Cav's Place

After checking dozens of bands from the list for new material, I decided to actually try to look for some new ones, and then wondered whether I could add another post to this series dedicated to Ukrainian bands, the first one that I listened to, Lunarway, being a very good sign. They claim to have been around since 2016 but seem to have only actually released their first material in December and, in order to make the usual two picks, I’ll just link to Lost in Memories and Streams of Time, which should prove that they’re right up my alley and surprisingly solid.

On the other hand, Gasoline Guns are not what I’d normally go for, but I found myself liking Legends, which is the song that they released some months ago. The vocals are quite harsh, but they’re not growls, the overall sound is enjoyable, and I’d say that they’re also improving. Admittedly, I made it easy for myself and only listened to a few older songs, from which I’ll select Blaze Up to link to, but I’m thinking that I’d have probably tried to look for something else if I’d have listened to that first. But that’s probably a matter of personal preference and those who actually enjoy the genre will likely have a different opinion.

As for the last band, that’s Majesty of Revival and I’d say that their sound has gotten worse, Infinity, which is the “proper” song in English from the EP they released last year, not leaving much of an impression and having a few brief growls as well, while I found somewhat more to like on a few of their older songs, Wolfheart probably being the best example. So it’s not that they’d have caught my attention otherwise, but it’s enough to allow me to complete this rushed post, which is actually the shortest one from the series, and stick to the theme.

To pick up where I left off, even if some people were already gathering, the pro-EU demonstration that was taking place in Victory Square that evening was supposed to start at 5 PM, while the “main event” was supposed to take place around 8 PM, and since the bus dropped us off right there after the tree planting event at 4:20 PM, I had some time to waste and initially started walking to Unirii, thinking that I could have a look in that Carrefour and get back by the time anything notable would happen. However, moments later I gave up on that idea, realizing that it was going to take too long, so I turned around, used the toilet from a pizza place to pee one more time, and then checked the Carrefour Express and the Mega Image from Victory Square, entering the former with the backpack but putting it in a cabinet, albeit without locking it, in the latter, and retrieving it on my way out.
That way, after taking the first of the pictures taken there that evening, I was walking into the area where people were gathering just after 5 PM. I actually got there pretty much at the same time as one of the “old guard” activists, and over the course of the evening I noticed a number of others, including some which I hadn’t seen in a long time, but otherwise not much happened for the first hour or so, and after walking around for a while I actually picked a spot to sit down and read some more of the book. Three weeks later, I’m actually yet to continue, that evening remaining the last time I read from it so far, but I was still reading when the first brief speech was made, a little after 5:40 PM. And later, since I had seen people holding what looked like newspapers, I found those who were handing them out and took one, seeing that it was in fact little more than the way some investigative reporters had picked to promote themselves and call for donations, so after looking through it I set it down somewhere.
The event really started a little after 6:10 PM, a number of people speaking from the stage that was set up and occasionally calling for some chants, expressing support for European values and the EU, and in some cases also for Ukraine, and opposition to the far right and Russia, and while at first I still tried to move around a little and take pictures of a few more signs, that was becoming difficult, the crowd getting packed, so I eventually picked a spot and stood there, limiting myself to some crowd shots and a few largely failed attempts to take pictures of the speakers.
As for the “main event”, the heart that was going to be created, volunteers handed the blue or white sheets of paper to the participants and it was announced that it was going to happen at 8 PM, but a few minutes before 7:30 PM people started holding up those sheets, many lighting them with their phones, I guess everyone assuming that it was happening then because others were doing it, despite the lack of an announcement. However, some five or so minutes later we were told to put down the papers, though it was also mentioned that an actual rehearsal will take place at 7:45 PM, and it ended up starting a little before that hour and lasting for another five minutes, participants being asked to pack more tightly together but leave a space between the white heart and the blue background, and the fact that we should use our phones to light the papers was mentioned as well. And then it was announced that more people were needed for the heart, so I moved to that area, taking a white paper and holding that up and lighting it with my phone at 8 PM, the moment lasting for five minutes and turning out well enough, I’d say.
When it comes to the number of participants, the organizers limited themselves to saying that there were over 10000, though the authorities estimated around 15000. And yes, authorities estimating more participants than the organizers do is as unusual as it seems, and I personally find even that number to be rather low, since traffic was stopped in most of that area, even if people weren’t really packed together except in front of the stage or while creating the heart, so I was thinking of a few tens of thousands. But it’s been a very long time since I last made such estimates and, as I already said, I didn’t wander around the crowd that much either, so I’ll just leave it at that and say that people started scattering after we were asked to put down the papers and volunteers came to take them back, the speakers taking a moment to announce that massive pro-EU events were taking place in other countries from the region as well, though in those cases they were actual protests, against the position of the respective governments, and asking for a show of support before calling the end of the event, a little after 8:10 PM.

