Armageddon, Part 2

Not 10 minutes after posting yesterday about it possibly being the end of days, because I’d awaken to not knowing the cause of a power outage and the sound of sirens racing down the street, did the earth begin to move, glassware began to rattle.

It was another earthquake.

They are coming faster, closer together, but yesterday’s 3.5 did not last as long, did not cause near the same level of shaking, rattling, rolling, did not frighten me as much as last Thursday’s quake did, even though this one registered higher.

Later yesterday, I saw news on facebook, from friends that live in the area, that there had been another quake 2 hours after the earlier 3.5.

Yipes! Two in one day.

I actually did feel that second one, but took it as an aftershock, because it was so mild and so soon after the first quake.

They’re coming even faster than I could have imagined because, when I later checked online for the stats on the second quake, I learned "San Bernardino has had: (M1.5 or greater) 4 earthquakes in the past 24 hours; 17 earthquakes in the past 7 days; 52 earthquakes in the past 30 days".

GOOD LORD! WE’RE DOOMED!

Seems, even when unaware, we are living on quaking ground, still standing by the Grace of God, but for how long is anyone’s guess.

We are not the one’s causing world chaos, so why pick on us? The quakes should be happening in DC, under 1600 freaking Pennsylvania Avenue.

So anyway, power is on today, I'm hearing no sirens racing down the street, so today has thus far been okay.

In responding to Mitchell’s comment to yesterday’s post, I responded I was "taking with a grain of salt" that I’m getting signs of being appreciated. Some of you seemed to enjoy when I provide the history of old phrases … what The Misadventures of Widowhood calls "word and phase histories", so I looked this latest idiom up.

"The idiom likely originated from Pliny the Elder, who mentioned that a certain antidote was to be taken with a 'grain of salt', suggesting it should be consumed with a degree of skepticism or caution … It could also be related to the ancient belief that salt could counteract poison, implying that the information should be handled with caution".

As for Pliny the Elder, "Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/24 – 79), known in English as Pliny the Elder was a Roman author, naturalist, scientist, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic Naturalis Historia (Natural History), a comprehensive thirty-seven-volume work covering a vast array of topics on human knowledge and the natural world, which became an editorial model for encyclopedias. He spent most of his spare time studying, writing, and investigating natural and geographic phenomena in the field".

Class dismissed 🍎.

Armageddon

8:30 last night, long past visiting hours, a time when I was still dressed, makeup on, but bra off, there was a knock knock knock on the door.

No way could that possibly be Little Knock Knock that late, so I was careful.

Having seen enough crime dramas to know not to open the door, not to look through the peephole because, if it’s a trick, they can pew pew you through the eye when they see you looking through the peephole, I went to the kitchen, looked through the blinds.

It was indeed, Little KK.

I asked what she was doing out so late and, not seeing the Talker at the bottom of the stairs, became concerned that she was out by herself.

She wasn’t. Talker was chatting with neighbors at the end of the walkway and later told me Little KK said she wanted to visit her friend. "What friend", asked Talker and Litle KK said, "You know" and pointed to my unit.

Nice but, like I said, it was way past visiting hours and I was watching a Chinese Drama, so I gave Little KK a hug and sent her on her way.

I should be grateful that my beingness is attracting good signs, like Little KK of the Talker’s family knocking on my door, wanting to spend time with me, and now Aunt H — Talker’s sister, giving me a gift, but Talker has a very handsome nephew. Why not him?

Just saying.

So, anyway, waking up around 7:30 this morning, I went to turn the TV on for background noise while I performed my morning rituals, but the TV did not turn on.

I thought it might be a problem with the remote, but then noticed all the lights on the box were off.

I then thought, POWER OUTAGE.

Sure enough, the lights in the unit were off, microwave was dead, as was the A/C.

In this unbearably hot weather, this is not a convenient time for a power outage. To top it off, I kept hearing sirens racing down the street.

First the earthquake, now a power outage with the sound of sirens back-to-back racing down the street, Armageddon came to mind; and here I was with no way to determine what was going on. Was there a fire on Little Mountain again, did Donnie Two Doll push the button and we are now under attack, do I shelter in place or evacuate? What to do?

