May Day Approaches

Tomorrow’s the big day – the day when Community Manager returns to duty and the day when the government returns to re-inspect the complex.

With no one to dump all his work on, since former Assistant Maintenance Guy (AMG) quit, and new AMG still learning the ropes, Head Maintenance Guy (HMG) has been moving his behind. Maintenance requests are being handled in record time, and with a smile. In fact, whereas before when residents would see him out and about and mention this that the other needed attending to, HMG would blow ‘em off and tell them to put in a formal request with the office. Now I’m being told, he runs right into the resident’s unit and fixes what needs handling.

I don’t imagine this new and improved attitude will continue after the re-inspection.

Everything else appears in tip-top condition, which isn’t unusual because this property has always been well maintained, at least on a surface level. I can’t say what’s going on in individual units, though I’ve heard some horror stories, but I don’t see how the government can hold management responsible for how some individuals choose to live.

It seems like the landscaping has been unnecessarily worked by the landscapers – at least twice a week, maybe even more as I’m always hearing mowers and buzzing sounds. 

It’s been very noisy.

Interfering with hearing the television noisy.

In fact, I was hearing a buzzing sound while typing this post. When the noise sounded as though directly under my window, I took a break, looked out the window, and saw it was a landscaper using some sort of saw to shape the hedges.

Actually, the sound of two buzz saws going at the same time, because there were two landscapers.

Gone are the days of clippers I guess.

I guess rakes are a day of the past as well because, three-hours later, there was the loud sound of a blower cleaning up after the buzz saws.

So much ado about things I seriously doubt the inspectors will be looking at.

The hedges now look much like they always look, pretty flowers blooming everywhere like they always do, but I have to admit, all the sharp edging around the lawn is impressive.

I assume the landscapers will return to their usual schedule of once-a-week noises after the re-inspection.

Nothing much going on in my unit, except, my intuition still working overtime, causing me to sit quietly more often, listening to my thoughts – meditating, rather than working on the latest needlepoint project.

Being in a quiet listening meditative mode is probably why all these hours and hours and hours of landscaping noise is kinda of a bother right now.

At any rate, not much progress has been made on needlepoint this month.

April Progress

Even less progress is expected, next few weeks, as I’ve decided to switch gears and get caught up on scrapbooking.

Oops, guess I was wrong about rakes, because I just heard one, took a look out the window and whad’ya know ….

Exercise, Instincts and Intuition

Being the loner I am – enjoying walking and exercising alone, I was a little annoyed I let Apache rope me into attending an exercise class he started this morning.

I know my fellow seniors, however, and figured that even though the seniors had been griping about not having an exercise class, it was all talk, not many would attend, and the event would fold pretty quickly.

Inasmuch as only myself, Apache and three others attended, I’d say my instincts were dead on.

A tape played on the television, it actually was a good session.

Even though it felt well-worth giving up my Saturday morning for, I’m just not fond of making commitments with my time since retiring -- which is why I didn’t join the new gym down the street – even though they sent me a free one-week pass.

I don’t think I’ll have to worry about this turning into a long commitment. Apache will probably give it one more Saturday before he realizes there’s just not enough interest (even though folks complained until a session was scheduled), that folks just want to complain, he gives up, cancels and my Saturday mornings will be my own again.

Elsewhere in my world, my intuition has been working overtime.

Last time it worked overtime was in 2016 when intuition led me to attend a nephew’s 40th birthday party for two reasons. One, as an opportunity to reconnect with family I’d not interacted with for years and years and years and two, to say goodbye because -- between nephew and I, there was the persistent feeling one of the two of us would not be here much longer.

I’m still here, so it was he who passed away a year later.

Now I'm seeing myself in a wedding ... The Seer’s wedding.

Intuition is telling me she and Shadow will wed, remain a part of the community, but in one unit rather than two.

The Seer has family she’s close to – daughters, granddaughter, so the fact I’m seeing myself as her bridesmaid seems farfetched, but intuition hasn’t failed me yet.

We’ll see.

All Quiet on the Senior Front

Other than two back-to-back senior moments, nothing interesting going on in my world last few days.

