Cav's Place

The first run I’m yet to write about was on February 21, when I got up when the alarm rang, at 2 PM, though I had been drifting in and out of sleep since dad had left, which should have been a little before noon, though I didn’t actually check. Then I had the usual stuff plus almonds, 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 14°C, supposed to drop by a couple of degrees by the time I’ll finish.
The time was 1:17:41, with sector times of 4:13, 5:11, 6:01, 4:32, 5:09, 5:55, 4:31, 5:11, 5:54, 4:35, 5:09, 6:02, 4:32, 5:00 and 5:46, making for lap times of 15:25, 15:36, 15:36, 15:46 and 15:18. I was just aiming for 1:20 at first, and while the first lap’s overall time was all right, that was just thanks to the first sector, the second and third being concerning. But lap two was better, with a normal sector one and faster sectors two and three. It was also right on target for 1:18, but I didn’t think I had any chance of maintaining that pace and just started thinking of 1:19, even that not seeming too likely. When lap three was the same, however, I started wondering whether I could manage to stay under 1:18:30, becoming quite certain of that after lap four, as long as I wasn’t going to have problems. But I was feeling good enough to finally start thinking about 1:18 and just went for it from the start of lap five, though it was only after sector two that I felt reasonably confident, though in the end I had a very safe margin. This marks only the second time I managed to get back under 1:18 since July of 2020, after that amazing 1:16:16 from October.
There were only a few small fenced areas left, one surrounding a hole and a couple of others in places where they had poured concrete, plus one narrow strip of fresh concrete, so narrow that it’d have been harder to step in it than over, without a fence, on the long sector one straight, though a similar one, before that straight, had a fence going all across the path, so I had to step off it each time. On the other hand, there were many small scraped patches, at most a couple of meters or so, probably more repairs. A few were short enough to jump over if I dared, but many were on the long straights of sectors one and two, so I couldn’t really use the lane in those areas, as I’d have had to keep weaving… Not that I didn’t have to anyway, with people on either side. Either way, I did jump over one such small patch on the long sector two straight of lap three, but when I meant to do the same on lap four I realized I’d have stepped right in it and likely tripped, so I stopped right before it and went around, losing a little time.
The first brief stop, however, was on sector two of lap three, when a small dog without a leash got right in front of me, and the next was at the end of that sector two of lap four that I already mentioned, when I meant to pass between two guys on scooters and two women with a large dog, but the dog barked and seemed to want to jump at the guys and I got startled. And there were plenty of people in general, making me have to weave, go the long way around, squeeze through and also slow a few times. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t good either, though it did seem to get better on lap five. As for physical issues, I started to feel the need to snap my back early on and couldn’t manage it, so I just had to deal with it, and the right knee started hurting some time later, I think on lap three, maybe from sector three, though I’m not sure about that. Later, there were some warnings lower down that leg as well, but they didn’t get past that level. And a certain pressing need did start appearing as I was pushing hard on lap five, but it wasn’t bad. And I felt I could push, as the time shows.
Jogged back as well, then changed and left again close to 6:20 PM, hurrying to take the book back and getting there at 6:50 PM. Then I tried a route that should have taken me from there to Obor, and while one that Google Maps listed as being only about 100 meters longer would have been easy enough and I found where I should have turned in order to follow it and reach a known area, I decided to explore the one it listed as being the shortest, wanting to see if I could learn a new area, as I hadn’t been there before… And that didn’t go well. I was sort of aware of the fact that I turned too early, but didn’t go back to check, and that wouldn’t have been that bad anyway, as I could have recovered on the next street, but I then missed that turn, not really looking for it since I wasn’t sure that I wasn’t already on the right street. And then I missed yet another chance to recover. Turning then would have meant covering a noticeably longer distance compared to the planned route, but still significantly less than I ended up walking, yet I missed that turn as well, maybe because that street was blocked, a water company truck being there, with workers around it and both sides blocked off. I’m not quite sure that was the place where I should have turned, but it seems likely. Either way, I ended up walking almost a kilometer more, compared to that shortest route.
It was almost 7:45 PM when I finally got to the Auchan from Obor, just getting a few things. Then I also went to that Carrefour, put those first purchases in a cabinet, just bought an expiring bread for dad, retrieved the purchases and continued to Kaufland… Only for the exhaustion to suddenly hit me as I left that mall, after that fast run and all the walking. Still, I kept going, put the purchases in a cabinet, washed my hands and walked in, seeing that the bakery discounts were already listed even though it was still a little before 9 PM. I didn’t get anything that was discounted, however, despite getting back there and looking multiple times, but I was out of bread, so I bought one, even though it wasn’t only not discounted, but the price had increased as well. Then, not seeing any other interesting evening discounts either, I got one more bag of cat food, out of the three that seemed to be left, and eventually also got one more bread for dad, after looking multiple times through what was left in the packaged bread area and finding that they were out of all the cheaper ones bar that regular white bread that I ended up buying for him. Actually, two of one other kind were left at first, but the bags were a little torn, so I left them there and by the time I got back even those were gone.
Still, the trip did yield some cheap finds. I wanted to wait for 9:30 PM, to see whether there would be some more discounts, and it was a few minutes before that when I got back to the fruits and vegetables area and saw people gathered around the Golden apples, the price of those having dropped to a tenth of what it had been. But I didn’t want to squeeze among them, so I looked for other new discounts and grabbed two bundles of green onions and the last three bananas than seemed sort of all right, then went back to the apples and took all those that still seemed sort of all right from there as well, almost two kilograms… But then I have no idea what I did with the green onions. I wandered around a little longer, made my way to the self-checkout at 9:45 PM, had no problems with the machine, retrieved my things from the cabinet, arranged everything in the bags, used the scales close to the bathrooms for a label that I used to keep the bag with my bread closed, washed my hands again, went out, and it was only as I was getting to the street that I realized that I didn’t have those green onions, so I must have left them somewhere without realizing it.
On top of feeling tired, the tongue of my right shoe was also digging into my foot, in front of the ankle, hurting more and more, but I just kept going for far too long, only finally stopping to fix it as I was quite close to getting back. Either way, it was almost 10:55 PM when I got here, had a banana and the third of those four cakes, put most of the purchases in their place, washed what dad had left, and had a small lunch starting at 12:05 AM and finishing ten minutes later. It was past 12:20 AM when I went to the toilet and to shower and 1:10 AM when I got out. Even so, I might have been able to start eating dinner before 3 AM, but I took it sort of easy towards the end, so I started at 3:05 AM, but still finished at 3:40 AM, which is the latest time I’d consider acceptable according to that new schedule that I’m trying to stick to.

