Helenka, Queen of Outer Space

It's not that I don't have the Christmas spirit; it's that any spirit is being crowded out by the grind of all-day pain. I kept reassuring myself that I would get to decorating - eventually - but I didn't begin to feel better until after 8. PM, that is. I'd already begun to conk out every few minutes while watching TV, so that was a good sign that the pain wasn't interfering with sleep. Nah, just the productive part of my life.

Naturally, there are repercussions. I was intending to watch tomorrow's service on YouTube and then join a bit of a holidayish party on Zomm afterwards. Ha! Fat chance, now. It's going to take all my energy just to send personal holiday messages to my friends. [Note: it's hard to write in a cheerful way when you're all hurty on the inside.]

Anyway, I'm returning to reading "Albatross". The author has just thrown in a bombshell and I want to know what happens next.

Let's begin with long and glorious. After nodding off to sleep at my usual 1-ishness, I was still asleep at 11:27 when S. nocked on my door, asking a favour. Oh, I needed that sleep so much.

After I finally got going, I busied myself with little things, such as hanging up a couple of dresses that were mixed in with coats on my rack. After that, I put away the rotating sets of summer bedding and retrieved the lovely, heavy red flannel set. I'll put it on tomorrow. I sent an email to the woman who'd sent me the card I got yesterday. I received an email from my sis RS this morning asking for my address, so I guess I'll be getting one from her, too.

The only thing I didn't get around to doing was emailing Brian to see if we could have some time on the phone tomorrow as he was busy baking today. There was a virtual Santa Claus parade filmed at Canada's Wonderland so I recorded it. Then I was frustrated trying to get on FB so I could click the link on the church's virtual concert. I couldn't get it on the desktop, the iPad was being impossible, so I watched the first few numbers on my phone - which does not have Smart Invert. Sigh. I'll try again tomorrow.

My vision improved a titch since yesterday. Today, I can see yellow font against a blurred dark sage background. Let's just say that watching the season premiere of MacGyver wasn't a very cohesive experience. Come on, body, you fought off most of the pain; now gimme some sight! I know, the little piggies of the universe will get right on it. /sarcasm.

Because of computer woes, let's just pretend this is Sunday.

So, yeah, I set my alarm for 9:25 in order to plug in my iPad as it needed updating. Twelve hours later, it's still plugged in. So I didn't join the church meeting via Zoom at noon. Perhaps someone will fill me in. At least I found out about what's happening for Christmas Eve. It would have been the 31st year at RTH; instead, there'll be two evening services (the second live-streamed) happening from our own sanctuary. Big diff between a non-pandemic capacity of 2500 seats and the allowable limit of 150 twice

Returned to bed after juice, granola bar and pills and napped until around 1. I just felt so surrounded by fluffy comfort.So, bed and cartoons were the main attraction of my day. SuM visited for a bit and got acquainted with a couple of my shows. ::giggles:: I hope she recovers!

Step 1: buy a bottle of raspberry vodka;
Step 2: buy a bottle of curacao;
Step 3: mix above with ??? juice, various berries, and crushed ice.

Repeat!

And then revel in a lack of pain, spasms, or inefficient eyesight.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I had a divine late afternoon lunch on my fave patio with church-John. It was very warm but breezy with lots of sun. Just a perfect day. Well, except for where they processed my debit card against someone else's lunch. Then they reversed the charge. As c-J was handling the card, they gave him a second bill. He started entering the numbers before realizing it wasn't our bill either. Can you see my eyebrows rising to the ceiling? Anyway, we finally got the correct bill and paid it. We also received a gift card (that was nice so we can use it next time) as well as the manager's business card. C-J also took the paper menu with him so he can convince Brent and John to dine there.

So, speaking about church, it turns out I didn't surprise him at all with the revelation I would not be returning to church. I'll send them some money before Christmas. C-J feels no compulsion to return either, but is sad to have lost a vital social connection. I'm foreseeing there won't be any Thanksgiving or Christmas Day dinners for people without family - for the first time in decades.

Anyway, when I got home, I discovered by accident after turning on the TV that my vision was so amazing, making it the perfect ending to my day. Not wanting to tempt fate, I just took my pills (after skipping my 4 PM dose). Here's hoping for more good sleep (after nearly 8 hours last night).

Everything I'm posting I got from my fave TV news broadcast. I call it "Science, Shame, and Solicitude".

First the science. TO's Chief Medical Officer is a weekly guest on Wednesdays in the few minutes leading up to 6 PM. Today I was fascinated to hear her comparing PPE face shields to simple cloth masks. She said that masks are superior, I guess, because they hug the contours of the face, providing a more secure barrier.

Now, the shame. There was an idiot customer visiting (pay attention) a Chinese supermarket. Neither he nor his companion were wearing masks (something that became mandatory recently). When asked to comply, he rejected the science, then claimed allergies, then claimed asthma, finally flung racial slurs at the staff, telling them to go back to China! Gee, what a peach. He's already becoming very popular on YouTube.

I'll end with more optimistic news. Parts of the city experienced flash flooding this afternoon. In one location, an older man was caught in his card. People observed him appearing to panic. A few waded into the street to assist. As one helped him squeeze through the window, another bent down to offer his back(!) as a step down. There were other examples of people coming to the aid of strangers.

As it just happens, this was the 7th anniversary of severe flash flooding; I still remember (when I lived by the lake) how long it took for me to get to church that morning. I think it was two hours!

Anyway, that's a snippet of local news. I'm off to bed. I can't wait for my excursion tomorrow. Yay.

