushed to that Mega Image that closes at 10 PM.
I got there a few minutes before 9 PM and waited for the 90% discount labels to be placed on the bakery products, the employee seeming to appreciate that I was patiently standing behind her, because when a guard came and asked whether he could take some things, she said that he should wait like I do, because I’ve been there longer and I may want things as well, and when he said that he had no time she told him to come back when he did have time. But I had spotted one of those apple pastries, and after she was done with that section I grabbed it, along with one other thing that I meant to use as bread. There was another sweet pastry that I might have been interested in, but a woman grabbed it first. And then I waited a little longer, until the cart with the other products that were discounted by 90% was brought, and it only contained a bunch of packs of some bio (organic) cashew product, apparently some sort of vegan “cheese”, plus a couple of other things that I wasn’t interested in, and while that “cheese” was actually still rather pricey even with that huge discount, I decided to get one after all. And I also used that voucher received for a recyclable that I had been left with.
After initially meaning to arrange the purchases before walking out, I changed my mind and walked out with them in a bag, only stopping quite some time later, on a bench, to put that “cheese” in the backpack, though I still left those bakery products in that bag, so I didn’t really do much of anything. And, since I had picked up two recyclables by the time I got here and it was still before 10 PM, I meant to put them in the machine from this Mega Image, but when I walked in I saw that it was out of order, a note stating that it required servicing that they’re not able to provide and are waiting for a technician. So I had a quick look in the store, entering with everything, but didn’t find anything else to get.
It was close to 9:50 PM when I got back. Then I put the purchases in their place, ate an apple, cleaned the litter box, went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, made a few quick changes in what was already written and scheduled what I posted that day to show up at 11:59 PM, noticing that the middle button of my mouse was really double clicking a lot, and thought that I had to take a cold shower, since the “hot” water had been quite cold in the kitchen and when I had turned it on for some 30 seconds in the bathroom it seemed to only get colder. However, when I actually went to take that shower, just after 11:30 PM, the water did actually heat up, though I stuck to the plan of only taking a shower, being done at 11:55 PM. Then I washed what was in the kitchen with the exception of the grill, which dad had used once again, and made something sweet and ate it while spending some time on the computer, only going back to the kitchen a few minutes before 1:30 AM. And then I washed that grill as well, also moved that vegan “cheese” into a jar, and the only way to still finish eating dinner at 3:40 AM was to eat in the kitchen, which was what I did. On the other hand, no visits were recorded on September 14 either, so for two days in a row.

The workers were back on this side of the building on September 15, but the noise wasn’t that bad in the morning, so I could more or less sleep until 1 PM or so, waking up a number of times, including after dad got up and when he left and then came back the first time, but always getting back to sleep quickly. But the noise got worse after the workers finished their break, so I got up, and the plan to try to get some more sleep earlier in the evening, knowing that dad was going to get back again around 9 PM and wanted to take apart some furniture, didn’t work because noise began to once again come from above not long after the workers left, so I stayed in bed for about an hour, but if I slept at all, it couldn’t have been for more than mere moments.

Things were more or less the same regarding the noise on the morning of September 16, but the real reason why I woke up the first time, around 8:45 AM, was that my body was about to clean the plumbing and I really have no idea how I stopped it from happening, so when I went to pee I also checked to make sure that there really was no mess whatsoever. And then I could get back to sleep and, while the noise got worse and entered dreams that were already messed up, so that sleep was agitated and interrupted, the next time I actually woke up properly it was 10:40 AM. But I managed to quickly fall asleep again even then, waking up one more time at 11:55 AM, perhaps just because of the sudden silence, so after going to pee one more time I took advantage of the workers’ break to sleep until around 1:10 or 1:15 PM, when the noise woke me again. But I decided to stay in bed a little longer and managed to nap a little more, getting up when it was close to 1:55 PM, so almost when I normally would, even if I hadn’t set an alarm, knowing that it won’t be needed. And then I had the usual stuff, though the yogurt had expired two days earlier and I saw a weevil that I didn’t manage to remove when I poured cereals in it. And I also shaved and ate two nicer biscuits, with added honey, as the sweet thing, taking it easy and waiting until after 5 PM, so I left at 5:05 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 29°C, holding steady.
