Cav's Place

Apparently yesterday was World Sleep Day, and I “celebrated” it by getting about an hour and a half of sleep in the morning, and even that split in two, as I woke up somewhere around 6:30 PM to go to the toilet. And then my internal clock was a bit early, because I woke up again at 7:20 AM, ten minutes before my alarm was to go off, and actually tried to get as much rest as possible even so, meaning that I was just about falling asleep again when it did go off. And that was all the sleep I got yesterday, not getting any nap in the evening, though I did go to bed shortly after 4 AM last night instead of the usual 5 AM.

Either way, managed to stick to the schedule and leave shortly before 8:30 AM… Only to find just a couple of minutes later that I had quite a problem, in the form of the front half of the bottom of my left boot, as I had taken my boots out again for the day, coming loose. But it’s reasonably thick and solid, so it wasn’t flapping all over the place or getting rolled up under my foot and the back part seemed to still hold well enough to prevent the whole thing from coming off, and either way I didn’t have time to go back and try to glue it back and going back to discard the boots and get the new shoes wasn’t an option I cared about, so I just kept going, albeit wondering whether I should somehow try to make myself ask if anybody somehow happened to have some glue after getting there, and at one point considering to quickly run into a store I was passing by and grab some myself with the 5 RON I had taken, out of the amount I’ll need when I’ll go pick up the books next week, initially in case the metro card somehow won’t work and I’ll need to get one with two trips to get myself there on time, and then also back of course.
Eventually, before arriving at the Botanical Garden, I had concluded that I should be more or less fine for the day if I won’t be getting in a lot of mud, so gave up on the idea of trying to mention it, and then can pretty much say that I mostly forgot about it as time passed. Did check it a few times and tried not to get that boot in piles of leaves or where the ground was muddier, or walk or otherwise move in ways which would worsen the problem, but that just happened when I remembered, which was mostly in the first minutes after we actually started working and then again at the end, much less so in between.

Got there right on time, being at the correct entrance of the Botanical Garden at 9:15 AM, just a few others having arrived earlier, as they had said to arrive ten to 15 minutes before the 9:30 AM listed time, so there will be time for everyone to register. So, after giving my name, I had nothing to do but stand around until the others also gathered and the person in charge said we should get moving to the place where the equipment was, where we were told what we were going to do that day and given a little but pretty funny speech about safety. Then gardening gloves were handed to everyone, but they were very flimsy and I refused them, as I had brought the much better pair bought last year, for planting trees. And then it was left to each to grab a rake, and for some to also get baskets, the initial idea being that two people were to share a basket and put the leaves in it, before making piles and loading them in the tractor when it’ll get back there on its route.
That wasn’t how it worked though, because there was a lot to gather despite the area we worked on being the Hill of Conifers and people were working fast. So a lot of piles were formed and quickly grew, the one tractor being unable to handle the load, filling rapidly and then making its slow way back down to unload while more and more piles were left to grow on the side of the road. Do have to note that this is what happened in the higher area, where I was, as others were working lower and when, after 12:30 PM, I went to get myself a cup of hot tea from where this was offered to volunteers, I saw they were using large plastic bags that they were filling with leaves and bringing to a certain area.

Of course, me being me, I had nothing to do with anyone else at first, so had no basket around, was making small piles and carrying them to some basket or bag I could find nearby, but the distance grew as I was falling behind the others in the area I was in, so I eventually moved to be closer to the large pile being formed and to be able to work faster, going a second time over areas others had gone over once already, as there was a fair amount left anyway. And then, when the tractor arrived and people started helping load that pile into it, I went to help, and that’s when things changed, a woman I can say managed to form, more or less keep together and to some extent organize a group around herself over the course of the day first asking for my help there and then, once the tractor filled and left, asking me to help her move the next smaller piles formed on the side of the road into one bigger one.
So I went from no basket or bag around and nothing to do with other volunteers, to working with someone else, each of us holding one side of a basket and moving leaves to bigger piles. Others were usually helping us fill the basket, and if they didn’t rush to do so right away she’d ask for help, so we usually added a few more handfuls and mainly kept carrying until a few of the smaller piles in the area were united. Then we also went to the other side of the road, where the slope was steep and a smaller number of people were making much smaller piles, which would have been particularly inefficient to carry to the tractor when it got there again, so we got those and put them in the larger piles as well. That took quite a toll though, since there may have just been a few steps between each pile and the road, but needing to climb that steep slope while carrying a full basket for those few steps again and again sure added up in terms of effort.

