The Remaining Odds and Ends from the Summer of 2025 – I
Since I didn’t even write all of the part about this week’s awful run yet, not to mention the other odds and ends, but the previous post covered the remaining odds and ends between last year’s half marathon and Dream Trek and I have more already written odds and ends from last summer, before I started posting everything again, I’ll split them in two, to at least keep the post under 10000 words and the second longest, and start with June 26, when I got some things ready for what dad wanted to cook, did the day’s squats, waited for 8:10 PM, when the guy was supposed to come, went to pay the maintenance bill, then came back to drop off the receipt and grab the recyclables with the deposit symbol, picking up some more on the way to that store that offered more for them those days… But that same cashier who had initially told me that the machine wasn’t working after the Dream Trek even though it actually was once again said that it didn’t work, and she was outside, so I didn’t even enter, though I had some doubts. And the fact that I just had those two bags for recyclables and kept picking up more over the course of the evening became more and more of a problem as time passed.
Either way, I then walked to Kaufland, put the recyclables in a cabinet, washed my hands, entered a couple of minutes after 9 PM, and took a large lettuce and a good bundle of green onions, both having an evening discount of 60% at that point, which I hoped would increase, the closing time being 10:30 PM. And that did happen, so I took two more bundles of green onions and a handful of white bell peppers, along with two pieces of some better processed meat products that were among the discounted ones and two of those cheap yogurts, and eventually also two bananas that weren’t as bad as the rest. Then I wandered around and checked other prices, also seeing watermelons from Romania at the same price as the one from Greece which I had bought from Carrefour after the Dream Trek, so I felt even worse about buying that one. But what was actually useful at the time was finding a bunch of good bananas in one of the baskets of stuff which had probably been discarded around the store, so I grabbed it, discarding one of those two which I had initially taken and using the scales from the checkout area… But the machine didn’t accept the bananas as the correct product, and I even weighed them again and the same weight was listed, so I called over the employee to override the error… And then I had to call her twice more, the machine not accepting those two processed meat products either. Then I retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged the purchases a little, washed my hands again, in the room for disabled people, since I had handled bug sprays, and went to the recycling machines to grab quite a number of discarded vouchers, since they offered a 10% discount on pet food those days.
On the way back, I also checked those two Mega Image locations, in the first one putting the purchases in a cabinet that I didn’t lock and the recyclables next to the cabinets and getting some sweet pastries with the 90% discount, without receiving a receipt despite waiting for it, the cashier just dumping all of them in a large bag right away. And in the second location I saw a homeless guy fussing in front of the cabinets, having to make a point that I was there for him to step aside and let me put the purchases in one, which I locked, but I couldn’t fit the recyclables in those cabinets and had some concerns, since he was standing right behind me and seemed interested, so I squeezed them between the cabinets and the wall and, while he walked out at that point, I wondered whether I’ll still find them. But I did, after buying something for my mother that was discounted by 50% even if it wasn’t expiring soon. On the other hand, the cashier initially gave me much less change, correcting the bill after I let her know but saying that she had no more coins, so I was still a little short. But I gained a fair bit in recyclables, seeing as I kept picking up more on the way back, even if it was more and more of a struggle to carry them all in those two bags.
I got back at 11:55 PM… And dad was still cooking, having made the cabbage way too salty and then trying to fix it. Either way, I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, talked to him for a while, put the yogurt in the fridge and those processed meat pieces in the freezer, arranged those recyclables, ate watermelon, moved the cooked cabbage into a smaller pot, and ate some of it, as lunch, between 2:30 AM and 2:45 AM, seeing that it was still awfully salty. I went to shower at 2:50 AM, and that seems to be the first time I noticed that pain in that spot on my head, so I wondered whether it was one where I had hit it recently, though by now it’s clear that it’s more than that. Either way, I also realized that the marks which I had seen on my left leg after getting up were insect bites, and one really itched, so after I finished the shower, a little after 3:15 AM, I put some medicinal alcohol on them. Then I had plenty to wash and clean in the kitchen, even if I left all of the pots in the sink, and I also ate one of the sweet pastries, put the remaining purchases in their place, and used what little was usable out of a few of the worse lettuce leaves in the salad, eating dinner between 5:30 AM and 6 AM and getting in bed at 7:10 AM.
Since I was thinking of trying to go to that store again after getting up and I actually slept well, I decided to do so, but first I washed all but one of those pots, ate lunch and did the day’s squats, leaving at 6:20 PM, with all of the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and I picked up some more on the way, plus a label that also had the symbol. But I didn’t go directly to that store, checking Carrefour first, entering with the large backpack but putting the other recyclables in a cabinet that I locked, since the keys had finally reappeared in that location, and getting beer for dad and a small flatbread from the expiring products, those having the 50% discounts even though most products still had only 30%, plus just one head of garlic, at full price. I did find a few of those breads that I wanted to get from there, but they were all sliced, and I even asked an employee whether they had any unsliced ones and she said that if they weren’t on the shelf, then they didn’t. So I just bought those other things, needing the employee to clear the sale of beer but just looking in the direction of the one who was at the computer until he noticed and did it from there.
