August 1 - 7, 2022 (Monday-Sunday)
''Full Week in Review''

I received a pussy-eating request from ''Mimi'' while I was well into my workday  Monday (Aug. 1).

Well prior to the conclusion of my workday Monday, I decided to abscond with close to a half-dozen cans of beer (''Michelob Ultra Light'') which had been left sitting inside the workplace freezer at least three or four weeks, along with a red onion that had been abandoned inside the refrigerator for roughly the same length of time.

Retrieved my insta-tea and dish detergent ''Sam's Club'' delivered package from the Post Office after work, en route to returning to the apartment. While strapping the package down to my motorcycle seat, a fine powdery substance covered the seat, which was evidence of the fact that at least one of my containers of tea had burst inside the package while in transit, which was further evidenced by the tea mix powder actually spilling out from inside the package through one of the flap gaps.

When I returned to the apartment I immediately inspected the package contents to first learn that the tea containers were not in fact glass or even plastic jars, as I'd originally assumed, but were instead composed of cardboard cylinders sealed with metal ends: it was one of these cylinders which was shown to have developed a slight rip along the bottom seam, and thankfully only a relatively very tiny amount of the product had actually spilled out.

While trying to figure out how & where to transfer the breached container's contents, I used this inconvenient situation as a convenient opportunity to concoct a cup of the tea to compare its flavor with what I'd thus far become accustomed to from that bottled ''Georgia Peach'' gimmick I'd been consuming from the vending machine at my workplace, and finding the D.I.Y. product not nearly as flavorful or ''peachy,'' as was genuinely expected anyway. I then landed upon the idea of transferring the contents of the busted container to the spare ''Sunflower Cracker'' container -- which would now prevent me from eventually designating the pair of empty cracker containers as my makeshift ''stool stool'' for my toilet, which were intended to help put me into more of a natural ''squatting'' position when seated.

I also proceeded to wash my backlog of dishes with the dish detergent, upset both with how very WEAK this version of the ''Palmolive'' brand of dish detergent was compared to their ''OXY'' version (despite the fact that both product versions use the ''ultra'' tag as a descriptor) and with the horrid smell of the product, which must've been what ''Gracie'' was making reference to when she'd complained about Palmolive's particular smell.

Receiving a follow-up from Mimi in regard to setting-up a pussy eating date, she expressed an interest in coming by later in the night, which was finally the spark I'd needed to motivate me into going into a bit of overdrive to begin the process of seriously eliminating (largely faking) all of the clutter that had been sitting about openly, also using this as an opportunity to commence the breakdown of a good number of the accumulated excess of boxes I've been (probably needlessly) holding onto.

When finally getting around to taking all of this trash out, I saw our former resident, Cindy (Jordan's Mom), inside our laundry room doing laundry (hers? or her daughter's? I had no clue, nor did I ask); I just engaged her in a relatively brief greeting, holding no real conversation with her, outside of asking her if she was still Teaching.

Partly because of Cindy's presence inside our laundry facilities, along with my being too tired to wait-up and stay awake to clean my own laundry loads, I decided not to carry out those duties... BUT I was in desperate need of clean sheets, as I was anticipating having female company over, and my entire supply of clean sheets had all been used. So as a modified response, I resorted to hand/foot washing a matching set of sheets in the bathtub, then drying them out atop of the bed with the fan blasting on full.

Our ''Pussy Eating Date'' fizzled out, as Mimi revealed that she'd left her job late and was very tired; since I was similarly concerned that I too would be bothered by a rush of rundown tiredness (as I'd been awake & active for almost 32 hours straight without any sort of a nap or rest break), I suggested that we reschedule for the next day.

As it would turn out, the following day  (Tue., Aug. 2)  would also be problematic for a Labia-Kissing Date, not only because of Mimi's workload increases that kept coming unexpectedly, but also due to my concerns about the intense stifling heat that was roasting the inside of the apartment; so I'd suggested that we again postpone our activity until the following day  (Wed., Aug. 3),  when the weather apps called for rainy and breezy conditions throughout the day.

