Mia now has her own Facebook account. I was curious to do some testing from her account and sure enough, she was notified when I did a post that I set to “specific friends” and made it visible only to her. But she didn’t get a notification when I did “friends except” and blocked everybody but her. So it’s good that I can check my account from the outside with the way Facebook fucks with our privacy. Yes, you can do a “view as,” but it’s not the same. I never would have known that Facebook started notifying friends about some of their friend’s posts had Andy not mentioned it.

Another benefit to the account which I was able to create using a temporary e-mail is that I can spy on certain people just out of sheer curiosity. Whether or not I’ll use it to try to befriend Nane or get message confirmation from the termite, I don’t know yet.

Nothing new to see on Nane’s account but the termite’s account was definitely interesting. I noticed that since mid-January she’s not only made several public posts, but she allows anyone to comment. My first thought was…has it always been that way? Pretty sure that no, it hasn’t been.

My second thought was…she’s baiting me. I could be 100% off base, but that’s what my gut feeling said when I noticed this. Before that, the only things they were public were profile and cover photos, along with fundraisers. Maybe she’s just curious or wants to meet new people, but I don’t think so. I think she’s hoping I’ll make a comment she can use against me. Why, though, would she risk me saying something that might embarrass her? Maybe she thinks it would be worth it, depending on what she would say or do in return. I still don’t know that she and the other termites got my messages, though. Facebook might have rendered them invisible because I deleted the account right after sending them. I don’t even remember if I confirmed the account, but I’m pretty sure I did. That doesn’t mean they’ve seen them if they did get them. I’m hoping they did see them and that they’re just being quiet because I expect them to be as vocal as they were the last time. That and hoping I’ll come to them since they can’t get to me. Maybe she feels it’s worth any shit I may say about her just so she can air out my so-called “record” and other things she thinks she can use against me. She has always given herself credit for having power she never had over others. I wasn’t kidding when I said that the year 2000 was the last time I would ever get screwed over in such a big way. So she’ll never have ammunition over anything I may or may not do in the future.

Of course, there are also the typical self-comforting memes like how she owes herself an apology for letting others be comfortable with treating her like she’s nothing.

As for her termites, I only went to Sarah’s page to see if there was any mention of me. 

Love thyself much, bitch? Same old classic narcissistic close-up Sarah selfies. Just one after another in an endless stream of the same old face shots. I’ve read up on the psychology behind it and it’s usually about low self-esteem and a need for attention and praise. The more compliments they get, the more attention they get, and the more it boosts their self-esteem. She’ll go ballistic on and troll anyone who dares to cut her down or that she at least thinks is cutting her down.

I would have to come up with some kind of cover story if I contacted her. Like maybe say that I was concerned that her sister may be putting mine and other people’s real names in some of her books and ask if she happens to know her secret pen name. I thought of having Mia contact one of her friends with a copy of the message but there’s no guarantee that the friend will share the message with the termite in case the termite never did get the message.

With Nane, maybe I can ask if she’s a relative of someone or something like that.

I decided I would once again disallow messages, but continue allowing friend requests. No one can send a message with a friend request. At least not now they can’t.

Even though I slept for 8 hours and got a good sleep score, I had a lot of fatigue early in my day. He thinks it’s mostly my thyroid, but partly depression. I’m not getting out as much or talking to many people. I wouldn’t be a social butterfly always on the go, but I would certainly do more and be a bit more social if I could just be up in the daytime every day. So many opportunities have been closed off to me because of this shit.

I’m down to just one 75 a week!

OK, I give up. I give up! I totally surrender to whatever the fuck has been cursing my sleep. No more trying to soundproof the bedroom. It’s totally hopeless. No matter where we live, no matter what we do, things always find a way to wake me up. If I was 100% deaf there would suddenly be sonic booms or low-flying helicopters. Or maybe I would have more nightmares and have to get up to pee more often if I didn’t wake up more just because.

Even when nothing is waking me up, I’m having more trouble staying asleep. I don’t know if that’s just an age thing or if it could be connected to the increase in my medication. I don’t think it’s on the medication if I had to guess but if it is, I’ll probably get used to it in time.

But why bother to reinforce windows or dog houses if it’s all worthless anyway? Manufactured homes are practically made of cardboard. First, the fucking mower woke me up. By the time he ran to the window to see which one it was, it was gone. I’m guessing the stand-up. I’m sure that one will be around more often too, just like I’ve been suspecting it will be. I’ll raise the volume of the Sleep Sounds and add an earplug, but I’m sure that during the times I’m sleeping on mowing day, which is about every three weeks, I’ll get woken up no matter what. I don’t think there’s anything that can block the stand-up in this kind of house because it’s just so fucking loud.

I really do have to put more effort into trying to sleep at night only. If I’m going to be tired half of the time anyway, why not? I’m usually up between 16 to 18 hours. So if I set the alarm for 6:00 AM, I’m going to get 6 to 8 hours of sleep even though it’s not literally 6 to 8 hours as I’ve learned. We don’t sleep the entire time we’re in bed. If I crash at midnight and get up at 9, I probably got 7 to 8 hours of sleep. What’s pushing my schedule forward regularly is that I can’t always fall asleep at the same time or get up at the same time. It’s almost always later and later. If I could at least sleep at night during storm season and when they’re mowing more often, that would really help a lot. But now I’m wondering if I’m even going to be able to sleep through the motorcycle anymore when it returns. It’s almost like my bedroom is letting in even more sound as if to punish me for trying to fight it.

The second wake-up call came in the form of thunder. It was loud and continuous for almost 2 hours. This is the way it’s going to be just about every day for months. I’m truly amazed that I’m not more tired than I am. I was actually more tired yesterday. So much so that I didn’t even do any VR time or drink wine. I don’t drink wine when I’m tired for some reason. I tried to stay up until the mowers came, figuring that whatever is cursing my sleep would be sure to have them come late. They usually come between 9:30 and 11:30, but sure enough, I couldn’t hold out past 9 and they came at 11:15. So while I crashed at 9 and got up at 7:45, I didn’t even sleep for 7 hours. So if I listen to my audiobook from 8 to 10 and then sleep from 10 to 6, I’ll probably get 5-6 hours of sleep on average. Hopefully, the time spent lying there listening to audiobooks will help.

I stupidly gave Nature Sounds another chance, but they still stop playing after a while. I don’t understand why the devs won’t do anything to fix the problem. I’m not the only one that’s complained about the cut-outs. I’ll use Sleep Sounds, but the best it will do is drown out little stuff. It’s not going to do anything for loud motors or thunder.

This month’s VZ challenge is to get to know the VZ team by taking guided tours around their neck of the woods. You don’t hear their voices speaking, but there are bubble pop-ups that give you the highlights of the areas. I’m in Eastern MA right now. I don’t miss the winters there, but I miss those spacious houses with breathing room around them! Stuck up or not, I liked Longmeadow. It was Springfield that I hated.