First senior moment was on Tuesday, when I went to the market to pick up my contribution for the birthday party, only to arrive at the checkout counter to realize I’d left home without my fanny pack.

That would be the fanny pack that holds the essentials -- money, driver’s license, proof of insurance, bank cards, portable charger, pepper spray, usually also the cellphone but, fortunately, this time I’d left home with the cellphone in my hand.

It only took me a second to drive back to the complex, pick up the fanny pack, return and pay for items being held by the cashier, but it was a little embarrassing.

Second time was on Wednesday, when at Walmart picking up that tire pressure gauge, I ran into two of my daughter’s very best friends.

Just before we parted, wanting to show daughter I’d run into the girls, I said just the stupidest thing ever … “Let me take a facie”.

Of course, I meant “selfie”.

Where facie came from I’ve no idea, and I cringe every time I think about the faux pau.

Fortunately, I got through Thursday without any further embarrassing senior moments, but probably because I was lazy and chose to stay indoors and veg out most of the day.

I did make it out in the afternoon to attend the Residents/Management meeting. 

Assistant Complex Manager being the only person currently on staff, other than the two Maintenance guys, she proctored the session – all 10 minutes of it -- explaining that, being the only one on staff, she had no time for our usual hourly session.

So, what we got was the reader’s digest version of what us residents needed to know – quick, fast, dirty, take no questions, and mostly what we already knew.

That the re-inspection is coming up. Only, she put it thusly, “Instead of clapping to us that we did so well, they want to find out why we did so good”.

Also, that 30% of residents failed to comply with the request that, “If you have a garage, appear at the Leasing Office on Monday 4/23 between 2pm-4pm”.

I’m so sure that 30% wants to bury their heads in the sand and not address their cluttered garages, but if their garage is one the re-inspectors choose to look at, and there’s a problem which impacts the outcome of the re-inspection, it will not bode well for that resident.

Believe it or not, what with all the sometimes drama arising from so many different states and stages of conscious awareness living so closely together, there are still people clamoring to get a unit in this complex. Consequently, I wouldn't be surprised if garage problems resulted in eviction, as there is a considerable waiting list. Twice I’ve met new people who looked as though they’d won the lottery, all smiles and saying, “I tried so hard for so long to get in here”.

Some of these folks are returns -- residents who left for greener pastures, only to find the grass wasn’t greener, just different grass, with a lot more weeds than what we have here.

One such former resident, now trying to get a unit in the complex, long-time readers might remember as the resident who scammed me out of $40.

Calling one night to say she was in desperate straits and could she borrow $40, I gave her the money no questions asked. Saying she’d get it back to me such-and-such a date, she instead quickly snuck away, relocating to Saint Louis, which led me to wonder just how many other residents she scammed on her way out.

It’s being said she can’t return because she has something “bad on her record”.

Probably scammed the office as well.

At any rate, her only hope now is that one of the residents, scheduled for an operation, is trying to help her by taking her on as a caregiver.

Meanwhile, back to the topic of garages.

Casino Lady, seated at my table, said she doesn’t have a garage, but has three carports.

What?!

Why three?

“Because I have three cars”.

It’s just she and her sister, and sister doesn’t drive, so I don’t get it, but okay. I collect rocks, she collects cars. To each her own, but unlike her carports costing her $15 per port, my rocks aren’t costing me a single penny.

Lastly, it appears Apache’s campaign against the pit bull is bearing fruit. After the 10th complaint, and the County getting involved, we were told Corporate Office is taking “legal action” against the owner.

The last two complaints were that the pit had snapped at a resident and, when the feeble old guy that owns the pit took a tumble recently while walking the pit (When you see it, it’s more like the pit walking him), the pit prevented residents from approaching to help. Fortunately, feeble old guy’s tumble wasn’t serious and, after a time, he managed to get upright, but it was just another example of why the pit is a problem.

Since I knew there would be a lot of residents attending the meeting, I took Apache’s birthday card with me to catch residents that don’t often get down to the Community Room.