The time was 48:41.85, with sector times of 4:27.57, 5:13 (5:12.66), 6:02 (6:01.78), 4:33.81, 5:09 (5:08.81), 6:02 (6:01.57), 4:31.47, 5:01 (5:00.34), 5:52.78 and 1:51.06, making for lap times of 15:42.01, 15:44.19 and 15:24.59. The target was to stay under 49 minutes, and most preferably also be less slow than the previous week, and while I didn’t push that much early on, sector two of lap one was concerning, and when I went over six minutes on sector three and over the 15:40 that’d be the lap time target for 49 minutes on the lap as a whole, things looked bad and I wondered whether I should continue to 16 km instead. And that remained an option if staying under 49 minutes was impossible after three laps, but the goal was to avoid getting there, so I started pushing more, though probably from sector two of lap two, since I didn’t want to tire myself too early. But, even so, lap two was even slower than lap one and I definitely needed to be at least a few seconds faster on lap three in order to have any chance of staying under 49 minutes, so I really had to choose whether to put everything into attempting that or take it easier and continue to 16 km after all. But I still stuck to the original target, so I kept pushing and that finally showed on sectors two and three of lap three, so at the end of the lap I knew that I was even going to be less slow than the previous week after all, which was indeed the case. But, on top of that still being a poor time, it meant a lot of effort for only a minor improvement, making it unlikely that I’ll even get back under 48 minutes, not to mention around 47 minutes, within one month after getting rid of the cold, which was what I was hoping for.
I felt tired and quite out of it from the beginning, and I also needed to snap my back and couldn’t quite do it well enough, the more concerning thing being that something seems to have caught in my back once again for some time and my right foot is once again rather numb. But, to stick to what has to do with that run, the first lap was difficult, but I dug in and things got gradually better, even if it did feel pretty hot. Otherwise, I slowed for a second or two at the start of sector two of lap two, to get a better look at the time, and while I might not have actually slowed that much, wanting to make sure that I had seen the time correctly was also the main reason why I broke my attempt at a sprint on the long straight of sector one of lap three. But, even if we were still quite some distance from each other, I was also doing a silly dance with a cyclist at that point… And later on that sector I had to avoid another cyclist. But, even though there once again were a fair number of people and I had to weave and go the long way around quite a lot, I wouldn’t say that there were any other specific problems caused by them that I could list.

After getting back, I put a lot of watermelon on a plate, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, after which I ate that watermelon, did the day’s squats, and then also ate what ended up being a rather small lunch, consisting of a slice of pizza brought by dad and just a little of the peas that were left, to keep a full serving for another day. Then I changed and went out again at 8:50 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up just one more as I rushed to Kaufland.
After putting the recyclables in the machine and peeing and washing my hands, it was almost 9:10 PM when I entered the store, but the evening discounts weren’t good enough, so I first went to see whether the packs of cat food that I was looking for were available in that location, taking two and using a self-checkout to buy them after checking that the 30% discount applied. And then I turned around, took a bag of dry cat food from that same brand and another pack of that kashkaval, and waited for 9:45 PM, checking to see whether any evening discounts would increase. But they didn’t, so I just bought those two more things, checking that the 30% discount applied for both… Only for the machine to ask me to wait for an employee, and when one came he seemed confused and asked whether I had inserted the money, so I told him that I had and the amount, and that I was waiting for 1 RON as change, and also pointed to the receipt and said that I had purchased what I had in the bag earlier, and he did something which made the machine return the amount I had inserted and then he inserted everything again, walking away when that seemed to do the trick and ignoring me when I asked what had happened. So I had to shrug it off as well, then arranged the purchases in the backpack and walked out just before 10 PM.
I then went to the Mega Image that closes at 11 PM, entering with everything and seeing that the 90% discount labels were just being placed on bakery products, two people being there and the employee asking them what they wanted and telling them to pick up the products and put them in the bags that she had already placed the labels on. After they seemed done, she asked whether I wanted anything, and when I said that I don’t tend to push ahead like that she nodded and told me to let her know if there’s anything that interests me, though I stepped back and just took one of those small baguettes after she had bagged it. But then I saw a few other products that had the 90% discount, which may well be the first time that happens in that location, and took some cooked peas with chicken, meaning to give them away, before returning to the bakery area after that employee had walked away and also grabbing a bag with two buns with sesame. Then I added the baguette in the backpack and walked out.
