Happy Halloween

The Holy Tea is now 3 for 3, because not only did 1) the burner go back to normal shortly after the ritual, 2) I regained access to Dawn’s blog after the ritual but this afternoon, 3) the clock’s timer on the cellphone emitted the normal sound when cook time ran out.

I’d anticipated that, since the timer was the last to go, it would take a few more days before it recovered from damage done by that angry tree spirit, and so it became.

Today’s Halloween bingo wasn’t as boring as I’d anticipated.

Instead of calling out numbers, the caller called out characters, and we only played three bingo games, rather than the ten they usually call.

I won the first game.

As you can see, instead of chips we covered the called-out characters with little pumpkin faces.

Prizes were not set out on a table for us to choose from. Instead, a mystery bag was walked over to us.

Inside my bag were Halloween socks, which I plan to wear all year round.

Not a lot of costumes, but the ones that came dressed for the occasion were fun to see.

I did not wear my full skeleton outfit. It was too hot to wear the skeleton top, so I wore just my old leggings, my skeleton workout gloves and green lipstick.

Crafty Lady was of course present, and she read as …… salty.

I made a point to not be rude and ignore her. Instead, I walked over and, just to say something, came up with "You’re not in costume".

"No".

"Why not?"

"I don’t celebrate Halloween".

"Are you Jehovah Witness?" (cause I know they don’t celebrate Halloween).

"No. I just don’t like all the devil stuff".

"I love it".

"I know you do".

How can she tell …… what gave me away, LOL.

At any rate, that was the only time I noticed her during the event. After that, I was busy taking pics, no idea what she was doing, but it seems that when I ghosted her, did not come down to the Community Room to pick up whatever it was she’d made for me, that did the trick …… she finally got the message and now is giving me polite but salty about it.

Works for me.

When the party was in full swing, Kesha showed up …… and this wasn’t even her day to work.

She passed out little packets of candy, went table to table taking down names of attendees (about 30), so she can claim credit for the event, even though she had nothing to do with it ……… other than show up, give us little packets of candy.

I got three hugs …… one from Ernie when he first walked in, another one from Ernie after he left, came back, greeted me again; and lastly, a hug from the Clown, after which we took a photo together.

Her clown shoes were killing me, ROFLMAO.

I've never before introduced Ernie to the blog, never gave him a blog name, never considered him important.

He's just a normal dog walking guy, friendly to everyone, greets me with "Hey, beautiful", and hugs everybody with no hidden agenda.

I don’t know what got into Dream Lover when, at one point, he invited me to sit on his lap.

I pretended I didn’t understand and walked away.

4 years, 4 months, 3,391 Hours Later

Not yet tired of carrot soup for dinner, I had my third batch cooking in the crockpot yesterday afternoon when the power went out.

We’re having way too many power outages lately, and all the power company can tell us is "analyzing problem".

Luckily, it was only out from 6:00 to 8:30, instead of all night, but the timing of the outage was inconvenient as not only did I have to give up the idea of soup for dinner, switch to kale salad, but I was also in the middle of putting the last few stitches in that never ending needlepoint project when the craft lamp went out.

Retrieving the portable power station from patio storage, I was able to hook up the craft light, get sufficient light to finish.

4 years, 4 months, 3,391 Hours Later.

All that’s left to do is to wash the piece, iron, frame, post the great reveal in a few days.

Tomorrow is Halloween Bingo. When asked if I was attending by Painted Rock Lady, I did say yes but, as time has gone on, I’ve retreated further and further from the Usual Suspects, not so sure I wanted to go back to mingling.

Delivering November flyers to The Baker the other day, she asked, "You’re coming Friday, aren’t you?" So, I guess I’m going.

Billed as bingo, with a Halloween twist, it might turn out not to be as boring as I imagine.

