For My Next Trick

We are 13 days into the month and us residents just this afternoon had the Actvity Calendar for this month posted to our doors.

I guess it really doesn't matter inasmuch as there are no activities listed, LOL.

Except, "Thanksgiving Social and Tenant Council Meeting with Management, Tuesday, November 18, 12:00 pm - 1:30 pm".

I'm not expecting much from another management meeting or a "Thanksgiving social" but, if the Starbucks strike is over, I'll grab a cup, head down to the Community Room, just to see what Kesha and Assistant Manager are up to.

Hopefully, I can manage to listen, take notes on the meeting portion, keep my thoughts about management to myself, because voicing my frustrations, at previous meetings, has been a waste of energy.

HOWEVER, if there is any mention of our paying for lightbulbs, garbage disposal, toilet, that will be my opening to tell them I've learned it's illegal for management to charge us for those items — simple wear and tear; and ask what have they been doing with the money collected from that illegal practice.

Now that work on that never ending project came to an end, for my next trick Twin 1 has tasked me with designing a cover for this bathroom accessory ……

I haven’t a clue where to begin but, while I’m waiting for an idea to pop into my head, I thought I’d start with purchasing fabric.

After getting my BP checked yesterday (121/58), I drove over to the homophobic, racists, antisemitic Knit for Jesus craft store (don’t judge me for giving them my business. They’re the only option since Michael’s and Joann’s went out of business).

I picked up a bolt of Kente Cloth, cause I know Twin 1, with her afrocentric self, would like it.

Then saw a different print …… somewhat similar, but a little more muted that I thought she might like.

Not knowing which she’d like best, I took both bolts up to the little strait-laced grandma looking lady manning the yardage station.

She oohed and aahed over the Kente Cloth fabric, said she likes color and had in fact told her daughter she was going to make for herself a top and pants out of that specific colorful print.

Sensing she didn’t know what she saw as a "colorful print" actually was, I said, "It’s Kente Cloth".

Seeming not impressed, she said "I just like all the colors".

"Wearing pants and a top is a lot of color, and I don’t see you wearing that much color", said I.

She was a tiny little lady, and that much color would have swallowed her up. Her little body didn't exude the power to carry the print off.

She laughed said her daughter told her the same thing, that it was a lot of color, and now hearing it from me as well, maybe she’ll just make a top.

Thinking it might not actually be safe for a basic white strait-laced grandma type walking around in Kente Cloth, I added "Kente Cloth is pretty ethnic. They call it cultural appropriation now days".

We left it at that, as another customer approached, oohed and aahed over the Kente Cloth.

Later that night, I got to thinking about that conversation, wondered if I’d spoken incorrectly.

So, I asked Google …… "can white people wear kente cloth?"

There wasn’t an exact ye or ney. It was more or less, do it at your own risk, because inasmuch as the cloth symbolizes Black Excellence, to see a white person wearing is "conflicting". That you’re likely to get a lot of side eye because some do see it as cultural appropriation.

The internet also reminded me of the hew and cry that was when "with the introduction of new federal police reform legislation, Democratic Congressional leaders came together in Emancipation Hall in the U.S. Capitol to kneel together in support of the fight for racial justice. In addition to the symbolic gestures, the leaders, including Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, wore kente stoles …… In doing so, they meant to honor Black lives. Instead, they appropriated African culture".

They’d meant well, but caused quite a stir.

I imagine if that strait-laced granny follows through with either a top or pants or both, her circle of friends might think it cute, even some in the general public might think it cute/cool; but for me, I’m big on respecting the various cultures.

Like when I was training at the Thai culture Pain Cave. When told it would be deemed disrespectful to walk across the floor in shoes, I’d take shoes off in an area provided at the door, walk to the back training area in socks, slip athletic shoes back on AND repeat the process leaving — take off shoes in back room, walk to the front in socks, put shoes back on in area provided.

Once, Trainer said he’d ask the guys if an exception could be made for me, but I requested he not do so because "I believe in respecting the culture".

Later today, I messaged Twin 1 photos of the two prints; she chose the second one, the not Kente Cloth one.

Go figure.

The Kente won't go to waste. It will eventually come in handy for something I make in the future …… not pants and a top, though I myself probably could carry it off.