Since I didn’t spot any homeless people in the immediate vicinity, I was still holding the peas and the buns when I went to the metro station and checked the card, since dad had left it for me but nothing was printed on it, seeing that he had activated it, so I went to the cashier and asked him to write the date until which it’s valid and stamp it, to have some proof if it’ll stop working before then… Only for him to write a date that was one day earlier, ignoring what I had said and explaining that it had been activated on the date printed at the top. But that was when it was purchased, and I guess dad had activated it the following day, so I stated again that I had just checked it and another employee who was there checked it as well and confirmed what I had said, so the cashier crossed out what he had written and wrote the correct date below. And then I rushed to that non-stop Mega Image as well, but when I saw from the door that there were no bakery discounts, I didn’t bother to enter, grabbing a couple of recyclables on my way back to the metro station… And proving that the interaction with the cashiers had messed me up by going to the wrong part of that station, so it was fortunate that I just missed a train, because that gave me time to check and I could turn around and go to the correct part… But that made me miss a train there as well, and the next one was initially listed as coming at 10:48 PM, but that time kept changing and it was eventually there at 10:52 PM, and while the plan was to go to that non-stop Mega Image from Basarabia, I wondered whether I’ll get there too late for the 90% discounts and whether I should try the one from Titan instead. But I eventually stuck to the original plan.
After getting there, I put my things in a cabinet and entered the store a few minutes after 11 PM… Only to see that not even the bakery products had the discount labels yet, having only been bagged, and when I checked the area where the other discounted products are placed I saw the same group of women as the previous time and the younger one told me that the discounts hadn’t been made yet. So I went back to the bakery area and waited for the employee to place the discount labels, but as soon as she started doing so, several people crowded in, hardly even leaving her any room to move, and since I stayed at the back of the group the apple pastry which I had spotted was grabbed by someone else before I could reach over, and when that employee opened the drawer with a bread that I’d have wanted to get for dad, someone else put a hand on it and said that she was going to take it before the employee even took the 90% discount label that was to be placed on it, so I lost that as well, probably along with a few other things that I didn’t even get to notice, and eventually just took two buns before going back to wait for the other products that had the 90% discount to be brought. And when they were I quickly grabbed a few things, though a little later I put the pineapple pieces back, keeping the coconut pieces and the box with that unclear label of various mixed salads, I believe containing mainly the quinoa and chicken salad, albeit with very little chicken and some vegetables that may mean that a small quantity of something else was mixed in. And there were 800 grams in there, but I took it anyway, then retrieved my things and added the buns in the backpack.
Since I was going to get back late anyway, I decided to actually look for recyclables on the way back, ending up with a bag that was just about full. And I also saw a man sleeping on a bench in front of that Penny, where homeless people can usually be found, and left the peas and the buns from the first Mega Image next to him. Maybe it’d have been better to leave that other thing, since I didn’t quite know what was in it, and I did consider giving it away as well if I’d spot another homeless person, but I didn’t.
It was almost 12:10 AM when I got back. Then I cleaned the litter box again and went to drop what I had gathered down the chute, put the purchases in their place, talked to dad for a while, eventually ate the apple pastry that I already had, and it was almost 1:40 AM when I went to wash, being done just after 2:20 AM. And then I also gathered my clothes, which were placed to dry in my room, since we still can’t use the balcony, and it was 2:35 AM when I finally got back to the kitchen, ending up eating dinner between 4 AM and 4:50 AM, while also writing notes about the day. I got in bed at 6:20 AM.

At least I could actually sleep, waking up when dad left but then getting back to sleep and the workers apparently being quiet until the afternoon, possibly because of the rain. And I took another nap in the evening… But I was still so exhausted… And the numbness in my legs is getting even more concerning. I mean, that feeling in my right foot, quite frequently going up to the knee and sometimes extending even higher and also to that arm, was quite normal for many years, the fact that at some point I started having lengthy periods when it wasn’t there being more unusual, but when it affects my left leg as well, something’s wrong… Or, more exactly, more wrong than it used to be. And that was also an issue when I got in bed in the morning, though I eventually managed to fall asleep. But at least I managed to keep taking naps even after dad got up, albeit interrupted and agitated ones, considering the noise made then, since another person also came to help him carry some things that were to be taken to grandmother’s. And the noise made by the workers wasn’t that bad after he left, the problem being that I didn’t fully take advantage of their break, waking up while it was still quiet and spending some more time trying and failing to get back to sleep before checking the time and seeing 1:59 PM. And then I got back in bed for almost another hour, and the noise only got worse about halfway through it, but I only napped for what couldn’t have been more than mere minutes during that mostly quiet first part… And it sounded like something snapped behind me in the kitchen just now, since I’m making mamaliga again, and I really hope that it actually came from outside. But I just realized that this is already a new longest post I ever wrote, so I’m leaving aside the idea of waiting until tomorrow and including that day as well and posting it as it is, with 8077 words, or 8091 if you also include the title.

