 I struggle with, well, just being normal. OK, so I know that being
normal is overrated at times and that some people wish they weren’t oh so
normal, but sometimes being different gets old too.  

I can’t take the full amount of thyroid medication my body needs and I
don’t know that I ever will. I can’t treat my high cholesterol and therefore I
may never reach an advanced age. I can’t sleep at night every night. I have a
driving phobia I never could conquer. I have a deformed ear that looks worse
than it did before they dismantled the frame and drilled the canal in 1995 to
make sure I didn’t have a tumor when I complained of discomfort (turns out it
was the frame and skin that couldn’t shed itself that was trapped inside).  

I have a husband I love dearly and wouldn’t trade for the world but had
a low appetite and could never perform normally and therefore I had a joke of a
sex life back when I had an actual libido before menopause. Although it worked
out for the best in the end, I couldn’t conceive when I wanted to because of
the DES I was exposed to in utero (a drug mothers at risk of miscarriage were
given back in the 60s). I’ve always believed that a woman should have the right
to choose TO have a child as well as NOT to.  

But I was denied that and other basic human rights. At least it sure
feels like that at times. I don’t know if it’s happenstance or something up
there that singled me out and decided to pick on me, but it does suck at times
when you’re so unique in a lot of ways. I just try to remind myself that on the
flip side, most people will never have someone who loves, gets, and accepts
them as they are as I do. I can learn almost any language I want. I’ve written
over 50 novels even if some of them are short stories. I got to be a pretty
good singer, even though I haven’t had any interest in music in centuries. I
learn quickly and can teach myself almost anything. I have been said to be very
intelligent in the things I remember, notice, and figure out on my own as long
as I stay away from numbers, LOL.  

Also, while I would have preferred a career of some kind, at least I
never had to worry about evil bosses or coworkers. Nor did we have to deal with
the hassles of two vehicles. Lastly, not having kids has given us the freedom of
really living life and experiencing different things. So I’m kind of caught in
a tug of war. I’m glad things worked out the way they did, but I hate not
having more freedom of choice. When a person has no freedom or the ability to
choose things that greatly impact them, it really sucks. 

I hope you and hubs are right in that I can eventually get my numbers
normal without the anxiety as long as I go slow, even though I don’t think I’ll
lose weight. No amount of busyness can get a pound to budge with me LOL. It’s
OK though. I know I would be healthier if I lost a little, but I spent most of
my youth skinny, I had my skinny days, so I don’t mind spending the rest of it
on the fat side. Most older mammals pack on weight with age anyway.  

My message to J

My parents are here for few days, and my cousin called my father to visit them. My father agreed. I was kind of hesitant to go there, its been long since they have visited my house. I agree, that I lack the skill to invite people nicely, but I do asked them many times to visit us. But, everytime they say they are busy. 

But, I thought lets go. We decided to go there on Saturday at 6 PM. Its around 20 km long, but it takes around 1 hour to reach there due to busy road. We reached there at 7:15 PM. We were greeted by Romy B, the elder cousin.

They recently re-built their house from scratch. Since the time we reached their house. Romy B started a show-off. For every little piece fitted, he tells the price tag without we asking for it. I was smiling little, and trying to hide my smile.

We did not even entered their house, from far away. See that light, very good light, costing X Rs. 

In front of the gate, look at our gate, I have purchased it from XZY place, and found for X Rs.

See these tiles, they are XYZ material, costing this much. We entered the house. Look at the lights, look at this, look at that. Bla-bla. 

But, I msut say that he was showing some ego or something like that. He was just showing-off his house. And, was happy. So, I was happy too. Sometimes, people show-off but their actions let others feel down. But, he was not doing that.

Here comes tea time. He started bragging about the stuffs. "Haldiram bhi kya kya banata hai". I mean, he was indirectly telling me that he brought things from Haldiram.

His bed mattress cost around 90k Rs. I was like, OMG.

Infact, their house was looking awesome. There was too much light, and less space. He spent around 1 Cr in that house. I think, he must have spent much more than that.

They purchased everything new. Their house area was very very less. They built 4 floors, each with same design.

Anyway, we enjoyed that short stay. Everybody behaved very nicely. Kids also enjoyed. Kids were playing nicely. I was thinking, Riya/Vasu never behaved like that. Ashu B came late. 

It was 10:30 PM. I asked Kanika that its late. But, I didn't want to go. Infact, we left from there at 11:30 PM.

