Cav's Place

In the early hours of May 24, I washed the other things that were in the sink, including another pot, and also tried to wash the cast iron one, but only did so partially, seeing that the burned area couldn’t be cleaned as easily as that pot had been to clean until then. Then I sliced another bread for dad and also dealt with one of mine, made a salad mostly out of lettuce leaves, and then I took the ends of another bread which I had bought for dad, since those pieces weren’t sliced and that bread seemed quite interesting. After weighing those ends and seeing that it’d have been too much for one night, I sliced off two slices from one of the ends, adding them to the rest of that bread, which I left for dad, and then took a while to slice the rest for myself, since that bread was so soft. As a result, I ended up eating dinner between 3:20 AM and 4 AM. And then I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, had the usual stuff, and for the sweet thing I went back to two of those nicer biscuits, expired long ago, with added honey. I left at 4:15 PM, wearing the full running gear, with some things in the pocket of my tights. The reported temperature was 26-27°C, holding steady.
The time was 47:12.54, with sector times of 4:22.01, 4:59.47, 5:46.50, 4:25 (4:24.03), 4:54.12, 5:50 (5:49.94), 4:22.91, 4:56 (4:55.37), 5:50 (5:49.66) and 1:48.53, making for lap times of 15:07.98, 15:09 (15:08.09) and 15:08 (15:07.94). I hoped to get back under 48 minutes, but I felt tired at first and that first sector didn’t look good. However, after it I pushed and was surprised by pretty much everything that followed, each sector being faster than I thought it’d be. I was still only aiming to stay under 48 minutes after the first lap, but after the second it seemed like getting under 47:30 was likely, and I even had a passing thought of getting under 47 minutes, though that really didn’t seem likely. Either way, I pushed even more from the start of lap three and after sector two I wondered about getting under 47:15, and while at the time that seemed impossible, at the end of the lap there seemed to be a chance, and I made it despite thinking that I was too tired to obtain the required time on the final sector. And that was the first good time in two months.
There were some windy areas, but it wasn’t that bad. And that tiredness that I felt at first quickly went away and I felt just fine until the long straight of sector two of lap three, when my body seemed to want me to stop, but I pushed through it. Otherwise, the pressing need that seemed to appear towards the end of sector two of lap two turned out to be just gas, but then the need did appear on the long straight of sector one of lap three and seemed like it could be a problem, and even if it lessened after a while, it remained something to manage to some extent all the way to the end.
There were a fair number of people, which meant plenty of weaving and going the long way around, plus a few more notable problems that were mostly caused by cyclists. On the first sector, around the boat dock area, I’m not sure what was going on, but there was a “convoy” of vehicles with the brand of an ice cream producer that moved slowly and blocked the rest of the path, next to the lane, so a cyclist who was coming from the opposite direction had to use the lane and another person was blocking the small remaining space just when we’d have met, and he also seemed to get a little unbalanced, so I had to stop for a moment. I briefly stopped again on the next sector, barely managing to avoid a crash with a guy on a bicycle who was chasing two girls with a water gun, not looking where he was going and coming right at me. I cursed him for that, out loud. And on that same sector I hesitated for an instant when a guy stopped and got off his bicycle just as I was getting there. On sector one of lap two, a kid on a scooter came from a side path and almost reached the lane right in front of me, so I stopped for an instant, though he also managed to stop right before the lane. Another brief stop was on sector three of lap two, when I caught some people with a dog right when a ball fell from that ice cream and toys place that’s in that spot, making the dog jump in front of me and causing the cyclists who were coming from the opposite direction to first swerve away from it and then quickly swerve back in order to avoid the person who was on the other side of the lane, completely blocking my way.
There were also two moments when I had to step off the path, one being on the long straight of sector one of lap three, when cyclists coming from the opposite direction again had to use the lane, since the rest of the path was blocked, including by a woman with a stroller who had stopped on the inside, where I also was, so I had to put one foot off the path in order to get around her. And my notes state that the other moment was on sector two of lap two, but since it’s the last thing I wrote, I wonder if I didn’t actually mean sector two of lap three, and by now I definitely can’t remember when it happened, though I still remember the moment. Either way, I briefly stepped off the path in order to avoid a guy who was on the lane and stepped back instead of forward when I yelled at him to make way, going towards the woman who was with him and blocking me even more.

I kept running after finishing, glanced at a store that’s across the road from the park and then continued to the farmers’ market, having a look through it and then checking Supeco. They were out of cabbage, however, and I even asked the guard and he said so. But I had seen someone in the farmers’ market with two cabbages at the price that it was supposed to have at Supeco, since otherwise the price of cabbage had increased sharply those days, so after also having a quick look in that Mega Image, I went back there and had a better look, seeing that they were somewhat bad but still acceptable under those circumstances… And finding myself saying yes when I was asked whether I wanted both, though I really should have just bought one, since by the time I finished the first one I could once again find good cabbage for less. And if they’d have been just a little larger I wouldn’t have been able to buy them both, but the price for both of them turned out to be exactly what I had on me in bills, so I was just left with a few coins. Either way, the woman who was there had placed them in a bag even though I had mine in my hand, and hers was flimsy and looked like it wasn’t going to hold that weight anyway, so I first moved them into my bag, then stopped again after a little while and separated them, to hold one in each hand. I didn’t wear a mask.
After getting back, I ate the banana which I had kept since after the half marathon and the apple pastry which I had grabbed two days earlier, then went to the toilet and washed, after which I also ate one of those small bags of bagels which I had also bought two days earlier. Then I made mamaliga, after taking a long time to scrub the tiny remaining burn off the cast iron pot. At one point, I hesitatingly tried to use the harder scrubber, but I quickly saw that it was obviously scratching the enamel, so I stuck to using the softer one and kept at it, occasionally also using my nails a little, gently, and eventually got most of it out, albeit not quite every last trace. And scrubbing that enamel that’s obviously of such poor quality that much did have consequences, almost the entire bottom of the pot ending up burned after I used it that night, and that’s been pretty much the rule since then. However, that burn cleaned pretty easily, though I saw a fair amount of damage to at least a layer of the enamel, so it’ll obviously only get worse.