Eventually she needed a break from carrying and I went back to raking, but after a bit I decided to try to offer someone else the same thing which had been offered to me. The thing is that I had spotted from the beginning, as we were waiting around the entrance, a girl who gave me the impression of being in a similar situation, in the sense of not dealing well with people, and then I saw her again, just about completely alone in an area, making small piles on the steep slope. So I just went straight to her, somehow managed to ask why doesn’t she make a single pile, and started doing just that pretty much before she could even react, though when she did she suggested uniting them into one that wasn’t the one I had started to move another to, so I then helped her do that.
When the tractor returned, I got back to loading again, and she also came to the side of the road that the rest of us were on, but as the piles were being loaded and the tractor moved on, I saw her again drop behind and end up pretty much alone, rather carefully making a pile of what had been left behind. So, when the tractor was full and ready to leave, I grabbed one of the baskets and walked back to her, to load her pile and take it to the next larger one left, and eventually we raked together for a little while and exchanged a few words, though she wandered away again after a bit, which left me rather alone and starting to form a small pile.
Quickly came up with a plan for that situation though, starting to just rake along the side of the road, in order to drag my pile down with me as I was making my way to join a group formed lower, and the woman who could be said to have brought me into the mix came after a little while to ask whether I wanted her to get the pile I was forming down for me or I was waiting for someone else, and after I said I was bringing it down by raking the way I was she said she could at least take what I already had, so it’ll be less to drag down, which I agreed to. And then I finally made my way down to that group, which could be said to have rather formed around her, and remained in that area until the end, helping load the tractor when it returned and otherwise raking, also helped by the fact that she went after someone who was gathering rakes left behind by others and managed to recover two that were better suited for the task at hand, calling me to give me one of them.

At 2 PM, as initially announced, we were told to stop working, though I’d say there was a fair amount left to do even just in that area and there were enough piles still to load in the tractor to fill it a few more times. There are three more days, of course, just that I only signed up for that one. Either way, a few people actually took a little convincing to stop and we were scattered as we made our way back to the starting area. Though there were others behind me, I actually got there quite late, as the organizers were about to start handing out the diplomas and rewards, after taking some time to try to get the worst of the mud off my boots after seeing the girl I mentioned before try to do the same.
Speaking of her, also tried to exchange a few more words with her then, as we were struggling with our boots, telling her she could still sign up to plant trees in two weeks, as she had seemed somewhat interested when I had mentioned it before, and wondering how to squeeze in an explanation as to why I had approached her in the first place. She seemed at least uninterested in any more conversation though, if not even bothered by me saying anything again, and then rather ran ahead, so I didn’t get to say that and then couldn’t get myself to try again when I bumped into her again after leaving the Botanical Garden, when she rather oddly seemed to be heading back, picking at the plant she had received.

Since I mentioned that, a small plant was part of the reward each of the volunteers received, though we were given little information about it and told there will be an e-mail with more in about a week, until which time it should last well enough either way. The rest of the reward was formed of a permit granting four entries to the Botanical Garden, which may be used by anyone but only applies to the park and not the museum or the greenhouses, a badge and a diploma confirming participation in the 2017 spring cleaning of the Botanical Garden. Unfortunately, my diploma lists my name as Negut Lucian instead of Robert or all of it, but I left it like that, though I saw one other person complain about the listed name and have another diploma quickly filled with the name she had said, as the names were written by hand anyway.
Oh, and I also grabbed myself another little “reward” at the end, in the form of a handful of ramson leaves, after seeing a couple of others do the same. Was funny at first, as we were smelling garlic in an area and couldn’t figure out what it was until somebody pointed out that there were some ramsons there as well, but the main area that was pretty much covered in them was at the bottom, so a couple of girls were actually busy picking themselves a handful when their names were called for the diplomas, and at the end I decided to follow that example. And then I ate them in the salad I made that afternoon, though I first soaked them and then also briefly boiled them, thinking they’re probably not exactly meant for human consumption and who knows what they may have been sprayed with.