We went to market, had kulfi. The market was a good one.

I asked them, since how many years, I'm in Noida. Its 15 years. How many times, you visited me. Not even once. Once they visited in Daksh's B'day in 2012. Still 10 years.

I told them in funny way that I will come here again only when you come to my place.

Overall, it was a very beautiful outing. A good time-pass. Leaving parents there was not something felt good. Kids were also feeling sad.

A visit to Romy B

He set his alarm for 6:00 AM and I now have 6.5 hours to myself. I don’t mind though, because I’ve been feeling OK. We’re going to go to Walgreens when they open at 7 for some treats. At 10:00, groceries will be delivered. Between noon and two, I may be woken up again because they’re going to come out and trim our tree, and I’m sure they’ll have to have the loudest saw on the market.

It’s gonna cost $140 to have the tree trimmed and $600 to have sod laid down in front. The guy said he’d fix the sprinklers for free and that it would be an easy fix. Not excited to spend so much money.

Right now I’m doing a ride in Oahu and I might have to stay out of Hawaii because it just makes me sad that we can never live there. Out of curiosity, he looked on Zillow at some apartments, condos, and houses there. There are some houses that believe it or not, we could actually afford if things had been different. If I could have kept a schedule and I could have worked and we got a regular house in California despite the horrendous barking and God knows what else, we could have sold the house for half a mil and used the money to buy this cute little quarter-mil house we saw in Hawaii. But the reality is that unless we won a ton of money, it really is a dream that can never come true. 

Ugh, though! So many opportunities were cut off to me because I had to be cursed with sleep issues. Just so many. It makes my eyes sting with tears. Literally. God has taken so, so much from me (if one exists). Just so damn much. Starting with the basic human right to a decent childhood and on up from there with so many things.

Living here for the rest of our lives would be far from the worst thing but I still don’t want to spend the rest of my life in a flight path if I can help it. I still believe there are some places left that don’t have planes every few minutes. A doesn’t have dozens a day. K doesn’t. J doesn’t. We didn’t have the ever-present planes on the beach in Maui as we do on this beach. They are definitely more noticeable when it’s windy or cloudy. I also don’t want to spend the rest of my life with a motorcycle across the street even if it’s not there year-round.

I made a heart chart. Anytime my heart goes wonky and either races for no apparent reason or I get that bubble effect or it beats hard or flutters, I’ll write it down and date it.

I got a duplicate set of sports bras that I got back out west, which I probably should have gotten before I wasted money on the regular bras. I hate regular bras and the way the straps slip. I should have known better than to get them. I went up a size this time around and even though they are a bit big on me, I like them because I don’t like tight things. I seem to be getting enough support, but I have seven days to try them out.

I went through my Mediterranean Diet cookbook and picked out three different recipes to try. One with pork, one with chicken, and one with shrimp.

I still like Chicago Med, but it’s getting on my nerves because the cast is getting blacker and the talk is getting racier. We can’t even go one whole episode without some reference to race. Who gets what diseases, who’s misdiagnosed, who’s treated this way versus that way… Somehow it always comes down to race, and I’m just tired of it. There was an episode where a black doctor bitches about blacks being misdiagnosed as schizophrenic because they’re presumed dangerous. But they are more dangerous. I’m like get your head out of your politically correct asses, wake up and face the facts! Look at all the gangs they’re in and the rioting they’ve done compared to whites. Look at how much more crime they’re responsible for than whites.

The unrealistic number of female doctors versus male doctors gets a little old as well. So instead of being anxious, I’m sad and mad tonight. Going through Hawaii and realizing just how much my sleep curse has caused me to miss out on made me sad and made me realize that the Hawaiian dream never died just because we moved here. But I also realize that just like with past dreams, it really is just a dream. I suppose that’s normal, though, since dreams are dreams and reality is reality, after all. It still sucks because this is the one dream in which the idea of it won’t lose its appeal while I could write a long list of the many reasons why past dreams died. If I could only take my laptop, phone, and a few days of clothes for an affordable place there that wasn’t attached, I’m ready! 

Sad and mad

 I’m a little tired today because the mower woke me up. There’s
a sit-down mower and there’s a stand-up mower. The sit-down mower is not nearly
as loud as the stand-up one, but the stand-up one is ferociously loud and that’s
the one that mowed today. It woke me up instantly, so I had my sleep broken up
and therefore I’m tired. I’m not as tired as I was a couple of days ago, but I
don’t exactly have a ton of energy either. Fortunately, I don’t have a lot to
do tonight. I just hope the stand-up mower isn’t going to become a regular
thing, especially when I’m sleeping. Damn, do I miss being in the country at
times. 