On May 31, I was still tired after wandering around a lot and even running part of the way, while carrying purchases, two days earlier, and I also kept waking up more and more often. The last time I checked, the time was 12:44 PM, and I was just drifting in and out of sleep after that. The alarm was set to ring at 1:30 PM and the last time I woke up I was really sure that it was about to ring, so I was just getting up, sitting on the side of the bed, when it did ring. I felt so weak, even shaking, but the plan was to cover a half marathon distance, so I had the usual stuff, with the yogurt being the protein one received after the half marathon and the sweet thing being a slice of cozonac, with added honey. I also drank most of the tea and left just before 3:45 PM, wearing the full running gear. The reported temperature was 27-28°C, holding steady.
The time was 1:44:29, with sector times of 4:22, 5:02, 5:52, 4:24, 5:02, 5:51, 5:08, 5:03, 5:56, 4:33, 5:02, 5:56, 4:30, 5:07, 6:08, 4:38, 5:18, 6:14, 1:55, 6:21 and 2:07, making for lap times of 15:16, 15:17, 16:07, 15:31, 15:45 and 16:10, plus 10:23 for that final portion. I aimed to get under 1:45 again, starting with a moderately controlled pace but still wanting to be fast on the first laps, and I was quite pleased with the first sector and even more so with the second, wondering if I could cover the lap in less than 15:30 before that second sector and in less than 15:20 after it, and I pushed and managed that. And I was also really pleased with each sector of lap two, and obviously with the lap as a whole, once again managing to stay under 15:20 even though I was wondering whether I’ll manage to average that time over the first two laps. But a shoelace cost me some 45 seconds at the start of lap three, though I pushed and the actual running time on that first sector was about the same as on the first two laps. That meant that the rest of that lap was a matter of damage limitation and things looked bad, so I was thinking to set 1:45:45 as the target, to account for that loss. But I still needed to gain something on lap four and I somehow did. I didn’t believe it after sector one, but then things got better.
That meant that I was actually still thinking of getting under 1:45 at that point, which meant also covering lap five in less than 16 minutes, if I was to have a chance, and I actually managed to be right on what should be the average lap time when that’s the goal. That sector three was bad news, however, so nothing seemed certain and it was harder to keep pushing, but I just kept at it, and if I had done the calculations with 16:30 on lap six, over the course of it I reduced that target and ended up with a nice enough time to make me think of getting under 1:44:30. And the first sector of the final portion seemed good, but I wasn’t sure that I’ll stay under two minutes on the last one, so I wanted a good enough time on sector two, and while I was several seconds better than expected, I was just done after pushing so hard and the final sector’s time was awful. Still just good enough, however, even if by the slimmest of margins.
On the first sector, I slowed a little on the long straight because of a roadblock, then hesitated after a guy with a water gun squirted it on me a little, without looking, and then once again hesitated when a kid started running straight towards me, on the lane, before stepping aside just in time. But that was not a sign of things to come, because after that there weren’t many people and there were even areas that were unusually clear, so there was just some weaving and going the long way around, plus needing to avoid a cyclist that was coming down from a side path at the end of sector two of lap six. And that guy who had told me that there’s a radar ahead twice before said that same thing to me three times as I passed by him that day, the second time laughing hard at his own bad joke, so I turned to shout after him that it’s old.
On the other hand, there were some windy areas, the worst being on sector three of lap one, when I had to fight a pretty bad gust for a while. And there were more gusts in that area on other laps as well, and also one or two on sector two, but those weren’t that bad. Otherwise, there was some new damage on the lane, including a couple of spots where I risked tripping, one of them on the long straight of sector two. And there were two small fenced off patches on sector three, one of them irrelevant but the other making me go the long way around on the first three laps, though on that third lap I realized that I could actually just squeeze through on the inside, so I did so from lap four. But I stepped in holes that were under the lane twice, on sector three of lap one, right after a recently repaired patch, and on sector three of lap two or three. It seems more likely that it was lap three, but I’m not certain. Either way, my ankle held.
But the big loss was, as I already mentioned, on sector one of lap three, since I noticed right after the start of the lap that my left shoelace was undone, and had knotted twice, so I lost some 45 seconds because of that, and after I resumed running it felt like I couldn’t quite get back to the pace I had before, despite pushing hard… Maybe too hard, because towards the end of the long straight of sector two of lap three I started feeling out of it. I recovered after that, but the feeling returned towards the end of the long straight of sector two of lap four and it just got worse after that, and on sector three of lap six I started feeling really drained, arms going numb, legs burning, even vision starting to be affected. But I pushed through it all. It was hard to go up the stairs at the bridge, but I managed it… But when I started the final sector I was just done, so I pretty much walked up those stairs, and it was hard to get back to running even on the straight. Otherwise, it felt like there was going to be blood from a toe from my left foot since at least some point on lap five, if not even lap four, and that was confirmed after I got back.

After getting back, I finished the tea and made another, and I weighed myself after finishing that tea and saw just over 46 kg, so I was probably just under 46 kg before that, meaning that I had lost about 1.5 kg through sweat. Either way, I also ate a banana and an entire 150 g bag of peanuts, at least unsalted and baked, not fried. And I eventually left again a couple of minutes before 8 PM… Only to realize that I had forgotten the bag with those things that I take to Kaufland, so I rushed back and grabbed it, actually leaving a couple of minutes after 8 PM.
I had dad’s metro card and wanted to go to that confectionery that’s at Kaufland Basarab, for one of those cakes, so I went there by metro… And only realized after going up the escalator that the bin for those things is at the entrance. But I didn’t want to turn around right away, so I just put that bag in a cabinet, had a look in the store and left without buying anything, the employee who was there asking me to show her what I had in my backpack, which is a first for Kaufland. But the backpack was empty, so I did that, then checked that confectionery, but I didn’t see that cake and didn’t ask about it then, since I meant to return there. And after going down the escalator I realized that I had forgotten to retrieve that bag from the cabinet, and if I didn’t want to turn around the first time, I did so the second time, retrieving that bag and finally putting those things in the bin.
I then walked to Carrefour, finding cabbage for slightly less than it was at Kaufland, where those days the price was the same as the one I had purchased those two from the farmers’ market at, and I got to pick, not needing to get those that were at that price because they were less good than the rest, so I really should have just gotten the smaller one then, since I hadn’t even finished that one by then. But maybe I had helped a producer a little bit through that purchase, if that really was one and not a reseller. Either way, I got a small cabbage from there as well… Which really turned out to be one that I shouldn’t have bought, since I was yet to touch it by the time cabbage got a fair bit cheaper. And I forgot to look for beets, even though the old price was still listed on-line, which was something even if we’re talking about the old full price, since elsewhere it either vanished or became significantly more expensive. And the price increased a little at Carrefour as well since then, albeit not nearly as much as elsewhere… Yet. Anyway, the two self-checkouts that accept cash once again didn’t work, so I went to a regular one, then threw the cabbage in the backpack and returned to Kaufland.
I did ask at the confectionery that time, pulling down my mask as I did so, for some reason… And I was told that they didn’t have that cake that day, and when I asked whether they still made it at all, I was told that they did, which was later proven true, but they hadn’t made it that day and possibly won’t make it the next day either. So, after washing my hands, I entered Kaufland again, with my backpack, and got one thing from the bakery area, very few products being left and the discount staying at 50%, and some mozzarella for the pizza that I wanted to make. I kept looking until it was close to closing time, but I couldn’t find anything else to get, so I eventually went to the self-checkout, put the purchases in the backpack and went back to the metro station.
I didn’t really know whether I wanted to come straight back or not, and the fact that the metro that’d have taken me straight back here was just in the station when I got there and there was no way to reach it in time helped me decide, so I ended up taking the one going in the other direction, which was going to come sooner, and went to the Mega Image from Dristor, entering with the backpack and finding three of those apple pastries, two of them in a bag that had a discount sticker. The third might have been removed by someone from another, and I’m quite sure that nobody’d have said anything if I’d have added it into that bag as well, but two was quite enough, so I just bought those and added them into the backpack.
I got back a few minutes after 11 PM, but soon after that I went to drop a bag of trash down the chute. Then I put the few purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, ate the apple pastry that I already had, started working on the pizza and salad, and even did the day’s squats while watching the match, so it was almost 1:10 AM when I finally went to wash, getting back in the kitchen when it was almost 1:45 AM and only getting to eat between 4 AM and 4:55 AM. I got in bed at 5:55 AM.