The Great Reveal

4 years … 4 months … 3,391 hours, not counting time spent prepping the piece in 2021, cleaning week before last, framing yesterday.

I can now hear myself repeating the words of Olivia de Havilland, in the closing scene of her 1949 film the Heiress as she placed the finishing stitch to her canvas … "I shall never do another".

There was a snafu in delivering the frame, which is why there was no delivery on Friday as notice indicated or on Sunday, as a revised notice indicated.

Going into tracking, I found the package was stuck because, at some point in the shipping process, the Apartment Number had been left off the address.

Once I added the Apt Number into the system on Monday, the snafu cleared and the apt number then appeared twice …… once because it was already correctly listed in the system, twice because I’d reentered it.

Go figure, but whatever works, and it did work as there was a successful delivery yesterday.

The week started off with a hug from Ernie on Monday …… even though I was wearing the "Look but do not touch" top and even though he saw it, read the words out loud before he pulled me into a hug.

I’d had to leave my sanctuary that morning to pick up photos that had been developed at the drugstore.

While in that area, I drove through the Starbucks down the street and, driving out, spotted that Nazi car again …… the one I’d spotted outside of that same Starbucks near a Dental Office a few months ago.

I get excited every time I see one of these abominations, am able to capture a pic. The feeling is much like hunters must feel at having caught big game in the wild.

I'm easily entertained, LOL.

Arriving back at the complex, I stepped out of the car, heard Ernie’s voice teasing, "Where’s my coffee" as he walked towards me, opened his arms for a hug, paused, read my shirt out loud, hugged me anyway, LOL.

With coffee in one hand, a package in the other, I was pretty much at Ernie's mercy, couldn't straight arm him.

Ernie is friendly, sweet, incorrigible, and I suspect may be a bit of a perv …… that all this hugging is his way of copping a feel.

Hopefully he’ll one day get a girlfriend, so he can rein in all this random hugging.

Today, I’m off to the medical center in Redlands for a blood pressure check to get the doctor off my back.

She’d been requesting a BP check, have people calling me to take it, even went so far as to schedule an appointment for me to take it at a facility I never go to for BP checks because parking is problematic and, once checked in, it takes too long to get the check.

Once, they left me sitting waiting for a full hour. Whereupon, I was too upset, BP surely off the chart from aggravation, so I walked out, only to get a threatening call later that if I didn’t get a BP check, the medication would be withheld.

What the hell, said I. I showed up for the scheduled check, it was you people who dropped the ball.

At any rate, I’ve been going to the Redlands facility ever since, where the process is easy breezy.

After that’s taken care of, who knows what wonderful adventure today will bring.

Knock on the Door

Plan for today was a nice leisurely morning. So there I was walking around in panties, no bra, no makeup, not yet showered or bathed, having just cooked breakfast, settling down to eat around 9:30 when there was a knock on the door.

It was the Head Maintenance Guy (HMG), accompanied by the Inspector I’d seen inspecting units yesterday and another guy.

I opened the door a crack to hide my state of undress, asked what was going on. "Inspection" said HMG.

"OH NO! I thought we were done with that", said I.

"We did one side of the property yesterday, we’re finishing off with this side today".

I offered to hide in the bathroom while the Inspector inspected, but HMG said, "We’re inspecting the bathroom as well". So, I had to run into the bedroom, quickly slip on a bra, a tee and let everyone in to see me without makeup, no perfume, no earrings.

What a nightmare, but it's probably karma for my being so cavalier in my reply to what Mitchell had commented yesterday about a "surprise inspection". Me laughing, commenting "a surprise inspection would be hilarious".

Not so hilarious when it happens to me; but it’s over, done with and it was interesting chatting with one of the guys who, seeing my never-ending needlepoint project, learned I've been working on it for over 4 years, and that the end seems near, said his mom gave up, never finished one she’d worked on for a couple years.

While we chatted, HMG and the other man were inspecting away, the other man making notes on his clipboard.

Being as how the one I was chatting with seemed so friendly, so fun, and the other so deadpan, I said, "Your partner is sooooo serious".

