Cav's Place

I’m alone until evening today, so that’s another reason why I don’t feel like struggling to write, on top of pretty much never feeling like it and the fact that I didn’t sleep enough lately and feel just exhausted, and also cold because of it. But, as the title spells out, there’s a lot to mention and it won’t get any easier if I wait and just throw some other quick thing here as this week’s second post. Plus, to start with the end, I already spent quite a number of hours in the kitchen yesterday, making myself something to eat then and also cooking something to have for the next few days, which I ate a bit of last night and then a proper serving earlier today. I didn’t even know what I wanted to make while making it, changing my ideas on the way, and it doesn’t taste like much of anything, but it’s edible, which is good enough for now.

Getting right to it, on May 20 I took part in the “Diversity March” for the first time, though this year it seems that they left that name which had usually been used for it around here as something of a subtitle, putting “Bucharest Pride” forward and therefore moving more towards what’s expected for such events. Always felt too awkward to do so in the past, being simply a straight supporter and considering the voices saying every year that heterosexuals who attend “just don’t get it” and shouldn’t be there, and then there’s also my stance on transgenders and that entire concept of gender, but current events definitely call for all hands on deck in support of sexual minorities and I did attend the November march as well, after all, and that was smaller and therefore each person’s presence was easier to notice.
This is a personal post, so there won’t be a report about the march itself, but I need to mention the downpour right when the march was supposed to start. Didn’t last long, so we could get going once it was over, but there were gusts of wind and heavy rain that sent people rushing for shelter under trees while those who had umbrellas tried to also shelter as many as they could, the crowd that was mostly near the street rushing to the other side of the area where people had gathered, making for an image that reminded me of penguins crowding together. And since I was just as much of a penguin at that point and also didn’t want to risk my camera even more, didn’t take any pictures of that period, but do have a bunch of others. And it’s not hard to find pictures including that period anyway.

With the Night of Museums also taking place then and the march finishing very close to a few I had some interest in and pretty much just at the right time, despite having also walked all the way to the meeting place for the march, I then went right to the Museum of Natural History, taking my place at the back of the line at 6:10 PM. And actually that line, long as it was, moved faster than expected, as it’s normal to spend a few hours waiting to get inside that museum when it’s free yet I was in after one hour and ten minutes. And once inside it didn’t feel crowded, the route to take was very clear, and information was generally easy to find and read, so it was all right. Not something I’d normally do, in fact this probably being my first visit to a museum after those to the Clock Museum back in the first few years of school, as for some reason schools regularly took pupils there back then, but I had been sort of thinking of having a look now and then for the past few years, so I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity.
After that, I went across the road and to the Geology museum, having completely given up on one other thing in the area which I had initially considered, but to a far lesser extent than these two. That was a much poorer experience though, since there was no crowd management, everybody walked right in and was left to decide what to do, and that and the poor layout, with rooms in every direction, exhibits and information crowding on every wall as well as in the middle of rooms, and no clear route to take, made for an overcrowded, confusing mess. Plus, with the replicas of a few dinosaurs discovered in Romania upstairs, the advertised “Dinosaur Garden” exhibition, as in the part actually in the garden, consisted of five replicas in very poor lighting and required walking through the muddy grass left after the rain.
Meant to start walking back after making my way out of there, but took a route that also took me past the Observatory and saw a long line there as well, despite the clouds. And there admittedly were some breaks through which I could spot a few stars, so I thought there may yet be a chance to see something and took my place at the back of that line as well. And I ended up waiting for one hour and 40 minutes to get inside and ten more minutes to get on the roof for nothing, because the clouds had thickened during that time and there was no way to see anything anymore. One of the people there rushed to aim the larger telescope at a tiny break in the clouds while I was there, saying he thought he had spotted Jupiter, but it was only a false alarm. So we only got a couple of admittedly rather funny speeches… Which were actually somewhat refreshing after having spent all that time in line listening against my will to the guy right behind me weaving religion, conspiracy theories and conservative views in a continuous rant to the woman he was with. Considering the day’s events, the rant also obviously included lashing out against sexual minorities and the march, this being one of the few moments when she spoke up to agree, but then again I had heard a few quick comments along those lines while waiting to get inside the Museum of Natural History as well.

After all of that, I walked all the way back as well, also grabbing a cabbage and a few radishes from a non-stop hypermarket on the way. By the time I walked out of the store, at around 12:10 AM, it was starting to rain again, but it didn’t rain heavily, so it wasn’t much of a problem and I finally walked through the door here at almost 1 AM. Without all that time pointlessly wasted at the Observatory, I could have been back well in time to also take a shower, but it’s hard to get hot water at night from the city’s system, needing to leave it running for at least 20 minutes while paying all of it as hot water, hoping it’ll eventually warm up enough to just allow you to wash a little. So I just ate and left washing for the next day, despite feeling pretty clammy.

That sure ended up a whole lot longer than I meant it to be, but now I’ll finally get to Tuesday, when I ran again, for the first time after the half marathon. Finding motivation to just get back to regular runs for no particular reason was hard after doing it all with that clear goal in mind since winter, but I managed it by setting my mind on sorting out the frustrating matter of having only matched my record for ten kilometers by actually improving it. And, with no notable issues to slow me down along the way anymore, I managed just that, the new record being 48:32. Sector times were 4:32, 5:09, 5:51, 4:27, 5:07, 5:55, 4:34, 5:11, 5:58 and 1:48, making for lap times of 15:32, 15:29 and 15:43. So fastest ever third lap, first time I cover sector three of lap three in under six minutes, and matching the fastest ever second lap, which was managed on my second fastest seven-kilometer run, so when I didn’t have another lap after it.