Upon learning that Apache is a Trump supporter -- from the face of the Orange Idiot-in-Chief on front of the card, one such resident refused to sign. She actually said, “I hate that Mother F_ _ _ _ r!”. Not Apache … she was speaking of the Orange Idiot.

I have a feeling there might be others unable to put their intense hatred aside and sign as well.

Oh well, it is what it is.

Home Alone

It occurred to me yesterday morning that, with no Community Manager, no one from Corporate checking in, just Assistant Manager – who is always closing down early because she’s sick or something, and the two Maintenance Guys – Head Maintenance Guy who doesn’t give a darn and the new Assistant Maintenance Guy, who is too new to do other than told, us seenagers are Home Alone.

Thus far, we’ve been well behaved.

The Shadow’s 60th birthday party was off-the-hook.

The new old guy I’d invited never showed, but I wasn’t surprised. He’d probably forgotten or was taking a nap. Either way though, he missed a good time because we had sooooo much fun.

I took lots of photos for our Facebook page but, keeping in mind Shadow doesn’t want his face posted, I found workarounds.

Like snapping his photo when he was looking down, cap brim hiding his face, or capturing him when his face was turned away from the camera, or when a Pokémon Wailmer wandered into the room and hovered over the birthday boy’s face.

I also got him to use a Lay’s Smile Bag as a disguise.

Looks a little like John Cena doesn’t he?

I don’t mean to rag on the guy but trust me … Shadow is nowhere near this good looking without the bag.

Shadow had so much fun with the Smile Bag that he began creating fun settings for photo ops.

The resident providing ice cream never showed, so I could have gotten away with contributing ice cream instead of chicken, but the chicken went over well -- especially since I also picked up a tub of potato salad.

From now on, however, my contribution will be ice cream even if someone else has committed to it. Too much ice cream is better than none at all, and the ice cream to go with the cake was missed to the point where birthday boy asked if anyone wanted to go with him to the donut shop for a scoop.

The party was such a success that I think Apache got a little jealous. He kept reminding attendees that his birthday is coming up.

He mentioned it so much that Shadow called him on it, blurting out “You’re beginning to sound jealous.”

Must have hit a nerve, because Apache didn’t mention it again after that.

Apache need not worry, because one of his friends whispered in my ear that “If I give you $20, will you pick up chicken and potato salad for C____’s (Apache’s) party?”

“Of course,” was my answer. “Just let me know what day you’re planning for”.

Remember how I said some of the ladies around here are extremely forward, don’t even care if a male is spoken for?

Well, one such lady made her interest known by leaving a lip print on the back of Shadow’s birthday card.

I’m more than a little certain it was Loosey Goosey, who’d come on so strong when Shadow first appeared in the Community Room that it scared him.

Obviously, The Seer did not invite Loosey to the party, but Loosey had the opportunity to leave the lip print when she’d earlier been in the Community Room, picking up a pizza, and Shadow’s birthday card had been sitting on the counter for residents to sign.

I thought the lip print hysterical.

The Seer was not amused.

Shadow was smart enough to show no reaction.

I find it so wildly funny that I’m going to try to get some of the ladies to leave lip prints on Apache’s card.

On tap for today is picking up a tire pressure gauge. The Jeep’s manual says it’s to be done once-a-month and since I can’t just drop into the tire place, like I did when I had the Saturn after purchasing new tires, and since gas station attendants who’d check our tires is a thing of the past, looks like I’m going to have to learn to do it for myself.

Looking at videos on YouTube, seems simple enough … except for the bending and stooping.

I’m in fairly good shape for my age, but bending and stooping is my Achilles heel.

Seems a lot of trouble, a lot of work, but if I gotta, then I gotta, especially since I’ve a road trip coming up.

Lil Old Matchmaker Me

Walking around the complex this morning, I did not see anyone cleaning out garages, nor did I se anyone checking garages. I did, however, run into Shadow who asked if I had jumper cables.

Of course, I did not but inasmuch as he needed someone who did have cables to give him a jump, I went to the other side of the complex to ask the gentleman who use to work on cars in his garage.

He was not at home.