There’s always that annoying announcement popping up on TV instructing that "in case of an emergency bla bla bla", but I guess they didn’t consider that source of information doesn’t work when the power is out — no TV, no way of knowing what’s going on.

I did eventually get a power outage alert on the phone — “Outage Reason: analyzing problem, Estimated Start 5:08 am, Estimated End 3:30 pm".

I began formulating a plan to survive the day. 1) I could get that banking issue off the to-do list, then hang out at Starbucks or a mall to escape the heat or 2) I could drag the portable tower fan from the bedroom, attach it to the portable solar generator I purchased when we had that weeklong outage back in January, and cool the room down to where I could work on that never ending needlepoint project.

Deciding on the former, I began preparing for outside, starting with face makeup — but it was melting from the heat as quickly as I got it on. All of a sudden, the power kicked in. It was 9:30.

Whew!

Relieved, I puttered around doing nothing of any significance until along around 11:30, when I remembered today is Pizza Tuesday and the advent of a new Activity Director. So, I headed for the Community Room.

First person to greet me as I entered the room was Upstairs Lady who, you might recall, is invisible to me, no longer exists in my awareness. So, I made a point not to see her, not to hear her greeting and, during the time I was in the room, when she pushed her walker anywhere near to where I was, I moved to the opposite side of the room.

Was that unforgiving of me, childish, petty?

Yes.

And?

The new hire, named Kesha, seems nice; and the name "Kesha" tells you all you need to know about her culture, which we don’t see a lot of in this Corporate structure.

In fact, in all my years here, I’ve only seen two. One was a maintenance man here, who got pushed out by that mean Nurse Ratched when she was managing the complex. The other was a big shot from Corporate, who’d come down, do inspections from time to time. I don’t know how she got to be a big shot in this Corporate structure, but she did, until she too one day suddenly was no longer an employee.

I’m hoping Kesha can survive, hang with whatever, stick with us for a while.

While us Usual Suspects were welcoming Kesha, the woman (Christine) who was our popular Activity Director two/three years ago walked through the doors.

Surprised to see her, I gave her a big hug, asked which complex she was working at, to which she replied, "I’m a supervisor now".

"WHAT?! … You’re Kesha’s boss? … The HBIC?"

She laughed, answered,"Yes".

Now knowing Christine is the "new boss" that our last Activity Director accused of treating her so badly that she quit, I'm thinking there's a lot more to that story about the "new boss" being mean to her.

Christine had her moments when she served here as Activity Director, but nothing we couldn't roll with … snapped once when she felt infringred upon that seniors, thinking they were helping, distributed pizzas before she was ready, didn't take any crap when having to deal with seniors that tried to jump the line, take more than their share, didn't think they needed to follow the rules, but was otherwise good to us, well liked.

The Activity Director that quit must have had underlining issues … couldn't handle Christine strong nature, was maybe a little princess that was accustomed to being handled with kid gloves, had a problem with Christine on a personal level, or a problem with authority in general.

As for why Christine was here, she came to support Kesha — make sure Kesha was received well by us (she was) and generally just pave the way for a smooth transition.

Little Knock Knock made an appearance in the room. She’s going back to San Diego for school tomorrow.

Feeling bad for brushing her off last night, I drove to Starbucks, picked up two cake pops for her.

I'd better turn off all the lights in my unit tonight, and make myself scarce tomorrow, just in case Little KK gets to thinking of making a farewell stop by my unit.

Before heading back upstairs, I received another gift — a Mary Kay makeup/mirror case from the new resident Jo, who sometimes spearheads craft sessions for us.

I also was approached by Di (Apache’s old friend, the resident that had been involved with Meat Man’s son — he in his mid to late 20’s, she her 60’s), who said "We’ve never been close friends, but I’ve watched you for years" and something to the effect that she "can see" and could tell I’ve gone through a lot in life, has observed my strength, my kindness, generosity, yada yada yada, that I'm not doing high school like many others are, that some of us are meant to be students, others teachers, some to serve as examples, that she sees me in the example category, has so much respect for me, that I "shine".

Well, damn!

Knock Knock, Aunt H, the gifts, Di’s comments to me, Twin 1 continuing to call to make sure I’m still alive (LOL), it's getting to be a lot.

