Game Night - My only one this month

 

One thing I know about game nights - I usually lose the games we play.  I don't mind that, as this is always a good group of people to hang out with.

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This morning started out with a visit to my doctor.  As usual, he hectored me about my weight and tried to prod me to taking a GLP-1 drug - no matter what its cost.  That goes against my core philosophy - avoid expensive subscription items, when they are most in demand.  Would I mind taking a GLP-1 drug?  No.  But when the does will end up costing over 10% of my after tax income, the answer will be NO.  Yet, I will call my drug insurance company and find out whether (given my health) I can get it at a lower co-pay.

Next, it was back to my house to relax for a couple of hours, and then go for coffee with one of the board members.  We talked about the Orange Monster, Co-Op business, and her financial health (what little of it that's left.)  Sadly, I see her forced into less hospitable senior housing.  But that's what happens when a person never had the chance to save much during her adult life.

Finally, after another 2 hours of rest, it was time for game night.  I arrived just before 7:30, and got a call from the host - did I want him to save a place for me in the game they were setting up?  I said yes, and walked in to the house a minute or two later.  It was a pleasant evening, and though I lost (as usual), I had a good time. 

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Sadly, this would be my last day in Marian mode for a while.  This weekend, I'll have to present as Mario, as I'll be meeting 2 of RQS's friends. 

Boredom is the worst demon to handle (a short post)

 

The worst of my demons is boredom.  I can be idle, yet not be bored.  But it is when my mind wants to do something and I have no mental energy to do it, that I try to occupy the emptiness.  The picture above is a prop from a horror movie.  And yet, there's a certain something about it that compelled me to capture its image.  Maybe the separation of horror from the screen prop captured my interest.  But I can say I wasn't bored when I visited the museum the prop was in.

So, why am I talking about boredom today?  Well, when I have nothing to do, I use the media to keep my mind active.  I'll watch the news for a while, and then read articles online to keep myself abreast of what is happening in the world.  I look for things to keep my mind active, and it's not always easy to do so.  When I get back from my cruise, I'll start work on converting my cruise related spreadsheet to a JavaScript program.  And this is one of the many things I focus on to keep my mind active.

Over the years, I have become much more comfortable with my TG nature.  And I've learned that most people don't give a darn about how I dress or how I present myself to the world.  People care mostly how they get treated by others, and if you treat them with kindness, then they will treat you with respect.  (Or, that's how it feels to me.)

Am I rambling a bit?  Yes.  But I find that when I let my mind wander a little, I learn a bit about myself.  I've learned how to deal with my fears more effectively.  I've learned how to be more confident with others, and I've learned what risks to take and not take. Right now, I rightfully fear our federal government because of the madman in charge of it.  So I'm laying low for the most part until his reign passes.   History has taught me to be wary of events like today's events, as there is so much that can be lost if we're not careful.  

Right now, I'm trying to be careful and have plans A, B, and C at the ready.  Hopefully, I won't need to activate any of them.

The one time I can talk about a co-op board meeting

 

I could talk about going to the bank.  I could talk about the junk food I ate.  Instead, I will talk about the open shareholder meeting we had tonight.  And this is one of the few times I can talk about co-op business, as what I'm able to say tonight actually happened at tonight's meeting.

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Leaving for the board meeting at the local library, I made one mistake - running into the local pizzeria for a Chicken Parm Hero. (For those not familiar with NYC area sandwich terms, a "Hero" is an elongated sandwich roll. In other regions, it is known as a "Sub", "Hoagie" or "Wedge".)  I should have ordered pizza slices, as I was rushing to put food in my stomach before attending the board meeting.

Arriving at the local library shortly after 6, we reviewed business (which I won't recount here) for the next hour, until shareholders started to come in.  Just before 7, a woman we've been having trouble with  arrived.  The woman has serious mental issues, and probably should be institutionalized.  For the next half hour, people ambled in, but we only had 36% of the shareholder share represented.  So the meeting couldn't be official, only informational.  And then, the troublesome lady started to shout and disrupt our meeting.  She made a big deal about the contrasting color the outside walls of the laundry were painted.  She was shouting, and I ended up shouting back to her to stop shouting.  At this time, someone made sure the police were on call to remove her from the meeting.  Luckily, she left early, and her neighbors told the story of how they were being victimized by this woman on a daily basis.  (She even pushed one lady several times.)  Her neighbors had proof that this lady was harassing them, but the police have not yet done anything.  Maybe someone needs to get hurt before this sick person gets the help she needs, and gets her out of our way.

Eventually, we got to discussing the financial state of the co-op, and the need to continue with our current assessment.  (I won't go into the story of our former managing agent, our insurance, our mortgage holder, and going into special service handling.  I don't think I'm free to tell the story as I see it.)  Our shareholders didn't understand how a major bank could be treating a co-op like ours so poorly.  But then, we have a hard time understanding it too.  Although we think we're seeing the light at the end of the tunnel for our financial problems, it's going to be a rocky road for us until the end of the year.

Hopefully, the mentally ill lady will soon be evicted, and her shares reverted back to the co-op.  Only then, will the other residents in her building (as well as nearby businesses) will be free from her tyranny.  (BTW: One of the residents victimized by this woman handed the board a complete list of all the times this woman has caused them trouble.  Too bad this resident couldn't have known about this woman before she bought her apartment.)

