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.

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.

Roll Call

Another quiet few days gone at the speed of light.

Only 1,394 days to go.

My only sighting of a resident, since Silver Fox caught up with me on Saturday, has been TinTin, the resident who moved into Patty the Smoker’s downstairs across the quad unit after Patty was evicted in 2023.

Passing each other on the walkway yesterday, TinTin announced she'll be moving next month.

Strangely evasive when I asked, "Why are you moving", she had no problem telling me where she was moving to, even gave me the name and telephone number of the property in Redlands.

Once back in my unit, I researched the property online, and it is quite nice ……… not like little boxes inside a big box the powers that be like to house us seniors, but a large open aired community like here, two stories like here, pool like here, washer dryer in the unit, an extra we don’t have, a fitness center we don’t have, Clubhouse with free Wi-Fi we don’t have, tons of activities and good reviews of management we don’t have.

I’d definitely be interested except, my being in the gray area where I’m considered over income, I’d not have the break in rent TinTin will get. I’d have to pay the full several thousand that I can’t afford to pay.

Too bad Red Light didn’t know about this community before she got stuck in the hoity toity community, with the luxurious units, where she’s bored, lonely, unhappy.

As I understand it, the Section 8 people have a lot of flexibility …… after living one year in a spot, they can easily relocate again. So maybe Red Light will find something more suitable when her year is up.

But for the fact, Red Light is raw since all that Facebook drama over being told she can no longer attend bingo here, would for sure misread my intent, I’d text her, let her know about that Redlands community.

At any rate, will be interesting to see what kind of blog fodder the new resident will bring to the table after TinTin leaves.

TinTin has hit the jackpot. So, I hope she doesn’t blow it by continuing that ghetto thing of tin foil, cardboard, fabric, paper, sticks, et. al., she does with her window.

As far as I know, everyone else in the quad is solid.

The Nice Old Guy, living upstairs across the quad doesn’t get out much but seems to be doing the best he can, on his walker, when I do see him out on the walkway.

His next-door neighbor — the guy that moved into the upstairs corner Bad Energy Unit, seems to have beaten the curse.

After having seen whatever apparition exists there cause the lives and physicality of four residents rather quickly deteriorate and eventually fall completely apart, he’s the only one to remain hale and hardy.

After not seeing him for months, I was beginning to wonder when, a few weeks ago, I finally did catch him heading out. He was beaming, said I'd not seen him because he's generally out early and had just returned from vacationing on a cruise ship trip to Acapulco.

So, whatever apparition is up there, either likes him or has moved on, because he's doing just fine.

After yesterday’s workout, I popped into the market, where I paid a fortune for salmon and a few veggies, no eggs needed.

Heading back to the car, I was approached by an older panhandler.

When he asked for money, I shook my head "no", but then remembered I had that found money in the car’s visor, so I said, "Oh wait!", had him follow me and donated to "the next panhandler that asks for money", as I said I would when I found the $20 bill on the floor of Ralph’s market last month.

The old panhandler hit up a few more customers, was successful with two, before I saw him hurriedly cross the lot, head for the bus stop.

He appeared to be working on a schedule, a pro, knew exactly how long he had to continue panhandling before the next bus arrived, because he timed it perfectly ……… not two minutes after he got to the stop the bus pulled up.

Signs of Life

Today did not go as planned.

The plan was to head out of the area to Sprouts, pick up a few specialty items not available nearby, stop by See’s Candies on the way back for my chocolate medication.

However, just before walking out the door, the Baker texted, asking me if I could bring her draft bingo games diagram to reality.

I could, I did, but it took hours, because it involved columns, grids, and marking boxes to indicate how seven different game combinations are to look like for those attending tomorrow to yell "BINGO!".

Thing is, I know from before that even with these visual aids, some of the seniors are not going to get it, will ask questions like, "What game is this? .... What's it's supposed to look like? ... Is this a bingo?"

At any rate, the visuals were made, and my day was shot.

Aggravated, I was not because I took it as the Universe either preventing me from being in a certain place at a certain time to avoid something, or to be in a certain place at a certain time to experience/see something.