Mimi and I were finally able to get together later in the evening Wednesday and she stayed for a couple of hours, where I'd set it up to where the bedroom light was on inside while the light outside was left turned off and the window blinds were ''closed'' down in an ''inward'' position, in hopes that one of the lady neighbors who occasionally passes by might chance to come along and be able to peer inside through the open window and witness our activity, even if only for a brief moment in passing.

Before Mimi and I got down to the business at hand, she revealed during our preliminary conversation that she'd again be leaving for New York to deal with some things related to the death of one of her uncles; she also revealed that she would be looking into some career-advancement opportunities while there, which might mean her returning there permanently, unless she could manage to obtain any openings they might have available here in this area.

I was awakened several minutes prior to 11:30 by a call from my Sister in Kansas City the next day  (Thu., Aug. 4),  who first started off talking cryptically about our Mother having (quote) ''Got[ten] Bit'' (unquote), then talking around in virtual riddles and nuances, not directly explaining what specifically had happened and what was concerning her and why it was concerning her. Because of her round-about vagueness, she had me suspecting that she might've been using some sort of coded language to insinuate that Martha might've had some sort of mental break or something. Inevitably, after I'd challenged her to speak more plainly, she finally began revealing that this was more of her concerns about Martha's overall well-being, with especial ''concerns'' regarding her mental state (even though the opening ''Got Bit'' line was supposedly in reference to an allergic reaction our Mother had experienced to a mosquito jab), and throughout the conversation she incessantly kept trying to goad me into volunteering some sort of committed concerted effort to support her & back her up in regard to any later-in-life preparations we may have to make concerning issues relating to our Mom's future caretaking needs.

Much of what Gwyndolyn claimed was concerning her related to our Mother's often tenacious insistence to ''Do-For-Self'' around the household, relating to many of the repair projects & challenges which she might not have been properly prepared and/or trained for -- e.g. when she'd experienced some unexpected potentially damaging complications following an attempt to perform some D.I.Y. plumbing project a while back (which I'd already known about in earlier conversation with Mom), or as in a relatively recently incident where she'd supposedly injured her eye somehow (wouldn't elaborate) when trying to shoot a pellet ''gun'' (again, not specifying whether ''handgun'' or ''rifle'' style) at a ground hog in the back yard. My Sister's ''concerns'' were such that she claimed that during their last conversation she had emphatically told our Mom that she was actually going to be calling me and 'reporting on' these issues which were seemingly causing her such great worry.

I'd listened intently (interjecting where I felt a need, mostly for clarification purposes) for the entirety of the few seconds shy of a full four-and-a-half (4.5) hours total time (between two calls, after a brief interruption when I'd inadvertently disconnected the first call 22-minutes in when plugging in and trying to use my ''microphone'' equipped earbuds for the very first time), to her laying-on thick with the dramatic concern heavily seasoned with her now classic manipulative  guilt-tripping  tactics, trying desperately to get me to commit to something so as to assuage her of having to carry any major portion of responsibility (which always sounds like it's more out of concern for her ''financial'' status/stability than anything else)... but at some late point during the call she made up her mind that it was prime season to accuse me of being distracted and not completely following along in the conversation, simply because she'd managed to hear a bit of keyboard activity as I was renaming a few files on my computer, and she was determined not to yield the point despite my repeated emphatic declarations that I was in no way losing focus in/of the discussion (all the while with me listening to her television making noise in the immediate background) -- but no, she just  HAD  to insist on being ''right,'' despite what ANYBODY could've & would've said to the contrary, and despite all of my protestations to drop the childish issue and move our conversation past it to the next point!