I’ll be in costume, not wearing my "Look but don’t touch" tee, so hopefully Crafty Lady won’t give me any grief by trying to hug me ……… Cause me to create a scene by rudely backing away should it look like she's coming in for a hug or request a hug, like she did last time.

Wish me luck.

Proof is in the Pudding

"Has the tea worked" asked Catalyst in a comment.

All I can say is, when I woke up yesterday, took care of morning activities of daily living, got online, began reading blogs, when I got to Dawn’s Bohemian Valhalla blog …… that I haven’t been able to access since shortly after the trees were cut down and I began dealing with that annoyed spirit, even though locked out, I always clicked to try anyway ONLY this time I clicked AND …… I was in.

That’s one.

Then, when I got around to making breakfast, forgetting the front right burner hasn't worked since shortly after the trees were cut down, out of habit I turned the nob, as I have a couple times ONLY this time …… I got fire.

That’s two.

Thinking the clock's timer on the cellphone might have rightened itself, I tested the timer but no. Still not working. BUT it was the last to have been affected, so maybe takes a few more days for the sound to come back.

At any rate, I'd say the tea has once again proved its efficacy and …………

Painted Rock Lady telephoned yesterday afternoon to warn I was in danger of a lease violation because Cujo was not on a leash, LOL.

"But he’s in a cage" I joked (meaning inside the patio rails).

"Doesn’t matter. Management said all dogs outside have to be on a leash", said she.

So, I quick fast resolved the issue, and sent her a pic.

She must have still been in the area, because I could hear her laughing.

She also said that management has advised all dog owners that no one else can walk their dog …… no neighbor, no visiting relative, only the dog’s actual owner.

So, I guess Skelly is the only one that can walk Cujo.

Stupid management. Stupid rules riling up the dog owners.

I can understand why management would want dogs leashed, but who cares if someone is ill, can’t walk their dog and a neighbor or family member volunteers to do so, as I've often seen.

What’s the harm in that?

I couldn’t get that skeleton planter off my mind. It kept calling my name. So, I made a quick trip back to the market.

Bow Wow Wow Yippie Yo Yippie Ye

Skelly got a dog over the weekend … a Golden Retriever.

Meet Cujo.

I’m currently having a real fixation with skeletons, wish I had more and almost added a skeleton planter, I saw at the market, to my menagerie.

It’s a planter I can leave on the patio all year round but, since the sun kills every plant I try to raise on the patio, I couldn’t justify the purchase.

Also inside the market, I spied a clever way to "carve" a pumpkin … I ininitially thought it was a mask glued on, which would have been a great idea, but painting does just as well as carving.

Leaving the market, I spotted a Rubicon tricked out with a Halloween display, driving in. Of course I turned around, took a few pics as the occupants walked away.

I'll be sad to see the month of Halloween end, because seeing seasonal decorations is so fun.

In other news — knock on wood, I think the angry tree spirit, with a little kick from an old remedy, has left the unit.

I got serious about speeding its exit when the timer on the cellphone failed — another act of electronic vandalism. The timer would tick off the minutes I'd set for cook time but, when the time was up, it emitted no sound/no signal to let me know time had run out, after which an old remedy came to mind.

Back in the day (around 2005), when I was up against the Klan at that racist agency (CEO Klansman, various Klan Department Heads, their Klan secretaries), I’d get to the office early, before the racist arrived, walk around and into various offices with a ying yang mug of Gadatsu Holy Tea, speaking out loud, "Evil spirits, chew on this" as a way to draw their dark energy out of the atmosphere in which I was working, because that’s what Holy Tea does. It’s used in rituals to bring peace and salvation to unrested spirits, effective in purifying negative energy.

One morning, as I was working the ritual, I failed to notice my boss was in her office, saw me, yelled out, "Shirley, what are you doing?"

"Getting rid of evil spirits", said I.

She was cool, knew I was different, liked me, sometimes helped me by giving intel on what the Klan was planning. So, she just accepted what I was doing, like it was normal, went back to whatever it was she was doing. LOL.