Didn’t mean to go out again that day, but my mother was in the kitchen when I got back and she said she had assumed I was out shopping, which made me think that maybe that’d actually be a good idea, at least to get myself bread and maybe some other vegetables, as I was running out and adding that to what I already meant to do over the next couple of days will be more inconvenient. Plus, there was no hot water anyway, so couldn’t shower after the run, and in fact I only washed a little on some parts of my body after eating that night, with water heated on the stove and rinsing some areas very quickly with cold water from the shower, since it was apparently a scheduled maintenance period in the entire area, ending Thursday at noon. Definitely saw no announcement about it, but in the evening dad said he had talked to neighbors and someone told him about it, after which I checked on-line and found a PDF confirming this.
Either way, back to the fact that I went back out, that’s relevant for two reasons, the first being that I took a different route from one hypermarket to another and as a result stumbled into a farmers’ market that I was actually searching for seven years ago. It’s completely hidden away between buildings and I don’t know how anyone not living there or studying in the nearby high school could know it’s there, but as I quickly passed through I saw an old man selling apples that seemed decent and I actually was looking for apples, so I made a mental note to get back there some other day. And the second reason is that I dropped some money between my seat and the side of the free bus offered by this hypermarket when I used it to get back, and it was one of the seats above a wheel, so they couldn’t fall under it. Yet all’s well that ends well, because after failing to get the 10 RON bill back out otherwise, I saw that the lower part of the seat could just be pulled out, so I did that and retrieved my bill, along with a 0.10 RON coin that was under the seat in front and a bus card that at that moment, with people behind me watching and commenting on what I was doing, I actually thought was mine, as I checked and couldn’t find mine on me otherwise. Only when I got back did I realize that I hadn’t taken it with me in the first place, so I had found one lost by someone else.

Wednesday I went to see King Arthur, the main reason being how I remember seeing the 2004 one in a theater, with Andra. Or, more exactly, with her and that friend of hers, Razvan, since she had wanted us to meet then. Sadly, however, this one was a waste of money and time, having nothing to do with what the title leads you to think of other than having some names forced upon a fantasy tale that’s so cliché that it seriously bothered even me. And that’s saying something, since I’m not easily bothered by a lack of originality. But at least it was cheap, since it’s not available in IMAX and I therefore looked for a cheap option, finding a theater apparently recently reopened in a mall in one of the worse parts of the city and which, on top of being cheaper in general as well, has particularly low prices on Wednesdays. Did mean I had to walk seven kilometers each way to get there and back, but that’s hardly notable anymore for me.

After shaving, again with heated water, Wednesday evening, Thursday I went to the book fair, Bookfest, considering walking all the way despite the long distance and the fact that it was raining when I left, considering the lack of a monthly metro card. However, there’s a bus that goes straight from here to there, one was actually just arriving when I was passing by the first stop on the way, and I did have that found bus card, so I hopped on and used one of the validating devices to read it, finding that it’s an electronic wallet and not nominal, so can be used by anyone and on any route and has no expiration date, and that it had exactly the price of one trip left on it. So I then validated it, using up that amount, and went to Bookfest by bus to spare myself the long walk in the rain.
Since this time I actually intended to buy something and was meaning to check out something else on the way back as well, for once I didn’t look at pretty much everything, passing by whatever I had no interest in, as in not even in the sense of some degree of curiosity, which meant ignoring all the bigger publishers from here, for one. One place I was interested in, knowing that they sold books in English, now advertised that they had also started selling books in Romanian and that seemed to be all they had brought, but found another that was selling books in English that I didn’t know about. That was an unpleasant experience though, because a girl approached as soon as I walked in and she kept trying to tell me about them and to get me to fill a form to receive their offers, undeterred by the fact that I was ignoring her, looking over or around her and looking through books as if she wasn’t even there, only leaving me alone after I refused her a couple of times and bent down to look at the bottom shelf. On another note, the consumer goods fair which way back was by far the main event taking place in that area was now quite small and had been relegated to an area next to the one reserved for Bookfest, one being able to walk from one to the other, so I had a very quick glance in there as well, for no particular reason.
Back to actually buying something, there were five books I was considering, two of them found in two places, but two were those that I had also considered while checking out that science fiction and fantasy fair back in April and the publisher had far lower discounts now, and two others were cheaper if ordered on-line from this store I usually order from. Or at least I had seen one heavily discounted to a lower price before, confirming after I got back that it was again heavily discounted now as well, and I actually asked them to look up the other after making my purchase. So yes, I just bought one book and from them, since they’re taking part as well, the fact that I didn’t order it on-line meaning it won’t get added to my account, so I won’t get the points that I could then use for a tiny discount on a future order, and also spent a bit more, the listed price being rounded up. And I’m definitely uneasy about the choice, not being something I’d usually care for, but all those I considered fall into that category and they didn’t have the others there, so it was that or nothing and I did have some interest in that particular book, had been considering it, so it wasn’t a matter of simply seeing it there and deciding on the spot, I could still support them with the purchase, and it was noticeably cheaper than in the other place where I had found it anyway.

Once out of there, I also went to the little traditional products fair that always seems to take place at the same time as Bookfest, on the main alley, since I keep meaning to get something from there but could never get myself to approach and say something before. Had actually had a look before going in for Bookfest and had something in mind, so I pretty much went straight there, looking at the kind of cheese I wanted, and the person saw what I was interested in and asked whether I wanted to taste it. Didn’t particularly want to, but refusing would have taken more mental effort than simply allowing her to do what she wanted and I couldn’t manage it, so I did take the bit she offered, though I pointed out that it was actually a pretty big piece, at which point she told me not to worry about it. Then I asked for one of the small wheels, she weighed it, I paid and went on my way. It was actually smaller than I thought and I’d have wanted a bigger one, but, again, asking for another would have required mental effort I wasn’t capable of, needing to interact in such a manner. Either way, it’s tasty, and I supported a small producer. Or I hope I did, at least.