RQS had to go home, and I had time to myself

 

It's always a touch of sorrow when RQS and I have to part.  Yet, this parting gives us the freedom to live at our own pace without having to worry about the others' concerns.  And maybe, just maybe, this makes our relationship work as well as it does.

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RQS's schedule was busy today - 2 doctors' visits and pottery class in the evening.  I won't go into details of her life, but she was busy from the moment she got out of bed to the moment she was able to get back into her own bed.  As for me, I took a little drive, went home, then relaxed for the rest of the day.

Right now, I have a book on JavaScript being delivered by Amazon.  Once it arrives, I will start on my next project: converting a web page with a downloadable spreadsheet to be used in calculating a true per-person cost of a cruise to a JavaScript program which performs the same function without making the computational guts too easy for others to duplicate.

Did I do any reading while I relaxed and had little to do?  Nope.   Instead, I watched videos most of the time, and then did some minor reorganization in the kitchen.  Although I could have gone out again later in the day, I didn't have the energy or inclination to do so,  Nor did I have any energy to deal with a medical appointment I should have made 4 weeks ago.  AARGH!

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At least, I did one thing of note:  I cooked some pad Thai.  Was it good?  No.  Next time, I'll try something different with rice noodles.

Finishing up Shore Excursion booking for an upcoming cruise.

 

Later this year, RQS and I will be cruising the British Isles.  RQS booked most of the shore excursions for our cruise.  Today, I booked the last one - a Beatles walking tour of Liverpool.  Although much has changed in the 66+ years since they started performing in their respective bands, historical information is easily seen in the streets upon today's visitors walk  (Yes, I'm including the time they performed as rank amateurs.)

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Neither of us wanted to go out for Easter Sunday.  The weather was dreary and it was both cold and clammy.  Since I didn't sleep much the night before, I knew RQS wouldn't mind getting up late and having a restful sleep.  So I moved into the living room at 8:30 and started watching TV until RQS arose from her slumber.

This was a perfect day to stay inside and rest, and that's what we did.  Yes, we became couch potatoes for most of the day.  But what was there to do at 2 pm on a Sunday?  But this wasn't a loss.  Having a day where we could stay inside was just what we needed to recharge our batteries.  By the time we finished dinner, I was ready to book our last shore excursion, and firm up our expense balance before our next cruise.  (I owe RQS some cash.)

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As you can see, this was a Jammie day for the two of us.  Tomorrow, I'll have things on my docket which must be taken care of this week.  One of these things will be getting a check to reimburse the co-op president for some expenses she incurred.  Since I'm the only other person who has signing powers for the co-op, I have to go to the bank as Mario to get a teller's check for her.  (That's about all I'll say of the details of my co-op's business, save that we're seeing a light at the end of the tunnel for problems that started 2 years ago.)

Lunch with DS (a short post)

 

Although RQS is coming up today, I only want to discuss two things: Lunch with DS and a chat with my brother.  (I can always chat about RQS later on in another post.)

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We scheduled lunch for 12:30.  So I had to set reminders to make sure that I'd be well on my way to getting showered, made up and dressed before noon.  Unlike cisgender women, I always feel a need to apply makeup, as my face will otherwise look sort of masculine.  The less people notice these facial features, the better.  But I digress.

On the way down to White Plains, TCL called me up.  She lost one of her car keys the other day, and now the second key fob broke.  Although she has a valet key, it didn't do her much good sitting back at home.  Luckily, she has a neighbor who could be counted on to get into her house, find TCL's keys, and bring them to her to get her car home.  TCL still doesn't know what she wants from car keys and the fob, but I'd bet that she's going to cheap out, and only duet the valet key, and not pay for a replacement key fob which would allow her to open the car's trunk, as well as to open doors remotely.

I arrived at the diner around 12:30 and met DS.  Both of us enjoyed lunch, and caught up on what's happening in each other's lives.  Although I can't say she's doing well, she has been taking on gigs to pay the bills, and had a little extra for lunch today.  Hopefully, we'll be able to get together more often, and I mentioned that I'd like to have her come with me to one of the "20 at 20" off Broadway shows during their last week.  But that's only if I make the effort to go myself.   It's always nice to have female friends to do things with.... 

Relearning an old skill (a short post)

 

One of the problems I have with my other website is that I have a spreadsheet available for downloading, instead of encapsulating the computation engine for my real cruise cost calculator in Javascript and have it reside on a separate server.  My logic is too available for the average person to steal.  And I want to fix this.

What should I do?

MSJ suggests that I hire help from fiverr.com to do the work, then put it on the website.  I could do that, but I'm not so sure that I can't do it myself.  Years ago, I wrote code in Javascript which would interact with a database residing on a server.  This wasn't so hard.  So I figured that I might as well relearn this skill for use in the future.

No, I am not seriously thinking of going back into programming.  Instead, I keep indulging my wish to find productive and challenging ways to occupy my time, like the man in the picture above. I figure that I won't have anything worth playing with for at least a couple of months at best.  But when I do, I'll have a feel for another tool I can build for that website.