9/22/2020: First Day of
Autumn and Bilbo and Frodo’s Birthday. Up about 5:30 AM. Prayers and Bible, the
last chapter of Mark. Cast my eye over the medical form and made some last entries.
Intend to make my posts on NOT and then shower and dress. Estimated Time to
depart: 8:30 AM.
And so we did. It was lovely
fall weather, and we talked much of John’s job (pays less and is taking some
getting used to) and about “Grampa”. The clouds were laying in like three
lightening layers as we headed to SA. When we turned around, the clouds behind
us were still dark. It was quite dramatic. When found the medical clinic (which
were in buildings that I recognized from many trips; they were sort of
‘accordioned’ and used to have a radio station in one. We parked and I went in
and was soon in a room and had a preliminary look over by a nurse. Then I
waited about 40 minutes for the doctor to have a look at me, long enough for a
rosary and then a few Acts. She was quite a young doctor, very pleasant. After
some tests I went back out. We drove back to Seguin, and as we approached that
side of town, we visited Loop Drive. How the whole neighborhood has changed,
though much of it is still the same! The yard of 558 was filled with
blackbirds, more than I ever remember seeing in our time. When we got back here,
I bummed a dollar off John. S&A were just leaving. I went in and made me
some breakfast, and then lunch, and then laid down. About 3 PM Kam came in and
asked for help with his homework, making a resume. About 3:30 PM I started
supper (taters and cabbage, sausage). Brought in the recycling bin and fed the
animals. Took my supper in about 4:45 PM. Started a new DQ8 file. After I
washed up at about 8:10 PM, I played DQ8 until 1 AM. Ready to hit the hay,
though I still feel keyed up.
9/23/2020: I was up about
6:20 AM (from a dream about finding coins on a forest floor) and said my
prayers as I got dressed. I was out the door at 6:40 AM, and it was still
pretty dark. I got to TX Cooler and got my ticket (the old gentleman who hangs
around there opened the door for me both times, so I didn’t even have to touch
anything). Home by 7:30 AM. Read the Bible, straightened the house and made
tea. Right knee banging up something terrible, almost giving way; must rest it
now.
At 9 AM made eggs and ramen.
I’m feeling a little shaky. Not sure if it’s being tired from going to town or
a reaction to suddenly going slack after having anxiety for over a month.
Playing DQ8; about to go into the Ruined Abbey, so paused. Almost 12:30 PM now.
After supper I stayed up and
played DQ8 until 5 AM in the morning.
9/24/2020: Up about 7 AM.
The day went much as usual; I was feeling a bit more normal, but still tired.
Prayers, Bible, then played, played, played DQ8 all day, only pausing at 3 PM
to help Kameron with his homework and make supper. Rosary about 7 PM. About 9
PM finally posted on NOT. Almost 10 PM; perhaps I can sleep tonight.
9/25/2020: How fast
September is flying by! Take the day as read. The most unusual thing that
happened was that Kam (for his project for school) made “slime”. Why they make
them learn this useless, wasteful, and pointless skill is beyond me, unless it
is to teach them to follow instructions. Had to help him clean up afterward,
which was something of a pain (“slime” is mostly glue and takes some careful
disposal).
John sent me a lovely
autumnal picture that Morgandy had drawn in about 20 minutes; it was better (as
I told him) than anything I could draw if I took all day on my best day. Kenny
shared on Facebook that Isabel has her driver’s license now.
9/26/2020: Up about 6 AM.
Prayers, Bible. DQ8 in the intervals all day. NOT. Egg salad at 10 AM. Ramen
and eggs at 5 PM. Saw Alan Peschke had written music for and performed “Blue
Tears Falling in a Crystal Sky” [one of my poems that I still need to post
here, it seems]. Made S&A dip-dips at 7 PM and got some chili limon corn
chips. Kam and I watched “Time of the Apes”. He went in about 9 PM. DQ8
until 11 PM, then rosary. Bed about midnight.
9/27/2020: Up about 6:30 AM.
Prayers, shower, then Bible. Now it’s almost 7:15 AM; ready for YouTube mass.