Since it wasn’t raining anymore, though I did hop on a bus at some point for a few stops, taking my time to check that the found card really was empty and then getting off when I could easily be at the door again, walking back seemed pretty much the normal thing to do, and I actually took a different route the first part of the way, to check out another store as well. Found nothing interesting there though, nor in the few small places selling fruit and vegetables that I glanced in on the way, nor in a farmers’ market I also happened to stumble into. Shouldn’t have gone in there at all, since a man stopped talking to the other one he had been talking to when I walked in and kept pestering me as I walked past him twice, since I needed to go that way again to get back out, asking what I wanted, listing things, calling after me… So that’s one place I won’t go in again, and I’d have no reason to go to a market in that part of the city anyway, but on the way I also found the location of a permanent fair, though it was closed for the day by the time I got there and I saw later that most sellers are only there on weekends, and that of a confectionery I had been curious about, confirming that I may try something from there if I’ll have a reason to be in the area when I will want to get some cake or something of that kind again.
But while I didn’t buy anything else on the way, I went back out after dropping off the book and cheese and getting things out of my pockets, because I knew the yogurt I tend to buy is discounted at a chain that has hundreds of stores all over the city, including one right in front of my building, and they, as in that brand of yogurt, also have a contest now that requires the number of the receipt instead of some code printed on the product. So for the maximum number of entries, the idea would be to buy one at a time, and I had gone out that day anyway, so I thought I’d just grab one despite the previous interactions, including one with an old woman and a child who stopped and insisted on inviting me to go ahead of them when entering the building and again when going up the stairs until I gave in and did so, having taken a heavy toll… And shouldn’t have done it, because there was a line, so all the people made me even more uncomfortable, and then I gave the cashier 2.07 RON, to get 0.20 back, and she dismissed the coins, telling me I had a discount, so the 2 RON were enough. I did explain, and she did give me the correct change, but she seemed either amused or irritated, or a mix of both, probably because a customer was calculating so exactly and had that kind of small change, and adding that to the state I was already in and all the other people around meant I just had to get out of there as soon as possible and only realized I never took the receipt, never noticing whether she had even pushed one my way, quite some time after getting back. So purchased that yogurt separately for no reason, as I can’t use it for a contest entry.

And to finally get to yesterday, before making food, I went out again in order to buy a couple of things I needed for what I sort of had in mind to cook, and definitely for apples, as I was completely out. And while I got those other things, as well as more bread and a couple of other things, from the hypermarket I buy most things from, I went back to that farmers’ market which I had accidentally discovered Tuesday for the apples. Actually, passed through it once on the way to the hypermarket, having a good look around and pretty much making my decisions, then returned to it on my way back, as I walked both ways. Did get somewhat confused after leaving the market though, but I eventually found my way, and this may be a route I’ll be trying to learn and use more from now on.
And yes, definitely managed to buy the apples and they’re really good, they were also cheap and I really think I supported an actual producer. Also got some radishes from another person, but the apples were the reason I was there and there were three selling them, though one shouldn’t have really been in such a market, as he pretty much had a store selling imported fruit. That left two, one guy having just two kinds, at 3 RON and 4 RON per kilogram, and one woman having several kinds, I think eight or so, at prices ranging from 1 RON per kilogram for the pile of quite rotten ones to 4 RON per kilogram for some big and shiny ones… Too big and shiny, I’d say. She was the obvious choice, also because having all those kinds and having them sorted according to their state in that manner definitely made her believable as an actual small producer, wanting to sell as much as possible of what she had.
So I picked one kilogram at 1.5 RON, as you could find decent ones there if you paid some attention while selecting them, and one more at 2.5 RON, those not requiring much selection. And I could do that quite all right, as I had placed some 700 grams of the first kind on the scale before she even paid any attention to me, coming to put them in a bag and wait for me to finish, then she just held another bag when I said I wanted some more of another kind, putting it on the scale when I asked how much I had already picked. Then I kept going to one kilogram, managing to hit the quantity both times on first try. Or, well, it was actually 990 grams for the first kind, to be exact. Either way, I obviously didn’t want plastic bags, having my own, but it would have again been too much mental effort to refuse, and it took quite a lot to just manage to pay even so, during which time I was worrying she’ll trick me in some way, being unable to even follow where the bags were anymore. Found them right in front of me though, and after wandering around a little to recover and weighing them on another scale as well, to check, I made my way back. And yes, I did taste each kind already, and they’re very tasty, the 2.5 RON ones in particular but the others are good as well.

Picking up from where the previous post left off, I’ll start this by saying that we got moving almost right after the start was given, very much unlike last year, and I crossed the start line after what the timing chip reported as 1:39.90. My reaction times and estimate of exactly when the chip would register crossing the line were also very good, as the intermediate time set on my stopwatch was 1:40.03, so I worked with a start time of 1:40 in order to set my targets. Either way, with a start time over four minutes better than last year’s, an official time under two hours definitely was possible, so despite my earlier poor mood and loss of motivation, I suddenly became quite determined to achieve it.
The targets I used were those I had worked out for last year’s ideal time, only adding up to 1:55:50 instead of 1:56 because the route no longer climbed that steep slope on Victoriei and therefore there was no reason to add ten seconds to kilometer 16 anymore. So I was aiming for six minutes for the first kilometer, then speed up by ten seconds per kilometer to reach 5:20 for the fifth, then maintain the pace until and including the 17th, then slow down by ten seconds per kilometer to get back to six minutes for the 21st, then add 30 seconds for the final meters. And I also meant to stick to my strategy better, not tiring myself early on by trying too hard to make my way past others even if that meant losing time behind them, making use of those I was running behind to break the air and make it just a little bit easier for me, and sticking as much as possible to the parts of the road I had decided were the better option while walking the route.

