The alarm woke me up this morning. That's unusual. I'm usually awake before it goes off. I got in 4,000 steps. That's also unusual. I have been doing less. I did have to stop at home and make a pit stop. That persistent need is one of the reasons I'm not taking long walks away from the house. Maybe good times will return, and my body will regain some control.
Joe, one of the students who brought me an inground orchid the other day, gave me tips on how to plant it. I had him look at the orchid the young woman had left here over six months ago. It doesn't seem dead, but neither has it put out a flower in all this time. I took Joe to the backyard to show him an orchid growing there. It produces beautiful pink flowers – often. Joe said it looks like the plant is a volunteer. It grafted itself to the lower branches of a shrub. Those pink flowers peep out from underneath the branches. They are always a source of joy. I should keep a record.
Of the two other orchid plants: Joe said the one he gave me should be planted in dirt. The other one cannot be planted that way. I have to dig a hole, fill it with rocks, and then put the plant in. He repeatedly said to make sure not to overwater orchids. I said, no problem. They're the perfect plant for me. Neglect is my favorite form of plant care.
After he left, I sat down to meditate. It was around 8:30. It was so relaxing. The next thing I knew, I was waking from a deep sleep. When I looked at the clock, it was almost 11 already. Holy cow! I was still tired. I got up, went to the bathroom, and went to do a lie-down nap.
The first thing I did when I was through was plug in my car to finish the charging I started yesterday. Then I got to work on the article. I have been avoiding that. Yesterday, I devoted all my time to put together the Progressive complaints. I have recorded twelve (12) incidents where they have made changes without explanation. Of those twelve, nine are costs that were added on for a total of $1226.86 from 12/24/18 through 6/22/20. Our policy started in 2014. I haven't gone back through all the records to check if there were similar incidences. I may decide to do that. Frankly, I doubt it is caused by corruption, more like total incompetence. Warning: think to check your insurance statements. This is Progressive. I don't know if they are the exception or the rule.
I did some work on the article. Actually, the piece I wrote with my eyes closed in a half-asleep sometime a week ago isn't half bad. It does need more work. I have to look at all the pieces I wrote and stitch together the relevant information in a single piece.
I got up to vacuum. I have been trying to use the Bissell the way it's designed. There's a water container the squirts out water, and there's a collection container. In the past, when using my Rainbow, I just poured a large quantity of water on the floor and vacuumed it up. The first time I do that, the water has a fair amount of dirt in it. The second time, the water is just cloudy. When I use the water dispensing system built into the vacuum cleaner, only a little water is used, and it is impenetrably black in the collection bottle. If I go over the floor the same way, using their dispensing system, the water in the collection bottle is just as dirty. I don't think it is designed for washing the floor, just damp mopping. That's good for a daily treatment but not a thorough washing. I have gone back to my gallon of water per area in my good-sized kitchen. It means having to empty the collection container often, but my floor comes out clean.
I sat down to do some more work on the article and was inspired to call a friend. She is often hard to reach because she doesn't know where her phone is, has it turned off, or tending to one of her grandchildren. I got her on the first ring.
She is very concerned about what is happening to our world. Aren't we all? But she is more afraid than I am. She sees the virus as something the Chinese have released on the world to establish domination. Maybe, maybe not. I have had other conspiracy theories passed on to me that I thought were paranoid nonsense and have since proven true. Anything is possible. What's the point of going over it? She is reading articles that are scaring the hell out of her. Her defense is prayer against her worst nightmare. I'm still calm for the time being, but I have the advantage of having money in the bank.
When that goes, which I suspect it will, how will I feel then? Regardless, neither she nor I am in control. We're along for the ride. My response is to see this as an adventure. I can see positive things coming out of this situation. Will I see the fulfillment of those positive things for humanity in my lifetime? Hmmm. I know I'm not alone. I'm into this together with Yvette, Josh, Scott, and B. if no one else. I also have friends that are not part of my immediate ohana. Will we survive? I mean, survive physically? Will we have water? Will we have food? If we do, will someone attack us to get what we have? Oh, boy, oh, boy.
I finally got hold of the person responsible for the tutoring program in LA. Seems there was a link on the site for applying for both being a tutor and a tutee. I will have to get a fingerprint check. I'll see how much that will cost to determine if it's worth it. I'm sure that something will come through here in Hawaii.
I had to make a video for the LA tutoring gig. I discovered Photobooth. I also saw that my bottom teeth look terrible when I talk and that I blink a lot. It's not a good look. Good thing it's not an application for a beauty contest. I can only hope that I don't scare kids to death. I had no idea how to post the video into the tutoring application. I reached out to August for help. He hadn't gotten back to me by the end of the night.
Darby joined Elsa and me for our before-dinner walk. I wore the mask Dorothy sent me that she had made. It's a pretty blue material. The straps are on the fat side and cause some discomfort where my glasses' temples press down on them. Darby and I talked while we walked. My mask was damp by the time I got home.
Darby took me for a walk through her property. She and Patrick don't grow a lot of food, but they carefully cultivate what they do grow. They have a huge breadfruit tree that feeds them daily. I asked about the netting they had hanging here and there. She said it was to protect their plants from pesticide spray. I haven't seen any damage to my plants. It must be that their neighbors use it more than mine.
We continued our walk on the street. There was a light shower, more of a misting, so light that it didn't even wet our clothes. It was dusk with a slight cloud cover. The colors were spectacular. I told Darby that Mike and I found the island more beautiful the longer we lived here. She said that she still found it that way after living here for thirty-five years. It is said that your relationship with the island deepens every ten years.
I did good work on the article today. Yay! It is eighteen pages long now, single-spaced. Maybe not so much an article as a very short book. The good news is that when I edited the Materials section, I found information on instruction. I was able to eliminate a good half a page.
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