After arranging the purchases and retrieving those recyclables, I went to that store, where there were no problems with the machine, and I even managed to put in a bottle that had no label of its own after just loosely placing a label from a different brand which I had picked up some time before over it, so I was only left with the label picked up that day and just got two vouchers, to separate dad’s recyclables from mine, which I then cashed in. The cashier was the one who used that calculator and had obtained a wrong result before, and the total was rounded down that day as well, but I told her what it should be and she said that she knew that I had done it correctly, giving me that amount. And I took the calculator and used numbers multiplied by 10, so they’ll all be integers, and it gave the correct result then, so I told her to try that as well.
I then went to Auchan, picking up some more recyclables on the way, then putting everything in a cabinet, washing my hands, and getting a whole wheat bread that was just about large enough to be split in four… But the price listed on it was higher than what it had been, yet there were two price labels on the shelf and both still listed the old price, so I took one and asked an employee from that area which was the right price, and she said that the one listed on the bag was correct and that it had just increased that day, which was rather frustrating. Either way, I then wasted way too much time wandering around the store without getting anything other than some biscuits for dad, so by the time I retrieved what I had in the cabinet and arranged everything I was in somewhat of a hurry.
That didn’t stop me from grabbing a few more recyclables on the way to Kaufland, however, and I also managed to get there just before the storm hit, noticing some people who were outside starting to take cover as I was putting everything in a cabinet. Then I washed my hands again and entered the store a few minutes before 9:30 PM, the evening discounts increasing soon after, the one for cucumbers being particularly notable, so I took my time to select pretty much all of the good ones that were left. Then I just added one bundle of radishes that also had a great discount and went to look for what I had actually gone there for, finding everything and adding an expiring product as well. Since two of the products were pet food but one already had a discount, I didn’t expect those vouchers to apply to it as well, but I nevertheless tried it, needing to call over the employee after scanning one and then telling her to scan a second one as well, though that just added 0.01 RON to the total, as those vouchers do. But the other discounts applied properly, as did the 50 RON voucher received for using the vouchers received for the recyclables put in during their campaign that doubled the value of the deposit in that manner, so I just paid what was left, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet, arranged everything, washed my hands yet again, using the room for disabled people, since I had once again handled bug spray, and walked out just when the closing announcement came. And the storm had also passed by then, only a light rain being left.
Right after walking out of that parking lot, I banged my head quite hard against a low and quite thick branch. Then I picked up some more recyclables and once again checked both of those Mega Image locations, in the first one putting the bags held in my hands in a cabinet that I didn’t lock, going in with the backpack and the bag that hangs from my neck and making use of the 90% discounts to get bread for dad, a few buns, and a yogurt that’d have been impossibly expensive otherwise. Then I arranged those purchases, retrieved my things, put everything except the backpack into two cabinets after reaching the other location, locking both of them even if I only had one 0.50 RON coin, since one of the locks simply worked even without a coin, and then retrieved everything after having a look inside and not finding anything to buy… But finding a 0.50 RON coin.
I got back a little before 11:50 PM, with some 12.5 kg. So, if I’d have rushed straight to the computer, I should have been able to redeem the expiring Thief Gold key which I had requested from the Community Giveaway on the GOG.com forums before leaving. But I thought that it expired at midnight according to their time, so Poland’s time, giving me until 1 AM, and while the game had been recommended to me before, I had in truth just requested it after seeing that two were left and wanting to prevent one from going to waste, so I cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, talked to dad for a while, took off the clothes which I had worn outside, and only got on the computer after that, well after midnight… At which point I found that the code had already expired, and the giveaway’s administrator had apparently sent the other remaining one to a friend of his who had redeemed it, and others had redeemed codes left in the Ninja Giveaway thread that day, so it most likely wouldn’t have gone to waste if I wouldn’t have requested it, which made me feel awful.
Either way, I eventually put the purchases, with the exception of the cucumbers, in their place, ate watermelon, a couple of figs and an old sweet pastry while spending a little more time at the computer, and it was past 2:40 AM when I finally went to wash, once again noticing that deep, dull pain which I had also felt in that spot on my head the previous night. I’m pretty sure that it was around 3:15 AM when I was done, though I only checked the time after putting some more medicinal alcohol on those bites, which were itching, and looking, worse, and getting dressed. Then I washed what was in the kitchen, put the cucumbers in their place as well, also opened the tofu which had just expired and moved it into a jar, used some more of the worse leaves of the lettuce purchased the previous day, and finally ate dinner between 5:30 AM and 6:10 AM. And after deciding to reboot the computer and seeing an error stating that the shutdown was unexpected, I spent a little more time checking some things, initially getting in bed at 7:10 AM but leaving the monitor on and going back after a couple of minutes to run chkdsk, in read-only mode, on the system partition and have another quick look at something, so it was just past 7:15 AM when I really got in bed. But at least I slept well… And I’ll also mention here that I timed the squats done on the evening of June 28, in the kitchen, doing them in 2:08.