Also during a focal point in our conversation, she brought up situations with Daddy, both past and present, mostly relating to his supposedly tortured life with his second wife, how Gloria had purportedly guilted & pressured him into marrying her, how she supposedly used my Dad's good credit in order to buy their house (which Gwyndolyn is still huffing about, upset that he'd never tried to purchase a house when  ''we''  were still together as Family), and claiming that because of his misery and frustrations that he had reverted back into being an [''on-the-sly''] alcoholic (regarding how much stock I felt I should be willing to put into that last particular information ''reveal,'' my position was to stand on neutral non-judgmental ground until actually able to verify some of those assertions from someone much closer to the source).

One thing our conversation segment about Dad did produce that gave me a bit of insight into his psyche was when she explained (speculated?) why Huey became, and remains, so upset at my decision to drop my ''given label'' and adopt ''My Own Identifying Tag,'' revealing (speculating?) that he was deeply hurt because he'd chosen the names, or variations of the name, of a couple of acquaintances whom he'd considered his closest friends, and that he'd wanted to honor & remember them through me.

In regard to our Mother, the only thing I was willing to offer-up to Gwyn under such on-the-spot pressure from her was to try to engage our Mother in more frequent & regular conversations and to try paying closer attention to any subtle hints that  ''might''  give some indication that she might be in need of some closer scrutiny, granting to Gwyndolyn that because of the greater frequency of their conversations that Gwyn just might be picking up on some of the more telling subtle indicators & nuances that, to date, I'd not been able to detect.

Also in relation to that promise to [try to] be a bit more proactive, I told Gwyn that I would call our Mom right after we'd ended our call, but that I would not be mentioning that we had just concluded having our own conversation about her. However, when Gwyndolyn responded after my second time of saying this that she did not care if I'd mentioned our conversation (especially after letting it be known at several different points throughout our conversation that she had already informed Martha in no uncertain non-ambiguous terms that she'd be calling me to address her supposed ''concerns''), that was when all of my suspicions began coalescing around the belief that Gwyndolyn was just yet again resorting to her old always-on-hand indestructible bag of deceitful manipulative tricks, either trying to sow discord (and to goad me into being her ''back-up'' support in her corner), or again exalting herself to the position of being the ever-so self-important voice of authority and center of attention... or both. This interpretation continued to dominate my speculative thought processes after we had concluded our conversation.

I did not actually call Martha until later the next evening  (Fri., Aug. 5),  again with no intention whatsoever of revealing the prior conversation, even though it was searing my soul in its desire to want to be brought to the fore.... As it would turn out however, Gwyndolyn, being who she is as an instigator of chaos, just had to ''go run & tell that,'' and so it was actually Martha who mentioned to me that Gwyn had called her some time after our own conversation had ended (probably the next morning, I'd assume, based on my earlier telling Gwyn about my original intention to place my own call immediately after ours had ended).

Similarly, this second conversation lasted just a couple of ticks shy of to the  exact second  of four-and-a-half (4.5) hours, mostly discussing Gwyn's conniving ''Drama Queen'' behavior and what it means and how we each endure & adapt to it, as well as challenging many of the more questionable assertions she's been in the habit of making -- right, wrong, or uncertain.

I also finally toward the end of the call got her to explain about the ''pellet gun'' incident: it turned out that the person who had given her the tool (a 'hand-pumped' air rifle) had assumed that with her having grown-up in the Country she would've already been familiar with how to shoot something; and for whatever (prideful?) reason she'd decided not to request any hands-on instructions on how to handle & operate it, which then resulted in what she claimed was a ''kickback'' injury to the top of her eye socket from having the scope too close to her face (I don't recall ANY 'air gun' of any design I've ever shot having any noticeable degree of kickback).

In unrelated newses, Martha informed me that ''Gracie'' had recently gotten terminated from her banking job: something to do with forgetting/losing/misplacing some sort of ID-code or some-such that she's always supposed to have with her at work -- but I was told that she would soon be interviewing for another banking job over in the Town of Vinton.

I was also told that the patch of wooded area directly across from our house had somebody finally come in to clear it and construct a brand new rental apartments complex, so that now that entire side of the street from corner to corner has been completely developed (ruined).