Despite being so tired, or probably just for that reason, I had a hard time sleeping that morning. It probably took me about an hour to fall asleep and I’m not sure I even slept for two hours, the daily backup waking me at 8 AM and then having no chance to get back to sleep. Also had a whole lot of gas and a bit of a riot in my belly, and that odd feeling again, though just in my right arm and it went away after a while. So I finally decided to get up around 9:40 AM, went to the kitchen, put the apples away, since I hadn’t done so at night, ate one of those apples and the last of those cakes, and then got on the computer until 12:25 PM. Then I cleaned the litter box, got back in bed and only got up again at 3:10 PM, but only managed to sleep for a matter of minutes during that time. I crawled back in bed in the evening and eventually managed to get another hour or so of sleep, but I was feeling out of it, and not having lunch likely didn’t help. But that was because the plan was to make mamaliga after dad left, so I stuffed myself at night, still just managing to finish on the current schedule.

Now I’ll skip to the next run, which was on March 3. Since I had an event in support of Ukraine to attend later, I had the alarm wake me at noon, put the water for the tea on the stove and went to the toilet right away… And I guess I took too long, because there was an obvious smell of gas when I came out and the kettle was cold, and I did turn off the bathroom light before noticing the smell, so that was a very dangerous moment, since there can be a spark. But fortunately nothing happened, and once I did notice the smell I ran to turn off the stove and open all the windows, then kept moving the kitchen window to fan that area for a little while. After a few minutes I turned the stove back on, then had the usual stuff plus almonds, with the sweet thing being a slice of a cozonac-sized chec, which Wikipedia says is a version of pound cake, with added honey. I left a little after 2:05 PM, wearing the full running gear, that thing around my neck and the gloves, plus the jacket for the way, tied around my waist as I ran. The reported temperature was 7°C, supposed to hold steady, but the clouds cleared as I started running, so the perceived temperature increased and it was fine.
The time was 48:20.89, with sector times of 4:16.64, 5:14 (5:13.88), 5:57.18, 4:32 (4:31.50), 5:09.72, 5:52.06, 4:30 (4:29.75), 5:04.00, 5:55 (5:54.72) and 1:51.44, making for lap times of 15:27.70, 15:33.28 and 15:29 (15:28.47). The first sector didn’t look too good and the second made me worry about staying under 49 minutes, but the third meant that the overall lap time gave me a chance, and lap two, and once again its third sector in particular, made me think that I was mostly fine if there won’t be problems. But sector one of lap three was good enough to make me start thinking of 48:30, and managing that seemed even more likely after sector two and quite certain at the end of the lap, and a final sector that wasn’t bad meant that I managed it by a safe margin.
While not a major problem, the reason why that run was uncomfortable at times was that I thought that something was about to come out the rear end early on sector two of lap one, or that maybe it even did, so after that point I held everything in, even though it was most likely just gas. Otherwise, I just couldn’t push harder, though things seemed to be getting better from that point of view as I went along. As for other issues, some small patches were still fenced off, but they didn’t cause problems, and there weren’t many people either, so there was some weaving and going the long way around, the reason for going the long way around in a couple of places also being that I was following the lane, but that was it.
After again jogging on the way back, not even putting the jacket back on, I had a quick lunch, changed, lost a good ten minutes trying to at least pin the neck of my sweater to some extent with two safety pins, since that zipper broke, simply being unable to do it while looking in a mirror and only finally managing it after I stopped looking, and it was almost 4:40 PM when I was finally out again. That event in support of Ukraine was supposed to start at 5 PM, and it was at Victory Square, so I had a long walk ahead, but only about 20 people were present even at 6 PM, when I got there. And there were only around 35 participants at the peak, though some left before others arrived, so the total was over 40, and maybe closer to 50, not that ten or so people more or less would make it any less embarrassing. And four brought banners against both Putin and NATO, but Remus, who organized the event, asked the gendarmes to send them away, the event obviously not being against NATO, and they did leave soon enough. Either way, some pictures were taken, and I also took a few, then people just stood around and talked… Or, in my case, stood around silently. I heard Remus tell someone that they were going to stay at least until 7:30 PM, and the event was supposed to last until 8 PM, but I left at 7:20 PM.
On the way back, I went to the Carrefour from Obor, finding cheap eggs sold by piece again, including bio (organic) ones. As I was selecting those, an employee first made himself seem busy around me, then asked what was with some of those I had set aside and, after I said those had code one, whether I’ll take them. I said I won’t necessarily do so, he asked what was I looking for, I said code zero, he said that they usually have code three in those piles, I said I’d never buy those and even signed to ban them, explaining that it was because of how the hens are raised, in cages, when he asked why, which seemed to baffle him, as if he couldn’t grasp the concept that something like that could possibly matter. I also showed him a couple with code zero that I found and then asked whether the eggs sold by piece are from broken cartons, and he said that he didn’t usually work in that area but they may often be those that are close to expiring. It wasn’t the case then, and in fact it often isn’t, but I said that I don’t mind that anyway, after which he advised me to not put more than ten in a bag, finally leaving me alone after I said I never had a bag with eggs tear before and added that at that price I wanted 20 and would even buy them if they had code two, but why not take the best I can find? And I actually found no less than 21 bio (organic) ones, none of them cracked, so I got all of them… And told the cashier I had 21, meaning to just take the bag past him, but he asked what if I had 22, so I handed him the bag and told him to count, and after he did so he said he counted 20. But he had already entered what I had told him, so I paid the correct price and walked away, though I counted them twice more before leaving that mall, to make really sure.
Then I also went to Kaufland, put the eggs in a cabinet, washed my hands, found nothing I’d want left in the bakery area, and also thought that the specific kind I wanted of a chocolate that was on sale was out, though entire boxes of all the other kinds were still there. It looked like people had really been digging, however, and at least one probably wanted to hide one of those I wanted, since I found it in the second area where those chocolates were placed, neatly placed almost in the middle of an otherwise full box of another kind, which was underneath another one. But I found it anyway, and took it. Then I checked the fruits and vegetables, getting some that were on evening discounts and some that just had regular discounts. Had to really dig through the deeply discounted but mostly really bad bananas to find some that still seemed usable, then heard an employee tell another that those left were a total loss. Then I also found cat litter again, so I took a bag… Unable to know that it was going to be on sale the following Monday and Tuesday. However, I should have known that the cans of sardines had been on sale that Monday and Tuesday, and I had been in Kaufland then as well, but I had completely missed that fact, ending up meaning to get some that evening and obviously giving up when I saw that they were no longer discounted. Then, with closing time approaching, I rushed to grab one more thing for myself and some bread for dad and just made it to the self-checkout area when it was announced that the store had closed. And then I had to wait for a few minutes before being able to start using a machine, and after I placed the lemons on the scales it told me to scan the item first, though just taking them off the scales allowed me to continue, strangely, so I didn’t need to call an employee.
It was still quite late when I went to the cabinet and arranged some of the purchases in the backpack and bags… And almost forgot the eggs, fortunately realizing it before walking out and rushing back to grab them. Then I took a little more time to finish arranging my purchases outside and was walking away at 10:15 PM, getting back a little after 11:05 PM, having carried about 17.5 kg. Then I put most of the purchases away, had a banana and another slice of that chec, with added jam, went to shower around, if not after, 12:30 AM, and got out at 1:10 AM. I still had things to do, however, and also lettuce to deal with, so I started eating dinner at 3:05 AM, but again managed to finish at 3:40 AM.

I was exhausted and my ankles and even toes hurt, and my feet were also burning again, but the forecast for this week looked too bad and I had to cover a half marathon distance, so the following day I decided that I had to do that the next day, even if it was Saturday. As a result, I spent the evening of March 4 in the kitchen, in order to eat earlier, having what ended up being a huge combined lunch and dinner, consisting of what’d have otherwise easily been two servings of the pasta dad had brought and what’d be a dinner before an important run, including the peanut butter I had left and had been saving for such an occasion.

The original plan for this post also included writing about that March 5 run, when I covered a half marathon distance, but this is how far I got before going to bed Monday morning, and what I managed to post before midnight actually stopped after walking away from that event in support of Ukraine, and since I didn’t add anything else on Monday, or even in the early hours of Tuesday, I decided to not cheat even more and leave it like this, with March 5 to be covered in another post.