In the early hours of July 4, after eating, I actually saw a flea, first on my sock and then on the floor, and when I checked I also found at least one obvious bite on my leg, proving that I had correctly identified those from two and a half weeks earlier… And, while it had seemed like it since it had gotten hotter, at that point I also saw that my feet were clearly swollen again. But at least I managed to write and add most of the post about the last two runs before the Dream Trek, and when I woke up because dad got up I finished it before getting back in bed.
Moving on to the evening, I washed the stove top and left a little after 9:10 PM, with a sweet pastry that I meant to give away, the plastic and metal, which I dropped off in a recycling bin on the way to Kaufland, and those other things that I take there, putting the recyclables picked up on the way in a cabinet and those other things in the bin, and entering the store just after 9:45 PM. Three pretty wilted lettuces were left and the evening discount wasn’t as high as I’d have liked, but I took the least bad one and a couple of bundles of radishes that had a better evening discount, albeit still not as good as it had been at other times, plus some onions, finally seeing Romanian ones again. And then I also grabbed two pieces of cheese that were already bagged, but they were small and we were completely out, so I asked for another, after waiting for a while for an employee to come over. Either way, I also took three of those cheap yogurts, and after using the self-checkout I retrieved the recyclables, the closing announcement coming while I arranged my things. But I still went to the toilet after I was done, walking out when it was almost 10:40 PM. And on the way back I picked up more recyclables, left the sweet pastry next to a homeless man sleeping on a bench, and checked those two Mega Image locations, in both cases putting the bags in a cabinet, without locking, and entering with the backpack, but only getting some bakery products that had the 90% discount from the first one, not finding anything to get in the second. And I had actually meant to lock the cabinet at that second location, but the lock would neither work nor spit out the coin which I had placed in it, so I left it like that while I had a quick look inside, but managed to get the coin out on my own after that, before retrieving my things.
I got back at 11:40 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a bag of trash down the chute, ate watermelon, put the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, and since I stayed to watch the recorded broadcast of a match from the Women’s Euro, I also ate two expired cream biscuits and got to work on something that I meant to eat as lunch, though I didn’t finish by the time the match ended, so I went to wash then, a little after 2 AM, still feeling that dull pain in that area on my head and being done at 2:30 AM, and then I continued, eventually eating that lunch, on and off, between 3:25 AM and 4:35 AM, while working on dinner, and while I didn’t initially mean to, I ended up using what I could out of the worse leaves of that lettuce, finally eating dinner between 4:45 AM and 5:50 AM, also writing some notes about the day during that time and spending at least ten minutes gathering what was stuck on the plate at the end. And I got in bed at 6:50 AM… And if until then I had just been somewhat aware that I had done something to my back, perhaps while washing the stove top, after waking up when dad left, around 11 AM, I really felt it, struggling to even get out of bed. But then I decided to get on the computer and install and start Lost Words: Beyond the Page, only getting back in bed at 12:20 PM… And struggling to find a position that wasn’t too uncomfortable, though I eventually did get back to sleep, and it was past 3:50 PM when I, slowly and carefully, got up again.
On July 6, after waking up at 10:30 AM, as dad was getting ready to leave, I got back on the computer and selected what I meant to include in that day’s post, so it was at least 12:40 PM, and probably at least a little later, when I got back in bed. But that did allow me to actually write that post before leaving in the evening, despite also watching the race, during which I ate lunch as well. On the other hand, deciding to take all of the recyclables with the deposit symbol and go to that store that offers 20% more for them until the end of the month even though I was already running late, only leaving just before 7:50 PM, was a really bad idea, since the machine was once again not working, and I had picked up some more by the time I got there, despite rushing, the first ones actually being from the building’s garbage room, where I went to drop a small bag of trash down the chute. So, after waiting for the employee to get back from the back of the store and notice me and trying to ask whether there was any chance for it to be fixed that evening only for her to simply repeat that it wasn’t working, I walked back out and continued to Kaufland. I had also taken two bakery products that I meant to give away with me and I saw a homeless man, if not two, since I wasn’t sure about the one he was talking to, but that guy’s always sitting in that spot, in front of another store, and I didn’t want to give anything to him. Of course, at that point it’d have been really awkward to dig out those things from the backpack with rope straps, which was under the large one, anyway, but I passed by him on the way back as well and I had taken the bag with those things out by then, but I stuck to my decision and didn’t see others, so I ended up just bringing those things back.