I then walked back to my area and asked the neighbor around the corner, because I know he works on motorcycles and stuff. Surprisingly, he also did not saying he had “cables but not jumper cables”.

I’m not mechanically inclined, so I don’t know what that means.

After asking the new Assistant Maintenance Guy (one of the temps looks to have been hired on permanently) if he had cables and being told “no because I use triple A”, I gave up, went to check out the activity board in the Community Room and ran into a resident I’d never seen before.

I greeted him with a “Good morning. Do you have jumper cables?”

“Why yes, I do”.

How about that!

The right person, in the right place, at the right time.

The new gentleman has been here about a month, he says. Is retired for the Air Force and if I had to describe him I’d say he’s slow, small, gentlemanly.

Later, in the Community Room chatting with Church Lady, I spied the new resident and having the thought he’d be an ideal match for Church Lady, as she too is slow and small, I brought the two together.

We’ll see how it goes.

While the new guy was helping Shadow charge his battery, I invited the new guy down to the 3:00 surprise birthday party, but I’ll be surprised if he shows because I doubt he’ll remember because, when I later reminded him, he asked “What’s going on?” like he didn’t remember we’d talked about it.

Seems a sweet old guy, but may have a memory situation going on.

Under Cover of Darkness

Shadow spotted a resident trying to get her garage in order late last night.

Knowing she’s got far too much stuff in her garage and is about to be found out, so desperate was she that she was calling people down, giving furniture away.

Today, headed out, I spotted three others attempting to get rid of stuff in their garages. There were trucks and people helping, probably family members. One old rickety truck was piled high -- stuff tied down with ropes, looking like the opening scene of Beverly Hillbillies, minus granny tied to the top.

I seriously doubt they’ll get very far without being pulled over by the police for the precarious load.

Community Manager, expected to be back in her office this morning, was not. We’re now told she will return on the 1st – the day of the re-inspection.

If that’s the case, and there now being no Corporate Boss Lady, then who is going to conduct tomorrow’s garage inspections?

At any rate, tomorrow is setting up to be a very interesting and enlightening day around here.

Tomorrow is also the regular Pizza Tuesday, plus The Seer has arranged for a surprise birthday party for Shadow and roped me in asking me to make deviled eggs.

Nope.

Not up to it, said I, but offered to bring ice cream to go with the cake.

Someone already agreed to ice cream.

How about sodas, said I.

Someone already bringing sodas.

Willing to join in, but not willing to cook, I came up with “How about I order fried chicken”.

BINGO!

It didn’t occur to me until later, I probably could have gotten away with a Starbucks Traveler. 

But chicken it is, and believe it or not, the chicken is costing less than the Starbucks.

Hopefully someone will bring salad to round it out.

I, of course, can’t eat the cake, iced cream, chicken or salad. I’ll  make some healthy "fried" chicken -- bread chicken tenders with almond meal flour, bake in the oven, make a cabbage/avocado slaw so I can keep my gut pain free.

I thought Apache’s birthday would be big around here, but looks like it’s going to be Shadow’s because, unless one of Apache’s other friends arranges for a party, like The Seer is doing for Shadow, it’ll just be me giving him the gift I ordered.

Skullduggery Part 2

Thursday was me, indoors, accomplishing nothing of significance. I had errands to run but didn’t, because I’d opted to believe rain in the virtual world over the real world predicting not.

The weather that day was dark and gloomy, but it did not rain.

Oh well.

Friday was driving out-of-the-area to Trader Joe’s to replenish my supply of pink Himalayan salt.

Salt is salt, but the Himalayan Crystals are supposedly rich in minerals, better for the body than iodized sea salt, beneficial in strengthening bones, lowering blood pressure and detoxifying the body of toxins.

Though I made the switch from iodized salt to Himalayan Crystals in March of last year, I can’t attest to any of these claims as being true because I can’t say if the benefits I’ve experienced to my overall health is due to the crystals or because of clean eating, but I like the subtle flavor enough to drive miles for a bottle, plus I like that the salt crystals are so pretty.