Due to the crowd, the first kilometer was slightly slower than intended, and I seem to remember a time of 6:03, though I’m not exactly sure of that, all I can say for sure being that it was under 6:10. Then at some point I even followed others who were moving to the emergency lane, outside the part of the road meant for runners, searching for room to advance, but that lane quickly filled as well, so it didn’t help much. It was briefly better after the route turned left at Unirii, but it then turned and narrowed again very quickly, the sidewalk taking the place of the emergency lane as the area used by those searching for room to advance, again with little success. Fortunately, I had returned to the road before the first intermediate timing point, though others were surprised by it and had to turn back and step on the sensors.
I know I checked the time at kilometers two and three, but don’t remember what it was at all anymore. I also know that I then missed the markers for kilometers four and five, so only checked again after six, again not remembering what I saw then. Why I missed the one at four kilometers is quite clear, as I still hadn’t managed to find a way past the 2:00 pacemakers before reaching the refreshment point marked as being at 2.3 kilometers and then dropped farther behind them due to slowing down to drink, so I guess I could still pay enough attention to spot the next one but as time passed and I was still behind I was more and more focused on simply finding my way through, which I clearly remember only happening just as the route turned on United Nations Boulevard. But that happened at about 4.7 kilometers or so, making the reason for missing the marker at five kilometers less obvious, though I guess I may have still been too busy searching for ways through the other people ahead and occasionally turning to check that those pacemakers weren’t catching up.

The next few kilometers were uneventful, but increasingly concerning, as my pace wasn’t quite on target and I wasn’t in the early part of the race anymore. Do remember recovering something, with I believe 5:14 on the seventh or eighth kilometer, but that was an exception, I believe one of the only two, otherwise the entire part which I should have covered at a pace of 5:20 per kilometer including a few covered in 5:19 and the rest in more than the target time.
At ten kilometers it was already an obvious problem, being around or I think already over 30 seconds behind the target time, and when the route turned 180°, around or I think right after 11 kilometers, I decided it wasn’t working and I needed to push harder, even if it might cause me to tire before the end, this at least leading to still being less than 40 seconds behind the target time at 13 kilometers, possibly after covering the 12th kilometer in 5:15 yet then following it with 5:25 for the 13th, as I seem to remember gaining and then losing five seconds in that area. Nevertheless, that provided some amount of relief, as even losing ten seconds per kilometer from then on would have still allowed for an official time under two hours.
Also decided around that time that I needed a much better strategy for the refreshment points, as there were a high number of them and I meant to make use of them, but doing so caused me to lose a significant amount of time, 20 or even up to 30 seconds each time, which I then couldn’t recover properly, and either way trying to do so would have caused me to tire too soon. So I believe I skipped the next one, but then things did indeed improve, even though I kept grabbing both water and juice when I could, as well as fruit when I spotted it in time. Definitely learned my lesson from last year and didn’t grab another bottle though.

The rest of the way was pretty much focused on my pace, searching for the most efficient way past others, and optimizing my use of the refreshment points, to the extent that I can’t even say I exactly noticed the amount of support present along the route, any interesting signs or much about other competitors that I didn’t have a practical reason to pay attention to at that moment. And I always had two targets in mind, one being the ideal time in which I should have reached the next marker and another being the time I should reach it in to maintain the target pace for that particular kilometer.
Since I usually just kept the seconds in mind, that makes it harder to remember times, and the fact that something is obviously wrong with the official intermediate times, probably having to do with the listed distance being wrong, certainly doesn’t help. Still, I know for sure that the worst position I was in was being 55 seconds behind the target time, and I thought that was at 17 kilometers, with a chance of it having been at 16. When I later tried to work it out more accurately, however, it became more likely that it was at 18, though there is that matter of possibly mixing an intermediate time with the target for the next to consider. I’m also pretty sure I had just lost one second over that kilometer and then gained just that one second back over the next.

The one intermediate time I’m absolutely sure of is the one for 20 kilometers, as I know I reached that point in 1:51:27, so only 27 seconds behind the target, having obviously slowed less than the plan allowed for towards the end. In fact, I was feeling really well at that point and pushing even harder, knowing I could keep it up all the way to the finish line, which I definitely did. Since it was obvious that it’ll only cause me to lose time with no real benefits for later, also skipped the last refreshment point, just hundreds of meters before the end, as it was in fact a matter of passing by the one meant for five kilometers again and it still being active, and pretty much sprinted to the line, wondering why had my pace been so conservative before.
Didn’t manage to spot the marker for 21 kilometers, but I know I covered the nearly 1.1 kilometers to the finish in a mere 5:09. Since the target for the 21st kilometer was six minutes and then I had calculated 30 seconds more for those final meters, it means I recovered 1:21 right there at the end, actually ending up nearly a minute ahead of the target time after having been behind it all the way until then. As such, I managed a real time that was even under 1:55, more specifically being 1:54:56.70, while the official time was 1:56:36.60. On the results page they once again rounded the real time up, but I’ll do what I do for my regular runs as well and round down to 1:54:56.