Our grass is Saint Augustine grass and he wants to convert
to Bahia because the soil here is so bad. We figure that has a better chance of
growing better.  

He and I may not be perfect and we may not have all the
answers, but we were talking about how ridiculous the anti-abortion obsession is.
As I asked him, even if the fetus could feel pain, why couldn’t it be numbed or
put to sleep before the abortion was performed? As he said, how much awareness
does it really have? Does it even know it’s a person or aware of things? How
much can it really think and figure? Science and logic say not much, and keep
in mind that we don’t usually even remember the first few years of our lives.  

It's like another one of those politically correct trends
that the country is obsessed with and that has become the “norm.” The whole
thing isn’t much different than capital punishment. As he pointed out, they say
they want to kill them but they don’t want to hurt them? How ridiculous is
that? If you want to kill them, then who cares if it hurts for 30 seconds or so? 

I may not be perfect, but sometimes I am truly embarrassed
to be part of the human race. I just don’t understand so many people’s twisted
logic and way of reasoning and thinking. Take the governor for example. Lately, he’s
running around claiming that math leads to being gay. I don’t understand how
human beings like that can even be allowed to say such shit. Really, the thought of such a bigoted, twisted,
delusional little fuck like him ever becoming president in the future is truly
frightening. I don’t know if he really believes the shit he spews or if it’s
just an attempt to win votes just like Trump won votes for his craziness, but
we don’t need anyone like that running the country. Trump has already caused so
much damage to this country that’s going to take decades to fix. Another Trump-like
person as president will only make things worse. 

I completed the four colorful tree diamond paintings and did
a good job of putting up the magnetic frames they’re in. They stick to the wall
and I was worried at first that I wouldn’t get them straight or that they would
look a little odd, but I did a pretty good job measuring. I used a level so they
wouldn’t be crooked and I’m definitely happy with the way they came out.  

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When political correctness is incorrect

Had a weird dream and a scary dream. In the scary dream, we were out someplace. There were two rooms and a few dozen people perhaps. Music was playing loudly and the DJ was threatening to blow everyone up. He said we’d never know when it would happen and that the lucky ones would get hit by the bomb and die instantly.

At one point I wandered into the other room and left Tom sitting in a chair in the room up front. Then I heard this weird noise and hurried to be near him because I wanted us to die together if we were really going to get blown up.

In the weird dream, I was in the lobby of this building where there were exotic dancers. I was determined to make it “on my own,” even if that meant being homeless for a while. I obviously didn’t know Tom. Several people were milling about the lobby. I suddenly wet my pants and hoped no one noticed. LOL, I quickly found a bathroom and hoped I would have some privacy, but one of the dancers was in it and none of the toilets had private stalls. Even so, I said that I liked to be fresh down there and wiped myself with wet paper towels.

“I do too,” she said understandingly. And then as fat and as old as I was, she mistook me for one of the dancers and asked my stage name.

“Starlight,” I said just for the hell of it when the name suddenly entered my mind.

I left the bathroom to find the place now dark. Most of the dancers were asleep. One of them asked me a question on the way out, but I ignored it. Instead, I found a clean glass and got a drink of water before I headed outdoors and to who knows where. 

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Dreams

Just to keep you up to date, I have a virtual appointment
with a psychiatrist on the 29th of this month. I
did well for 12 days and then on the 30th the anxiety returned. I
have some depression too, and still feel hopeless. Sill feel like I have
questions but never any answers and solutions. I still hope it’s just a matter
of getting used to the new medication dose and my lady hormones settling in, but
I don’t know what to think anymore. I just know that 8 years of going around in
circles with this is ridiculous so I made the appointment. I just don’t know if
I can be helped. While I’m at it, I have a question for you. Is it OK to take a
10MG CBD gummy before 4 hours after taking my levothyroxine? 

The above paragraph was my message to my docs earlier. I’d
been planning to check in with them and give them an update, but I didn’t want
to do so without making an appointment first and have them be like, we told
you to make the appointment, blah, blah blah. 

What I didn’t tell them was that I’m fed up. Honestly, I can’t
take this anymore.

