Written yesterday:

Writing this on the road heading for Sand Key Beach. Since it’s going to take over an hour to get there, I thought I’d do some writing by hand. My paper journal will now be used for beach trips since we’ll be on the road for a while to and from the beach. I’m even going to get a set of new colorful pens. I’ll leave the rainbow journal in this house in a desk drawer when we move, and I still think we probably will someday.

Tom said he could have sworn he heard Maurice say to the older couple next to the Canadians, “I know they were renting, but I don’t have a forwarding address.”

So the Canadians with the truck, motorcycle, golf cart, and two dogs rent and don’t own the place? Pretty sure they’ve been here before, though, because I heard Toni call out “welcome back” to them shortly after they arrived.

Fucking Facebook and their determination to fuck with users’ privacy! I chose to share an article with Andy and Christine. One about a teenage black boy who was bonded out despite killing FOUR people who would never get bonded out if he were white or female. Anyway, Andy messaged me to ask why I tagged him when posting the article and as I told him, I didn’t tag him at all and rarely tag people to begin with. Yet he got a notification saying he was part of a tag group, and I’m thinking what fucking tag group??? That’s when I realized - although I didn’t tell him this - that this was Facebook’s way of letting him know I only shared that post with him and select others (Christine).

Fucking assholes! What’s weirder still is the fact that I’ve asked others if they’ve gotten similar notifications, but no one has.

So is Facebook just outing me to Andy only? He makes it sound like this has happened before since I did a test, asking him if it triggered notifications, and he said it could take a day or so. So now I have to be even more careful on Facebook.

I want to keep writing but my hand is sore since I’m not used to writing.

15 minutes later… OMG, that was close! Some fucker nearly hit me in the AAA parking lot we’re in right now charging the car. I had to use the bathroom, and as I was leaving the building, I stepped into the parking lot behind a guy in an SUV. He wasn’t moving as fast as I expected him to but I figured I could dart by him easily enough. But as I got behind him, the asshole started backing up! Fortunately, I was able to jump out from behind him despite the sun making it hard to see.

I screamed at him, “What the fuck are you doing?!” Then he went forward and left. Don’t know if he saw or heard me or why the fucker was backing up in that particular location in the first place.

Tom saw the whole thing and was just as baffled as to why he backed up. He said he was really old so maybe the bastard was just confused. Someone needs to yank the guy’s license.

Yesterday I was thinking about how wonderful it is not to hear so many circular saws. Then we opened the windows for fresh air, and what do I hear? You guessed it. Someone was sawing down the street. But at least I wouldn’t have heard it had we not opened the windows.

A motorcycle went blasting by yesterday too.

It’s just after 1pm now and we’re on the way back. Good time to leave because it’s starting to get crowded.

Sand Key Beach is the best! I’d say this will be our regular beach. It was the most like the beach in Connecticut I’d go to as a child during the summer. The sand was nice and soft. A bit softer than in Connecticut. It was a longer walk from the road/parking lot to the water, though, and the waves were slightly bigger than in Connecticut. I think they were a great height; enough to make it fun but not scary-fun like in Maui. We parked at a charger and after hooking the car up to it, we used the restrooms in the bathhouse, then walked down, him carrying our beach bag, me carrying the umbrella. The umbrella was a bit smaller than expected, so we had to slant it at an angle. Sitting on towels was definitely not very comfy, so we’re going to get some beach chairs. That way we don’t have to get our towels all sandy.

The water was colder than the last beach and there were more people and planes. Not too bad, though. The only slight annoyances were a couple of boys playing loudly nearby and a couple of guys tossing this rocket-shaped ball that would hiss when thrown.

The worst part was the traffic in the area. There was a car accident near the causeway but it was just a two-car accident that we could drive around. The traffic is so bad because it’s a very touristy area. Clearwater Beach is worse, so that’s why we went to the one near it. There were still plenty of people on the beach, but not so much that you felt like you didn’t have any breathing room around you.