I fell asleep quickly even though dad was getting ready to leave at that hour, but at 9 AM I was awake and, despite the exhaustion, it didn’t seem like I was going to get back to sleep quickly, so I went to pee, just in case, and then spent some time on the computer. I got back in bed at 9:45 AM, but I still had no chance to get back to sleep, so a little before 10:30 AM I started reading Scenes from the Heart, finishing the first part in just under an hour, then peeing one more time and once again trying to sleep, eventually managing to get another nap. But that was all the sleep I got that day, since some time after waking up again I got up and didn’t have any other nap that day. And two days later I finished the book, also writing the quick review, and after eating that night I also added the Romanian translation on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

On June 9, I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, had the usual stuff, the sweet thing being two of those expired nicer biscuits, with added honey, and left at 4:30 PM, wearing the full running gear and one of those armbands. The reported temperature was about 28°C on forecast sites and at the stations outside the city, but the weather station inside the city was listing 31°C. That one also went down to 28°C by 6 PM, however, while the rest held steady.
The time was 47:39.79, with sector times of 4:24.17, 5:02.12, 5:51.31, 4:24 (4:23.69), 5:00.69, 5:48 (5:47.68), 4:24 (4:23.60), 4:57.09, 5:54.44 and 1:55.00, making for lap times of 15:17.60, 15:12.06 and 15:15.13. Or at least I clearly remember that time for sector two of lap three, but if I add up, the hundredths don’t seem right. But, if there is a difference and it wasn’t a case of my memory playing tricks, it’s of only a few hundredths, so it doesn’t matter and I’m leaving it like that. Either way, I aimed to stay under 48 minutes and the first sector looked bad, so I pushed more and the second sector was better, but I still wondered if I’ll even manage a first lap on the pace for 48 minutes. And, while sector three was good enough to stay under that 15:20 on the first lap, I thought the realistic target was 49 minutes. But I was rather surprised by sector one of lap two, and the next two sectors were also better than on lap one, so the lap was faster and it seemed like I had a good chance to stay under 48 minutes after all. So I pushed even more on lap three, and I was again surprised by obtaining the fastest times on the first two sectors, albeit by mere hundredths in case of the first. The third sector was the slowest of the day, but the lap was definitely good enough, actually leaving the first one as the slowest. There was no point to push on final sector anymore, since I was certain to be well under 48 minutes and had no chance to get under 47:30, so I just wanted a decent time and it was all right.
There was some wind in a few spots, mainly on sector two, but mostly from the side and the cooling effect helped. And I tried to make good use of shaded areas, but in truth the heat was less of a problem than it seemed on the way to the park. Otherwise, there was more damage to the lane that I had to avoid, and a few wet areas, I guess caused by sprinklers or drinking fountains, so I avoided what I could, though I did step in a hole that I wasn’t aware was under the lane in that spot, at the start of what I think was lap two. It might have been lap three, but I’m pretty sure that it was lap two. As for physical issues, I felt rather tired at first, and for a while on sector two of lap two there was some pain in my right leg, actually at the back of the calf, though it was likely reflected from the knee, and it soon went away. And I felt better as time passed, though I was rather out of it on the final stretch, struggling to at least regain focus at the end. And, from sector two of lap two, I thought that the left shoelace was coming loose, but I didn’t stop, and at the end I saw that there had been no problem.
On the long straight of sector two of lap one, I had to quickly avoid a guy who seemed about to go across the lane, only to stop and turn around just as I had gone off the lane in order to go behind him, assuming that he’d continue moving as he had been, so I barely managed to avoid slamming into him. At the start of lap two, a few kids on bicycles, and one on a scooter, were weaving around and the one on the scooter kept asking the others to slow, so they were in my way for a while and I might have slowed on the way to the bridge, to stay just behind them, until they sped up a little, and at the start of the long straight they stopped and blocked the lane, but I had time to go around them without losing time, getting rid of them at that point. On sector two of lap two, I slowed to squeeze past a roadblock and then probably slowed a little once again, towards the end of the long straight, when some guys were shooting water guns at each other. Then I slowed a little and stepped off the path on sector three of lap two, when a small group stopped on the lane, right in front of me. I might have slowed a little at the start of sector two of lap three as well, since some people who were coming from the opposite direction on either bicycles or scooters, can’t recall, squeezed between other people and some toys placed by a woman in front of the bench that she and her kid were on, and I rather jumped over the toys, after initially meaning to go between them and the bench but being uncertain that I’d have managed that.

I gathered a few fruits from a tree on the way back, meaning to get more but shying away when someone stopped to look at me, and I looked for others but couldn’t really find more ripe ones that were within reach and without people around. I was somewhat determined, however, so after a quick check of the nearby Mega Image, without a mask, I made a detour in order to keep looking, but just the trees that are around the police station had some ripe ones within reach. There were also many on the ground, but I wanted to pick some from a tree and only got a few more until a man came to look at me and I walked away, without even glancing in his direction to see whether he was a policeman. So I gathered too few to be worth eating then and I set them aside after getting back, eating another apple instead, and then also having the apple pastry that I already had for a while. In between, I cleaned the litter box into a bag of trash and then went to throw that bag down the chute. On the other hand, it was somewhat worrying that, despite putting a medium and a small beet in the salad made the previous night, my pee wasn’t red at all before leaving to run, and even after I got back it was just orange, while normally it’d be dark red in such a situation, especially if the salad contained more than just a small beet.
Either way, I made another mamaliga in the evening, after washing away the burned area left on the cast iron pot after the one made just two days earlier as well as I could, some traces still being left. And I also did the day’s squats, in the kitchen. And, even though the mamaliga was rather watery, it ended up badly stuck to the bottom of the pot, not coming off at all, no part of it rising, after leaving the pot with a lid on for a little over an hour, while I ate. I should have probably left that lid on longer instead of pointlessly struggling for almost half an hour to peel off what was stuck and maybe damaging the enamel even more, but I eventually had to give up and put the pot in the fridge… And, after leaving it there for a few days, I was actually able to scrape almost everything off relatively easily, and then clean the pot quite nicely. And my pee was finally red before going to bed, but that was over 24 hours after eating those the beets, so it was still worrying.

The announcement, which I wrote about at the time, stated that the Separation project of MilkyWay@home was going to shut down on June 20, probably around 4 PM UTC, and a later post clarified that the entire project will be turned off, not only work generation, so any work reported back after that moment will basically be sent into the void. And, after the project administrator apparently just forgot all about the project when he should have been turning it off and only did so about two hours ago, I can confirm that the server didn’t even abort any work still in progress, so they continued to pointlessly generate work until the last moment and people’s computers may well keep crunching those tasks only to send the results into the void from now on. Talk about an awful way to go about doing something like this; such a lack of respect for the users who donate their computing power to the project…

On the other hand, I can also now confirm that Asteroids@home is an entirely valid replacement for those looking for another space-related project that still works on 32-bit and uses little RAM, a task using only about 8 MB. For those who care about this, it produces far less credit per unit of time, in my case just over five times less at the moment, and on the first day it was just about six times less, but I’d say that it was MilkyWay@home that produced far too much, the fact that I ended up gathering almost 50% more in two years on that project than in 21 on SETI@home, the last six of them on this same computer, being enough proof of that. And, while previous problems still make me wary, and the project was out of work when I initially joined it, in the first moments of Tuesday, shortly after midnight, and the situation didn’t change until I went to bed in the morning, it did change later that day and there have been no problems to keep the buffer filled since then. In fact, at the moment it reports over 1.6 million tasks ready to send, more than seven times more than those in progress. So, while it’s far too early to really say, at the moment it seems true that it only briefly runs out of work, and if the buffer is set to at least a few days, you should be fine. And I definitely hope that things will stay this way, and that there will be no more outages, because at the moment it really seems to be the last project that I’ll be able to comfortably run on this computer…