Our authorities have decided to join the other countries taking similar measures and no longer extend the state of alert nor replace it with anything else, so as of today all restrictions related to COVID-19 are lifted. There seems to be some confusion about the requirement to fill the tracking form when entering the country, since that was implemented separately and seems to also need to be lifted separately, some conflicting statements coming from the authorities, but things are clear about everything else: Masks are no longer required anywhere, the certificate is no longer required anywhere, tests are no longer required for anything, all capacity or group size limits are removed, those who should be in quarantine or isolation will no longer be checked, businesses no longer need to close at a certain hour, school will once again only take place face to face, working from home can no longer be required… Using masks indoors, in public transportation and in crowded outdoor spaces remains a recommendation, but only a recommendation, along with avoiding particularly crowded places. As for the people who have symptoms and are confirmed to be infected, they’re expected to just be responsible and isolate themselves, and the regulations now only allow them to receive five days of medical leave anyway, unless they actually require treatment for a longer period, and family doctors no longer even have the legal framework to offer diagnoses, prescriptions or medical leave on-line. And it seems that not even that expectation of acting responsibly is left in case of those who don’t have obvious symptoms… Oh, and the remaining vaccination centers will soon close and all vaccinations are to be performed by family doctors.
No longer tracking people, by no longer requiring the certificate to be scanned in so many places, is the one good thing out of all of this, and those requirements for businesses to close at a certain hour weren’t particularly justifiable in the first place, the reason for them being that there were far fewer checks made at night and far fewer people would complain compared to those who’d complain about restrictions during the day, so it was a method of reducing some of the risk of transmission generated by those who’d ignore the regulations that far more would accept, but not a particularly effective one in itself. And those limits on the capacity, of 30% or 50%, also didn’t make that much sense in themselves, largely representing another case of taking the easy way, instead of enacting clear requirements that would directly reduce the risk of transmission, the maximum capacity being whatever results while respecting all of them.
Everything else, however… For one, mask requirements should have been the last thing to go, and I for one definitely hope that wearing them will remain at least easily affordable for all and socially acceptable permanently. Testing also helped, and instead of removing requirements and greatly reducing even the number of testing centers I’d have liked to see widespread testing for other easily transmissible diseases as well. And people known to be infected with such a disease, whichever it may be, should be required to isolate themselves, checked and severely punished if they don’t do so, as a permanent measure to protect public health. As for remote studying and work, that should be greatly encouraged and developed, and while plenty of businesses may take the matter into their own hands, having seen the benefits, educational institutions, higher ones in particular, are now facing quite a problem, even more so when you take into account the fact that some are now making rooms in their dorms available for Ukrainian refugees.
And the refugee crisis, which will only worsen as the war continues, and most probably last for quite some time after it’ll somehow end as well, makes the timing even worse, since all those people crowding together create a huge risk of transmission. And they’re suffering enough as it is, so you can’t, or at least you shouldn’t, add to their troubles and the restrictions they have to put up with because of this, so it’s the rest of us who should be required to be far more careful at this time, not less! And it’s not like the numbers themselves would really justify removing all restrictions anyway, as we’re just now dropping below 5000 cases and 100 confirmed deaths per day, while about a third of the maximum number of intensive care beds that can be used for COVID-19 patients are occupied.
So, yes, most cases are far less severe than before and the situation isn’t that desperate anymore, but it’s still more than bad enough to justify maintaining the regulations that make complete sense, such as masks, testing and isolation, improving those that weren’t such good ideas in the first place, such as the restrictions on capacity or opening hours, and supporting and offering aid to those who make use of this opportunity to implement measures that should have been implemented long ago anyway, such as those that reduce the risk of transmission of any disease or otherwise improve public health, those that reduce the need to travel or commute… Not to mention those reducing the need to work in the first place. Yet instead of that, they’re going in the opposite direction, and by “they” I mean authorities and the general public anywhere, not just here, of course, plenty of other countries having removed these restrictions even earlier. So we’re back to that Babylon 5 quote, which was in fact just about the response to infectious diseases: “That does seem to be the rule, doesn’t it? Analyze the problem, choose whichever strategy makes least sense and then do it.”

After last week’s post, I’ll continue on this probably awfully inappropriate path, adding another along the same lines to this series, so again only having Ukrainian bands that are actual new finds for me, albeit from different parts of the country this time around. I’m still rushing even when it comes to picking the bands, not really using consistent criteria, but the three in this post do stick to my recent rule, having released new material, or in case of two of the three their only material, within the past year. Again, I can only hope that the members of these bands will make it through this, along with the rest of the Ukrainians and the country as a whole… And with all of us in this part of the world, and not only.

Again using the alphabetical order, I’ll start with Blessdivine, who only have one album so far, so both picks will have to be from it. It also seems to be another one of those infuriating cases of a label not allowing their bands to post their music on their own channels, and since it’s also from Italy I’m starting to wonder whether it’s something of a rule there, but I guess I’ll just have to deal with it and, since it’s the only song that they have at least a lyric video for, Servants of the Cross will have to be the first pick, while for the second I’ll go with A New Dawn. They have a pretty typical power metal sound, which also implies only male vocals, but they pull it off quite well, so I can’t complain, and found A New Dawn in particular to be quite enjoyable.

Defiant is a far more established band, so I just listened to the few songs that they have videos for and the two picks would be Breaker of Chains and Defiant… As strange as it is to see a self-titled song appearing quite a few albums into a band’s “life”. Either way, this is also power metal, and also only having male vocals, though they seem to have changed a few vocalists over the years and early on, when they weren’t singing in English, I’m seeing a female vocalist listed as well. But what I heard now shows that they’re confident, experienced, skilled, the instrumental parts also making me think of far better known bands at times.