The plan for this week would have been to read Blood Communion and finish Dungeons of Dreadrock, with the quick review for the book being one of the posts and, ideally, the review for the game being the second. But I didn’t even touch the book, and while I did finish the game, managing to review it so quickly was always unlikely and so far I didn’t even try to start. And I went out again this evening, so writing anything else was also out of the question and I guess I’m resorting to continuing with these old odds and ends that are already written. I wonder when I started to write them properly in the file, since the oldest remaining entries, from July of 2023, after I decided to stop posting everything, are just in the form of notes. But if I keep going forward and not back, it shouldn’t be a problem, so I’ll just continue from where I left off and cover another month, which also happens to mean until the last run of 2024, which was on December 23.

On November 24 I did the day’s squats, posted a quick post, and left at 5:55 PM, first going to vote, after which I went to Kaufland, quickly checking the nearest Penny on the way and also picking up two recyclables. And when I got there I saw a cart with the coin in it and started pushing it back, but a moment later a woman asked whether she could connect hers to it in order to retrieve her coin, so I let her do that and then pushed both back, retrieving the one from the one which I had found after connecting it to the others. And then I put those recyclables, along with one more which I found there, in the machine, before washing my hands and entering the store a few minutes before 7 PM. The bakery discounts were just over 50% and I took the last two of the nicer cheap buns and a bread, and then I made use of a number of great evening discounts for fruits and vegetables, an employee telling me to hurry up as I was picking grapes, even if they were still from Moldova, though a few minutes were left before closing time, and in fact the closing announcement came just when I started to use the self-checkout, using both the voucher received for those three recyclables and the one which I had been left with the previous evening when I paid. And then I took quite some time to arrange the purchases, after which I washed my hands again, finally walking out at 8:15 PM.
I also went to Carrefour after that, picking up another recyclable on the way and putting it in that machine, and then picking up one more, of a kind that Carrefour’s machines don’t accept, when I reentered the mall, so I put that and the purchases in a cabinet and just got a discounted sweet pastry, also using that voucher when I paid. Then I retrieved my things and, after picking up two more recyclables on the way back, I put them in the machine from the nearby Mega Image and just cashed in that voucher. And when I crossed the road a car stopped to let me pass even though I wasn’t quite on the crossing when it reached the corner, so I hurried to go across and not delay the driver more than I had to and one of my gloves fell out of the jacket’s pocket and the car got going, but it didn’t actually run over it, the glove staying between the wheels as it passed, and then I picked it back up.
I got back at 9:20 PM, then just put the onions in their place and ate some of the grapes and the sweet pastry, eventually cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, and washed most of what was in the sink before going to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash. And then I put the remaining purchases in their place and rearranged a little in the fridge, washed and cleaned a little more in the kitchen, and ate lunch between 1 AM and 1:15 AM and dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:15 AM. But then I waited to see who was going to enter the second round of our presidential elections, only getting in bed at 8:10 AM, when things seemed clear enough, though definitely not settled yet.

In the early hours of November 26, I wanted to at least take a first bite of dinner in my room at 3:35 AM, but when I saw that it was already 3:36 AM when I did that, I went back to taking it easy and actually started eating at 3:40 AM, finishing at 4:25 AM, after spending several minutes getting what was stuck on the plate. And then I got in bed at 5:20 AM and after getting up I had to attach BOINC to Einsten@Home, despite the crippling RAM use, since I was still on the old computer, because Asteroids@home ran out of work and I had been keeping a small buffer, since I kept meaning to switch to the new computer, and the Africa Rainfall Project from World Community Grid had no CPU work to offer either. And then I went out a little after 4:35 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol and two broken things, a flashlight and a pair of headphones.
I had dad’s metro card, so I took the metro to Obor, putting the recyclables with the deposit symbol, including two which I found in a trash can from that parking lot, into the machine from Kaufland and then also leaving those broken things in the appropriate bin. Then I washed my hands and, while I didn’t find the cat food that I had gone there for, I bought a number of things, some of them after noticing that the sale for one of their store brands, which had been advertised as starting the following day, had apparently started the previous day instead. And at the self-checkout I also used the voucher received for the recyclables and scanned the picture for dad’s store app. And then I continued to Carrefour, putting the purchases in a cabinet and getting some potatoes and a cabbage, after checking that the cabbage did have the discounted price which was listed on-line, since the full price was still listed in the store. On the other hand, while there was a huge pile of expiring products, they were discounted by 30% instead of 50%, so I didn’t care for any of them, and was concerned about a change in their pricing policy for those products.