At any rate, heading out to Trader Joe’s, I took the long way to the car – detouring by the boxes to pick up mail and through the Community Room to see if anything new has been posted to the board.

Nothing new, but I did run into Apache who said he’d just been to the office to leave yet more documentation for Corporate Boss Lady, relative to getting the pit bull off the property, and was told “she is no longer with us”.

WHAT?!

That’s huge!

The second biggest shocker since the former Community Manager – that mean cruel Nurse Ratched was fired by way of being escorted out of her office, off the property and into the waiting arms of police officers.

Did Corporate Boss Lady quit?

Not bloody likely. Not the woman whose position was so powerful that the mere mention of her name by residents would cause office staff to shake in their boots, Head Maintenance Guy to get off his lazy behind and begrudgingly do his job.

Was Corporate Boss Lady fired?

For sure.

Another casualty of whatever it was that went wrong with that government super bowl of inspections.

Inasmuch as the re-inspection is coming up, I’d been wondering why I’d not seen her hovering around.

Wowwee wow!

General consensus is more heads will roll, as foreseen by The Seer when she had that image of dominos falling, because though repairs to the H Building have been made, the re-inspectors want to look at not only units but also garages.

That’s a problem.

I can’t remember the last time I saw a garage around here with an actual car in it. Mostly, the garages are packed floor to ceiling with items residents were unwilling to give up when they downsized from 3/4/5-bedroom houses to these senior units.

Not only are the garages full of boxed items, but I’ve seen washers, dryers, stoves, refrigerators, lamps, couches, rugs, wall décor, etc. So much stuff that it’s futile for residents to try to find anything because, when they open the garage door, they’re faced with an impenetrable wall of stuff.

Community Manager will be returning from her suspension on Monday and it looks like her first duty will be to address the garage situation because a notice was posted to our doors that “If you have a garage, your presence is require (sic) at the Leasing Office on Monday 4/23 between 2pm-4pm” ... “Prior to the apartment visit, we will be conducting a garage inspection on April 24th between 9am – 4pm”.

Not much time to correct what looks to be a substantial roadblock to passing the re-inspection.

186 Days Later

From this ……

Finally, to this ………

It’s amazing what can be accomplished, and how fast it can be accomplished, with a little motivation behind it.

Motivation in this case being the upcoming May Day re-inspection.

Color me suspicious, but the repairs were put together so quickly (2/3 days) that I’m suspicious as to it being a flim flam job -- glue, duct tape, paint.

Guess we’ll know how structurally sound this is when we have our next earthquake but, according to the date calculator, the total time span from accident to repairs (October 15, 2017 to April 18, 2018), whether you look at it as 186 days, or 6 months 3 days or 26 weeks 4 days or 4,440 hours or 266,400 minutes is a long time to get around to it.

General consensus is it’s the reason why Community Manager was suspended for 30 days.

She did say, in a Residents/Management meeting some time back, that the repairs are “expensive”. She also said in that meeting she was proud of having come in under budget.

Putting the two statements together, and the haste to get the repairs taken care of before the re-inspection, I can only assume this trying to come in under budget, at the expense of holding off on repairs, got her in trouble with either Corporate or there was mention of the unrepairs in that super bowl of inspections which alerted Corporate and got her in trouble.

Oh well, all’s well that ends well.

On another topic, thanks to the magic of the internet, it was way easy to learn I am not the oldest Pokémon GO trainer.

There’s an 84-year old hunter in Singapore, and one my age (a 74-year old) on Facebook who is purported to have reached the highest level.

I’m just now learning how to throw curve balls, not yet gutsy enough to step up my game and learn to battle.

On tap for today was to have been errands. However, when I loaded up the game this morning to check the area, it shows rain in the virtual world.

Not so in the real world.

I’m putting my trust in the virtual world and leaving errands off to another day.

The Plot Thickens

Continuing with reorganizing the kitchen cabinet this morning, I discovered three bottles of curry powder.

I have a spice cabinet, but pick up a backup and place in the regular cabinet when a spice looks to be running low. How I came to accumulate three bottles, when I so rarely use curry, is a mystery. But I’ll drop the extra bottles off in the Community Room as I head out today to pick up another package at the locker. Hopefully, Greedy Grabby isn't there, so someone else can have a chance at a donation.