As for Magic Infinity, they also only have one album released so far, and only two songs, Broken Heart and Nostradamus, posted separately, so I’ll take the easy way and go with them as my two picks. They also only have male vocals despite the fact that, at least based on these two songs, it seems fair enough to see them listed under Gothic, the sound leaning towards the theatrical, if I may use the term, so contrasting voices would definitely help. But at least there don’t seem to be growls, bar one little moment, at least as far as I could tell after quickly skipping through their other songs as well. Sadly, they seem to be badly suffering because of poor equipment, or at least it seems to me that the recording quality is poor and little, if any, work was done on the tracks after the recording itself, so what you can hear here is probably not what they’d really be capable of.

On February 1, I checked when I woke up to pee in the morning and, being a new month, requested The Longing from The Community Giveaway on the GOG.com forums, the key, donated by that same user who donates so much, being sent at night, so I redeemed it then, after eating. And at least that’s a game I could play on this computer, but it’s not one I can just try, or start and set aside for later, and what you get out of it is directly proportional to the amount of time you put in it, since you can just start it once and then only run it again after 400 days and find that you “completed” it, but if you actually want to play it, exploring, improving the shade’s conditions, figuring things out, then you need to put a lot of time into it, as I was reading that the shade takes 25 seconds just to walk from one side of a screen to another… And then there are all the included books as well, and I’m thinking that I could find some that would be interesting enough to read. So I want to play it, but I’ll need to schedule it very well, and should quite clearly start it after I’ll have a new computer, whenever that may be, so I won’t need to worry about the possible consequences of starting on one and continuing on another… Especially when I am still thinking of trying to switch to Linux at that time, as frightening as the prospect may be.
Getting back to February 1, in the evening I was about to microwave something dad had brought, as lunch, when the electric grill he was using threw out a lot of sparks. Good thing that nothing flammable was in front of it, and that I was there, so I turned off the power strip, but when I called him over he turned it back on, checked and said it was hot, and since there were no more sparks and the light was coming on, he left it on and went back to the living room. That made me eat there, to keep an eye on it, but nothing else happened… Because it had indeed broken, which I confirmed when I checked before leaving and found that it was cold, and while I was out dad took it apart and saw that it had visibly burned out.
Either way, I went out at 7:30 PM, also taking the paper and then needing to go back after missing the turn to the recycling bin. Then I first went to a Mega Image and got some zacusca for dad, then continued to the Carrefour and Kaufland that are next to each other, though I actually first checked a bookstore and a sports store from that mall. Then got to Carrefour, with the zacusca just in my pockets, buying what I wanted from there and one more thing I saw. And since the cashier didn’t give me 0.07 RON in change, I specifically looked around for coins and soon found two 0.05 RON ones.
Then I went to Kaufland, put my things in a cabinet, washed my hands and, since it was just after 9 PM, checked the bakery discounts. Hardly anything interesting was left, however, so I just got the last two of one product from there, and then some chocolate and soap for dad. Also looked at the potting soil, but saw that those were actually ten liter bags! There was no mention of the weight but, while not easy, it should have been possible to carry one, but it’d have required rearranging everything else and the size was in itself a problem, apparently not just for me, so I left it for another time. And since the price label for the chocolate didn’t even list the regular discount that applied then, but instead a smaller one, and the scanners don’t show any additional discount that applies if you use the store card, at the self-checkout I first just paid for those separately, to check that the additional discount applied… And somehow forgot that you need to pick up the change before the receipt is printed, being left staring at the screen and then calling the employee to help when it was saying that the receipt will be printed and it wasn’t happening, so she pointed out that I still had change to get. Then I scanned the other things, retrieved what I had in the cabinet and was back a little after 10:20 PM.