After retrieving my things, I returned to the metro station and went to Basarab, trying quite a lot of cabinets and not finding any available one that actually locked after reaching that Kaufland, so I ended up leaving my things in one that at least appeared to be locked, the knob turning freely, so it could be left in what seemed to be the locked position. And I did find that cat food over there, getting all three bags that were left, since I did have enough money for that even though the plan would have been to just get two. And I had just enough on top of that to add another yogurt as well as another product from that store brand, though it was listed as having a regular discount and I wondered whether that general 20% discount would also apply in that case, so at the self-checkout I first just scanned that product and then the picture for dad’s store app, and when I saw that the discount did apply to the price that was already discounted I went back and scanned the other products as well. And as I retrieved my things and arranged the purchases, I noticed two men who were also trying the cabinets, looking for one that locked, and I told them that they probably won’t find any free one that does but they could use the one which I had just freed, since it at least appeared to lock. And then I took the metro back, grabbing a recyclable after exiting the metro station and getting back here a little before 7:55 PM, with over 17 kg, when I only weighed 45 kg.

On December 1, after doing the day’s squats, I went out at 2:30 PM, remembering to take that small piece of fish again, in case I’ll spot a stray cat, but somehow I still didn’t, and forgot to at least leave it behind the building when I got back, so I came back with it again. Either way, after voting I continued to Penny Titan, picking up a recyclable and going through that part of the park that’s supposedly private property and seeing the felled trees. And I entered the store with that recyclable in a pocket, since the machine was once again not working. But I found what I was looking for, plus expiring chicken legs, so I also took a bag of those, and at the checkout I gave an amount that should have resulted in 6.50 RON as change, but the cashier said that I had miscalculated and she had no use for the coins, asking whether I had 1 RON instead, so I told her that I didn’t but also that she’d have no use for it… And she gave me 6.50 RON and also returned my coins, only realizing her mistake when I asked what had she done and she checked the display again, at which point she said that if she gave me a little more, so be it, so I deducted that small amount from what I have to recover from Penny because of past problems. She didn’t give me the receipt, however, and I didn’t ask about it.
Then I rushed to Carrefour, picking up another recyclable on the way and meaning to put my things in a cabinet before going to the machine but finding no free ones, so I went to put in those two recyclables, also trying one which I found in the bins that are next to the machine, but that one wasn’t accepted, so I went to the information desk with it, but the employee said that those should be accepted and the problem was probably that it was a little bent, so I should try several times and they won’t take it there. And I also asked about the other cabinets that used to exist but she just said that they don’t anymore, so I entered with everything, stopping a little later to move the purchases into the large backpack, since they were way too heavy to keep carrying in bags. And then I bought what I wanted from there as well, which included a 50 RON PaysafeCard code, plus a sweet pastry that was among the expiring products, and also used that voucher received for the recyclables at the checkout, still needing to use a regular one in order to pay with cash in that location. And then I arranged the purchases and made my way back.
I got back just before 5:15 PM, with 22.5 kg, and that meant that I had time for a shower before the race, so I just threw the chicken legs in the freezer and showered. And later I put all of the purchases in their place, ate an orange and lunch, with some expired bagels instead of bread, bought the codes for two of the old games that I meant to give away on GOG.com, Sid Meier’s Colonization and Lula: The Sexy Empire, and at night I ended up starting to eat dinner at 3:15 AM and finishing a couple of minutes before 4 AM. And before going to bed I also installed the TV tuner’s software, and it did find a few digital channels as well, but only a few at that point. On the other hand, no visits were recorded that day.

In the early hours of December 6, I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM. Then, after being woken up for the last time a couple of minutes after 3 PM, by someone who was at the door, but only getting up half an hour later, I did the day’s squats, ate lunch, and it was almost 7:10 PM when I walked out, with the regular recyclables, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way to Carrefour Pantelimon, though I also had a quick look in Penny on the way, entering with the few recyclables which I had picked up until then. And I found a few more around the machines from that Carrefour, a couple of them even being accepted, along with those which I had picked up earlier, and then I put the labels with the deposit symbol from two plastic bottles that were too crushed to be accepted on others that didn’t have the symbol and those were also accepted, though each of them was on a different voucher, so I ended up with three. And I entered the store with those which weren’t accepted, but I didn’t find anything to get, and when I tried to cash in the vouchers at a checkout, the cashier told me to go to the information desk, so I did, receiving the money for the vouchers as well as for the remaining recyclables, which I handed in, along with the bag, though I was quite baffled by the fact that the employee had to use a calculator for the total and then even asked her coworker what it was.
