Seriously?

That’s what I said when a man none of us knew, but assumed was a new resident, walked into the Community Room while we were in the middle of bingo, sat down in the big chair like he was some kind of mafia don, declined our invitation to play with us, instead opened his phone and began viewing some kind of program, open mic, no headphones.

In my bitchy era, due to the lack of chocolate in my system for days, tired from the morning workout, a little annoyed that my morning schedule was thrown off by the return of bingo, my mouth ran away from me and I yelled "SERIOUSLY?!" at him.

If the noise of the program he was viewing didn’t shake up the room, my reaction did and I heard a couple folks ask him to "Turn it down".

The man looked surprised, seemed not to realize he was doing anything wrong, but did turn the volume down.

What do they mean "Turn it down", thought I. How about turning it off. This was not the time nor the place to manspread.

Finding the turned down audio to still be disruptive, no one willing to handle it because he's a guy and they're mealy mouthed, my bitchy no chocolate in my system self decided — if he doesn't know he's doing anything wrong/disruptive, as they say in the hood, "He gone learn today".

I got up, walked over to him, said, "What you’re doing is rude. If you want to listen to your program, you can go sit in the lobby because what you’re doing is rude".

He turned off his phone, sat quietly while we played.

At the end of play, I walked over and said, "You’re free to continue watching your program. It’s just that when we’re playing bingo, activities outside of the game are disruptive".

I then asked his name, if he was a new resident (he was, two months), said "I’m sorry I had to be mean to you".

He apologized as well for his behavior, which he really didn’t seem to realize was rude when he was doing it, but he did indeed learn today.

After that, everything was copacetic ……… Well, sorta, kinda, almost.

Talker won the first two games, and would have won all the games but for the rule you can only win twice — which is fair, gives others a chance to win.

Talker has that kind of luck, which is why she’s at the casino almost on a daily basis and winning ……… sometimes hundreds of dollars, sometimes a few thousand, not to mention all the high quality household items the casino gives her for being a high roller — which items she gives to us seniors ………blenders, crockpots, emersion blenders, etc.

I won a game and chose, from the prize table …… a pumpkin.

I’m going to wrap it in bandages, turn it into a mummy for Halloween.

What wasn’t copacetic was that we could serve no water, no snacks.

I’d actually had to put a line on the flyer, "We are unable to provide drinks at this time. Please bring your own water", because manager will not let us use the refrigerator to store water, keep water cold.

There were no snacks because manager now tells us the kitchen is off limit. We can’t cook anything and she doesn’t want us bringing in food to mess the kitchen up. However, it’s okay if someone wants to bring in cookies/cupcakes, just stay out of the kitchen.

The kitchen is basically dead space and should be boarded up.

So anyway, after bingo I did the grocery shopping I usually do after my morning workout, so I now don’t have to go anywhere, do anything for the next two days. That is unless I decide the withdrawal pains are too much, drive out of the area to replenish my chocolate medicine.

Returning to my unit, I ran into the neighbor that saw me at Sprouts, back in August of last year, gave me a hug like he knew me and we were best buds, which we were not.

I’ve seen him around for years and years, we exchange pleasantries, but I hardly know him.

Seeing me today, he let out a hardy "There she is", then "What’s that on your shirt ……… Mamas don’t let your cowboys grow up to be what?"

"Racists", said I. "Don’t let your cowboys grow up to be racist".

He cracked up, said he’d never heard that before, then moved in and ……… yep, bear hugged me.

He’s just a hugger, and though we rarely see each other, I find I’m minding his big friendly hugs less and less, because he could be a suitable match for me except he’s injury prone.

Every time I do run into him he’s got a new injury.

First it was "I have a bad back", then his arm was in a sling due to an injury incurred while playing baseball; then he was sore on his right side from working out at the gym, followed by an injury to one of his legs — I forget what.

Now he tells me he has not one but two torn meniscuses in his left knee. That the pain is like pins being stuck into his knee and that his provider (same provider I gripe about) made the problem worse (no surprise, that’s what this provider has often done in my experience with them). So he says he’s stuck with the pain, and wearing a brace, because he doesn’t trust the provider to touch him again.

At any rate, he’s not one for letting his various injuries bring him down. He’s the high on life kind that is appreciative of what, as he puts "God gives him", wakes up in the morning thanks God for another day.

"You’re a bigger person than I am", said I. "I wake up in the morning and whine, How much longer".