Prior to retrieving my next batch of delivered packages at the end of my work day  Sunday (Aug. 7),  I made a quick fresh produce pick-up stop at Walmart. While there I'd confirmed what I'd eventually gotten around to suspecting regarding the bottled peach tea I'd been purchasing for consumption at work: initially, I'd believed that there had been a size/volume shrinkage over the past couple of weeks-- from 20oz. down to 0.5L --when I'd first noticed the differences in sizes during my ''Pre-PussyEating Date'' clean-up & clear-away activity (which even while considering it a slick underhanded Bait-&-Switch had me ultimately believing that pushing & promoting a ''metric'' measured product was still a good and positive move); but then, as I thought about it over the next couple of days, I began to recall that there was a day when I'd gone into our local ''Dollar Tree'' on FL-54 and bought something like four or six bottles to have on hand, both as a money-saving tactic ($1.25 each + 7% Florida Sales Tax at ''Dollar Tree'' vs. $1.50 each onsite vending transaction) but also to have as a reserve stock, since that item quickly and frequently sells out at work; but it was during this quick veggie grab stop-over that I saw the 20oz. bottles of the product available inside one of the checkout lanes' cooler cases, thus explaining the truth behind the size differences. In the end though, I still found it disturbing that I'd been paying about 20￠ more per bottle for the stuff from the worksite vending machine and receiving less of that product to boot.

My latest package shipment contained my stock-up supply of mosquito repellent spray and my newest ''Naked Titty'' computer mouse pad -- this mouse pad finally having the ''Raised Nipples'' feature I'd missed from having on one of my earliest purchases of these novelty items.

I also took notice back at the complex that the entire interior of the ''dog shit'' apartment was being repainted; which really came as no huge surprise either, since that couple (as every dog-owning resident here, except for Heather and Tammy) had allowed their loud nasty-ass 4-legged monsters to completely destroy all of the window blinds.

I also thought I would've accomplished breaking-in my new shoes on my Sunday workshift, but this was hindered due to a new painful sore on my large left toe (ingrown nail?), which inhibited the frequency of my usual walking routines.

August 11, 2022 (Thursday)
23:30, Eastern Daylight Time

Took advantage of the empty apartments to venture out of my apartment unit at around 03:30  ''completely nekkid''  to clean my current and most of my old backlog of laundry, only to be met with one of the washing machines refusing to agitate the load after filling with water; I'd planned on [probably] leaving the load sit until after calling the Property Management office to report the defect and request repair, but at some point during the cycle it had at least gone through a ''spin'' cycle, though I was unable to determine if it had been accompanied with a ''rinse'' cycle or not: in any event, I was not left with water-logged clothes that I could not run through the dryer unit.

I'd also decided to take advantage of that  ''Amazon Vine''  nonsense and requested a set of glass food storage bowls/containers to ''test out'' on their dime.

Later in the day, I paid my ''Obamacare'' premium, then immediately began making preparations to schedule appointments for my teeth and eyes. Trying to access my account over the telephone's automated system kept proving fruitless, as it would not acknowledge that they had any records of my ''membership,'' something which was finally explained to me by the second live assistant (the one I did not get disconnected from) that it was a known problem with the network in general.

After getting confirmation that my current ''Vision'' plan does indeed cover  ''ophthalmological''  exams, I proceeded to call providers based upon the information available via ''Ambetter's/Sunshine Health's'' website, and repeatedly discovering that much of the information was out-of-date and left uncorrected -- which really did not come as too much of a surprise. By the time I'd contacted an ''In-Network'' ophthalmologist, I gave a list of past conditions & corrective measures and was told that I would receive a call back after the information was ''checked'' with the Practitioner. So while waiting for the call-back that I'd suspected (correctly) would never come, I used that time gap to begin getting a lock on which of the listed ''General Dentistry'' providers were correctly [still] part of the Network, and eventually found on located in the northeast plaza at ''Florida Highway 54 and Rowan Road,'' scheduling an appointment for next week Friday.