I only had to do the ritual a couple times before I felt a shift in the energy … the Klansmen, Klan girls not so sure of themselves, more leery of me because I didn’t seem to react with the fear they’d expected. Instead, I was always smiling, walking around looking smug, like I knew something they didn’t.

I did.

End the end, the racists could never get me or get to me and, eventually, all the bad energy they directed at me bounced off my wall of protection and hit ‘em. The racist CEO resigned ahead of an indictment for financial fraud, the various racist Department Heads, like rats jumping a sinking ship, fled to other jobs. One committed suicide, and those remaining — because they couldn’t find other jobs, went on the downlow with their racism, were no longer a problem for me.

So, anyway, when the timer on the cellphone went out, I decided to get serious about sending the tree being on its way, thought back to the Holy Tea, which has been with me, in the cupboard all these years.

I’ve never had to use it since those days with the racists, but it doesn’t hurt to have such a powerful antidote to unruly forces on hand, so I’ve kept it all these years … when I moved to Long Beach to help Great Granddaughter out, when I moved back to where I am now, the tea was always with me.

On Friday, I performed the ritual, sent the tree being — knock on wood, packing.

In even more news, it appears Lu and Dream Lover are back on; as daily, since trucks arrived, carted Lu’s hoarding stuff away, I’ve observed him heading for her unit and, looking at posts on Facebook, Dream Lover has been gifting Lu with some of his Crafts Day artwork.

That’s all she needs … more stuff.

At any rate, Happy Monday, the game continues.

Spooky

In addition to a lightbulb, three different chargers, and the emersion blender failing in a few short days, one of the burners on the stove went out and, in the middle of watching a Chinese drama last night, a notification popped up on the laptop "Trend Micro no longer supports this software".

I’m beginning to think this place is cursed, that cutting down the trees released an electronics hating, kitchen appliance hating demon.

Why it's chosen my unit to vent it's displeasure, is anyone's guess.

Burner on the stove is no biggie as I’ve three other burners, except it is my favorite burner, the one predominately in use — right front.

Is that weird that I have a favorite burner, or is it common … all of you have favorite burners as well?

I’ve yet to hear from management about that $15 lightbulb, so I’ll hold off on putting in a work order for the burner until after that issue is resolved.

The laptop is a different situation. Still operable, but without cybersecurity software, I’d be vulnerable to data theft, so I quick made an appointment with Tech Support for this morning.

Having purchased the laptop in 2018, maybe even before that, I figured it couldn’t be upgraded to Windows 11 to recapture the cybersecurity program, so I was prepared to purchase a replacement.

Luckily, Tech Guy Dan was able to download a different version of the security program which, he believes, will allow secure use of the laptop. Secure, at least long enough to wait for a big sale he says will be coming up on laptops.

While in the store, I checked prices and was surprised to see how reasonably priced computer equipment is.

I was expecting two dolls donnie’s tariffs would cause prices to go sky high. Instead, if and when I have to upgrade to Windows 11 to get the cybersecurity program, the laptop will cost a couple hundred dollars less than I paid back in 2018.

Go figure.

The drive cam caught a funny thing on the freeway as I travelled to the computer store.

So far so good on not receiving text messages from Crafty Lady, and no Kesha knock on the door.

Carrot Soup for Days

Happy Monday. Let the games begin.

If you look closely, you’ll see that Skelly has acquired the beginnings of a real legit spider web.

At this point, it’s just one thin string, but Skelly and I will take it … so long as it’s outside, not inside my unit.

No news from the office yet over payment for the $15 lightbulb, but it’s early in the game. If they’re efficient, I should hear from them sometime this week.

The lightbulb wasn’t the only thing that had to be replaced because, over the weekend my wall charger, portable charger and charging station all failed, had to be replaced.

Today, I had a craving for, of all things, carrot soup.