It turned out to be the latter because, once the job was done, I walked copies over to the Baker’s unit and, returning to my unit, I noticed the car belonging to the guy who moved across the quad back in January ‘23, into the upstairs, corner unit — the Bad Energy Unit, was no longer in its spot.

That was a relief because, a few weeks ago, I realized I’d not seen him for months, and began to think he’d become the latest victim of the negative energy that seems to be in that unit.

Since then, I’ve been looking for signs of life.

His car, though not covered with dirt, never seemed to move from its parking spot — not good.

His blinds did not open during the day and I could see no lights coming from his unit at night — not good.

Notices posted to his door did seem to be taken in — a good sign, but I’d not physical seen nor passed him coming/going for months.

Is he on an extended vacation?, thought I.

Has he been hospitalized?

As a reminder, the unit where this guy (let’s call him UNC for Upstairs Corner Unit) resides, has a history of life seeming to go downhill for everyone moving into it.

The guy who was living in the unit when I moved in (2012) moved out in 2013.

The blog name for the guy was "The Vampire", because I never saw him.

Supposedly he worked nights, but there were never any signs of life in that unit, insofar as I could ever see or hear.

Even when he moved out, it was stealth — late at night, no sounds. I only knew he was gone when I one day saw Maintenance going in/out preparing the unit for its next victim.

Of course, I didn’t realize at the time that those moving in became victim to bad luck until, as years went by, I saw what happened and concluded there was bad energy left behind by the Vampire.

The next to move in was a returnee — a woman who previously lived on the complex, moved out for whatever reason, then moved back to be close to her boyfriend living on the property.

Shortly after moving into that unit her health began to fail, she had a heart attack, survived, had a pacemaker implanted, but had to move out again for "care purposes".

Then came Sue (October 2015).

Sue was vibrant and engaged, still holding down a part time job.

First thing to happen was having to sell her car because she couldn’t afford repairs.

I don’t know if the lack of transportation caused her to no longer be able to hold down a job, but she no longer left for work every day and was rarely seen outside her unit after that.

Sue began smoking and drinking to excess, which impacted her health to the point where she could no longer care for herself.

She was eventually moved in with family.

Then around May 2021, came a woman I didn’t get to know well, other than we’d wave at each other when coming/going to our cars.

I’d heard from others that she was a school bus driver.

What befell this resident was first losing her school bus driving job — she’d been fired after having an accident.

Then, to try to make ends meet, she began working in a pizza parlor.

The pizza parlor job was probably not working out, as I one day saw lots of family helping her move.

Next came UNC (January ’23) but, before he moved in, Red Light — living downstairs, reported hearing footsteps, someone walking around inside the vacant unit ...... "I know the sounds are not coming from the unit behind me. It’s directly overhead" said she and freaked out when I told her the history of the unit, that there very possibly could be some unknown something up there.

At any rate, the fact that UNC’s car moved from its spot earlier today, and seeing it now back, means UNC is still around. However, not physically seeing him, I can't say how well he's doing, that he’s beaten the curse, or whether the curse is beating him.

Speaking of people not seen nor heard from or about, have you noticed it's radio silence on those Astronauts lost in space.

What's happening with bringing them home?

Is the silence hoping we'll forget? Are the powers that be trying to escape having to tell us they're never coming home?

What a Week!

I’m beginning to think Catalyst’s comment on my last post "Eclipse, Schmeclipse, who cares anyway. It only means the Apocalypse is getting close" is right on, because so much has happened in the world this week.

Last weekend’s rain ………… third weekend in a row we had rain to deal with, plus rain expected this weekend, not to mention the up and down weather during the week of freezing cold one day, 90 degree heat the next, had me not feeling my best as I fought off an ear infection and sore throat.

Along with the up and down weather, there was the Eclipse, sentencing of the Goon Squad Cops that tortured two Black men in Mississippi, news that Paul Flores (purported unaliver of Kirsten Smart) had been knifed in prison for the second time and, lastly, ta ta so long to O.J. Simpson.

That was a lot for one week.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Goon Squad, it consists of six white Mississippi cops (Brett Morris McAlpin, 53; Christian Dedmon, 29; Jeffrey Middleton, 46; Hunter Elward, 31; and Daniel Opdyke, 28 and a former police officer from the city of Richland, Joshua Hartfield, 32).