Either way, after putting all of those recyclables in a cabinet with a lock that moved freely, so it at least appeared locked, even though it actually wasn’t, I entered Kaufland just before 8:35 PM, finding lettuce with a great evening discount, so I took three even though they were quite bad, plus some bananas that also had a good evening discount. Then I grabbed some cereals as well, since there was a 20% discount for all of them if you activated it in the store app and I had done that on-line, plus some beer for dad, a 40% discount applying to a certain kind in a similar manner. The thing is that the discount only applied to the individual cans and those didn’t seem to be available anymore, but several packs of eight were left and people had taken cans from them already, since I saw some discarded packaging in that area and one pack that had four cans still in it, so I just took those, not wanting to cause damage on my own, even though that discount was valid for up to six cans but could only be used once during the entire period. Either way, the closing announcement came just after I did that, so I then went to the self-checkouts, needing the employee to clear the sale of beer and then taking the time to check that all of the discounts applied properly before paying… And then I found that the doors had been locked, so the remaining customers couldn’t leave until someone came and unlocked them, at which point I also rushed to step through even if I had barely retrieved those recyclables from the cabinet and it was hard to carry everything as it was. But I then went to that table that’s meant for customers who want to arrange the purchases and took my time to do so, only walking out at 9:15 PM.
With Carrefour closing at 10 PM and since we were completely out of garlic, I then rushed there as well, even though it definitely wasn’t easy to do so while carrying everything, and I also picked up one more recyclable on the way, happening to spot it even if I really wasn’t looking anymore. But at least there were some free large cabinets there, though I was rushing and didn’t try to squeeze everything in, just putting the bags with the recyclables, the lettuces, and the backpack with rope straps, where I had the other purchases from Kaufland, in one and entering with the large backpack and the bag where I had those two bakery products when it was close to 9:45 PM. And I just got a little garlic, needing to use a regular checkout since the one self-checkout that accepts cash in that location wasn’t working. On the other hand, when I retrieved my things I found that the lock wouldn’t release the coin, so after struggling with it for a while I asked the employee from the information desk and she stuck something in there to push it out.
It was almost 10:30 PM when I got back, and I ate one of the bananas before cleaning the litter box and going to drop a bag of trash down the chute. But I had decided to check the nearby Mega Image as well, yet I hadn’t taken my keys and realized when I got to the building’s entrance that I was going to need them to get back in, so I rushed back to grab them, then went to have a quick look, though that just proved to be a waste of time. On the other hand, dad gave me the terrifying news that in about three weeks the scaffolding was to be put up and the work on retrofitting the building would start, which for me basically meant not sleeping for a year or so, and always being terribly anxious and probably keeping the blinds drawn and the window closed all day. Either way, I then put the purchases in their place, washed what was in the kitchen, including the cast iron pot, ate a large doughnut on which I put some jam, and since I stayed to watch the recorded broadcast of another match from the Women’s Euro, I selected the worse leaves from all of those lettuces, and there were a lot of them, and started washing what was still usable from them, taking a break from that in order to go to the bathroom, to use the toilet and wash, at 1:50 AM, that deep, dull pain from that area of my head seeming to have moved slightly, and possibly also lessened just a little, though it’s hard to really know. Either way, I continued working on dinner after I was done, at 2:35 AM, ate it between 3:45 AM and 4:25 AM, and got in bed at 6:10 AM. And in the evening, in fact minutes before midnight, I finished Lost Words: Beyond the Page. And since I’m at July 7, I’ll also mention here that no visits were recorded that day.
In the early hours of July 8, I ate dinner between 3:25 AM and 4:05 AM, and then I shaved as well… Which wouldn’t have prevented me from getting in bed at the usual time, but I saw a large spider in each of the bathrooms, one on the move and the other above the toilet, so I couldn’t leave them there, and killing them took a little time, especially in case of the one above the toilet, which was a little tricky to reach, since I didn’t want to stand on the toilet. And then, since I was running a little late anyway, I had another look at something on the computer as well, ending up getting in bed at 5:25 AM… And having a hard time falling asleep. And at 8:50 AM, so after sleeping for what was quite certainly less than three hours, I woke up. And I was considering going out if I was going to wake up early and have a chance to at least walk out before the worst of the heat, the day’s high reaching 40°C, so I did, walking out at 10:30 AM, dropping a bag of trash down the chute, taking only dad’s recyclables with the deposit symbol, and using his card to take the metro for one stop, so I’ll have a little less to walk to that store that offers more for them, though the amount of time I had to wait meant that I’d have gotten there a little faster by walking. But I still picked up some more recyclables on the way.