I remember many years ago, I was eating such a volume of carrots — raw, juiced, roasted, that my skin actually took on a jaundiced coloration, which turned me off of carrots for a while.

I didn’t stop eating carrots, just lowered my intake — no roasting, no juicing.

It wasn’t until today, when I tossed carrots into the crockpot to make carrot soup that I realized the carrot cravings are back because, last few days, I’ve also been eating quite a lot of raw and roasted carrots.

So long as I don’t juice it, maybe my skin won’t turn yellow this time.

It was after 30 minutes in the crockpot, when the carrots were ready for the emulsion blender, that I turned the blender on and …… nothing.

It was dead.

That’s a lightbulb, three different chargers, and now a kitchen appliance to fail in a few short days.

I had to switch to the countertop blender, which worked just as well.

Carrot Soup for Days

I even made a little loaf of gluten free Artisian Bread, from a boxed mix, to go along with the soup.

So long as the countertop blender keeps ticking, I see no need to replace the emersion one.

After telling Crafty Lady that I’d check into the Community Room this morning, pick up whatever it is she made for me, and then not showing up — as I’d planned all along, I’m beginning to feel a little guilty for ghosting her.

Hopefully, the message is beginning to sink in, she’ll swallow any hurt feelings being ghosted might have caused and, like Corporal Stitch in Heartbreak Ridge said, she’ll not "Go away mad. Just go away".

Tomorrow is No Pizza Tuesday, and I’ve decided not to close the blinds, hide from Kesha.

If she follows that plan to knock on doors and my door gets knocked on, I’ll let her in, tell her don’t take it personal but she and management have given me no reason to come to the Community Room.

She needs to hear it plainly said that, like Scary Mary commented "If they want people to come back to the community center for get togethers they're going to have to work for it".

Bare as a Baby’s Bottom

That would describe the grassy knoll after tree trimmers had at it during the week.

Before

After

Curious to see what other changes had been made to the landscape, I ventured out yesterday for a walkabout.

So far as I could tell, other trees had been trimmed, but our grassy knoll is the only area that has been decimated.

Turning the first corner on my walk, I spotted Painted Rock Lady standing outside her unit watching the tree trimmers operate the wood chopper.

We considered who we might like to toss into the chopper, after which she asked, "You coming to our Halloween party?".

"Is it a party? … the flyer indicated bingo.”

"Well, we are playing some bingo, but there will be other games, costumes".

So, it looks like Halloween won’t be a complete bust after all, but why didn’t the Baker have me indicate on the flyer that it wasn’t just bingo, but a party?

I’d specifically asked her that?

I’d even let her look at the boring bingo flyer just to make sure she didn’t want me to jazz it up by adding games, costumes, snacks, but she was happy with a plain vanilla flyer.

Oh well. It’s a good thing I’ve gotten this clarification, otherwise I very well might have continued my sabbatical, not checked in on the 31st.

Also, while on that walk, a neighbor mistook me for Tech Support.

This would be a neighbor I’ve seen at various events for years, but never bothered to know his name or interact with?

I do recall he was seated adjacent to me at the July 4th BBQ and that inasmuch as he’s somewhat disabled, as though he’d had a stroke at one time, couldn’t work his hands to twist the cap off his water bottle, had motioned for me to help him (motioned because he doesn’t speak), which I of course did open the bottle for him, later bussed his dishes as he has difficulty walking.

So, anyway, he stopped me on my walk, motioned that something was wrong with his telephone, placed it in my hand to take a look.

I couldn’t make heads or tails of the problem, other than the glass was cracked as though he’d dropped it at one time and the screen was locked on hello, being flashed over and over and over in various languages.

My guess was he’d downloaded a virus, so I told him it was best to take it to the shop.

He understood, so I continued the walk which logged in as a mile in 24 minutes. Not too shabby, but not good enough for a 5K. I fear my 5K days are over.