A white neighbor took exception with mixing of races and reported seeing two Black men (Michael Corey Jenkins and Eddie Terrell Parker) living with a white woman.

Not illegal in this year of 2024 but hey, it’s Mississippi.

At any rate, the cops illegally entered the home, kicked, waterboarded, shouted racial slurs, assaulted Jenkins and Parker with stun guns and a sex toy, then Elward shot Jenkins in the mouth.

Their vicious acts were then covered up by planting drugs and having Jenkins and Parker arrested.

With McAlpin and Middleton threatening to kill the other officers if they spoke up, those false charges stood for months until pressure mounting from a Justice Department civil rights probe caused one of the six to break rank and spill the beans.

This week was the Day of Reconning for the six.

Jeffrey Middleton 46, Daniel Opdyke 28, Hunter Elward 31,
Brett McAlpin 53, Christian Dedmon 29, Joshua Hartfield 32

I’d have liked to have seen the neighbor that set this whole thing in motion charged for something ……… anything, but what I don’t get is why can’t people with this kind of bias hatred just stop?

You want to hurt someone because you don't like the color of their skin, you don't like them mixing with other races, you don't want them as your neighbor, you hate for whatever reason, and you act out on that hate. People are harmed, people are unalived but, inasmuch as 9 out of 10 times you are caught, called out, imprisoned, your own reputation gone, life in tatters, so what purpose did it serve to act out on your hatred?

It just boggles my mind that folks can’t live their own lives, leave others alone.

Also of note this week was the Eclipse (Partial in my neck of the woods).

After reading reports of those who experienced the Total, I’m jealous and wishing I were more the adventurous type as I could travel to Spain to view the projected 2027 Total.

In the meantime …..

My Kinda Eclipse with Guacamole

As for Paul Flores, second time in a row he's been knifed while under protective care, so I don’t think he’s going to survive much longer in prison. He should probably just tell what he did with Kirsten’s body.

Speaking of telling, the least noteworthy event this week, on my scale, was the passing of O.J. Simpson without clearing his conscious and confessing.

No surprise though that he was a liar to the end as he’d lied at reports of his health not being well, saying his health was good just before that was proved a lie by his demise.

He always reminded me of my abusive egomaniac ex. He too could never accept responsibility for his actions.

In fact, when the ex learned he had six-months to live, something in him, possibly conscious, prompted him to call, give me the news.

As if I cared.

But my humanity took over and I offered forgiveness, saying "I hold no ill will for anything".

His reply was to get pompous, arrogant, "I? I did nothing."

Okay, I thought to myself, You tell that to St. Peter at the gate that torturing, abusing women was nothing. Then, after he passed away, I guess reality hit because there were visitations ... many visitations with he begging for forgiveness.

By then, my heart had hardened. All I could think of was his saying "I? I did nothing", so I told him forgiveness had been offered, he'd gotten his usual arrogant self, now it was too late, so F off and go straight to hell. (Yes, I spoke to a dead person).

After a time he did. I'm assuming both the F'ing off and going to Haydes.

One interesting thing I ran across in reading comments about O.J. was that thousands of Ford Broncos (the car made famous by the 1994 slow speed police chase) were recalled the same day he passed away.

Though the recall had nothing to do with his death, but involved possible cracked fuel injectors that could cause a fire, comments were "They both ran out of gas".

Odd that the recall happened the day he passed away and, inasmuch as I don't believe in coincidences your guess as to its cosmic meaning is as good as mine.

Score Card

Tis the season and, thus far, the score around here is two falls and one death in a short period of time.

The death was an old gentleman living with his 18-year-old grandson.

The two were a popular fixture on the complex. Never attended activities, but regularly seen out walking together.

The kid moved in with his grandpa two years ago, after his mom passed away, now his grandpa is gone, and he’ll have to find other accommodations.

One of two falls is a neighbor around the corner in this building. She just kind of slipped while out walking on the complex, her foot went wonky, and she’s laid up with a broken foot.

The other fall is that new resident — moved in three months ago, the guy the ladies were all going ga ga over.