Once past the finish line, I stopped for a moment to arrange the little plastic things holding the timing chip in a way that’d make it easier for the person cutting them away to do so without risking to also cut my shoelaces or even my shoe, then once that was done I advanced to receive my finisher medal, and then moved on to the area offering refreshments to the finishers. Grabbed and drank a large cup of water, took a half-liter bottle of water and one of juice, also a piece of orange which I then stepped away from the line to struggle to eat, then also had a cup of juice from a stall on the other side of that area, which I wouldn’t have noticed without stepping away from the line, and finally returned to the fruit area to grab two pieces of apple. Took both bottles back with me unopened, leaving the water in the kitchen for my parents. The bottle of juice is still here in my room, unopened even now.
Either way, I then got my bag back, checked that everything was still in it and tried to work up the courage to ask someone to take a picture of me, which I eventually managed after standing around two women who were taking pictures of themselves and each other until they finished and one of them walked away, at which point I asked the other. Also asked her to take two or three, in case the camera will corrupt any, and she did, but after taking the first two, including the one I ended up posting, she turned it vertically to take some like that as well, at which point the camera turned itself off and she left when she handed it back to me. That may have been because I had washed my hands before putting the batteries in, so my hands were wet then, but the pictures were saved and I could turn it back on, so I then asked the guy in the sleeveless shirt that you can just notice in the background of that picture, who had a press badge and a serious camera of his own, to take a couple more. He had the same problem though, the camera turning off after two, which he took without me telling him to take more, and he wanted to make sure they had been taken, saying he hadn’t felt the camera actually do anything, but I showed him that they had actually been taken and thanked him.
That done, I put on my jacket, since it looked like it was going to start raining, and changed my shoes, not wanting to use the running ones on the way back as well. And I went into the tent where men were supposed to change in order to do this, also taking my time trying to arrange things in my bag and moving some things from it to my pockets while there, so it took me a while even though I didn’t change my clothes, despite the fact that both my t-shirt and my pants were stained with juice, and possibly also with what had dripped from the orange pieces I had eaten. By the time I was done, I noticed a couple of men who certainly seemed to be Africans on my left, assuming they were some of the elite runners who had taken part, and I was considering trying to work up the courage to ask who had won, wondering whether English would have worked, but when I got up and turned around I saw a few more sitting on the other side of the tent, one of them holding a trophy, so I assumed that answered my question and just walked out.

Yes, not wanting to use my running shoes on the way back means I walked back, taking the same detour I had taken after picking up my race kit, so walking seven kilometers right after running a half marathon, and doing so while carrying that bag as well. That’s not that much more than last year though, since then I walked less than one kilometer to Unirii metro station, came out at Titan, walked to one confectionery, decided against getting anything from there, went to the other to get the two cakes, one of which I left for my mother, then just decided to walk to Dristor metro station, this entire route from Titan to Dristor apparently having some three kilometers, coming out at Iancului and having just under one kilometer to walk to the place I got pizza from and back, then again just under one kilometer left from my metro stop, the total adding up to over five and a half kilometers, maybe 5.7 or so. Or at least that’s how I remember it.
Getting back to the route I took now, it took me past the place I considered getting something sweet from the most before things got nasty, after remembering that the confectionery I initially had in mind had changed their hours and were no longer open on Sunday, but I had already given up on that thought, instead asking my mother Friday evening to make some more pancakes so I won’t spend money on anything else and her making quite a pile. So I just went that way because it was clear in my mind and also took me to the place I was going to get pizza from, which is the same one I bought the one I ate last year from as well.
Interestingly, despite the clouds gathered when I left and the fact that the forecast also mentioned rain starting in the early afternoon, there was none until some time after I got back, the sky actually clearing by the time my pizza was ready, so after keeping my jacket on even while I waited inside, I then took it off and stuffed it back in my bag when I got back outside. Still put the pizza box in a plastic bag I also had with me, but only because I thought it might help keep it just a little warmer than if I’d simply carry it in the open. And I guess also because I didn’t want the box to be visible to everyone, even if what I was carrying was obvious due to the shape and the way in which I was carrying it.

After getting back, I changed and took the pizza, along with four pancakes in which I put honey, plum jam, quince jam, and cherry and quince jam, since there was just a tiny bit of cherry jam left in a jar and I had to mix it with something else for that one, to my room, and slowly ate all of that while watching the Formula 1 race. And yes, probably for the first time, I also posted a picture of food, which actually also includes the pizza and cake I had last year, as I had taken a picture then as well, albeit after eating a bit of the pizza, but had never posted it, so I put the two together now. Still had that fork that broke back then…
And speaking of pictures, didn’t even glance at anything posted by the organizers yet and once again I’m not sure I even will, as last year I didn’t. Still, last year I had found myself in several pictures posted by someone else, while now I only saw albums from two accounts posted on the event page and only spotted myself in the background, out of focus, in two pictures posted by one. Found two pictures clearly showing the woman who took that one I ended up sharing though, so I identified her thanks to the number, but didn’t identify the man. Seeing as he had that press badge, it should have been much easier, being simply a matter of looking at the badge, but I somehow never did and I couldn’t find him in what I saw so far. The other woman, the one who left before I asked to have my picture taken, had grabbed him as he was wandering around, taking a couple of pictures of all three of them for some reason, but I couldn’t identify her to see whether there was anything public on her account either. Quite disappointed by that, since I just wanted to know who took my pictures.

Guess I’ll start with a few more details about Friday, since I didn’t mention in my previous personal post that I tried to get some more sleep after getting my race kit but hardly managed anything, at first because my mother had started vacuuming. Did fall asleep after it got quiet enough, but only briefly, and after waking up I couldn’t fall asleep again, so I eventually got up and made myself the food I had planned to make, which I actually did mention in that previous post. Didn’t mention what it was though, so I’ll say now that it was pasta with a lot of other stuff mixed in, and it definitely was my best attempt yet by far.