Before ending this, I also have to mention another troubling development though, and that’s the fact that my phone seems to have gotten worse while there. Whether simply because of how I moved with it in my pocket or because I struck it through my pants, or maybe even because some dirt made its way to and through it, I don’t know, but I meant to write a message on it as I was leaving, not to send but just to remember something, and found that the keys weren’t responding at all. After hitting it a couple of times, some worked again, but sometimes only a few times, after which I had to hit or shake it again, and the OK key seemed to stop working for good after a little while, nothing I did seeming to have any effect anymore. Fortunately, albeit very oddly, it now seems to work again, and most of the time I seem to even be able to move up again, which was something that had mostly stopped working quite some time ago. It is a serious reason for concern though, even more so considering that I want to be able to send a message if needed when I’ll be at Branesti, on April 1 if the schedule remains the same.

Kept checking the status of the order of books I made at the end of February and yesterday I saw it had changed, saying it was to ready to be shipped. That seemed somewhat odd, since it’s not supposed to be shipped, as I selected to pick it up myself since it’s not eligible for free shipping, but assumed it was the standard status text stating that it had arrived, so expected them to notify me that I can pick it up today, probably by waking me up with a call in the morning. But that didn’t happen, the call only coming after I had given up on the idea, at 5:45 PM, too late for me to get there before they close, so now I’ll have to wait until next week. Apparently that’s because the shipment arrived late to them, which I guess means that status meant the books had arrived in the country and were ready to be shipped somewhere, whether to the client or to the store, as now the status was updated to say they’re at the store.

So back to a regular personal update, which is also a late first post of a week which will likely see two personal ones anyway, since I don’t feel like adding another protest update now, even though I showed up there Saturday, trying to stay around the few who were also there for the forests, and took part in Sunday’s march. Also took pictures, both times. Didn’t grab any of the koliva offered Saturday despite really liking that, because the whole idea behind it being offered then felt wrong to me, but did grab a hot tea each time from those who keep being there and offering it to everyone. Sunday they seemed somewhat in a hurry at the end of the march though, since that’s when I grabbed it, after spotting the spot they had picked in Constitution Square, and when I returned to that area after going around to take a few more pictures I didn’t see them again.

Before that, had a scare Thursday night, or around 2 AM on Friday if you want to be exact, when I was about to start eating in the kitchen and the power went out at a time when my computer’s uptime was at 85 days and about eight hours. So I rushed to my room, turned on the monitor hoping the UPS was still good enough not to have problems because of turning on a new device while on battery power, breathed a quick sigh of relief when I saw it was still fine, then took a screenshot of that uptime, saved it, checked that it had saved properly and was getting ready to turn the system off, disappointed that I couldn’t get to 90 days. However, just before I did that the power turned back on, the outage only lasting about one minute, so I breathed a bigger sigh of relief and, after checking things one more time, got back to the kitchen, from where I called to find out whether other problems had been reported in the area, the machine confirming that there was an outage affecting a nearby area, estimated to be fixed around 4 AM, so the brief outage that affected this area as well was probably the result of the grid needing a moment to stabilize.
As a result, I was able to stick to my plan and keep my computer on until the day after this month’s Patch Tuesday, when there were relevant Windows 7 patches to install for the first time since December. That means that the current uptime record is of 91 days, two hours and at least 41 minutes. The screenshot says 40 minutes, but close to two minutes passed between taking it and the computer actually restarting. Quite sure it wasn’t quite two minutes though, which is why I said at least 41. Either way, this has to be a feat for a computer running Windows, and I really don’t see how I could ever get even anywhere near it again.
As for the patches, I actually installed them separately, split in three, since I had a couple of older ones I hadn’t considered sufficiently relevant left as well, and as of this month those who don’t want the entire patch bundle have two security only patches to install, and I left the main one for yesterday. But everything seems fine, including that pending update for Emsisoft, which seems to have applied properly after the first reboot. And I can also report that it seems the issues with Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic, which had gotten to the point of it not working at all anymore, are indeed caused by not having rebooted in a while, as it now runs properly, the animations being fluid as well. Still rather stick to Eschalon: Book I at the moment, but may alternate, and either way I want to see how long until the problems appear again, because if it’s not long enough, I may end up needing to mostly play it spurts, after each Patch Tuesday.
Unfortunately, one thing that’s not fine is my mouse, which got back to double clicking after having apparently recovered pretty much completely for quite some time. This didn’t happen after the reboots, but after starting to play Eschalon. At first the middle button seemed to start to have some issues, prompting me to use the alternate walk lock, the W key, instead of it, and that seemed to have allowed it to recover, as I didn’t notice other issues when using it normally, mainly to open links in new tabs and to close browser tabs, after that. However, the left button, which I think I hadn’t noticed double clicking again in a few months, started doing it again now and it’s quickly getting to be pretty bad. And now the warranty period is definitely over, so if it doesn’t recover again on its own I’ll have to look into how to try to fix it, since it should be possible and I definitely don’t want a different mouse even if money wouldn’t be a problem. And currently they are, a big one.