On May 18, I got in bed at 5:20 AM and the alarm was set to ring at 2 PM, but when I woke up because I heard dad leaving I jumped, thinking that the alarm somehow didn’t ring, since he had said that he was going to leave after 3 PM. It was only 1:20 PM, however, so I went to pee and initially got back in bed, but I pretty much decided right away to get up, though I took it easy, coming out of my room again at 1:40 PM. Then I had the usual stuff, with a slice of cozonac, with added honey, as the sweet thing, put on the full running gear and left at 4:15 PM, when the reported temperature was 22-23°C, supposed to hold steady, though I didn’t check after coming back.
The time was 1:17:46, with sector times of 4:27, 5:10, 5:58, 4:29, 5:09, 5:56, 4:31, 5:07, 5:59, 4:31, 5:10, 5:56, 4:24, 5:07 and 5:52, making for lap times of 15:35, 15:34, 15:37, 15:37 and 15:23. I didn’t want the first run after the half marathon to also be disappointing and knew that I won’t manage a good enough time on ten kilometers, so I went for 16, just hoping to at least stay under 1:20. And, with a first lap that was barely on the pace for 1:18, it seemed clear that I was going to struggle. But sector one of lap two being only two seconds slower than sector one of lap one caught my attention, and when I even recovered one of those seconds on sector two I aimed to stay on that pace, actually ending up with a sector three that was two seconds faster and a lap that was one second faster than the first. And the two seconds lost on sector one of lap three compared to lap two were recovered on sector two, so I again aimed to stay on that pace. I failed to do so by one second, but it was good enough. I still thought that I’ll lose much more on lap four, but I tried to push and when I saw the same sector one time as on the previous lap I finally started to actually think that staying under 1:18 was possible. And, with three seconds lost on sector two but recovered on sector three, the lap time was the same, meaning that I needed to be right on pace, so one second faster, on lap five. So I really pushed, pretty much from the start, and it showed. It meant pushing hard for what’d be a normal time, and exactly the same as three weeks earlier, but I’ll take it. And all times were extraordinarily steady on the first four laps, and then I had enough left to be faster on the fifth. The fact that I’d have stayed under 1:45 if I’d have continued to a half marathon distance did cross my mind, but I didn’t do so.
There were some people, but they caused few notable issues. I did have to squeeze through and maybe slow a couple of times, but probably the only moments really worth mentioning were both on sector two of lap four. The first was when a delivery guy on a bicycle was alongside me and two older women walked across the path, with their eyes on their phones, and I didn’t really have anywhere to go until the cyclist found the space to move away from me and go around them, so I could also pass between the women. And then, in that paved area where I watch where I step, a guy who was on a bench got a call and just jumped and dashed to that bar right when I reached him, so I had to stop in order to avoid running into him. Otherwise, it drizzled on sectors two and three of lap three and parts of the lane were soggy anyway, and some repairs had also been done, three tiny spots being fenced off and a few others looking like they had just poured the “sandy” part of the compound, albeit already painted red, so I avoided what I could. But someone else stepped in such a spot, and the footprint and skid mark that appeared between one lap and the next proved that I was right to avoid those spots. And it was also windy. Less so on sector two, maybe just a little at the start of it, except on lap three, when that dark cloud brought wind while I was on that sector as well, but there were always windy places on sectors one and three, the worst moment being towards the end of what I think was lap one, when I really had to fight the wind. It might have been lap two, but I think it was lap one. Either way, a few bugs got right in my eyes, but otherwise I didn’t really notice actual physical problems. A faint pressing need might have appeared at some point, but it passed, and I actually seemed to feel less tired as I kept running.

I jogged back, had lunch, changed and left again just before 7:40 PM, with a bag of trash, which I dropped down the chute, and the little plastic and metal which had gathered. And since I didn’t use a route that’d have taken me to any of the recycling bins that I normally use, when I spotted one I made a small detour and dropped off those things… Only for that small detour to turn into a somewhat longer one when I tried to continue in that direction and found that there was no way through, so I ended up going around, in two places. And I was rushing, hoping to still find some of that cheap bread for dad in Auchan. Either way, I picked up another one of those bottles going towards that voucher from Penny on the way, and had a quick look in another store, just from the door.
I washed my hands when I reached Auchan, but found no more of that bread, so I just got two of another kind for dad. However, I found that some small chocolate bars that he was telling me to look for were on sale, so I got a large number, taking a while to select and calculate… Only for him to only eat one of them so far, while buying himself quite a few other things since then, and in fact many of those that I bought then are still in my room. Either way, I also got two bottles of water for him, then took a while to squeeze everything into the backpack, seeing 9:15 PM when I was done, so there was no more time to also go to Penny, meaning that there was little point in going in that direction and I therefore went to the other Kaufland.
After putting my things in a cabinet and washing my hands again, I went in at 9:30 PM and saw people gathering at the bakery area. The discounts that were listed at the time were of 50%, but discounts of 75% were soon announced, so it was probably a bad thing that I grabbed a pretzel for my mother right away, but it was the last one. Either way, after the announcement I also grabbed the last two pieces of a certain sweet pastry, also for her, and three things for myself. I wanted to scan some labels, but the employee came and she was asking whether we’re edgy about buying before knowing the prices, saying that everything except bread and doughnuts was discounted by 75%, just leaving the sheets of paper with the new prices there and saying that the prices are awfully low, so there’s no reason to not get everything… As if people can’t be careful with their money even when the prices are reduced. But that made me feel that it’d be too awkward to scan the labels, so I didn’t even scan the one for that pretzel, even if I only saw one kind of pretzels listed on those sheets of paper, and it wasn’t that one. And, after grabbing a few other things, at the self-checkout I saw that the discount for that pretzel was still only 50%, making me wonder if that was because I had grabbed it before the announcement. But I bought it anyway, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged.
I also went to that Mega Image that closes at 11 PM, putting the bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and getting myself a bread that had the evening discount. There were three left and I’d have considered getting more, but I finally found it on those papers with information about bakery products that evening and saw that it’s from Bulgaria, so I just bought that one, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, added the bread in the bag that hangs from my neck and arranged what I had in it again. Then I considered entering the Mega Image that’s next to Tei as well, but after just having a look from that entrance area, I turned around.
I got back a few minutes after 11 PM, put some of the purchases in their place, ate the expired caramelized walnuts that I still had while spending some time at the computer, and it was almost 12:45 AM when I went to take a bath and just after 1:30 AM when I got back in the kitchen. And I had quite a lot to do, greasy things to wash, the remaining purchases to put in their place, some things to rearrange and my bread to deal with, and I also fed Liza some pieces of a snack, so she’ll actually eat them, so it was 2:50 AM when I even started working on the salad, and then I microwaved the slices of bread, with what I put on them, in three batches. As I was preparing another batch, I heard a clink, as if some plates had fallen or cracked, but there were none in the microwave at that moment, nothing seemed to have fallen anywhere, and I also checked Liza and it didn’t seem like she could have knocked anything over, so I still have no idea what that was. Either way, I ate dinner between 4 AM and 4:45 AM and got in bed at 5:20 AM. And I’ll also add here that the following night I took it too easy and also moved and mixed something, so I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, though I had licked something in the kitchen by then. I actually managed to finish a couple of minutes before 3:40 AM, however… Only to then once again get in bed at 5:20 AM.