On February 8, I had the alarm wake me at 2:30 PM and left a bit after 4:30 PM, with dad’s large backpack and two sturdier bags, since I was taking the stacked paper to that recycling center I had seen offered a little more for it when I got lost on the way to withdraw the money for the state bonds. I was worried that it might close at 5 PM, since I hadn’t checked that, and thought that it was going to take me an hour to get there, with 20 kg of paper on top of the weight of what I had on me, but that backpack’s great, so with 12 kg in it and the rest balanced between the bags, I just kept going, feeling no need to make stops, and was there in 35 minutes. That’d have still been a little late if it would have closed at 5 PM, but that wasn’t the case, and those working there were also younger and nicer than I expected. They also seemed a bit surprised that I had weighed the paper, after I said that I had 20 kg, and after putting it on their scale I saw that I in fact had 20.7 kg, which I guess was the result of adding a few more things I realized were still around after weighing what I had initially thought was everything the previous evening and seeing 20.1 kg. Either way, I received the 5 RON I should have received for 20 kg and walked away, hesitantly at first, since I was looking for a sign listing the hours and didn’t see any, and couldn’t get myself to ask.
Then I went to Carrefour Unirii, mainly looking for cheap eggs again, but there were none sold by piece anymore, and also none of the cheap flour dad had asked me to get, though at least I found one of the breads I can get from there left unsliced. The price had increased, but I was completely out and didn’t know what I’ll find later, so I wanted to make sure I’ll have something and it was a good thing I did. Then, after getting a couple more things, I walked out… And again got turned around when trying to look for the slightly shorter way from there to Unirii Boulevard, losing some minutes as a result. That always happens, there’s just something about those roads that makes me certain that I must not go in what would be the right direction, not even trying to make a point of remembering, of memorizing, seeming to work. And the right way implies just going straight through, not on the street, but it seems that I just can’t get myself to do that.
Either way, a little later I made the small detour to a Library location, to get The Blind Owl, seeing on Goodreads that Sandra had read it making me interested. The librarian asked whether I had been to that location before and I couldn’t quite recall, saying that I might have been there once, years before, but wasn’t sure, though that was in fact correct. Either way, after I handed her the pass she said that it had expired and I had to renew it, but then just gave me the form to sign and said she’ll fill in the information if it’s the same. I wasn’t sure that my ID card was the same, however, though it should have been obvious, the date when it was issued being on it, and she pointed that out when I mentioned it, but we nevertheless checked to confirm. And she only asked for the certificate after that, after having allowed me to just walk in without asking at first, and even then barely glanced at it when I showed it to her… And probably had the same reaction she’d have had if I wouldn’t have had one, asking me to stay in front of the desk while she went to get the book, so while I’d have actually wanted to have a look at what was available, maybe while she was filling in that form, I had to stick to just looking at what was in that area… Which was mostly good fantasy, actually. Either way, as I was putting the book in the backpack she also asked about my job and I quickly gave the information that’s correct on paper, then left… And when I checked at night I found that renewing the pass had reset my password on the site, only figuring out that I should try the default one after many attempts, thinking I had forgotten it and trying a few different variants.
Back to the evening, next I went to Penny and found what I wanted, getting two of the last four bags of frozen green beans and two of the last three cans of sprats, which I found hidden at the back of the shelf, on top of boxes of other cans. Also saw potting soil at a price that worked out to a similar amount per liter as the one from Kaufland, but the bags were of only four liters and I had that backpack, which would have allowed me to easily carry one of those large ones, so I decided against getting one from there.
Things became rather unpleasant after that, however, since there was a single cashier, the line was barely moving, an employee also apparently had two large orders to check out, and on top of that he saw a woman with a child in line, behind me, and told her to come ahead, just assuming that she’ll be allowed to reach him, also getting past the woman who was ahead of me, and only adding that she could keep going if those farther ahead will let her after she did so. But she couldn’t get the pram around the carts, so she asked if she could go behind that checkout and hand over the purchases that way, and when she was allowed to do so the quite large woman who was behind me came right next to me. I tried to place myself so I’ll protect my spot in line without saying anything and she didn’t advance farther, but eventually spoke out against that woman being allowed to jump ahead, so at least someone did, since it had definitely bothered me as well but I just sighed and waited. But that woman speaking out led to quite an argument with that guy, the fact that they knew each other quickly becoming obvious, and while I wasn’t paying attention at first and didn’t quite hear whether he insulted her for being a Gypsy or just told her to go to another store if she’s unhappy without an insult, she retaliated by insulting him, calling him a drug addict and other things, and also said that he came to ask the leaders of their community to find his stolen bicycle and they had quite an exchange about that as well. The other guard came at one point, while that was going on, but then she just turned around and walked away again, not even saying anything.
