A trip to the supermarket

 

 

Normally, I would have no reason to go to a supermarket in Brooklyn.  But today wasn't a normal day.  FH has heard me talk about the Wegmans in White Plains, and she wanted to see the one in Brooklyn.  So, it was off to Brooklyn to fill up a shopping cart.

Driving the 8.5 miles from Forest Hills to the Brooklyn Navy Yard takes longer than one might think, as there is always traffic on the Long Island Expressway (LIE) and Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE).  But the worst part of the trip is finding a spot in Wegmans' parking lot. (We didn't know it, but if we spent more than $15, we could have our parking ticket validated for the paid lot next door.) Yet, once we found a spot, we had a short walk to the store.

FH was very impressed with the size of the store.  The closest she could come to a comparison was Whole Foods, and that was a smaller store with similar (above average) prices. She was impressed with the variety of foods available in the store, including things such as Lobster Mac & Cheese, Sushi, Heat & Eat Mexican, fresh fish and other foods not seen in her "local" supermarket.

A filled shopping cart later, we were ready to leave the store for home.  (No, I won't say how much she spent, but I think she was a wee bit surprised when she found out how much everything cost.)  At least, it was easier to get back to Forest Hills than it was to get to Brooklyn.  And it was much easier to find a spot around 7 pm, than it would be a couple of hours later.

After having some Chinese food upstairs, we settled down to watch "The White Tiger" on Netflix.  During the film, FH and her daughter had a disagreement, and I was caught in the middle of things.  Without saying much, I was there for FH as she talked about some private issues.  And then, we finished watching the film.  I was pleasantly surprised that this film had a plot I liked, a good script with acting to match.  FH thought that my surprise might have been a prejudice against Indian films (which could be true.)  But I countered that I don't like the typical Bollywood film that breaks into a musical number at the most inopportune moment.  (I dislike most Hollywood musicals, and Bollywood takes the idea of a musical a few steps further than Hollywood ever could.) Thinking about it, maybe my film watching bias is towards cultures with which I am more familiar.

And then, it was time to go home.  As I drove down the hill leading into Croton, a sudden chill came into the car.  It's as if cold air had been trapped close to water level, and once encountered, the car's heater couldn't warm up the inside of the car quick enough not to notice a change.  

Tomorrow will be a food shopping day, as a big snowstorm is expected Sunday night through Tuesday morning.  I guess I'll have to postpone my doctor's appointment originally scheduled for this Monday.

Thank Bruce it's Friday!

 

As you can guess, I enjoyed "Bruce Almighty", though it hasn't been on cable in years.   It's a pleasant, mindless piece of fluff - something perfect for a night spent at home, where if you miss anything in the film, you can either go back a scene or two, or just keep playing the film.

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Today, I was awakened by a person looking for some paperwork from me - which I sent in (in parts) throughout the day.  If all goes right, there will be a job waiting for me in two weeks.  And it'll be something that stops the drain from my savings account, something that the census provided last year. However, this good news is balanced by some bad news - I still don't have income tax info (W2 forms) for the Census and for my Pension. I'm hoping that I don't have to start making a lot of phone calls to get this mess resolved.

Sometime towards mid afternoon, I ventured downstairs and found a box addressed to me.  In that box were the prescriptions I asked my doctor to send to the mail order pharmacy.  Yay!  Now I know that my problems with the health insurance company are over.  Hopefully, I'll be able to go to the doctor on Monday, given the storm they expect to come in that morning.

Eventually, I decided to go shopping for food.  Considering how cold it was, I figured that the car needed a good half hour run - and Stew Leonard's was perfect.  So, off I went to Stew's, and I returned with a full bag of goodies.  Knowing that I still needed stuff I couldn't get at Stew's, I stopped at the Stop & Shop for canned Chicken breast meat, so that I can make something filling if I can't get out Monday afternoon.

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Tomorrow, I'll be seeing FH again.  It'll be another shopping day (for her) and she wants to see what the Brooklyn Wegmans is like.  I told her it's a big supermarket, but until she sees it, she won't appreciate it.  Maybe, if we're lucky, we'll be able to get some premade dinners that only need to be nuked.  Otherwise, it's my turn to take care of takeout....

 

The end of the week is coming

One of these days, I'll color correct all the Corel stock images I have on my disk.  I enjoy putting them up on my entries now and then, as they are wonderful photos of places I've visited (or would like to visit).

- - - - - -

Today, I didn't bother leaving my apartment to do anything.  If anything, the only thing I needed to do was to attend my Thursday night Zoom meetup, and catch up on my reading.  And that's what I did.  Although I woke up around 8:30, my day didn't start until 10:00 - and I was glad of that.  I wanted to be awake when I took care of using up the milk I had in the refrigerator (which would soon start to go sour) to make pudding.  

For the most part, this trans-gal lives a hum drum life.  This evening, after my Zoom meetup, I called Vicki, and we chatted about many things.  Unlike our last call, we had an effective time limit - she had to work in the morning.  So we covered some of the subjects at hand before calling it a night.  But one thing I can say - we'll be going out for a nice dinner soon, as soon as she's fully recovered from her recent illness.

Hump Day - For some, a good night for sex.

Mae West once said that it's not the men in her life, but it's the life in her men.  It's hard to believe that she was almost 100 years ahead of her time.  But her words still resonate today - even after they have been censored to fit the morals of her era.