Are these signs I’m not long for this world?

I see the doctor on Thursday, so I’m prepared, won’t be surprise if she has something serious to tell me.

Gift Horse

I heard through the grapevine that, even though Activity Director quit last week, tomorrow’s Pizza Tuesday is still a thing because a new Activity Director has been hired.

That was quick, which makes me think Activity Director played right into her mean boss’s hands by quitting. Mean Boss probably had someone in mind she wanted in the position — a friend or acquaintance, as insecure people in management positions almost always push current staff out, build a staff around themselves that is loyal only to them, as a way of protecting their incompetence from being outed.

I may have to do a walk-through tomorrow just to get a glimpse of the new hire.

Other than that, no longer having access to the Activity Calendar, I’ve no idea what’s scheduled for the seniors this month.

Yesterday, Sunday, was laundry day. So, while in the Laundry Room, I checked the community board and saw my latest work — the flyers that annoyed me into bringing out my Anne Marie cursing side, had been published.

To avoid confusing the seniors that had already received copies of the first flyer, the Baker posted the old and the new side-by-side to make certain it was understood there’d been a change.

Good idea. No one else needs their brains to be as scrambled as mine had been in completing that simple project, and I’ll be flabbergasted if the Usual Suspects actually get up/out to play bingo 10:15 in the morning.

I myself may have to get up/out, just to peek in, see if they do.

I was looped into a text message thread yesterday, where members of the High Table are on a hunt for birthdays to celebrate — naming residents they were planning a cake party for, asking members to provide birthdays of residents that might have been missed, so they too could be celebrated.

It used to be that birthdays were celebrated by month — one cake would be brought out during the snack break at bingo, those in attendance would be asked to stand if their birthday fell within that month, the attendees would "sing" happy birthday.

Looking at the photos recently sent for me to post to the resident’s facebook page, I noticed one cake per month has morphed into elaborate individual store bought/store decorated birthday cakes for each and wondered how the group could afford it.

I’ve since learned, "Donations", but who is doing all this donating?

So, anyway, if they’d looped me into the conversation as a way of getting my name added to the birthday list, they are out of luck, as I don’t care to have my birthday celebrated around here — I think it’s embarrassing, don’t get how the seniors enjoy being made the center of attention, having their birthday put on blast in that manner, and it all feels so phoned in …… not much feeling, especially the "singing".

For instance ……

Not only does this "singing" sound more like a death knoll, phoning it in, no feeling to it at all, it seems some don’t even know birthday boy's name, LOL.

They just want cake so, no thanks. I’ve no problem in spilling my age, but my date of birth is a state secret.

Around 6 o’clock Friday night, there was a rapid knock knock knock knock on the door.

No need to ask, "who is it?". Only one person knocks like that.

With the Talker waiting at the bottom of the stairs, Little Knock Knock ran up to drop off a gift from her Aunt H — Talker’s sister that I sat with at the fateful July 4th BBQ, where we had that High Table drama.

It's nice to be thought of, but I can’t help but look this gift horse in the mouth and wonder why?

Aunt H and I only met that one time, so receiving a gift from her is a little puzzling.

The earrings are not actually my style, but I’ll of course wear them to the next patriotic themed event …… whenever that is, to make her feel the gift is appreciated should our paths cross again.

When it occurred to me that I was looking a gift horse in the mouth, I wondered where did that phrase came from?

Mr. Google says, "The saying ‘Don't look a gift horse in the mouth’ means you shouldn't be critical or ungrateful when receiving a gift or favor, even if it's not exactly what you wanted. It emphasizes the importance of appreciating the gesture and the giver's thoughtfulness, rather than focusing on the gift's perceived value or flaws".

"The idiom originates from a time when horses were commonly used and their age and health were often determined by examining their teeth. To inspect the teeth of a gift horse would be considered rude and unappreciative, implying that you are more concerned with the horse's worth than the kindness of the giver. Essentially, it's equivalent to saying ‘beggars can't be choosers’".

Wrong Day

Notices went out yesterday, to those of us who are not supported by the County that, effective September 1, rent is increased an additional $74.