The machine did work and I could put in all but one of the recyclables… But I started with that one, which was from an entirely different product than what the label that I had placed on it was from, since I wanted to keep that bottle, and I had accidentally damaged a part of the bar code when I had cut away that label, but it should have still been readable and the volume of the bottles matched… Yet the machine detected that something was very wrong and the second time I tried to put it in, it said that an assistant was required and when the employee came and logged on I saw a message that there had been a fraud attempt. But I had put that bottle back in the backpack by then and told her that I hadn’t even started, and after she cleared that error I put in something else, which worked, and she walked away… Only to have to return moments later, the machine reporting that one of the containers was full after I had just put in five recyclables, and not even releasing the voucher. But it was just stuck inside, and the bag was far from full, so the employee got that voucher out and shook the containers, after which I could continue, having no other problems, though I only dared to make one more attempt with that rejected recyclable, at the end, giving up when it was yet again rejected. And then I cashed in the vouchers and walked back, to also have a look through the farmers’ market and Penny, all of that proving to be a waste of time, since it seems to be that time of year when apples are few and expensive, I didn’t find anything to get from Penny either, and I didn’t even pick up any more recyclables. And when I also had a look in the nearby Mega Image, an employee was labeling spoiling fruits and vegetables, but she was just starting to place the regular labels and told me that it’ll be a while before she’ll actually discount them, so I walked out.
I got back for the first time a few minutes before noon, used some glue to try to at least loosely attach that label to that rejected bottle, asked dad whether he wanted some expiring sandwiches which I had seen at that store, peed, grabbed my Library pass, two bakery products that I meant to give away, and the rest of the recyclables with the deposit symbol, and left again at 12:15 PM, grabbing just one more recyclable on the way and taking the metro yet again, the fact that I once again had to wait for several minutes no longer mattering when it was already too hot to walk for a significant length of time. And I had told that cashier that those had been the recyclables from my parents and I was going to come back with mine as well, so I didn’t feel awkward for returning. And I eventually managed to put in all of the recyclables too, just being left with a label that I had grabbed at an earlier point, since I still hadn’t picked up a suitable bottle to place it on. Admittedly, that bottle which had been rejected the first time and three others caused problems, and while I didn’t make consecutive attempts with that one, I must have made a dozen or so for each of the other three only for them to keep being rejected even if there was absolutely nothing wrong with them, yet when I tried yet again at the end, after putting in everything except those four, all of them were accepted right away! And then I also took two of those expiring sandwiches for dad, buying them after cashing in the voucher.
After taking the metro to Unirii, once again having to wait for quite a while, I went to that Carrefour, putting my things in a cabinet, going to wash my hands, and just getting one lemon that was among the spoiling products even though I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Then again, half price may be more than what used to be the full price, considering the insane price lemons have had for quite some time. Either way, I obviously didn’t charge myself for the bag that it was put in, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and went back to the metro station, really just missing the train that time. The other three times, I had missed it by about a minute, but that time the doors closed just as I reached the bottom of the stairs.
The reason for taking my Library pass was that I considered borrowing a book if I’ll have time to get to the central location and it won’t be just too hot to be out at all anymore, and at that point I decided to do that, so I got off at Romana Square, walked the short distance to that location, found it on my own… But the machine wouldn’t allow me to also borrow it on my own, so the person who was at the computer had to sort it out, eventually saying that a checkbox hadn’t been checked.
After once again missing the train by about a minute, I took the metro to Obor, and the number of homeless or at least obviously poor people from that area made me really want to give away those two bakery products, so I looked around and decided to leave one for one who was sleeping on a bench, though I didn’t quite see where I could place it on “his” bench without waking him, so I left it on the corner of the next one. Then I had a look through that farmer’s market as well, finding that those that I had bought cheap apples from before weren’t there that day and the others who had apples matched the outrageous prices of those from the other market. There were two places where the cheapest ones matched the prices of cheaper imported apples in hypermarkets, but those were green and small, the sort of thing you could grab from the apple trees that still exist on some streets or in some parks, so I gave up for the moment and continued to Carrefour, putting my things, which by then included a bag that was filling with recyclables picked up on the way, in a cabinet, and finding one expiring product to buy… And quite a pile of coins in the self-checkout machine.
After retrieving my things, I decided to go back to the farmers’ market, also giving the second bakery product to a guy who looked really scruffy and was sitting on a bench, next to that bus stop, and then getting a kilogram of the cheapest apples after all, since the one eaten before leaving in the morning had been my last one and I wanted to at least have some, even if I wondered whether those could even be considered “proper” apples. And, while I didn’t make full use of the possibility to select them as I’d have done in a large store, I could pick them myself and without anyone staring at me, since that stall was no longer manned at that point. That meant that I initially used the scales from the next one, which was also unmanned, to see how much I had taken, and then actually stepped inside that area and used the scales from there, which wouldn’t normally be reachable by customers. And this prompted another seller to ask whether they could help me and come over, so I said that I wanted a kilogram of those apples and nobody seemed to be there, adding a few more in the bag and handing it to her to weigh it again, at which point I saw that I had something like 1.04 kg and said that it was enough. That made her try to persuade me to get more, but I didn’t, just paying for one kilogram and walking away while laughing nervously when, after one last attempt to persuade me to get more, she called after me to say that it was actually one kilogram plus one apple and that they were generous like that, so I only stopped to add the apples in the backpack a little later.