Unfortunately, it was just when another person had finally been checked out and I could advance another step that another checkout finally opened, the lane for it being the one I had just stepped past, so those behind me, starting with that large woman, went there immediately while I had to continue waiting. And when the cashier was finally done with those two large orders as well, she started explaining to the woman who was ahead, and to me as well, looking back and forth between us and taking even longer as a result, that she was new, had only been there for a month, so it was normal for her to be slow. I told her I hadn’t said anything, but she was obviously stressed out and felt the need to explain. And then she also said she had no 0.50 RON coins to give me as change, and I should have received 0.55 RON in coins, but after I asked what was I supposed to do then, wondering whether I should unlock the cabinet and give her the one I used for that, she found one, and I took one of the 0.05 RON ones that were scattered on the counter in order to actually get the correct change. Also saw a store card there and said that somebody forgot it, but she said that it had been there for two hours.
Since I mentioned the scattered 0.05 RON coins, it seemed that somebody had dropped quite a number of them in that area, since on top of those on the counter, there had also been one in front of the cabinets when I went in and I had grabbed it right in front of the guard, who might have muttered something then, though I didn’t pay attention, and there were three more just outside, which I saw and grabbed when I finally left and stopped there in order to arrange the purchases, wanting to put everything except the bread in the backpack. My belt buckle probably jabbed my abdomen while I was doing that, however, right in that lower right side which had been bothering me, and while that made me realize that the dull pain and pressure I had been feeling in that area for weeks had actually rather gone away, at that moment I felt a sharp pain. It stopped after I quickly sat up and the spot only bothered me a little bit for a while longer, but it gave me another reason to worry at the time.
Either way, I then went to the Carrefour from the park, finding that flour there and getting a few more things, including two of the three remaining 1 kg bags of frozen yellow beans, which were cheaper than the green ones from Penny. Hadn’t expected those to still be at that price and also still available, so I probably shouldn’t have bought those green ones, but dad had just cooked some that day, so at least there was room in the freezer for all of them. And I’ll also mention that after checking out I realized that I had forgotten to check the price of potting soil there, so I added the purchases to what I already had in the cabinet and went back in, which proved to just be a waste of time, since they had several kinds but all of them far more expensive, with the exception of one kind that would have been only somewhat more expensive but was out of stock. So I went back out, retrieved my things and took my time to put as much as possible in the backpack and the rest in a bag, or actually in two, since I had a plastic one inside a sturdier one.
Then I also went to Kaufland, piling everything in one of the larger cabinets and then wanting to wash my hands and needing to make do just with water, since there was no soap… And also no disinfectant in the dispenser. And bakery discounts of 75% were just announced, so I went straight there, but some others had also gathered, not much was left and I just grabbed a baguette, and then went this way and that with it in my hand, looking for one of those long paper bags, at which point the employee warned me of “the microbe”, though she seemed rather amused. Then I checked for other evening discounts, but there was nothing interesting, so I got what I wanted to get from there and also an expiring bread for dad, which was the only one in that area. Also looked for potting soil, but again found a single, torn bag, and no employee in that area, so I gave up again and made my way to the self-checkout… Which refused to accept that the expiring bread was the correct product, and the employee who came when I called had to try a number of times until it finally worked even though she had logged on, which made her comment that she’d rather stay at the regular checkouts instead of fighting the machines. But at least there was still time, the announcement that the store was going to close in five minutes only coming after I had retrieved my things and took my time to arrange everything again.
It was close to 10:30 PM when I got back, having carried almost 19 kg, including everything, so I had left with much more, since I probably had a total of around 25 kg or so at that point. The water was still quite cold, however, and when I checked the site I saw that it was listed as being below parameters until 11:30 PM, which would normally mean that the problem was known to last all day and there was no hope of it actually getting fixed before morning, so I put a pot on the stove while putting things in the fridge and freezer, then went to the toilet, just getting a tiny bit out. That made it about 11:30 PM when I tried to wash my head with the water as it was, bent over the side of the bathtub… And found that the water was actually getting warm enough to be acceptable for a quick shower, so I turned off the stove and showered normally, albeit very quickly, even managing to eat something sweet before midnight. Then I did something else I had to do, then got back to the kitchen and, after first having an orange, it was 1:10 AM when I had a “lunch” consisting of a can of sardines, which I finished in ten minutes. And then I still just managed to stick to the new schedule for dinner.