My Dad's wife [return-]called in the evening a bit after 18:00, after I'd ignored an earlier call-back attempt the previous day after I'd tried calling first but got sent to voicemail. However, she decided for whatever reason to call me right at a time when she knew she would be preparing and welcoming guests into the house, and thus was rushing me to cut the call short. In any event, she said that Dad was doing relatively well but was resting at the time of the call (again, what's the point of calling at such an inconvenient time anyway?), and that my Aunt 'Nell had requested my phone number, to which I'd instructed Gloria to instead send me Auntie's contact information instead, as when I receive an ''unrecognized'' number calling me I'll let it get dropped.

August 14, 2022 (Sunday)
10:25, Eastern Daylight Time

Was finally put into a position where I  had to  use the GPS feature on my  ''Google Maps''  app, after I'd overshot my intended turn-off onto ''VanDyke Road'' from ''Dale Mabrey Road'' on my way back from work. The next turn-off I'd taken however was trying to put me onto ''I-275'' and/or the ''Turnpike'' freeway: so in order to find my way back on track with the least amount of trying to get myself completely lost again, this situation presented itself as the perfect but less-than-desirable opportunity to ''listen'' to GPS directions using the ear buds I'd purchased.

Before returning to the apartment I'd stopped in briefly at ''Walmart,'' as was originally planned prior to leaving the jobsite, in order to grab a few produce items to prepare a salad for my next shift's work-lunch.

Once back in the apartment & going through my normal  ''Tada-Ima''  routine, I was faced with the realization that I'd forgotten to switch-on my outside lights, as is my regular habit prior to anytime leaving for work.

August 15, 2022 (Monday)
21:10, Eastern Daylight Time

Retrieved the ''Free-for-Review'' glass food storage container from the Post Office after returning from work, which based on what little I'd already learned about them prior to this I imagine would've been perfect for the salad I never had a chance to prepare to take to work for my lunch yesterday because of my having forgotten to reset one of my wake-up alarms, which resulted in me not being awakened until my final  ''time to drop everything & leave now''  alarm sounded, which forced me to leave the apartment for work in a mad rush.

After dropping the package off, I proceeded to ''Publix'' to stock-up on a few select items I'd highlighted from their website-posted weekly specials ad while at work, only to have to come right back to the apartment to retrieve my wallet which I'd brought inside along with all of my work-related effects; I then dropped those packages off in order to proceed to ''Winn-Dixie'' as the next stop on my itinerary for my mostly refrigerated/frozen items that I'd similarly highlighted while at work (because for some unknown or unrecallable reason I'd just developed a craving for ''chicken livers'').

My tired after-work state was enough to prevent me from completing the process with a trip to ''Sam's Club'' or to fill-out my dental pre-visit registration, prepare any sort of a meal for myself, or even finish watching a movie I'd planned on sitting through, barely getting past the first opening five minutes or so, which resulted in my pretty much sleeping the rest of the entirety of the day away.

August 16, 2022 (Tuesday)
22:35, Eastern Daylight Time

Proceeded to fill-out my online Dental Registration forms early this morning, and kept running into difficulties getting them to transmit when trying to submit them after repeated attempts.

I also selected two more items for evaluation from the  ''Amazon Vine''  program -- a set of wind chimes (the ''copper-colored'' set from among that, ''silver'' and ''black'' options) and a pair of [supposedly] ''waterproof'' walking/running shoes from some brand named,  ''FATES TEX''  (limited to either Size-8 or Size-9, as anything in Size-8.5 was not available, so I'd settled on a Size-8, having at least  ''some''  confidence that the fit would be a bit tight on my feet under normal circumstances but should be a reasonably comfortable fit if wearing thinner fabric socks), which if they work out, I'll probably [try to] designate as ''work shoes'' for those times when rainy weather demands it.

Around Noon, residents were contacted by electrical line workers to inform us that they would be shutting off power to the units for about an hour, that would occur about 15-minutes thence. So I used that knowledge and expected brown-out to contact my Mother for my ''status update'' check -- the power was not actually shut off until about close to an hour (assuming) into our phone conversation.

