Targeted

Last few days, with no prompting from myself, no search for anything with my name to cause this, I’ve been seeing t-shirts pop up in my Facebook feed … with my name.

FB is targeting me and, from the gist of what’s being said about me on the tees, seems to know me quite well.

I don’t need another t-shirt but have to admit that "It’s a Shirley Thing, You Wouldn’t Understand" is growing on me.

Crafty Lady called to say she was doing crafts today … could I come down take pics.

I could and I did. The ladies made gift bags and purses from paper bags.

The tea focused on Talker No. 2 …… the new old guy who was some kind of medical researcher, came to us from an apartment building down the street where he was exposed to black mold, says "eat organic".

If you can believe it, Talker herself says she tries to avoid him because "He’s a talker", lol.

Thing about his talking is that he talks and talks and talks, stops other residents asking, "Do you have a minute" to talk, but doesn’t say anything … mostly repeats "eat organic/how old do I look".

It’s sad because he’s probably lonely, but Talker No. 2 has no depth, no one is finding him interesting enough to sit and chat with.

I myself make sure he’s not outside sitting on the bench before I step out, and Talker says she does the same.

I got surprised, a few days ago, when I turned the corner towards the Laundry Room, and there he was sitting on the bench outside the Laundry Room door.

Fortunately, he wasn’t interested in talking to me as he was talking to the Lady with the White Dog … or trying to, because she looked like she’d rather be anywhere other than where she was, her body language reading posed to escape from the conversation, continue walking her dog.

As I moved to open the Laundry Room door, I could hear him saying the same things he said to me about eating organic/how old do you think I am.

Woman with the White Dog gave me a pleading look, I said something about him and I being the same age, with me a few days older, and saw his energy change. He tensed up, looked exasperated.

Obviously, he did not appreciate the interruption, though Woman with the White Dog did.

She took it as an opportunity to finally back away, make herself scarce; whereupon Talker No. 2 snapped, "I was going to tell her to eat organic. I'm trying to tell as many people as possible", got up and left.

As soon as he was out of sight, Woman with the White Dog came back to chat with me, lol.

She didn’t talk about him, we talked about her latest visit to where former Next Door Neighbor is now living, her surprise that "I can’t believe you’re 82", and the complex's painting project, that the painters seemed ahead of schedule, getting close to painting her building, necessitating her removing everything from her patio.

They got to her today. So close to me, well ahead of the July 29 schedule, that I today removed patio furniture from mine as well.

Other tea in today’s crafts session was Talker’s blind date.

It was a while ago that she mentioned going on a blind date but, hearing nothing back, I’d assumed it had not gone well, she didn’t want to talk about it, so I didn’t ask.

Turns out, it worked "very well", that she’d kept quiet because she wasn’t sure how the age difference would be perceived …… He’s 40, she’s in her late 60’s or early 70’s.

I scoffed at the age difference as something to be ashamed of because in my 50’s, I dated 20 somethings …… not relationships because they could never make it that far, just went on dates with a few.

They were not honest about their age, wouldn’t tell me how old for fear I’d not take them seriously; which put me in a quandary that I solved by, when we’d go to places where they had to show ID, I’d ask the ID Checker "Is he legal?" and received assurances I wasn’t breaking any laws.

Once I asked, "Is he legal" and got "barely".

The only other problem with dating younger guys being that, after a while, they get on one’s nerves, which is why they never got even to first base …… their immaturity plays out in one way or another.

Talker says she’s experiencing that getting on the nerves a bit now, but the fun she’s having is outweighing it …… for now.

I didn’t bring it up, but I’m seeing a correlation with Talker being in a relationship with a 40-year-old and her recent injuries.

All of a sudden, she’s having back pain, hip pain, an ankle injury from "dancing" and some days is seen using a cane, sometimes two canes.

Talker’s situation is reminding me of an old joke about something killing a person, but the person going out with a smile on their face.