Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

The good: sleeping all the way to 10:38.

The excellent: getting an eVite from Brian for a zoom get-together, set for 1:30. Eek. I had to hurry to get ready in time.

The excellent: finding out completely by accident - when I grabbed the iPad by the upper right corner = how and where certain control buttons were revealed.

Everything after that was a disaster as I headed to bed to try to sooth the pain. I also tried the long fanfic reading as a distraction and my usual TV shows. Now I'm just hanging on for midnight.

Oops. Sorry, I nodded off there - quite often today. Well, considering I had eggnog with sprinkles and a couple of shortbread cookies for brekkie, it's no wonder I had an extended nap in the afternoon, waking up shortly before our movie night was supposed to begin.

Last night, I watched this week's epi of Disco which was very weird and troubling. This morning, I opened my two gifts from SuM and S. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised they gave me two boxes of chocolates, each from a different ::adopts a snooty tone:: "chocolatier"; the second box is actually a dessert selection.

Anyway, I took my pills and joined then shortly after 7. They served pumpkin pie with whipped cream and tea. This movie was called "Holiday Season" with Drew Barrymore; it seemed to deal with the conflict extremely quickly so it could tie up all the ends in a big fake bow! Oh, well, at least the pie was really good.

Earlier in the day, I'd sent out oodles of emails to friends and chsen family. That was nice.

Anyway, I'm going to try to watch tonight's news if I can stay awake. Merry weird Christmas to all.

Once again, all my plans were in vain, as I did … nothing. I just didn't feel like it: partially from pain, and partially from lack of motivation. Sigh. SuM popped her head in to ask if I wanted to do another Movie Night tomorrow, but I felt so listless, I declined.

The bright lights? I'd emailed Brian to ask if he could do some personal frivolous food shopping and it fit into his schedule to do it today and make a delivery tomorrow afternoon. That was wonderful news. I also received my annual Christmas email from my childhood friend Danny. As she and I had been in touch a couple times during the year, there was less urgency to share everything. I sent her my wishes for the new year. Watched my usual TV, including the beginning of two weeks of retrospective Jeopardy!, the first show featuring Ken Jennings approaching the 2 million mark in winnings.

Now, let's bring on tomorrow's goodness.

HPCP;ATE. lots and lots of glorious chocolate! So, Brian and I agreed that he would phone me at 5:30 p.m. Early on, I allowed (uh, begged) him to possess my computer, because my vision had colour but was very fuzzy. So he took over and we went through two sites, one in TO and my original fave in Niagara. Because I wanted everything(!), that's what I'm getting. I'll just have to wait for the free delivery.

After that, he fixed one of my issues with my Office suite. After that, I mentioned my expired parking permit. Instead of dealing with it on my computer, he said he'd d/l it and fill it out with me over the phone, then print it and mail it to me. Whew, that's a load off my mind. He's also planning to make a - sigh - contactless delivery of baked goods (by him, natch). Then we'll look at each other longingly - him outside and me inside through the window - hoping for when we'll be able to get together and travel once again. We got off the phone at exactly 8.

I had some other lovely news earlier. The blind group's secretary phoned me and said there's a $50K grant that's being disbursed to people affected by the pandemic. She remembered that I'd lost the use of my magnification software, so I should apply to get a bland new version. Hmmm.

Then, in the evening, one of the group's members earned from the Prez that the wee winter survival kits were my idea, so she sent me a lovely thank you. I replied to her, saying there are a lot of cases of paying it forward in our community and that I hope it continues.

In other non-news, I slept well (until 9:30) but was in pain for most of the day. Sigh. Watched some TV including news and am about to watch Young Sheldon. And, finally, it's almost time for pills, so I'm grateful for that.

… don't stand a chance, withering under the glare of a body wracked in pain. Sigh.

At least I slept well, waking up at 9:30. But, as the hours slid by, the pain intensified, not releasing its hold on me until around 9. So the only chore I managed to do was clean the large mirror over the fireplace. Make that a chore-and-a-half as the sprayer attachment was broken.

I watched TV instead, watching last night's first-run SNL that was so-so, with the possible exception of the skit of Giuliani's fart (followed by the real thing). Oh, how the mighty have tumbled. And he's emulating his very good buddy by having contracted the virus. Talk about dedication. ::shudders:: Ugh.

One of the highlights of my day was having people commenting on FB that it was nice to have me drop in, including a former deacon who has not always been the most compassionate person. So I guess I'll call that a win.

If my body would like to be compassionate tomorrow, I would surely appreciate it. Sigh. Negotiating with a hostage-taker is a frustrating task. ::crosses fingers::

No, I'm not delusional, but I was anxious for my own personal Santa (aka church-John) to bring me nutritious goodies as well as "treats". He finally came today, bearing three bottles of Robax, one of Omega 3s, two litres of juice, a few boxes of granola bars … and ::swoons:: chocolate-covered macadamia nuts and another box of assorted candy. Now the trick will be to keep my paws off. But I'm still going to ask Brian to order chocolates for me, this time from a company in TO. I'd looked them up online yesterday and the rep for my meals provider vouched for them yesterday. Ah - networking through all nooks and crannies: gotta love it.

So Santa was being prudent when he entered the house wearing a mask, but removed it in my space. He said I should be okay against the virus in my private space. But-but-but I'm still lonely. Still, I enjoyed impressing him with the vibrant colours on my computer, so that was a big yay.

