2020 Diary

 

1/1/20: Woke up at midnight from a dream to the sound of fireworks. Went to change my church calendar, and as I did so found out (or was reminded) that it is a Holy Day of Obligation: The Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God. Checked my Church schedule and saw Mass was at 9 AM. That changes my plans a bit. Go to bed again.

Up about 5:30 AM. Prayers, catechism, and Bible. Record dream. Post on Power of Babel. Get dressed while listening to a playthrough of Donkey Kong Country 2. Set to leave at 8 AM. Yowch. Even as I wrote, a bulb just blew at 7:44 AM, the first in a long time.

Left at 8 AM and was the 2^nd person in the pews. Fr. Dennis was a little rushed in the end as he had to go say Mass elsewhere at 10 AM, but it was still good. When it was done, I walked over and bought a TX Lotto and went into Dollar General and got some Dobie pads, hydrogen peroxide, ramen, sugar wafers, and Peach Crush (which I just had to try). Found a Star Wars(?) action figure in the park. Home about 10:30 AM.

Watched some Godzilla movies on Comet, made some ramen for breakfast/lunch, ate some sugar wafers. A little after 1 PM some neighbors went chasing their pet through the back yard and all around the area, stirring up dogs all around us. Settled down about 1:35 PM, and now I feel like a nap. The air has smelled like firework gunpowder all morning.

Never did get a nap. Kam called about 2 PM, and I grassed the Chis. Then S&A asked if I could go ahead and make the cookies from the mix Kam’s class sold, and mixed the dip from the mix they sold, then made the hot cheese dip, and they ordered pizza and put stuff they’d cleaned out of Kam’s room away. We ate at 4 PM, then it was out at 5 PM to watch The Flintstones and at 6 PM I hope to finally get a wee bit of sleep.

But at 6:30 PM I prayed the rosary. Now I mean to lay down at 7 PM. So, I laid down and started to listen to music, and John called me! We talked a lot about time and Star Wars and pop culture, and the talk was good; and now it’s 8:20 PM, and I’m going to try to sleep again.

 

1/2/20: Up at about 4:30 AM. Prayers, catechism, Bible. Tried to track down a quote, something like: “Creation is imagination checked by physics.” Couldn’t find it. Puttered around on YouTube. Now listening to Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast, which I missed when Kam was staying here to recuperate. Making some ramen but can’t wait to go in and see if there’s any chicken soup left.

I went in at 9 AM and got some chicken soup and a piece of pizza. Came back and puttered around some more, then took a nap at 11 AM or so. Woke up at 1 PM and wrote down a dream, then went inside to thaw some chicken thighs and make rice for supper. Ate some more pizza and the last of the soup. Finally got the thighs separated and cooking. It’s now about 3:30 PM, and I mean to go in at 4 PM to do the pets’ thing and check the chicken (which was separated but still frozen). Feel sleepy, and the right side of my head still feels clogged.

I put the rice and broccoli together with the thighs on top and finished cooking at 5 PM. Sun came out for a while at the end of the day. Andy came a little before 7 PM and asked me to save the last thigh for him tomorrow. I went in at 7:30 PM to clean up, made Kam 2 pieces of pizza, grabbed the last slice and a couple of cookies. S&A came home from the store (off to get some presents – belated Christmas or New Year) as I was throwing the box out, and Susan asked me to make stir-fry for supper tomorrow. Finished up, came back, prayed rosary, and hit the hay.

 

1/3/20: Up a little before 4 AM and wrote down dream, checked e-mail, and looked at illustrator sites. Almost 5 AM, and I think I’ll lay down again and see what happens. Tolkien’s Birthday.

Up again about 6:30 AM, from another dream. Prayers, catechism, Bible, and rosary. Now almost 7:40 AM. Have decided to not go to Walmart today, but instead wait to see how things go. A weekend of semi-fasting wouldn’t be amiss.

A little after 9 AM, just after I had gotten my breakfast ramen and a cheese dip sandwich, and I was watching the latter half of The Thief of Bagdad (I always seem to catch it just when Abu is stealing the All-Seeing Eye), the workmen finally come bringing in the screens, and the first one they attach is the one on my kitchen window.

It only takes them about 15 minutes to do them all together. So, I go through the day able to air out the house completely. It’s a fairly sunny day, mid-60’s. I go in about 2 PM and Kam asks me to grass the Chis and fry him some eggs and bacon, and the new ventilation helps with that, too. Eat some sour cream dip as I cook.

At 3:30 PM I go out to sweep the porches and pick up some sticks. I gave Kam that action figure I found New Year’s Day; I think it is from ‘Black Panther’. At 4 PM I go to feed the animals and start supper. The stir-fry has shrimp, stir-fry vegetables, and extra broccoli, with cauliflower on the side. I run in and out putting the bags in the bin and rounding up the Chis. Eat my supper, but don’t feel like watching The Flintstones today. Thinking about writing all day, and what to do, but it doesn’t look like I’ll produce yet. Thinking about Dan Harmon’s ‘story circle’. Now 5:27 PM. Bed about 10 PM.

 

1/4/20: Woke up about 4 AM, and prayed and read catechism, then back to sleep. Then at 5:30 AM read Bible and laid down again. At 6:30 AM got up, got dressed, and made ramen. Spent much of the day finishing reading Gogol and then Turgenev short stories. About 12:30 PM had ramen for lunch. About 2 PM Susan came to tell me about a leak that they’d found in the back yard. She said that I could have the rest of the sour cream dip and later tamales. She and Andy worked on the yard for some hours, and I had the pleasure of smelling a cold mowing.

