Flabbergasted

Even though I didn’t expect O.J. Simpson to stay out of trouble long, I didn’t expect him to mess up this soon.

Unless it’s fake news, which I don’t believe it is, he got himself booted from the Clique bar, located inside the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas, for reportedly being drunk and disruptive to other customers.

If I’m not mistaken, a condition of his parole was no more drinking?

So much for having lived such a “conflict free life” (his words, not mine).

I’m on the edge of my seat to see what comes next.

Looks like I’ll be spending Thanksgiving week in Long Beach, touching base with estranged daughter and her brood.

We’ve had a series of losses in the family recently. First, my deceased brother’s oldest son suddenly passed away three weeks ago (heart attack). And earlier today, my deceased sister’s youngest son – the nephew I had felt his medical emergency last week when I became so tired and weak, passed away earlier today (also heart attack, but he lingered for a week before giving up the ghost).

His passing I’d expected from the experience I’d had last week, so news came as no surprise. But with so many losses in such a short period of time, I began thinking I should come out of seclusion and touch base, at least once, with those I’ve had no contact with in years because one never knows who and when.

I followed my instincts last year, when instincts told me to attend nephew’s 40^th Birthday because one of us might not be here much longer, and today I was glad we'd had that time together.

Most Happiest Time of the Year ???

After heading down to the Community Room on Tuesday to participate in the Arts and Crafts session, only to find no class because the Activity Director was a no show, I stayed indoors, in my unit, to myself last few days. We were scheduled to make table decorations for the Thanksgiving Dinner on the 24th, instead I found an individual, who is always otherwise bright, chipper, full of energy, vociferous, a hugger, sitting in a corner, back to everyone else in the room, looking sad sick sorry.

Oh here we go, thought I. The Holiday Blues.

The fact that she’d come down to the Community Room to mope in public, I saw as a ridiculous ploy for attention but yet and still went over and asked if she was okay.

“I’m just tired, but feeling better now that you came over and asked”.

That pretty much verified my thought she was vying for attention and, not wanting to go down that road with her, I just touched her shoulder in a buck up soldier gesture and headed back to my unit.

I can understand depression, we all go through it at one time or another, but to deliberately parade it around so everyone will feel sorry for you is a little much. And I can pretty much guess her depression is stemming from her children not living life in a way she approves of. I can’t offer anything others have not already offered but still she enjoys getting involved and clinging to being miserable about it.

Sorry, but I can’t respect that, especially since her children not being all she wants them to be is all she has to complain about when I know people with far worse worries that don’t go moping around for attention.

Another aspect of the Holiday Blues is this is the time of year when the unattached males look for someone to spend the holidays with.

It was October of last year when a well-built, reasonably handsome man engaged me in conversation as I was returning from picking up mail.

Our conversation was his informing me he’d only been here two months, and was relocating to a quad nearer mine because an older woman in his current quad objected to having a Black male. When she first saw him, she'd loudly proclaimed "The Blacks are moving in!" and when he ignored further taunts, because he lived in the unit beneath her, she’d stomp, purposely drop things, make noise designed to disturb his peace. Then he’d gone on to say how shocked he was that Nurse Ratched (the former community manager) had been fired because she was always nice to him, would hug him whenever they crossed paths.

“She was not nice … And the only reason she’s hugging you is because you’re not a bad looking man”, said I.

He laughed, responded, “And you’re not a bad looking woman”, at which point I began thinking Oh, No. I hope he doesn’t think I’m flirting.

I wasn’t. Handsome he may be but not my type, because I see beyond the surface and was reading him as not interesting enough for me. So, flirting I was not. It’s just that I'm an awake individual, knew right away why Nurse Ratched was all the time hugging him, and blurted it out.

At any rate, I’ve seen him out and about since, paid him no mind, he paid me none, until last week when I saw him sitting in the grassy knoll, looking down in the dumps, as I headed to the Game Room to weigh myself.

As I went to step on the scale, all of a sudden, he was behind me.

Surprised he’d move so quickly from the knoll to behind me in the Game Room, but not uncomfortable, I said, “Do you want to weigh yourself as well?”

He looks at me with sad puppy dog eyes, lets out a heavy sigh and says, “No, play pool. There’s nothing else to do here”.

Oh no, here we go again the Holiday Blues.

Wanting no part of it, I weighed myself and, as he looked at me, waiting for me to respond to his woeful statement, I said “Well, have at it (the pool table)” and quickly skedaddled.

