Sunday, March 13, 2022

 Sunday, March 13, 2022

   For the last two days, I got Wordle on my first try after putting in my three trial words: quick, stomp, and ready, thereby testing 15 of the 26 letters in the alphabet. I got four out of five. While they were all yellow, I got the word quickly.

   I was agitated this morning. There is so much that is going wrong -Ukraine, for starters. The incident with the vet and Elsa's missed vaccination. I have a friend who may be going blind, and another friend is feeling the pinch of a 25% reduction in insurance coverage and an increase in costs by 100%. His business will be losing money. My eyeglasses aren't coming in because everything is backed up. A friend is facing eviction from where he is living now at a time when money won't guarantee housing, and he doesn't have that, nor does he have good credentials. As many people here in Hawaii do, he's been living off the grid because it's possible. 

       The sprinkler guy is a drama queen, but he is the only game in town. The others are either too busy or quit. He charged me an hour for half an hour's work. It took that long because he couldn't get the system to work to test it. I told him repeatedly that he hadn't turned on the right faucet. He's the kind of guy to say, "Don't tell me how to do my work!" I had Adam spend hours digging up the areas Mike needed dug up. It was more than Mike initially said. I wanted him to try something before all that digging was done to determine if there were cracks in the pipes or just in the valve. From what Adam could see after all that digging, the leak was just in the valve. What a mess! But I couldn't fire him because there was no one else I could call.  

   I met with the M &W sisters this morning at 8 am. First-grade M still didn't use memory as she should. Today, she did something that made me think she thinks she should only use decoding to read words. That had to change!   We worked on 2nd-grade material, and she is doing well. Mom was there in the background again. I think today she was just there. I was not sure if she was there every day or just once in a while.

   I continued editing 5th grade W's story. It was rambling, repetitive, and lacking in detail. She revealed some interesting thinking. The story was about a cat her sister picked out at a shelter who exhibited strange behavior and transformed into a plastic. She wrote, "Sometimes, it would be very calm and listen to whatever my sister said. But sometimes, the cat would act on its own," These were her words to signal something was wrong with the cat; it was weird. I told her those words weren't effective for signaling the cat was weird. Every living thing acts on its own. Also, no cat obeys commands. She followed with, "The cat was annoying." Again, I had to tell her that being annoying didn't equal weird. I asked her if she knew anyone that wasn't annoying. She thought for a minute and said, "No." I told her that was the human condition. I adored my husband but found things about him annoying. 

   I see in W the foundation of a judgmental arrogant person. If everyone who annoys you is weird, doesn't that make everyone in the world weird except for you? That's a challenging way to live unless you're a socio or psychopath. Those folks don't care a wit about what others think. I would pursue this topic with her more. I learned a lot about people in my life. Well, yeah. If you consider everyone else weird, you can imagine they must look at you that way, even if they don't.

     After my morning session with the girls, I went to Paulette's to pick up more Kangen water and work on the puzzle. Paulette always has a jigsaw puzzle in progress on the lanai. She has all the puzzle equipment, a large porta-puzzle caddy, and a dozen sorting trays. I managed to put two pieces together today. Sadly, she dropped two pieces between the slats of the lanai floor. 

    When I arrived home, I heard my neighbors arguing. They are the loveliest couple. They are loving with each other and loving with their children. They are a delight. I often observed them when they didn't know they were being watched. This was not an act. Today, I saw the wife tear across the front yard and yell at her husband. More surprisingly, he yelled back. It was like watching my parents fight. It was scary. These are two very good people. 

    Later in the afternoon, I spoke to Judy. She didn't know anything about my neighbors' fight, but they seemed fine when she saw them later. I was concerned the fight was about his parents. His mother is a nightmare. She didn't consider the wife good enough for her precious son. She treats her daughter-in-law like dirt. I want to protect her from her mother-in-law. Hopefully, the fight was about nothing serious.

   I had a Zoom meeting with Damon and Cylin. We talked for about half an hour, mostly about my issues. I wanted their advice on some legal issues. I had to get off at noon. I needed to shower and be ready to leave by 12:30 for the 1 pm Mass. 

   I drove Paulette to the Mass. She was waiting at the mailbox by the road when I came by. I expected to go up their long driveway to pick her up. The church was almost empty at this Mass. I was surprised because there was a great turnout for the nine am last week. I was prepared for the air conditioner this time. I wore my pink hooded sweatshirt. I often put my hood up for extra warmth, and it wasn't even as cold as last week at the earlier hour.

       Being at Mass made me sad. I associate Mike with the church. He was frequently on the altar reading the gospel and giving the homily as a deacon. He loved being part of the church. I don't know how much comfort the faith gave him, but the church gave him a place. He was so happy. While I hated sitting through his deacon training classes in New Jersey, I was always glad I did whatever I had to do to support him in becoming a deacon. I loved making that man happy. When I got home from church, I needed another nap. I felt burdened by sadness to the point of feeling ill.  

    I felt this way after the Mass last week too. Then I assumed I had caught something between the chilled air and the exposure to people. I canceled a doctor's appointment for the following day, fearing I would contaminate the doctor.