Thursday, September 16, 2021

 Thursday, September 16, 2021

 

    I woke up in a good mood. This night's sleep was as peaceful as the night before was turbulent. Most nights, I wake up to go to the bathroom. The first time I wake up, I often feel like I had a good night's sleep, only to look at the clock and see it's only 1 am. This morning I woke up with that feeling. I glanced at my watch, expecting to see 1 pm, but no, it was 5:30; time to get up. I rarely have such a night.

   At yoga, I told a funny story about a magic mailbox disappearance. At the start of one of my short walks, I checked my mailbox. It was full of junk mail, eight pieces. As I walked, I saw the mail truck stop at our mailbox. When I returned, I opened my mailbox, and there was nothing in it. We have two mailboxes out front, one for Mike and me and one for Yvette and Josh, but we both use the same address. Our usual mailman knows to sort our mail into two piles and use both mailboxes. I checked Yvette's and Josh's mailbox, and there it was. As I told the story, I was interrupted; someone explained what might have happened.

      The person was defending the mailman. Things are tough at the Post Office now. They don't have enough mailmen, and those working are inexperienced. Everyone is overloaded. We often don't get delivery during the week, and then we get one on 'Sunday. Packages come at odd times. However, people are complaining about the service. The delivery people have to deal with the brunt of this anger.  

    Besides that, there is a reason why employees of the Post Office have gone 'postal.' The institution is not known for its warm and fuzzy treatment of its employees. It's very stressful. As with all large institutions, it is often dysfunctional.

      I usually don't make fun of people. If I'm going to be critical, I spit it out without couching my comments in humor. Then I remembered, I did do that with Mike. I would announce some flaw of his publicly, laughing. Mike would ask me not to. I could understand his point of view, but I experienced it differently. I announced some flaw of his when my heart was filled with love for him. What a bad outcome to a loving act! I could readily see how Mike might not see it as I experienced it. He was my funny valentine, my sweet comic valentine. He made me smile with my heart. His looks were laughable, unphotographable, but he was my favorite work of art. Yes, his figure was less than Greek, his chin a little weak, but when he opened his mouth to speak to me, his eyes shone with love and pride. I miss feeling my heart overflowing with love and joy. I love being loving. Mike loved that feeling too.  

    Once when I announced my loving feeling, Mike reported that he didn't feel it at that moment and was so jealous. I hear some people collect love to feel power over others. OMG! What a waste of a life.

Today was my follow-up appointment with Kaiser on my TB test. It was an easy in and out. There was no evidence of even having had a shot on my arm. The nurse filled out my form. As she handed it to me, she stepped on my toe. Poor lady, she nearly jumped out of her skin. Fortunately, my Crocs have plenty of toe room, and no harm was done. When I stood up, I limped a little. I joked, telling her it was because she had stepped on my foot. I quickly relieved her, and we both had a good laugh.

      The nurse told me that nurses are quitting left and right. There's too much stress on the job, and fear of Covid was driving them away. How are people supporting themselves? Even if the government gives some money, it's not enough to live on.

      I drove up to Kealakehe Intermediate school immediately to deliver the TB results. I was hoping to pick up the application packet at the same time. Yes, only now am I allowed to 'apply." The paperwork I've done so far only checked if I was a legal resident of the United States of America. I had to bring in a passport and or a birth certificate. And then, I need my TB test. Now, and only now, do I qualify to apply.   

    I went up to the reception desk. I told the woman I had a TB test result. She told me to take it to the health department down the hall. I asked her if I could get the application packet today. Oh, you're applying for a job. Then you can leave it here. That concerned me. She told me the mailbox to put it in. The woman in charge of hiring or just processing the papers for teachers only worked in the afternoon. I guess it will be another three weeks before I get that application. We'll see. 

   I went to the bank for my rescheduled appointment with the notary. This went smoothly. It was much cheaper than I thought. When I asked her if I had to pay for multiple copies, the bank officer said yes. It was $5 apiece. I had three copies of two different documents. It would come to $30. It was worth it. When she told me the cost, she asked for $10. Huh? Then she said she gave me one for free. I didn't ask for an explanation. I got out of there as quickly as I could.

   I went off to Office Max to pick up a spray for cleaning my computer screen and Xerox a copy of a document. I was surprised that the cleaning fluid was for eyeglasses too.  

    I had taken a nonworking air-conditioning remote with me and stopped off at Hawaiian Air Conditioning. Once I found that shop, I entered a small office room. The clerk wasn't wearing a mask. I asked her to put her mask on. I wasn't in the best of moods as it was. I pointed to the door sign that no one should enter without a mask. She told me she was vaccinated, guessed I was and said I would be fine. I repeated that she should get a mask. Covid D is floating around. I don't care to take the risk.  

   She left the office and returned a good five minutes later. I think she had to go to her car to get her mask. After that, she was fully accommodating. She wasn't familiar with the remote. She couldn't find where the batteries went either. She showed me the remote she used in the office for their Daiken air conditioner. It was a more recent model. She tried to unscrew the back. It looked like a good bet, but then she couldn't free the back from the remote to get in there. She gave up, and I headed home to try to pry off the back again. She recommended that I try this other air-conditioning store, Cosco. It was in the next block. She showed me the name, so I didn't mix it up with the big box store, Costco, which was in the same area. 

     I had a phone call with C from Canada. Her son has recently been diagnosed with dyslexia. She knows my work because I tutored her son's father when he was young. She read that I was tutoring on my Facebook post. It sounds like he has an auditory processing problem. His father's visual processing was amazing, and he had issues with his auditory processing. I know their middle son has a fantastic artistic bent.  

   At 3, I had a session with A. He said his reading was much better. I heard some improvement in his speed of recall. Then we ran into problems. He didn't recognize and couldn't read the word daddy. I switched tactics. I had him visualize his blanket. His visual working memory was in the correct place. He could name the letters in the word in both directions, an exercise designed by the Neuro-linguist Programmers. He did a good job on this exercise. He still struggled with discerning the difference between b and d. I had him work on automatic processing, waiting until his mind gave him the word. He did pretty well. Let's see if this sticks. He ran into trouble reading ride as rid. I covered that distinction, having him blend -ide with different initial consonants. That was a struggle for him. He was less resistant to using cross-body blending.

   Then I had the sisters, M and W. I started with M. I am having her reread the Carpenter stories. She read the first one, Sassy the Cat. She did pretty well. She remembered the word very without prompting. She had problems confusing has with his. I talked about the two words being in the same brain cell. It is based on the theory that there is literally a cell for each detail. When asked to picture an apple, everyone tested worldwide has a neuron fire in the same spot. I don't know if this applies to individual words, but it's a good image. She wanted to divide the cell into two, like two sisters sharing a room. I said no, they had to be in different rooms. She started articulating differences and then complained that her head was spinning. I told her that was learning going on. I asked if she liked it or not. She said she did. I told her to just observe it.

     Then W rocked it. She went through 10 paragraphs in Barnell Loft D at a fourth-grade level. The only words she missed without correcting were for and of. When she misread a word, she went back and correct it. I think she's ready for fifth-grade work, which would put her on grade level.