May 2020 Diary: Toilet Seats and Twain

 

5/15/2020: Up a little after 5 AM and decided to start the day. So about 5 hours of sleep with a bathroom break in the middle. Not surprisingly, had a dream about Mark Twain. Prayers and Bible. Caught up Diary.

About 7 AM went out and did three turns around the driveway. Looking for a screwdriver, I found 2 AAA batteries, which I needed for the AC remote. Hooray! Wrote a few pages on AFYHM, but not much after 10 AM. Laid down at 11 AM and up at 1 PM, after which I finally changed the toilet seat and cleaned up the surrounding toilet. Not perfect, but better than it was. Re-arranged a few books on the shelf next the door and it gave me the feeling of progress. Music still missing, but the Notifications are notifying on FB again. E-mail to John about 2 PM: Well, today I installed my new toilet seat at last. As it was, I only lacked two tools: a big screwdriver, and the gumption to apply myself. It took about 15 minutes altogether; 5 to take off and 10 to put on, and 5 of THAT was scrutinizing the instructions. The best feature of this seat is that the lower part will actually stay up (unlike my old one) which means there's less a chance I'll wet where I sit. It's sort of part of my new efforts. To at least cut down on my starches and start walking regularly. This morning I did some revolutions on the circular driveway, and plan to do some later this evening. Got more writing done, shuffled some books and worked on my Book Inventory (which you can see on Finder's Keep). But it's not all easy beans. For one thing my music library disappeared on Thursday. I'm not particularly worried; there are indications it's still there but inaccessible. It's done this before, and as inexplicably appeared again. And I've got it all on CD. And I was getting sick, frankly, of endlessly listening to the same stuff and am actually enjoying a rest.

Also started frying taters about 2:30 PM, and it took me until 5 PM to finish that. Rosary, then grassing the Chis and starting the fish in flying visits. Kept worrying that I’d return to find the house aflame. Took my supper in after Susan returned home. Went for another walk about 6:30 PM, three more revolutions. Looked like some rain might be coming in. Went in and cleaned up at 8 PM. By the strangest coincidence, ST:TNG has on “Time’s Arrow” with the appearance of Mark Twain that I’ve been quoting for 2 days now!

Saw they had “Solar Opposites” so I logged onto Hulu for like the second time ever, and they’ve got tons of good stuff, like Flapjack and Zim and Adventure Time. Watched about 5 episodes and it’s almost 11 PM now. Turned on the AC and am going to try to sleep now.

 

5/16/2020: Woke up about 5 AM and wrote down dream, including a tune. Wrote a little bit, prayed, Bible, and laid back down. Up about 10 AM and wrote some more, then continued on writing, taking a break, puttering, then writing again. About 5 PM I went out to do revolutions, and Andy came out and offered to take me to HEB and get my medicines. We did that, then I came in and wrote some more. Didn’t get to the end of AFYHM, but by 9 PM I was sure I had done all I was going to do, so stopped. Rosary. Finished watching “Solar Opposites”. Almost midnight, and ready for bed. The day seems to have gone by so fast.

 

5/17/2020: Up about 6:30 AM, prayers, Bible, then at 7 AM mass on EWTN. Did my revolutions then took medicine. Started writing about 8:30 AM and wrote till 10:30 AM and got the fight in AFYHM done. Now I only have to write: Maggie’s restoration, Bob’s talk to Cassie, the return to the fountain, Koppa picking up the Morgs, Tim’s parting and the fading of Maggie, and Bob’s decision to hang around a while. Piece of cake. It’s 11 AM and I haven’t eaten anything but a few peppermints. No AC yet as it’s been very mild this morning, but I feel the heat’s a-coming. Time for some Twain and a nap, I think.

Finished “Roughing It”, had short nap until 12:20 PM, then up.  Prayed my rosary and walked 3 more rounds. Getting pretty hungry, so I wish they’d either bring me ‘leftovers’ (of which there might be one boiled egg and some bananas this week) or go to the store so I can get some ramen, bread, and fresh eggs for brunch. Until either happens, on to the end of AFYHM!

At 2 PM(?) Andy came out and talked about the new diet I had mentioned, and I went in and got a boiled egg, a ramen, a regular egg, and the leftover mushrooms. Made a soup, then went back to work. After they got back from the store, Andy brought me 3 bananas and a little bag of chips. I finished the first draft of AFYHM at 7:20 PM and sent it off to John and Yen almost immediately. About 7:45 PM S&A took the dogs for a walk, so I did 3 more rounds too. Came in and saw more of “Time’s Arrow”, then flicked around the channels some. I am glad to finish the story, but this is also a tense time as I wait for opinions to come in. New Rick and Morty tonight! Prayed my Rosary at 10 PM. The R&M was okay, but I think some of the novelty is wearing off and it’s starting to get referential instead of developmental. It might be falling into the ‘magic’ trap, too; if a character is too powerful, problems become too easy, and more and more constraints must be imagined. Rick has a few restrictions, but they are mostly self-imposed. Luckily, his stubbornness and self-image make these ironclad ... until they don’t.

