Sunday, July 3, 2022

 Sunday, July 3, 2022

   I noticed a bruise on the inside of my left knee. On last night's before-dinner walk with Elsa, my inner thigh muscle near the knee hurt. It was concerning. I was still throwing bruises a month after the surgery. Do I still have to be concerned about blood clots? Surprisingly, I slept well most of the night since I had slept most of the day. I must have needed that sleep. In the early morning, I had pain in my left calf muscle. Again, I worried about a blood clot. It resolved, and I fell back asleep. I got up at seven. This was late for me. I limited my walk with Elsa, concerned that the bruise was because I had done too much yesterday.

    I read a chapter of When Things Fall Apart before falling asleep. The chapter was on loneliness. Ah, so appropriate. She wrote about embracing loneliness in a positive way instead of running away from it. I remember feeling lonely before my sister was born when I was four and a half. I have no idea if that is a normal feeling for a four-year-old or not. It helped to remind me not to run from the feelings but to sit with them calmly.

   Paulette stopped by with food from last night's festivities at the church. The bishop ordained a temporary deacon, a boy raised in our parish in training to become a priest. A lavish dinner was served afterward. 

   I did lots of little actions today. I put things away, reorganized a few stacks of books, and did a little dusting. The big event of the day was giving Elsa a bath. She had some bad lesions. I should be bathing her every other day. I don't know about her, but it's too much of an ordeal for me. She endures. She doesn't struggle to get away from me. I can't imagine she enjoys sitting in the sink covered with the medicinal soap for fifteen minutes. Thank God, she's a good girl. Now, if I could get my act together and be an equally good doggy mommy.

   I got copies of the various versions of the article on the reading method I started writing from the library desk. As I cleaned up, I found several other copies of the same material. This isn't the first time I resolved to do work on it. 

   I didn't watch any videos tonight. Seth Markow on the Real Deal was playing the music of Johnny Hartman. He was a crooner, a fantastic crooner. I couldn't get enough of him. I listened and played FreeCell endlessly. It was a wonderful evening.

    Scott put on my support hose tonight. My PT wants me to wear them in bed while I sleep to help reduce the swelling.

   Judy and I talked at length about brain plasticity, specifically as it applies to adolescent D. He had problems focusing and remembering. Memory is heavily impacted by attention. Attention to detail means a weak image leading to a weak neurological imprint resulting in poor memory. Regardless of the cause, we can change how his brain works. Several factors determine our chances. However, he wasn't willing to make every effort; our chances were slim.

   Judy also told me an interesting detail about economic control. I'm unsure how this fits into what I already know about how the market works. Turo businesses sprang up during the Covid epidemic. The car rental industry collapsed because no one was traveling to Hawaii, and no cars were rented. The companies got rid of their vehicles. When tourists came back, there were none. Anyone who had an extra car put it on Turo. Our neighbors bought several cars. The son of a friend put one car on Turo. Yesterday, Judy told me the price of the rentals is controlled by one man with eighty Turo cars. No one can charge more than him.   He sets the price for all the Turo cars on the island. However, when Damon came, he rented a car from a traditional rental agency for less. I suppose you can undercut this man; you can't get away with charging more. 

    I continued watching Hotel Portofino based on Judy and Paulette's input on the show's development. The bad guys were going to be phased out or get theirs. I didn't see what they described. I thought there was a season two. No. No such thing. It was planned but not in production yet. What the hell were they talking about? My take on what went down was so different from theirs.