After putting my headphones back on while walking away from Victory Square, I started jogging to Obor, but immediately realized that I couldn’t do so with the backpack as it was, those rope straps being far too loose, so I crossed them and then did jog pretty much all the way there, picking up two recyclables with the deposit symbol after reaching that area, entering that mall just after 8:45 PM and putting those recyclables, plus one more which I had found there, into the machine before going to the toilet again. And then I found one more recyclable with the deposit symbol, so I put it and my other things in a cabinet before entering Carrefour and getting some beer and expiring bread for dad, a little garlic, and some sweet pastries and one other bakery product, these having the 50% evening discount. It was rather unpleasant when an employee who was probably gathering products for an order ushered me away from the scales while I was weighing the garlic, so she could use them, though it’s not like there were no others available just a few meters away, but at least that rushed me, while on the other hand I lost a little time when one of the expiring breads also scanned at the full price at the self-checkout, the discount label not covering the regular bar code properly, and I had to call over an employee to remove that, and then I had to call her again to authorize the sale of beer. Either way, I then also used the voucher received for the recyclables when I paid and retrieved what I had in the cabinet.
Since I wanted to get to Kaufland as well, I was really running out of time, so I then rushed there, though before walking in I still took a moment to put that recyclable in the machine from there, at which point I found another one which had been discarded for some reason and put that in as well. Then I put my things in a cabinet and entered the store at 9:45 PM, getting some beets that had a good evening discount and a bucket of yogurt and using the remaining time to snatch some canned mushrooms and sardines and the one jar of the regular zacusca of their store brand that I managed to still find, all canned goods having a 30% discount those days if you used the store card. Then, after the closing announcement, I rushed to the self-checkouts, also using that voucher received for the recyclables and a few more that I was yet to use, retrieved what I had in the cabinet and walked out, to use one of the tables to spread and then arrange everything, so it was 10:25 PM when I finally walked away. And on the way back I grabbed a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol, but when I wanted to use some leaves to wipe my hand after taking one of them I ended up pricking a finger in a bush, realizing as I reached for it that the leaves were too tiny to be usable and the bush itself could be thorny but being too exhausted to really “process” that and stop myself in time.
It was almost 11:25 PM when I got back, with about 14.5 kg. Then I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, put a few of the purchases in their place, made a tea, ate a bag of chips brought by dad, and it was almost 1:10 AM when I went to wash. I was done at 1:55 AM, and then I put the remaining purchases in their place, which also meant rearranging some things, washed what was in the kitchen, drank the tea, took some medicine that was expired for over a year, just in case and hoping that it at least won’t harm, ate dinner between 4:25 AM and 5:10 AM, and then stayed up to watch the race, getting in bed at 8:10 AM. And the following night I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but at least I still finished at 3:40 AM. And I’ll also mention here that the kitchen light bulb was already flickering again at that point and it continues to do so, sometimes quite badly, and taking it out and screwing it back in tightly didn’t change anything, but at least so far it still works.

The original plan also included writing about March 18 in this post, but let’s just say that the reason why was the fact that I thought that I could make one more detour and still make it back without pissing myself and was proven wrong and leave the embarrassing details and the pointless odds and ends for another time. But I’ll also mention here that, in the early hours of March 20, after eating dinner between 3:40 AM and 4:15 AM, I grabbed Syberia: The World Before, the code being just dropped by someone on the GOG.com forums. And I got in bed at 5:20 AM.

To get to the early hours of March 21, I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:05 AM. And then I set the alarm to ring at 9:30 AM, to watch the Formula 1 sprint qualifying, staying in bed while doing so, which I hoped would help me get back to sleep faster after it was over. And I’d say it worked, so after going to pee and moving the alarm to 2 PM, I got back in bed just before 10:20 AM and did fall asleep pretty quickly. Then, after the alarm rang again and I got up, I had the usual stuff, though the yogurt was a just expired “Greek” one with 5% protein and 10.1% fat and I finally used those last four unsalted baked almonds plus some hazelnuts from a chocolate, so I won’t bother with the bag of baked almonds with Himalayan salt that day. As for the sweet thing, that consisted of an expired energy bar, with added honey. And I left at 4:40 PM, wearing the full running gear and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 16°C, supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I finished, though I couldn’t check at that point.
The time was 49:35.57, with sector times of 4:24.95, 5:19 (5:18.97), 6:07.06, 4:43.00, 5:15 (5:14.78), 6:09 (6:08.69), 4:38.12, 5:09 (5:08.78), 6:00 (5:59.85) and 1:51.37, making for lap times of 15:50.98, 16:07 (16:06.47) and 15:47 (15:46.75). The target was obviously to get under 48 minutes but the first sector was slower than I thought it’d be and that made it quite clear that I won’t manage that, and after sector two I was even worried about staying under 50 minutes, and in fact even covering that first lap in less than 16 minutes didn’t seem certain. At least I managed that much, but on sector one of lap two I lost almost as much as I could afford to lose until the end if I was to at least stay under 50 minutes, so from then on I just had to push and hope it’ll somehow be enough. That hardly seemed likely when I ended up being slower after two laps than I had been the previous week and needed lap three to at the very least match lap two’s time if I was to have any sort of chance to even just squeeze under 50 minutes, but I just went for it, giving everything, even if that wasn’t much, and the times obtained on sectors two and three of lap three were closer to being acceptable, and the final sector was actually a few seconds faster than I thought it’d be. But, of course, that’s a bad time, and particularly concerning at this point.
I had to slow in order to squeeze past people once or twice pretty much on each sector, but on sector one of lap two I almost stopped when I wanted to get back on the lane and let a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction pass more easily but two people were walking on the lane right in that spot, while on sector two of lap two I did briefly stop after a silly dance, doing so again on sector two of lap three, that time because of a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction on the lane. And as I was climbing the stairs at the start of the final sector a kid was hopping down on the same side and I briefly stopped once again when he jumped down right in front of me. Otherwise, there were some gusts of wind during the first part of the run, and this was the first time in a long time when I wore a cap again, which led to feeling like it was going to blow off and adjusting it quite a lot of times, especially during that same first part of the run, only starting to feel like it had more or less settled in place about halfway through or so. As for physical issues, the main one was that I simply couldn’t go any faster, I was trying to push and simply couldn’t seem to switch to a higher speed, since the only specific thing I felt were some warnings from my right knee and even hip at some point, though I couldn’t say exactly when and they were only faint anyway. And I couldn’t say exactly when I stepped into holes that were under the lane either, but I did so twice and, while the second time wasn’t much of an issue, my ankle had to take quite a bit the first time, so I was relieved that it held without problems. And my nose was once again irritated after the run.

