2020 Diary: October Continues

10/8/2020: Up about 4:40 AM and could sleep no more. Too much to do. Prayers, Bible. Plunged right into NOT and cover quests. It’s now 6:05 AM and ready to tackle Biographies.

Posted that, then deconstructed half the house to get back to the Tolkien posters. Took a shower to clean up, and just as I was almost done, the water poops out: Andy must be watering. Between finding pictures of the posters online for a post, to making more posts, to cleaning up, sorting, and ‘curating’ them into old, Jackson, and Hickman, it is now almost 11 AM, and I feel I might be able to nap now. Maybe just one more post: Maps. Worked till 12 noon on 2 posts. NOW maybe I’ll try to nap.

Sent John this e-mail at 9:34 AM: Last night, as a break, I decided to post some of my posters in the "Tolkien Treasury" part of NOT. I put in the ones I remembered, then thought 'Why not take them out and have a look at them? I'm sure there are more.' Imagine my surprise when the rolls that I had been imagining were them turned out to be old 'family' posters, and my Tolkiens were tucked away in a nearly inaccessible recess behind a pile of bins and whatnot! Well, it was too late at the time, but this morning I dismantled almost half of the room and finally managed to snake them out, find copies on the interweb, and post them too.

 

I do not regret the circumstances, though, because it allowed me to do some further assessment and arranging and cleaning. It brought forgotten things into the light; it was almost as good as going out and buying something, to rediscover something that had slipped my mind!

 

It is a funny thing, but when I am on the Quest to find and post Tolkien stuff, I do not feel pain or hunger or anxiety. Perhaps that's another reason I enjoy it so much, as well as the satisfaction of laying things out all nice and neat. 

 

So, I laid down about an hour, not really sleeping, then went in to get some leftover taters and cabbage for lunch. Had the bright idea to switch the little fridge into the kitchen, freeing up the window. Kept hunting and posting until 4 PM, when I just finished all the Tolkien posts (which I thought would take me all week). Nipped in and made chili, corn, and noodles, fed pets, and out again by 5 PM. Ate, made a few more posts, cleaned up and deleted files, and now it’s 6:45 PM. I feel spent. Only one more book for the BIB. And then the end will come. Posted it about 7:30 PM, I think.

Went in about 8 PM, made Kam supper, washed dishes, and then we watched “MP and the Holy Grail”, at his request. He went in a little after 10 PM; at 10:30 I prayed a rosary, arranged a few more things, then wrote my K[ing] K[orm] page. It’s now 11:15 PM, rather sweltering, and all I have to do is write my A[merican] P[rometheus] page, though I still feel spent (yet edgy). Must call in my medicine tomorrow.

11:26 PM and I’ve written the page. I’m torn between getting some DQ8 in or starting to write a note for NOT about coming to the end of my books.

Instead, I became obsessed with a project, GREAT WORK OF TIME, where I put all the images from NOT into one folder and then run them in a slideshow. Stay up until 1 AM doing that.

 

10/9/2020: Up at 6 AM, and at first the day is normal. Then at 9 AM I call my medicine in, and they say I need to ask the Dr. to renew one of them. Call the Dr., and they say I need to have a consult, if only over the phone. And then the nurse asks me about a FIFTH medicine, that supposedly I’m supposed to be taking in conjunction with the Lisinopril, which I swear I’ve never heard of or had, but which she said has even been renewed! Is my memory that bad, or is somebody jerking me around? I write my post talking about the end of the BIB on NOT, and that takes me all morning. I try to nap, and when I get up the weather is so hot and humid, I have to put on the AC for the first time in weeks. At 2:30 PM start frying taters. At 4:30 PM, while I’m still cooking, at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon, mind you, the SS office calls and asks if this is a good time to go over my stuff! I explain my situation and he says he’ll send a letter and we’ll set a time. I go back to my house, eat, and collapse till after 8 PM. Go in and clean up, then back to fret and worry about what the hell is going on. How many times – how much more do they need to do – why can’t they just say yes if everything’s in order, or tell me no if they’re not going to do it? Are they just waiting for me to DIE so they never need to do anything? Now 10 PM and on to the rosary; perhaps there is some comfort there. I am allowing myself a suspension of writing until Monday; my original blog post must count for something (most of my other posts had been prepared weeks before as the BIB document). I write no more tonight; I am weary and weak. Bed about 1 AM.