That’s not too terrible awful, so no complaints from me; however, it reminded me to check my balance in the Rent Café account I’d opened separate and apart from my regular bank.

Speaking of Rent Café, thanks to my following up (with the office, who in turn followed up with Corporate) on SoCalFifi’s comment that "According to Mr. Google 'California Civil Code § 1947.3: prohibits landlords from requiring tenants to pay rent only by electronic means'", there has been no more mention of Rent Café, no more pushing the program on us, no more coming up with ways and means to force us to sign up.

Now that the office, by getting rid of the drop box to force us into Rent Café, only to find, by law, they have to accept checks, the office has essentially created more work for itself, rather than less; a cluster you know what, because of the chaos of so many bombarding the office on the 1st of the month, trying to pay rent on time to avoid being saddled with a late charge.

To alleviate the crush of residents all showing up on the same day, the office has now even had to extend the grace period to the 7th of each month before late charges begin to apply.

If, in the end, it all gets too much for the office, and they reopen the drop box, I’m cancelling Rent Café and going back to dropping off checks.

So, anyway, after checking the Rent Café account this morning, seeing the account could use an injection, I choose today to get up/out into the world of people, get it done.

Plan was to kill several birds with one stone — drive to Sprouts market for items not available locally, withdraw cash from my bank a few doors down, drive over and deposit into the Rent Café bank a few miles away, pick up cleaning products from Lowe’s in that area, treat myself to a Venti Half Caf Americano at the Starbucks in that same area, head back home.

That plan fell apart.

After loading Sprouts groceries into the car, I walked over to the bank and was greeted with a line so long that I almost couldn’t get inside the doors.

Wrong Day, I uttered out loud, as I turned around, headed back to the car.

It hadn’t occurred to me that today is Friday which, for one reason or another, is the busiest banking day.

It would have been nice to get banking off my bucket list today, not have to drive out of the area again any time soon but, so long as I get it taken care of in the next 30 days, the Rent Café account won’t run dry.

So, banking out of the plan, I headed to Lowe’s where I found Halloween, or as Debra puts it “Augtober” has begun.

After Lowe’s, it was Starbucks and then back to the complex where I get a text message from the Baker asking me to redo the flyers for August bingo, because the time is changing from 12 noon to 10:15 in the AM due to the office closing at 2:00 on both dates she’d originally had me print flyers for.

Jesus F___ing Christ!

These ever-changing flyers!

Shake, Rattle, Roll

At 9:35 this morning, as I was working on a project for the Baker, the building began to shake, the patio windows and glassware in the unit began to rattle, the couch began to roll.

I began holding onto the laptop for dear life, as the realization hit EARTHQUAKE!!!

I’ve experienced earthquakes plenty times before and, as the building actually moved (not just my building but reports are other buildings as well), this one scared me to where the blood in my body rushed to my head, leaving me even more lightheaded than I’ve normally been lately. So, it had to be much stronger than 3.0 reported.

On the other hand, looking at the earthquake map, the quake may have felt stronger because it looks like we were in the epicenter.

Considering it’s like being in the eye of the storm, we here at the complex have been lucky — buildings still standing, insofar as I know, and only one aftershock felt by me.

Having survived this morning’s quake, I’m not so sure I’m going to survive the Baker’s latest project.

It was just last week when I’d posted she’d asked me to do flyers for a "Labor Day party on September 5 with bingo" well in advance of September’s Labor Day.

For clarification I asked, "Is it bingo or is it a party?"

"Bingo and party, we just don't want to put party on the flyer because then we will have like 60 people coming".

Still not entirely clear, but I worked it out as "Labor Day Bingo", completed and delivered flyers.

So tell me why did I get a text message from the Baker yesterday asking me to do a flyer for Labor Day.

"Didn’t we already do Labor Day?" asked I.

"Yes", but change the date from the 5th to the 8th and label it "party".

WTF?

Who’s on first?

So, as it stands today — 32 days well in advance of September 1st Labor Day, the High Table is planning a "Labor Day Party" (no mention of bingo this time) on Friday, September 5.

I have a feeling that, with so many days for the Baker to rethink the plan, today might not be the end of Labor Day flyers.