Then I jogged to Carrefour and just got a discounted pretzel for my mother, then jogged to Auchan, picking up a recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way and putting it in the machine from there before entering with that pretzel and getting a bread for myself and a liquid soap, using that voucher when I paid. There were quite a few promoters offering things to taste, but I didn’t take anything. Then I jogged back, checking two Penny locations and two Mega Image locations on the way, entering with the purchases each time but not getting anything.
I got back just after 8:35 PM, then quickly went to the bathroom, using the toilet, doing the day’s squats and washing, ending up missing the first five and a half minutes of the match. And then I ate a Mandarin orange and a sweet pastry that I already had, put the few purchases in their place, and then also had lunch, with a bag of peanut snacks which had expired a week before and had been in the kitchen all along instead of bread. Then I went back to the kitchen rather late, took another one of those expired medicines, ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4 AM, watched the sprint race, and went to bed at 5:55 AM, setting the alarm to ring at 9 AM, at which point I got up to watch the qualifying for the main race as well… Though I should have probably recorded it instead, since I stayed in bed and kept dozing off while trying to watch, but after it was over I went to pee, dealt with a couple of things that dad hadn’t taken care of before leaving, and when I got back to my room I noticed that the computer was busy with something but I couldn’t see anything in the logs, which made me rather worried and chased away the sleep, so I set the alarm to ring at 5 PM and got back in bed at 10:25 AM, but it was a while before I got back to sleep and then I kept waking up, so I stayed in bed but the sleep was agitated and interrupted before finally turning off that alarm and getting up a little before 4:30 PM.

In the early hours of March 24, I ate dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:55 AM, putting the last, small, red onion in the salad, since I once again didn’t have green onions. Then I set the alarm to ring at 2 PM and did get up at that point, but it was almost 1:40 PM when I woke up to pee for the third time and if I got back to sleep at all after that, it was only very briefly. Either way, I then had the usual stuff, the yogurt being the rest of that expired “Greek” one but finally switching fully to the baked almonds with Himalayan salt, without any of the others being left. As for the sweet thing, it consisted of a large doughnut, with added honey. It was past 4:50 PM when I left, wearing the full running gear and with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 19-20°C, once again supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish, though I yet again couldn’t actually check at that point.
The time was 1:20:38, with sector times of 4:29, 5:17, 6:08, 4:35, 5:16, 6:12, 4:40, 5:22, 6:10, 4:41, 5:23, 6:19, 4:43, 5:22 and 6:01, making for lap times of 15:54, 16:03, 16:12, 16:23 and 16:06. I wanted to push from the beginning, hoping to get under 1:18, though just squeezing under 1:20 would have also been acceptable, especially if I’d have obtained really good times on the first lap or two and gotten much slower at the end, but I felt right away that I was way too slow and simply couldn’t do anything about it, the first sector’s time already making me wonder whether I’ll even match the previous time, and while after sector two I still thought that I’ll manage a decent sector three and cover the lap in about 15:45, when I failed to do even that, I was really worried. And already going over 16 minutes on lap two, especially after also going over 6:10 on its third sector, made me start thinking quite desperately of what was needed in order to at least not be slower than that previous time, the goal becoming to cover lap three in about 16:10, to be able to get slower on the last two laps. But the first two sectors of lap three definitely didn’t add up to that, so I pushed more on sector three and at least ended up being close enough, which made me hope that I might at least squeeze under 1:21 in the end. So I kept pushing, aiming for 16:20 on lap four and being encouraged by the times on its first two sectors… Only to be very unpleasantly surprised by the third, especially since I hadn’t felt that I had been slower. And when staying under 1:21 meant that I couldn’t afford to lose more than a few more seconds on lap five, I just gave everything, especially after stopping for a few seconds at the start of its second sector, and even more so on the last sector, just pushing to the end and managing the least slow sector of the day… But the time remains a bad one.
For the first two laps or so, I still felt like my cap was coming off, so I kept adjusting it, though after that point I only did so a few more times. Otherwise, besides a more or less normal amount of weaving and going the long way around, whether because of people or because of the damaged lane, on sector one of lap five I briefly stopped when I had to squeeze between a man and a woman who had been walking on either side of the lane and chose to close the distance between them and block the lane just as I was about to reach them, while on sector two of lap five I stopped for a few seconds, until my eyes finally focused and I could see the time. But the real issues were the physical ones, and while the only specific things were warnings from multiple parts of my right leg that started from the end of sector two of lap three, the real problem was that I simply lacked the energy and the capacity to push, an alarming sign of exhaustion appearing even before the end of sector two of lap one, when I started feeling some prickling in my arms and even legs, as if my arms were about to start going numb and my legs were going to start to burn. That didn’t really happen, at least not at the level of what happens when I make a point of mentioning it, but things were definitely not right and it didn’t get better, as the times show.

Since I had seen a can on the grass on sector one of laps two and three and after that I had been too focused on pushing to look there again, after the run I made my way to that spot, stopping a few times for very quick stretching exercises, but it wasn’t there anymore, unsurprisingly, and I didn’t spot any other recyclables with the deposit symbol either, so I just wasted some time before going to Carrefour and getting some expiring beer for dad and a single head of garlic. At least that self-checkout machine that accepts cash worked, and the employee from the computer noticed that I needed her to clear the sale of alcohol and did so from there without me having to call for her, and then I also used two of the vouchers received for previous purchases which I had taken with me, put those few purchases in a bag and continued to Kaufland, though I had a quick look in another store on the way and when I was about to walk out the employee asked whether I had walked in with those purchases and I pulled out one of the bottles, to show her the discount label from Carrefour, at which point that flimsy bag started to tear a little, and one of the handles tore completely moments later, so I had to stop and put it in another bag. Either way, I also picked up two recyclables with the deposit symbol on the way, putting them in the machine from Kaufland before putting those purchases in a cabinet and peeing and washing my hands.
It was 8:10 PM when I entered the store and the single interesting discount I saw among the fruits and vegetables was for radishes, and it wasn’t exactly good enough, but I eventually took seven bundles, thinking that I could put some of them back if the discount won’t increase, plus a handful of leaves which had been torn by someone from another bundle. And a woman commented that I was touching every single bundle and wondered what could I be selecting, so I asked just as rhetorically whether I wasn’t allowed to do that and she didn’t say anything else. On the other hand, I found a piece of kashkaval and one of cheese among the expiring products and took those as well, the problem being that, after digging through those refrigerated products while just wearing the running clothes, I couldn’t shake off the cold, shivering as I wandered around the store to look for warmer spots and couldn’t find any that were good enough. Either way, I also took some salt and, since the discount hadn’t even increased at 9:30 PM, put back four of the seven bundles of radishes. But I still waited for 9:45 PM before getting to the self-checkouts… At which point I found that the price of the radishes had dropped to a third of what it had been! So I shouldn’t have discarded those bundles, and it’s not like I couldn’t have left them there if the discount wouldn’t have increased, but I didn’t go back to get more at that point, just once again manually entering the code for dad’s store app off that slip of paper, also using the voucher received for the recyclables, and then retrieving what I had in the cabinet and arranging the purchases before struggling to jog back, the weight making it quite a challenge. And I spotted and grabbed another recyclable with the deposit symbol on the way.
I got back just before 10:15 PM, so I lost less than half an hour of the match. Then I ate something sweet and lunch, with an expired bag of nicer bagels instead of bread, put the purchases, with the exception of the radishes, in their place, did the day’s squats, watched the recorded broadcast of that first part of the match which I hadn’t seen live, and went to wash at 1:10 AM, being done just after 2 AM and then selecting the radish leaves and using those that could be used in the salad, which took a long time, so I ate dinner between 4:30 AM and 5:10 AM and got in bed at 6:30 AM.