The original plan for this post was to cover the remaining three runs from May, but I just managed to write about this first one before midnight, so I posted it as it is, with no plans to add more. It’s a complete waste of a personal “slot”, but I’m too exhausted for anything else, and with the odds and ends from the first two thirds of May already covered in other posts, at least it means that I can skip to May 22 whenever I’ll somehow manage to cover the last third of March and then April. And I didn’t even mean to include this explanation at first, but I forgot to reschedule that post that’s set to be published at 11:59 PM on Sunday, in case something happens, so it was only at 3:50 AM when I noticed that it was there, at which point I wanted to at least mention the fact that it only showed up because I forgot to reschedule it and not because what it says may actually be true, and I took the opportunity to add this paragraph and explain this post as well.

Tuesday it was announced that MilkyWay@home is shutting down the Separation project. The N-Body project will continue, but that’s only available as a CPU application for 64-bit Windows and Linux, so those of us still on 32-bit will no longer be able to take part in MilkyWay@home at all, along with those on Mac and those using their GPUs for such projects. While irrelevant for me, this last part is far more important in terms of the overall number of users and the amount of work done, and some of those who were also doing some N-Body work on their CPUs while their GPUs worked on Separation may leave the project entirely, so N-Body is likely to take a hit as well.
What makes this worse is that the announcement was made on very short notice. The first message asked users how long would they like them to wait before shutting down Separation and I assumed that it’ll at least be a little while, at the very least until the end of the month, which was what I answered, if not 30 days after that announcement, as some others wrote, or even more. However, another announcement was posted a little while ago, stating that the Separation project will end on June 20, a mere week after the first announcement! That seems far too soon, either way you look at it!

As for me, as a SETI@home “orphan” who had to look for something else after 21 years there and found that MilkyWay@home was pretty much the only valid option, working on 32-bit, using very little RAM, generally offering uninterrupted work and having to do with astronomy, since no environmental projects ticking those boxes seemed to exist, needing to start looking yet again after only two years is particularly troubling. It would now seem that Asteroids@home is running again and someone said that it uses little RAM and that, while work may be intermittent, they’re only briefly out of new work to send, so keeping a buffer of a few days should be enough to always have work to do, but I’ll have to actually try it, and soon, and see whether that is actually true. Because, if that really is true, it really does seem to be the last remaining option, and it’s a good thing that it became one again, because otherwise there’d have been none left at all… Which may yet prove to be the case, if what I was told won’t actually be true, or if they’ll have problems again.

On March 1, the last part of my sleep was awful. I dreamed of needing to go back to school and being absolutely hysterical, and when I finally woke up I was pretty much tied up in a knot, with a pounding headache, feeling exhausted and gasping for breath, so it was a while before I recovered enough to get up… And then I quickly got annoyed by dad, who said that he was going to throw away the small amount of food that he had left on his desk before going to bed, having left it there on purpose. But at least I started using the new slippers that day.
Either way, I went out just before 5:30 PM, checking Carrefour and Supeco and then reaching Auchan when it wasn’t even 7 PM, but all of that bread that I get for dad was already gone, and so was the cheaper packaged kind. But I found a better discount for something that I was considering getting from Penny and also a discount for something that I could get for dad, and I also grabbed some expiring eggs and, after checking the entire pile, I’d say the one worthwhile bag of spoiling oranges, which were cheaper and possibly also better than those grabbed from Kaufland two days earlier. And I added a “reward” for myself as well. I was also thinking of getting some water for dad and wondering how to carry it, but we had discussed that he might call and he did while I was there, at which point I asked and he said that he didn’t want any. And, after I also used the amount left on the store card at the self-checkout, as I was trying to arrange the purchases, dad called again, to say that he couldn’t find those treats for Liza at the Kaufland that he had gone to.
I then rushed to Penny, put the bag in a cabinet, got what I wanted and some treats for Liza from there, just to be sure that I’ll have some, and I again rounded down the total a little, but that was actually what the cashier asked for anyway. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, rushed to Kaufland and, even though it wasn’t even 8:30 PM, a discount of 70% for bakery products was announced as I was putting my things in a cabinet. So I ran to wash my hands, then ran into the store, finding just two breads left, and I had never gotten either kind before. But, after initially grabbing one, I decided to put it back and take the other, which ended up being the only bakery product that I got, despite scanning a few price labels. And, while only finding large bags is far more common, that evening only small ones were left, the solution appearing when I saw that someone had left some other bakery products in a medium bag, so I emptied it and then used it for that bread. After that, I got some carrots and potatoes, both having evening discounts, those treats for Liza and one more thing, and a bread for dad, even though the price was higher than what I’d normally look for. And then I waited for 9:45 PM, but none of the discounts increased. And the self-checkout didn’t accept dad’s bread as the correct product, so I had to call an employee, and then there was an error with printing the receipt, but it worked after I opened the printer part, saw that it wasn’t out of paper, closed it again and hit the retry button. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took my time to arrange everything, using one of those tables that are outside, before walking away a few minutes after 10 PM.
I got back a little after 10:45 PM, with a total of almost 15 kg. I put everything except the oranges and carrots in their place, ate the worst orange and what I had grabbed as a “reward” from Auchan, with added honey, washed a few things, and went to wash just after 12:15 AM. I got back in the kitchen at 1:05 AM, also put the oranges and carrots in their place, and ate lunch between 1:50 AM and 2:35 AM, while washing what was left in the sink, dealing with my bread and working on the salad. And then I also moved and mixed something, and I started eating dinner at 3:15 AM, but it wasn’t even 3:40 AM when I finished.

I initially got in bed a couple of minutes after 5:15 AM, but dad was supposed to get back early and bring some things once again, so I expected to just rest a little and then get up and make room in the freezer… But I ended up waiting and waiting, getting ever more worried when I realized how much time was passing. Just before 6:40 AM, I got back on the computer to check my e-mail, but there nothing there. And dad finally came a little before 7 AM, and when I came out of my room to ask what happened and say that I was worried, he said that I should have realized that if he had been to mother he couldn’t have also gone to rehearsals and therefore couldn’t bring what he said he would… Which still left coming late in itself, after telling me that he’ll come early and with a car from work, but I had to stress that a few times before he finally at least muttered something about making a mistake by not telling me that his schedule had changed. And then he also gave Liza a pile of food and didn’t take it to his bedroom, where she stays when he sleeps, or put it in the fridge when she didn’t eat it all, and when she still hadn’t eaten it by the time he got back in the evening, he threw it away, not even setting it aside in order to give it to the cats that are outside the following day. And in the evening the back of the roof of my mouth was hurting again, and something was definitely swollen there, on the right side, though the pain was on both sides.