As for this week’s run, that was Tuesday, but I gave up on the plan to try running a half marathon distance due to the chilly weather, plus that I assumed it’ll still be wet after all the rain on Monday. For that same reason I also took the new shoes again, so not the running ones, but I shouldn’t have worried, since it was dry after all. I didn’t feel well enough for it though, so all I could manage for ten kilometers was 52:32 despite feeling that I was really pushing and even though, other than the temperature being lower than I’d have liked, the conditions should have allowed me to challenge for the record, not fall over three minutes behind it. Either way, sector times were 4:36, 5:28, 6:27, 4:56, 5:32, 6:30, 4:56, 5:42, 6:26 and 1:59, making for lap times of 16:31, 16:58 and 17:04.
Now the plan is to try that half marathon distance next week, since the tree planting definitely won’t take place on the 25th, the current plan being for April 1st. This other thing I volunteered for is going ahead tomorrow though, after the first weekend was canceled due to the weather, and I did sign up for tomorrow, out of the four remaining possible days, so it’s a good thing I could be relatively rested now and it shouldn’t be a problem if I’ll pretty much exhaust myself next week… As long as I won’t end up with another developing stress fracture or injure myself in some other way, of course, since something like that won’t just go away in a week and a half or so.

Picking up right from where the previous report left off, let me first quickly go through what that one site reports about the numbers in Victory Square each evening except Sunday, since there were still at least some people there. Keeping in mind that they may inflate the numbers, for last week they said about 200 on Wednesday, 150 Thursday, and 250 Friday and Saturday. Also Saturday, a group of people decided to spend the entire night in the Square, reports of this coming from many sources and what I saw in pictures were over 30 people in the group late in the evening, after what was the regular evening protest had ended, and five or so left in the morning. Then, for this week, back to that one source and now even they said only dozens were in the Square Monday evening, 100 to 150 Tuesday, about 100 Wednesday, “up to” 100 Thursday and only a few dozen today, when there was some rain again.

Sunday, March 5, started with a meeting of the “Corruption Kills” community, which tried to go some way towards organizing these protests, the location only being sent to those who filled a form by a certain time. One of the activists I know selected that she was interested in it, but I didn’t recognize anyone, except of course Florin Badita, among the handful of people in the few pictures I saw posted.
The march, on the other hand, had several thousand participants at the peak, estimates ranging between 5000 and 10000. The problem was that the main issue was questionable, namely to show support for the National Anticorruption Directorate (DNA) after the Constitutional Court (CCR) had ruled that the manner in which it had investigated how the emergency ordinance the protests started from was initially approved had created a conflict between state powers and the DNA had overstepped its mandate, which may well be true, in the sense that the investigation went further than it should have. Also, besides firmly and explicitly supporting the DNA’s activity in general, even though it commits abuses as well and the way in which it works with the Romanian Intelligence Service (SRI) is a serious cause for concern, the list of demands included removing the influence of politics from CCR, which sounds good but goes against the Constitution itself.
For those reasons, the known activists who were part of the United We Save movement generally opposed this march and even one who did attend, I’d say in order to show his continued opposition to the Grindeanu government and the plans to get most measures present in both those ordinances, so including the planned pardons, adopted through the Parliament, stated that he only went as far as Unirii Square, then walked away, later posting another brief message to state what’s wrong with the DNA and with protesting against this decision of the CCR. I for one didn’t attend at all.
Still, I have reports to go by, so I guess I could quickly add a few details, starting from the fact that the start of the march was delayed from the planned 7 PM to 7:30 PM because too few people were in the Square at 7 PM. Estimates of those present when they got moving vary significantly, from 1000 to 3000 in just what I saved to use for this post, but the numbers definitely increased greatly on the way, the peak being reached at or after the Parliament, possibly as late as the moment when they reached the DNA, before the numbers started dropping as the crowd made its way back to Victory Square. The route went from Victory Square to University Square, where there was a moment of silence for the heroes of the Revolution, then to Unirii Square, turning there, reaching the Parliament, then the nearby Ministry of Justice, then the DNA on the way back. It was about 11 PM when those left finally returned to Victory Square, where they sang the anthem and then rather quickly scattered.

