Cav's Place

Have to start by saying that the presentation in this book is odd. Switching between events and characters and points of view; changing back and forth while presenting one event between the words or thoughts of a character after the fact and depicting the action as it happens, sometimes following a character, which may or may not be the same one talking or thinking later, sometimes from the point of view of the omniscient author; skipping through action, even back and forth through time, a few times even throwing a quick description of a future different but related event before returning. Some events that appear to have had a certain outcome at one point are later proven to have had a very different one, some scenes are “foggy” and confusing, some clearly intended to be that way, others perhaps not so much. Can be difficult to follow and will likely benefit from being read a second time, to see what else you can figure out, knowing what you know after the first read.
But I don’t reread books, so I’ll make do with it as it is. And I’m inclined to say that, at least so far, following the high of Baptism of Fire, The Tower of the Swallow may be the low point of the proper series, and maybe including Sword of Destiny as well. Mainly following Ciri but not showing enough of her, or not directly, during the action. Definitely too little of Geralt. Yennefer and Triss, even less. And maybe too many traces of a fairy tale, though I guess it’s nothing compared to what’s to come. But still a lot about the world, still a fair amount of commentary and some words of wisdom, though sometimes not necessarily conclusions I particularly agree with. Still a good story containing a few other good stories; still a mix between pretty good action and a fair amount of depth; still characters that feel “real”, call for emotional involvement and generate reactions. So, if this is the low point, may more series be like this.

Rating: 4/5

Saw that I had posted and shared the result I got three years ago at the time and it seemed like a decent amount of time had passed to take this again. Expected an improvement in body score, a drop in spirit and finance, and a more or less similar mind score, though of course that’s how it feels and not necessarily how this little test was going to reflect the situation.

This Is My Life, Rated
Life:	3.2
Mind:	2.9
Body:	6.1
Spirit:	2.9
Friends/Family:	0.9
Love:	0
Finance:	2.4
Take the Rate My Life Quiz

Like I was saying above, how it feels isn’t necessarily reflected in the score here. Body score is the same as three years ago, mind supposedly improved, by 0.9 points, though I can’t quite figure out what answers caused that to happen, just spirit and finance scores dropped as expected. However, it seems that the overall score is either calculated based on other factors as well or the weights are very different, because with an improvement of 0.9 points, coming solely from the mind score, and a drop of exactly one point, adding the 0.4 from spirit and the 0.6 from finance, I nevertheless ended up with an overall life rating that’s 0.2 points higher than it was three years ago. Not much of a change, but still, how did it decide that my mental state improved, and by such a margin too, from 2.0 to 2.9?

Gave up on the idea of adding another update going all the way up to today, so I’ll just quickly write one for March 11 and 12, marking the last two protests I attended. The daily Victory Square protests continued since then and there were a few other events as well, but those I generally refer to when I mention known activists and protesters, those who may be recognized as part of the initial United We Save movement and, more importantly for these posts, those who can then be said to have formed the United We Save Community, rather ignored them, and except to quickly check whether there may be something really worth writing about, so did I. It may be more appropriate to mention the statements released by Demos during this period, but with these posts generally being protest reports, I won’t do so for now.

On March 11 there was of course the usual daily protest, but the reason I went to Victory Square that evening was that a protest for forests had been announced by someone else, with the location being set there as well, the event being created back in February but being discovered and shared rather late by a few known activists. Unfortunately, only perhaps 30 or so others, and that may be an optimistic estimate, were there for that reason, and they rather stayed in one area after a while. I did the same eventually, though I first wandered around to take some pictures. Must note that a few others posted angry messages about having arrived later, around 9:45 PM or even 10 PM, after I had left, and finding very few there, and one person was confused by the few who continued to stage a counter-protest, albeit then with just a couple of banners, and who claimed to be the ones who organized the protest for forests too, due to being the ones who had organized the one at Izvor park.
Should also note that March 11 marked 40 days since the emergency ordinance that sparked these protests was initially adopted, so some of the regular Victory Square protesters brought a tray of koliva and even staged a small memorial service, supposedly to mark 40 days after the death of democracy in Romania. And can’t say that the little act didn’t look good on camera, but in my view it was all wrong and I therefore even refused to take any koliva when it was then offered to those present. I mean, I didn’t want to be symbolically part of something supposedly marking the death of democracy, plus that, considering how things played out, I’d say democracy actually gained something here, which is quite the opposite of dying. Still, saw an estimate of 250 participants that evening, putting everything together, and while that seems to be stretching it from what I saw, it’s not entirely implausible. Also saw a report that some spent the night in the Square again.

March 12 started with another meeting of the Corruption Kills group, who’re the ones who tried to organize these protests to some extent since the beginning, and this time around I actually recognized one person who also attended some United We Save Community forums in the few pictures I saw. Then, in the evening, another Sunday march took place, the main reason for it being that both projects that initially angered people and sparked protests, so the Criminal Code changes but also the pardons that the Government didn’t attempt to grant without the Parliament’s approval in the end, are now being discussed in the Parliament and amendments had been submitted that would have eliminated crimes related to corruption and abuse of office from the exceptions. Past that, there were several other points in the message posted on the event and, of course, different participants had different priorities.
Due to the low numbers, still only in the hundreds at the time, there were actually some problems with starting the march, the gendarmes not being so willing to allow it as soon as the signal was given, around 7:30 PM. That only led to a brief discussion, however, after which the march could go ahead. University Square, where a number of people were waiting to join the crowd, was reached around 8:15 PM, a moment of silence being held and the anthem being sung before moving on again. Unirii Square was reached around 8:40 PM and Constitution Square, where the Parliament is, around 9 PM. Though the idea was to also actually protest there as well, there were too few protesters for that square and the huge building in front of us, plus that it was going to start to drizzle, so people started clearing away not long after that and I for one left at 9:30 PM, after taking some last pictures. I see that estimates tend to mention about 2000 or maybe 2500 participants, with one television station that’s been supporting the protests all along going as high as 3000.