Laughing he said, "That’s because I’m from Corporate, here just to shadow the Inspector and M___ (HMG). He (the other guy) is from the State, all about inspecting. He's coming in one way or another".

"Like ICE", said I.

That zinger really made him laugh, then say, "Well not that bad".

At that time, HMG and the State Inspector came back in from inspecting the patio, the Inspector was smiling for the first time (I wonder what he saw that made him smile). HMG and the friendly guy from Corporate thanked me, apologized for the intrusion, and they were off.

I kid you not … less than 10 minutes later, as I was at last finishing my now lukewarm breakfast, there was another knock on the door. It was Assistant Maintenance Guy, here to repair something on the oven hood the State Inspector had noted on his clipboard paperwork.

"When the Inspector says something needs to be fixed, we have to get on it right away", said the Assistant Maintenance Guy.

I didn’t see anything wrong with the hood, Assistant Maintenance Guy didn’t see anything wrong, so I’m thinking the State Inspector is just throwing his weight around.

At any rate, all in all not a terrible experience this morning. I just hate that not one, not two, not three, but four persons have seen me without makeup.

I’d really like to get permanent makeup, looked into it some time ago, but found that high blood pressure is an impediment to the process.

Once Assistant Maintenance Guy was gone, I finished breakfast and got on with my usual morning ritual except, instead of getting fully dressed after bathing, I lounged in bra and panties, read a few blogs, started on today’s post when, around 11:30, there was yet another knock on the door.

It was Head Maintenance Guy again, this time saying he had some guys with him to follow up on the State Inspector’s notation about the water heater.

I said, "Count to ten, then come in" — by which time I’d disappeared into the bedroom to give up the idea of leisurely lounging, put on regular clothes.

Returning to the living room, I spied Head Maintenance Guy on the patio with two guys, one of which was HOLY SMOKING HOT EYE CANDY!

Thank the Lord I had my face paint on.

After the three on the patio were finished, Head Maintenance Guy said they’d be back later, after picking up a part, to fix the problem, that I didn’t need to stay home if I had something to do.

"Well, I’m dressed now. Free all rest of the day".

Truth be told, even if I had something else to do, I’d not leave, miss another opportunity to get a look at the Hot Eye Candy water heating company guy.

In other news, The Usual Suspects did not return to the Community Room yesterday to finish their projects. There was only myself, Crafty Lady and Dream Lover, now seemingly free of his entanglement with Lu, and probably lonely, as he seems the kind of guy that has to have a woman to hang out with.

Dream Lover’s finished product. Not bad.

Crafty Lady's near to completion project.

The Other Wheelchair Lady’s unfinished bunny. It’s cute though.

I just realized today is 9/11 and I’m feeling a little sad. Sad that it looks like the guy that ended Charlie K may end up like Luigi M … caught.

Human Pincushion

At the medical center this morning, to get the doctor-ordered blood work off my bucket list, I saw a sign for flu shots.

It was a walk-in clinic, so I didn’t have to go back to the desk, register for the shot, but I did have to wait an entire hour because the workers had just gone to lunch.

Wasn’t a horrible wait. I made myself comfortable in the air-conditioned building, watched kDramas on TikTok.

I usually get my Moderna booster around this time, but the vaccine is listed as "currently unavailable" and, the way things are going under this looney tunes administration, who knows when or even if the vaccine will become available.

Arriving back at the complex, I found this month’s Activity Calendar posted to the door, saw I’d missed a Health and Palliative Care Services breakfast presentation scheduled for this morning ... "Starbucks coffee, milk and donuts will be provided".

I don’t know what "palliative care is", but I definitely would have pivoted on the medical center, gone to the presentation just for the coffee.

I wonder how many others missed the presentation because management can’t issue the Calendar in a timely fashion.

I also see on the Calendar that a Community Meeting is scheduled for September 23 to "discuss questions, concerns, suggestions".

Those sessions are boring and pointless, but I’m so sick of missing events because management can’t or won’t get the Calendar out on time that I’m going to go, just so I can bring up how annoying it is to see events after the fact or on the day of, giving no time to arrange to attend.

Adding fuel to my current fire is they’ve got the unmitigated gall to once again push Rent Café with a blurb on the Calendar that Rent Café is the way to "Stay connected with everything going on".