I then checked Auchan as well, entering with everything, since there are no cabinets at that entrance and I was going to leave through the other one anyway, getting a few things, taking quite some time to make all of the purchases and the book fit in the backpack while also taking care of the carton of expiring eggs… And then seeing a 25% discount for all of the products of the brand that I knew has ant traps on the sign placed at the top of the stairs, so I went back, just putting the recyclables in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and having a look. But I didn’t see any of those traps in that location, so I grabbed some liquid soap, to at least buy something else and not have to ask to be allowed to leave when I had all of those things in the backpack, then retrieved the recyclables. And after walking out of that shopping center I actually looked for that homeless man that I had left that bakery product for again, finding him holding that paper bag and chewing, so I guess that he did take it. And then I finally had some luck with the metro as well, since it finally arrived just after I got back to the station instead of leaving just before.
Since I had pretty much filled a bag with the recyclables picked up on the way, I did consider taking those to that store as well, since I was quite certain that the shift would have changed and I wouldn’t see the same cashier for the third time that day, but as I was on the metro I gave up on that idea, not wanting to be out in that heat even longer, and also thinking of the spoiling onions that I had noticed when I had first checked the nearby Mega Image and wanted to have a better look at. So I came straight back here and checked that Mega Image again, but those onions were no longer there, so I entered with everything and then walked right back out.
I got back for good a little before 4:55 PM, and then went to drop a tiny bag of trash down the chute, even if it didn’t contain anything from the litter box, since dad had cleaned it, obviously taking too much out and pouring in everything left in the opened bag. So I got annoyed when I saw that, and even more so when, after he finished what he was doing at the time, he accused me of not cleaning it properly again, and that was after having aggressively pressed me into cleaning it as I was starting to work on the salad in the early hours of the day, so when I was trying to focus on food and really didn’t want to deal with shit and piss. But I ate my retorts, letting him say whatever he wants while I’ll keep doing what I do, quickly put the purchases in their place, and then went to wash, the feeling that the area of my head where I feel that deep, dull pain had shifted being even clearer. After that, I ate lunch, using some salty pretzels expired since way back at the end of November instead of bread, eventually did the day’s squats as well, drank some compot and ate some of the fruits from it, which I believe were plums, and in the evening I tried to take a nap, but woke up after what couldn’t have been more than a quarter of an hour or so and couldn’t get back to sleep. And at night, after watering the flowers, managing to put more of Liza’s food in the fridge, and then deciding to spend some more time on the computer, it was past 1:50 AM when I went to the kitchen to start working on dinner, and I also moved something into a jar, so it was actually pretty good that I ate dinner between 3:30 AM and 4:10 AM, and even more so that I went to bed at the usual time.
After initially getting back to sleep after waking up at 9:50 AM, maybe because dad either left or made some noise while getting ready to leave, Liza woke me again just a little later, first by going to the litter box and then starting her “concert”, which confirmed that dad had left, and since I did mean to go out again if I’ll wake up in the morning, just after 10:15 AM I got up and slowly started getting ready, leaving for the first time at 12:40 PM, with some trash that I dropped down the chute and the paper and cardboard, which I dropped in a recycling bin on the way to the nearest Penny, entering the store with the one recyclable picked up on the way and getting the year’s first Romanian watermelon and two large bags of cat litter, those two actually being the last ones left there at that point, even if it was still early on the first day of the sale! Either way, after also handing the store card to the cashier when she asked whether anyone had one to give when another customer didn’t have theirs, I struggled to put the watermelon in the backpack in some way, eventually having to settle for it being only partially inside, held in place by the rope. But at least that meant that I didn’t also have to carry it in my hands, the cat litter being heavy enough, and I did have to stop a few times on the way back, also picking up one more recyclable at one point, when I had a better look around while trying to regain my breath after having felt that my heart had also started to beat really irregularly.
I got back for the first time a couple of minutes after 1:30 PM, having carried 28 kg, and after washing the watermelon and putting it in the fridge and the cat litter in the small bathroom, it was 1:45 PM when I left again, taking the recyclables with the deposit symbol and picking up one more on the way to that store that offers more for them, once again having dad’s metro card and taking the metro for one stop, even if the temperature was several degrees lower than it had been the previous day. But my assumption that they change shifts at 2 PM seemed correct, and I was also thinking that they probably have three shifts and therefore the cashier who had seen me twice the previous morning was likely to be there again that afternoon, so I’d have wanted to get there earlier and didn’t manage it, the change of shift seeming to take place just then… But I couldn’t really tell whether the cashier who was taking over at that point was that same one or not, and I didn’t want to hold on to those recyclables if I didn’t have to, so after stopping for a moment in front of the store, I walked in and started using the machine. However, the cashier whose shift was probably ending was the one who had been rather unpleasant before and when she heard the plastic bottles popping as they were being crushed by the machine she called over to tell me to unscrew the caps first, repeating the request when she came over because the machine reported that the bag was full, saying that otherwise the bottles “explode” inside and damage the machine. Either way, I just had three recyclables left at that point and told her that, so she just shook the bag a little and then I could put those in as well, all being accepted, after which I cashed in the vouchers, needing to face the other cashier to do so and still not knowing whether she was the one from the previous day, and she didn’t say anything either.