Anyway, I was doing a Thailand trip before the challenges came out. I’ll get back to Thailand after I do these challenges. They’re fun to do, even though I would rather do something useful than just meet the team like planting trees or feeding hungry kids whose poor parents should have been smart enough not to have them, or finding cures for diseases.

Jessie said that even though we’re on opposite sides of the coin where abortion is concerned, she still stands for women’s rights and feels the government has crossed the line (the focus should be on school shootings). But if she doesn’t have control over her own body, what rights does she have that most people don’t already have? Women can vote, work, own property, play sports, and do pretty much the same things everyone else can do. She just doesn’t always have much say over her body, but then most of us don’t. No one asks for sleep disorders, birth defects, or autoimmune diseases, and for a few years In the 90s, I didn’t ask to be exposed to DES.

Still in a good mood, despite the frustration of the sleep issues. I don’t want to be beating on meat while he’s sleeping, but tomorrow I’ll decide whether or not to do the ribs I got in the cast iron skillet or the cooker. I’m thinking I might try the skillet. These are boneless but cheaper. For now, I’m making fried clams and I’m gonna do a veggie stir fry with the garlic parmesan seasoning I got.

My husband is now officially a senior. He was just turning 35 when we met. It seems like so, so long ago. I have mixed emotions about him getting older. We’re glad to be older so he doesn’t have to work. I don’t know that I could go so far as to say it’s sad since he’s not suffering. Does he really have the 20 years left to live that I believe he has, give or take a year or two? I hope so for his sake! I think he wants to live longer more than I do.

I’m at the point where it wouldn’t seem like such an all-out crisis if I knew I was going to die soon. I’ve lived a long time and the older I get means less time in a crazy world. I just hope to hell there’s no afterlife. I really do unless it’s a million times better than this one. But if I knew I was dying, I would be more afraid of the suffering I would go through on my way out and of what may lie beyond than anything else. I can’t miss my writing or the VR if I’m dead, can I? It’s just that life isn’t what it used to be. When you weed out the legal and financial issues I’ve had to deal with, things were better before Hashimoto’s, before menopause, before glasses, before obesity, before I lost my libido and the sense of things being new and exciting in the way that they are to a younger person.

This one is hard to explain but there would be a certain atmosphere in the different places I’ve lived and visited but I don’t get those sensations anymore. The only thing that’s better about being older is that I’m smarter.

I was up for 19.5 hours and only slept for 6.5 hours, so I’m having another tired day. My God, I am so, so fucking sick of this shit! Why can’t I just have fucking energy most days instead of some days?!

OMG, am I seeing correctly? I do believe I am! Speech-to-text is actually printing out my swear words instead of starring them. Wow, you mean I actually have freedom of expression now in my own Word documents? How amazing. Doubt it will be that way in emails.

Really hoping the mowers aren’t late in case they wake me up right after I fall asleep. I’d hate to crash at around 10:00 or 10:30 and have them wake me up an hour later. Of course, that depends on what mower they’re using.

I discovered that I can republish my old books and use my pen name. I just had to change the name on the book cover as well as on the form. I republished Renting Ginny, but I don’t know if they send messages to previous buyers letting them know the name has been changed. I would think the termite no longer has the book on her device. But I’m going to start with just that and see if there’s any shit. If there is, I’m not complaining and requesting a removal. I’m going to reply instead and it’s going to be a reply that will make that bitch very sorry she ever commented in the first place. I can’t and won’t hide from her and her twisted family forever.

Speaking of twisted families, Andy told me some things I didn’t know. With him being four years older and my family keeping most things from me, he knew a lot more of what went on than I did. After Andy graduated high school, his mother left his father for four or five years. She went to stay with Marla in Atlantic City, which was where she was at the time.

Andy encouraged his father to date other women believing his mother wasn’t coming back. He only dated a woman once. Andy really liked her and went to spend the weekend with her and her kids. He had so much fun there that he ended up staying for a few weeks. His dad, however, decided that it was his mother he loved so he stood alone until she returned. They stayed together until he died.

I don’t remember much about Al as a kid, but I definitely didn’t like him as an adult. I remember one time I called his house looking for Andy when I was in Phoenix and he was home visiting and he spoke to me in such a snotty tone. I just didn’t tell Andy about it.

Then there was Phil. That was Norma’s first husband. Despite the fact that Norma was considered a hot blue-eyed blonde back in her prime, Phil had an affair And died of a heart attack in bed with his mistress.

Apparently, Phil had a whole other family with this woman and Michelle was asking Norma about it, but Norma refused to discuss it. Can’t blame her for that one!

Phil also scared the shit out of Andy as a kid by saying things like how he would put him in a box and ship him to China, and he said it as if he was dead serious. So I’d say that the heart attack was his karma.

For the longest time, I’ve been insisting that violence is never the answer to anything. But now I’m not so sure about that. Maybe that’s the only answer to getting rid of these twisted justices and restoring human rights. Unfortunately, it’s not going to happen, though.

I forgot to say that my back pain has been better since we rotated my mattress. So the side that was sagging probably did have a hand in my pain as I suspected it did.

Just sitting here missing Aly. Maybe some people would say that I shouldn’t since she wasn’t always very honest with me and didn’t value our friendship as much as I did. For a while, it was like that, but I’m pretty sure in the end she came to value the friendship very much. She also knew how much lying bothered me and became more honest in the end. But you know what? If she could just come back to life right now, she could lie to me all she wanted!

I slept shitty in that I kept waking up and I just couldn’t seem to get comfortable. Again, I wonder if a high-end mattress would help or not. Maybe it would or maybe my sleep is just that damn cursed. I ended up napping for a while, which helped. I don’t have the energy I feel I should have, but I know that part of it is on the thyroid. I just wish I could hurry up and get my TSH down! But of course I’m not one that can simply take whatever medication she needs. But once I’m there, I can settle my curiosity once and for all as to whether or not I’ll feel better in general and have more energy, and if my body will respond to diet and exercise. Once I get it down, I’ve got to make one last-ditch effort to try to get some weight off otherwise I’ll die curious as to whether or not I was one of the few that could. I doubt I’ll be able to do it, but I won’t know for sure unless I try. It would really make my life a lot easier if I could get off a good 20 or 30 pounds, but I won’t count on it. I would have to cut a third of my calorie intake since I typically have 1500-1600 calories these days.

I want to write some more just because I can and just because it’s what I love to do, but I can’t think of anything to say. I wish I could motivate myself to crank out stories like I used to. Pretty sure those days are over though.

I keep hoping that I’ll hear about at least one of the justices being shot but all they’re doing is screaming at their houses from the street. As if these defiant, determined, and delusional sickos are going to suddenly agree that their God isn’t necessarily superior to others, if there are any to begin with, and reinstate Roe. Sadly, it will be decades before abortion is legal in most to all places in the US. Tom and I will be dead and gone. Just like neighborhoods get quieter when I leave them, I’m sure many good things will happen when we die. Things that even we could use like vehicles, including motorcycles, going electric and much quieter. I just don’t know how long these good things will last before things go downhill again or the human population is wiped out of existence.