With all the women here who would be interested in him, including my next-door neighbor who’d invited him in some time ago and bragged about exchanging telephone numbers, he won’t have a problem finding someone to bright up his holidays. It just won’t be me.

So, what have I been doing with my time this week?

Working on that never-ending needlepoint project and, today, I tried my hand at posting to Pinterest.

Daughter loved the kente cloth gluttee wrap, I loved the kente cloth throw pillow covers, so I tried my hand at pining both.

Daughter in her Wrap

Open Now

At least that’s what the sign said so, out and about Saturday, I popped in for a tour.

The tour consisted of being shown a video, set up to run on a computer, as to how the gym will look once construction is completed as “Open Now” consisted of one room, two desks and two guys pushing pre-sales.

And they pushed hard, offering all kinds of deals to sign up now.

No thanks. I’ll wait for the official opening in January, take a tour, decide then. I’m sure you’ll still be hungry enough for memberships to offer a deal. And no, I will not leave my contact info so you can bug me to join on a daily basis.

Sunday was an appointment with the locktician (braids beautician) to get my new growth braided in. While I was seated in the chair, the locktician shared she’d sent her friend to Lowe’s Black Friday Sale to purchase an artificial Christmas tree and they were sold out by the time the friend arrived.

Christmas selling out so soon?

This morning was the dentist. Coming back to the complex, I saw a guy wearing his Christmas Shirt and Hat already.

What’s going on? Why is everyone so eager when we’ve not yet had Thanksgiving?

This morning’s visit to the dentist was emotional. I’ve grown very close to my long-time hygienist, and this morning she announced this was our last visit together as she was retiring effective December 28. I told her how much I’d enjoyed our conversations over the years (actually she talked, I could only make sounds and get a word or two in when one tool was out of my mouth before another tool went in) and, as I was leaving, she gave me a hug, I wished her well in retirement and broke out in tears. Cried all the way back to the complex actually, and got emotional again as I typed out this paragraph.

Though she’s in a good financial position and is choosing to retire, rather than being forced out by age (She’s 68), I can’t help but think it does have something to do with another aspect of that Circle of Life, as I’ve watched the office staff morph from mature adult employees, to younger girls. The young pushing the old out.

Even the x-ray technician wasn’t the normal older woman I’m accustomed to. She was working the reception desk, while a younger girl did my x-rays. The former older x-ray technician, who is not in a good financial position and needs to continue at the dental office looked a bit frightened as she said, “I’m just happy to still be working”. THAT told me a lot.

My very handsome dentist, whom I’m nicknamed “Doctor Mc Dreamy” is probably the next to go. Fortunately, I’m not emotionally attached to his silver-haired handsome self.

The seniors had a Taco Dinner Fundraiser scheduled for 2:00 today. “Fundraiser” to finance other senior activities.

After I dried my eyes, pulled myself together, I headed down early (11:00) to take photos of members of the Residents Volunteer Activity Committee cooking and setting up for posting to the facebook page. Lo and behold, early birds were already seated and eating.

It looked and smelled so delicious but, after being ill last week from a little cheat, I wasn’t even tempted.

I just took a few photos, left and returned at 2:00 when the event was to have officially kicked off.

The room was full of happy eaters. Some who were eating at 11:00 were still eating, and had called relatives who came over purchase a $2.00 plate.

2 Tacos, Rice, Beans

That's a lot of food for $2.00, soda and dessert included.

Except the chocolate cake was part of the meal, the coconut cake $.50 a slice.

Tomorrow is Pizza Tuesday ...  more eating for the seniors.

I don’t have to cover that event for the facebook page, but I may head down for Arts & Crafts after.

Circle of Life

This morning’s visit by the cable company technician was deep.

Arriving at 8:00 sharp, he found the problem was the cable box, replaced it and switched old wires out with new.

Hearing that the cable box was the problem brought up the thought again that I’d made a mistake in blaming the old television for taking 15 to 30 minutes to boot up, and junking that previously reliable Sony for a new Samsung. However, when I voiced that regret, the technician said that kind of problem is a signal one needs a new television.

He recounted being called out for service, checking everything and pronouncing to the customer that the problem is their old television, saying “Televisions are made by man, everything made by man has an expiration date. Even we have an expiration date, we’re born, we die.”

“You mean the circle of life”, said I.

He lit up like a Christmas tree at my getting it.

What an interesting technician he was … deep. Not many people communicate on the level he was expressing.

As a firm believer in reincarnation -- that we keep coming back until we "wake up" and get it right, I sometimes look at people and see what they could have been in a past life bleeding through in who they now are. This guy looked and talked like he’d been a Tibetan monk.