In the early hours of March 31, I finished shaving at 1 AM, but then I talked to dad for a while, dealt with one bread that I was yet to deal with, rearranged some of the bread in the freezer, and ended up eating dinner between 3:35 AM and 4:05 AM, once again not having green onions, but having green garlic and wild garlic, the salad being mostly made of that, just adding two small beets. And then I got in bed at 5:20 AM and got up after the alarm rang, at 2 PM, the concerning thing being that the hot water was cold, and while the site reported that there should be no problems in this area, a large area not far away was listed as not having hot water or heating pretty much all week because of a malfunction, while work done to modernize the infrastructure was the reason given for other areas being in a similar situation. But the plan was to run, so I hoped it’ll be better at night, had the usual stuff, with the sweet thing consisting of another one of those expired energy bars, with added honey, and left at 4:40 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 17-18°C, holding steady.
The time was 48:35.16, with sector times of 4:17.63, 5:11 (5:10.66), 5:56.00, 4:29 (4:28.91), 5:10 (5:09.81), 5:59.31, 4:34.34, 5:09 (5:08.72), 6:00.41 and 1:50 (1:49.37), making for lap times of 15:24.29, 15:38.03 and 15:43.47. The target was to get back under 48 minutes, but I tried to push hard from the beginning, aiming for about 4:10 on the first sector and meaning to leave dealing with the resulting exhaustion for later, but when I saw the first sector’s time it was clear that things were bad and I was going to struggle to even stay under 49 minutes, and that became even clearer when I didn’t even manage to stay under 15:20 on the first lap. So I did my best to keep pushing, sector one of lap two being somewhat reassuring, and at the end of the lap I wasn’t just quite certain that I was going to stay under 49 minutes, but even entertained a passing thought of squeezing under 48:30. But that was highly unlikely and sector one of lap three made it even more so, and after sector two of lap three I just aimed to stay under 48:45, that target becoming 48:40 by the end of the lap, which I did stay safely under in the end. But that is, of course, a poor time. A full minute less slow than two weeks earlier, the most recent better time actually being a month and a half earlier, but this was pretty much the last time when I should have gone for speed before the half marathon, so a proper target time would have been around 47 minutes, and preferably even below that.
As if being several seconds slower than I should have been on the first sector despite giving pretty much everything wasn’t a strong enough message, my body made it even clearer that I shouldn’t ask more of it when I tried to sprint on the long straight of sector one of lap two, since after only some 50 meters I felt fatigue just flooding my muscles and had to give up, and when I tried the same thing the following lap I couldn’t even start sprinting, only speeding up a little and having to give up even on that after a similar distance, and the same thing happened on each straight after that. Otherwise, I had to go all the way on the outside of a turn, taking a couple of steps on the grass, on sector one of lap three, while on sector two of lap three I went wide, hesitated and then had to quickly cut in the opposite direction after trying to make room for a cyclist who tried to do the same for me, so we kept moving in the same direction until we ran out of road and then suddenly turned in the other direction, while at the end of lap three I hesitated because of a silly dance. But, of course, those are minor issues, and while there were no specific physical ones to speak of, the main problem was that I just couldn’t go any faster.