Other than that, I did learn from the Baker that the Activity Director quit her job.

Unless someone in the office does the pick-up and delivery back to the complex, or unless and until a new Activity Director is hired, that may very well be the end, after all these years, of Pizza Tuesday — free whole boxed pizzas donated to the seniors.

As for why Activity Director quit …… it has something to do with a manager. But surprise …… not our manager, the one everyone seems to dislike, but her new manager at the agency through which Corporate has contracted Activity Director's services.

Activity Director reported to the seniors that she was "having a really hard time with the new boss, and she just could not take any more how that woman was treating her", so she resigned.

Having gone through the ringer my own self while in the working world, I get it, but I personally think that, though difficult to deal with crazy bosses, quitting is not the way through.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink

Long story short, I ended up in the ER around midnight Wednesday.

After 15 minutes on the treadmill, 5 minutes on the cross trainer, an additional 10 minutes on the treadmill that morning, I pulled out the yoga mat for a cool down stretch and suddenly felt lightheaded/dizzy when I got into the downward facing dog position.

Not all that unusual. Despite staying hydrated with copious amounts of water and a little Pedialyte (which btw tastes awful), I frequently feel lightheaded these days.

So, brushing the sensation off, I lay in the corpse position —flat on my back, and relaxed until I felt good to go.

Some time during that same day, I became aware of being a little wobbly on my feet and began feeling a sharp pain radiating down my left arm.

Some days are better than others, work through it, I said to myself.

Along about bedtime, pain in the left arm now killing me, a rapid BP rise, something told me to Google "heart attack in women".

Pressure, squeezing, or fullness in the chest — NO
Pain that radiates to the arm, back, neck, or jaw — YES
Shortness of breath — YES and NO
Nausea or vomiting — NO
Fatigue — YES and NO
Dizziness or lightheadedness — YES
Sweating — NO
Indigestion — NO
Anxiety — NO
Palpitations — NOT SURE WHAT THAT WOULD FEEL LIKE

Erring on the side of caution, I called Twin 1 (who lives in the adult building next door to the complex) and, when she answered said, "Don’t panic, stay calm, I need you to come get me, take me to emergency. I think I’m showing signs of a heart attack".

I was fast tracked at the medical center and the EKG showed that, inspite of my hard as nails exterior, I do still have a heart and it was "fine".

That being the case, I was ready to head back home, but Twin 2 wheeled me into a chest x-ray ("wheeled", because BP was up to 163 by now, causing me to feel wobbly on my feet).

After that, I was wheeled over to wait for blood draw but, heart attack was my only concern, and having been told it wasn’t that, I was ready to leave.

So, against her will, I made Twin 2 drive me home, close to 2 a.m., where I went to bed knowing I wasn’t likely to die in my sleep from a heart attack, even though I still had that pain in the arm.

Twin 2 thinks it's dehydration yet again and, on Thursday, had Instacart deliver electrolyte sports drinks to my door.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink, because, not only do I not have space to store all this water but, after researching the drinks, I learned I’d be curing one problem by creating a worse one — the mother of all gut episodes, because the "natural fruit" ingredient in the 2 mango flavored Electrolit, 2 fruit punch flavored Electrolit, 4 grape flavored Powerade Zero, 7 grape flavored Powerade Zero are not fodmap safe.

Water Water Everywhere Nor Any Drop to Drink, except the 8-gallons of Pure Life distilled electrolyte is listed as safe.

Twin 2 meant well, went through quite a bit of expense, and I hate to tell her I couldn’t and didn’t drink any of the flavored ones. In fact, if she doesn’t ask, I’m not saying, but what to do with the drinks?

I texted head of the High Table — the Baker, "I’ve been gifted with quite a lot of flavored sports electrolyte drinks that my sensitive gut won’t allow me to drink. Do you think they can serve as prizes on the bingo table?"

"Yes, I bet they will love them".

Bingo is today, so I snuck them down to the bingo table just a little while ago, before the room got all peopley.

Today, I'm feeling a little tired, like I'm not getting enough sleep, which I'm probably not what with staying up late watching chinese dramas in bed on the laptop, but the pain in the arm has finally subsided, so today is business as usual.