I’d ceased attending Residents/Management meetings some months ago. However, after learning from the technician that the H Building – the building hit by the U-Haul truck, has been without Wi-Fi since that incident, that customers are calling – “screaming for service”, but are told there's nothing the cable company can do, because the technicians are not allowed to enter the boarded and roped off / deemed not safe area.

I had no idea.

This can go on forever because management is cheap.

The technician even waxed philosophical on that topic as well saying, “Landlords want their rent no matter what. If you don’t pay or pay on time, you’re out; but when it comes to repairs, they don’t want to spend the money.”

I thought three-days without service was a lot. Residents of the H Building have been on timeout since October 15, with no end in sight.

Me thinks this next Residents/Management meeting -- scheduled for the 16th, might be a barn burner. I’d better sit in.

Visual Timeout

That visual timeout, which mysteriously began Monday, with a black screen on the television, ended just as mysteriously yesterday morning when the picture and audio returned.

Shortly after that morning’s post, I was sitting on the couch, listening to the silence while gazing out at the world through the patio sliding window. Call it habit when, without thinking, I reached for the remote, clicked … lo and behold I had reception.

So now I know the new television is fine, it’s the cable company that sucks. But if they think I’m going to cancel Saturday’s appointment with the technician, they’re crazy. As much difficulty as I had getting an appointment, I’m keeping him/her, because I just don’t know when the next timeout will occur, and I want the company’s equipment checked to determine if they need to bring in a newer model receiver and whatnots.

On tap for today?

It’s nice out, so what I should do is go for a walk or drive out of the area to Trader Joe’s. Feeling lazy, I'll probably get no further than the couch, where I'll work on that needlepoint -- with the television off since I found I did enjoy the background noise free quiet those few days.

Me and My Big Mouth

No television service Tuesday, Wednesday, and there will be no service today or tomorrow, because the cable company technicians are so busy that one can’t make it here until 8:00 a.m. Saturday; but at least I finally cracked the customer service code for getting service, which was complaining through facebook messenger rather than calling in to customer service.

However, my spidey sense is telling me this is going to be like the Big Box store delivery fiasco. The tech will come up with some excuse not to show.

If that turns out to be the case, I may follow my instincts, assume the problem is in the television itself, and return it.

Maybe I’ll purchase another, maybe not because I’m finding I’m quite getting use to this quiet. Reminds me of when I was a child and we had no television, just radio and books. Of course, now I have a laptop, sewing projects and needlepoint to whittle away the hours.

Besides, I can view my favorites -- Kevin Saves the World, Survivor and Project Runway online. It all just depends on what the television portion of the monthly bill is, and if cancelling TV service altogether will net substantial savings.

For sure, living without a television will save substantial aggravation, because it’s been one thing after another since the cable companies merged, after which my old television began experiencing difficulties resulting in purchase of a new TV – which now I’m thinking maybe the problem I began having wasn’t that old TV at all, but the cable company’s equipment.

At any rate, we’ll know which way to go shortly after 8:00 Saturday.

In the meantime, having a load of photos to be developed (October Dinner/Dance, October Halloween Potluck, October Candy Giveaway), some for my personal scrapbook, some for residents who’d requested a print, some for the Community Room scrapbook, the thought occurred – and stupidly, I voiced the thought out loud in the presence of two members of the Residents Volunteer Activity Committee, “You know …. What we need is a facebook page”.

Heads began nodding in assent and, before I knew it -- because I don’t know jack about setting up televisions, but I’m knowledgeable about facebook, I found myself setting up a Residents Facebook Page, with me listed as Administrator.

I don’t mind so much, as the new President of the RVA isn’t the everyone is my servant autocrat the former President was, but I’ll probably have to attend events I normally would not attend because they’re food related – like the Taco Dinner coming up on the 6th and Thanksgiving Potluck Dinner on the 21st. I can't rely on others to take photos and send to me instead, or post themselves, because a lot of the seniors have simple cellphones with not the capacity to post to facebook, few would know how to post; and, believe it or not, some are uncomfortable taking photos, afraid even. Why? I don't know, but the few who give it a try, the photos are blurry and unusable. That’s why everyone asks me to take their photo but, when I need a photo of me, I have to ask a young visitor or office staff or take a selfie, which I’m terrible at.

At any rate, the existence of the facebook page means, when asked for a print “For my family”, I can direct the resident to tell family to visit the facebook page, download the photo even. Residents themselves can head to the Computer Room to view.

On tap for today?

More quiet time.