Moving on to the second matter, the protests started on February 28 against the attempts to at least drastically reduce the fines and increase the allowances included in an emergency ordinance adopted last year by the previous government and which established penalties for illegal logging and related activities not covered by other existing laws, if not to repeal it entirely, continued until March 8, when the next round of discussions took place. But the attitude of those who organized this protest remained the same, being nationalists and fans of conspiracy theories, seeing foreign interests everywhere, accusing the European Union of destroying our forests, bringing religion into the discussion, throwing USR along with the other parties when attacking politicians over this issue, saying they don’t feel like attracting supporters if people don’t come on their own and flinging all sorts of accusations and other crap at the other protesters and activists, taking the fact that more didn’t join them there as certain proof that they had been paid or were otherwise working for hostile groups when attending other events. As such, the number of participants was very low, and I didn’t go again after that first day.
Have posts to go by, however, and I saw that Wednesday, March 1, one person protested alone during the day and then there was some confusion during the evening, a post apologizing for the fact that the person supposed to bring some flag that others were supposed to gather around couldn’t make it. Thursday I saw a report of seven people present, but the attacks aimed at other protesters and groups, which drove me away as well, not only continued but kept getting worse. Then, on Friday, a protocol for a protest in that location every evening between March 4 and 7 and between 9 AM and 1 PM on March 8 was obtained, so there were no more problems with the gendarmes, but just a few people attended that evening as well. Counted 16 in a video from Saturday though, so there may well have been around 20 if some kept away from the camera, but some were staging quite a performance accusing all parties, including USR, of joining hands to destroy Romania’s forests. Sunday I’m not even sure there was a protest there, as I saw a post stating that there had been one but nothing else, and even one of the few known to keep going there was at the march. Monday there was a picture of a single protester, though I assume there must have been at least two, if somebody else took it. And Tuesday there were a few people again.
Then came the important day, March 8, when maybe about a dozen protested outside, at least a few going to observe the session in the Parliament at some point, while representatives of environmental NGOs could actually take part in the negotiations inside, where the protesters didn’t have access. The reports at the end of the day stated that the NGOs felt they had been listened to and were cautiously optimistic, having reached agreements on the vast majority of the issues, the prospect of the emergency ordinance being repealed or most of the penalties included in it being drastically reduced no longer appearing likely. There will be more discussions next week, however.

And since I’m at March 8, let me end this with the fact that, on top of simply posting the usual Women’s Day messages, quite a number of known activists, especially those that are now part of Demos, have made various statements for women’s rights and supported various actions taking place. The notable public event that I saw quite a few reports about was a flash mob that took place in front of the Ministry of Justice, demanding better protection for women, especially against domestic violence, including ways to issue emergency restriction orders. The few dozen participants held flowers with cards with the name, when it was known, and a brief story of a murdered woman, read said cards, placed the flowers in front of the Ministry and, in the end, dropped to the ground.

Seems quite wrong to post a regular personal update on the day marking eleven years since I got thrown back here, but it’s either this or another protest report that I’m in no mood for and would have little to say in, not having attended any since the previous such report despite initially meaning to at least look around the Izvor park one Wednesday morning, since that was the important day. Plus, since there are plans for the weekend and I’m considering going to the one for forests planned for Saturday and then will certainly go to the Sunday one this time around, the listed issues once again being mostly worth supporting, it’ll probably be better to post that report late tomorrow evening, so the period covered will end just before the weekend, when something more relevant should happen, allowing me to start the next one directly with that.