BULL MANURE!

Rent Café was formerly touted as the way to get an electronic version of the Activity Calendar in order to "stay connected", but that’s not what's happening. I've only twice received an electronic version since signing up, and those too were late, after the fact.

If she repeats that lie about Rent Café in the Community Meeting, I’m going to challenge her on it, because I’m done with their bull crap.

Other than that, not a lot going on around here, except the Usual Suspects are planning a luncheon this Friday to celebrate Labor Day.

The event has twice been brought to my attention, but I’ve made no commitment to attend because I’m not sure if it’s bingo, with lunch at break time, or just a luncheon and I don’t want to get trapped back into bingo.

Curious, I think I’ll walk by the entry door, take a quick look and, if I see bingo set up, keep on stepping through the mail room, back to my unit.

In other news, this ....

Outage

I was on the laptop yesterday, around 1:30 in the afternoon, watching a reborn to revenge kDrama entitled "My stepsister killed me, so I stole her billionaire boyfriend".

Don’t judge by the silly name, those kDramas are addictively good.

I was just at an on the edge of my seat part where both the reborn heroine and the billionaire boyfriend were in serious jeopardy when the movie shut down because the internet went out.

BLACKOUT!!!

Fortunately, it wasn’t a complete power outage — power in the unit was still on, but the internet and television were mysteriously unavailable remainder of the day.

Waking up this morning, I saw service to both had been restored, but I’ve not yet had time to get back to the movie.

The blackout turned out to have been "area wide", with no explanation as to what had occurred.

The outage made for a quiet day, as I worked on making a mini drawstring bag for the Alert device.

Took four 30-minute tries before I successfully created a workable pouch to match my kente cloth buff headband.

Now knowing what I’m doing, it only took 20 minutes this morning to knock out a pouch that matches a pair of leggings.

When I remember where I stored the camo and denim fabric, I’ll make pouches to match corresponding outfits. I’ll probably also make a black pouch for when I need a neutral look to match what I’m wearing.

Now, I just have to find a gold chain long enough and strong enough to support the device, so I can get rid of that unglamorous rope.

All in all, even enclosed, the device seems a little too noticeable, since I'm not wearing a boho skirt which would make the colorful bag make sense. Consequently, there will be times — especially if I notice a good-looking man checking me out, when I’ll tuck the covered device, so all he sees is the gold chain I’ll eventually be adding to replace the cord.

Time got away from me on Pizza Tuesday, so I never made it down to the Community Room to babysit the seniors for Kesha, but I’m sure that by now she’s got the hang of things and has the seniors falling in line.

After two sessions of bingo were shut down due to that covid scare, bingo is back on tomorrow. Lu tells me it’s a combination of bingo and a birthday party for the Baker.

I don’t have the energy to deal with the seniors tomorrow, so I’ll pass on attending.

BTW, some weird stuff is going on with blogger .... Settings is set to "not allow search engines", buy somehow "Google search entities found" keeps popping up when I blog AND, even though I hit "Dismiss", Google is still crawling, indexing, and screwing with my readership — causing it to rise from a few hundred to thousands. I’m not comfortable with that. Are you also all of a sudden getting the "Google search entities foumd" message?

Bad for My Image

Having long enjoyed being considered the "Hot Girl" amongst us old folks, the new jewelry Twin 1 ordered is putting my image in serious jeopardy.

After looking into Will Jay’s suggestions to "design some jewelry or fiber art to hide/disguise the Life Alert device" and thus far drawing a blank, I thought maybe I’d just tuck it in.

But then Will Jay’s story about a friend’s mom setting off an accidental alert by tucking the device in her waistband got me to thinking how easily it would be for the device to get squeezed into an alert tucked in such a snug place, not to mention it sometimes gets hot in there and that alone might set off a false alarm.

Maybe I can just shorten the rope, turn the device into a choker, thought I.

Nope! That makes the device even more obvious.

I looked into exchanging the pendant for a bracelet or watch, but Life Alert only offers the option of a necklace pendant with its systems.

So, I dunno but, heading for the market today, I decided to give tucking a try.

