January Juncture: 2021 Diary

1/12/2021: Up at 7:30 AM. Prayers. Shower and dress. Made ramen and cream of chicken soup for breakfast. At 9 AM Kameron calls me to make him bacon and eggs. At 11:10 remember to read Bible.

Go in a little bit before 2 PM, because my HEB order is due between 2 and 3. I start prepping the cabbage etc., and it comes at 2:20 PM. The pork and chicken eggrolls and Ritz crackers didn’t come (wasn’t charged for that) but also 3 larger cans of tomato sauce for which I WAS charged, so I messaged HEB about that. Finished making sausages and frying cabbage. Went in about 4:15 PM. Oh my, it’s cold today! Went in at 7:30 PM to wash up and made Kameron kolaches and corn dogs. Back in at 8 PM. Here’s what I plan to do: Green Acres at 9:30 PM, then rosary, then bed.

 

1/13/2021: Awake at 2 AM (possibly the Big Red Zero). Prayers, Bible, and rosary. Asleep again about 3 AM I guess. Up again at 5:45 AM and waiting for the [MeTV] cartoon show. Had a PB&J and took my medicine. It’s now 7 AM, and the cartoons are over. Wrote a couple of pages of Koppa.

Kameron called me at 8 AM, saying S&A already gone and asking me to make him breakfast. Got eggs, bacon, frying pan, and some of the sausage patties I had bought, then Susan comes in just as I’m headed back out to cook in the guest house. Fry everything up with sausage and eggs for me, take Kam’s stuff in then wash the frying pan. “War of the Gargantuas” on TV.

Throughout the day I play WWF and already finish up my weekly point spread. Talk to John and Kenny about Toonie [the Toon in With Me mascot] over the computer. About 2:30 PM start prepping the stuffed bell peppers and stick them and Susan’s sweet potato and Andy’s baked potato into the oven at 3:30 PM. Done about 4:45 PM. Eat my ‘stuff’ [the bell pepper hamburger stuffing] in sandwiches. Go in about 6:45 PM and wash up, then watch “Murder by Death” from 7 PM to 8:40 PM. Take medicine. Nothing to do but pootle around till I go to bed. Renewed my Microsoft 365 Personal. Tried to call HEB about the missing items on my order, but it was too late.

 

1/14/2021: Up about 6:30 AM. Prayers and Bible. Moving kind of slow this morning, but it’s not so cold. Ate a slice of bread with apricot jelly and took my medicine. Soon time to call HEB about my order’s missing items.

I called HEB and got that moving. After 9 AM I fried myself some sausage patties and scrambled eggs. Kept checking the porch all morning, then about 11:30 AM dozed off. A little after 12 Andy woke me up bringing in the missing HEB orders. I slept a little more until 1 PM then made myself spaghetti and meatballs. Activated my Norton protection. The day has turned nice and toasty, about 65 degrees. Had the windows open. About 3:30 PM started supper (chili, rotinis, corn on the cob). After I finished, I made Kam a grilled cheese (with mayo this time). I wonder if my Microsoft 365 Personal is properly installed.

Cheese and crackers! It took me ever so long to get it done (over an hour, maybe an hour and a half) but it’s finally installed. I went in at 7:30 PM to wash up while I was waiting. Opened a can of pine-apple rings at 8 AM. Reading “English Lit Relit”. Watched Green Acres – don’t know why, it’s never very funny, but it does recall a certain time. Rosary at 9 PM, then reading until I dropped off a few pages from the end of “English Lit Relit”.

 

1/15/2021: Up, after the usual night of up and down, at 7:30 AM. Prayers, Bible, shower, chicken noodle soup for breakfast, medicine. Can of peaches. Now almost 8:30 AM. Started “The Classics Reclassified.” The year is already 1/24 over.

Went in at 9 AM and made Kam biscuits, and I shared my taquitos with him as well. Reading and dozing until Andy brought me in more mail (it seems the SSI is in love with me; I’ve been getting letters almost every day). Made ramen for lunch. At 2 PM Kam has me help him with his school project (basically coloring and making a paperchain). A 3 PM I pause to start frying taters, then on with the chain and frying until almost 5 PM, with making the fish somewhere in between. I have fish and almost no potatoes, supplementing my meal with leftover chili and bread. Go in at 7:30 PM to wash up and talk to Susan about Stephanie’s wedding today (Kaitlyn’s friend) and making the omelet tomorrow. Finish “The Classics Reclassified” and start “Twisted Tales from Shakespeare”. Rosary at 8:20 PM. Back to reading and expect to fall asleep soon.

 

1/16/2021: Up at 2 AM and went ahead and said my prayers, read the Bible, and prayed the rosary. Woke up about 7:30 AM again, ate Campbell’s chicken noodle soup, took medicine. Started working on a post for NOT about the VB Seasons 6&7. Went in at 10 AM to start making the omelet for the family. Finished at 11 AM; turned out well.

Finished my post. Andy changed my lightbulb a little after 12. Overate today with: 10 sausage patties, 10 taquitos and French onion dip, box of Kraft spaghetti, and 4 Little Debbie oatmeal cakes. Filled in the interstices with reviewing NOT from the beginning, watching Family Guy episodes, watching episodes of Babylon Bee about Tolkien, Lewis, and them reading LOTR by chapter.