Word on the grapevine was the guy, mixed with First Nation blood and some other blood type, resulted in his being a devastatingly handsome kinda guy but "He’s mean ….. antisocial …… doesn’t like people knocking on his door; And he doesn’t like women. Says he’s sick and tired of women always chasing him".

He slipped in a puddle on the property, fell backwards, landed on his side, cracked a rib and was laid up for a while.

Today, returning from this morning’s workout and a stop by the market, was the first time I’ve seen him up close and personal — other than briefly, one time before I heard the girls speak of him, when we'd passed on the walkway and I'd said, "Good morning". He'd scowled at me but did say "Good morning" in return.

I later understood the scowl face was because he'd come to expect women around here were thirsty and "Good morning" from a female, in his mind, translated into "Hubba Hubba Awooga".

He'd been burned, was guarded and didn’t want to open the door by appearing friendly.

Today he did.

Talker pulled up behind me just as I was getting out of the car, chatted me up for a bit, then went to park whereupon I thought to ask her if my Little Stalker had liked my Wednesday dance.

She didn’t exit the car right away, so there I was standing in the parking lot, arms full of workout gear and grocery bags, when this Silver Fox walked across the lot, stopped, looked at me, asked "Are you alright?"

That was nice.

"Yes, I’m just waiting to say something to my neighbor".

As he then moved towards his parked car, Talker exited her car, saw him and engaged him in conversation, asking how he was.

"Worst year of my life", said he. "I had Covid, Bronchitis, a growth on my chest blew up into a big deal and had to be drained, then I fell and was laid up for a while".

Standing close enough to listen as he and Talker finished their conversation, I did not introduce myself or ask for an introduction because, since he’s so leery of women coming onto him, I was being guarded in return.

After he walked away, I mentioned to Talker that he seems nothing like what I’ve heard from the other ladies.

She'd not heard what I'd been told, was surprised the others had labeled him as antisocial, tired of women chasing him.

"That’s because one of the girls, I won’t say who, was constantly knocking on his door", said she.

Ohhhh, the old sour grapes. He wasn’t interested in whoever that was, so she put antisocial yada yada yada out on the grapevine. Now everyone stays away from him.

Talker went on to say Silver Fox is in business — owns an ammunitions company.

"He’s an arms dealer", I joked, but sometimes words come out of my mouth that turn out to be accurate.

At any rate, having seen the infamous Silver Fox up close and personal, he seems nice enough to me, is handsome but not the drop dead ga ga the other ladies seem to think.

In fact, I don’t see First Nation at all. Instead, I see Louisiana Geechee, clearly Creole in his skin color, texture of his hair, mustache, beard and body type; but Covid, Bronchitis, a Growth on the chest that needed draining (a cyst?) and now a cracked rib is a lot.

He's like that Charles Schultz Peanuts character that has a cloud following him. Possibly, some woman he left behind in Louisiana that is now working a voodoo ritual on him.

Indictment Day, Round Three

Set alarm to get up early, watch the news, not miss a moment of No. 45’s third perp walk, only to learn his Arraignment wasn't until later this afternoon.

I do appreciate how 45 has scheduled his arraignments to occur on my non workout days, so I don’t have to call Trainer and cancel so I can glue myself to the tube.

Today’s late arraignment gave me time to get the popcorn ready as I listened to the various pundits explain the charges and express their amazement at how so many of his supporters remain convinced his lies are truth and he’s being persecuted for political reasons rather than for his criminal behavior.

"There are none so blind than those that will not see" came to mind.

It’s depressing, demoralizing, discouraging.

I’m scared.

Rents are out of control, the economy is out of control, homelessness is running rampant, racism and crime is escalating, the cops are most definitely out of control, health care is broken, politicians are self-serving, there is just so much already broken that, if he gets reelected, it might be the last straw.

I may have go for a walk ... in traffic ... on the freeway and hope for the worst.

Show time arrived shortly after noon, my time, and found me all set with popcorn and coffee in my indictment cup.

As I watched his plane arriving in D.C., I found myself regressing — from being completely spiritual minded, trusting the Universe, to knowing the Universe has a plan for all that we see as discord/disharmony, from believing that even though the appearances are bleak, after all is said and done, things will work out in the end to the benefit of all to regressing back to Wishcraft and Visualizing.