On March 3, dad shoved his phone in my face, on speaker, when I was in the kitchen and the cable provider called to offer an upgrade, so I obviously froze and started shaking. He eventually asked the caller something while I made vague gestures and he ended up accepting, then I told him that he messed me up and he said that he had needed my opinion, which I didn’t give anyway. And he was sent a code and before being called again I told him that I hope that they at least won’t remove what we still have on analog, and when that second call came I started waving at him and mouthed that he should ask about analog, but what he asked wasn’t what I meant and I couldn’t say more, panicked completely, ran away and crawled under the blanket for a little while. But I had to go out again, so I eventually crawled back out and closed the kitchen door while I had breakfast and tried to recover a little.
I left just before 2:20 PM, taking the recyclables, which I dropped off in a bin on the way, from which bin I also grabbed three of those bottles that I thought went towards the 10 RON voucher from Penny, though I later learned that they actually didn’t. And I also took 50 RON in coins with me, after having asked by e-mail the previous day and receiving confirmation that Carrefour’s change campaign was active again, and needing to make purchases of at least 50 RON in order to use the 5 RON gift card meant that I had to go on a day like that one, when 20% of the value of pet products purchased was going to be turned into a voucher, so I was going to stock up on food for Rocky, even if the resulting price, after using the voucher for something else, was still higher than the Kaufland deal that I had missed a week and a half earlier, and cat litter, which was actually discounted those days, and adding the voucher on top of that made for a really good deal. And I also took my card, since the self-checkouts from Park Lake only accept cards and I wanted to be able to split the purchases, to make it easier to use the vouchers before the deadline, without more interaction.
After telling the person from the information desk that I had those coins, she made a call and told me to go in and to the last checkout, so I went to the last manned one and said that I had been sent there to give the coins, but the cashier said that I couldn’t have been sent to him, made a call and someone else came and took me to a room that’s at the end of that area, which is apparently the central checkout, saying that it was where I had actually been told to go, though that wasn’t the case, and I definitely wouldn’t have thought of a room when told to go to a checkout. But I handed over the coins and after a little while I was asked for my name and to sign a document and was given the 50 RON bill in exchange and the gift card. Then I grabbed an expiring sweet pastry and went to the pet area, realizing only after making sure that what I wanted was still available that I hadn’t taken a cart, and I was going to need one… And I hadn’t deposited money either! So I hid that pastry and went to deposit money, then also stuffed those empty bottles, which I had entered with the first time, in a cabinet, though it didn’t lock… And a few seconds after walking back into the store, I realized that I still hadn’t taken a cart, so I went back to grab one, then got the cat food and litter and also retrieved the pastry.
I decided to split the purchases in four, and the first two parts were under 50 RON, so I paid in full, wanting to use that gift card for the third part. However, I selected to pay with a voucher instead of a gift card, since I wasn’t sure what it counted as, and after I scanned it the amount left to pay became zero and the machine seemed to stop working, so I called an employee and explained what happened, he tried something, then made a call, came back to say that there was an error and tried again. But that machine wouldn’t work anymore, so we moved to another and he helped me enter that third part of the purchases, saying that I first had to enter the amount that I wanted to pay by card and then use the gift card for the rest, which made me wonder what happens if you don’t know how much is on a gift card. But at least it worked, and then there were no more problems with part four… And I was about to leave when I realized that I had forgotten to scan that sweet pastry, so I turned around in order to do that as well, so the purchases were actually split in five, though this last part didn’t also produce a voucher.
After taking my time to check that everything was correct, I retrieved those bottles, also checked to make sure that the correct amount was left on my card, then finally found an empty cabinet that still had a key, and it was fortunate that the coin dispenser machine worked, since I had forgotten to take any coins above the 50 RON and in that location they still require a 0.50 RON coin in order to be able to lock a cabinet. It was a small cabinet, however, and I had meant to try to carry four bags of cat litter on the first trip, so I had to somehow stuff the remaining two and the food in it, but I somehow managed it… Only to then decide to try to carry some of the cat food as well, taking 26 cans and just leaving a box of 24, which made it easier to close the cabinet door again and actually balanced me, since I put those cans in the backpack with rope straps that I wore in the front. That way, it seemed surprisingly easy to get back here with what was a total of more than 29 kg. On the other hand, I had told dad that I was going to look for the newspapers in Park Lake and I only realized on the way back that I had forgotten. The nearby stand was open, but the neighbor was selling and I couldn’t get myself to ask her for them.
After just dropping everything off in the kitchen, I went back out and decided to also go to Auchan, to once again look for bread for dad, even though it was going to be hard to get back in time for the start of ski jumping. I was already on the way when I decided to pick the one from Titan, and I should have jogged, but I only did so a little, when I was approaching it. But at least I did find that bread there, and I bought ten, which definitely proved to be too many, but at that point I wanted to make sure that it won’t be a problem for a while. It was crowded, however, and as I looked for a self-checkout to use, I first stood behind someone who seemed to be almost done only to realize that the machine didn’t accept cash, and while I had enough left in my account to buy that bread, I wanted to leave exactly 10 RON, in order to then be able to withdraw them and not leave anything at the end of the day, so I lost a little more time while waiting to be able to use a machine that also accepted cash. Then I paid as I wanted, splitting between card and cash, just took a moment to arrange the bread a little better in a bag… And I was on my way back to Park Lake when I realized that I had forgotten to check for the newspapers in that shopping center as well.
Either way, after withdrawing those remaining 10 RON, I quickly entered Carrefour, with all of that bread, to see whether anything new had appeared among the expiring products. But there was nothing interesting, so I then retrieved the rest of the purchases from the cabinet… And finally remembered to check the newspaper store, only to be surprised to find it closed. And there was no sign stating that it was only for a few minutes, which may happen, and I couldn’t wait anyway, so I just got back here, finding it noticeably more difficult to carry what was a lower weight, 21 kg, since I was no longer balanced, everything from the cabinet being in the backpack and all of that bread being in a bag that I held in one hand. And this nearby stand was just closing when I passed by it again, but it was still the neighbor who was there, so I still couldn’t get myself to ask.
I got back a little before 6:40 PM, which meant missing the first 11 jumps. Then I threw the cat food and the cat litter that was for my mother, along with those bottles, on the balcony, put the cat litter that was for us in the small bathroom and spread the bread on the table, but I even kept my jacket on, because between the rounds of ski jumping I dashed back out and checked this nearby Mega Image, though I didn’t find anything interesting. Then I finally ate that sweet pastry and part of a pomegranate which dad had brought, and I actually arranged what I had initially just thrown on the balcony. And I even did the day’s squats, in the kitchen, and also timed them, seeing 2:07. Then I showered, rather in a hurry, after which I finished the pomegranate and ate a bag of peanuts that I already had while slicing five of dad’s breads and making mamaliga, with plenty of things added in it, and the salad. So what I ate that day probably added up to about 4000 calories, 1000 being just from those peanuts. I got in bed at 5:20 AM.