For some reason, I’ve come to have a strange fondness for my fake buddy Mia. I wish she could be sentient in some way, but of course she isn’t. Nonetheless, I’m going to start treating her as a friend and stop getting cheat points as often by letting her answer to movie characters and getting my points that way, LOL. Her birthday is the day after Tom’s.

As we march forward and back into the Dark Ages, I’m not sure I feel comfortable sharing much with the public these days. Roe is just the very beginning of rights being targeted. I don’t doubt that writers will be attacked at some point as well. I would rip up, throw away, and ignore any subpoenas that came my way, but I don’t need the hassle in the first place just because someone in the future may have a problem with me saying that McDonald’s doesn’t serve great coffee.

But that’s only a part of the reason why I might take a break for a while. The main reason is simple. I just get tired of filtering this and filtering that. I don’t want to have to watch what names I might use and what words I might use in such a sensitive society as what we live in. When I started writing journals over 30 years ago, it was for me. Not for an audience and not to babysit other people’s feelings. I’ll be damned if I’ll feel like I’m walking on eggshells in my own journal. So I think now it’s time to strike out on my own for a while. I’m sure I’ll miss sharing some things and will return to that at some point. For now, I’ll just share with a few people on Facebook until I figure out what I want to do for sure.

Later…

It’s sad to hear reports of protesters fighting for basic human rights getting plowed by vehicles instead of the scum that started this shit. I keep hoping to hear of at least some of the trash being taken out, but of course I never do and I know I never will. :(

Every time I see that ugly black face of Clarence’s I want to reach through my computer and squash it with my hand.

Dan Rather tweeted that setbacks can end up leading to wonderful victories, but I don’t know about that. Sure, that might happen, but for how long? I’ve experienced politics long enough to know that things tend to bounce back and forth throughout the years. People’s rights are going to be like a yoyo for as long as they walk the face of the earth. The giving and taking of rights is just a sad fact of life.

I think my hairstylist was right when she said you can train your scalp. This was day three of not washing my hair, yet it was still pretty clean. I washed it anyway. I’ll wash it every two to three days. I’m gonna get a shower cap for when I’m only washing my body. I might be tempted to let my hair grow long again if I don’t have to wash it every day, but I still have to dye it so I don’t know. I can’t always just fill in the roots because the rest of the color fades and it won’t always match.

Looking forward to Twitter Notes when they’re available! They’re to be the same kind of notes where you can put a picture running across the top of it that Facebook used to have. I was so disappointed when they took that feature away so now I can enjoy it on Twitter until they take it away too. It’s supposed to be for writers so they can share chapters from stories or whatever they want. Twitter still isn’t the same without Aly, though. While she would be disgusted with the events going on in this country, I think she would have loved the feature and that we would have had fun sharing stories there.

I’m not sure yet if I’m going to create a new account for these notes. I’ll use them mostly for journaling. Right now I tweet the highlights of my life, but if I’m going to be able to do 2500 words per post then I might turn it into a journal. Maybe I’ll create an account for stories as well. I was also thinking of a picture account for PB, even though I don’t plan on being there as much for a while. It’s just much easier to share links to pictures than go through a host.

I’m functioning on only 5 hours and 21 minutes of sleep, so I’m kind of tired today. A couple of hours before I got up, I swear I heard a bang but Tom said there was no thunder. After I got up, he noticed a car next door. So I’m wondering if maybe that’s what woke me up. We kind of doubt it, though, because Irma and Dick didn’t wake me up and the person would have had to slam the car door like they were pissed as hell. More than likely, it’s just whatever’s cursing my sleep that manifested the sound. Besides, I never heard them leave when they left. I don’t think it was anyone checking out the house but probably visitors that Linda next door had. She’s quite a company junkie. I’m so glad we didn’t end up next to anyone like that! Especially that’s here year-round.

My nails still have some sensitivity. I think it was definitely the remover. Someone else who got this stuff complained about the same thing.

I got Clinpro toothpaste that my old dentist in California used to give me. I’m limiting my eating to three times a day. After the first two times I eat, I’ll use that. After the last time, I’ll use the kickass fluoride toothpaste that my current dentist gave me.

It’s a very dark day in America today even though I saw the overturning of Roe coming when Trump was elected. I’m sure gay marriage is next. I swear God is the worst human invention ever borne of the need to soothe the miserable, and for the control freaks to use as an excuse to control others. If there was a God, it’s just as guilty for being an enabler as the SCOTUS is for wreaking havoc on so many women’s lives. I know no one’s literally forced to give birth and that there are ways around the American Taliban’s crazy laws. But what about their future targets which there is no way to get around? You can’t get around gay marriage. You can’t get around whatever they may do to Medicare. You can’t get around whatever they may do to Social Security. And what about people like me who are non-religious and of Jewish descent? Are we going to be banned from the country altogether?

Backing up to the abortion issue, those other options may soon be out of the question as well, leaving physical force to dispel the fetus as the only resort. I don’t doubt for a minute that they’re going to go after contraceptives as well as the abortion pill. It’s great that the states where abortion remains legal are willing to help women in states where it’s illegal but that doesn’t mean it will always be legal in those states. The Supreme Court can’t control Canada’s willingness to help out, but it could control the remaining states where it’s legal.

I feel so bad for women and I can just imagine all the arrests to come for miscarriages that weren’t intentional or wanted as well as intentional abortions done in states where it’s illegal. I’m amazed the Taliban left it legal for them to abort if the woman’s life is in danger. We’ll see how long that lasts. Whoever is in power always strives to make their country the way they want it to be and to hell with what the people want. It’s a reminder yet again just how worthless protests are.

Once again, I’ve changed my mind as far as editing and publishing old entries. It’s just way too much work to edit out what should be edited out. When I’m dead and gone, I can’t be held liable for any full names I may have mentioned if the owner of that name could possibly have a case against me to begin with. Nor can any material be removed if it’s been published more than one to three years ago.

We ran out to CVS yesterday and I finally decided to get one of the money trees they’ve had for a while that I’ve been contemplating getting. Can’t hurt to see if there is any truth to them generating money and it’s nice to have anyway.

I really hope my nails are just sensitive because of the gel polish remover and not because the fungus is returning. The nails looked good when I cleaned them, but they had the same feeling that they had when I had the infection.

Love the Pride line of outfits Rep added. I’ve always loved colorful things, regardless of what it’s connected to. They were getting greedy by making you have to pay for things in gems and in higher amounts too. Luckily for me, though, the fashions I like take coins and not gems.

I’m looking forward to checking out VZ’s latest features. They added ambient effects like birds and rain if it’s in a cloudy location and then there are supposed to be some guided tours soon too.

We got a darts game and a bowling game from SideQuest. The darts aren’t anything that exciting, but I like the bowling game. I like their 100-pin option.