On that walk, I did see two other residents had "decorated" for Halloween.

Bless their hearts, but I guess something is better than nothing.

If They Build It, I Will Come

After being told, seeing the plans for, and experiencing a Starbucks Effects rent increase back in 2019, only to later be disappointed when the proposed Starbucks on the corner turned into a Seven Eleven, I was skeptical when hearing last year’s rumor of a proposed Starbucks across from the Pain Cave, on the same lot as the market.

Skeptical, that is until, walking out of the Pain Cave back in January, I saw construction had begun.

Since then, though I’m no longer working out in the Pain Cave, I’ve been keeping my eye on construction.

Finally, last week as I was driving by, I saw cars lined up at the drive thru, but it wasn’t until Sunday that, after grocery shopping, I walked across the parking lot to the newly opened Starbucks.

Now that I can literally walk to Starbucks, there won’t be the daily habit I once had. For one, my gut will now only allow Starbucks infrequently. Also, the cost is prohibitive.

The price of a Venti Half-Caf Americana is now $4.75 and, inasmuch as I always leave a dollar tip, plus the quarter change, that would be $6.00 a day.

A treat, once in a blue moon, will suffice.

I’ve got a lot of Starbucks memorabilia — Christmas tree ornaments, tote bags, an apron, not to mention coffee cups up the wazoo, but couldn’t resist the little Lid Stopper, designed to prevent the leaks and burns I sometimes get in transporting.

Sooo cute

It’s so far so good with my sabbatical from Crafts. Other than a text message … "Good afternoon beautiful. I'm just checking on you", when I didn’t show up for Monday’s craft session, it’s been better than good thus far with no contact, no further text messages.

Even my energy level is back on par.

I’d been experiencing an energy drain for weeks. I was going downhill fast, couldn’t manage 10 minutes on the treadmill, and couldn’t determine where the leak was coming from … source of the drain.

Amazingly, as soon as I disconnected from Crafts — being in Craft Lady’s presence, I began to feel like my old self. Just yesterday and today, I was back to 30 minutes on the treadmill, a few minutes on the cross trainer, back to the treadmill for a 10-minute cooldown.

I believe she’s, what is known in spiritual circles as, an Energy Vampire.

In regular secular circles, according to google, "An energy vampire is a person whose interactions leave you feeling emotionally exhausted, depleted, or anxious. These individuals are often manipulative, demanding, and negative, and they may use charm or victimhood to gain attention and control. Symptoms of encountering an energy vampire include feeling drained, physically tense, or emotionally deflated after spending time with them."

I doubt any of the others around her are feeling "drained, exhausted, depleted", as she comes across as just a normal good neighbor and the others aren't very deep, if you know what I mean.

I empath, so I can feel and sense with the others can't … that she's working hard to come across as the lovely, generous, helpful, involved neighbor she appears to be, and I don't doubt that she's sincerely being that. However, I can feel and sense that she's putting in a lot of effort to sincerely be those things, that it's hard work for her as there are underlining issues she's trying hard to keep at bay so she won't be judged, can fit in.

It's my empathing … sensing/feeling/knowing how exhausting this must be for her that's causing her to be a drain on my life force, an energy vampire.

I can't spend a lot of time around her.

It's all good now and looks like I’ll be on sabbatical until Halloween, and then just a drive by through the Community Room to see if Halloween is the dud it’s being set up to be.

Overthinking or Gut Instinct?

The Usual Suspects are nicer/kinder than myself, do not want to put a lock on the refrigerator. Instead, Crafty Lady asked me to make signs — one for the refrigerator, which she herself cleaned on Wednesday …

One for the microwave, which she also cleaned on Wednesday …

Mention of the cameras may be all it takes, but we’ll see.

When Crafty Lady first texted, asking me to make the signs, she offered to donate for paper and ink. I declined saying not necessary, that flyers and such are my way of supporting the community.