Then came Saturday, when after watching the qualifying for the next day’s Formula 1 race I shaved and then meant to get back in bed, only to find that my mother had started the washing machine while I was shaving, and it’s close to my room and on top of parts of the washing cycle being loud, they also cause my door to vibrate a whole lot and my head’s very close to the door when I’m in bed, so there’s no way to sleep while it’s running. Asked her what that was about and she said she saw me around and assumed I was up, but then didn’t say anything else when I pretty much repeated what I had said the previous evening, which was that I needed to use that time left until the race to rest and sleep as much as I could, so unless they see me doing something outside my room, it should be enough indication that they should probably be quiet. Also mentioned that at 8 PM I will get up and wanted the kitchen clear, as I meant to slowly make myself a salad while watching the matches from the last round of our championship play-off, making it clear there was nothing to discuss about that when she said dad may get back around that time.
In the end, he got back some time after 7 PM, quite sure it was before 7:30 PM, slamming the door after walking in. So between having to wait for the washing machine to stop and that, I didn’t sleep much that evening either. Got back in bed after quickly going to the bathroom then, but didn’t fall asleep again before 8 PM, and I guess it wouldn’t have lasted long if I had, since at some point during those minutes he also allowed the door to the other bedroom to slam shut after going there for some reason, windows being open. But at least they were both in the living room when I went to the kitchen and didn’t bother me for the two hours I stayed there, making the salad, the pile of toast, on which I put a bit of butter and some kashkaval, and the tea, most of which to be left for the next day.
Took all that, along with a serving of the pasta made the previous evening that was at least twice as large as I’d otherwise have, to my room just as the Eurovision final was starting, at 10 PM, and slowly ate while watching, actually only finishing around or maybe even slightly after 1:30 AM, so around the same time the show did. Then I quickly wrote and posted the first post about the competition, finished getting almost everything ready for the morning, struggled for quite some time in the bathroom without managing to get much out, leaving me quite worried since I knew I’ll manage even less in the morning and there may be trouble while running because of it, quickly added just another tiny pointless thing in my story, and finally managed to get in bed when it was past 4 AM. Earlier than the usual 5 AM, sure, but I meant to do better than that, even hoping for 3 AM, and didn’t manage it.

The alarm rang at 7 AM, but I think I had woken up before then and can’t remember whether I managed to get back to sleep by then, probably because I was never sure to begin with. Either way, got up, went again to the toilet to struggle some more, as expected managed little more than farts, grabbed a little more to eat, mixing the magnesium and vitamin B complex powder that was part of the race kit into my cereal as well, and also put an apple, washed and cut in half, in a bag to take with me, added a few last things in my bag and pockets and left, around 8:05 AM or so.
On my way, I saw that work had started on this nearby road that’s part of the half marathon’s route, with the top layer being scraped off, which was definitely going to make this section quite unpleasant. And then I also confirmed something I thought I had spotted on Friday, which was that the entrance to the nearby metro station that I normally use was closed, work being done there as well, but I had already made sure on Friday that at least the other one was still open, and with the road already closed for the race, it was simply a matter of walking right across… And then waiting for about nine minutes for a train to come, so the fact that I had left just about that much earlier than planned didn’t help in any way. But I had to switch after one stop and the next one arrived very quickly, so in the end, after getting off at Izvor and glancing at the start area on the way while eating the apple, it wasn’t even 8:55 AM when I arrived in Constitution Square.
What I gather was the last round of the warmup was already taking place then, so I didn’t bother to jump in and take part in what was left, instead dropping off my bag, being pleased to see that the bag storage area was now organized, with volunteers taking the bags and only returning them if the person’s race number matched that on the sticker on the bag, and then wandering around for a while, also eating the energy bar that was also part of the race kit at some point while doing that. Pretty sure that some were offering apples there as well, but had already eaten mine so didn’t approach, though the fact that I didn’t approach them didn’t stop someone offering a free gym session and someone else offering a bottle of radler from approaching me. Refused both, the radler because I wasn’t going to drink it myself and didn’t feel like going back to the storage area to ask for my bag back just to put it in it and bring it to dad, as I did with the one I was offered when picking up my race kit on Friday.
After ignoring the first couple of announcements that those taking part in the half marathon should start making their way to the start area, I eventually went to the toilet, being pleased to see just a few people standing in line and, more importantly, that it was now possible to wash hands as well, unlike last year, even if the system was uncomfortable to use. Then, with that out of the way, I slowly made my way back to the start area, found the entrance to sector D after initially accidentally entering sector C and being confused for a moment, and carefully made my way forward through the crowd, the entrances being at the back of each sector, so by the time the start was given I was just a little behind the 2:00 pacemakers, who were at the front of that sector. And, even though this time around there was no timer above the start line, being a sector farther ahead than last year and with the start area now being in a straight line, I could know just when the start was given and start my stopwatch exactly on time.

Meant to put it all in a single post, but after giving up on even trying to start writing yesterday and struggling for quite a few hours to get this far today, guess I’ll do the same thing I did last year and split it in two, just that this time I’ll stop when the start was given and not when I actually crossed the start line. In a way, this makes it even weirder to include those parts about the days before here, but I’m not going to split it in even more parts. Now I can only hope it won’t be too long before I’ll manage to add the second part too, and that I’ll somehow also manage to include what I did after the race in it, since last year there was supposed to be a third post with that and it never got written. Maybe I’ll manage to add a few lines about that in this second post now as well, to allow for a quick comparison…

Seems like I am managing to once again add what was missing from the previous post on Monday, so let me get right to it, starting with comments about the top five acts in the actual classification. The comments about the top ten in mine will follow right after them. See said previous post for the links to the performances.