After all of that, when I woke up to pee, at 8 AM, I found that dad had left a lot to wash and clean in the kitchen after coming back in the morning, taking me 25 minutes to deal with everything. And then I realized how bloated I was and pressed on the right side of my abdomen and it sounded like it was just full of fluid, so I stayed on my back, in bed, and tried pressing in various ways and spots, to see what the results would be, and after quite some time it seemed better, and getting increasingly so as time passed, and by the time I actually got up, after plenty of farting and peeing a couple more times, there were just a couple of spots, right at the bottom of my abdomen, that still sounded like that. But I again had the impression of having fluid there after lunch… And then, after spending some time in bed late in the evening, including napping for maybe some 20 minutes after midnight, I had beets to bake and carrots to peel and boil, so I failed to stick to that new schedule, only starting to eat dinner at 3:25 AM and finishing at 4:15 AM, which I’m quite sure doesn’t help.
It was also on February 9 when dad called and my phone reported that it couldn’t register the SIM, like it used to do before being replaced. As far as I recall, that’s the first time it happened since then, and it’s yet to happen again, but it was just over a month after even the extended warranty expired, if it just continued instead of being replaced with a regular two-year warranty starting when I received the replacement, so I guess it was to be expected… Though I also wonder whether it might be some delayed effect of it falling out of the jacket’s pocket, just under two months before.

After starting it on the evening of February 9, I managed to finish The Blind Owl on February 11, a little before midnight, though I wrote the quick review after eating at night, and only translated it the following afternoon, so the version on Goodreads will be in both languages, as is my rule when I read something in Romanian.

On February 14 I decided to order a 2 TB external HDD after all, so I’ll again have everything backed up without worrying about space. Then I had lunch and went out a bit after 7:30 PM, going to Obor, first checking that Profi, then also Auchan, but only making the first purchase from Carrefour, a carton of expiring eggs, discounted by 75%. Then I also went to Kaufland, put the eggs in a cabinet, peed and washed my hands, then checked the bakery discounts and got a sweet pastry and a bun. After that, I again looked for cat litter but of course only found empty space, but then I got a number of vegetables that had high evening discounts, digging through in case of the red onions, since those from the crates that were on top were pretty much unusable, as were those from one of the crates that was underneath, but in the one that was under the other one they were completely different, much smaller and mostly good. Then I also got some bread for dad and a small pack of biscuits that was among the expiring things and 65% off without being expiring, because the contents were crushed, had no problems with the self-checkout and was arranging the purchases in the backpack and bags when it was announced that the store had closed. And, after getting back a little before 10:55 PM, I had an apple and the sweet pastry, went to shower some time after midnight but still got back out a little before 1 AM, and managed to stick to the new schedule for dinner.