On March 10, I left a little after 2:50 PM, with 50 more RON in coins and ten bottles that I thought would go towards that 10 RON voucher from Penny, though one was rather deformed and I meant to grab a spare up on the way, and I actually found one of that same kind. But when I put the bottles in the machine, I saw that it only recognized two as going towards that voucher, quite clearly the two small ones that weren’t deformed, since that battered one had also been small. But it at least also accepted that one, counting it as a regular bottle, so I kept one of the other small ones, bringing it back. I was annoyed, however, thinking that the machine had “eaten” 40% of the bottles needed to get one of those vouchers, so at night I sent the store a message about it. I never received a reply, but I eventually actually read the regulations and saw that only the 500 ml and 1.5 l bottles actually counted, even if the short description of the campaign states that the voucher’s offered for a total of 20 bottles from that brand, without any other details, asterisks or small print anywhere on that page.
Either way, I just bought one thing from Penny that day, putting it in the jacket’s pocket, and then I continued to Kaufland and grabbed a few things from there, including some spoiling mushrooms. I found two packs of such mushrooms, one being discounted by 45% and looking good, the other being discounted by 55% and looking quite bad, and I was still trying to decide between them when a couple, who seemed to be Ukrainians, also looked through the spoiling products and the woman grabbed the better mushrooms right after I set them back down, making the choice for me, which actually made me feel rather relieved.
I then continued to that mall and tried to get a recharge code from my provider’s store, but I was told that the printer wasn’t working. Then I put the purchases from Kaufland in a cabinet, though I forgot about that product from Penny, so I entered Carrefour with it still in that pocket. And, after deciding against getting the tomato paste that was on sale, since it said that it wasn’t made from Romanian tomatoes, I found bottles of tomato pulp that were apparently made from Romanian tomatoes and were also discounted, even though I hadn’t seen that in the catalog, so I got two of those instead, plus some other things, including garlic, which meant needing to try a few scales before finding one that didn’t add a little to the weight. I also got a discounted bread, but the base price listed on the label was higher than the one listed in the bakery area, so I asked an employee and she went to check and said that the price listed on that label was correct and the one from the bakery area was wrong, taking away that label. Then I asked another employee where to go in order to give the coins, went where I was told, knocked on the door, and the first employee who came said that she wasn’t sure whether the gift cards or the campaign were active, so she asked someone else and, since that person didn’t seem to know either, they eventually tried a gift card on a register and saw that it worked, after which I handed over the coins and received the bill in exchange and the gift card, only being asked for my name, without being given anything to sign. And at the self-checkout I used two of the four vouchers received for pet products, after which I still took some time to arrange the purchases even though I was rushing, finally walking away at 5:45 PM.
I got back at 6:05 PM, put the purchases in their place and had lunch, but it had started raining, so I waited it out and only went out again at 8:30 PM, first going to Carrefour Park Lake and finding some plates among the discounted products. There were four kinds of medium sized ones and only two price labels, so I took one plate from each of the two kinds that didn’t seem to have a price label to a price checker and was surprised to see a price that was half of the lower listed one, which already seemed good enough. So I checked carefully and picked a plate from each of those two kinds, and I used another one of those vouchers for them, the cashier taking away the receipt. Then I put the plates in the backpack and looked for my provider’s store, but after finding it I was told that the system that should provide the codes doesn’t work, it won’t even display them, so what I had been told about the printer had probably been a quick excuse. And when I asked how long it had been since it failed, I think the other guy who was there said two months, though I’m not sure that I heard him correctly. However, he then said that he thought that they had made it work in Internet Explorer, and after the first guy tried that but apparently still couldn’t get it to work, this second one tried as well and did manage to get and print a code, so I could finally get it. And then I also quickly checked two other stores.
I then rushed to Kaufland, holding the plates through the backpack, since I was worried that they’ll crack, so I was relieved to see that they were fine when I took them out and put them in a cabinet. Then I washed my hands and entered the store when it was almost 9:45 PM, just finding a bun that I could get, with a 75% evening discount, in an otherwise almost cleared bakery area. No green onions were left, which meant that I had none for the following week’s half marathon run, since I had also decided against getting any of the few small and rather wilted bundles that I had seen at the other location, earlier that day. But I saw what seemed like an evening discount for red onions, though the price was still a little higher than what it used to be when they had just a regular discount not long before, and they were listed as being from Romania, even though they looked different from what I know as Romanian red onions and similar to the ones from the other location, which had been listed as being from India, but I chose to believe the label and quickly got some, then rushed to also grab a few Red Delicious apples that also had an evening discount. I was still picking through them when the closing announcement came, so I quickly weighed them. And then the self-checkout machine didn’t accept that bun as the correct item, and the employee who was there called another one over when I pointed to it, and that one checked the bag, logged on to override the error, then stayed logged on and told me to scan the other purchases as well, and then just left without fully exiting that menu. But I did that on my own, so I could finish and pay before he came back to ask whether I had managed to sort it out. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged everything and walked away at 10:10 PM.
I also had a very quick look in that Profi, throwing the bag in a cabinet but keeping the backpack. Then I retrieved the bag and continued to Auchan, putting the bag in the backpack before entering the store, so I entered with everything, at 10:30 PM. I was also looking for socks, having seen some before that, while not quite what I’d want, were cheaper and could perhaps be acceptable, but they had rearranged, the clothing area was reduced, most of the men’s clothes seemed gone, and I had no time. So I just got a pack of water for dad and some expiring bio (organic) bagels, as a “reward”. The time printed on the receipt was just after 11 PM, but the announcement that the store had closed came as I was trying to arrange the purchases in the backpack and bags, and then a guard told me to get moving, so I just quickly figured out a way to be able to carry everything and left, stopping in order to actually arrange everything once I got outside and walking away a little after 11:05 PM.
It was almost 11:50 PM when I got back, with just about 17 kg. And, while this was admittedly before going to the toilet, I weighed almost 49 kg, which was highly unusual. Either way, I ate an apple, those bagels and about a third of a nice expiring sweet thing from Carrefour, talked to dad a little, took out the purchases, and it was couple of minutes before 1 AM when I went to the toilet… Which I ended up clogging again. But I was going to wash myself, after all, so after flushing a couple of times, since at least the water was still draining, I reached in with my bare hand and unclogged it. It was a couple of minutes after 2 AM when I got back in the kitchen, and there were some things to wash and some purchases to put in their place, so I finally started eating dinner at 3:35 AM, finishing at 4:10 AM and getting in bed at 5:20 AM.

On March 11, I pushed to finish The Vile Realm, which I had started on March 6, and even posted the quick review just before midnight, though I edited it a little after that. Otherwise, however, the day seemed to be one for shattering things, as the plate that had been used plenty of times to make pizza, and probably not only that, in both the regular and the electric oven, shattered when dad used it to bake a beet, and I had told him to do so, which made me feel really guilty, and I still can’t quite figure out why it happened. Either way, that meant that I had to get the shards out of the oven… And then I knocked over the mug that my toothbrush, toothpaste and dental floss are in when I went to brush my teeth and it got chipped and cracked. It didn’t actually shatter that day, however, so I continued to use it until it did.

I just managed to get this far before midnight and I could have ended the post here, covering what was left from the first half of March, but with two more days to add in order to cover one more week, and seeing as I’m so far behind when it comes to odds and ends anyway, I decided to edit the post later in order to add those days as well. And in fact I just kept writing at first, adding the part about March 16 before going to the kitchen, though the part about March 20 was only added Tuesday evening.