So here I am, I guess, writing a regular personal update on this day and saying that Monday I installed Eschalon: Book I and started playing it. Had found it interesting enough to consider buying at some point, had changed my mind some time ago, but now that it became free I of course grabbed it and then gave it a try. And no, the few more attempts I made to get Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic to work again weren’t successful, so couldn’t continue playing that these days anyway. Hope I’ll figure out some solution eventually, but for now I have something to play that so far keeps me somewhat interested.
Hope I won’t have more problems with this one as well though. I mean, granting it some permissions made it start well enough in windowed mode at first, since I had selected that in order to test it, but then switching to full screen and starting it again once again froze my system, again because Comodo wouldn’t allow it to do what it wanted to but also couldn’t display the prompt, so I again had to wait out all attempts until the game shut down and I could see what it wanted and grant the permissions manually before trying again.
Yet that was expected by now and not having to do with the game, so the worrying issue was earlier today, when I tried to save and nothing seemed to happen. Switched back to desktop, saw the old save still in that slot, switched back to the game, tried again and it claimed to work. However, when I then tried to save in another slot, it gave an error and deleted what used to be in that slot, including the folder itself, without replacing with the new data, and the same happened with any slot I tried other than the one which seemed to have frozen that one time, where I could still save. Copying that information into the other slots allowed me to save there as well, and then after quitting the game and starting it again I seemed to be able to save in any slot again, and loading previous saves seems to work fine, but it’s worrying, seeing as it not only prevents saving but also deletes the data in the slot. Seems to be a known issue, with a few variations and no clear solution even when brought up again more recently.

As for volunteering, the locations where the group I went with last year will plant trees now were finally listed and there is again one close to Bucharest, so I already signed up, hoping things will be smoother this time around. They say it’ll happen either on March 25 or April 1, depending on the weather, and I’d prefer April 1, but I’ll be ready in either case… Though that just means I’ll be ready to get to work, as being around all those other people is not something I can ever feel ready for, and those organizing this make the problem even worse since they’re also those organizing that small protest at Izvor park and, on top of their approach and views making me uncomfortable taking part in something organized by them, now I also just made my opinion regarding those things very clear and that makes the prospect of facing them again much more concerning.
Not that I’m any less concerned about the other thing I mean to volunteer for, which is cleaning the Botanical Garden. The NGO organizing it says it’s the 12th year and I’ve known of it for the past several years, but so far the focus was on making it a team building exercise for companies and the form also required information about the volunteer’s work, so I couldn’t go, yet this year I see no mention of such matters anymore. That still leaves the fact that I have no idea who those organizers are or how it usually goes, plus concerns about the weather and about getting there, since this will take place on six days, starting this weekend and continuing during the next two, and everyone signing up needs to say on which day or days they’ll be available, but dad can’t tell me when he won’t need the metro card ahead of time in order to allow me to give an answer and know that won’t be a problem. Still, I’m just about certain that I’ll be signing up for March 18, since on this first weekend it’s likely to rain, I obviously need to leave the third one free for the trees, and there may be another Sunday protest on March 19 and I’d rather not go there in the evening without sleep.

And just to clarify something mentioned at the start of this post, I did seriously intend to at least go to Izvor park Wednesday morning and see whether more or at least different people will be there for the protest scheduled while negotiations were to take place inside, but there seemed very little hope for a higher turnout and instead of any positive change in attitude, the organizers posted statements that made me feel even worse about being anywhere near them in a situation where each individual will be noticed. If it’d have been a matter of being one among at least hundreds, and preferably thousands, it’d have been different, but being among ten or so people at an event with a main stated purpose that you fully agree with but which has clearly identified organizers who assume stances you find seriously troubling, including in the statements released about the event itself, isn’t even only a matter of significant personal discomfort, but also one of wondering what will your presence be perceived as actually supporting.

As for this week’s run, that was Tuesday, after dad woke me up around 11 AM or so by making noise and after I gave up trying to get back to sleep I saw it was still quite sunny outside and the wind, while noticeable, wasn’t as strong as what the forecast listed for later. Not shaven in about a week and a half, but it was the best opportunity this week, as the weather only got worse after that, so I grabbed a little to eat, went to the toilet and went out, also leaving the t-shirt I was wearing around the house on me. Sure felt the gusts in some areas, so couldn’t stay under 50 minutes again, but wasn’t far either, managing 50:25, with sector times of 4:30, 5:24, 6:09, 4:34, 5:22, 6:17, 4:45, 5:23, 6:12 and 1:49, making for lap times of 16:03, 16:13 and 16:20.

