Tuesday, December 17, 2024

 Tuesday, December 17, 2024

 I was up by 4:30 and slept soundly from 10-2. Yesterday, I read that the mind rests between 10 p.m. and 2 a.m., and the body rests between 2 and 6.  Mental exhaustion seems to get me, mostly from sharp reactions to events or troubling thoughts.  However, I discovered if I take a short nap after doing my morning yoga exercises, I don’t feel like I’m dragging during my morning walk. I made a point of getting up early and doing those morning exercises to get in that morning nap.  It made me feel better on the walk even though I didn’t think I slept.

   It was very cold on my morning walk. It inspired me to cancel my appointment for heart tests on Oahu on the 26th. The travel department scheduled me for the 6 a.m. flight. I would have to leave the house at 4:45 to be at the airport by 5 when the airport opens. There are no enclosed heated waiting rooms.  I would have to sit in the cold until boarding time, which my guess would be sometime around  5:30, an hour and a half. It was too early for Darby and me, who volunteered to drive me to the airport.  I’d drive myself; it isn’t the money that’s the problem. The problem is I might not find a parking space. Turo companies park their cars, leaving instructions for the newly arrived where to find them. Then, the departing leave their cars for the Turo owners to pick them up.  There are no spaces left for people like me. 

    I had an appointment for those heart tests a month ago. I was scheduled for a 7 a.m. flight.

Darby picked me up around 6 a.m.; she dropped me off around 6:15.  I had trouble checking in at the kiosk because I didn’t have the correct reservation number and had to wait in line for a clerk.   It was another 5 minutes before I could be seen.  The clerk asked for my driver’s license and announced, “You missed your flight. The door closed at 6:30. You should be here an hour and a half before flight time.”  Ours is a small airport. I still doubt his information was accurate.  I argued the airport wasn’t open an hour and a half before the 7 a.m. flight. He snapped back; it opened at 5 a.m.  Does anyone want to tell me how I can check in an hour and a half for a 6 a.m. flight when the airport only opens at 5?  I still think he was just in a nasty mood.

     When I left at 6 for the 7 a.m. flight, I missed it. However, I don’t believe they closed the doors at 6:30 for a 7:00 a.m. flight, as the clerk at the counter told me, not at this airport. I’m still angry about the attendant who told me I had to be there an hour and a half before. That’s nuts at this airport. 

    It was so cold this morning I wore a heavy windbreaker over my sweatshirt.  It never felt like too much. Instead, I was grateful for the added warmth.  When I ran into Carol and Phil at 6, they were underdressed, by my estimation. I asked if they weren’t cold. Phil said, “It’s forty degrees in Oregon.” Maybe, but do you go out dressed like that?  No, of course not.  

    The other day, Dean told me he had received a summons for jury duty with a special notice.  The courthouse is kept at a low temperature. The notice said, “Dress appropriately.” Dean interpreted that to mean, Wear your mainland winter clothes.