In the 90’s, when I was in that toxic work situation with the three witches I’ve blogged about, I was so desperate as to Wish and Visualize something so awful that I should be ashamed but am not.

Desperate times call for desperate measures and Henrietta was the worst of the three so, when she had me set up weekend business airline travel for her, I knew when she'd be in the air.

At that time, I was shopping in the Del Amo Mall, but took a seat, closed my eyes and began visualizing her in the plane, mechanical issues, the plane going down.

And yes, I felt bad about the other passengers, but had to write them off as collateral damage.

Color me beyond pissed, snappish even rude when, arriving back in the office on Monday, Henrietta called to check in.

So, even though it didn’t work then, and even though it’s against what I’ve been taught as a spiritualist, a Contemplative, I found myself regressing this morning to Wishcraft and Visualization when I saw his plane arriving in D.C.

It landed just fine, but not yet ready to give up, I remembered the sad circumstances of my old boyfriend Jim’s life ending as the result of a fall down his basement stairs.

Looking at those steep steps 45 had to navigate from the plane, I began thinking and visualizing fall fall fall.

As you all saw, that didn’t happen either.

I gave it my worst y'all.

The thought of this man ruling and ruining the country even more than he's already ruined it is making me lose my religion.

Other than that, it’s been a pretty good week thus far. With no errands I must run, no place I must go — other than to my workouts, and no medical emergencies to deal with, I’ve had time to listen to myself think, catch up on the baby’s latest scrapbook, even got to work on sewing that quilt for the new baby expected in December.

Not much reading of The In-Between happening because, though like I said, it’s not a sad book, it is an emotional read. I get through a few pages, tears fill my eyes to where I have to put the book down. Pick up where I left off a few days later, read a few more pages and again I have to put the book down because of tears in my eyes, so on and so forth.

It's a really good read, but going to take a while for me to get through it.

At least my normally dry eyes are getting a good watering.

Speaking of medical emergencies, in response to the complaint I filed against my doctor’s care team for dicking me around to the point where I had to go to a clinic down the street for a simple prescription refill, I received a letter from a Senior Consultant of the medical center indicating my grievance has been shared with the Family Practice Department Chief and Department Administrator "for review and action, as appropriate. We strive to consistently provide high-quality health care and service to our members and appreciate this opportunity to learn how we can do better".

I don’t know if this is just more bull crap, but it sounds good.

At the very least, that intake nurse that got on her high horse, talked down to me, acted like she knew more than I did about my own body, has been put on notice to not play doctor or God, to stay in her lane and just do her freaking job next time she deals with a member.

He’s Heeeeeere

It was a downpour yesterday afternoon when the new resident of that bad energy unit moved in.

The new tenant is not at all the "big guy" Head Maintenance Guy described. Instead, he’s average height, average weight, but does appear healthy — walks quickly, no visible physical challenges.

I’d say his moving in during a rainstorm is a bad omen as to how things are going to go in that unit, except it was exactly like the day when I moved in eleven years ago.

It was impossible for my movers to work in those conditions, so they struck a deal to set up a bed for me in the bedroom, come back the next day when the weather was expected to cooperate, and I’d not get charged for an extra day.

So, that night, after going to the drugstore on the corner to buy towels so I could bathe in the morning, toothpaste, toothbrush and a sleepshirt; and after a friend I had in the area took me to dinner that night, I was snug as a bug in bed and it was all good.

Fortunately, I’d transported the makeup kit in the car with me. So, no problem making myself presentable that next morning.

As for the downpour that day back in 2012, I’d not seen it as a bad omen. Instead, I saw it as a new beginning, a washing away of all the bad stuff I’d experienced the year before moving in.

New guy persisted with his move yesterday, horrible weather be damned.

He and his helpers brought in boxes that looked wet by the time they reached the stairs and items wrapped in black plastic bags.

The truck was parked for over three hours at the end of the drive.

At least now, when Red Light hears footsteps overhead, she can convince herself it’s the new tenant and not something spooky — even if she hears footsteps when he’s not at home.

In other news, that blackity black black tee I’m looking forward to purchasing for next year was so popular that the seller restocked in my size. So, even though Black History Month is over tomorrow, I’ll have the tee. 