While washing dishes & making my ''chicken livers'' dinner preparations (among which I found one of those disgusting ''chicken hearts''), I'd uncovered another ant infestation, which was tracked back to somewhere from inside the kitchen pantry.

I'd seen evidence during a bare-nekkid garbage disposal run in the Post-Midnight/Pre-Dawn hours that someone had already moved into the south-end empty apartment, which was blatantly confirmed later in the day -- another blamed ''Couple'' (when of course my hope is always for single  ''female''  residents), and another ''Cat'' apartment.

August 19, 2022 (Friday)
23:45, Eastern Daylight Time

Turned out that my pre-setting my alarm to alert ahead of the ''calendar app'' schedule I'd set to prepare me for my dental appointment was not only a smart decision, it was the only decision, as that piece of dog-shit calendar app had yet again proved to be a complete and utter waste of phone memory, as it showed consistency in that it did not alert me to jack shit! This was the final drip that caused the bathtub to overflow, meaning I've been every incentive to strip it from my apps library!

And as if on some Dark Secret Life-Disrupting Conspiracy, this would be the very day when all of the issues I'd been having & complaining about regarding the state of my teeth and jaw would somehow just  ''magically''  disappear off of the fact of the Universe! Even so, the Dentist revealed to me where several of those issues were stemming from, and wanted to refer me to an Orthodontic Surgeon again for more root canal work.

On the way back to the apartment, I stopped by the Post Office to retrieve my ''TV-Tray'' and had an unexpectedly frustrating time with its assembly once I'd gotten around to it, as it's so-called ''assembly instruction sheet'' was totally for shit, and the supplied tools were sub-par at best. After putting myself through that hassle, I found myself not being entirely satisfied with the product, as it still set too high from the floor -- even with the removal of the higher set of leg-stabilizing screws to try to bring the lower table board down to a lower position.

Prior to wasting my time with that assembly job however, I'd decided to walk Downtown to ''Angie's'' for their 'pizza-by-the-slice' lunch special, which I almost walked-out on after I'd noticed their sign out front that they'd raised the price by a whole dollar (from $5.50 to $6.50), but I was determined to reluctantly tough it out...  until  the person behind the counter pointed out to me that they were now assessing an  EIGHTY-FIVE cents ($0.85)  penalty for ''credit card'' use! Which means I'll just have to wait until I'm conveniently in Tampa where/when I'm in/around ''Ybor City'' during a time when I can swing by ''New York New York Pizza'' for my 'slice-lunch' treat!

Black mold is finally returning for battle after a long absence, a long streak being spotted this afternoon running down my bedroom wall.

August 22 - 25, 2022 (Monday-Thursday)
''Week in Review''

On my back from work, I first tried to stop into ''Staples'' (Tarpon Springs) to try to get my PDF downloads of my ophthalmologist intake documents printed, but I would've still had an hour I had to wait, because the store did not open until 09:00. I did manage to find a (wet) dollar bill inside the parking stall I'd pulled into, so it wasn't an entirely uneventful trip.

From there, I immediately continued on to ''Sam's'' to retrieve my online order I'd placed several hours earlier (consisting of canned tuna and a giant bag of turbinado sugar). During the drop-off of these items, I found the missing piece of my key ring ''mini eyeglasses repair kit'' that had broken off on me several days earlier: this re-discovery I suppose helped make-up for the fact that sometime while at the jobsite I'd managed to lose my ''motorcycle-hairhead'' doo-rag, which I decided to replace in combination with my latest ''Amazon'' order.

Following that drop-off, I proceeded to the Post Office to retrieve the latest delivery of my ''Amazon Vine'' packages, finding the package containing the wind-chimes I'd requested to be much larger than I'd anticipated, so much so that I had to go to the staff desk to retrieve it, suggesting that they could not even fit it inside any of the locker units.