 

10/10/2020: Woke up pretty early. How early? I don’t know. I went almost immediately on blogging mode, looking for pictures of items from around the house like bookends, cookie jar, lunch box, stuff like that. Prayers, Bible. Took pictures and asked John to e-mail them back to me, which he did. Then took down the CDs and started image gathering for them. Andy brought me a pancake platter for breakfast at 9 AM (two stove lid pancakes, butter, syrup, two sausage discs, and some Sunny Delight orange juice). A little later he brings me a spare plate. Continue gathering. Turned AC on at noon. Kam brings in his remains sometime after 1 PM; almost two more pancakes. Finish gathering images (it was a lot easier than books) and put CDs away a little before 3 PM. Now just have to arrange them and post.  Have been watching “Dr. Parnassus” on and off. I think I might take a nap now or at least try to.

Couldn’t really. Up and played some DQ8, and other fiddling around, like turning the couch around to face the TV and finishing Parnassus. Went in a little after 7 PM and got leftover chili for supper. Put out a few posts. Decided to look up bin with other calendars and graphic novel magazines tomorrow. It’s now 9 PM, and I think I’ll start a rosary.

Instead, I was inspired by a glance at my document of what’s where and seeing that the box with the calendars was quite close. When unpacking it, I found my ‘Life in Hell’ books! Quickly found covers for them as well, but not without having a lull in my computer connectivity, in which I prayed my rosary. Then I went back and finished up the post. It’s now 10:30 PM. Bed at 11 PM.

 

10/11/2020: Up at about 3:30 AM and turned off the AC. Yesterday and just now I’ve had feelings of déjà vu; I seem to connect it with the time of year, the AC conditions, sorting the house, and maybe even looking at the calendars and Groening books. Perhaps with when I was writing ‘What Happened’? Decided I couldn’t sleep anymore, but it was still too early for ‘church’. Started in on prayers; will soon finish with the acts [of faith, hope, and charity], then Bible.  I am convinced that cataloging EVERYTHING that I own would be an almost infinite task. Just think of the action figures. Also, that I would get very little if it was all sold, but it would take much, much more money than I would get for it if I then wanted to replace it all.

So now it’s 8 PM. After prayers, Bible, and YouTube church at 7 AM, I have spent all day working on NOT, finding covers for comic magazines, remembering stuff for the Shadow Library, thinking of stuff for the Wish List, implied but stuff I maybe should have, like you know, to complete a series. Nobody, of course, is looking at it, but it’s mainly for me anyway, and I have a lot of fun. Went in at 2 PM to get a ramen, and they gave me a bag of mellocreme pumpkins and candy corn. Then I went in at 7 PM to make dips. Grabbed a little potato and a ramen for supper.

It took me to almost 9 PM to boil the potato soft enough to eat with the soup, and that was with cutting it up into little bits. Watched the Fox animation line-up, and it is so poor these days. Not horrible (well, maybe the Simpsons, especially when you remember what they were), but so mediocre. Smashing the mellocreme pumpkins flat with a hammer to make them soft enough to eat. They turn into a little orange rosette with a dot of green in the middle.

Thinking about what needs to be done tomorrow. With the regular chore of boiling eggs, doing wash, and making broccoli salad, I need to talk to the doc’s office about making at least an online appointment. I wonder why the Shanafelts didn’t pick up my medicine? I should have reminded them.

Almost 10 PM; I should get on my rosary.

Oh, my. I stayed up until 1 AM, looking through POB for books I hadn’t mentioned (they belong in the Shadow Library) and found about 100. Tomorrow I will double check and then start posting them.