Tom and I were talking about what might happen to us after we're gone and whether or not there’s an afterlife and all kinds of things like that.
Of all the different theories, I realized that none of us can know anything
until we’re gone. I still hope there’s no afterlife at all. 

Because it’s so hard for me to believe that Aly wouldn’t
send me a sign that she goes on somehow and have a positive influence on my emotional
state if she could, it makes me think that there is no afterlife, or she simply
can’t. Hell, even my parents would lend a helping hand if they could and wouldn’t
want me suffering like this. 

Tom brought up an interesting theory about those lights I
saw back in Phoenix. Maybe it wasn’t an alien craft but a glimpse into another
dimension and time. Maybe even the ghosts some people claim to see are from
another place and time. 

I sure wonder about those multi-dimensions, alright.
Especially with some of the dreams I’ve had. I recently had one where I was
thinking about how my parents were 72 and 73 and that I hadn’t contacted them
for a while. I thought it would be a good time to send them a letter. It wasn’t
so much what happened in the dream that makes me wonder, but how real it felt.
Like I was really in some other place and time.  

Virtual appointment.

 If only we could
wind back the hands of time and do this room up right. Actually, I should have
moved into the other bedroom. That way there would be less space to have to put
the soundproofing material on and only one window and one door rather than two
windows and three doors. Then, instead of trying to get wallboards or go over
the MLV with drywall or something, we should have gone over it with the thick,
textured tiles he stuck on his back wall. Then there would be the plugs, vent
baffle, solid core door, and the best window money could buy with thick glass.
We would probably have to do floors and ceilings as well.  

All this may
still be done if the storms allow me enough sleep that I can stay in Florida
and the horses are a bust. Well, I don’t know about the storms, but I know the
horses are just a dream. This is the second week in a row he lost. He says he
just has to “get better” at it, but I know and accept it’s just a fantasy. Just
like me hoping to break into the music business way back when. But this time it’s
not a devastating thought as it was years ago. We’re not cramped into a dumpy
rental in a shitty climate, and it’s not like I haven’t traveled, bought/done things.
If we never have extra money or move again, that will be OK as long as we’re
healthy and happy. We’ll just switch rooms so we can save money on the
soundproofing. The only pain in the ass will be having to come out to use the
bathroom when I wake up. But I don’t wanna do anything until I know if I can
even stay in the state. 

The thing is,
my sleep is so cursed that it’s just going to be something or another fucking
with it no matter where we go. However, there is a big difference between being
woken up a few times a month as opposed to a few times a week, as I learned
when we left Auburn. Today was a one-hour power failure. 

Although
tired, I managed to go to the store just to get out. Got a couple of single
caramel pieces that were $0.34 each and a 4-pack of White Merlot. Why not? It
doesn’t seem to make me more or less anxious, after all. It can mess with my
sleep, but so can everything else in the world. I swear, if it is in an outside
source, it’s my own damn body having a nightmare, having to get up to pee, waking
up too cold, waking up too hot, etc. 

On the way
out we saw a possum running along the fence at one end of the park. It was a
pretty good size too. I learned that they can get up to 9-13 pounds but they
won’t pounce if you run into them as long as they don’t feel cornered or
threatened. As with skunks, they’ll try to escape before they go on the attack.
They’re so adorably cute. 

Just like in
the last place, my vibes and my logic are at odds with each other. My logic
always said we would leave CH in 2024, but my vibes said otherwise. Because I
don’t believe the horses are going to amount to much, my logic says we’ll be
here for a long time, maybe even forever. But that’s not what my vibes say.
Knowing that my vibes are usually the winner, I wonder if that could be because
I’m not going to be able to get any sleep when it’s storming every day. 

I just hope DeSantis
doesn’t become president no matter where we live. He’d be another Trump for
sure. That’s part of why he’s doing all this crazy anti-gay shit. It scores
points and therefore votes from all the haters. Biden has turned out to be
completely worthless as a prez. He’s just too damn old. I keep hoping he’ll get
sick so Kamala can take over. I don’t know that she would be any better, but at
least we would have a chance. Really hope they make pot legal nationwide, but
when and if that happens, it will be years from now, unfortunately. Really want
to try it for my anxiety. If it worked, I wouldn’t give a fuck if I got
addicted and became the pothead from hell, nor would I care about the potential
side effects like how it fucks with memory and things like that. This is my
first calm day after three or four days of anxiety. I still think most of it is
on the medication adjustments, or at least I hope so. In a few weeks, I go to
the lab. I’m guessing I’m going to be an 11. Still hoping I’ll be able to get
under 10, although I still doubt I’ll ever be able to get between 1-4.  