Crossing the parking lot, I ran into Next Door Neighbor. The device, tucked inside, she never even noticed there was something attached to the rope as we chatted for a while about what a great job my boyfriend in my head Dark Gavin is doing ("Dark" because, taking a step from blog friend Dawn who, when pushed transforms into Dark Dawn, and now seeing my boyfriend transforming into a version of The Punisher, I've rewarded him with the superhero name of Dark Gavin).

I did have to be careful in placement of the car’s seat belt, because the normal position was right across the device, sure to put pressure on the button, set it off.

I had to position the belt above the device, across my throat.

I can't get a ticket for the awkward, probably unsafe, position as the law only says to wear it, and it's being worn.

While in the market, I did some bending, stooping, reaching. None of these motions seemed likely to result in an accidental alert. So, thus far, it seems tucking is the way to go.

One of the items on my marketing list was kale. I eat a lot of kale, I mean a lot, a lot and saw it today was selling $3 for two bunches, but who do they think they’re kidding.

Kale aficionado that I am, I noticed right away the price is not a bargain, that what used to be one healthy bunch at $2.50 is now selling as two slimmer bunches, i.e., the two smaller bunches at $3.00 is the same amount of kale in one bunch previously sold for $2.50, but disguised as 2 for $3.00 — $0.50 cents more.

No matter. I'll buy kale however bountiful or not the bunch, whatever price.

Not on my grocery list were these Aloha bell peppers, but they called my name. So wanting to see if they taste any different than regular bells, and because they’re pretty, I purchased two.

BTW, under the title of Work Smarter Not Harder, did you know you can dispense with hand massaging, and instead use the mixer to massage your kale.

The Thunder Rolls

I woke up this morning to rolling thunder followed by rain. A welcome relief from the unrelenting heat, generally already pushing 90 degrees in my unit by the time I wake up.

I had plans to do marketing today, but decided to make do with what’s in the house.

I did, during the week, make that run to the bank, transferred money from my regular account, deposited it into the Rent account. That done, I won’t have to think about that account for two/three months.

Even though having to physically walk into a bank is a pain, I do enjoy the bank’s riddle board.

I don’t know where they come up with the dorky riddles, but there’s a board with riddles like, "Why did the football coach go to the bank?".

The riddle on the board when I walked in on Wednesday was, "Why did the fish blush?".

I didn’t get either of those. In fact, since the board went up two years ago, I’ve only solved the puzzle once. I don’t recall what the puzzle was that day, but I guessed correctly the answer was "because the turkey had drumsticks".

So, anyway, that errand off my bucket list, the only thing remaining is to schedule an appointment at the medical center for Lab work the doctor ordered.

Twin 1 is still freaked out over the medical scare I had that sent me to the E.R. at midnight a few weeks ago. Now needing constant reassurance via text messages or telephone calls that I’ve not yet kicked the bucket, Twin 1 called Tuesday to say that in order to alleviate her worry, she’s gifting me with Life Alert, the "I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up" thing.

"Jesus! I’m not that kind of old", protested I.

However, inasmuch as she said it would make her feel less worried, I’ve agreed to accept the gift, walk around with a necklace that announces to the world I’ve crossed the threshold, am now considered an old lady.

The things we do for our kids.

Debra, over at She Who Seeks, today posted memes of our Governor mocking Donald Two Dolls.

I’m piling it on with two of my favorites thus far.

Oh, and in case you were wondering ...... Why did the football coach go to the bank?

To get his quarter back.

Why did the fish blush?

Because they saw the ocean’s bottom.

Just When You Thought It Was Safe

Yesterday was my appointment with the doctor. On the way to the appointment, this happened.

That was some dangerous driving, and would have gone sideways for me, stopped at the red light, had one of those vehicles been hit by moving traffic that had the green light, causing one or more to crash into me.

I got a good look at the driver of the nazi car as he made the turn, and surprise surprise, it was a Brother, I’d say in his mid 30’s; and not a richy rich snob type Brother, but a common every day normal casual Brother, wearing a white t-shirt.

So, what was he doing driving a cybertruck?

The dangerous move was all for naught, because I knew the route the cars (looking to be a convoy of three or four), were taking would get them to where I’d soon be had they just cooled their jets, made the turn at the next intersection.