Went to my ophthalmologist appointment about an hour-and-a-half ahead of schedule  Tuesday (Aug. 23),  as my continued attempts to convert/download/printout/etc. those PDF files that had been sent to me were looking like a losing proposition, so I'd opted to just fill all of that stuff out in-office. In a way, that hiccup  ''might have''  (I'm hoping) resulted in a good thing, as I found myself chatting-up the front receptionist whom I'd suspected was  Polynesian -- asking first if she was  ''Hawaiian''  specifically, but who clarified that she was actually  ''Samoan.'':  after the completion of my examinations, and scheduling my return session (as Dr. expressed that he did not have the necessary time to conduct a full examination, stating that he had instructed the scheduler to take me as the last visit of the date, due to the massive amounts of surgical work I'd had done on my eyes), I'd launched out a few ''flirty'' comments in answer to some of her questions about where in Town I lived, what my 'attachment' status was like, etc., making sure to sweeten the pot with the clear implications that I'm a huge fan of Licking Pussy, but still trying to dress it all up as presenting the idea that since we're both ''Island People'' that we could engage in a stroll or small picnic in the Downtown park and have a chat... to which she seemed to be agreeable.

Regarding the examination itself however, after a series of battery of tests, my hope for a clear bill of ocular health hit an unfortunate snag when, for the first time ever, I was reported to have high pressure in one of my eyes (of course, the one with all of the MAJOR surgeries), and that he wanted to have me come back to delve into it further.

After the appointment, I made a quick run to ''Sam's'' to grab a couple of jars of ''Eminem's'' as well as finally giving in to the ''pot pies'' I'd been debating about over the past couple of weeks.

I had left my cellphone inside the apartment to recharge before I left for my eye exam appointment, so not only did I have access to the medical records snapshots I'd just taken in order to use those informations to fill out the intake forms, but I also could not be aware of any calls or texts received during that time. So after returning to the apartment and noticing a text from our scheduling supervisor, requesting that I contact him pronto regarding some very important information, I called him back at the number I'd had listed as his direct contact, wondering what could've been so important. As it turned out, the place where I'd been assigned since my ''Town 'n' Country'' severed ties was, according him, no longer able to retain our services, claiming that the we weren't even being paid for our services at my specific location. In actuality, this did not exactly come as terribly shocking news to me, as a few weeks prior I'd engaged in conversation with a young man who claimed to be a lawyer who was representing the same person/people who was operating the location and claimed that they were experiencing some significant money issues that might put their operations in jeopardy, so I held onto that information as a potential  ''What if this guy knows what's he's talking about?''  stew on the back-burner... just in case -- and it would seem that what this young [claimed-to-be] ''lawyer'' was on the mark all along.

After that work-related conversation, I proceeded to prepare an oven-bake casserole (first time in only God knows how many decades), primarily as part of my continuation of tests of the glass storage containers I'd received as part of my ''Vine Voice'' participation order, which I let do its thing while I called my Mother to give her updates on the numerous recent changes I now had to face seemingly all at once. I was quite pleased with how the casserole turned-out, especially considering that I was mostly ''winging-it,'' but it just took too blamed long to get to the final result.

During our conversation while my oven test was going on, when talking about the deer that continue to invade her back yard area, and I asked how they managed to still be in the area with the wooded area across the street cleared away for a new set of apartments, she finally clarified that when she spoke of the ''apartments across the street'' she was actually referring to the apartments further down the road which had already been there for years.

In further conversation about ''Black Folk'' and our lack in so many areas of our existence, especially among those in her hometown, she made comparative mention of one of her friend's grand-daughter who, at 38 years of age, ''educated,'' home-owner, and the like, relatively 'attractive' (perhaps according to a woman's evaluation standards), AND ''CHILDLESS,'' was supposedly having all sorts of problems finding/dating/keeping a ''Good Man,'' but who (for no clearly explained reason) continued to insist on wanting to stay ''within the Race,'' as it were, despite complaining that all she seemed to attract were [Black] men with multiple children, many of whom supposedly married, I made the foolish suggestion that she try to sell my half-crazy arse as a potential candidate, if this woman was having such a horrible track record with area Black Men but still insisted on ''Keeping It Black,'' -- claiming in part that what I was hoping to find out was where this woman's mind really was at, considering that in all of those failed or undesirable relationships she was the only Common Denominator.