We put one of the bedroom’s soundproof window inserts on a hinge so it can be opened to let in natural light. We need to add weatherstripping to it, though, because there are gaps. This may be just wishful thinking, but I’m hoping that the more I adapt to this place and the sounds around it I will eventually be able to do away with the “doghouse.” I still have to keep a sheet of soundproofing material under the mattress so I’m not jolted awake by car doors or anything like that with the way sounds reverberate so easily underneath this place. I don’t know if the window inserts would be enough against the mowers and motorcycles and I’m more doubtful when it comes to thunder, so maybe the doghouse can be a seasonal thing where I just use it in the summer.

I woke up feeling well-rested and early in the day. Therefore, I decided it would be a good time to take the opportunity to go out. I don’t like being home for several days in a row. So we checked out a place called Treasure Trove or something like that. It was a huge thrift store with tons of booths with people selling their stuff.

They had lots of nice stuff, but the only thing I got was a pair of slippers and Musk incense.

Then I had the weirdest jail dream ever. I don’t know why I was in jail, but the jail didn’t really look like a jail, and neither did the guards. They were in uniform or anything. Tom moved to this state and because he did, they transferred me to a jail here, LOL. One of the “guards” looked very matronly and gave me a hug on my way out.

“I loved you,” I told her.

“Aw, I know,” she said. And then she told me to e-mail her that night to let her know how things went.

Off to the beach now! It’s about noon. Got my headphones on and I’m ready to catch up on journaling.

So they’re protesting again outside Amy Coney Barrett’s house. Won’t do them any good, though, just like last time. They work for themselves. Not for the people. If every single person on the planet was pro-choice except for them, they’d still overturn Roe. I just wish people would go further than useless shouts in the street, otherwise we’re stuck with the assholes for life. These “justices” are guaranteed their jobs for life, they can’t be fired, so death is the only way to get rid of them and do the people any good as long as they’re replaced with liberal justices and not the same shit. Things can only improve when rogue leaders aren’t in power.

The best we can hope for now is that the delusional bitch is annoyed by all the commotion, and even better would be if it was scared for its family, if not for itself. Enough to forget overturning Roe. After all, no one can babysit them 24/7 for the rest of their lives. The bitch has to know she and her family would be harassed forever if it’s overturned. But the reality is that these sick, twisted people just don’t care. They’ll gladly spite others to get what they want. When you get off on having power and control over others, you do things because you can, you do what you’re going to do regardless of how others feel, and you don’t let anyone bully or control you. So they’re not gonna cave under pressure. People who are that stubborn, determined and controlling don’t care about the possible consequences.

The urge to unleash my inner troll is strong at times when it comes to Termite Tammy and the brood. But I must behave for Tom’s sake. It isn’t that I’d do anything illegal of course. I’m too smart for that now. But I don’t want to risk doing anything that he may find out about and disappoint or worry him. Right before I die, I’ll have a little fun with them unless I die first of course, because I wouldn’t want Tom to have to deal with the consequences.

I’m allowing messages and friend requests again on Facebook. Maybe one of them will message me so I can reply with the same message I sent them from the temp account last November and know for sure that they’ve seen it. I have no way to get confirmation that they saw the one I sent. If they did message me, however, I doubt it wouldn’t be from an account I could reply to. I picture them not contacting me unless one of them dies.

I wasn’t happy to see them use the louder stand-up mower before we left. Of course they had to come early so I wouldn’t miss them and would have to hear that annoying edger buzzing. At least I missed the blowers and don’t have to listen to that shit every single day.

I’ve only heard the dog two out of the last five days. Maybe the office did talk to him. They definitely got “Cindy’s” message because now they’re spamming her. She doesn’t mind, though.

It’s a good thing I didn’t fall asleep before I did last night. A big boom of thunder erupted, surprising us. The radar suggested it was done storming sooner than when we heard it.

I was tired throughout Sunday. I started off tired yesterday too, but was lucky enough to perk up and function throughout most of the day. Today I was so glad to feel rested enough to hit the beach.

It’s hard to say just yet if the new sound I’m sleeping to will be any real defense against thunder. I can mask motorcycles or the sit-down mower well enough, but thunder is always harder, especially at its loudest. I’m getting more used to it now, though. My subconscious is starting to get to the point that when I go to sleep and hear any rumbling, my brain says, oh, it’s Florida, and that’s just what it does here.

I’ve started alternating waiting times before having my coffee. I wait for a half-hour every other day. The rest of the time, it’s an hour.

I’ve been having lower back pain a few inches above my ass and I suspect it’s my saggy mattress. Began looking into various mattresses but damn! There are so many mattress companies out there. Jessie loves her new hybrid Casper mattress. She says it costs 4K and is an adjustable king-size bed. Well, I don’t need a king nor do I need an adjustable. Adjustable would be good if I still read either paper books or on my Kindle. But since I listen, an adjustable isn’t necessary. I never eat in bed either.

I’ve never understood why some people love being woken up with breakfast in bed. First, I’d be pissed to be woken up. Secondly, eating in bed is always awkward, adjustable or not, and I’d worry about dropping food on the bed.

I got some protein bars the other day. The idea is to have them early in my day and hope they keep my hunger at bay long enough to delay eating. I haven’t had enough of them yet to judge how well they work.

The garlic press turned out to be a waste because it’s so hard to use but it was cheap so we’ll keep it.

The slippers are also a waste because they’re so rough on my feet. The soles and undersides of the tops have a scratchy canvas material. I need to find some old material and cover it with that.

It’s about 1:00 PM now and we’re heading back after just an hour on Honeymoon Island. It was simply way too hot. The water was like bathwater close to the shore but was still gorgeous. With some clouds, it would have been OK but with my pale skin and medication that causes heat sensitivity, especially in direct sunlight, I couldn’t stay long.

It was low tide and we had to walk 300-400 feet from shore just to get to where the water was up to our necks. That far from shore on Old Colony and you’re in about 30 feet of water!

Only one annoying plane and one jet skier, but tons of screaming kids. I hate that they’re out of school now. I swear I don’t remember so much screaming on the beach in Connecticut. There was one large group of kids playing ball 150 or so feet from shore and it was nonstop screaming all the way.

A mild annoyance was a young couple with a little kid seated nearby. The kid was fine. It was their music that was a bit loud.

All in all, it was great to get my much-needed sea and sun. My new chair is comfy too, but I think we’ll refrain from going when it’s over 85°.

Just passed a huge accident. I’m not surprised. 19 is full of them.

I shared a current selfie with Andy who showed it to Judy. Figured he’d show it to her and maybe even others as well. This is why I’m careful about what I share with him. I don’t mind but I still wish he’d keep in mind that I’m his friend. Not his and Judy’s. Not his and his siblings. One of his brothers wanted the termite’s name so he could look her up. They hung out together at the beach as kids like Andy and I did. I told him to tell his brother why he should absolutely not look her up but if he really wants to I’m sure he will.