After having a quick look in the nearby Mega Image on the way back, I ate lunch, changed, and left again a little after 8:15 PM, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up some more on the way, putting them in the machine from Carrefour, finding an empty can with the deposit symbol placed among the expiring products after entering the store and picking it up, and then just cashing in that voucher, since I didn’t find anything to get, though I didn’t exactly have a good look at the discounted bakery products, since an employee was just taking that entire shelf back to the bakery area and, while she stopped when I looked at it, I couldn’t get myself to hold her up like that and walked away.
Speaking of walking away, as I was walking away from the store, I saw a woman with a small dog in her arms, smiled at the dog… And she asked, in English, whether I was from here, and after I confirmed that, as well as the fact that I spoke Romanian, we switched to Romanian and she asked whether I had two minutes to hold her dog while she went to buy some underwear. And, while rather shocked, I agreed and she passed me the dog, telling me to stay around there and touching a jacket and a bag that were nearby, though they were placed next to some attraction for kids where someone was with their kid, so whether that meant that the items were hers or belonged to that person and she just accidentally touched them while gesturing, I don’t know. Either way, the poor dog seemed just frightened, shaking badly, stretching its neck whenever she was in sight and curling up when she was hidden by the racks of clothes or that store’s entrance, but it didn’t try to get away or make as much as a sound and I passed it back to her after a few minutes, when she came back out of the store, saying that she couldn’t find anything and wouldn’t have dared to ask me to hold it otherwise, but she can’t exactly enter stores with it. But I thought that the mall was pet-friendly and said so, and she said that it is, but many stores aren’t, and then asked whether I knew what other stores are there, because she hadn’t been in it in a while. So I said that I generally only go to Carrefour and maybe check a bookstore, forgetting to even mention the sports stores, and after telling her where that bookstore was, since she asked, I wished her a good day and walked away, though she quite obviously felt like talking and I did wonder whether I was getting either picked up or set up for a scam, especially considering that she said that she was looking for underwear.
Either way, I then continued to Kaufland, but the recycling machine wasn’t working, so I entered with that can and just got some sour cream, at full price, and then managed to reach that Mega Image in time to be able to put that can in the machine from there before it was stopped for the night. And then I grabbed a bag of oranges that I found among the spoiling products, an expiring high-protein pudding that was discounted by 90% and which I picked up even if it was imported, and a bun that had the 50% evening discount, also using that voucher when I paid and not being charged for the bag that those oranges were in. And on the way back I picked up a few more recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I got back a little before 10:55 PM, then ate a banana and the apple pastry that I already had, put the purchases in their place, washed some of what was in the kitchen, and went to the bathroom just before 1 AM, using the toilet and showering with the cold water that we had. The site had finally updated to state that there were problems in this area because of the work done to modernize the infrastructure in other parts of the city and I had considered heating some water, but that wasn’t going to be comfortable either, so I just dealt with it, first washing my head, ears and the back of my neck while leaning over the side of the bathtub, then washing my cock in the sink, and then getting in… And initially failing to persuade myself to just go for it, so I put some water from my hands first on my arms and underarms and then also on my torso and back, then used soap on those areas, and then finally managed to get myself to use the shower directly, albeit quickly and probably not well, since my armpits were still smelling a little and some spots were getting itchy later. But at least continuing with the lower part of my body was easier, and I was done a little after 1:45 AM, after which I did the day’s squats, heated and drank the rest of the tea, and also took some of that medicine expired for over a year, just in case. Then I had some more things to wash in the kitchen, peeled and boiled carrots for the salad, also used some olives and moved the rest into a jar, mixed some cheese with the sour cream and needed three jars for the resulting mix, and finally ate dinner between 4:55 AM and 5:25 AM, forgetting to put seasonings in the salad and not going back to do so. I got in bed at 6:50 AM. And there were no visits recorded that day.

After napping for a couple of hours in the evening, the following night I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but actually finished at 3:30 AM. But things were particularly unpleasant in the morning, when terrible construction noise coming from the apartment that’s right next to ours, in the other part of the building, so where we used to live way back, woke me up just after 9 AM, at which point that spot in my back also felt really bad and my legs and even arms were going numb, so I must have moved in some bad way. At least that gradually faded, but getting back in bed after going to pee didn’t do much good, so even though it was past 11:30 AM when I got up, any naps I managed to take during that time were very brief and agitated. Still, since sleeping was out of the question, I then finally got around to installing the Windows updates for March, also doing the day’s squats before that… But then I found another problem that was likely caused by those same neighbors, in the form of ants at the door to dad’s bedroom, apparently coming out of that wall, so I’m guessing that they were driven away from that apartment and came out there after going through the wall. Either way, since the noise had stopped by then, at 1:50 PM I got back in bed and slept for another hour and a half or so, and then I spent some time killing quite a lot more ants before eventually getting back in bed once more, though sleep didn’t come as easily that time around, so I’m not sure how much I actually got before getting back up after another hour and a half or so. But at least I didn’t see more ants at that point. And the “hot” water was lukewarm, so I eventually had lunch and just before 8:20 PM I went out, with the recyclables with the deposit symbol.
I first rushed to Tei, putting the recyclables in a cabinet but not bothering to enter a code, since it was ten minutes before closing time. But I grabbed the few things I wanted to get for dad and was at the checkout in four, then took a moment to put those purchases in a bag, to at least protect them to some extent from the rain, retrieved those recyclables, and continued to Kaufland, picking up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from the parking lot even though it had quite obviously been driven over, quickly entering another store to ask about some bio (organic) cloves which I had seen on their site but being told that they didn’t have them in that location, and then managing to straighten that recyclable well enough for the machine to accept it after a couple of attempts, along with all of the others.
After washing my hands, leaving those purchases on the sink in the men’s to dash to the room for disabled people for soap, I entered the store, with those purchases, just before 9 PM, and got three lettuces and some potatoes, these having evening discounts, and most of the handful of onions that was left, at full price… And at one point, as I was digging through the potatoes, I realized that I no longer had the bag with the purchases from Tei! But when I rushed back to look for it, thinking that I had probably left it next to some scales, I saw it placed on a shelf, below the one where I had seen the employee who was working in that area place a couple of other products which had been left by people next to scales, so she must have recovered that bag as well. Either way, as I was having a quick look through the rest of the store, I spotted an empty plastic bottle with the deposit symbol, so I picked that up as well, then also used the voucher received for the recyclables at the self-checkout before arranging the purchases and walking out just after the closing announcement.
On the way back, I checked two Mega Image locations, putting my things in a cabinet both times and just getting a bundle of green onions from the second one. And that was a good thing, since I had considered getting them from the nearby location, where they had seemed better when I had checked two days earlier, but when I got there, meaning to still have a look anyway, I found that the store was closed until the end of the week. But at least I picked up another recyclable with the deposit symbol from there.
I got back at 10:55 PM, completely soaked. Then I set the clothes and bags to dry as well as I could, washed what was in the kitchen, ate an orange and a slice of cozonac with some added jam, put the purchases in their place, and at 12:45 AM I went to the bathroom, using the toilet and then once again showering with cold water, even that temperature which I had felt before leaving being gone by then. It probably did have a few degrees more than two days earlier, the fact that the mirror fogged over likely proving that, but I didn’t feel much difference when it touched my body, so I once again washed my head while leaning over the side of the bathtub, also continuing with my ears, face and neck, and then got in and went for it somewhat faster than the previous time, so it was just before 1:25 AM when I was done. And then I heated and drank the remaining tea, also taking a pill that actually wasn’t expired, just in case, used the worse lettuce leaves for the salad, and finally ate dinner between 4:15 AM and 4:45 AM. I got in bed at 6:15 AM, after checking the system logs and noticing that, one hour after rebooting to install the updates, there were two instances of an error with id 2545 which had previously appeared, also twice, on November 29, so when I switched to this computer, and December 18, so when I installed the second NVMe and also plugged in the new UPS, and I see that I also installed updates on December 18, but on November 29 there was no “main” update, though there were many updates to various components. Either way, another thing I noticed was that those errors with id 1796 that were caused by Secure Boot being disabled no longer appeared, and I did confirm that Secure Boot remains off, and it would make sense to suppress such errors, and in fact any related checks, in that case, but I wonder whether they actually fixed things in that manner or something else is going on.