On February 18, I went out a bit before 7:20 PM, also taking the recyclables and the things I take to Kaufland. After dropping off the recyclables in a bin, I went back a little, to just glance in a small store, looking for cheaper cabbage, but saw no vegetables there, so I continued to the Carrefour from the park, where I saw boxes of four of the cakes I could get from there at not much more than the regular price of a box of two, and just a little more than the price of two if bought individually. The label stated that they were made that day and good until February 21, but they didn’t look quite right, many having noticeably less glazing, all but one box having at least one, and at least one having two, that were at most two thirds of the normal size, some maybe even closer to half, some being a little misshapen, and there were several such boxes, so I guess they had made a bad batch and were trying to get rid of it… And I decided to “help” with that, grabbing that box that didn’t have smaller ones, in fact the only issues that I could see being that one had visibly less glazing and another had a bit less glazing and was just slightly misshapen, the other two seeming completely fine. And that also allowed me to use the 10 RON voucher I had. And then, before leaving that mall, I used an ATM from my bank’s branch from there to deposit the money I was going to need for the HDD, since I had selected to pay by card.
From there, I went to the newer Kaufland, put those things in the proper bins and the cakes in a cabinet, peed and washed my hands, but when I got to the bakery area I saw no discounts, and no bread of that kind was left at all, though at that point I’d have bought one at full price, since I was running low and again hadn’t found any unsliced one in Carrefour. But there were deeply discounted lettuces and bundles of green onions, so I first looked through them and picked a lettuce and three of those bundles, then got everything else, including the last 1.5 kg bag of cat food of this kind that was left, being on sale, and a couple of expiring things, then returned and saw that the prices for the lettuces and green onions had decreased even further, to a fifth of those already very low ones, so next to nothing, which made me grab another lettuce and also the last bundle of green onions. The cat litter had also reappeared, albeit at the regular price, the sale being over, so I got one of those as well, then used the self-checkout without problems and still had time to properly arrange everything in the bags and backpack and walk out a few minutes before 10 PM.
Got back at 10:40 PM, having just carried 15 kg, including everything. Then I had an orange, put the purchases in their place and started eating lunch just before midnight, also having one of the cakes then. That meant that it was well after midnight when I got in the shower, but I just managed to get back in the kitchen right at 1 AM and just barely still held on to the new schedule for dinner, even if I had the worst parts of the lettuces and green onions to deal with in order to make the salad.

With the first run that’s actually part of that planned series leading up to the half marathon being on February 21, the last day I’ll cover in this post is February 19, when I finally cleaned my room a little, those cakes making me want to do something to feel that I’ll deserve them. I left changing my sheets for later, however, and it was only this Sunday that I finally got around to doing that as well. But, to return to February 19, I actually kept busy all day, dad wanting to put all the dirty things he had in the machine, saying he didn’t care what will happen, resulting in most of them still being very dirty after being “washed”, many being full of cat hair and the whole pile of handkerchiefs he threw in there still having plenty of snot on them. At least none of my clothes had been in the machine, but hanging all of those to dry definitely made me feel soiled… And on top of that, I also took everything from a kitchen drawer out and then put them back in, trying to arrange them better, after dad got a set of knives and I wanted to show him those we already had, which made me also want to use the opportunity to make some sense of the mess that was there. And then I also wrote that day’s post, and after that I cooked. So it was a productive day… But I was feeling more and more depressed over the course of it…

This is probably awfully inappropriate, but the current situation made me think of looking for some bands from Ukraine, and more specifically from Kyiv and Kharkiv, and adding another post in this series with them. Even picking the bands was rushed, having to do with what I happened to click on and what I didn’t dismiss at a glance that didn’t allow for consistent criteria to be used, but at least they are actual new finds… And I can only hope that their members will make it through this, along with the rest of the Ukrainians and the country as a whole… And with all of us in this part of the world, and not only.

I’ll go in alphabetical order and start with Delusion, who are from Kharkiv and just have two singles released, Neon Paradise and I Am Still Alive. Didn’t feel the need for other options though, these being more than enough to tell me that they have plenty of potential and deserve to be in such a post… And this would be the part where I’d say that I hope to hear more from them in the future, but in this particular situation that takes an entirely different meaning.

Next is Dominatos, from Kyiv, and they have male vocals, which makes them unusual among what I include in such posts, but those are good, powerful vocals and the sound is quite nice on plenty of the songs. It also strikes me as coming from a past age of rock and metal, but there may be times when that actually may be refreshing at the present time. Either way, for the first pick I’ll just go with their most recent release, Perfect World, while for the second, out of their older songs, let’s say Will You?.

And the third band is Scarleth, also from Kyiv but having apparently relocated there from Donetsk at some point, which in itself is saying something. They’re the most established of the three and have by far the most material released, but I have this feeling that I heard of them before and eventually dismissed them… And maybe I’d have done that now as well, but these were actually the only three bands I picked on that rushed first pass and Pain Is My Name, for which they just recently released a video, is something that would have caught my attention anyway. However, since I only listened to the three other songs that they have videos or lyric videos for, the fact that I’ll go with Voices as the second pick only means that it bothers me less than the others, having a nice enough sound overall, with the exception of those growls.