I then continued to Kaufland Basarabia, grabbing just one more recyclable on the way and putting it in the machine from there, then peeing and washing my hands, using the room for disabled people since the men’s was being cleaned, and entering the store when it was almost 9:10 PM. And I saw bakery discounts of 75%, grabbing three buns right away, but some products still had discounts of 50% listed and others none at all, and an employee was checking them at that point, so I scanned a couple of labels, finding that a bread which I hadn’t seen before, with walnuts and figs, was discounted by 75% even though the label listed 50%, and one was left and, while it was obviously going to be sweet, it had no sugar or sweeteners listed among the ingredients, so I took it, along with two sweet pastries. Then I looked around a little, but somehow forgot to get the shaving cream that I wanted before going to make use of some great evening discounts for vegetables and bananas and making my way to the self-checkouts just before closing time, though I’m not sure whether I had started using a machine before the announcement. But I had forgotten to weigh the peppers which I had grabbed for dad, so I used the scales from that area for that, then also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid, and after I was done I used the scales that are next to the spot meant for arranging your purchases to check the weight of that bread and get some labels to hold the bags with the bakery products closed. And then I walked out, needing to use the emergency exit, and used the seat from one of the tables that are there to arrange the purchases.
On the way back, I also checked the non-stop Mega Image, putting my things in a cabinet and finding that they had just placed the 90% discounts, so I got some expiring products, though one just had the 50% discount. I should have gotten one or two more, but I changed my mind about one and thought that I was going to get charged for what another was placed in, checking the price and seeing that it was more than half of the price of the product itself, with that discount, so I left it there… Only to find at the checkout that I wasn’t charged for the other container, but I had seen that someone else had already taken the other product by then. But when the cashier had trouble scanning those discounted products and the total was different from what I had calculated, I told her that I thought that it should have been lower and paid what I was asked but then checked the receipt, which was rather confusing, some products having scanned at the full price and been removed multiple times, and the cashier had closed the checkout and wanted to leave, so she was asking whether everything was fine and pointed out what she had done, and I actually noticed that I had received an additional discount, for getting two of one of the discounted products, so the amount was lower, not higher, and I eventually said that it seemed fine. But then I found that I had once again left the key to the cabinet in the store, so I put the new purchases in another cabinet, without locking it, and dashed in to grab the key, knowing where it must have been, then retrieved my things and arranged the new purchases better. And on the way back I grabbed some more recyclables, but I no longer had a bag for them and the small one that I initially meant to take from a garbage can had a shit in it, so I quickly dropped it, relieved that I was wearing the gloves, and eventually grabbed a paper bag from another can.
I got back a little after 11:30 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put most of the purchases in their place, ate a banana and a slightly sweet bun that I already had, and it was a little after 1:15 AM when I went to wash, being done 40 minutes later. And then I also dealt with that bread, eating a part of it that night, and used the worse leaves of the lettuce and the radish leaves for the salad, ending up eating dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:25 AM. And I got in bed at 5:55 AM.

On December 11, after installing Windows 10 on the old computer as well, putting it in the living room while I did so, and sending a message to the bank that issued the debit card which I had found the previous evening, with them asking for the card number in order to cancel it and then saying that I could bring it over to a branch just to be recycled, since someone else having had access to it means that they couldn’t give it back to the owner, I did the day’s squats and left at 7:25 PM, taking that card, which I handed off to an employee when I got to that bank’s branch from Park Lake. Then I put the two recyclables which I had grabbed on the way in a cabinet and just grabbed a sweet pastry that was among the discounted products, but I still had to use a regular checkout and the cashier didn’t give me the little amount of change, so after retrieving those recyclables I started looking, first for coins, but then for recyclables, making use of the fact that my right ankle was still hurting to lean on the recycling bins and have a better look, finding some before leaving the mall and more after I left, plenty having just been dumped in a pile, close to Kaufland, so I then put all of them in the machine from there.
After peeing and washing my hands, I entered the store just before 9 PM, but I didn’t find anything in the bakery area that I was interested in and which had the 50% discount, and I scanned a couple of labels, confirming that the plain buns weren’t discounted, and those slightly sweet buns were still “not found” by the price checker. Still, I wanted some sort of bun, and I grabbed one whose price had just increased, making it marginally more expensive at half price than the cheap buns are at full price, but there were no more paper bags, I didn’t tie the plastic one that I had to use, and when I meant to arrange the few other things which I grabbed, that bun somehow fell out of that bag. It fell on a box, which probably wasn’t much worse than the shelf from the bakery area, but I went to put it back, leaving it in that bag, so it’ll be clear that it had been taken by someone and then returned, before going to the self-checkout, where I had to call over an employee to authorize the sale of alcohol, since I had grabbed some expiring beer for dad, and the total allowed me to use the voucher received for the recyclables.