Forgot to mention yesterday that I finally beat him at golf. It was only by one stroke, but I never thought I’d see the day. Then again, the more you do something, the more you improve. Usually, that’s the case anyway. 

Andy’s back to annoying me with the celeb/black shit. I learned a couple of things a long time ago, though. You can’t change people’s minds just by sharing your own POV. Secondly, asking him to stop something does me no good most of the time. I’m learning more and more that it’s best to just ignore annoying people. If it was constantly in my face, that would be different. I don’t know if he just wants to annoy me and gets off on it or what, but I’ve told him enough times that I’m not into celebrities. Plus, he knows we have different opinions where blacks are concerned. It’s a no-brainer. There’s no real mystery here. So why he wants to keep sending me memes related to the Smith/Rock incident at the Oscars is beyond me. 

Having a blah night. Totally wish I could snap my fingers and have it be daytime and us on the beach. I have a feeling that would turn off this feeling pretty quickly. Wish I could at least go out and sit on a dock over some canal or something like what my parents had for a while. Part of me is still tempted to run to a shrink, but what could she do for me??? Give me drugs I couldn’t handle. I still have no reason not to believe this isn’t going to be an issue on and off for the rest of my life, so I really have to learn to live with it. 

I promised myself a long time ago that I would never give in to delusions and brainwash myself into believing there was a God that loved me and was looking out for me as a means of coping. None of that feel-good shit. Then again, if it would help me, why not? Even if I was kidding myself; if I could make myself believe that this story truly had an ending to it, why not? Why not give myself hope, no matter how false it may be? If I could just tell myself, it’s only until I get adjusted to the new dose and until my hormones fully settle in, and then everything will be fine, and make myself believe it while I was at it, why the hell not? 

I dropped the soundproof blanket down by the open side of the bed and covered most of it. Slept with the nature sound up a little louder and added an earplug and no thunder woke me up. Tom said on a scale of 1 to 10, the thunder was a 6 and there were several sessions of it too. 

Why not start kidding myself?

After long time(due to Covid lockdown), I started going to office.

Kanika made some Aloo-Poori in lunch. Kanika told me that Daksh asked curiously, Papa will not eat this? He showed his concern towards me.

I really liked it. Although, its a small thing. But, small things matters a lot! It made my day.

Little things matters - When Daksh asked Papa will not eat it?

I was looking for a design revamp of planndesign.com. Its been an old design in bootstrap, designed by me. This time, I was completely revamping the technology stack as well.

I decided to get the design in Tailwind-CSS by looking at its simplicity and its becoming famous.

First, I thought to give this work to my full-time hired developer Abdul. But, I realized that he will also not be able to justify it, as he is not a designer. I thought I will do it. But, I realize that it will take a lot of time. It's better to outsource this. I looked for freelancers.

Finally, I hired this energetic guy Meet on freelancer.com

We fixed the final delivery on 12th March 2022. But, he could not do it. 

He said bla-bla. I was involved in a personal emergency. He said, he is more serious in it than me. I was like, OK. I said OK. I again asked for a final date. he gave me 24th March 2022. And, he said: Chillax. I was getting annoyed by him. After delaying by almost double the fixed date, you are saying Chillax. I was like ok.

But, when he did not deliver it on 24th. I lost my mind. I warned him, that I will wait for him today only. Then, he asked for releasing the payment. I said, what is the meaning of milestone. When we decided. You did not even showed me anything. How can I release the payment.

I knew, that he did not complete it. I bluntly said, I know you did not complete it, but I will wait for today only. He had lot of excuses, I did cut the phone.

I mean, why did you take the work, when you can not do it. It wasted my 25 days.

Why did you take the work Freelancer - Fedup

So, I went to my brother's anniversary function. Everything went well. It was when he was opening all the gifts. Obviously, there are some gifts that are awesome, and some are not good. 

Next day, I came to know his reaction on my elder sister's gift to him. BTW, it was a pressure cooker (for kitchen purpose). My brother did call to her (such a dare-devil). He told her straight away that he was expecting more, some wealthy gift. Not this cheap one. He said, now your home condition is good, your husband is earning well, your son is now earning much. You should have given something bigger. If I would be at her place, I would have done something bigger!

