Yesterday’s foray to the medical center did indeed turn into an
all day thing, but I was happy to do it as opposed to hanging out with that
former male coworker.
I passed the wait time by getting into conversations with total
strangers, one of which was a very funny little old lady who said she’s at the
medical center so often she practically lives there … that if I ever wanted to meet
up with her again, I’d know where to find her.
I also got started on my favorite author’s new book.
My having a book prompted a woman heading to the coffee bar to
stop and say, “You’re smart to bring a book. I had no idea.”
What she meant by “no idea” was that the Lab would be crowded
and backed-up beyond belief.
Her ticket for Lab work was No. 45, the board said
No. 50 was being serviced, and the wait time had been announced as an hour and
a half. The woman didn't understand ... "They JUST gave me 45 and it's already at 50. How can that be?"
“The board has to get to 100, then it will
start all over again at No. 1”, said I.
“OMG, I had no idea”, she repeats and headed towards the
coffee bar.
“Be careful with that coffee”, says I. “I’m a Starbucks devotee,
and I thought Starbucks was strong until I tried that coffee last time I was
here. I couldn’t sleep for hours.”
She ordered decaf.
At one point, the cell phone alerted me to nearby pokémon
activity. Sure enough, I captured a pretty flaming pony just a few steps from
where I was seated.
 |
| Ponta |
Waiting, chatting, reading, capturing pokémon, it was a long day.
A long day I’ll have to repeat on the 22nd at granddaughter’s next
appointment.
On tap for today is a trip to the mall at Victoria Gardens. I’ve
put off replenishing makeup and perfume until I can put it off no longer -- I’m
running out of both.
I actually don’t mind the trip as much as I would have before I
got caught up in pokémon, because it’s an opportunity to get out of my area,
find new and different characters.
Plus there’s a Sees Candy Store at this mall.
I’m thinking a very unhealthy lunch of chocolate almond buds,
pecan buds and coffee.
Evidently, the Universe also felt capturing rare pokémons wasn’t
worth the energy it would have taken for me to spend the day with that former
male coworker because, mere minutes after posting yesterday that I was asking
the Universe to run interference if the get-together wasn’t in my best
interest, I received a message from granddaughter asking if I could pick her up
from the bus station this morning.
I still would have been able to head to the cabin after; but then,
granddaughter asked if I could also take her to the hospital for tests the
doctor has ordered.
Judging from our last visit to this facility, it’s pretty much
an all day thing, so no way would I free up for the cabin. Consequently, I
happily texted the female coworker the “regretful” news I’d be unable to keep
the commitment. Instantly, the headache I’d been developing went away and I
felt like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders.
There are a number of people from that 16 year period of my life
I wouldn’t mind hanging out with, giving them a hug, discussing old times, but
there’s just something about that particular guy that I couldn’t see myself wanting
to give him a hug or, even these many years later, enjoying his company.
If he REALLY wants into my life, he can find me on facebook … which
is as close as I let those I am not comfortable with get.
At any rate, instead of hanging out at the cabin by the lake
today, it will be back to the medical center. While there, I might as well respond
to my doctor’s request to have blood work updated.
Inasmuch as the Universe seems to be in a responsive mood, I’d
better also purchase a ticket for Saturday’s $82 Million Powerball.
It started with a late night call yesterday from a former
coworker. A woman I did not work closely with, was never good friends with, but
knew and acknowledged in passing when we worked for the same company, on the
same floor, from 1982 – 1998.
It was a big company with lots of office space, so seeing the
same face for 16 years, but not really getting beyond “hello” in passing wasn’t
at all odd.
At any rate, it was in July 2013 that, after running a few
errands out of the area, I stopped into Trader Joe’s Rancho Cucamonga store and,
on the way out, looked quizzically at a woman walking in because she seemed familiar.
She had the same look on her face as she looked at me and then asked if my name
was Shirley.
It was she, that former coworker.
What was odd about running into her like that, with her
remembering my name even – when I did not remember hers, was that she did not
live or work anywhere near the area. Living and working in Los Angeles, she was
up in the mountains on vacation, decided to drive down to pick up sandwiches at
Trader Joe’s and bam!
After that meeting, we became facebook friends and met for
breakfast when she returned to her mountain vacation retreat that August.
She did bring up the subject, shortly after, of getting together
for Thai food on one of her trips to the mountain, but I was non-committal, so
even though she’s been to that vacation retreat many times since, neither of us
mentioned getting together again. That is until she texted me last night saying
she was heading back to the cabin Friday, bringing another coworker from my
past with her -- a guy who she said “asked about you and was wondering if you
wanted to meet up”.
Interesting.
Especially since the guy was kind of an a-hole total prima
donna, and didn’t like me much back-in-the-day, because I wasn’t impressed with
who he thought he was and didn’t play his game.
I can’t believe I said yes to the invite, but only because her
cabin is in an exclusive area, near a lake – the kind of area where one would
locate some of the much desired rare pokémons that are not likely to be found
in the places I normally go.
This game is changing my life.
It’s making me willing to step out of my comfort zone to gain access
to more and different pokémons and, in this situation, causing me to place myself in what might turn out to be an uncomfortable situation ... one of those days that can't end soon enough.
Not that I expect him to be rude, anything like that. It's just that I don't trust myself not to bring up how surprised I am he wanted to meet up, discuss old times, considering old times with him weren't all that good.
Yet and still, my feeling last night was uncomfortable or not, the hunting will make it worth it.
Waking this morning, I feel completely different. I'm so dreading a get together that involves him that I’ve given myself a
little headache and am praying that, if this isn't something good for me, that the universe will step in and run interference. Nothing
too drastic, just some little something to give me a valid reason to bow out.