Since I still wanted buns, on the way back I checked three Mega Image locations, but it all proved to be a waste of time. In the first one, I put my things in a cabinet and then wandered around for a while, seeing no evening discounts in the bakery area and wondering whether they were yet to make them before giving up and retrieving my things. But in the second one the cabinet that I put my things in wouldn’t lock and wouldn’t release the coin either, so after I tried for a while the guard came and he also kept trying, needing quite some time to finally force it out, at which point I just left my things in there without locking the door. But the cheap buns weren’t discounted there, and while I’d have bought an expiring product, when I saw the line I gave up on that idea, just retrieving my things and walking away. And then I also checked the nearby Mega Image, but just as I walked in the guard told me to hurry because they were closing, so I asked if it wasn’t non-stop anymore and he said that it closed at 11 PM, so I just walked back out. And I only grabbed two more recyclables on the way back from Kaufland.
I got back right at 11 PM, and after cleaning the litter box I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put the few purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, put together something sweet and ate that before also eating lunch, with half of the last piece of that bread that I made back in March, which was still in the freezer. It was past 1:15 AM when I went to shower and almost 1:50 AM when I finished, and I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM.

On December 13, after doing the day’s squats, I went out again, leaving a little after 7:20 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol. I first went to Penny Titan, but the machine from there still wasn’t working, so I put the recyclables in a cabinet, without locking it, and just got something for dad, then retrieved the recyclables, picked up two more which had been left next to the machine, and took the metro, since I had dad’s card, to Carrefour Pantelimon, picking up a few more recyclables on the way and going to the machine, but just having a look in the bin, without finding anything else, and then turning around, since I didn’t know whether I was going to find anything to buy and didn’t want to have to go to the information desk to cash in the voucher again. But, after putting my things in a cabinet, I spotted something that I could buy for dad, and then grabbed two expiring products as well. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the new purchases, and went to Kaufland, picking up one more recyclable on the way and then putting all of them in the machine from there, the two bottles with that odd shape requiring multiple tries but eventually being accepted as well.
After putting my things in a cabinet and washing my hands, I entered the store just before 9:25 PM and went straight to the bakery area, seeing the employee placing labels listing the 50% discount, those that were placed at that point listing 30%. However, even though the nicer cheap buns and those slightly sweet buns were left with those labels with the 30% discount, when I scanned them, they showed up as being discounted by 50% as well, so I took one of the sweet ones and four of the others, then spent the remaining time picking some fruits and vegetables that had good evening discounts, grabbing the last few and weighing them just after the closing announcement. But the total was lower than the value of the voucher received for the recyclables, so I wanted to cash that in after paying for the purchases normally, but when I told that to the employee who was waiting for me to finish using the self-checkout machine, she went to the next one, which was no longer available for customers, and cashed it in for me while I picked up my purchases, leaving the money for me to grab, along with a few coins that were in the change tray. Then I arranged the purchases a little, washed my hands again, since they were sticky after digging through some more grapes from Moldova, retrieved what I had in the cabinet, walked out through the emergency exit, arranged the purchases a little better on one of the tables that are outside… And realized that I didn’t seem to have the rope backpack anymore! So I rushed back in, asking the employees whether they had seen it, then ducked under the gate to get back out and looked around, but eventually found it after patting myself down and realizing that it had fallen inside the jacket, through the torn pocket.
It was past 10:15 PM when I walked away, and then I also went to that non-stop Mega Image, picking up another recyclable when I got there, putting everything in a cabinet and getting a few products that were discounted by 90%. The cashier didn’t give me the 0.20 RON which should have been the change at first, so after setting the purchases aside, since they were about to fall out of my hands, I picked up a 0.10 RON coin which had already been on the counter and mentioned that I needed one more, which she gave me a moment later. Then I retrieved my things, added the new purchases, and picked up some more recyclables on the way back… The problem being that I decided to also check that dirty part of that small green space, turning a bottle over with my foot in order to see whether it had the deposit symbol, which it didn’t, and also moving some soiled piece of clothing while I did so, at which point I realized that I was likely to have picked up fleas or some other bugs and stomped and shook my feet after walking away… But it was obviously not enough.