It was kinda funny that, at yesterday’s Bingo, the caller was all the way on the other side of the room, verifying someone’s winning numbers, when I took the downtime to open my phone and check the area for Pokémon.

There was a cute little fella on the table in front of my board, so I captured him.

As I captured, there was the little three whirls and a click sound, indicating the Pokémon was captured/stuck in the ball. A sound so low I figured no one sitting at my table could hear or even know what it meant or where coming from if perchance they did hear it. BUT all of a sudden, the caller stopped what she was doing, stood straight up, looked around and asked, “Is someone playing Pokémon GO?”

Of course, I admitted it, and said, “How could you hear that all the way over there?”

It was because she too is an avid player, and her ears pricked up at hearing the faint but familiar whirls click.

She thought it hysterical that one of us seniors was into the game and came over to see what I’d captured.

I’m thinking of doing research, including contacting the developer, to find out if, at age 74, I’m the oldest trainer.

Apache attended Bingo yesterday and was one of my table mates, The Baker was off shopping with her daughter, and The Seer was off somewhere with Shadow. During another break, when the caller was verifying someone’s winning numbers, Apache took advantage of that break to mention The Seer’s absence, whispering in my ear that he was concerned about The Seer’s “man”, saying he’d caught him in a number of lies.

That’s three that I know of – myself, Handsome Guy and now Apache having these misgivings.

Apache would know because he spends a lot more time around the guy than I do, because Apache, The Seer, Shadow, The Baker and a group of other residents have been barbequing together last couple weekends.

I didn’t join them, because I can’t eat what they were cooking, had a challenge to complete and was busy hunting Pokémon.

Inasmuch as The Seer is happy in her delusional state of being, I’m keeping my misgivings to myself as I take the position of an observer, standing back watching how the Universe plays this out. So I didn’t tell Apache that I and Handsome Guy also feel something is not right, and that Shadow asked me not to post his picture on our Facebook page because, as Shadow puts it,  "I've got enemies. I'd rather they don't know where I am". Instead, I just listened to what Apache had to say.

Apache knows a lot of people, has a lot of contacts, both in high and low places, and the plot thickens as Apache has discovered Shadow has not worked where he's been saying at the BBQ he worked, has not previously resided where he's been telling them he lived, among other things.

It’s very telling when guys are so disturbed by another guy that they break the Bro Code and express misgivings. It’s especially important when it’s coming as a warning, telling me to be careful, from nice high-quality guys like Apache and Handsome Guy.

They needn't worry about me, I'm wide awake; but I don't think The Seer would appreciate being awakened from her dream state. Shadow is clever in that he wines and dines The Seer, hovers so she never has any distance from him, which distance would give her time to think and ponder. He's making sure she stays asleep in the dream. In the final analysis, however, life is about choices and The Seer has made her choice to not go deep, as she usually does, but to accept at face value.

On another note, Dkzody commented on a previous post that Church Lady should ask someone at her church to take her grocery shopping. Excellent suggestion, thought I, and inasmuch as Church Lady was also sitting at my table during Bingo, I offered the suggestion that her Pastor or the Ladies Auxiliary might be a source. 

Her response was to get a pained look on her face and say, “Well, I don’t really know those people.”

Really?

You lead us to believe you’re so involved, but say you don’t really know “those people”.

Just as I suspected … not looking for solutions. She was looking to draw me in with pity.

Karma Speaks

On my schedule for today was 1) Catch up with complex goings on in the Community Room during Pizza Tuesday; 2) Reorganize kitchen cabinet; 3) Clean refrigerator 4) Run by local Starbucks to see if caught up in the boycott.

All I actually got done was No. 1.

I checked into Community Room. Learned Community Manager’s suspension ends on Monday the 23rd. She’s expected to be back in her office that day -- Just in time to host the Residents/Management meeting on the 26th, and just in time to be held accountable if the May Day re-inspection goes wrong.