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I had only one thing on my docket for the day, and that was an interview with an image scanning firm.  Everything went well, and I was made an offer.  Yes, the pay is lower than what I was earning at the census. But with my skill set being relatively worthless in this market, I'll take this job for a while to see if I like it.  It's not that I need the money.  Instead, it's that I need to keep myself active enough to enjoy getting up in the morning.

When I got home from the interview, I found an email from the employment bureau waiting for me. Since the email was addressed to Marian, I had to mention that I am pre-op transgender, and that my legal ID and photo doesn't match the image I presented on the interview, I had to ask if this was a problem - and it wasn't.  So I guess that my feminine presentation is better than I would have once thought.  Let's see what happens assuming that I'm on the job for a while.

On other matters, I have been in phone contact with two women from north of me.  One was from Kingston, and the other from Pawling.  I basically gave up on the one in Kingston, and Pawling may have dropped by the wayside.  What's really strange is that the Pawling phone number has been disconnected.  This is just as well, as both women carried more than their share of baggage.

And lastly, I had another fun online game night with YGD and some of her friends.  The Jackbox games are mostly party games, but they are fun when you have a larger group to play with.

 

 
 

It was the day before Wednesday, and all through the house....

 

I miss being able to get out to the California coast, as it holds many memories for me.  My late wife always wanted to live in San Francisco, and I scatted her ashes there.  If there's something that lives on after we die, I hope she's happy with the choice I made....

Sadly, the pandemic has put a damper on many of the plans people had made for 2020 and early 2021 (so far).  Things will start returning to a new normal during the summer. Until then, I'm finding it hard to write something new every day.  And this means that I sometimes play "catch-up" in writing new entries for this blog. Today's entry was a slight case of playing catch-up.

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The other day, I chatted with an acquaintance from Manhattan. The more I talk with her, the more that I think that I'll be culling her from my contacts.  She's one of those left wing liberals who have no understanding of how our political system got as screwed up as it is, and is as hard set in her conspiracy theories as her equivalent from the right.  This the attitude that upsets me when Pat and I get into our political discussions, as it ends up in a feeling of resignation that they have already lost their battles with the world.

Lately, my sleep patterns have been screwed up.  Often, I have been falling asleep in the late afternoon, and losing much of the early evenings to do things.  Then, I've been falling asleep before midnight, and waking up too late to do much of anything without risking not being able to wake up at a reasonable morning hour.  At least, I've been able to be conscious by 9 am - if I want to make the effort to do so.

For the most part, things have been quiet around here - and I hope it stays that way.

 

 

 

Monday, Monday - but I'm not complaining.

 

OK, so it's the start of the week. As usual, I stayed in much of the day, as I really don't like getting out of the bed until the afternoon.  

- - - - - -

When I looked to start my next letter to my meetup group's pen pal, I found out that I didn't finish last week's letter.  So I figured that I'd close up that letter, and send it out today.  Hopefully, my pen pal will enjoy receiving it.

On other matters, I ended up going out for the day as Marian.  I wasn't that busy.  It was a simple shopping run to the Wegmans in White Plains.  Considering that I needed to get some prepared meals for the week, it was best that I make the drive today, as the weather forecast for tomorrow calls for 2" of snow.

Arriving home, I picked up my mail.  Inside was the last 2 packages from my last order from Amazon - a chin strap for use with my CPAP mask, and a set of scissors for trimming nose hairs.  How interesting.  Yeah, right.  But these items are rarely found at the local drug store, and have to be ordered online.  I only wonder how people lived without being connected to the internet - and that's what we did until 30 years ago.  It's amazing how things have changed in our lifetimes!

Can I say that I did much?  Not really.  But I did get myself dressed up and out the door as Marian.  If I had more places to go, I might have gone to them.  Sadly, the pandemic is getting in the way of life - and will be doing so for the near future.

I saw a friend today, oh boy. She's a lucky gal who made the grade...

 

I had only one thing of note on my docket today, and that was seeing a friend who knows me as Marian, but who also knows that Mario exists.  It's always nice to get together with her, as I can talk about both sides of my life and yet, still be accepted for who I am.  FYI, this woman and I met on a dating site.  And though she is dating someone else, we have agreed to be friends and enjoy the friendship.  It's nice to know that there are some people who accept anomalies such as me, and I am gladdened that this is the case.

My alarms were set for 9 am, and I had to get myself moving by 10, if I wanted to make it to New Paltz by 12:30.  Given that I lollygagged a little, I texted my friend to tell her that I wouldn't be there until 1 pm, and that wasn't a problem. So I got dressed up as Marian (for the first time in several days) and made the drive North.

We decided to meet at the Clemson Brewing Company (formerly the Gilded Otter), and both of us arrived within minutes of each other.  Although there were people in the restaurant, no one was within 25 feet of us, so we both felt relatively safe.  We talked of conversations I had with a mutual acquaintance of ours, my trips to the city, her boyfriend, and of business in general.  (Did I mention that one of her clients is a firm I once worked for?)  

As most of us are painfully aware, the pandemic has affected businesses - some for the better, and some for the worst.  My friend's business has been affected for the worst, and changes going on at my former firm have made it worse for her.  Given her age, she is not yet ready to retire, and she is not in a position to jettison my old firm as a client.  To make things worse, they are trying to turn independent contractors into employees of a captive contractor, so that they have more control over these people. In one sense, this is good - these formerly independent contractors will get benefits.  However, it will gradually force them to jettison their other clients, and make them much more vulnerable to the whims of my old firm. 

Sadly, this conversation had to end, as she had to relieve her ex of dog sitting duty.  So we agreed to meet again soon, and I proceeded home for the evening....