To start with Sunday, I attended the Victory Square protest again, leaving after the first round of the day’s ski jumping and therefore missing the first part of the second, since none of the recordings I caught that night or the next day included it. Not that much of anything happened in the Square early enough to justify leaving when I did, but leaving after the competition would have meant ending up there at around the same time as a week before and that didn’t seem right, considering the difference in conditions. So I pretty much wandered around, took some pictures, eventually managed to ask for one of the badges that were being handed out, and accepted a blue sheet of paper even though I had no intention of participating in the flag moment. Hid that under my jacket and went just past the edge of the crowd when the moment came, then got back inside to look for a few more picture opportunities before it was actually over, gave the sheet of paper back and took a cup of hot tea from those still offering that a bit later, and eventually made my way away around 9:40 PM, 9:45 PM when I actually got in the metro station.

Still on the topic of protests, also attended the one for forests that took place Tuesday for a little while. Managed to get there just a couple of minutes past 5 PM, but only saw one person waiting in that spot and a couple more in the area, seeming to wait for more to gather before revealing their purpose for being there. So I kept walking and circled around after reaching the corner, eventually sitting on a bench after getting back and only joining the small group after a few more had gathered and the others had as well. Again took pictures, albeit just a few, but otherwise pretty much listened to what the gendarmes who showed up after we moved to the sidewalk said and tried to get a few words in, since there was no actual conflict with them at the time but I seemed to be the only one there with some experience regarding such things, and then left at 6 PM, when the time for talks seemed over and other gendarmes came to start carding the participants. Since two others had left just before me, I caught up to them on the way to the metro station, listened to their conversation and also somehow managed to say a few things before leaving.
Those protests became daily from that point, but I didn’t attend another and now, considering the chosen focus, I’m not keen on attending the other one scheduled for Sunday either. Was sort of considering going to this one for forests again then instead, but I just made it clear a bit ago in a comment I posted that I have serious issues with the other participants, so that’s pretty much out of the question. I feel completely uncomfortable around them and being in conflict with the other participants, even without either side actually saying it while there, is not what you want when just a few attend and you can’t get lost in the crowd. I mean, albeit truly dedicated to the cause of forests, I knew the organizers were from a group of nationalists that also promote and genuinely believe in various conspiracy theories, and that they now also associated with those who staged the counter-protest on Sunday, but was thinking I’ll be there for the cause and hope they’ll do the same, yet the messages that keep being posted since are exactly on the line that’s unfortunately expected from them, throwing accusations at those who participate in other protests or just don’t see things just the way they do, promoting those conspiracy theories and so on.

To finally move on to something else, after having issues but still being playable at first, since the stuttering graphics meant that many frames were skipped between those that were displayed and not that the game was slow, Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic stopped working completely Monday. Had last played a little after eating Saturday night, didn’t try again Sunday, and then when I tried to start it Monday, I just got a black screen with the regular mouse cursor visible. The process also uses about half the amount of RAM it did when it worked and usually, though not every time, takes up very little of the CPU, while when it worked it took up a full core. Don’t recall changing any settings, whether the game’s or the system’s, or doing anything else which may have in any way caused this, so I’m at a loss. One solution would be to simply reboot and see what happens, of course, as I was saying there may be a chance that may solve the other issue as well, and as of Tuesday I actually need to do that for another reason as well, but with the uptime I have I just don’t want to until after this month’s patch Tuesday if there’s any way to still avoid it.
Unfortunately, that other reason I mentioned is that Emsisoft decided to update on Tuesday, the delayed branch being moved to another version as well, and that happened while I wasn’t at the computer and, whether the update actually required a reboot or it skipped properly restarting just the software because I wasn’t there to accept the prompt before it timed out, the update wasn’t actually applied and now a restart is required for it. There’s no warning to say I have limited protection or need to restart and it otherwise appears to still be active, but automatic updating doesn’t function anymore, which is the normal behavior when a program update is pending. It still seems to update definitions when I do a manual update though, and support said it should still do that for a while if I really want to delay, so I’m hoping I don’t actually have reduced protection and plan to wait… And say again and again that I hate updates and absolutely can’t stand forced ones. Been pestering the poor guy for program updates to be separated from definitions updates and the user to be allowed to delay those until they’re ready for them all along and he again said he definitely passed on the suggestion, but it’s not like that’ll get anywhere, is it?

