Monday, June 3, 2024

 Monday, June 3, 2024

    It was only Clyde and me at Chi Qigong today. We stood side by side, meditating on the impressively rough waves and taking in the ozone-rich air. Clyde pointed out how far up the bluff the high tide had come. It was higher every week.  Was this the result of climate change?  Hawaii hadn’t been hit too hard. We weren’t experiencing radical changes in temperature. It was still moderate during the day and cool at night, which was really lovely.

   My first stop on my in-town chores was Target. I needed to make a pit stop. Then, I headed to the UPS store to see if they could use the formed cardboard used to pack the lawnmower. They couldn’t, but they assured me they could always use Styrofoam popcorn and air-filled bags. I always bring it to them; they know me by now. I rarely go in for any other reason except the occasional Amazon return.

  I went to the bank. I had two checks to deposit, one from third-grade M’s father and the second from Saint Gobain, a warranty company, as compensation for my dysfunctional solar panels.  It was a large check. The bank line was long and slow even though there were four tellers and no one with a bag of cash from a business. The wait wasn’t too bad.  The checks would clear by Thursday. I planned to stop by Friday after the Hula class to arrange an electronic transfer to my main bank. 

 I went to Office Depot to Xerox my receipt from the shop in the Kona Inn strip mall that sold Truffoire cosmetics. I dropped a small fortune on these products. I’ve been someone who won’t spend $10 on cosmetics. Now, I’ve dropped several thousand dollars for a two-year supply. Truth is, they are remarkable. I look years younger—not necessarily better, just younger. Even more remarkable is that I’m using them, some daily and some twice a week. 

   However, the salesperson in the shop tried to convince me not only that I had eczema but that the Mayo Clinic confirmed the diagnosis when he sent in a skin sample. It all sounded fishy.  I was comfortable with the hustle, but dealing with an outright lie was sickening. I was due for my second installment of the products out 24.  I’d been putting off contacting them.  I was repelled enough to consider walking away from the situation and writing off the loss.  The repulsion I felt was so strong that it took me over a month to feel I could even approach the people in the shop. 

   I called Giovani, my ’handler,’  and told him I wanted to come in and pick up my second round of supplies. He said come on; they’re open till 6. I planned to stop by today. Now, I had a Xerox copy of the credit card receipt. I had envisioned them asking to see my receipt and then disappearing it. I don’t have a good feeling about this company.

   However, this shop is not a fly-by-night operation. Paulette said she and Judy had seen it there over a year ago. If they were a scam, someone would have outed them by now. When I spoke to Giovani last month, when I canceled Paulette’s and mine facial appointments, he told me I could get the full two-year supply right now. I didn’t want to do that because the products would go stale. 

After Xeroxing the credit card receipt, I felt ready to go to the shop and pick up my month’s supply of new cosmetic products. I planned to park in the church parking lot and walk there. The church driveway entrance was blocked with orange cones, and the gate was closed. The paving company that had done work on parking areas last week was working on the driveway now. I turned around and went to Target to pick up some items.

   On my way home, I took the formed cardboard, rejected by UPS, to the transfer station. I needed to put it in refuse instead of recycling, as our recycling is limited to corrugated cardboard and glass. 

      I had my second session with third-grade LG. He remembered nothing about our last session, the phonemic analysis I modeled on a sentence, his voluntary participation, or my question about his ability to follow what others had to say.  Did he really not remember, or is he gaslighting me?  I continued with the slowed production of the phonemic analysis of all the words in a sentence.  He said he liked it when it was slowed down and not when it was faster. However, he tolerated a faster speed today than he did in our first session. I thought he might be ready for the 5 Stories YouTube video.  He said he didn’t want something to keep him awake.  I told him it should be low enough, so it didn’t do that. If it did, we have to make an adjustment.

   I spoke to LG’s mom after the session. I told her I wanted her in sessions to provide him protection from me, not protection for me from his bad behavior. I had to deal with that. She told me he cried for an hour before the session, not wanting to do it.  He’d already had several tutors, and none had been effective. The poor kid.  While I can’t guarantee I can fix his reading problem, I can guarantee I won’t blame him if I fail.  It will be my failure to solve the problem. 

   I continued with Dash leading the phonemic analysis. He had to tell me where to put the slashes in the printed word, delineating the syllables with slashes and identifying the phonemes with dashes.  I love the work.   He still hadn’t identified the syllables before doing the phonemic analysis. That causes his problem when he reads muti-syllable words.  I am optimistic that this process will clear up whatever problems he still has with reading. 

   I asked D if he would be willing to speak to LG.  He proposed telling him to stick with it. I don’t think that will wash, given LG’s experience with other tutors.  I wanted him to tell him that he could trust me. D was not aware that it was an issue worth discussing. Of course, D was not aware of my perspective.

My Carfax app said I needed to rotate my tires. My car was in the Kia shop for about a month while they were trying to figure out how to repair my charging unit.  They said they did an oil change but said nothing about a tire rotation.  The recommendation is to get service every 5,000 miles or every six months. The customer service agent told me to come in after six months or 5,000 miles, whichever came first. I told him I had the car for five years and didn’t have 14,000 miles on it yet. He said, “Oh, bring it in for a tire rotation when you hit 15,000 miles.” That made sense.

  I finally called the electrician Darby recommended. She’d been on the island for about forty years and had a list of the best service providers. He said he would come over on Wednesday. What?!!! I had never heard of anything like that here in Hawaii. Quick responses are not the norm.