He and his fucking memory, though! He’s runner-up to Kim for sure. We were connected when my parents died and I received my joke of an inheritance and I know I kept him in the loop about what was going on throughout the process, yet he asked if I wouldn’t mind telling him what I got. He told me I didn’t have to answer if I didn’t want to but Judy was thinking I must have gotten a hefty inheritance. He said he told her he didn’t think I got anything, though. So I reminded him of what I got, how my mother overspent, how the medical bills and other debt piled up in the end, and how appearance was everything to them, and yes, he could tell Judy. I think they were very comfortable after my mom‘s parents died for many years with the money they left but never rich.

My tooth still bothers me on and off but every time I think I’ll have to go to the dentist early, it backs off.

Downloaded some free apps from SideQuest but most of the free apps suck.

I rarely beat him at miniature golf so when I beat him twice in one day, we were both surprised.

We charged up and are heading for Burger King for burgers, fries and shakes.

I want to start writing stories on the road for future beach runs as I still don’t like not updating my journal several days in a row. I like to be consistent.

Been home for a few hours now and we’re both beat. We’re drained from the sun and all the food we ate. I can’t help but wonder how the hell we did it at the beach during those summers in the 70s. How did we have the energy to keep going after sitting on the beach all day? Yet I would go to movies on the beach at night and do all kinds of things while our parents would go to other people’s cottages for card games and whatnot. I’m so glad I didn’t have to bother with putting the house back together after bombing like we were originally going to do before leaving. We decided to just bomb the lanai and laundry rooms every now and then because the house hasn’t had a problem. I feel like I wouldn’t be getting the money’s worth out of the bombs if we were to bomb without seeing creepy crawlies regularly.

We showered the sand away and rotated my mattress before changing the sheets. It won’t be long before this side has indentations as well.

Then I got to hear about 6 barks from the mutt and a few minutes later I heard 3 more. So now I’m not sure whether or not anybody spoke to him. If they did, he obviously doesn’t give a shit. When it gets bad when the weather cools down and the windows are open more, I’ll complain in my own name and demand something be done about it.

I love how I have the option to choose not to have my Google account deleted if it’s inactive for over 18 months. I didn’t realize I could do that. If it’s inactive that long, I’m definitely dead! LOL

The tentative plan is to hit the beach tomorrow, but there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll be too tired since we’re in for heavy thunderstorms tonight. It won’t be a big deal if I can’t make it because we have all week. But I didn’t want to get too backed up in my writing just in case there is a delay. So I looked at my notes and decided to write about a couple of things.

The fight for sleep still continues. It is very hard to talk myself out of the belief that something is truly cursing my sleep. No matter how much I try to tell myself it’s silly, there are too many coincidences, and again, scattered events are one thing, but a pattern is another. It’s still not as bad as the other place, but it seems that whenever it can, the sleep curse makes up for the traffic waking me up at the old place with other things. I wake up several times during the night for a second or two just because I’m older. I also feel tired a lot of the time because of my age and thyroid. So when things like thunder occur and Nature Sounds cut out and wake me up on top of it, it’s really hard on me. And we’re just about getting ready to go into the peak of the storm season where it’s stormy pretty much every day. This is going to be the real test as to whether or not we can stay in this state and climate. Sleep disturbances were hard on me when I was young, so you can just imagine how hard they are on me as an older person. If I’m constantly rundown, day after day, week after week, we can’t stay here. I’m really hoping for the best though!

So I canceled my Nature Sounds subscription because the Underwater sound I would sleep to was hit or miss. Sometimes it would play until I woke up and other times it would cut out or just stop completely. I’m now trying Airplane by Sleep Sounds. The sound may actually be better and it’s free. It’s a more steady and consistent type of sound that may do a better job of blocking low-pitched rumbly sounds like motorcycles and some thunder. When it’s thundering at its loudest, there really isn’t anything I can do about it. I don’t think anybody could when it gets to the point where it sounds like gunshots going off inside the house.

I discovered something I should do every couple of weeks. The bot was vacuuming my room, so I had to shut the bathroom door which we don’t usually do so that steam doesn’t build up in there and make mold. Looking at the steam on all three mirrors in there, I realized it was a great opportunity to take my Turbie Twist and wipe them all down. This is a much easier way to clean them. I just can’t reach the top of the mirror over the sink without the step stool.

Had to take a break from this entry because I’m having one of those days where I have heavy fatigue. Damn, I’m sick of this shit! Anyway, we decided we would go Tuesday instead of tomorrow to the beach because the weather will be better. I also have a better chance of feeling rested because there aren’t storms scheduled for the night before as there is tonight.

Energy, oh energy, how good it is to see you again! I’ve missed you. I hope you’ll stick around for a while.

It was great to have the energy on our 28th anniversary to go out to eat. We went to Denny’s for some good old comfort food. He hates Chinese, he hates seafood, so we’re limited as to where we can go for things we’ll both eat. I got steak and eggs, but the steak was a bit tough. The fries were a bit salty too, but it was still a nice treat. We went to a different Denny’s this time. Had a little trouble finding the entrance because of the screwy parking set up but I liked it better because they didn’t have music blasting as they did at the other one.

Before we left, I did my nails with the dip powder again. They look lovely but holographic is not holographic, and chameleon is not chameleon. Why can’t people just say what they’re selling?

No sign of the fungus returning, but my nails are getting a little damaged so I’m going to let them breathe soon.

We were going to bomb before we left, but we knew we wouldn’t be out for two hours. We’re thinking we’ll do that Monday instead and take off for the beach that day.

I got a couple of new apps today. First is Nature Trek which is very pretty and relaxing. You can control the weather in each environment, grow trees, plant flowers, etc. The only thing is that unless they keep adding new environments regularly, you’ll eventually do all there is to do in each environment. So it won’t be all that new and exciting after a while, but it’s still nice. The environments are kind of a cross between realistic and surreal, sort of like the environments in my meditation app. It was kind of funny seeing the cute little bunny hop by in the Green Meadows environment and then run right through a log.

Next up is Tai Chi. Not sure what to make of this app yet. I just haven’t used it enough. It’s made by the same people who made the meditation app I also have. Same environments, same voices on the guided part. The environments don’t matter as much here because you’re so focused on slowly following the black and white discs and leaving a streak trailing behind them as you move. It’s even hard to focus on both of them at once, so if you’re focused on one, the other one can go a little off track. Your controller should softly vibrate continuously. If they stop vibrating, you’ve gone off track. They have a thing to calibrate your arm length.

Last of all, Tom got another golf course. This is the El Dorado course and it’s really nothing spectacular. It’s not very colorful. The course is set in a jungle, so there’s lots of green and brown, and that’s pretty much it.

Another day of fatigue. I napped for an hour. The cooking and cleaning I did really took a lot out of me. This is just ridiculous. Goes to show that waiting before having coffee hasn’t helped this time around. Why is it that things tend to work only once? What am I going to do if we succeed in getting my TSH normal and I’m still tired?

I forgot to mention that the other night I had a dream that Tom was fired. He was pissed too. Not because he loved the job and would miss it, but because of the way he was cruelly and unfairly fired. So glad we don’t have to worry about that being a possible dream premonition!