I then took the metro to Obor, first going to Auchan and getting chips for dad, then continuing to Kaufland… And on the way I saw a woman lying on a bench, with a spilled bag on the sidewalk and seeming to be dressed too well to be homeless, and when I turned my head after walking past her I also noticed the handbag her head was on, which struck me as being even a little fancy, so I started thinking that she might have collapsed there, though the fact that she had her head on that handbag indicated that she had actually decided to lie down, so I wasn’t sure what to make of it.
Either way, after reaching Kaufland I put those chips in a cabinet and grabbed quite a number of expiring products, plus some more of those treats for Liza, the 30% discount for pet food that applied if you activated it in the store app also applying to those. However, while a kind of cat food that my parents want was also on the list of products that the 30% discount applied to and at the time the VAT was supposed to increase sharply for pet food, it also had a regular discount those days and the plan was to only get more if the discounts would truly stack, so I didn’t because only some of the products from that line had the regular discount and that specific one wasn’t among them. And I risked missing out on the pieces of processed meat products that I had selected for dad as well, since just after I did that an employee took everything left in that area and when I asked whether she was throwing them away she said that she had to check them one by one and apply a discount that I thought was 85%, so I put those back and told her to have a look at them as well, but it’s possible that she actually said 65%, which was what all of those were already discounted by, because when I got back there I found those things buried under everything else that had been placed there again, and with that same discount. And one of them wasn’t accepted by the self-checkout machine, so I had to call an employee over to override the error. And that employee also cleared the error when the machine didn’t accept the spoiling lettuce with root either, but while I initially thought that the reason was that there were two of them in that bag, I then realized that the discount label was actually from something else, though the price was just what I expected to see for deeply discounted lettuce with root, so I just shrugged it off. And the 30% discount applied properly to those treats, so everything was fine.
After arranging those purchases, retrieving those snacks from the cabinet and arranging a little more, putting a couple of other things in that bag, I continued to Carrefour, picking up a recyclable from that mall, managing to shove everything in a cabinet, and finding beer for dad that was slightly cheaper and probably also better than the one that I had gone there for, since there were packs of cans at half price despite expiring at the end of the month, so I took three, along with some spoiling white bell peppers, obviously without charging myself for the bag that they were in at the self-checkout. And the employee from the computer actually came over and had a good look, both at me and at the packs of beer, making sure that I had entered the correct number, before clearing the sale.
All of that beer made carrying everything quite complicated, so I had to take my time to arrange the purchases, then grabbed some more recyclables and had another look through the farmer’s market, seeing that one of the apple sellers who hadn’t been there the previous day had returned and still had his usual stock, clearly from last year, but he had pretty much doubled his prices, to match those of the others, so I moved along, rushing as much as the weight allowed me to back to the metro station, especially since it had started raining and there was some wind as well. And just before the metro came a guy asked whether he could make a quick call from my phone, so I told him that I was on prepay and the credit was expired. I’m not sure if he believed me, but it’s the truth…
It was almost 6:10 PM when I got back, with 18 kg, and I weighed 46 kg, so if you add the 28 kg from the first trip, it means that, in total, I carried exactly my own weight, albeit split in two. But what was strange was that my back seemed to have recovered and it didn’t start hurting again in spite of that. On the other hand, I didn’t even try to get any more sleep that evening, but at least at night I made mamaliga, with plenty of things mixed in it, and stuffed myself.
In the early hours of July 13, after doing 200 squats around 1 AM, since I had kept putting them off during the evening and was already a day behind, and then also putting as much of the cheese as I could fit into the box that dad had finally brought back from mother, I just failed to “cheat” in order to be able to say that I started eating dinner just before 3 AM, so I then took it easy and added more in the salad, only eating dinner between 3:25 AM and 4:15 AM. But at least I started feeling better, though the pill I took might have had more to do with that, since on top of the other symptoms, as I started working on dinner I noticed that I was shaking quite badly and at one point I even got a little dizzy, but I took that pill and things improved quite noticeably even before I started eating, though the fact that I still felt something in my chest was the most obvious reason for concern… And, as if it having added to the sleep debt pretty much the entire week wasn’t enough, right at 10 AM Liza woke me by throwing up again, so I cleaned that up and then also cleaned the litter box and took some more bread out of the freezer so dad could take it to grandmother, then spent a little time on the computer and exchanged a few words with dad, only getting back in bed at 10:35 AM, after going to pee. But at least I could get back to sleep after that, recovering at least a little bit of the week’s lost sleep, and after getting up I also installed Emsisoft Anti-Malware (EAM) on the old computer’s Windows 10 installation, to check that it worked, since I had previously installed Comodo Firewall on that as well. Then, after also washing a large pot that my parents were going to want to use, it was 6:35 PM when I left.