 

10/12/2020: Up at 5 AM (maybe four hours of broken sleep). Payers, Bible. Mouth seems cut up by the candy corn. Went right into NOT, and by process of elimination was able to reduce that list of books down to about 30. When I started the Shadow Library, I really had no idea that I would become so involved with it; I just wanted to put up a few gone books in the blog. I wonder whatever happened to that missing list I typed up at Loop Drive, and what it would recall if I found it. I never got rid of ANY books in those days. Probably threw the list away as useless. I keep having the nagging idea that there might be a bin with some books up in the ‘attic’, but that seems unlikely. Posted in four separate posts. It’s now 7:30 AM.

Wrote a page of KK. It is now 7:45 AM. Made appointment for virtual check-up tomorrow, made egg salad. Ramen.

So made a post about “You Can’t Take It with You”, but mainly fiddled with trying to make a document of “Great Work of Time” to send to Kindle, but it didn’t work; too big to send as an attachment. Ramen lunch and made broccoli salad. At supper fish patties and couscous. Right leg really hurt later in the evening, tingling, numb, and with the knee grinding. Made Kam grilled cheese and corn dogs. Rosary at 9:30 PM. Bed about 10:30 PM, windows open, as it is cooling down.

 

10/13/2020: Up about 5:30 AM, after a fairly decent sleep for once, with the usual pee breaks and night thoughts, of course, and my right leg hurting all night. Prayers, Bible, then organized my ‘aumbry’ using the old leather bag to put the ‘jewelry’ in so it’s not just rolling around. Although I think the compulsion of NOT is dying down, I still want to work on organizing the file “Great Work of Time”, relabeling the images. Now 6:30 AM. Think I’ll sweep and take a shower.

Almost 8 AM, and I have rewritten a page of KK as well. “He was obsessive/compulsive, manic/depressive, passive/aggressive, and possibly AC/DC.” I suppose I can expect my ‘virtual doctor’s appointment’ any time now. I wonder what Perry Mason is up to this morning.

So, the Dr.’s office called me and said it would cost $100, so I postponed it to try to figure out what to do. Day after that went as usual, sausage cabbage and taters, rosary, and so on. Some DQ8, some posting about the few VHS tapes I have. Couldn’t find my Bakshi LOTR tape or remember what I had done with it; is it possible (though it hardly seems likely) that I sold it? Again raise the specter of a fabled bin in the attic. It’ll be MIB toys next, I imagine. Reading Kipling (started “The Light that Failed”). Bed I know not when, but well before midnight.

 

10/14/2020: Up about 4:30 AM. Night had not been so cool as the one before, but okay. Prayers, Bible. Rewrote about 2 pages of KK; it goes on apace. If I truly applied myself today, I could be done with it. We shall see. It’s now 5:30 AM. Posted on NOT about MIB toys.

Laid down about 8:30 AM and napped until 10 AM. Went in and got ramen and eggs. Was actually writing on KK, when at about 11:30 AM the SSI feller called me, and said they had ruled favorably on me, and we just needed to go over things again, which we did. He said I should be getting payments within the month, including backpay from the time I applied! S&A were still here so I was able to tell them.

Afterwards I did finish the KK conversion and sent it to John and Kenny. Also, I alerted John to the good news. At 2:30 PM I started work on the rice, then made the chicken, rice, mushrooms and broccoli, which was done at 4:30 PM. I went out at 6 PM to wait for Andy, and he took me to get my medicine at HEB. Prayed my rosary, went in a little after 8 to clean up. Polished off the broccoli salad. Watched Green Acres, and now it’s 9 PM. Haven’t heard any reply from the boys yet. Still filling in nooks of time with Kipling and DQ8. Bed? Sometime before 12.

 

NOTES

The King Korm ‘conversion’ was of course turning notes into actual writing. If I could have imagined what all I would eventually catalog, including not only action figures but also their accessories, comic books, and so on, I probably would have slumped in exhaustion just at the thought. But five years of content-grinding has pretty much ‘filled in the nooks and corners.’ The ‘attic’ is still a mystery to me, probably not of bins of books but almost certainly action figures. I haven't touched those posters again from that day to this. Not sure how many people look at this blog, but it’s become sort of a scatter-shot biography for me.