So, anyway, the doctor tells me I’m basically healthy, doing all the right things — eating healthy, exercising, but cholesterol is too high and I need to get my BP down, which was 160 when I arrived at the medical center — in spite of having taken the morning’s medication, and 163/71 after the nurse had me sit and rest for a while for a retake.

Go figure.

Doctor’s diagnosis "not diabetic, take 2 tablets for hypertension, but if BP is under 120 systolic, then take one), hydrate hydrate hydrate hydrate, lab work every six months (as they’re keeping an eye on kidneys filtrating a little slower than should)".

So, that’s that.

Today is bingo for the seniors and, after all that rigamarole over that ever-changing bingo flyer, today’s bingo is cancelled. The session scheduled for Friday the 22nd is probably also cancelled and, who knows, there may never be bingo again.

No matter to me, as I’m not involved in bingo, but a huge blow to those that are involved — organizers and participants.

As to why bingo is cancelled until further notice, I received a text from the Baker yesterday afternoon, "Someone came in the clubhouse on Tuesday with Covid, so most of us are just staying inside and testing".

F_CK!!!

I WAS IN THE COMMUNITY ROOM ON TUESDAY!!!

That was Pizza Tuesday, the morning I went down to check out the new Activity Director.

Just when you thought it was safe.

Heck, I didn’t even know Covid to be still a thing.

How are people still catching it?

Remembering how it was that Di hugged me in the Community Room that morning, and I had hugged our former Activity Director Christine, and how some of us had taken a group photo with the new Activity Director Kesha — all standing close, arms entangled, my first thought was to check on when I should begin testing. Learned that, if exposed and don’t have symptoms, wait at least 5 full days before testing but, if one develops symptoms, test immediately.

Not experiencing any symptoms, but needing to know just how worried I should be, I queried the Baker, "Was the person who brought Covid into the room someone who was in the room when I was there or came after I left" and was much relieved to find it was Dream Lover, as he was not in the room when I was there, had come later.

Fortunately, neither were Activity Director Kesha, or her new boss Christine. They headed for their cars just as I was walking out.

Unfortunately, Talker, Little Knock Knock, Lurch, Upstairs Lady, Lu, the Baker, her husband and a handful of others likely came in contact with Dream Lover.

I’m 99.99% certain I’m good but, since Dream Lover’s girlfriend Lu and best bud Upstairs Lady were in the room when I was there — even though, since I'm keeping Upstairs Lady on the does not exist list, kept my distance from her, the fact remains that both Lu and Upstairs Lady are stuck like glue to Dream Lover, so who knows which of them might have caught what. I’ll take the extra precaution of testing.

Isn’t it interesting how things sometimes turn out ……… Upstairs Lady has that little click of hers (Dream Lover, Lu, herself), a little click inside of the big click, that resulted in my moving away from the High Table at the BBQ, away from them, and now one has Covid, two are testing, all three are on lockdown.

Armageddon

8:30 last night, long past visiting hours, a time when I was still dressed, makeup on, but bra off, there was a knock knock knock on the door.

No way could that possibly be Little Knock Knock that late, so I was careful.

Having seen enough crime dramas to know not to open the door, not to look through the peephole because, if it’s a trick, they can pew pew you through the eye when they see you looking through the peephole, I went to the kitchen, looked through the blinds.

It was indeed, Little KK.

I asked what she was doing out so late and, not seeing the Talker at the bottom of the stairs, became concerned that she was out by herself.

She wasn’t. Talker was chatting with neighbors at the end of the walkway and later told me Little KK said she wanted to visit her friend. "What friend", asked Talker and Litle KK said, "You know" and pointed to my unit.

Nice but, like I said, it was way past visiting hours and I was watching a Chinese Drama, so I gave Little KK a hug and sent her on her way.

I should be grateful that my beingness is attracting good signs, like Little KK of the Talker’s family knocking on my door, wanting to spend time with me, and now Aunt H — Talker’s sister, giving me a gift, but Talker has a very handsome nephew. Why not him?

Just saying.

So, anyway, waking up around 7:30 this morning, I went to turn the TV on for background noise while I performed my morning rituals, but the TV did not turn on.