In addition, I also ordered one that simply says, "I’m Black All the Time" that I can wear all-year long and tease trainer with.

When I didn’t get off the bike and make it to the slam ball bench fast enough in Monday’s session, Trainer said, "Not fast enough" and reiterated the rule is 5 seconds to transition from one to the other.

I snapped back with "It’s still Black History Month. I don’t have to follow rules". To which he replied, "Okay, but come Wednesday your arse is mine".

My walking in wearing the "Black All the Time" top will make for a great comeback when I need one. 

March 12th is our 4-Year Anniversary. Trainer has lasted longer than any man in my life.

Bad Medicine and Ghost Stories

Knowing the heavy rain would keep some from attending this afternoon’s bingo, I bundled up, braved the weather and went down to the Community Room.

The Baker was present.

Having not seen her around for a while, I’d been worried and assumed her absence on the walkways had something to do with her ailing husband.

It did.

Because of the sorry state of health care these days — long waits to get an appointment with one’s doctor, being rushed through and given inadequate service when one does get to see the doctor, a problem her husband had with a growth near his eye has worsened. An operation is in his future but there’s a snag because the Baker is dissatisfied with the Dermatologist.

She had an issue with the dermatologist's staff asking, "Does your husband have a power of attorney" and, when she replied "yes" they then insisted, and not in a polite way she said, that they would have to see a copy of that power of attorney.

Why?

Who knows.

Luckily, she had the paperwork on her, produced it and office staff then came up with "You can’t be in the room when your husband sees the doctor".

Well the Baker was having none of that.

As she is her husband’s everything, she said "No", that her husband cannot advocate for himself; consequently, she goes where he goes and was not about to let him out of her sight.

Things got ugly with office staff after that, so the Baker wheeled her husband outta there.

When she said the name of the dermatologist’s office, I said "I know that place. It has terrible Yelp reviews".

It was the office my doctor tried to send me to last year when I had an allergic reaction to something — the place that never followed up on scheduling me as my doctor had ordered, and no one ever answered the phone when I called to find out what was going on.

After reading their Yelp reviews, I was glad they didn’t follow up — reviews along the lines of "Horrible Service!! ... Calls are outsourced to a call center … Office staff is rude and inefficient! … Go to a different Doctor!! … I would not recommend this office … My experience with this dermatology doctor is very bad. If I had to give negative or zero, I would definitely give him zero" yada yada yada.

No surprise the Baker had the experience she did with this office. She dodged a bullet by walking out before they did something bad to her husband.

So there’s that.

Even with a little more than half of the regulars not braving the weather to show up at bingo today — which improved my chances of winning, I came close multiple times, but never won a single game.

No matter because though I’ve come to enjoy bingo and like to win, it’s the tea spilling from the grapevine that I enjoy even more.

Nothing earth shattering was spilled, but I did hear Red Light discussing the upstairs unit across the quad, the bad energy unit that is above hers.

The new tenant has not yet moved in, but I heard Red Light say that ever since the last tenant moved out, she’s been hearing footsteps, someone walking around inside the unit. "I know the sounds are not coming from the unit behind me. It’s directly overhead" said she.

"Ghosts" said I — surprised that I’d let that out because I generally keep my knowings to myself, don’t trust people to accept or understand there are many things beyond our basic limited senses.

Red Light laughed and said, "Ghosts is what (I didn’t catch the name) said when I mentioned it to her".

"No, seriously" said I and filled her in on how I’d come to the conclusion there is bad energy in that unit because everyone who has ever lived there had their lives fall apart.

Red Light knows me well enough to listen intently when I went through what I’ve observed. After which she said, "That kind of stuff scares me … I can’t even watch scary movies … but some people believe in it."

"I believe in it because I know what I and others in my family have experienced. I once moved because of it, but I won’t talk about those experiences right now".

I won’t talk about those experiences ever. I didn’t mean to be having this current conversation, the words just came out, so I have to believe for a reason.

At any rate, when the new tenant moves in, I bet Red Light will be watching him just as closely as I will, to see how things go for him.

I also bet that Red Light will think twice, and probably be a little spooked out, when next she hears footsteps overhead.