 

5/18/2020: Up about 6:20 AM. Prayers and Bible. Got dressed. Dogs (including neighbor dogs) barking a lot this morning. Went out a little after 7 AM anyway to do my turns, just as Andy was letting Ginger out, which I didn’t think happened until 7:30 AM. Eh. Neither John nor Kenny has responded to my story yet.

Just saw that on THURSDAY at 4:30 PM on EWTN they are starting a two-part Chesterton special. Must remember this.

At 9 AM went into boil eggs, make chicken salad, and 1 ramen with 2 eggs (and the chicken broth). Started the wash. Wrote up 3 books for the BI (Book Inventory) and listened to GGACP. Also did quite a bit of WWF. Spent much of the rest of the day waiting for any reactions to AFYHM but getting none.

At noon I finished the wash and started the broccoli salad early, while S&A were still here. Began reading “The Innocents Abroad” (IA from hereon).  For lunch a cheese sandwich. Kept playing WWF until I already have half the points I need in just one day. Started supper a little later today, about 4:15 PM, Fish patties, Mediterranean couscous. For my supper I had the couscous thickened with an egg and firmed up in the microwave. About 6:20 PM went out for 3 more turns. Rosary. During the evening checked into the SSI business. It seems very daunting to me. What I really need is a guide at my side as I try to navigate through it. It would be great if Susan or Amy could help me. Bed about 9:30 PM. Oh, and really started my medicine today. Need to firm up regular times to take it. I’m thinking 8 AM for most of them, then the second Metformin at 8 PM, then the Simvastin at 10 PM.

 

5/19/2020: Up about 6 AM. Prayers, Bible, aspirin, dressed. Caught up diary. Now that I’ve had a little time for AFYHM sit a while, I am impressed with the almost dreamlike nature of the story for me. It seems to follow a logic all its own, and its settings have a hallucinatory realness to me, stitched together

as they are from real places yet changed around with that jumbled piecemeal artistry that nightly wanderings have. I particularly see the St. Elwig bowling alley, smashed together and stretched out with bits of the old lanes, the Kingdom Hall, and the outside of buildings in Geronimo. Though I’m already thinking about picking up American Prometheus again, I’m not holding myself to doing any new writing until June. It’s now 6:40 AM. Might do a little editing, though. And I did, after I did 3 turns at 7 AM. Took Medicine at 8 AM.

At 9 AM, I made Kam’s bacon and eggs, then a ramen with 3 eggs. Before I did, I had started the editing and then finished at 11:42 AM, after which I sent the revision to both John and Kenny. Right now it’s noon.

Grassed dogs and started supper at 3 PM (that’s a little early). Sausage, cabbage, and taters. Went in and ate a little after 4 PM. At 6:20 PM went out for 3 turns, then went in. Rosary. At about 7 PM dutifully sat down to start SSI quest, and in applying for a mySocialSecurity account, they asked me questions that implied that there was a new student loan associated with my number from about 4 years ago, and a car loan from just this January! They then shut down my account for 24 hours – I hope to investigate it. I went in and told Susan what had happened, then messaged Amy about my situation and asked her advice. As Susan said, it seems its always one step forward and two steps back. Went to bed about 10 PM. I would be more worried if I had any real property at risk; as it is its only my unused (except for this thief) record. And the trouble fixing it.

 

5/20/2020: Up at 4:30 AM. I guess I am awake. Caught up diary. Still no reaction to AFYHM. Accomplished my WWF badge already. At 7AM went out for my turns. Prayers, Bible. At 8 AM medicine. At 9 AM went in and peeled Kam an apple. Made my breakfast (1 ramen, 3 eggs). Figured out how to listen to music from my Music Stuff file. John called at 11:20 AM in answer to my desperate e-mail of about 10 AM and explained his strange emotional weather that kept him from reading the story just yet, and we discussed that. He sent me a couple of casual sketches by Morgandy that blew me away; when I saw the thumbs at the top of the e-mail, I thought they were photos, they were so good! Went in about 1 PM and made a sandwich for lunch.

Made chicken and broccoli rice for supper; for my own supper used the chicken breast, 3 carrots, and 2 stalks celery, and onions. Did 3 turns at 7 PM, then at 8 PM went to SS again, where the same thing happened. Yeesh. After going through a rigamarole of Susan asking me to go to the SS office tomorrow, asking John to take me, him saying he couldn’t, finding the office is closed anyway. Will call SS tomorrow for help to see. Bed about 10 PM.

Notes

As it was, I never found Solar Opposites very appealing and never finished it. My post is a little late today because I finally got my new printer going (with help from John) and have excitedly been making the first physical copies I’ve ever made of many of my short stories. I've had the machine for a little over a month. Now I just have to worry if I’m printing the best versions. They exist in several locations, which I have worked on separately several times. But as Miss Price might have pointed out, you must first have something to turn before you can turn it into something.