2020 Diary: The First Week of August

8/1/2020: It’s already August! This strangely suspenseful year seems to be hurrying by. Up at 6 AM, and slowly got dressed. Prayers, Bible. Off to TX Cooler about 6:35 AM, is my goal.

And off I went, and was back by 7:25 AM. Showered, dressed, and fried some taters for breakfast. Went to check the porch a little after 9 AM, and there were my books (at least some of them) in one package. The Victorians, The Beasts of Never, and Father Christmas’s Fake Beard. I looked into BN, read all of FCFB, and after 12 started delving into TV. But first at 11 AM I went out and looked into the mailbox, then got a ramen just as S&A got home from taking Kylo to the vet. Later about 1 PM I took the key to open the mailbox, and there was the Shanafelts’ mail; I brought it to the back porch. Posted on all 3 sites through the day. Rosary at 5 PM. Made some rice with the potato ‘grease’ from yesterday. While looking at YT I started watching an anime movie called “Colorful” almost on a whim. It turned out to be good, a sort of Bangsian fantasy about a soul getting a second chance back on earth. He is told he is going into the body of a boy who has committed suicide; what it is not told is that HE was that boy. He gets to see his life at a remove, as it were, and able to make decisions with less overwhelming emotion. Up reading TV most of the evening, then bed.

 

8/2/2020: Well, no lottery win. Woke up about 4 AM from a dream about Loop Drive and Mike especially. I was sulking in my room and not letting anyone in until they realized how they were treating me. Up, prayers, Bible, rosary. Straightened, dressed. Watched YT Mass. By 7:36 AM had posted for BIB [Biographical Inventory of Books] on NOT and gathered covers for DVDs and Shadow Library. About noon called in to make bacon, eggs, and pancakes, and had a hearty meal and visit. Afternoon spent mostly reading TV and napping, waking up from a dream of Japanese people (influenced by ‘Colorful ‘and watching a special on Only Yesterday, and then on Miyazaki) exactly at 5 PM, whereupon I called John, as he had called me in the dream. We talked almost an hour. He suggested we do a Youtube show and see if we couldn’t monetize it. Andy brought me in a delicious plate of rice and chow mien noodles. Went in and cleaned up the pans from lunch. Watched some reviews of the LOTR movies, then more TV, then bed.

 

8/3/2020: Up about 6 AM after a night of intermittent (unrecorded) dreams; prayers and Bible. Spent much of the morning finding covers for NOT, watching Perry Mason, playing WWF, reading TV. Went out at 9:10 AM to start wash, check mail (nothing yet). Boiled eggs, made egg salad, made my ramen. Switched wash at 10:10 AM. Checked mail; some had come, including “River’s Edge”. S&A home about 11:12 AM.

Rest of the day rolled on. Reading TV, lunch as ramen and sandwich (I’m feeling ravenous). Supper cucumber salad, couscous, and fishcakes for the Shanafelts. Rosary, and more reading all evening.

 

8/4/2020: Up about 6 AM. Prayers and Bible. Shower. Gathered covers for NOT, an increasingly pleasurable task. Went in at 9 AM and Kam didn’t want breakfast; made my ramen, eggs, and bread. No mail yet. Waited on the porch from about 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM, but no mail. A pretty cloudy, damp morning; humid. Lots of squirrels, cardinals, and other birds. Said my Rosary at noon. S&A came and went. Finally went in and made Kam toast, and a sandwich and another ramen for my lunch. Went in and read and napped. Up at 3:30 PM; checked the mail and fed the cats. Went in and started supper of sausages, taters and cabbage; sometime between 3:30 PM and 4 PM the mail finally came, and there was Adventure Time: The Final Seasons! After I finished supper, I checked the discs and they all play well. More ‘TV’. Washed up at 7:30 PM, then at 8 PM got Kam tea and soda. Gathered more covers for tomorrow. Now 9 PM, and I intend to read until bed.

 

8/5/2020: Up at 4 AM, and I was just awake. Added a few books to the Shadow Library List, WWF, prayers, Bible, then posted all my NOT posts all-to-wunst. Rosary. Now 5:36 AM and prolly go cover hunting now. Shower first, though.

By 6:37 AM had all the covers for tomorrow, made my daily jug of tea, and taken my medicine. Time to read more of “The Victorians”. Spent some time hunting DVD covers. At 9 AM made Kam bacon and eggs, and then my ramen and eggs. Reading much of TV. Called John in the afternoon; he’s going to visit tomorrow after his job interview at Continental. At lunch more ramen and a sandwich. Reading. At about 3 PM started making chicken, rice, mushrooms and broccoli. Reading. At 7:45 PM went in to clean up, made Kam taquitos and TX toast, and he came in to watch a MST3K (Moon Unit 2) until 9 PM. Saw Susan, told her my last package was in; she said Kaitlyn dropping off her dogs tonight. Finished off “The Victorians” at about 11:30 PM. Time fer bed.

 

8/6/2020: I was up at 6 AM, and so far, all the normal daily events have come to pass. I started reading ‘River’s Edge’ by James P. Blaylock; I looked up the lyrics to ‘Mithrandir’; I posted thrice on NOT. It’s 2 PM and no John so far. I’ve been contemplating starting up Bob’s Book 2 again all week, maybe doing it ‘screenplay style’ again. Of course, that would leave me with re-writes later, but at least it would be progress. Been feeling a big hunger over the last two days, especially craving chocolate. Dreamed I was on the bus again; the driver was an old teacher of mine (unrecognized). I had a shelf of books I was trying to get home intact, and we were driving farther and farther away, into a big city. While I was looking around for connectors for the PS2 I found John’s old Briesemeister yearbook: my 8^th grade class, and all the teachers. Picture of Daryl Fleming’s classroom, with the LOTR tapestry. Soon I’ll have to shuck some more gyut-dang corn for supper. August weariness is upon me. About 3 PM I went in and cooked, blah blah blah. A little after 5:30 PM John emailed me; he’d forgotten to take the stuff he was going to bring and will probably come by tomorrow instead. His job interview went well and he’s starting on the 24^th. I feel worn-out and weak, rather like that grounded cicada I saw yesterday on the driveway: still making noise but barely moving. Finished reading ‘River’s Edge’, so that completes the reading of the books (except for ‘Beasts of Never’, and I feel almost too tired to read that; the chances of being surprised by it are slim, though I had to have it and probably would have reveled in it once on a time). Strangely haunted by the old Breezy yearbook; odd to think I was there the first time it opened, over 40 years ago. The rayon rugs, the fake wood paneling, the accordion walls. The snack machines, where my favorites were hot peanuts and cheese popcorn and hot fries and those fake-bacon looking crisps. Ach, and grinding corn-nuts when I had teeth. Wonder what the school is like now? After going through a long update, all the songs in Windows Media Player suddenly reappeared, after being unavailable for a few months.

 

8/7/2020: Up about 5:40 AM. Prayers, Bible, and now to post for the day and then hunt new covers. Idea for a series: jerks and a**holes come up with evil plans that are foiled by basically good people who accidentally (just by being who they are) upset their schemes; i.e., good as a natural force of chaos. Play on sympathy for the jerks as their elaborate plots are foiled. The day passed in a sort of nervous suspense as I waited for John, who never came. Oh, I did things; fried taters and made supper. Rosary. Reading ‘Pudd’nhead Wilson’ (which seems the most naturally written of Twain’s novels – I don’t count his travel books. Perhaps because it’s not in any dialect or assumed persona, like Joan). Not a bad day, but a sort of timeless suspense, haunted by memories of Briesemeister still.