Received a text from my employer  Wednesday Night (Aug. 24)  informing me that an arrangement had been worked out to where my current job duties were still in the loop as the request for our services had be reactivated, meaning that my own personal scheduling routine would not see a disruption, even though I was somewhat slightly disappointed, given the fact that I was about resigned to what I then believed was my newest fate.

August 26 - 28, 2022 (Friday-Sunday)
''Weekend in Review''

Received a call from my Dad's wife  Friday (Aug. 26);  between talking to her and my Dad I spent close to an hour with them.

Found out after returning from work  Sunday (Aug. 28);  that I'd forgotten to shut all of my windows before leaving for work, finding the bathroom window wide-as-it-could-go open. I've been fortunate in that this area has been uneventful, but I'm still somewhat assured that my having kept the outside doors areas illuminated, in combination with the extensive rains we'd been having in the region, had likely served as an additional damper (no pun intended) against any potential breach violations.

For the past several days there had been streaming pools of water on my bedroom floor which seemed to be emanating from the baseboard of the south wall; but it was difficult to determine if it was the result of condensation (which is still frustratingly contributing to stubborn recurring mold splotches & trails) pouring off of the wall, coming from some sort of leak or spill in the neighboring apartment, or if perhaps is water seeping up from the ground because of all of the rain we've been experiencing.

August 31, 2022 (Wednesday)
23:30, Eastern Daylight Time

Placed an online order for several items from ''Walmart'' (following a disappointing search for the availability of similar items on the ''Big Lots!'' website), then went out to retrieve them several hours later, believing that I'd [inadvertently] arrived an hour too late for pick-up, as the sign in the parking lot proclaimed that item pick-ups were supposed to end at 20:00 -- calling the number anyway to double-check the claim, the person I'd spoken with informed me that it was their practice to continue serving online/app orders pick-ups up until 22:00, regardless of what was written on the parking lot signage.

After returning to the apartment I'd confirmed that I was missing a pack of pillow cases I'd ordered: in pulling-up my order information I noticed that the missing item was listed as ''unavailable,'' but it appeared that there had been no reduction in the total price of my order. This prompted me to ''contact'' Walmart, which led to me requesting a return-call in the pseudo-chat line, whereupon the young[-sounding] lady on the other end of the line helped to clarify for me that there was no adjustment in the final price because the item listed as ''unavailable'' was being treated as a  ''pending delivery''  item. Because of the lack of explanation about any of this via the website, and as a sort-of 'apology' measure for the inconvenience, the young woman granted me a five-dollar ($5) rebate/discount on my order, which I thought was a hella nice gesture.

I'd also retrieved my latest ''Amazon'' orders (replacement ''doo-rag'' for the one I'd lost last weekend, my back-up set of microphone-equipped ear buds, a package of shiny 3-D butterfly stickers to replace? enhance? my bedroom wall mural which is pretty much fading all to hell, and my ''lifetime supply'' of 'generic-ish' twin razor blades) while en route to the Walmart pick-up.

---

ARCHIVES

* ''5-Year Archive'': Autumn 2001 - Winter 2006 *
* ''5-Year Archive'': Winter 2006 - Winter 2011 *
* ''5-Year Archive'': Winter 2011 - Winter 2016 *
* ''5-Year Archive'': Winter 2016 - Winter 2021 *

Winter 2021 (Dec-Feb) / Spring 2022 (Mar-May) / Summer 2022 (Jun-Aug) / Autumn 2022 (Sep-Nov) / Winter 2022 (Dec-Feb) / Spring 2023 (Mar-May) / Summer 2023 (Jun-Aug) / Autumn 2023 (Sep-Nov) / Winter 2023 (Dec-Feb)

((Return To ''Current'' Page))