Nothing new going on in my corner of the world, and I like it
like that -- though I still hear the words of my spiritual teacher, who passed
away a few years ago, rolling around in my head. Her belief was … if things stop, stuff isn’t
going on in our lives, we are no longer growing. My belief was and is … I’m
tired, I’ve been through enough, experienced enough, I’d like the
merry-go-round to stop and let me off.
So I’m good with this period of nothing going on.
The August Activity Calendar came out last week and, except for
another Residents/Management meeting on the 17th, there are no
activities for the seniors listed.
None.
Not a one.
Punishment for having two activities in one day last month, or
for residents having the audacity to call Nurse Ratched out on her bullshirt at
the last meeting?
The other shoe I was expecting?
Possibly, but I’m so involved in meditation, needlepoint, the
occasional 5K, facebook, blogging, pokémon, that the lack of group activities
is of no matter to me. Though I expect other residents will make an issue of it
at the next meeting.
After 5 Weeks of clean eating and no sugar and, once again, not enough of a weight loss to speak of, I reached the level of frustration this
morning that told me, “Go ahead, get yourself a chocolate muffin, might as well”.
So, after dropping granddaughter off at the bus terminal for an
away visit, I stopped by the market’s bakery and, just as I went to reach for
chocolate, the cell phone began to vibrate.
It was an Evee.
Not to be deterred, I captured it and instead of a lunch of
something in the clean eating category, I had coffee and a muffin.
Reaching Level 7 Pokémon Go, I was prompted to join a team. Having since learned one cannot create one’s own team, I had to choose from Team Yellow
(Instinct), Blue (Mystic), Red (Valor) in order to keep going in the game. Blue
and Red came up as female team leaders, so that narrowed the choice, and when
Red came up as my skin color, the choice was clear.
Next is learning how to battle and a team tee.
Seriously.
I’m that into it.
No idea what time I finally fell asleep last night but, waking a
little after 9 this morning, I still felt wired … speeding from the magic beans
ingested at 10:00 yesterday.
I found myself whipping eggs for breakfast at an unusually fast pace,
rushing here doing that, rushing there doing that, cooking, cleaning, organizing,
shredding, all at the same time.
It was a VERY productive morning.
Deciding to take advantage of the momentum, I thought it a good
time to give minimizing another go – tackle all the things I couldn’t let go of
through previous minimizing sessions.
With the idea of moving light -- when I eventually do move, I
had been trying to employ a technique which called for tossing one thing a day.
You can’t imagine how hard that is to do. I’d look at an item
not serving a purpose and think … but
it’s so pretty or it might come in handy one day or someone in the family might
want it as a memento after I’m gone or, as in the case of dozens of t-shirts, I
might turn them into a quilt one day.
High on magic beans, items look less pretty, handy, like
anything anyone in my family would want, and I’ve been using that “quilt” line
for as many years as I can remember, so out went eight empty perfume bottles and Mop
Dolls I’d made so many years ago that I can’t even tell you.
I thought about taking the dolls to the Salvation Army but, except
for two – which I’m keeping, the dolls just didn’t look pretty or sturdy
enough, so I bagged ‘em and took to the dumpster.
If the dolls are to survive and be wanted by anyone, I’m leaving
it up to the Dumpster Diving Resident to resuscitate and do whatever.
These are the two I’m keeping.
Out also went the dozen or so Starbucks paper carry bags I’d kept …
because why? … especially since I have two of their cloth carry bags.
Out also went miscellaneous items usable not to me, but to
someone, such as a table lamp I really liked but, after 5 years of searching, I’d
been unable to find a replacement shade for after the original became damaged.
Inasmuch as Nurse Ratched will not allow us to have yard sales,
when we have usable items, us residents place items in the area around the
dumpster, instead of IN the dumpster.
Nothing I’ve ever left there has ever lasted more than a few
minutes, and once I looked back and saw a guy walking away with a wooden coffee
cup holder I’d just seconds ago placed.
I had to laugh when, typing this post, I looked up and spied a
familiar item in the window across the quad.
It’s the lamp.
LOL.
I’ll let granddaughter pick through the t-shirts, see if
anything there she wants, and donate the remainder.
The effect of yesterday’s magic beans didn’t wear off until
around 2:00 this afternoon.
It’s 1:00 in the morning, I’m dog tired and can’t fall asleep
due to too much magic.
I was up early yesterday, Tuesday morning, in order to get
myself together in time to act as granddaughter’s Uber driver – taking her to
an 8:50 doctor’s appointment.
After dropping her off in front of Medical Building 1, I parked
then went on a pokémon hunt.
By 9:58, I’d logged in two miles around the area surrounding the
hospital, documented 7 Captures, ran into a couple also hunting, a young boy who asked, "What team are you on?" and received 1 Whistle from a construction guy
working on the hospital’s new structure.
It was a good morning.
Tiring from the long walk and the heat, I decided to take
advantage of the hospital’s a/c, so I texted granddaughter that, when ready to
leave, she’d find me at the coffee bar in the hospital basement.
As I headed towards
the entrance, my cell phone alerted me to a pokémon nearby.
“Nearby” was no exaggeration. The entrance was being guarded by
a fierce little creature that, after tossing about a dozen balls, would not be
caught.
I caved, turned off the pokémon feature and made it down to the coffee bar – which was
not Starbucks, where I ordered a small.
I only drank half and, by the time granddaughter collected me a
little after 11:00, I was WIRED! That coffee made Starbucks taste like water, which prompted me to say to granddaughter, "I'm not going to need any more coffee for remainder of the
day".
Here I am wide awake, so let me correct that statement, "I may not need any more magic
beans for days."