The causeway to get to the peninsula that the beaches are on is way cool. It was pretty high since longer ships pass through the area.

It’s mid-afternoon now and we’re at another charger after spending about 90 minutes on the beach and then a trip to KFC. This is a slower charger since the one by Baskin-Robbins is down. I like this one better. It’s more out of the way and shadier with more trees around it. It’s just a slow charger.

Later…

Today has been a rather shitty day. Having a sleep disorder I can’t cure and a disease I can’t fully treat really makes my life hard at times. I’m sleeping like I’m back in perimenopause. First, I had trouble falling asleep last night and then I woke up and million times during my sleep. Naturally, that meant being too tired to really function much today. I was really looking forward to going bike riding, but I just didn’t have the energy. Ended up napping instead, and at first that made me feel worse. I’m so tired of being tired so much of the time! It’s so frustrating and even depressing. It’s like I’m only able to live so much. Like I can never live up to my full potential and I’m just sitting here watching half of my life pass by and all I can do is wish I could participate more in it. I want to be more active and do more things, but I just can’t. This brings me back to my usual concern and stress as to whether or not I’m ever going to be able to tolerate enough medication to get my thyroid numbers normal, or if there’s some other option I don’t know about. Just like with the anxiety, there probably is some kind of remedy for my lack of energy. I just don’t know exactly what it is and I really hope it doesn’t take me years to figure it out as it did with the anxiety. Gennev does have products for sleep and energy issues, but they’re way too expensive.

I hope I don’t have to stay this hypo forever. I know part of the fatigue is from that as well as age and menopause. Plus I have a slew of other symptoms from brain fog to water retention to being cold.

That stomach pain is also back too, and I still don’t know if it’s my gallbladder or some kind of digestive issue. I wish I knew what it was! All I can say is that it’s coming around more often. It used to be just once in a while. But this is like the third or fourth spell since we’ve been here.

We got this scale that sends an electrical current you can’t feel through your feet and it measures not just your body fat, but bone, muscle, and water density among other things. The bad news is that women over 50 should have a body fat percentage of between 20% and 25% and mine is 40%. The good news is that most women over 50 have 62% to 73% muscle mass and I have 91%.

Struggling to get up and down on my beach towel yesterday was a reminder that I really do need to try to do something about my weight. It’s just that even if I could stick to dieting every day and I had the energy to exercise five days a week, that doesn’t mean my body will respond normally. Not being as hypo as I am. I don’t even know anymore if I could lose weight on 1000 calories like I used to.

And the last of the health news is the rash. I still have it and now I’m treating it with alcohol. Fortunately, it doesn’t itch much. Got a portable bidet with a skinnier stream so I won’t be so wet down there. The built-in bidet is better for #2’s but not for women.

Finally found a way to make my VR headset more comfortable and get the weight off my face by attaching a 1-pound weight to the back of it. This balances the weight better and lifts it off of my cheekbones under my eyes. Now I can have fun doing more things that require me to use both controls. Before, I’d mostly go sightseeing and use my free hand to keep some of the weight off my face. I’ve been enjoying bowling and mini-golf, and I’m sure I’ll find other games I’ll enjoy like darts, archery, etc. I should explore more workout-type stuff like boxing. The only problem with the weight is that any jarring motions cause it to swing around since it’s just a wrist weight we attached to the back by its Velcro strap.

Looking forward to the next time we go to the beach! Especially since I’ll have a beach chair. It’s one of those that’s low to the ground. He didn’t get one for himself yet because he’s not sure what he wants to get. He ordered new swimming trunks though.

Off in the distance, we could see people jet skiing as well as paragliding. I remembered seeing pictures of Nane paragliding. I think I would like that. We talked about a catamaran boat ride which is only $30 a person.

I checked my journal and it was exactly 2 weeks and a day since we were last at the beach. That was Honeymoon Island. So we’ll probably go twice a month. Of course, my schedule and energy levels will dictate that much. We were gone for 7 hours last time.