Spent much of the day pondering the best way to expend the rest of my resources; more or less decided on the roll of a die to wait until Monday and go to Walmart. I do have stuff to eat, if not the tastiest of stuff, which will get me through.

I went in at 5:30 PM and got some tamales with cheese dip. These were very good tamales, lots of meat. I spilled some watery cheese (I put water on the plate with my tamales to help ‘steam’ them) on my old grey sweater and had to take it and my shirt off. Felt sleepy by 7 PM. Prayed my rosary and conked out.

 

1/5/20: Up about 5:30 AM, after a night of up and down, with some dreams, including a very straightforward dream that I had a hard time getting out of my mind, but which I will not record. I only mention it because it was the most powerful one I’ve had in quite a while, but it’s fading as I apply myself to real life. Right side of my head still stopped up; I wonder if all these dreams are a result of fever? Anyway, took a shower and dressed, and on to the rest of my prayers, catechism, Bible.

Off to church at 7 AM; Fr. Tony (our ‘substitute’ priest) presiding. A pretty nippy morning. Home and then some ramen for breakfast, and later, ramen for lunch. Thinking about how to get to the Coliseum next Sunday.

About 2 PM S&A came in with the box from Kam’s room to store in here and we put it on the ‘room divider’ pile of bins. As they were heading for Walmart, I asked them if they could take my gift card and get me a box of ramen (not for now, but next weekend) and 3 jugs of Big Red Zero, and they very kindly said yes. As I thought there was another bin coming, I made room in the kitchen closet.

Later I found out no, there wasn’t another bin, so Andy moved the one off the divider and into the closet. I didn’t mind it, but it’s semi-transparent and doesn’t go with the other bins. Later they brought me part of chicken (back, a little breast, and a wing) with dipping sauce and that (with some ramen, that I went ahead and broke into) made my supper. Continued reading Turgenev most of the day, and even made a quote from Prose Poems my daily blog on Power of Babel. Bed at nearly 11 PM.

1/6/2020: Up about 5:30 AM, dress, prayers, catechism, and Bible. I’m pretty sure school starts today again, so planning on that, along with laundry. Write one paragraph of “Philo”.

Andy knocks at the door about 7:45 AM and tells me that the plumber is coming this morning, and not to run water. I say okay. This sets my wash back a few hours, and I boil the eggs for egg salad (and the ten Susan asked me to make yesterday) using jug water. It takes surprisingly little. Listen to GGACP. S&A come at 11:30 AM and tell me the water is on, so I start my laundry. For tomorrow, they want turkey chili and gumbo, as well as the broccoli salad I make today.

My right leg still in shooting pain, my right arm weak, the right side of my head still plugged up and ringing (infection?). Am I on the way out? What could I do if I am?

Well, at 1 PM I started making broccoli salad (having the kitchen table clear certainly helped), finished, and about 2 PM let the Chis out. My first load was done, and I put it in the dryer and started my second load in the washer. Something is going on with the washer, which has further added to my hump today. And such a beautiful day, warm and clear and blue. Please God I get to the end of it.

Also ate Pumpkin Delights, which I’d forgotten I still had.

So at 4 PM I started supper (fish rings and couscous), let the Chis out again, and checked my uncooperative wash. Finished cooking supper, ate my portion (Kam also gave me a taco of his from Saturday; I used some of the salsa in my ramen/couscous). Susan had gone off walking but was back at 6 PM. I told her what was going on with my wash, and apparently, it’s something that happens when the water’s been shut off, so no reprisals there. Andy gets home soon thereafter and helps me with the machine. A little later I help Kameron with his Thank You cards, clear away after supper, and at 8:40 PM my wash is at last finished. I go in, hang it up, and feel sleepy, but not without first praying my rosary. Then I crash, a little after 10 PM.

E-mail from John:  He [Mike] has been showing up a lot in my dreams lately as well.  He's a busy man for someone who hasn't walked the face of the earth for over thirteen years.  The weather has been perfect lately, but of course, there is grumbling room still- the lack of cold or especially moisture bodes ill for certain aspects of the future- but, in the face of such perfection one feels churlish to harbor such grumbles. We had a nice weekend, M and I went to a few spots in San Marcos on Saturday for our Daddy/Daughter Day, and Amy and I had our "first Sunday of the month " lunch date at one of our favorite restaurants in Lockhart. I investigated a nearby record store which had such an amazingly Babel-ish stock of CD's at rock bottom prices that I had to confirm that it was reality and not one of those "perfect store" dreams- I ended up with six CD's for less than $25, and all amazing finds! Just crazy. There was lots there still for future raids, if, God willing, the store persists for a while. I have been reading Gulag still, but also the writings of Marcus Aurelius on the side. I have really been getting a lot out of his work- have you ever read it?

Notes

The Flintstones had only recently returned to locally available TV, and as I had not seen it for many years, I was interested in watching it again. It is strange to look back at the time Kameron was still going to school and how absolutely regimented my schedule was to that. Also, strange to see how attuned the time was to Russian literature just it is this year: John was reading Gulag by Solzhenitsyn and now I am reading Cancer Ward. I notice I wasn’t writing very much then either; probably has to do with the holiday season and recovering from it. Despite all my handwringing I’m still here, plugging away. Seems to be part of my perennial bouts of self-pity. I had read some of Marcus Aurelius, but rather spottily. Man, I miss listening to Gilbert Gottfried and his guests.