The political implications are missing, but in terms of the performance itself, Portugal this year was pretty much exactly the equivalent of Ukraine last year, and they both even ended up in the same position at the bottom of my classification, 24th out of 26. It can objectively be recognized as high quality, albeit rather pretentious, music, there can be no complaints about the artist’s vocal abilities, and it supposedly has a message. But the genre leaves me entirely cold, the performance, while theatrical, is entirely static and features a single person on stage, and now that message was delivered entirely in a language that the vast majority of the show’s audience, myself included, doesn’t know, so it may as well be missing if you don’t look it up. Plus, Portuguese always sounded simply ugly to me. Due to the undeniable objective quality, I don’t mind it winning, but it’s nothing I’d care to watch or listen in any way.
Rather surprised by Bulgaria’s position. Sure, again no complaints about the artist’s vocal abilities, but nothing in the song to catch my attention either way and the performance, while making decent use of the features provided by the organizers, again features a single person on stage and is also quite static. Overall, pretty much entirely forgettable for me, and I actually recall having to look it up again to remember which one it was when making the final classification in both the semifinal and the final.
Moldova had a catchy, upbeat song with some added interesting elements. Considering the way in which it was delivered as well, it’s the only song out of the top five that caught my attention in some positive way, though it’s still definitely not something I’d care for and therefore the song mark ended up being the same as the one I gave Bulgaria and Sweden. The show value was passable, but without really using props or interacting with each other in a meaningful way, no more than that.
In terms of the composition, Belgium actually had an interesting entry. Performed properly, it’s something I may actually care to listen to, but unfortunately the artist messed it up. In the semifinal she destroyed it completely, so the final performance was admittedly less bad, but there were still plenty of problems, and the fact that the backing vocals struggled to save it may have made that even more obvious. Plus, again entirely static, albeit somewhat theatrical, performance featuring a single person on stage. Wouldn’t have minded seeing it so high if juries and viewers would have been asked to judge according to the composition alone, trying to imagine how the songs should ideally sound, but that’s not what this is about, so it ended up next to last in my classification.
Though Sweden ended up higher in my classification than any other out of the top five, that was due to a somewhat higher show rating that I was grudgingly forced to give it. In terms of the song itself, on the other hand, I found little of value. I guess it’s not actually bad, but I probably frowned at times while listening, mainly due to the lyrics. And the artist messed up in a few places as well.

Croatia ended up at the top of my classification because it was a pretty good song that the artist performed not only very well, but also interestingly. Changing his voice back and forth the way he did, having a duet with himself, definitely caught my attention. And at least the maximum number of people were on stage at least toward the end, and there were a couple of instruments as well. So, on an evening when nothing else truly impressed in some other way, it had to be my top pick.
After struggling with it for some time, ended up placing Greece first in a group of three with exactly the same ratings, but I’m far from certain about it. It was a good enough song performed well enough, though I wonder whether the few problems noticed were due to the artist or the sound. Tend to say it was the sound, so I didn’t penalize her for it, but I may be wrong. Either way, there was a little show value as well, so the package wasn’t bad at all.
Azerbaijan ended up second in that group of three, but again I’m far from certain. The song was all right, the artist’s voice was a bit uncertain a couple of times at the start but otherwise it was a pretty solid performance, and again there was a little show value as well. Making a note of the moment when she wrote a word while singing a different line, the line including that word coming later. Quite hard to manage that, actually, and you can hear her struggling, but she didn’t mess up. Didn’t get the point of the horse mask though…
Last in that group of three is Romania, and this I’m less uncertain about. It’s a catchy, upbeat song and there’s a lot going on in it, making it seem longer than it actually is, but it relies more on something of a gimmick than a high quality composition, plus that I have issues with rapping. Still, she has a great voice and there was some show value as well, though that kiss at the end sure was awkward. Pretty sure she didn’t expect it, and read that they confirmed that as well.
Speaking of kisses, Belarus also had an upbeat song with an interesting sound and a catchy chorus. And there was some show value as well, despite only the two of them being on stage. Penalized it a little for the language and for a few moments when their voices didn’t sound too certain though.
At the end of the competition, I was thinking that the United Kingdom had the third best song, after Croatia and Denmark, but it may even be the second, and the artist definitely has a powerful voice and she performed it well. Dragged down by the static performance featuring a single person on stage, however, even if there was that added element there, I guess the result of somebody eventually sparing a little thought about giving viewers something to, well, view as well.
Good song from Netherlands as well, and I’d have probably rated it higher without that repeated sound that gave me the impression of somebody swallowing a lump in their throat and the little bits that were rather spoken. As it was, and with admittedly three people on stage but not doing much, it ended up where it did in my classification.
Italy’s one of the only two entries in my top ten, or in fact in my top 12, that actually ended up higher than I placed it, and I guess it does stand out due to being something of a parody, the only one this year. Other than that, it’s another upbeat and rather catchy song, and there is some show value as well. Still take issue with songs that aren’t in English, even more so when people are supposed to understand the lyrics, but at least Italian doesn’t bother me in itself and it wasn’t a matter of some deep message that actually needed to be delivered, so the general idea was enough.
Likely ranked Ukraine higher than I should have, in part because it was the harder song of the competition and there were a couple of bits where the instrumental part caught my attention. Not something I’d actually care to listen to in itself though, and the voice was a problem.
Sweden’s the second entry in my top ten, and in fact in my top 12, that actually ended up higher than I placed it, and also the only one in that same top 12 of mine that actually ended up in the top five. As I already stated above, however, I grudgingly placed it where I did due to some rules I have for my rating system in terms of show value. As I said, didn’t exactly care for the song, something in the lyrics made me frown and he didn’t perform it quite so well either.