Also learned it’s not looking good for our favorite veteran. Just home from a week in hospital with pneumonia, he’s learned he needs a bypass.

A sweet old gentleman, already extremely thin and poorly, I don’t want to think he might not make it, but I can’t help thinking it. He must be thinking it as well because, frail and weak as he is, he made it down to the Community Room to give his favorite ladies, of which I’m one, a string of Marika Pearls.

Having been around the block a time or two, he knew enough to also bring a few token pearl bracelets for others.

I’ve been working really hard to overcome my disgust and judgment of Greedy Grabby – the woman who has an air of entitlement, that enough is never enough, never contributes but always ALWAYS takes more than her share. 

I felt I was making progress.

I could greet her without gritting my teeth, my thoughts towards her were free of judgment and, when she saw me sitting in the Community Room alone one morning (I was meditating before people began coming in) she walked over and offered me a flower.

The old me would have declined her offering, or accepted and thrown in the trash, because it’s bad juju to have anything in one’s possession from someone one doesn't respect. One thing the old me never would have done was to accept with thanks, which I did. I even took the flower to my unit and put it in water.

The fact that it immediately died should have been my clue that her bad juju was alive and well, and that my judgment of her was actually instinct/spiritual wisdom, because as our favorite vet was treating us with long strands of pearls, she walked over, with her hand out, and he handed her a small pearl bracelet.

She had the gall to say, “No. I want the long one”.

That’s her favorite word … “I want”.

Our vet had already given me – who he was sitting with, Church Lady – whom he crushes on and another woman who he frequently sits and talks with the long strands, so when he told Greedy Grabby all that remained were the little ones, she actually went through his bag looking AND, when she couldn’t find a long strand, she kept her short strand and took the remaining other two short strands.

There was that, and then another resident made a fuss because she couldn’t jump in line ahead of others to get her pizza.

Too much ugliness. Time for me to go back to my unit.

Starting on organizing the kitchen cupboard, I pulled out a few things I can no longer consume and decided to take to the Community Room Kitchen counter for whoever might want or need. Included in that giveaway was a 1-pound bag of Starbucks Verona Grounds.

That wasn’t me protesting what happened to the two Black men at Starbucks Philadelphia … I’m so accustomed to reading, seeing, hearing, occasionally still experiencing racial profiling that I’ve accepted it as business as usual and don’t even react, but I’m glad to see others are waking up, realizing we’re not making it up that the rules are different for us, and those waking up are making a fuss about it. I don’t think, however, the CEO should be apologizing and held accountable. It’s the barista that denied bathroom privileges and called the police.

Where’s she?

Why isn’t she front and center accepting responsibility for this brouhaha and apologizing? Knowing how the police over-react, shoot Blacks first, make excuses later, she could have caused their murder .... over nothing!

At any rate, giving the grounds away wasn’t in protest, but because inasmuch as I’m doing butter coffee every morning, I no longer needed the unopened pound of Verona grounds.

Guess who grabbed the coffee off the counter as soon as I put it down.

Yep … Greedy Grabby.

Anyway, since Bingo was about to start, and it wasn't proctored by Activity Director, but a representative of an agency trying to sell us on their insurance, with some nice looking prizes available, I selected a card and sat down.

Guess who sat down next to me.

Yep … Greedy Grabby.

I tried. Honestly, I really tried to keep my seat and let her talk to me, which she surely would have, but I couldn’t do it.

I mentally spoke to the Universe, saying NO, I’d had enough for one day, moved to another table and got lucky.

I never win, but won twice and got two cool prizes.

Wire Basket and Rose Scent

I didn’t realize, until I returned to my unit, that the title of the rose scent is “Karma”.

It’s like the Universe sending me a message … “She’s a difficult case, but thank you for trying”.

Weekend Wrap-up

Found myself tracking a real live Pikachu yesterday.

Taking the scenic route, returning from picking up a package from an Amazon Locker, I’d stopped to collect Poké Balls in a Civic Center area, and there she was.

I think they’re onesie pajamas.

Since I’m recently into onesies, because we’ve had some cold nights, I might have to add one of these to my collection – and it HAS turned into a collection, as I’ve ordered two more – a sleep skull print and a fuzzy sleep cat.