Rather sleepy right now, because I first woke up around 9 AM today, got probably 30 or 40 more minutes of sleep after that, then just sort of very briefly fell asleep again and woke right back up a few times until I finally got up, around 11:30 AM. And with this happening after yesterday’s effort too, I’ll be crawling back in bed after writing this, I think, so I’m trying to make it quick.

That effort I mentioned is the fact that I ran the distance of a half marathon again, through the park, using the same route as almost a year ago, when I first did this. The total time was better, 1:56:41, but not quite good enough, as I was aiming at 1:56 and hoping for 1:55. Means I should have a better chance of finishing the actual race, in May, in under two hours real time, but doesn’t look like there’s a good reason to hope for an official time under two hours at the moment, and that’s the one that matters if I want to advance another sector at the start in 2018.
Unlike last year, I actually remembered all intermediate times now, so here’s the list: 4:49, 5:35, 6:35, 4:56, 5:33, 6:32, 5:01, 5:29, 6:30, 5:00, 5:39 or maybe a bit less, 6:35 or maybe a bit more, 5:04, 5:49, 6:46, 5:26, 6:05, 7:10, 2:14, 7:29 and 2:24. The next to last intermediate time listed is the seventh third sector covered, while the one before it is the part from the start of the lap up to the start of that sector, so including climbing the stairs at the bridge, crossing it and climbing back down on the other side, and the one after it is what is the final sector of what’s lately my regular ten-kilometer run. Those two uncertain times are caused by the fact that the total time got over one hour not long before that point and this stopwatch, unlike the one I used a year ago and which displayed the hours in a different place in this case, moves the display, so minutes appear where seconds do for times under one hour, seconds appear instead of hundredths and hundredths are no longer shown, and since I wasn’t actually stopping it to have the intermediate times displayed separately, only doing that at the end of a lap, I got confused when I looked at it then and then deducted a few seconds from the time I saw when I figured out where I should be looking. It’s possible that the second sector on that lap may have been covered in as little as 5:37, which’d make for a third sector covered in 6:37, but 5:39, and therefore 6:35, seemed like a good enough guess.
Lap times were 16:59, 17:01, 17:00, 17:14, 17:39 and 18:41, with the final 1.9-kilometer section being covered in 12:07. Note how steady my first three lap times were, surprisingly so even if they’re the three laps I usually cover on the ten-kilometer run. Compared to a year ago though, it seemed I got tired sooner, with that sixth lap being just terrible in terms of time and a struggle to cover. Was also slower than back then on the first and last sectors of that seventh section, though the middle one, so the seventh third sector, was covered in about the same time, or I guess maybe a second faster. So I was 2:30 faster than back then, but that time was mainly gained over the first four laps, with just a little more added to the difference on the fifth, as, judging from what I wrote then, on the sixth lap I now lost 13 seconds, 26 in the first sector and three in the second before actually recovering 16 in the third, and then lost ten more in that seventh and final section, four in the first sector and seven in the last, with one recovered in the middle one.

Right after doing that, I just came back to change and went back out, to pick up the books which had arrived too late for me to be able to go Friday. Didn’t go Monday because dad needed the metro card and walking there and back didn’t seem like a good idea when I had such a run in mind for the next day, and waiting until today was too long, so I just went then, even if that meant a walk of about ten minutes to the metro station here and another 20 or so minutes from the one there, and then the same thing back, plus the steep stairs leading to and from the street the shop’s on. Also meant a couple of sprints, to cross streets while the light was still green, after which my legs complained, but it nevertheless went well enough overall.
Still surprised that I’m recognized there, since I pretty much just make one order per year but as soon as I got to the gate, before even ringing, I heard “that’s Robert” and somebody being sent to open, as they were outside. Something didn’t seem to work though, so the gate was opened by hand in the end, and I went inside and tried to get all seven books in my backpack before giving up and leaving two in the bag they also gave me, which this time I didn’t refuse because it’s cloth and not plastic. Otherwise, was awkward of course, but was also funny when I was asked whether I reach them easily, and I replied that I just take the metro and then walk the rest of the way, plus that I just started training for the half marathon with a run covering that distance, after which I just went straight there, to which the reply was that in that case the walk from the metro must not have even been a way to recover, but something I hardly even noticed. More or less, I guess.
Either way, I now have The Tower of the Swallow, which I mean to start no later than tomorrow, if not even today, and the six Mistborn books currently released, so The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension, The Hero of Ages, The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning. And I actually did manage to put them all in my backpack after leaving, and the bag fit in there too, they just needed to be arranged properly. Did worry that I had dropped my receipt or invoice while doing that though, as I found none when I got back and remembered it being mentioned while there, so was concerned it might have been an invoice, containing personal information, which ended up on a street somewhere, but I sent a message to ask and was told I didn’t wait to take it, so that’s fine I guess.

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.