Actually, said the comments will be about my top ten, but mentioned my top 12 three times above, so let me just quickly add that Denmark and Poland had entries with good songs and voices, but were dragged down by show value. At least Poland had a second person on stage, not that there was much reason to notice him, but I rated the song a bit lower, so it ended up below Denmark.

I’ll do the same thing I did last year, and for the same reason, so there will once again be two posts, this one including my classification and some general comments about the final and the semifinals, while the next will contain the comments about the top songs, both in the actual classification and in mine. Once again, I’m hoping to manage to post that second one on Monday, but the fact that I did so last year doesn’t have to mean I will again, so not making promises at the moment.

Overall, can’t say I was impressed with this edition, my general opinion varying between the rather poor first semifinal, the quite good second one and the so and so final. There were plenty of acts that were decent, even good, including a few that sadly failed to make it into the final, but not much to truly stand out. Also, and without even counting the cases where the problems were obviously technical, noticed a fair number of issues with the voices, songs that deserved to sound better than they ended up sounding. And the show value was quite poor in general, many seeming to no longer give much importance to actually doing something on stage, regardless of how much use they made of the screens, lights or pyrotechnics.
Didn’t know that much about the performances before the actual competition this year, only listening a couple of times to the songs, in the official versions posted on the official channel. Didn’t follow news or updates, didn’t watch anything from rehearsals and only remember glancing at a few videos from a couple of national finals a while back. That means I had no idea about the potential show value or how good or bad the voices were likely to sound live, and definitely knew nothing about any background stories… And in this case I’m guessing the background made a huge difference in terms of deciding the winner.

My ranking system is still the same, giving one mark for song and another for show value, plus a positive, neutral or negative modifier, and ranking first according to the overall mark that is the result of averaging the song and show ones, then according to the song mark and then, if both marks are equal, according to the modifier. In case all three are equal, the ranking is the result of me trying to quickly compare the performances in question at the end.
Once again, still largely for my own use, I’ll list all the information here, with the first number being the position in my classification, the one between parentheses that follows it being the actual position, the first number that follows the country name being the overall mark, the second being the song mark and the modifier, if not neutral, being listed at the end. All links are from the official channel, so they shouldn’t vanish.

1. (13.) Croatia (7, 7.5, plus)
2. (19.) Greece (6.75, 6.5)
3. (14.) Azerbaijan (6.75, 6.5)
4. (7.) Romania (6.75, 6.5)
5. (17.) Belarus (6.75, 6.5, minus)
6. (15.) United Kingdom (6.5, 7, plus)
7. (11.) Netherlands (6.5, 6.5)
8. (6.) Italy (6.5, 6.5)
9. (24.) Ukraine (6.5, 6, plus)
10. (5.) Sweden (6.5, 6, minus)
11. (20.) Denmark (6.25, 7, plus)
12. (22.) Poland (6.25, 6.5, plus)
13. (3.) Moldova (6.25, 6, plus)
14. (23.) Israel (6.25, 6)
15. (10.) Norway (6.25, 6)
16. (16.) Austria (6.25, 5.5, plus)
17. (8.) Hungary (6.25, 5.5, minus)
18. (25.) Germany (6, 6.5, plus)
19. (12.) France (6, 6.5)
20. (2.) Bulgaria (6, 6, plus)
21. (18.) Armenia (6, 6, plus)
22. (21.) Cyprus (6, 6, plus)
23. (26.) Spain (6, 5.5)
24. (1.) Portugal (5.75, 6, plus)
25. (4.) Belgium (5.75, 6, plus)
26. (9.) Australia (5.5, 5.5, plus)

My ranking matched the actual result for Austria, was one place off for Cyprus, two places off for Italy, and three places off for Armenia, Romania and Spain. On the other hand, I was at least ten places off for Australia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Moldova, Poland and Ukraine, and even more than 20 places off for Belgium and, obviously, Portugal.

And to mention the semifinals as well, they were again very different in terms of quality.
From the first one I only actually wanted Azerbaijan, Finland, Greece and Poland to go through. Past that, and other than Finland, my classification also eventually had Albania, Latvia and maybe Slovenia through instead of Armenia, Australia, Belgium and Portugal, but right below the line were Iceland, Georgia and the Czech Republic and I had a very hard time separating that group of four, as in including Slovenia. Not that it matters, since none of them made it, but eventually the order ended up the one I listed them in here, and I can leave the Czech Republic at the bottom and out, but would have rather wanted the others through, or at least Iceland instead of Sweden, which was just boosted by some decent show value. Either way, definitely have no idea why Australia made it, and can say the same about Belgium due to the performance, especially that evening, though the song itself is decent. Know why Portugal made it, and I’m only talking about the song itself now, but it’s definitely not my thing at all.
The problem with the second semifinal was that I wanted no less than 12 acts to go through, and also that four of them ended up outside the top ten in my classification, two others making it in due to the show rating. My classification had Estonia, Ireland, San Marino, Serbia and Switzerland instead of Bulgaria, Denmark, Hungary, Israel and Netherlands, but definitely no problem with Denmark and Netherlands making it in, as those were also among the 12 and actually some of the better songs overall in my view, Denmark in particular, the entries being dragged down by the lack of show value. The other three, however, were out of the only four I specifically didn’t want to see making it, the fourth being Lithuania. And I am particularly bothered by the fact that Estonia was left out.