As for the last part of this post’s title, that happened Wednesday evening. Went to buy a few things, again looking for the best options and prices despite the small number of products, so I first checked one hypermarket, then went to another and bought what I could from there, got back in time to see about half of the day’s ski jumping event, then left again to get what was left from the first one. Meant to hurry and it seemed to go well enough, but after picking up the items I wanted to look for one more little thing, so after struggling to carry the items in my hands until then I dropped them in a basket and wandered around for quite some time before eventually deciding to give up, no longer caring for the first tiny thing I had in mind and not finding the second.
Well, that’s when a problem appeared. I knew exactly how much the items cost, but the cashier told me a higher amount and I couldn’t get myself to complain on the spot, so I paid and then walked a few steps away to check the receipt, finding a regular small yogurt added before the pack I had actually bought. And those 0.90 RON (€0.20, $0.21) meant I no longer had the amount of money I wanted to have left for something else, so I somehow managed to turn around and ask why did she scan an extra yogurt, also noticing she seemed to be calling someone to correct something for the next customer as well. But instead of trying to fix it there, she told me to go to the customer reception desk with the receipt, so I went there, somehow managed to explain what the issue was, stating rather apologetically that it’s just to keep things fair, and the person immediately realized that one of the yogurts in the pack must have passed in front of the scanner while being positioned in such a way that the code accidentally scanned and gave me the little amount of money back, saying she doesn’t need to check to see that I don’t actually have a small yogurt on top of the pack. She did take the receipt though, not giving a correct one back.
The thing is that speaking the way I did was way too much for me, so I may have somehow managed it, but then I had to pay the price, first by having absolutely no idea where I had put the money I had left, as in not the little amount just given back. So I stopped on the way to the metro station and started checking every pocket, eventually sighing in relief when I found them in my jacket, between the folds of the unused bag I had also put in there. Then I got to the metro, noticing that the stop had caused me to just miss one train, waited for the next, struggled to keep my mind from shutting down long enough to be aware of reaching my stop… And failed, just barely clinging on to some shred of awareness for five stops but then apparently just blocking everything, probably after more people got on and a girl also sat next to me, so I had people on both sides. There was one more stop I was only barely aware of, thinking it must be the one right after the last one I remembered more clearly, but I guess that wasn’t the case, and either way I only actually snapped out of it after passing my stop and hearing the announcement for the next one. So I climbed off there and then waited to take the train back, not trusting myself to walk the additional distance in that state.

Just one more thing to add to this post, and that’s this week’s run, which was Tuesday, just before leaving for that protest. This was also the reason why I wasn’t at the computer when Emsisoft updated, though now I’m frustrated by the fact that I may have just gotten back to my room before that prompt vanished, assuming there was one asking for a program restart, so I could have accepted that and it might have worked if I’d have just turned on the monitor to notice. And I did consider it, wanting to check whether something new had been posted on the event page, but I really had to leave again right away if I wanted to get there on time, so just changed clothes in a hurry, went to the bathroom and left.
Either way, this marked the second time I ran the ten-kilometer route in under 50 minutes, the time being 49:38, so ten seconds slower than the record. Sector times were 4:25, 5:16, 6:05, 4:38, 5:10, 6:10, 4:42, 5:14, 6:05 and 1:53, making for lap times of 15:46, 15:58 and 16:01. That means the fastest third lap so far, but still just failing to keep three in a row under 16 minutes. Conditions were good though, warm enough to run with just t-shirt on, also marking the first time I wore the half marathon t-shirt since the actual race even though I was thinking at the time that it’ll become my running t-shirt in general. Went there wearing the upper part of the training suit as well though, so took it off before I started running and then held it in my hand, which might have slowed me just a little, but the people also enjoying the nice day had a greater impact. Still, I was on the limit, so I don’t know whether I could have beaten the record either way.