Tuesday, January 2, 2024

 Tuesday, January 2, 2024

    I chose a new program on my tapping app. I usually pick deep sleep. Last night, I decided on a calming program. It played repetitive music as the deep sleep program did. However, rather than calming me, it caused agitation. I shut it off and put on the sleep program I usually listen to.

    When I woke up sometime in the early morning hours, the music had stopped. It does that just before the alarm goes off at five, but tonight, there was silence. I checked to see if the phone was dead. The battery was at zero. It had been plugged in all night. What happened? I wiggled the plug in the outlet, trying to make a connection. Nothing happened. Yesterday, I opened my electronics cleaning equipment: brushes and objects that look like a cross of a toothpick and a Q-tip. Assuming the Q-tip had left some fibers in the outlet, which would have blocked connections, I used compressed air to clean the outlet. I wasn't optimistic.

      I absentmindedly plugged in the phone, planning to be at the T-Mobile store first thing in the morning. When I rechecked the phone, it was charging. The compressed air did the trick. I can't live without my phone anymore. It's on me constantly, mostly because I use it as my pedometer. I keep a record of my daily steps on it.

   I noticed I have picked up some of Mike's quirts. I need to order more than I used to. I also leave drawers ajar. Mike left things open and turned on. I always checked the stove top burners after he cooked. He left drawers and doors ajar. I generally found it funny. I didn't laugh when, one morning, I discovered he had locked the front door but hadn't closed it.

     One of the Ulu Wini students hugged me today as we ended our session. He said I really made that much of a difference. A little Kindergarten girl keeps asking me to work with her. I did today. She is ahead of some of the third graders who can't read at all. I will give her time when I can, but she has her mom to help her at home to boost her go-get-it attitude. I worked with third-grade L, who has problems with accuracy and decoding multi-syllable words; his mother tells me the school says he's behind in reading. I'm sure he is if he doesn't read accurately. I recommended he and his mother do a letter-naming activity to force him to pay attention to what's on the page. The task is to name the letters in sequence in any text. You can use what I wrote: y-o-u c-a-n- u-s-e, etc. He can do it with anyone who can see the text as he reads. When he makes a mistake, the other person gets to do it until they make a mistake. It's not as easy as it sounds. However, I find the biggest problem with the kids is memory. Some third graders are still trying to decode words in the 1-25 sight word list.

  Wow! Wow! Wow! I had Adolescent D read the sight word list. He easily reeled off words from lists 1-175, only slowing down until he hit words 176-200. This would put him at the end of second grade. I know, I know. He's a sixteen-year-old boy in tenth grade; what's the big whoop. Trust me, it is a big whoop.

  I bought the earphones I saw Yvette wearing the other day. The earbuds didn't go in her ears; they sat on her cheekbones. Wow! I bought the waterproof ones, anticipating wearing them in the shower. One never knows, do one? They were a pretty price, but they will be worth it if I don't have to walk around holding the phone. It will reduce my chance of falling.  

   Yvette also told me that one of her Zoom students said using the earphones improved her sound quality. I will have to try this myself.

    I wasn't feeling 100% today. I didn't feel better working with the kids at Ulu Wini. Usually, getting involved with something clears up what ails me if it's not a real problem. Not only did my time at Ulu Wini not have a positive effect, I didn't feel better after my evening walk with Darby. I wondered what tomorrow had in store with me.

   I had a socially awkward moment with Steve and Shannon. As part of my straightening project, I set off to give the cheap candy someone gave me for Christmas to Jazzy for her kids. I head out to their mailbox. As I exited my driveway, I ran into Steve and Shannon. I told them I would drop off this cheap candy in a neighbor's mailbox. Guess who gave me the cheap candy. Shannon said it was just given as a token. I said I understood that. I don't think I told them I appreciated being on their list.

  I can't find a TV series or movie worth watching. I want a relaxing, brilliant series like ShlEand or Endeavor. Instead, I find movies and TV series that deal with one kind of perversity after another. Maddening.