I thought it might be a problem with the remote, but then noticed all the lights on the box were off.

I then thought, POWER OUTAGE.

Sure enough, the lights in the unit were off, microwave was dead, as was the A/C.

In this unbearably hot weather, this is not a convenient time for a power outage. To top it off, I kept hearing sirens racing down the street.

First the earthquake, now a power outage with the sound of sirens back-to-back racing down the street, Armageddon came to mind; and here I was with no way to determine what was going on. Was there a fire on Little Mountain again, did Donnie Two Doll push the button and we are now under attack, do I shelter in place or evacuate? What to do?

There’s always that annoying announcement popping up on TV instructing that "in case of an emergency bla bla bla", but I guess they didn’t consider that source of information doesn’t work when the power is out — no TV, no way of knowing what’s going on.

I did eventually get a power outage alert on the phone — “Outage Reason: analyzing problem, Estimated Start 5:08 am, Estimated End 3:30 pm".

I began formulating a plan to survive the day. 1) I could get that banking issue off the to-do list, then hang out at Starbucks or a mall to escape the heat or 2) I could drag the portable tower fan from the bedroom, attach it to the portable solar generator I purchased when we had that weeklong outage back in January, and cool the room down to where I could work on that never ending needlepoint project.

Deciding on the former, I began preparing for outside, starting with face makeup — but it was melting from the heat as quickly as I got it on. All of a sudden, the power kicked in. It was 9:30.

Whew!

Relieved, I puttered around doing nothing of any significance until along around 11:30, when I remembered today is Pizza Tuesday and the advent of a new Activity Director. So, I headed for the Community Room.

First person to greet me as I entered the room was Upstairs Lady who, you might recall, is invisible to me, no longer exists in my awareness. So, I made a point not to see her, not to hear her greeting and, during the time I was in the room, when she pushed her walker anywhere near to where I was, I moved to the opposite side of the room.

Was that unforgiving of me, childish, petty?

Yes.

And?

The new hire, named Kesha, seems nice; and the name "Kesha" tells you all you need to know about her culture, which we don’t see a lot of in this Corporate structure.

In fact, in all my years here, I’ve only seen two. One was a maintenance man here, who got pushed out by that mean Nurse Ratched when she was managing the complex. The other was a big shot from Corporate, who’d come down, do inspections from time to time. I don’t know how she got to be a big shot in this Corporate structure, but she did, until she too one day suddenly was no longer an employee.

I’m hoping Kesha can survive, hang with whatever, stick with us for a while.

While us Usual Suspects were welcoming Kesha, the woman (Christine) who was our popular Activity Director two/three years ago walked through the doors.

Surprised to see her, I gave her a big hug, asked which complex she was working at, to which she replied, "I’m a supervisor now".

"WHAT?! … You’re Kesha’s boss? … The HBIC?"

She laughed, answered,"Yes".

Now knowing Christine is the "new boss" that our last Activity Director accused of treating her so badly that she quit, I'm thinking there's a lot more to that story about the "new boss" being mean to her.

Christine had her moments when she served here as Activity Director, but nothing we couldn't roll with … snapped once when she felt infringred upon that seniors, thinking they were helping, distributed pizzas before she was ready, didn't take any crap when having to deal with seniors that tried to jump the line, take more than their share, didn't think they needed to follow the rules, but was otherwise good to us, well liked.

The Activity Director that quit must have had underlining issues … couldn't handle Christine strong nature, was maybe a little princess that was accustomed to being handled with kid gloves, had a problem with Christine on a personal level, or a problem with authority in general.

As for why Christine was here, she came to support Kesha — make sure Kesha was received well by us (she was) and generally just pave the way for a smooth transition.

Little Knock Knock made an appearance in the room. She’s going back to San Diego for school tomorrow.

Feeling bad for brushing her off last night, I drove to Starbucks, picked up two cake pops for her.

I'd better turn off all the lights in my unit tonight, and make myself scarce tomorrow, just in case Little KK gets to thinking of making a farewell stop by my unit.

Before heading back upstairs, I received another gift — a Mary Kay makeup/mirror case from the new resident Jo, who sometimes spearheads craft sessions for us.