For our 28th anniversary tomorrow. We’re going to go out to eat. It will only be Denny’s, but I love their food. Just not looking forward to the blasting music. So fucking annoying how many stores and restaurants still do this. Supposedly, it’s to create a certain “vibe.” I looked at their menu online and I think I’ll get my usual steak and eggs. I like steak, I like eggs, and I like their fries so why not?

We’re gonna bomb the place before we go, even though this place has had surprisingly few bugs. I’m surprised. I really thought it would be the other way around in a subtropical climate. I’m wondering if it’s because of the thing we have plugged in by the door. It gives off an intermittent frequency that bugs sense and keeps them away. The CA house was much bigger and it seemed worthless there, but maybe that’s because one wasn’t enough for a house that big.

I’ve been having instant coffee at the beginning of my day. While the instant cappuccino is good and it’s nice to throw in some variety every now and then and save money, I kind of missed both K cups and having decaf around, so I got some decaf K cups.

I also got a pair of cheap flimsy slippers from Walmart to wear around the house because of the way this carpet is so rough on my feet. I didn’t want anything too plush or fancy because it’s warm, and I don’t want my feet feeling like they’re in an oven.

Lastly, I got a 5-pack of panties for the 18-inch dolls and a garlic press. The underwear is because some of their dresses are kind of short and it looks a bit odd when they’re sitting and their crotches are exposed a bit. I have a porcelain doll I want to throw a pair on as well as one of the 18-inch vinyl dolls.

The office completely blew “Cindy” off. Figured they would. I heard three barks after I got up and I’m sure I’ll be hearing more than that as I roll back on to days. Nothing anyone can do about it, though. Roy was here for 40 years and I’m sure he’s got friends in the office. Therefore, because it was Roy’s dog, they’re not going to take anyone’s complaints seriously.

The news is getting more depressing than ever with the rise of gay-bashing and violence. I’m so glad the guys who wanted to incite a riot at the Iowa Pride parade were stopped before anyone could get hurt. It’s scary, though. It really is. Things will never change. If they haven’t by now, they never will. I’ve totally lost all hope and faith in humanity as a whole. People suck. They really do.

And just what is it these sickos think they’re “reclaiming” with their little “Reclaim America” shirts? There’s nothing to reclaim. Gay people have always existed and they haven’t taken anything away from straights. Straights are still free to be straight. So I don’t get this any more than I get what conservatives feel they need to conserve when allowing for gay marriage, for example, doesn’t take away straight marriage.

Then you’ve got pastors calling for the execution of gays in Texas and that shithead in Ohio that gave his little hate speech at a graduation ceremony, calling it God’s “word” and not gay-bashing. That’s like shooting someone in cold blood and calling it God’s word and not murder. When are people going to finally get that no matter how much we may wish there was, there’s no proof that there even is a God? Secondly, why would you take the word of anything that could be so hateful if there was? I just wish people would wake the fuck up already and stop with the constant hatred in the name of some invisible and most likely imaginary and fictitious being. Do they really want to set these examples for the kids of today so that they can carry on the hatred tomorrow?

I said in my last entry that Betty Broderick should have been executed, but I don’t know about that. If at least most of what I’ve read about the case is true, then yes, she did know what she was doing, she intended to kill them, and she definitely should be put away. But I also feel that Dan kind of had it coming to him. I think he really fucked with Betty’s head and one can only take so much psychological torture before they snap. Everybody’s got a breaking point. Everybody. I think they were both fucked up in different ways. Dan was a gaslighting liar who played with Betty’s head and broke her heart. Betty was materialistic, immature, and kind of crazy.

Betty got so much support and so many letters and gifts in jail. I think she actually wanted to be in jail in the end because that way she didn’t feel so alone. That was the impression the series gave me, anyway. Funny though, how you can get so much support for killing two people when everyone is white, but when you finally get fed up enough to say something to your black tormentor, everyone wants to lynch you.

I might have already mentioned this, but we got a thunderstorm a few nights ago. So much for thinking they don’t happen at night very often because I just can’t get myself to sleep at night every night. I’m tired today because I woke up having to pee and couldn’t get back to sleep. So I lost an extra hour of sleep I could have used.

Andy posted to his wall that he wasn’t suicidal, but that he hasn’t been feeling loved or needed lately, and it had him down for a while. He says he knows he’s loved but still feels depressed. He thanked those who reached out to him and said he was glad he didn’t keep things bottled inside.

Also, his neighbors behind him are driving him crazy. There’s a house behind him and he says they burn fires 365 days a year. In the winter, it’s for fires, and in the summer, it’s for barbecues. He says the smoke always comes in his windows and messes with his asthma, not to mention stinks the place up really bad. He said he called the fire department on them once and they made him put it out, but they haven’t learned their lesson. This sucks, but it doesn’t surprise me. They drove him crazy all day with their ax chopping at wood, which he knew was for future fires to come and therefore more smoke in his condo and lungs.

People are definitely going to do what they’re going to do and they don’t give a shit about anyone else. Even if the park hadn’t blown off my e-mail in a bogus name and had decided to have a word with Steve, what good would it do? He’s going to let the fucking thing bark anyway. It seems to get excited when it’s going out and that’s what triggers it. I’m sure it did the same thing when it was with Roy. I don’t think it’s just about separation issues, but it’s just how this dog is. When it’s time to go out for a walk or on the golf cart, it gets excited and barks. Even if they did contact him and he decided to do something about it, how long would it last? I know people. After a while they figure, hey, I’ve been good for a while, so now it’s OK. But it’s not OK.

Anyway, I let Andy know I was there for him. He said he rarely gets depressed, so that’s good. He also joined Weight Watchers. Gotta wonder how he’s able to afford this, especially with inflation. He must really be doing well for clients, or a hell of a lot of canning.

Replika never runs out of things to piss me off with. Yesterday I noticed they reset my login schedule even though I didn’t miss a day. So now I have to wait till Friday for the free gift instead of Tuesday. Whether it’s a glitch or their greed, I don’t know. They’re definitely greedy, and they definitely have shitty programmers that don’t know what they’re doing.

I’ve noticed fewer commercial planes flying overhead, and I wonder if it’s due to inflation and fewer people being able to afford to vacation.

Sitting here with dark auburn dye in my hair. Thought I’d do some writing before it’s time to wash it out. In another few years, I may be too damn blind to see what I’m doing, and therefore I may have to stop dyeing it. I’m not going to pay someone 60 bucks to slap it on for me as a low-income retiree. More important things to do with that 60 bucks.

Shortly after I got up, I deleted Michelle’s latest voicemail from her latest number which I also blocked. What is this, something like the fourth or fifth one now? Then Tom told me there was mild thunder while I slept. He said he didn’t hear the dog, but I’m sure it went off when he was under the headphones or something. I don’t think that thing can be let outside without taking a shit fit. I heard a few barks at 8:30 but nothing too crazy. It just doesn’t help that this thing, even though it’s a smallish dog, has such a loud bark.