She was to have picked up the signs yesterday, on her way to 2:00 bible study in the Community Room …… there’s a group of residents that meet every Thursday to study scripture, led by the Bible Thumper that so got on my nerves a few years back.

When she didn’t show, and I later saw her on the walkway headed to her unit, I figured she’d forgotten.

Sure enough, a little while later she texted she’d forgotten, asked if I would be home today.

I’d replied no, that I had to make a run to Sprouts, but would drop the signs off at bingo (which I figured would be in progress by the time I returned).

She then texted, "Do you go to Sprouts often?"

"Oh, oh" thought I. Sensing she might want to tag along next time and me being a person that doesn't care for tagalongs, I answered without answering, said that Sprouts is the only store that offers products my sensitive stomach can tolerate.

She then texted that she’d been trying to find alfalfa sprouts, could she give me cash to buy for her.

I said sure, no problem, I’d purchase, let her know the cost after.

I was impressed with the Halloween display at Sprouts.

Wish I’d thought of adding a garland of fall leaves to my patio display — intertwined in the railings.

Returning to the complex, I popped into bingo, gave Crafty Lady the signs/alfalfa sprouts, told her to pay it forward (because, inasmuch as she gives us craft supplies no charge, not charging for the alfalfa is the right thing to do).

Instead of saying thank you, she said "Give me a hug", stood up, spread out her arms, wrapped her arms around me, pulled me in for a hug that lasted a little too long.

I found it unnecessary, really weird and strangely uncomfortable.

I feel Crafty Lady is trying to get too close and familiar with me at a level I would not like.

I question her reason for doing so.

Not only did she early on send me a Facebook friend request, which I declined, she always greets me in text and in person with "Hey, beautiful".

I don’t know folks. You can probably guess by now what my gut is telling me, while my head is saying no, you’re overthinking it because she has children, grandchildren, but I’m not so naïve as to not know that doesn’t mean what my gut is telling me can’t still be so.

I’ll still attend Crafts on Monday, hope what I’m sensing and what my gut is telling me is simply overthinking, and if it's not overthinking, that she has the good sense to pick up, understand and respect that I’m strictly dickly before she crosses the line.

Showtime!

It’s finally the 1st of Halloween.

Skelly is happily on the patio, basking in the sunlight in his cowboy outfit.

I set Skelly up a few days ago, but tonight will be the first night I turn on the patio's Halloween lights.

I’d previously posted how Next-Door Neighbor had knocked on the door, said the skull on the doormat almost scared the life out of her. Well, the day Skully made it to the patio, she knocked on the door again, pointed to Skully on the patio, said, "I don’t care for the company you keep".

She seemed serious, actually looked a little angry.

I don’t know if it’s her illness and worry about how to care for self after her operation that’s causing her to be such a pill, but inasmuch as she knows and has seen me decorate at the Month of Halloween for years, knows I go to the macabre, nothing is new.

I gave her a break because she's ill, let it go with the obvious …… "You should be used to it by now".

She has no idea how I restrained myself …… didn’t put a scary cover on the door, didn't purchase a frightening doormat I’d been tempted to buy.

I'm still tempted to buy that doormat for next year and may yet do so.

Yesterday was No Pizza Tuesday.

I walked through the Community Room last Tuesday, to see if anyone showed up for Kesha, found just one resident — the Upstairs Lady.

Yesterday, around 11:15, a mass text went out from Crafty Lady — "Good morning, just asking if anyone is coming to the Community Room".

Only three of us replied to the text — the Baker, Painted Rock Lady, myself, and we all said "no".

Then came a follow up from Crafty Lady — "Okay, I was told to ask by Kesha to see if anyone was coming. It’s supposed to be crafts, but I’m not doing them, my days are Mon and Wed, see you tomorrow".

I checked the Activity Calendar and, sure enough, listed was "Fall Craft: Join in the Community Room to create a festive fall craft".

