Tom's gone to drop off old paint cans at a paint recycling company.

I was not at all happy to learn that this year the parade is going to loop around the circle. They couldn't just wait one more fucking year before they had to wrap their asses around the house and pose yet another threat to my sleep! I'm supposed to be crashing that day before they start. It's not even 10 a.m. and already there has been so much loud traffic and helicopters. The helicopters were absolutely maddening a couple of days ago. I think they were military helicopters. Even on the days they're "quiet" they're still way more than I've ever heard anywhere else in my life. 

I really hope it's better in Florida but I'm guessing that only a few things may be better there. People are still going to have things delivered to their places and most of the loud traffic stems from delivery trucks. So I really really hope the soundproofing material works as well as they say and that we’re able to install it properly. You have to basically do it perfectly otherwise it won't work.

I'm not sure I see the point of a gated community, though. It would make sense and be helpful if the gates were closed all the time and there was somebody at the gate opening and closing them. But the front one is open all day and therefore anyone is free to come in. Yet if delivery trucks don't make it before they close, there's no one there to open them unless they come in right behind someone who lives here.

The good news is that Pierce texted him yesterday to say that while he still can't make any promises, it's looking like there's little chance that there will be a second delay. Because of my  fucking schedule, we're going to ask if we can stay until the 9th but let him know that we don't absolutely have to. If we have to go to a hotel, we will even though that would make things harder on me. I've been tired lately. I just took a nap until traffic woke me up. This time it was a water delivery truck. Anyway, the problem is that there are no suitable flights going to Tampa if the house closes sooner as we expect it will. No red eyes, no evening flights. I don't know if there's even any in the afternoon. But at this point, I would be willing to switch to Coach even if it meant dealing with all the screaming and having to have someone sit with us to get out of here sooner. I don't see this happening, though.

Holly’s still ignoring me but she hasn't blocked me. No new updates since she returned from her trip to Oregon. I reread her post again thanking people for the cards and flowers and found that I missed what kind of cancer she was dealing with. She had breast cancer surgery. One of her friends said they went through that nearly 20 years ago and have remained cancer-free ever since. 

The question is do some of these people have me marked as spam? Has she, Shannan, and Alyssa completely ignored my messages? Or do they read them in silence?

It's great that I've been calmer these days but now I'm dealing with a little bit of fatigue, TMJ, and a whole lot of boredom. How did I survive my younger days when I had less to do without going completely out of my mind from boredom? And damn do I miss some of the old me! I miss being able to see without glasses. I miss being at least a little thinner. I miss my libido. I miss having crushes on various people even though I knew they could never lead to anywhere and that was all right. For me, it wasn't about capturing them and falling into bed with them. It was about flirting or at least having fun with them in my mind and stories. But when you can almost never get horny in the first place, you can never look at anyone and realize you're hot for them. 

UPS just went by, music blaring, before crashing into the speed bump as if it wasn't even there. Damn, I'm so sick of this shit! If they would just do something to quiet down the delivery trucks and we could get out of a flight path, that would make a huge difference right there. At least then I could still have the peacefulness of the nights to look forward to. I really hope I get that back in Florida! No one should have to listen to planes and helicopters swarming around at 3 AM. But it isn't just at 3 AM, of course. It's on and off all through the night and it's not just helicopters either. I'm sure some of them are small planes of some kind. Not as many commercials at that time but every now and then there are some.