Another big yay was watching first-run programs on TV tonight, including this week's weepy epi of ST: Disco and Dragons' Den where one pitch involved two sleek guys who revealed their revolutionary swimsuit, the ::giggles:: brokini! Imagine a very tiny one shoulder strap caveman costume.

I engaged in a tiny bit of nostalgia when I went into FB. I didn't know an old (50 years ago) friend had sent me a friend request 7 weeks ago. We'd already reconnected 10 years ago but then he got skittish over FB rules and stopped posting. So I confirmed him. Anyway, the day is nearly over and I'm about to have soup before midnight. It seems to assist in a deeper sleep.

So, let's begin with the mind. After missing a couple of Final Jeopardy clues even though I knew the identity of the person but couldn't remember the name (e.g. key and lightning but not Ben Franklin and prosecutor of Jean Valjean but not Javert), my faith in my ability to recall things - especially music - was restored as I finally solved the earworm from Thursday's Young Sheldon. While Sheldon is in the middle of a quandary, there was this driving music in the background. I first thought it was from Glee but then recalled it was a flash mob during America's Got Talent. Still don't know the name of it.

Anyway, even though the vision was only so-so, I watched ST: Disco (even though S. had to explain what happened at the salvage place) and got something out of Battle of the Blades.

I was too tired to post on Friday - just before my electronic disaster on Saturday. I restarted my computer and allowed Windows 10 to update. Uh-oh. Windows was refusing to talk to ZoomText, leaving me with no method of accessing any browsers or files or anything. ::shrieks::

I couldn't get in touch with Brian because I checked FB on my phone and saw he was visiting his sisters and toddler nephews, so I figured I would wait until yesterday to text him of my woes.

In the meantime, SuM, S. and I planned to watch "Aquaman" on Netflix Sunday night. I thought it was a stupid movie with all those explosions underwater. But it wasted a few hours. I'd asked if S. could visit me to see if there were things she could do, because I can't read the screen.

So, today, after S. tried and failed to resolve things, I texted Brian again. He phoned back. Oh, joy, he took today off as a holiday. With him on speakerphone and S. at my keyboard (and Brian eventually taking over control remotely), I had my ZoomText uninstalled with colours applied through Ease of Access (huh, can't they call it Accessibility?), so I can now read everything more clearly than before in browsers, but not documents. I guess I'll have to tackle that independently. It was a little insulting to learn that my version of ZT is considered "Legacy" aka Ancient!

Anyway, I'm just finally relaxing and watching TV. I think I'll watch Bull and then collapse. I need to scrape my freezer tomorrow morning before I get more (yummy) meals delivered.

Well, I'm currently in my satin and lace nightie while "attending" the bling group's Halloween Zoom party. We began with listening to a radio play adaptation of "Frankenstein" and their our DJ played music while people chatted. I'm still waiting for The Monster Mash. I'm trying to be patient.

Spent most of the day in bed as my body was going haywire. Church-John sent me an email that he was going to enjoy having my special parking permit until he returns it.

The best part of last night was having exquisite vision. At midnight. So I stayed up to watch Discovery and really enjoyed it. This morning I watched Battle of the Blades even though my vision had devolved to crap. Easy come, easy go.

Anyway, time to get back to the party.

So who was lost and found? None other than church-John who didn't reply to me until mid afternoon, saying he had to go home because he'd spilled coffee over a new shirt. Uh, c-J, are you SURE you're okay? Anyway, he kept ignoring my question about taking me to the drugstore, and was only mentioning the Costo purchases. So, finally, FINALLY, he said he'd be over at noon tomorrow. In the meantime, I'd already gotten dressed. Sigh. So that was the aggravation in my day.

But, then the pain came at me with a vengeance. So back to bed with me to watch TV. The only relief was spotting a memory from a year ago on FB that was picked up by a church friend missing the beautiful summaries I used to post every week. Ah, that was lovely to hear praise but, alas, I've retired from that self-imposed burden task. I'll have to thank him tomorrow. Now I'm waiting for the pills to kick in.

The only good thing about yesterday was sleeping until 7:25ish while in the middle of a dream. This time, I don't know how old I was but I was living with a Greek family. Someone was about to make home-made dolmades and I was so happy. Someone else had tossed a couple of banana peels and two avocado half shells where garbage was supposed to go. Even though I was disgusted, I picked up the remains and put them in the organics bin. Yes, I was being very helpful. You'd think I should get a reward IRL. Apparently not. Instead it was screaming pain. All on the inside.

Somehow, at least the amnesia piggies were harde at work, allowing me to sleep as they leeched the pain out of my poor muscles. And I slept all the way to 7:45. As my vision was almost tolerable, I watched last night's Discovery before brekkie. This afternoon, I watched Battle of the Blades. Also spoke with S. but she and SuM already knew about "The Prom" which we'll be watching on Netflix in December. Can't wait to see the divine Streep on screen again.

Well, that was the extent of my placid mind before the spasms started up again. Sigh. And then my remote slid off the bed so I had to bend over to search for it. Screams are now intensifying into shrieks. Still silent.

Speaking of silent, I forwarded my email from earlier this week to church-John again. He said he never received it. But, dear man, why does the header indicate it was sent? Anyway, he thinks we can go out on Tuesday. I can't wait. And, now, I can finally take my pills and go "Ahhh".