Cav's Place

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.

Yes, this is yet another post in this series that will seem awfully rushed, and it is when it comes to the actual writing, but I’ve spent a few hours over the past couple of days working on it, the problem being that most of that time was spent trying to decide on a second pick for one of the bands, since I didn’t make it easy for myself. But at least I finally did pick, so I can get on it and actually write something instead of just listening. And I’ll start by pointing out that, once again, none of the bands are actual new finds, but all of them do have new material.

I’ll start with Blackbriar, and with Arms of the Ocean, which is that song that I finally settled on after taking far too long to decide. It was obviously much easier with the newer song, My Soul’s Demise, but I then ended up going through everything else and finding that I had a similar pretty good opinion about several songs, but something also bothered me about pretty much all of them as well and nothing really stood out as great. But, while thinking about it when I was no longer at the computer, I gradually realized that Arms of the Ocean stuck better in my mind, and in the end it may be the better song overall. Either way, the vocals do seem too weak for the genre, and this may be what kept making me skip over them so far, despite knowing the band for quite a number of years and having thought about including them in such a post before, probably on at least a few different occasions. But that’s weak in the sense of not powerful, not in the sense of poor, in fact quite the opposite, and their sound is adapted to these vocals, resulting in a package that doesn’t only work quite well, but also stands out, is memorable. And now that they also signed with Nuclear Blast, they may even finally get an entry on Metal Archives, where they have apparently been blacklisted, whitelisted, and then blacklisted again. I wonder how much that weakness of the vocals has to do with that as well. But, again, far from being a flaw, if you listen to them for a while, those vocals become their defining trait and what will stick in your mind.

The second band is Autumn Bride, and the two picks are H.EART.H and The Path. The sound may be a little angrier than I’d like, but at least in case of H.EART.H that’s entirely understandable, considering the all too current and necessary message, and the particularly notable, powerful vocals fit this sort of sound. This is a solid, confident, powerful performance, so I hope they’ll keep doing what they do well.

As for the third band, that’s Beyond God, and Memories is probably what made me put them on the list in the first place. The other songs that I listened to aren’t at that level, and this also applies to the second pick, Coronation, which I only selected because I want to at least stick to my own rules and also pick a recent song, and at least this one doesn’t have growls and angry drums, though the meaning that I gather from the lyrics would otherwise make me really want to avoid promoting that sort of mindset. But I do remember Memories, and in fact it seemed so familiar when I listened to it again that I checked to see whether it’s not a cover, because I doubt that I had listened to it very recently, so it means that it left a good impression and I kept waiting for them to return to this level before including them in such a post… And now I guess that I decided to stop waiting and do it anyway.