I was shocked, I mean did anyone say like this. 

To give more context, my brother is the eldest of all. And, I'm the youngest.

Yesterday, I was talking to other elder sister. She told me other shocking info.

So, we have 3 sisters. One of them is in really poor condition. Lets call her sister-2. We usually give money to her. Well, I never seen my elder brother to do this, but he speaks a lot (kind of BC). 

So, he told my sister-3 that sister-2 won't be able to gift something nice. Why don't you both (sister-1/sister-3) gift something to me on behalf of sister-2. I was too shocked to hear this. OMG.

She also told me that its getting difficult to tell him anything about their kids success. As, they would jealous. I agree with that. My brother did never congratulate them about their son's recently earned job. Due to jealousy. She told me that they came to her house in November for Bhai-dooj (A brother-sister festival). Even then, he did not congratulate them. He straight away asked him (Son of sister-3), how much you earn. He told a figure. He straight away said, "Now you can gift anything to his daughter, now I will not stop you, its your first Bhai-dooj after-all". I mean, really! 

She said, her son took my brother's kids to outing. They had something to eat. On return, my brother asked, what did you eat. And, he said, ONLY! 

WHen I was there at the function. Next day, I went to meet son of my sister-1. I have some special bonding with him. We had dinner. I intentionally did not take my brother's kids with me. My brother has a wrong habit of putting his kids along with everybody who so ever is going outside. I mean, privacy is something. Sometimes, its ok. But, not always. And, I get to know that he yells at my father for this. That, why he (me) did not take my kids! Period!

Bhai is on a different level altogether - Lichadpan at max

Its been a complete season gone, and our work is not finishing. Its related to our new flat. We have done massive work here. Except from Electrician Jitender, everybody gave trouble. Its too difficult to handle labor. 

Now, these painter guys. They went to holidays without telling anything. Our shifting dates kept on shifting due to lot of people. First, the contractor Ramesh, then Carpenter Sudhir, now this painter.

I don't understand, these people don't want to work and earn. They have lot of attitude and ego. 

This painter used to come at site at 11:30 and leave by 5/5:30. And, holidays on weekend.

Today, I did my office from this flat to see when they are coming, but they did not come.

I did message to them, one last time. If they are not coming by tomorrow, no money no stuff, nothing. Enough is enough.

Completing House Work - Too Difficult a Task - Too difficult to handle Labors

I pick him from school when his classes finishes at around 12:30 PM. As I reach his school, I handed over the escort card to guards. I kept waiting for him, and kept rolling my eyes in school, searching for him. Sometimes, I started worried when he won't come in few minutes.

When I get a sight of his, I always smile saying there is our hero. I think every parent think of same, I'm just writing my emotion here.

I hold his heavy bag, and asked him the usual question: How was the day? Did you do fun?

Taking Daksh from School - Happy to see him

Schools are open after 2 years, due to Covid. Daksh was very excited to goto school. Since, its only 15 days of school in this month. I decided to drop him to school.

As we have to drop our kids at the school gate. I dropped him, and he went straight inside. I kept watching him untill I lose sight of him. I was afraid inside as I was leaving him. As a parent, where kids are living under your care and protection. When kids go outside, its a constant fear for their safety.

Inside, I felt proud about him. How kids adapt themself to face this world. 

Afraid to See Daksh Going Alone in School - Kids Growing

Today, Rishab also left. I wrote his farewell notes, if I get a chance to speak.

Soft spoken guy. Chhota sa lagta tha, but he is close to 30!!

very dedicated. He should keep learning new things.

Hubble was a completely different domain from Bast. I think he did pretty well.

Apart from work, we discussed about smart watches, kahan ghumna hai.

But, couldn't get a chance to speak as people were just talking randomly this time. This is another person from Suman's team left.

Rishabh also Left Suman's team

Instantly, one thing came to my mind that she got some offer or so.

I called her, and she started speaking like giving an official status. I laughed and congratulated her.

She gave her official resignation to Suman. She said, Suman did not like it, and was not expecting this.

The times are very challenging for management. Lot of people are leaving...

I think managers should be ready for this. They should make them feel happy and congratulate them on their progress.

I will write more about Shriya later. She was an intern, worked with me for most of her internship.