Admittedly, before going to bed I only noticed that those errors had appeared and the other ones were no longer appearing, only looking more into it after those neighbors woke me up again, albeit a little later, around 9:50 AM, and “only” with drilling, not with more of that truly terrible noise, and I didn’t see any more ants either. So, about an hour or so later, I got back in bed, though for one more hour or so I pretty much only wasted time, since if I managed to fall asleep at all, it was for mere moments. But around noon or so, as the drilling faded and eventually even stopped, I did manage to get back to sleep, even if various lesser noises continued and I was occasionally waking up again. And, after needing to unclog the toilet again in the evening and taking the opportunity to also clean it, as well as the bathroom sink, to some extent, I napped some more late in the evening, then ended up eating dinner between 3:20 AM and 3:50 AM. What was really concerning, however, was that my legs were once again going numb after that late nap, and my left one in particular, which is even more worrying, since it’s the right one that’s usually affected, and has been for decades.

At least things were more or less normal once again when I got up yesterday, as in there was only that slight numbness in my right leg that I’m so used to. And, even though the site had updated yet again and stated that there won’t be hot water even that day, it actually returned in the afternoon, and that finally made me clean my room a little again, for the first time since October, not counting when I just vacuumed only some parts after realizing that there were fleas everywhere, before what Liza was given finally had an effect, and even that was back in December anyway. Either way, I also changed the sheets and turned the mattress around, though I still didn’t also turn it over, since it was still on the “summer” side. And then, after washing, I made mamaliga.

Last month, I was saying that, with CSM Bucharest not even taking it a little easy when losing to Gloria Bistrita would have also sent Gloria through without affecting them in any way, Rapid also scraping through, albeit only thanks to Vipers going bankrupt, and SCM Ramnicu Valcea and Dunarea Braila winning their respective groups in the European League, Romania should probably continue to have three teams in the EHF Women’s Champions’ League, but after this weekend I can’t support that statement anymore. I mean, CSM played against Rapid and crushed them both times, but they’re now the only team left in any European competition, since both Dunarea Braila and SCM Ramnicu Valcea were knocked out… And, while I like to think that they wouldn’t have had problems if they’d have ended up playing against Buducnost instead, it’s not exactly certain that we’d have had even this one team left if it wouldn’t have been for this situation of two of them playing each other.
Still, I would get back to Dunarea Braila and SCM Ramnicu Valcea now, because they failed to make it through in such a frustratingly dramatic fashion. You may say that it was worse for Dunarea who, after losing by two goals in the first leg, recovered in the second leg from as much as six goals down to lead by two goals, then had Ikast draw level again, the score yet again being equal with less than a minute and a half left only for Dunarea to score twice in less than a minute and once again draw level overall, but then Ikast scoring once more with a few seconds left to end up winning by one goal overall. But there’s a lot to be said about SCM as well, who seemed to have no chance after losing the first leg by six goals and at one point being led by three goals in the second leg as well only to end up leading by seven goals and therefore being one goal ahead overall before Thuringer seemed to pull themselves back together to some extent, yet SCM still led by five goals and was therefore only one behind overall with five minutes left, but then Thuringer scored once more before almost three minutes without goals by either team, and when SCM had to risk it all at the end Thuringer scored two more unanswered goals, so the fact that they ended up winning by four goals overall doesn’t tell the whole story in the least.
But I guess that, in the end, it’s the result that matters, and we can’t justify still being one of what at the moment are only two countries with three teams in the top competition when by this date a single one is left to compete at the European level at all. And Germany still has a strong case for getting at least a second team there, since on top of the single one they have this season still being in the competition, two of the three they had in the European League have made it through, HSG Blomberg-Lippe having joined Thuringer in doing so. Admittedly, Norway may well be reduced to a single team and that spot may come from there, and Denmark can’t have four even if their results might, in themselves, justify adding yet another to the three they had this season, but there may be other countries that would still be more deserving of an additional one.

Since it was in 2021, so not that long ago, when I last took the Political Compass test, and I didn’t see any reason to take it again before or during all the elections we had here last year, there’d have been little point to do so now, even if the repeated presidential election is coming. However, after having stayed well clear of anything of the sort so far, I have recently tried to use ChatGPT and one of the things I asked it was where would it place itself on that chart, and if at first it said that it has no position because it doesn’t have personal opinions, when some time later I asked whether it could take the test, picking the answers according to how correct it deems the statements to be, it said that it could, but that I had to provide the questions. So I did, at which point I also took the test again, before selecting the answers it provided and finding its score as well.
So, to start with my score, it’s -8.38 on the economic axis and -5.28 on the social one. That means that I haven’t moved in the least since 2021 on the economic axis and my previous assessment that I reached the limits of what the test can support when it comes to my position on that axis seems even more accurate, while on the social axis I moved back to what’d likely be a more accurate position, that -6.56 from 2021 seeming to have been too far all along. Then again, I was a little farther, at -5.54, in 2014 as well, and since I was saying back then that on most of the previous times I had taken the test, my position on that axis had only varied by a few tenths, this may well be one of my lowest scores… Or highest if you take the actual value into account. But I was also saying in 2021 that my increasingly negative views regarding Progressives, who are growing ever more similar to the Conservatives from that point of view, the difference being that what they mean to enforce goes in the opposite direction, can cause strange shifts in my score on that axis.
But I’m sure that anyone who may happen to read this is far more interested in ChatGPT’s score, which was -7.13 on the economic axis and -5.90 on the social one. And yes, the similarity does make me wonder whether its positions were in some way influenced by the fact that it was talking to me, so it might have been trying to match mine more closely, but I don’t have an account and when I asked it to take the test, I did it in a new browsing session, so I tried to minimize any risk of such influences. Of course, you may do the same and see whether things change, but at this point I’m wondering how many, including among those who created, maintain and train it, would be bothered by such a Leftist AI.