Now 8:40 PM and already considering hitting the hay.

 

1/17/2021: Woke up at about 2:30 AM with this dream [redacted]. Damn. Make a good short story. The accidents of the situation are creepily close to real life, without the personalities or the incidents being particularly correct, and transposed to another era – just about a hundred years ago, I now realize. I chose the name Dylan as I wrote it down. Seemed appropriate. It’s now 3:20 AM. Gathered together stuff for the morning then laid back down. Said my prayers. Up again at 6 AM. Nicked my cheek while shaving.

Got ready and left a little before 7 AM. Got to church; rosary, ducked into the restroom right quick, then Mass began. Father Stan rather hot on the political situation. Started walking home. The worst part was that my shoes got wet, and I have to wear my sandals. Ate a bite and took my medicine; now I’m making ramen. It’s 10:30 AM.

At 3 PM or so I made the rest of my meatballs with a sauce of butter, tomato sauce, and garlic pepper. Watched the first two episodes of “Wanda-Vision” on Disney+ and I would rate them amusing but not engaging yet. Through the evening I dipped into “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” on AMC while waiting for football to end on KRRT and the two animated shows to come on. Finished off the lembas. Posted on NOT and POB. I’m feeling low; hard to tell if it’s physical or mental depression. It’s now 11:10 PM.

 

1/18/2021: Awoke about 7:30 AM. [Dream: I went to a college class to pick up John. I myself was not enrolled and was feeling mighty humble. The class was just ending. They were sitting around a table watching the end of a film on a TV; the class looked asleep. As the lights came up though the professor said – not looking at me directly, mind you – “You’re lucky you came in at the end; most of the facts mentioned have been discredited or questioned.” The class was on Tolkien and his works, and I remember yearning to join. “As you leave, consider this for next session: what could possibly be the use of this object?” He lifted a staff in the shape of an X, like two long pieces of wood fitted together. One of the students (dressed like an elf, answered smugly, in Elvish. The professor looked surprised. “Very good.” he said, “However did you know that?” John and I hurried out, John happily, I enviously and somewhat shamefacedly, as I was not in the circle and wanted to be.]

I prayed and read the Bible. Took my medicine and had a few prunes. I mention these details because I have been feeling a little bilious and bloated. I’ve also been feeling a little gloomy, but I intend to use this day to accomplish things.

Went in at 9 AM, put my shoes in the washer, then started boiling eggs for egg salad. Made a couple of cream cheese and Braunschweiger sandwiches, then made Kameron a couple of the same. Finished up cooking and cleaned up, and at 10 AM changed loads and came back here. Set my shoes out to dry (they actually look pretty good – I had been afraid they’d just disintegrate). Feel tired already. Growf. MASH is on, almost 11 AM. About 11:20 AM went out to change loads. A blustery day, kinda warm now, clouds coming and going, a green and gold day, rather coppery. At 12:30 PM changed loads again. Ate cream cheese and chive samwidges for lunch and folded clothes. Listening to GGACP. Need to make cucumber salad soon.

Made cucumber salad at 2 PM. Got the towels and brought them in. Making some ramen and eggs now and finishing up GGACP. Went in at 4 PM and made fish cakes and couscous. During the evening watched “O Brother, Where art Thou?” some more on AMC. Went in at 7:35 PM to clean up. Susan said I must like Herbed Chicken couscous a lot since I made it again; I said I simply made what was first in line as per usual. We went over it a bit and she rearranged the line. Watched Gomer Pyle and Green Acres then hit the hay after a bit.

Notes

Those were the early days of my ordering from HEB, so I fussed and clucked about it quite a bit. Learning how to describe the delivery destination exactly so the bags wouldn’t be delivered extra yards away (the front porch is diametrically opposed to where I need to lug them to – oh, my poor legs!) It costs almost $20 more, what with delivery fees and tip, but worth it for the time and trouble it saves (I don’t drive and would otherwise be having to constantly cadge a ride from others or take the 2-hour bus ride to only get what I could carry back in one trip). The drawback (or maybe the benefit) is that you have to carefully calculate what you need; it removes any whimsy or sudden inspiration you might have when physically shopping.

Records show that it was in March of that year that I bought a second-hand copy of O Brother, Where Art Thou? at what turned out to be our last visit to the Half Price Books in San Marcos. The store, which was already running on pandemic restrictions, closed a year after; I think the whole chain took a hit. I started getting most of my second-hand books from Amazon, again without the whimsy or chance of actual shopping, but the increased certainty of finding what you wanted. But then, you have to know what you’re asking for.

The couscous variance schedule, whose origin is noted here, still prevails. The cabbage fry (with carrots and potatoes) has fallen out of rotation. I've removed some details of my dreams and some stuff about my digestion process [otherwise immortalized in records of the time]. I wouldn’t have put all this as happening five years past; it seems to me that Kameron was just in school maybe a couple of years ago. "You know what's weird? Day by day, nothing seems to change, but pretty soon... everything's different." – Bill Watterson.