I got back at 11:30 PM, went to drop a small bag of trash down the chute, put most of the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, ate a clementine and a small bar, and went to the bathroom at 12:35 PM… At which point I noticed a bite around my right ankle, and then what seemed to be a flea… And then I noticed more, both fleas and bites, but also realized that, if those were fleas, then what I had noticed on my arm while I was in the living room the previous day must have also been one, as was what I had picked up off the back of my neck in the kitchen some days before, and dad had said that Liza had fleas when he had taken her to the vet, so while I had probably picked up more that evening, we already had fleas in the apartment for some time, and I had been feeling and seeing them for what must have been months without realizing what they were. So after using the toilet I rushed out of the bathroom to throw the clothes which I had worn outside in the laundry basket and spray some medicinal alcohol on the bites, then washed. I was past 1:40 AM, if not even past 1:45 AM, I didn’t really memorize the time, when I finished, and I kept being worried about the fleas, and when dad got up to go to the bathroom I told him about it as well, and also put disinfectant and medicinal alcohol on my legs, all the way up to my knees, and also on my arms and neck. Otherwise, I put the remaining purchases in their place, and ate lunch, on and off, starting at or just after 2:20 AM, but I’m not sure whether it was 3:16 AM or 3:26 AM when I finished. Either way, I also moved something into a jar and then ate dinner between 3:55 AM and 4:20 AM. And I got in bed at 5:50 AM, after finding two more fleas while checking myself when I changed into my pajamas.

After looking over myself again when I got up to pee and finding two more fleas, when I got up in the afternoon I sprayed myself with bug repellent and then also used some bug spray in some places from my room, on my jackets, in the shoe cabinet, in the bathroom, on the bags with the recyclables with the deposit symbol from the balcony, and in a couple of other spots, being wary of spraying more because of Liza. Plus that the bug spray didn’t list fleas among the bugs that it targeted anyway. Either way, I also put my clothes, and a few others, in the washing machine and selected the 60°C “Hygiene” program.
When I checked myself again after getting up the following day, it seemed like I was going to spot fleas as long as I kept looking on my socks, got seven or eight before giving up, and then I sprayed a little bug spray on my slippers. And it did seem that the bug spray was working, since there were a lot of fleas on the floor when I had a look in the evening, dead or seeming to not feel well. Otherwise, I got in bed at 5:20 AM.
After getting up, I vacuumed a little more in my room, mainly my chair and the sides of my bed and under it, also using some more bug spray on my chair and on the sides of my bed. And I’ll also mention here that I used a little more of that regular bug spray on the floor, around the bed, on December 22.

On December 17, after shaving, eating lunch, doing the day’s squats and sewing my pants, the holes seeming far more visible after that thorough washing cycle, I left a little before 8 PM, taking the regular recyclables, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way, as well as those with the deposit symbol, grabbing one more on the way to Carrefour, putting them in the machine from there, splitting on two vouchers, and then just cashing them in, still needing to use a regular checkout in that location. Then I continued to Penny and just grabbed three small bars, but actually stole the one of the kind that seemed nicer in order to make up for most of the amount that I still had to recover from Penny, finding a single one of that kind on the shelf and eventually slipping it in a glove and just paying for the other two, at which point I saw some more of those at the checkout, so I guess that they had few of them left and they were only there otherwise. And then I grabbed three more recyclables and put them in the machine from that Kaufland, and then I spotted one more in the bin from there, putting that in as well and getting a second voucher… And then I spotted a 14 RON voucher on the recycling bins, but I didn’t try to take it and see whether it was still valid, so I just washed my hands, entered with those bars in the inside pocket of my jacket, saw that the bakery area was basically cleared and the evening discounts weren’t good enough, and they didn’t increase even if I waited until after 10 PM, so I eventually just cashed in those two vouchers, following an employee out.
Since Kaufland had switched to the holiday schedule, closing at 11 PM, that still gave me time to go to the other location, so I jogged there, though I made a small detour in order to just look through the window at the bakery area of that Mega Image and also stopped for a moment to grab one more recyclable, which I put in the machine from there. Then I peed and washed my hands and entered the store, still with those bars in that pocket, a little before 10:30 PM, first grabbing a nicer lettuce, with a good evening discount, and then three buns from the bakery area, one of them being of that slightly sweet kind, discounted by 75%. Then I scanned two labels that didn’t show discounted prices, confirming that one product wasn’t discounted and finding that the other was only discounted by 50%, so I just added one more of those slightly sweet buns, after asking the employee why were the last two of those set aside, the last products which hadn’t been put together with the other remaining ones, and being told that she simply hadn’t gotten to move them yet. And then I made use of a few great evening discounts for vegetables and some more of those Moldovan grapes, just starting to use the self-checkout machine when the closing announcement came, and I also used the voucher received for that recyclable when I paid. And, after arranging the purchases a little, it was close to 11:10 PM when I walked away, and I grabbed one more recyclable on the way back.
I got back at 11:40 PM, ate a banana and one of those slightly sweet buns, with some things added in it, washed what was in the kitchen, spread out the purchases, only putting the grapes and the buns in their place, and went to wash at 1:20 AM, being done at 1:50 AM. After that, I put the remaining purchases in their place and ate dinner between 3:35 AM and 4:15 AM. And the fleas were getting even more worrying, since I was paying attention to them…