In the early hours of March 15, I got ready for the morning and managed to eat dinner a little earlier, between 2:40 AM and 3:15 AM, and then I also shaved before getting in bed, at 4:15 AM, and actually managing to fall asleep pretty quickly, so I slept for about an hour and a half until the alarm rang, at 6 AM, and I got up. Then I ate some yogurt with quite a lot of oats, added a couple more things in the backpack, and left at 7:15 AM. I didn’t jog at all on the way to the metro station and when I got there I realized that I should have, since a metro had just left and then I waited some eight minutes for the next one. But it wasn’t a problem, so after reaching Victory Square I even went around and used that better public toilet from that area to pee again before reaching the parking lot a little after 7:50 AM. We had been told to arrive at 7:45 AM, but the buses were supposed to leave at 8 AM and I climbed in one where a coordinator was just saying something, so he also confirmed that it was one of the buses that went to the tree planting and I took a seat, the bus leaving a little after 8:05 AM, with less than two thirds of the seats occupied and nobody sitting next to me. So I put on the headphones, pulled out The Dark Defiles and read pretty much all the way, just writing my name and signing the list when it reached me. I should have probably at least started the book before then, starting it on a bus, on very little sleep, close to two and a half years after reading the previous one in the series not being the best idea, but I couldn’t do much about it at that point…
Either way, this time around we were planting in the Bucov Botanical Garden and we got there a little after 9:30 AM, and after walking to the actual planting location it was nice to see that those who had signed those lists on the bus didn’t have to sign something else after getting there as well, and when it came to the kit, since each item was offered separately, I just took the gloves, since I have plenty of reusable bottles and those things that go on the neck and vests didn’t seem to be available anymore. There was a stack of vests there, but I heard one of the volunteers say that those were for those who were there with their companies and when I asked about the blue ones I was told that they were out of them since there had been many children, including Scouts, and they were given to them first. Moments later, that volunteer got back to me and said that I could take one of the other vests after all, but I waved the idea away, saying that it wasn’t raining or muddy. And then I took two bananas, two of the small packs of biscuits and two apples and put a teabag and water that was from one of the heaters but wasn’t even warm into the reusable bottle which I had taken with me. There were boxes of some other things to munch on under the tables, but I knew that I didn’t like the ingredients of those, so I didn’t try to take any, eating the bananas, albeit after replacing one with a somewhat less green one that I spotted when I had another look in the box, and the biscuits and holding on to the apples and the tea. Later, on my way to the area that the regular volunteers had been assigned to, I saw a few boxes of those nicer biscuits on the back of one of the vans, but they seemed empty and I couldn’t spot any more right away, so I didn’t take a closer look.
But I’m skipping ahead, so I’ll go back a little and mention that the speech started at 10:05 AM and, after the group picture, it was a few minutes after 10:30 AM when we could get to work. We were told to work in pairs, but I obviously had no intention of doing that, so I took a spade and hoped that nobody would approach me and ask to form a team while I listened to the instructions given by the coordinators from that area and then got ready to start and, fortunately, nobody did.
It was almost 10:50 AM when I actually started working, and the ground was soft, so it was easy to dig, and the fact that the spots weren’t marked and we were asked to plant the saplings a spade’s length apart wasn’t a surprise anymore… But I probably planted the first six saplings on the wrong row, since the area assigned to regular volunteers was split in six, signs stating which kind of three should go there were only at the end of some of the rows, and after taking those saplings I walked for a while, looking for a row that nobody else was working on, and I guess that I must have moved to another row while doing so, probably in order to go around someone else, and then didn’t get back to the correct row. Seeing as, in most cases, the only indication regarding what should be planted on a row was what was in the bucket placed at the end of it and those buckets weren’t even at the end of each section and could obviously be moved by anyone, it’s also possible that I had actually planted those correctly and someone had switched buckets by the time I went to get more, meaning that I possibly planted others wrong instead, but since others had started from the other end of that row and planted saplings that were obviously different, and they planted more of them, mine do seem to have been the wrong ones.
Either way, after planting those six I dug a seventh hole and then left my spade there and went to get more saplings… Only to find my spade gone and a sapling planted in that hole by the time I got back, so I went back to look for another free spade and when I got back and happened to mention that somebody seemed to have snatched my spade, a woman who was working in that area said that she had, since it seemed discarded. She left it there after that, but I already had another, so I no longer needed that one. And later, as I was looking for more spots to plant in, at one point even asking the coordinator to point me to one but basically being told to just look around on my own, I found several holes which had been dug without anything being planted there yet and planted in one before continuing to dig on my own, so I clearly planted 25 trees by the time I stopped, at 1:05 PM, counting the hole that I didn’t get to plant in and the sapling planted in somebody else’s hole as one when put together. And I did my best to avoid making more mistakes, but I know that some buckets had been moved, and at one point I asked a coordinator what should be on a row that had no bucket and took his answer to be correct even if the bucket with those saplings was on the next one, so I can’t be sure.
It had been announced that lunch was going to start being served at 1:30 PM, but I hadn’t taken any break until then, really needed to pee, and the toilets were quite some distance away, so I walked there, wanting to also drink the tea on the way, since I hadn’t touched it until then either. However, the teabag had torn inside the bottle, so I tried to filter what I could through my teeth, spitting a few times and eventually spilling what was left on the bottom. And a tiny piece of the bottle’s clasp had somehow broken while I worked and, if I had managed to make it stay in its place until then even so, it apparently fell at some point while I walked and I only realized it after finally reaching the toilets and hanging the bottle and the gloves in a tree that was there, and I couldn’t spot it when I made my way back, so I couldn’t hang the bottle on my belt again. But the first problem was that tea dust that was left in it, so when I passed by a table with some water jugs, I used some water from one to rinse it. And then, when I reached the water tank with a spigot, I also washed the bottle on the outside a little before washing my hands. And it was nice of them to offer that option to wash, though I’d have still wanted a way to do so right after using the toilet as well.