After entering Auchan with the two recyclables picked up on the way, I took one of those whole wheat breads, deciding that I was going to cut it in four even though it wasn’t quite large enough for that, and then the ant traps that I had mainly gone there for, plus two kinds of bug spray, since I couldn’t find the third kind that I had also considered getting. Then I continued to Kaufland, using a cabinet, in which I’m pretty sure I put the bags, so I just entered with the bread, which was in the backpack, but that’s based more on logic than on what I actually remember. Either way, I then washed my hands, and it was a little after 8:10 PM when I entered the store. The evening discounts weren’t that good and they didn’t increase after that point, but I nevertheless took a lettuce and a bundle of green onions, and at one point went to a self-checkout to check the price of radishes, since there was no price label, yet those had an even lower evening discount, so I didn’t bother with them. But I added a few other things, then retrieved what I had in the cabinet and took my time to arrange everything, the closing announcement coming just as I was finishing.
On the way back I checked a Mega Image, putting the bags in a cabinet, entering with the backpack, and then just retrieving those bags, and then decided to take the route that was going to get me to that store that offers more for recyclables as well, and when I saw that somebody was using the recycling machine I went in and waited for my turn for quite a while, even though I had just picked up five recyclables until then, plus a label that also had the symbol and which I was left with. But at least I could eventually put those in and cash in that voucher, the cashier being that one that can be rather nasty, but the one who had seen me earlier that week as well seems to share her shift and she also showed up at one point, to sort out a problem for the people who were ahead of me, a recyclable having ended up stuck in the machine, and knowing that she saw me there yet again was rather embarrassing. And it’s not like that meant that I didn’t come back with anything, since I picked up a few more recyclables after that point.
I got back right at 10 PM, then cleaned the litter box and went to drop a little bag of trash down the chute… And when I entered my room I saw that the mug where I keep the toothpaste, toothbrush and dental floss, which I had left in front of the window, on the heater, had fallen on the floor. At least the mug didn’t shatter, but having my toothbrush on the floor wasn’t nice, so I tried to wash it as thoroughly as I could. Then I put a few of the purchases in their place and extended the license for EAM by three more years, and also upgraded it to three seats, dad paying by card… The problem being that I meant to do so before midnight in order to be able to start up the old computer again and make that installation see the extension, so I won’t need to change the date and hope I’ll manage to update EAM before the time will synchronize to prevent it from disabling and then re-enabling itself, messing the way it’s set up on the Windows 7 installation in the process, yet I initially only received confirmation of the payment, the license information remaining unchanged for over an hour, until a little after midnight, when it was finally updated, so there was no reason to turn that computer back on at that point, seeing as I was going to need to change the date anyway. But that didn’t meant that I did much else during that time, since I was worried that I had done something wrong, which also led to just barely managing to post the smallest placeholder for the week’s second post, just before midnight.
At least things seemed to have been sorted out eventually, and after eating something sweet and a couple of figs, it was 1:30 AM when I went to the bathroom, feeling that I had to go to the toilet as well but ending up just wasting some time that I didn’t have before washing… And while washing I noticed another spot on my left leg that was starting to itch and looked a little reddish, and since the itching and redness got much worse over the following day, I guess that it’s another one of those weird bites. On the other hand, that deep, dull pain that I was noticing in an area of my head while washing mostly went away. But it was close to 2:25 AM when I was done, and then I put the lettuce and the green onions in their place, used what little I could salvage out of the worse lettuce leaves, ate lunch, consisting of something brought by dad and a can of sardines, between 3:20 AM and 3:45 AM, took another pill, just in case, also took what dad wanted to use out of the freezer, and finally ate dinner between 4:50 AM and 5:35 AM. I got in bed at 6:30 AM.
Well, Liza woke me up with her “concert” at 9 AM, since my parents had just left, and at that point I saw that they had gathered the few pieces of her food which had been left when they had gone to bed, and which I had placed in the fridge, in a napkin, leaving it to be thrown away, so I put them back on the plate and she ate them. And, while I got back in bed at 9:30 AM, I couldn’t get back to sleep, so after 20 minutes I started reading The Antidote, that being the book borrowed from the Library, making another attempt to get back to sleep after just over half an hour and eventually managing it… But just after 11:45 AM I was awake again, because my parents got back, and while dad went right back out and I might have caught another nap before he got back, it was very brief, and then I got up for good and didn’t even try to get back in bed that day, so I was so utterly exhausted… And at night, after washing and cleaning in the kitchen, moving what I had cooked into another pot and my roes into a jar, and also cleaning the litter box, for the third time that day, before instead of after dinner, after my mother had kept pestering me about it, I finally ate dinner between 3:45 AM and 4:20 AM.