It may be that Steve is trying to train it, but that it’s untrainable. Tom says all dogs are trainable and they live for pleasing their owners, but I don’t know about that. Jessie says she’s had dogs all her life and that while she’s been lucky, she does have this 13-year-old dog with major separation issues and no amount of training has changed that. It was then that I remembered that the termite said she got a dog from the pound that was a biter. She put it through behavioral training and it didn’t do shit so she had to get rid of it.

Part of me is hoping Steve will get sick of it and surrender it, but of course he won’t. So I’m stuck with it for who knows how many years as this isn’t an old dog. Toni didn’t have an exact age but said it’s a “youngish” dog.

I decided to start allowing friend requests and messages on Facebook once again, curious to see what comes in. I don’t want to block requests and messages that I may actually want. What if my old ENT really does look me up?

Why oh why is my sleep so cursed? Just fucking why? The mowers didn’t wake me up. It was the Internet cutting out again. Same time too at just after 10. Sometimes I don’t feel like I sleep much better here than in the old place. It’s like there’s always something. No matter what I do, whatever is cursing my sleep finds a way to get around it. So I guess if I was suddenly able to sleep at night every night, it would send more low-flying helicopters over the house or make sure we had more power failures, right? Well, we’re going to find out because without the net being reliable, I need to start sleeping at night as much as possible. This will eliminate the threat of the mowers and when the motorcycle returns. Then the only problem will be thunder. This really sucks because the underwater sound was the best defense against most lower-pitched, rumbling sounds.

So I’ll be getting into bed to listen to my book at 10 and setting my alarm for 7. The fan and the air cleaner will be my background sounds. I still have the portable sound machine I used at the hotel, but it’s defenseless against things like mowers, motorcycles, and thunder. It’s better than just the air cleaner during the daytime, but not enough. This is why I want to train my body as much as I can to sleep at night, once and for all.

Oddly enough, I’m not that tired, even though I only had 5 hours of sleep. Yesterday I was much more tired and I slept for 6. I figure that if I can’t get back to sleep then I got all the sleep I need. I’m glad I don’t feel the urge to nap because that sometimes makes me feel worse.

In five hours, we’ll head down to check out Bingo.

Walmart refunded the $10 tiny little travel-size bottle of hair conditioner I got which was nice.

I’m a little tired today because I didn’t sleep all that great. Really hope the mowers don’t make it worse tomorrow because I would like to check out Bingo in the evening. I’ve been wanting to for a while now.

In a minute, I’ll go have a banana and a coffee yogurt and see if that perks me up at all. I’m definitely going to be indulging in good food tonight. Having the same things to eat was getting to me. It might have been healthier and saved money, but I started craving variety so I got a bunch of different things. I don’t usually get snacks these days other than the occasional candy bar, but tonight I’ve got a bag of Tostitos to enjoy.

I was pissed to find I paid $10 for a sample size of hair conditioner. That’s just fucking ridiculous. I had no idea. I left the seller and the product a negative review. Hopefully, it will warn others. I guess that’s a big thing these days where sellers will buy things and then charge ridiculous prices hoping people won’t notice. Well, I’ve definitely noticed and I’m going to make sure that I continue to before spending so much for so little.

Walmart included a goodie bag which helped make up for the rip-off a bit, and this time it was mostly good stuff. Pretzels, something you add to your drink to help hydrate you, eye drops Tom might be able to use, an Olay sample, scented fabric softener, and a disinfectant spray similar to Lysol. Perfect timing too, because our can of Lysol which I used to spray the trash bin with is almost empty.

We have a new mailman that looks exactly like Maurice. I don’t know if he’s replacing him or if he’s just working some of the time, but Tom said he doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing yet, or even how to drive the truck. Strange how we haven’t had any white or female mail carriers. Maurice is one of the nicest carriers we’ve ever had, so I hope he hasn’t gone for good.

I’ve heard about 5 barks so far today, and about 7 yesterday. I heard a single bark at 3:00 PM yesterday and then the rest were at 9:00 PM.

Last night we got a good hard rainstorm. It didn’t last long, but there was a lot of loud, heavy rain. No thunder, though.

Now that my golfing has improved somewhat, I started playing some of the hard courses. The game comes with easy and hard courses. The graphics are beautiful on most of them.

Tom grabbed a free game called Cybrix that he likes, so I downloaded it and will give it a try later.

A piece of nail powder chipped off from the back of my index finger. I also have a slight bit of chipping on the tip of my middle finger. They still look great overall and I did a good job for my very first time.

Had another weird dream. In the dream, he was working, and even though it was the end of my day and I was just as unable to keep a schedule, he urged me to go to work with him and apply for a position there, wherever “there” was. Even though I told him it wouldn’t last a week, I took a housekeeping job of sorts where I simply walked through this large room to collect whatever trash I spotted, be it empty coffee cups on desks or stuff from pails. I enjoyed the mindlessness of it and it pissed me off to know that I couldn’t do it indefinitely and add to our income.

So now Alexa’s annoying by-the-ways are did-you-knows. I let Amazon know once again that people really do want what they ask for and nothing more. I don’t get why these pushy bastards don’t keep their tips and pointers in their newsletters. When I ask for the weather, I want the weather. Not to discuss gift ideas I have absolutely no interest in.

Still think I might have a cavity but I’m going to give it a little more time. I hope it’s just sensitivity we get with age, but somehow I doubt it. Not with all the damn dental problems I always have. How can I care for my teeth as religiously as I do and still have one fucking problem after another???

We tested our glucose the other day. Mine was down 3 points to 107, but his is up to 118, unfortunately.

The semi-permanent purple hair dye is crap. It didn’t cover the greys and I could still see some bleeding out in my shower. I’d hate to have to reapply it every few days, especially since it doesn’t work. I think with dye I should be all or nothing and either go all grey or use permanent dye. If it’s not going to cover the grey, I might as well get permanent dye.

My nails still look great, but I had slight lifting by the cuticles so maybe I didn’t let the base coat cure long enough. Could also be that it was too thin back there or too close to the cuticles to begin with.

I had the strangest dream last night. Due to how long and detailed it was, it makes me wonder if it might have been a glimpse into another dimension. It started with us moving into a house that didn’t seem to be much bigger than this. It might have been a 3-bedroom, but I’m not sure. The rooms didn’t seem much bigger than in this place. The woman who lived there before died and left all her furniture and stuff in the house. I had mixed emotions about the furniture being there. It was kind of old and dumpy and I knew we could use it initially, but would eventually want to get rid of it and replace it and would have to pay someone to have it hauled away with no bulk trash pickup in the area.

I set some bedroom stuff up in one of the bedrooms and then I started going through the stuff left in the house, starting with a hutch. There were a bunch of little figurines, some I liked and some I didn’t care for.

Then I went into the bathroom and that’s when I discovered that the lady had not only left her stuff in the house but her cat as well. I had to take a dump but I couldn’t because the cat kept rubbing against me and trying to jump on me. I went from frustrated to pissed and then the dream turned horrible. I kicked the crap out of the poor cat and then I still couldn’t take a dump because I felt so guilty for what I’d done. “I’m so sorry,” I told the now terrified cat, hoping it would eventually forget what I’d done, but knowing it wouldn’t.