Either way, even if I made those two stops on the way back and also walked slowly while trying to drink that tea and making an attempt to look for that fallen clasp, the fact that it was almost 1:30 PM when I reached the “base” area should prove just how far the toilets were. And lunch wasn’t just already being served, but pretty much every seat was already taken at the tables, so I got another tea, that time asking the volunteer to put the water, which was actually really hot, in the bottle, since the heater’s spigot was on her side, and finding later that she hadn’t filled it, then I also grabbed an alcohol-free radler and put it in the backpack, meaning to give it to my mother, and took lunch, along with two buns. It was unpleasant that lunch came in boxes, in plastic things, one for the main course and another for the salad, and the buns were also packaged, and they were also of low quality and with ingredients that would have normally made me to stay well away, since they included sugar and “vegetable fats”, without specifying that they weren’t hydrogenated, which generally makes me assume that they are. But, while I eventually managed to find a place to sit at a table where two women and the daughter of one of them had struck a chat and when the girl said that she didn’t want the rest of her food the other woman asked to take it, to give it to her dogs, which also reminded me of the fact that a dog shelter was just next to the botanical garden and at least the leftover meat could be given there, even more unpleasant was how much food so many others once again threw away, as you can also see in the pictures I took that day. And people also put any kind of trash in any bin, but in that case I also blame the organizers, because that day even I had a hard time figuring out which bins were for recyclables and which for other things.
A strange thing was that Andrei, as in the president of the NGO who organized the event, had clearly announced that they had too much food and asked people to not be shy and ask for more if they want it, so they won’t be left with it, yet after I finished that serving, only holding on to the second bun, and actually went back to take another, the volunteer who was there told the woman who did the same just ahead of me that she couldn’t give her more… So that woman just grabbed another serving of the main course by herself and walked away. But I asked the volunteer again, and when she said that she had been told that she shouldn’t offer a second serving I stepped away for a while, asking again after another person just took another serving and walked away and yet again being told that she had been told to not give more, though at that point she said that she’ll ask again. So I ate that second bun and threw away the utensils, which I had held on to until then… Only for Andrei to once again take the microphone and ask people, quite insistently, to take more food because they had entire crates left and they didn’t want to go back with it, and then even taking some servings and walking around and handing them to people directly, so I went back yet again and pretty much just pointedly stared at that volunteer, who meekly gave me another complete serving, as in main course, salad and bun, only hesitating when it came to the utensils, but giving me another set of those as well when I said that I had just thrown the first ones away. I couldn’t use the opportunity to also try the vegan meal, since they only had the regular main course left, but I quickly ate that second serving as well before dropping off the gloves and walking away at 2:20 PM.
Since there didn’t seem to be many volunteers still behind me at that point, I didn’t want to have to make that long detour to the toilets which I had used the first time, so it was a good thing that I spotted others, which were just on the way back to the buses, and could use one of those to pee again… The problem being that, while there was a small tank of water in that area, it was empty, and the drinking fountain that I noticed a little later and which I made a detour to didn’t work either, so I had no way to wash my hands. But at least that detour made me get and stay off the path for a while, so I had a little look around as I made my way back to the buses, spotting a sequoia that might be giant someday, but that moment is a long way off.
Either way, I was back on the same bus which I had arrived there on a few minutes after 2:30 PM, we left a little after 2:50 PM, with even fewer people than there had been on the way there, a few having chosen to return with some friends, by car, and arrived back at Victory Square at 4:20 PM. But the ride was quite infuriating, starting as soon as I took a seat, which was initially a different one that ended up being behind a little girl who turned towards me and started asking who I was, albeit without addressing me, so probably talking to her mother. And when I ignored her she kept repeating the question, screaming ever louder and more hysterically, and her mother saying that not all people want to talk to little children didn’t make any difference, so I just closed the book, which I had taken out again by then, and moved two seats back, probably to where I had sat on the way there and which allowed me to read on the way back as well. But that prompted screams asking why did I leave, again probably addressed to her mother, and that girl continued to be an awful nuisance, almost constantly screaming and climbing over the seat or her parents, though at least her father, who was sitting across the aisle, didn’t have much patience for her, passing her back to her mother when she’d climb over him and keep screaming and making impossible demands, such as, for example, to make it possible to be back home that very instant. But her mother wasn’t just all too accepting of that, but even looked smugly back at me when I threw her a murderous look as I got off the bus. But I was impressed by the self control displayed by the little boy who sat in front of me, who became that girl’s next target but just calmly said that he didn’t want to play with her when she started screaming at him and then completely ignored her hysterics all the way back, though quite a few were aimed directly at him.

The plan would have been for this post to at the very least include all of that day, especially since I took part in an event at Victory Square that evening, and at first I actually meant to include two more days in it, but when I couldn’t even finish the part about the planting by midnight, the last four paragraphs above only being added Saturday afternoon, when I edited the post in order to do so, I decided to leave it at that and include the rest in another post. And I even forgot to move that post that’s set to show up at 11:59 PM on Sunday if I don’t do so, meaning that it once again showed up for a couple of minutes…