Remember to tell John about early drawing of a dog [an early drawing I had made
of a Pluto-like dog in a top hat; maybe 3rd Grade]. Plunged pretty
much into ‘grinding’ on DQ8, with alchemy mixes, getting casino tokens, and in
between, almost as an afterthought, playing the game to advance the story. Two
ramen and some old bananas my portion today. Stopped at 9 PM to say my rosary, then
resumed. It is now 3 AM, and I am tired but not sleepy, which is not a good
combination. During the evening I was suddenly attacked by McQueeney emotions
and memories, and that brought on the what-ifs. “When I start 1st
Grade next time, this is what I’ll do …” I guess a man who has no foreseeable
future only has a past.
9/28/2020: Woke up about
7:30 AM, prayers, Bible. Worked on NOT, starting my main Lewis books today.
There is quite a lot of them. At 9 AM started laundry, and so a typical Monday
played itself out, except it was cool, windy, and brightly cloudy all day. Got
through all my stuff, skimming over it all as it were, as I impelled myself
through DQ8 and did my chores as in a trance. I petted Dodger before I realized
he had just had his flea spots. At 4 PM started supper, and so on. I had early
written John this:
A more brisk and lovely early autumn day one
could not ask for! Last night, at about 3 AM in the sleepless morning, I made a
vow to write at least 2 pages a day, one on 'Franklinstein' and one
reworking 'King Korm'. I believe this is doable, even for a slump like
me, and this weather is like an encouraging message that this is the right
thing.
For a while it looked like I
would fail on that promise, but I forced myself to sit down and do it. Rosary
at about 11 PM. Played DQ8 until about 2 AM, then bed.
9/29/2020: The Feast of the
Archangels, Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Up a little before 7 AM; a cool,
brisk morning. Said my prayers as I dressed, then Bible. Gathered stuff for NOT
and posted more CSL, with half an eye on Perry Mason. Nice cool morning.
Went in at 9 AM, ramen and eggs. More DQ8. Went out and brought the garbage
bins in, investigating a strong smell of gas – butane? – and then brought a
huge heavy package off the front porch to the kitchen porch. Nap. Went in about
2:30 PM to get my lunch ramen, then at 3 PM Kam called for me to help with his
homework. It was measuring various items around the house. I pointed out to him
that the point of the exercise was not to obtain the measurements but to teach
him how to make them. Started supper (sausage cabbage taters), then took mine
in before 5 PM. Rosary. Did my page of revision on King Korm, then more
DQ8. I’m already at the Black Citadel. Knocked off a little after 9:10 to catch
up my diary and do AP [American Prometheus aka Franklinstein;
never did finish that story, and Bob’s Book 2 petered out after a while]
page.
Wrote the page, then
gathered covers for tomorrow’s NOT (more Lewis). Now at 10:44 PM, I smell the
inevitable smoke that besmirches the night air whenever it is finally cool
enough to leave the windows open. Bed at 12.
9/30/2020: Up about 7:30 AM;
conditions were just right for a fair amount of sleep. Perhaps not drinking tea
all day helped. Prayers, Bible. Posted on NOT, then through the day worked on
setting up a document so I could work on sorting the Wish List without being
signed into Amazon. In at 9 AM and made ramen, then made Kam bacon and eggs. He
only ate 2 pieces of bacon; he said it tasted funny. They tasted fine to me,
but I knew we needed to use up that package. It had been open almost 3 weeks.
Defeated Rhapthorne. Almost immediately made myself more ramen, then was able
to nap till about 2 PM. Had a grand time working on the list. At 4 PM went it,
fed pets, and started the Frito pie. Went in at 5 PM, ate, then said Rosary.
Beautiful full moon tonight. Jade tried to run out of the fence when S&A
were trying to walk the dogs. Went in and cleaned up about 8:15 PM, then came
in and did my two pages; technically, there is nothing else I need to do
tonight. But I am thinking of a project of moving around the contents of the
“little dresser” drawers, putting things in the one behind the bed that needn’t
be so accessible. I did move the Oz and Wonderland display case up onto the
shadow-box, which kind of inspired me to try more arranging, but there’s only
so much one can do. Bed about 10:30 PM.
NOTES
What can I say? Today is
‘the Birthday’ again, which I will post about a little later. Not much celebration
five years ago, no doubt because a) I had no money and b) the medical trip took
up too much energy. Still doing seasonal ‘arranging,’ as one’s restlessness
prompts. Come on, cooler weather.
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