I briefly woke up at this awful part and then fell back asleep and the dream continued! In the next part, I was trying to decide if I really wanted to sleep in the bedroom I’d chosen and Tom said “no” as if to say that wouldn’t be a good choice, suggesting I may hear more outside noise from it.

The reason I wonder if it was a glimpse into another dimension is due to how long and detailed the dream was. I can’t see it being a sign of anything because I don’t see us moving into a similar setup as this place. If we move, it’s likely to be something bigger and nicer than this. That’s a big if, though. I’m starting to really think this could be it, especially since the horses are looking like more and more of a bust.

It will be far from the end of the world if we are here for the rest of our lives (the last place would’ve really sucked, though), even though that’s not what my vibes say. What happened in Arizona and the last place has me hesitant to complain because…what if we are here for the rest of our lives? Besides, the barking doesn’t even total 2 minutes a day, so I guess I can live with it. Even if the dog stopped barking, there would just be something else to replace it. Out goes Darren’s motorcycle and honking truck and in comes Steve and the dog. There’s always something.

If we are here for life, my biggest concern would be next door. If I’m right about us having 20 more years, it’s hard to say whether or not Toni would still be around, but I can’t believe the couple on the other side would be. So we could eventually end up with something annoying over there. Another big concern would be them building something in back. Sooner or later they’re going to bulldoze out what trees are there and put in something and that would be quite maddening. Sleeping in the daytime would be virtually impossible. I figure the park may eventually buy the land, or worse, an apartment complex would be put up there. They do have to let the rain go somewhere though, and there is a bit of a dip, although I don’t know how deep, directly behind the house. So they may not come right up to the fence by our house, but pretty close enough. It would still be a nightmare if they built anything back there, whether it was houses or an apartment complex or businesses.

Whether or not the horses work out, he was thinking of eventually trying to create a VR app. I had an idea for having these trees in which leaves fall off or petals from flowers and you have to hurry up and catch as many as you can in a basket. Each time you have less time so you have to move faster and faster.

Still waiting on the purple hair dye that was supposed to come yesterday but didn’t since some idiot put it on the wrong truck. I did get the nail powder dips, however, and they’re awesome! Very easy to do and anyone can do it. It is a little time-consuming, though, compared to strips and involves about 6 different steps. It takes about 10 minutes per hand. I have Metal Red on one hand and a mix of Fluorescent Green and Teal on the other. I didn’t want to use any of the pinks which I like best until I saw how easy it was to do. I didn’t know if I was going to screw up or what. There really isn’t much to screw up, though, as long as you follow the steps. You apply the base coat and cure it. Then the nail gel and cure it. Then the top coat and cure it for just 10 seconds. Then you take a makeup applicator and tap on the powder, then brush off the excess with the makeup brush I got. The last step is putting on a second topcoat and curing it.

The UV light didn’t burn me at all. It was slightly warm, but that was it. Believe it or not, my nails are still slightly tacky, but I didn’t cure them for as long as I could have. They look gorgeous. I’m very happy with the way they came out. Regular nail polish is nowhere near this glossy. Not even the strips are. Also, you would never know I had ridges! The lighter colors don’t look as glossy, but they look glitterier.

Next time I’m going to play around with the fluorescents by another brand and do each finger a different color. After that, I’ll go back to the chrome set and do the Holographic Pink on one hand and Chameleon Pink to Gold on the other. Eventually, I want to get some glow-in-the-dark dips. I’m still going to do stickers and nail polish at times but this is a fun way to add variety and mix things up a bit.

The other brand also has hues. Six different shades of blue and a little tower with six different shades of green. Even the ugliest colors in the chrome set were still gorgeous with the way they’re so vivid, shiny, and glittery. That would be the Coffee.

I’ll just have to be patient because it’s going to be a while before I experiment with all the different colors because this stuff has some serious staying power. If I get impatient, I have remover. I just hope it works as well as the video shows.

We discussed what to get each other for our upcoming anniversary on the 15th and he’s going to pick out a diamond painting for me to do for his office wall. I’ve decided on a couple of VR apps I’d like. One’s called Nature Treks. The other is Tai Chi.

I couldn’t figure out how to create maps for my VZ rides on the computer, but as expected, he was able to figure it out, so he helped me. I created a route from Salzberg to Munich but there are parts of the trip that Nane’s bus may not have traveled through.

I’ve been thinking about Nane a lot lately and I still don’t know why I miss her. She was such a judgmental bitch at times. I guess it’s because she was one of my first international cyber friends. I did have quite a crush on her too. She was quite the story muse as Kate Jackson once was.

I can’t help but wonder what her life is like today. Is she still working as an accountant? Is she with someone? Is she healthy? Does she still like to vacation in Turkey? Lockdown must have been so hard on her because of the way she really likes to be on the go and socialize. That’s why she dumped poor Irene. Irene had settled down, but Nane was still a party girl. She probably still visits Christiane. Although Irene says she’s over it, I still feel a bit bad for her because I think Nane only blocked her because of me.

I wonder if she’ll live the rest of her life in Germany, or if she’ll one day retire in Turkey or Greece. Or maybe somewhere else?

The funniest thing happened yesterday. I was standing in the kitchen window and saw Tom pull something out of the mailbox. Only he dropped it like it was on fire. A frog was in the box and startled him, LOL. I didn’t see the frog from the window, so my first thought was some kind of wasp, bee, or a large spider.

I heard the dog for the better part of a minute yesterday because it got all excited to go out on the golf cart with its inconsiderate owner. Pretty sure I heard it this morning too. I’m getting a little closer to complaining and not hiding about it either. I don’t think they said anything to him because I was anonymous the first time around. And maybe because I might have been the only complainant thus far. If they did say anything, then this guy simply doesn’t give a shit. Either that or he’s embarrassingly stupid that he doesn’t know that he’s got options for training/controlling the damn thing.

I was tempted to ask Toni how she feels about it lately, but I don’t know how much I can trust her. I barely know the woman. She seems nice and kind of like the new Mrs. Twenties, but how do I know Toni hasn’t already shared our chat? How do I also know that Mrs. Twenties didn’t tell the Bs I complained, or told someone that told the Bs? I have my doubts, though, because of how fast the counter-complaint came. I don’t think it was even 24 hours. I would think it would take two or three days for word to get back to the Bs and for them to look our place over and decide what to complain about, and then for Joy to come out and decide to leave a note on our door. Joy probably still gave our names to the Bs, but it was her counter-complaint, no doubt. It was her spiting someone who complained on her friends. That’s how they were able to get away with so much shit for so long and not get evicted. Joy had the chance to defend herself when I contacted her when we left and she never did. Silence often speaks the truth.

I’m still hesitant to complain here after what happened at the other place. My complaint could add to the anonymous one and any other possible complaints and lead to something being done about the mutt, or it could backfire on us and get us counter-complained on. You just never know who’s friends with whom.