Straight from the PM's mouth during the noon press conference: Canada has 10% of the population of the U.S. but our total of tests is higher! That doesn't mean that we've been such eager beavers as he declared that we can do better, we must do better. But … wow! What a way to shed a bilious glare on the disunited states.

In other non-news, I conked out for naps several times, watched TV, and screamed silently in pain. I also received Easter wishes from my chosen sis RS who said she'd be watching the church service online. Well, she's ahead of me on that count, as I haven't had any church for 6 weeks. I'm just not in the mood. Sigh.

What a jolt, going from someone who'd given up on watching the evening news to watching faithfully every night, at least the first 30-40 minutes covering the pandemic. I'm obviously really interested in learning the where and what. And I continue to rely on Slog for my intake of American-based news. Breaking: Tweedledee Trump has found his Tweedledum in the Prez of Peru whose massive ego and fitness levels will save him from the virus. ::rolls eyes:: Suuuuuuure.

In better news, after brekkie, I worked on a reply to the sweet phone call message I'd received from Rev. Deana yesterday. I told her I was okay, the healthiest(!) person in the house, busy with blind group, and otherwise hanging in. And, speaking of blind group, how does OOPS sound? Yup, I forgot all about a mini Zoom call for 2 p.m. Luckily, the Prez has emailed the wrong ID, so he phoned me at 2:05. We were done well before 3; will reconvene next week, same bat time, same bat channel.

As my sight was lousy today, no books were read. And no new TV shows watched except for the standard judge and game shows. And, as always, lots of Peppa Pig. I was heartened to see that the children's network did a PSA with one of their "personalities" along with her animated bear (think of the Snuggle commercial) where they told little kids why they couldn't go outside to play with their friends.

As SuM was going to the supermarket, she bought me three juices (can't see what flavours) and a bag of mandarins. Hey, at least I'm getting my vitamins.

Anyway, that's another day down the drain. I'm going to see who's emailed me and see if I have to reply. And that's a wrap.
ETA
I definitely am lucky, as I mentioned to Rev. Deana. Getting my weekly meals delivered hasn't been changed, even though the office staff are working from home and only half the number of volunteers are. OTOH, I believe the admin. is being run off her feet, and she hasn't even recovered from her pelvis-crushing car accident from last year.

Sigh. That's not a good sign. Also not a good sign was the onset of spasms in the middle of the night, prompting me to gulp down a couple more Robax. They did the trick and I slept hard until the alarm woke me up at 9:25.

After brekkie, I tried various ways to access the mini-webcast, but gave up in frustrated blindness. I'll try again during the week when I have better sight. Instead I alternated between reading a book and lying in bed with pain (sigh, again). I also sent out a cancellation notice for the blind group. We've cancelled a lot of events for the next few weeks. Definitely not fun.

There was nothing to watch on TV. Last night's SNL was a repeat so I switched to the French music channel. I was enchanted to hear the Papageno aria and Papageno's and Papagena's charming duet from "The Magic Flute" sung in German. I'd hoped they were playing the entire opera, but it was a mixed bag, with "As Time Goes By" on classical guitar inserted between a couple of Mozart's Piano Concerti.

Didn't have much to eat today, so dinner was yesterday's cornbread heated up in the microwave then slathered in soft butter. And a Coke. Wow, such a feast. /sarcasm. I'm also considering ordering groceries to be delivered this week. I think that they are taking steps to prevent shortages. In any cases, I just need basics like organic juices ... and ice cream! Okay, back to beautiful music!

ETA: One sweet note on FB regarding church: two of my friends - a mom and her grown-up son who was one of my fave deacons - watched the service online together.

Let's weigh the results: So, S. said she couldn't find "Nemesis" in the library, but I did. So, she has to put a hold on it and I'll eventually be able to watch the movie. OTOH, my editing pals and I got our fingers on this week's publication. Page one was all about staying safe at church. Um ... I didn't catch the unnecessary possessive in the Vulcan greeting. I must have been very tired. Sigh. But I had slept in until 8:02.

With my thankfully improved vision, I was able to read a lot today, so I'm less grumpy, Still haven't looked up train travel OR decided whether I'm going to church this Sunday the rest of the month. Yeah, I'm conflicted. So I just vegged and watched my usual shows. Okay, back to reading my mystery.

Oh, it was definitely a nice way to begin my day. However, as my vision was worse than yesterday, I decided not even to try watching the church service. Ha! I must have been prescient because church-John emailed me that, when he arrived at church, there were no lights or heat, there were two men sitting in HIS pew; then, when the service went on, no projector or microphones. He even ended up serving Communion (even though he's never been trained). Wow, just wow.

In light of my cancellation and continuing woes with my rides provider, I came to the reluctant conclusion that I'm actually going to have to pay for efficiency and reduced anxiety. So, for the foreseeable future (at least until summer), I will be booking cabs to attend church. To me it seems totally ridiculous but I can't subject myself to being away from home for nearly SIX hours! Just unacceptable.

Anyway, with my lousy vision, I only watched last night's SNL which featured Elizabeth Warren as the surprise guest (chumming it up with Kate McKinnon as EW). Unfortunately, I couldn't read, especially not on my iPad, because that wascawy baby bro changed some of my colour settings. I can't see the keyboard and I definitely can't add a book from the library. Groan. So I did a load of laundry instead.

Amuway, now that Brian has me all fired up (he has that effect on me), I have to check out how this old lady can take that train trip to Northern Ontario. And, more locally, book a cab company online.