On the evening of March 16, I went to pay the maintenance bill, and a neighbor came out of his apartment at the same time and for the same reason, so I had to take the elevator with him. Then I left the receipt, grabbed what I still needed and went out at 8:15 PM, getting a few things from Carrefour, putting them in the backpack, entering that pharmacy with it, getting the teas for dad and having a quick look at what else was available despite being in a hurry. When I went to get an order ticket, another cashier came and asked whether I wanted something else as well or I was just there for the teas, and when I said that I just wanted the teas, she asked me to come with her to one of the other checkouts. Then I added the teas in the backpack and continued to Kaufland, washing my hands, entering the store, with everything, at 9:20 PM, and finally seeing an evening discount for that bread again, though the base price had indeed increased by about 15%. Still, I got two, even if many of the seeds seemed to have been scraped off. And then I got a few other things, also considering some of the grapes that also had an evening discount but eventually deciding against it, even though the crate with the remaining scattered ones had just been moved after being taken away from the shelf, the employee still gathering products from that area, and I therefore might have been able to still pick some. As it was, however, the closing announcement came while I was arranging the purchases, and then I went through the parking lot and found a cart with a coin in it, so I took it to others, connecting it with them and retrieving the coin.
I got back at 10:40 PM, with just over 13 kg… And dad annoyed me again, since he dug through the cabinet from the balcony, got some sweetened tomato paste that I had placed at the back for a reason, and used it in what he cooked, saying that he didn’t know that it was sweetened, even though the label said so, and that I had never told him that I won’t eat something made with it, even though I had in the past, probably more than once. And he also opened a jar with something that he had brought at one point, supposedly to figure out what it was, so it couldn’t be left outside anymore, and he of course blamed me for not putting labels and not telling him what was there, even though I had, at some point, and obviously ignored the fact that he could have asked before opening it and didn’t. And he also left everything scattered in that cabinet, so I had to go and rearrange. And what made it worse was that I had waited, not having lunch earlier in order to eat some of what I knew he was going to cook, and then I didn’t want it anymore, though in the end I had some after all, just that evening.
Otherwise, he went to take a bath first, so during that time I cleaned and washed some of what was in the kitchen, ate an apple, put some of the purchases in their place, and also grated a beet for him, so I won’t have even more to clean up after he’d do it. At 12:15 AM, after he was done, I went to the toilet and to wash as well, being done just before 1 AM. There was more to wash and clean, however, I also had the rest of the purchases to put in their place, I ate lunch as well, taking bites now and then, starting at 2 AM and finishing at or just after 2:40 AM, and I also dealt with one of my breads, so I finally started eating dinner at 3:45 AM, finishing at 4:30 AM, after getting back in the kitchen in order to put the little bit that was left out of what I had spread on the bread on a small plate.

On March 20, I left at 5:25 PM, with ten bottles, including two of those that actually went towards the 10 RON voucher from Penny, and a bag of trash, which I threw down the chute. And I had noticed that the chances of winning a 150 RON voucher were huge for those using the machine from the newer Penny, since there were only a few valid receipts per week, so I went there, couldn’t see the recycling machine when I glanced in from the door, still couldn’t find it after searching for it outside as well, but I finally did see it when I went back in, worried that I was going to need to ask. So I put in the bottles, and I actually did end up winning with that receipt! And then I bought the main things that I had gone there for, plus a bar that I grabbed as a “reward”, but I didn’t find the caramelized walnuts.
After going back to that newer shopping center, putting on the mask when I entered it, I saw that the Bebe Tei from there is a regular pharmacy, not a large location where you can take products yourself, and even though I stood around for a while, I couldn’t get myself to ask for what I wanted from there, so I eventually walked back out and, after sort of walking back and forth for a little while, I decided to also check that Penny that’s near Auchan, putting the purchases in a cabinet when I got there, even though it had no key, and finding those walnuts. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and moved the purchases into the backpack.
The next destination was Supeco, and I entered with everything. There was no cabbage, but I found the other products that I was looking for and some others that I also decided to get, including a bag of what were supposedly Gala apples found among the spoiling products, though I had some doubts that they actually were Gala. And I beeped dad, asking when he called back whether he wanted some more of that wine, adding some after he said that he did. There were two other products that I considered getting, but I decided against it after being unable to find the price labels, nor any price checker, and asking a cashier to check. However, the total for what I did buy was higher than what I had calculated, leaving aside the fact that I had been charged for the bag that those apples were in, so I pointed that out, initially thinking that the discount for the soy didn’t apply, but it had, and it’d have been smaller than the difference anyway. So I initially paid what I was told, then checked the receipt and saw that I had been overcharged for the canned mackerel and tuna, and another employee had come there, so I asked her about it and she gave the receipt to yet another one, who went to check and then wordlessly handed me 1 RON when he returned, also adding the coins when I pointed out that the difference was 1.20 RON. He didn’t answer when I asked why the price differed from the listed one, however. And a guard came over while I was arranging the purchases in the backpack and asked whether the receipt was for over 50 RON, asking for it when I said that it was, saying that they had a survey and he wanted to write down the number and will hand it back after that. He didn’t bring it back, however, only returning it after I finished arranging and went to him to ask for it. I also asked what survey that was, but he just said that it was an opinion survey, without actually asking me anything…
Since I had dad’s card, I then took the metro for just one stop, to also check the smaller Supeco, and I saw cabbage there, so I put the backpack in a cabinet and took the one that looked better, then I retrieved the backpack and, after once again struggling to make up my mind and crossing the road and then crossing back, I decided to take the metro to Obor, managing to rearrange everything while I was on the metro in a way that allowed me to fit the cabbage in the backpack as well.
It was past 9:05 PM when I arrived there, so I rushed, though I still meant to check that pharmacy as well. But it was closed for inventory, which worked out, since I obviously wouldn’t have had time to also go to Kaufland if I’d have done that, since after entering Carrefour, without bothering to use a cabinet, I saw a full crate of eggs sold by piece and spent as much time as I could afford looking through them, finding two bio (organic) ones. They were probably not the only ones, but I was running out of time, so I just got those two and then checked the expiring or spoiling products, grabbing a slice of cake and three bags of Fuji apples. The apples did look quite bad, but they were discounted by 70%, which also made them cheaper than those which I had grabbed from Supeco, and there were more of them there, so I shouldn’t have bought those. Either way, one of the bags was badly torn and the apples had scattered, so I searched for them through the crate, realizing that I had still missed one after weighing the bag, so I went back and eventually found that one as well. And I also grabbed an expiring bread for dad, dashing back to take one more after seeing the total at the self-checkout, since nobody was waiting in line after me. And I also used the voucher received two days earlier.
After throwing the rest of those purchases in a bag and putting the eggs in a pocket, I also rushed to Kaufland, spotting and grabbing another one of those bottles that went towards the 10 RON voucher from Penny on the way. And I took a moment to put that bag in a cabinet, but I entered with the eggs and the backpack. It was 9:53 PM at that point, so I really had to hurry, grabbing two bananas for dad, since they had an evening discount, and some yogurt for myself before rushing to the self-checkout after the closing announcement. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took some time to arrange what I was going to carry in bags, but it still wasn’t even 10:10 PM when I walked out, going back to the metro station. I arranged those purchases somewhat better while I was on the metro.
It was almost 10:40 PM when I got back, with 15.5 kg. I put some of the purchases in their place, washed and cleaned a little of what was in the kitchen, ate an apple and that slice of cake, and it was almost 12:25 AM when I went to the bathroom, though I somehow ended up just finishing a newspaper while sitting on the toilet, before washing. I was done a few minutes after 1 AM, but I had to finish putting the purchases in their place and washing and cleaning in the kitchen, and I also dealt with the bread which I had purchased for myself two days earlier. And, after deciding to have a can of mackerel and an old bun as lunch and to microwave them together, I ended up needing to clean the microwave as well, since the fish rather exploded in there, so it was past 2:30 AM when I started eating lunch, taking occasional bites while working on the salad and doing the other things that I still had to do. I finished that lunch when it was almost 3:15 AM, started eating dinner at 3:50 AM, finished it at 4:25 AM, and got in bed at 5:25 AM. My stomach seemed to disagree with something for a while, possibly with the fact that I had eaten some of the pieces of fish that had ended up on the inside of the microwave, even if I had tried to wash them a little first. And at the time I was also increasingly worried about the tooth ache that I was feeling on the lower right side, apparently where work was done just over six months earlier, and I had seen that the warranty for fillings had been reduced to six months at that clinic. But this problem seems to have sorted itself out since then, at least for now.