It's kinda sad that Kesha was so desperate as to ask Crafty Lady to call folks to come down, and I wonder how long it’s going to take before she realizes she's been cancelled.

Lesson for Kesha here …… notwithstanding the fact that as a Black woman in the workforce, you need to be smart about what you say, do, how you interact with others, tone yourself down, in some cases dumb yourself down is that it's a fact of life that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

As for Crafty Lady doing crafts twice a week, Mon and Wed is a little too much communal crafting for me, as I've got my own projects here in my unit to complete.

However, I do plan to join into Crafts this morning, just so I can gather intel as to what happened after we all said no yesterday …… did anyone else happen to meander down, did Kesha use the downtime to clean out the refrigerator?

To do so would have created some good Karma for her, erased some of the negativity she's created for herself around here by having backed up management's stance when they were hard lining us on keeping the refrigerator locked.

The L Word

The 1st of Halloween only three days away, Skelly decided it was time to shake off the inactivity of being sat in a corner/turned into a lamp for months, begin training for the main event.

Word on the streets is that the office has caved …… the refrigerator in the Community Room is being returned to the Community, management is purchasing and setting up a refrigerator in their own area.

Previously, it was always "no" when the suggestion of management having a little refrigerator in the office for their lunches was made. As to what caused this, as yet unconfirmed change of heart …… it could be that, when the Baker blew up, Manager might have realized she’d been going too far in punishing us seniors because Di had stolen one of their lunches from the refrigerator; what the ramifications would be if an elderly resident was injured transporting stuff for events back and forth from their unit to the Community Room because Manager locked the refrigerator.

As to why Manager might have begun to think of ramifications, might be because a resident I’d never seen before mentioned the L word in the Residents/Management Meeting — Lawsuit.

It wasn’t in reference to the refrigerator, but an issue another resident was having with the floors in her unit.

From what I gathered, management was dragging its heels on a solution to the flooring situation; whereupon this woman I’d never seen before said that if the resident tripped and injured herself, "That’s a lawsuit. You can sue them".

Even though it’s not illegal for Manager to lock the refrigerator — just not a good look for management, maybe just maybe the Baker blowing up and mention of the L word made her think she should do something to calm the natives down.

Thus far, like I said, I’ve had no confirmation on our getting our refrigerator back, it’s strictly a rumor. However, if later proved to be a fact, I’m not sure that, at this point any of us, including the Baker. even cares. It may be too little too late.

Time will tell.

Another unsubstantiated rumor is that Manager has changed the lock on the pool bathroom — which residents use not only when at the pool but also when having to potty during events. Rather than travel all the way back to their units, they use the key we’ve all been issued to the pool bathroom.

Now I’m being told Manager has declared "It’s her bathroom", changed the locks, our keys will no longer give us access.

No matter to me, because I have never used that facility, prefer to rush back to my unit; but losing access because Manager wants it designated for her and office staff only, is just another bad look, a further thing to inflame the masses.

Heading back from running errands on Wednesday, I ran into Hubba Hubba Awooga Silver Fox, who I’d not seen out and about since May.

It’s funny how the Law of Attraction works. When I was interested in him, I’d run into him every time I stepped out the door, but the second I lost interest, the invisible energy that was drawing us together ceased operating and I no longer saw him out/about.

Poor man looked terrible …… Lost weight, hair now more gray than silver, seems to have aged. Four months isn’t that long for so much change to have occurred.

"Long time no see", said I.

"I’ve been in the hospital a couple times".

"Oh my gosh, why, what happened?".

"Diverticulitis".

He explained to me what that is and spoke as though he thought he might not be much longer for this world …… said something about he’s just not the same, having a hard time adjusting to becoming old, that we all have to go eventually, that he’s prepared and at peace with whatever.

(Nurse DrumMajor: Is diverticulitis a death sentence?)

It’s scary seeing how being hospitalized changes folks, and not for the better.