They’re warm cozy comforting to sleep in, but I wouldn’t have the guts to wear one out in public, not unless it’s a Onesie Run/Walk Event, which isn’t a bad idea for an event.

While out hunting yesterday, I found the answer to the question … what do daddies do when mommies need daddies to babysit, but daddies want to participate in Pokémon GO Community Day.

That’ right. Daddies just strap the baby in and hunt with one hand.

LOL.

Wouldn’t be at all surprised if baby’s first words, instead of mama or dada, turn out to be “poke mon”.

I hit a milestone in the game yesterday, a virtual reward for visiting 2000 PokeStops. I also logged in 2.34 walking miles, which enabled me to hatch one of the three eggs the game's Professor requested as Field Research.

Would be interesting to know how many total miles I’ve logged in since getting involved in the game.

Wag the Dog

Because I played it safe and remained indoors, I made it safely through Friday the 13th.

There was that snoring from the downstairs unit being so loud that it woke me up at 2:30. I didn’t get back to sleep until close to 5:00, slept until nearly 11:00, which pretty much threw my daily routine out of whack, so I suppose that could qualify as an unfortunate incident associated with Friday the 13th.

The snoring has only awakened me once before, but I think I’m going to start keeping a log to counter attack any future complaints from Little Miss Looney (such as my TV being too loud – which it probably is), since she’s proven herself to be a complainer.

I was almost tempted to head out in the afternoon, when I saw a Pokémon I wanted was just down the street at the dog groomers, but not wanting to risk it, I passed.

Wasn’t easy, because it was a girl I’ve only seen once since I began playing, and it took an entire year for that encounter. I managed to capture her that time, and it would have been nice to get her a sister.

Jynx

Tomorrow, Sunday, is April’s Pokémon GO Community Day, 2:00 to 5:00.

That’s too late for me -- I’m a morning person, so I’m passing on whatever specials the game is offering, and opting to do my hunting today, at the University.

Apache’s birthday is coming up. That’s likely to turn into a big deal around here because he’s a favorite, management excluded.

Apache is a constant thorn in management’s side -- but only because he makes them accountable, which is what management can’t stand about him and what us residents appreciate him for.

He’s been especially protective of me – giving the office who and what for when I had to go to a hotel because former Assistant Maintenance Guy wouldn’t respond to my after-hours emergency when the smoke detector was beeping, and he volunteered to lock up the Laundry Room at 10:00 PM when my downstairs neighbor lodged complaints because she thought it was I, up and making noise at 3:30 A.M. when, in actuality, it was someone doing laundry.

At any rate, I thought I’d give him a gift. But what do you give the guy who literally has everything?

The answer popped up on the news feed yesterday when I saw an article entitled “Trump Neckties are Done and So is His Merchandizing Empire”.

Apache is a die-hard supporter of the Orange Idiot in Chief. He has the red hat, a medallion with the Orange Idiot’s face front/center, and who knows what other memorabilia, but I bet he doesn’t have this ….

Success by Trump Eau De Cologne

That article indicated that, before the Orange Idiot in Chief ran for office, he made millions by selling his name to other people’s products but that, “because of campaign-trail rhetoric on immigrants and Muslims, partners have quit” and the Orange Idiot’s goods are now being sold off at discount.

Originally selling for $60, marked down to $40, then $30, the cologne can be found for as little as $9.99 an ounce. 

Not familiar with the seller offering the $9.99 deal, I checked around and ordered from a trusted source for $17.67.

Apache’s birthday is next month, the perfume is to arrive next week, as will a birthday card.

Can’t wait to see Apache’s reaction.

He’s probably overjoyed right now with his boy’s strike on Syria. I myself am not buying it. I think the whole thing is Wag the Dog to take attention off Stormy and the Russians.

Unfortunately, it will probably work.

At any rate, if you’re looking for what I consider a gag gift or a souvenir, just in case Wag the Dog doesn’t work and impeachment is in Orange Idiot’s future, Success for Men is available at considerable discount.