I also was approached by Di (Apache’s old friend, the resident that had been involved with Meat Man’s son — he in his mid to late 20’s, she her 60’s), who said "We’ve never been close friends, but I’ve watched you for years" and something to the effect that she "can see" and could tell I’ve gone through a lot in life, has observed my strength, my kindness, generosity, yada yada yada, that I'm not doing high school like many others are, that some of us are meant to be students, others teachers, some to serve as examples, that she sees me in the example category, has so much respect for me, that I "shine".

Well, damn!

Knock Knock, Aunt H, the gifts, Di’s comments to me, Twin 1 continuing to call to make sure I’m still alive (LOL), it's getting to be a lot.

Are these signs I’m not long for this world?

I see the doctor on Thursday, so I’m prepared, won’t be surprise if she has something serious to tell me.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink

Long story short, I ended up in the ER around midnight Wednesday.

After 15 minutes on the treadmill, 5 minutes on the cross trainer, an additional 10 minutes on the treadmill that morning, I pulled out the yoga mat for a cool down stretch and suddenly felt lightheaded/dizzy when I got into the downward facing dog position.

Not all that unusual. Despite staying hydrated with copious amounts of water and a little Pedialyte (which btw tastes awful), I frequently feel lightheaded these days.

So, brushing the sensation off, I lay in the corpse position —flat on my back, and relaxed until I felt good to go.

Some time during that same day, I became aware of being a little wobbly on my feet and began feeling a sharp pain radiating down my left arm.

Some days are better than others, work through it, I said to myself.

Along about bedtime, pain in the left arm now killing me, a rapid BP rise, something told me to Google "heart attack in women".

Pressure, squeezing, or fullness in the chest — NO
Pain that radiates to the arm, back, neck, or jaw — YES
Shortness of breath — YES and NO
Nausea or vomiting — NO
Fatigue — YES and NO
Dizziness or lightheadedness — YES
Sweating — NO
Indigestion — NO
Anxiety — NO
Palpitations — NOT SURE WHAT THAT WOULD FEEL LIKE

Erring on the side of caution, I called Twin 1 (who lives in the adult building next door to the complex) and, when she answered said, "Don’t panic, stay calm, I need you to come get me, take me to emergency. I think I’m showing signs of a heart attack".

I was fast tracked at the medical center and the EKG showed that, inspite of my hard as nails exterior, I do still have a heart and it was "fine".

That being the case, I was ready to head back home, but Twin 2 wheeled me into a chest x-ray ("wheeled", because BP was up to 163 by now, causing me to feel wobbly on my feet).

After that, I was wheeled over to wait for blood draw but, heart attack was my only concern, and having been told it wasn’t that, I was ready to leave.

So, against her will, I made Twin 2 drive me home, close to 2 a.m., where I went to bed knowing I wasn’t likely to die in my sleep from a heart attack, even though I still had that pain in the arm.

Twin 2 thinks it's dehydration yet again and, on Thursday, had Instacart deliver electrolyte sports drinks to my door.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink, because, not only do I not have space to store all this water but, after researching the drinks, I learned I’d be curing one problem by creating a worse one — the mother of all gut episodes, because the "natural fruit" ingredient in the 2 mango flavored Electrolit, 2 fruit punch flavored Electrolit, 4 grape flavored Powerade Zero, 7 grape flavored Powerade Zero are not fodmap safe.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink, except the 8-gallons of Pure Life distilled electrolyte is listed as safe.

Twin 2 meant well, went through quite a bit of expense, and I hate to tell her I couldn’t and didn’t drink any of the flavored ones. In fact, if she doesn’t ask, I’m not saying, but what to do with the drinks?

I texted head of the High Table — the Baker, "I’ve been gifted with quite a lot of flavored sports electrolyte drinks that my sensitive gut won’t allow me to drink. Do you think they can serve as prizes on the bingo table?"

"Yes, I bet they will love them".

Bingo is today, so I snuck them down to the bingo table just a little while ago, before the room got all peopley.

Today, I'm feeling a little tired, like I'm not getting enough sleep, which I'm probably not what with staying up late watching chinese dramas in bed on the laptop, but the pain in the arm has finally subsided, so today is business as usual.