Shriya Leaving Adobe - Microsoft

 I was having so much fun sharing pics from my various trips
on VZfit but lately, they’re not transferring over. There always has to be a fucking
issue. I guess it’s no biggie, though, because I’m doing it to exercise and not
to share pics, but it was a nice bonus. I was getting sick of having to
transfer them one at a time too. You would think these things would be simpler,
but apparently not. Anyway, I’m only gonna do 10 miles a day on my trip so I
can do other trips in between for variety. There are a million miles of boring Nevada
desert with nothing much to see but the same old stuff. This is a very ugly-looking
desert compared to the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. 

I jump back and forth between Chicago Med and new Lifetime
movies and in the latest episode of Chicago Med, there was a young woman who didn’t
know that her own mother had her sterilized as a teen because she was
promiscuous and they were poor. The mother didn’t want the daughter to end up
in her shoes. Apparently, this was legal to do in some states up until 1973.
The daughter thought she had an appendectomy.  

The first thing that came to mind as I watched this was how
my mother would have jumped at the opportunity to have this done to me if she
could have, even though I wasn’t with anyone. She never wanted me to have kids.
I don’t think it was just that she believed I would be a bad mother. No, I
think it went beyond that. It was also about money and her not wanting the
burden that grandchildren bring.  

The only thing that didn’t make sense in the show was that
the woman was too poor to find out why she couldn’t conceive. Well, if she was
that poor, how would she afford a kid? I understood the reason this woman
sterilized her kid and why my mother would have gladly done it to me if she
could snap her fingers and have it done but it’s still wrong. It should always
be up to the woman to choose whether or not she does or doesn’t have kids. 

I fought all the fighters on the easy round and even beat
the champ on Thrill of the Fight. Tomorrow begins the next level up. Tom’s on
the endurance round and he’s been cremated by the champ a few times, LOL. He’s
going to keep trying. I’m sure it will get tougher and tougher for me as well,
even though I’m in better shape, lighter, and have more muscle. 

Another nightmare woke me up but I don’t remember what this
one was about. I did have a dream that he started a drug for his essential tremors
that began with an E. Funny name for it. Why is it “essential” that you tremor? 

Unfortunately, I’ve been hit with yet another round of
anxiety. I really think it is about the medication. I just can’t believe I’m
suddenly anxious about being on nights after I’ve spent nearly half my life on
nights. Nor can I believe my hormones are that powerful this late in the game.
So what do I do? I cut my waiting time down, of course. At least I’m not
skipping. I think I’m always going to have to adjust my waiting time based on
how I feel. I’ll get anxious as the stuff ramps up in my bloodstream and less
anxious as it drains a little when I wait only a half-hour instead of an hour before
having my coffee. It’s no wonder that I felt so good during the summer. It’s
also why I was so exhausted. I would still rather be tired than anxious. 

The Russian/Ukrainian war still rages on. It’s easy for me
to say that I don’t think it will spark a nuclear war, but what the hell do I
know anymore? People can be as unpredictable as they can be predictable. It
makes no sense for them to do so, but people don’t always exercise logic in
their actions. People do things all the time for no reason. Oh, I’m still sure
there will be one. I just think it will be after we’re gone. For now, I don’t
think Putin wants to destroy what he wants to take over. If he destroys
Ukraine, then it can’t become part of his territory.  

Russia and Ukraine

 The red sports car is still there, but they’ve been fairly
quiet. The motorcycle hasn’t gone out since the 20th. It seems
projects and company are mostly with keeps him off of the thing so I’m hoping
they stay awhile longer wherever they’re from. They’re a little too far to make
out the plate, but Tom thought it looked like an Ohio plate. Also, I don’t
think there are kids over there after all. I think what I initially heard was
just a teenager with a high-pitched voice. They were barbequing a little while
ago. It’s hard to believe they’re in for the night on a Saturday night but
maybe they are. It’s not late, but it’s not early either. 

With the way Darren is sometimes gone without Carrie for 9
hours at a time, I wonder if perhaps he’s working somewhere in the state at
least part-time. He strikes me as a construction kind of guy. 

Tom thought he would hear something today because there was
a scavenger hunt going on, but it was quiet. Someone was calling for their lost
pet yesterday and he thought it could be Toni’s cat. 

No, they weren’t in for the night. They both left at 7 for
an hour.   

Because we pay for it and there is so much space - a
terabyte to be exact - we decided to sync my pics to OneDrive. After I get used
to it, and if there are no problems, I’ll sync my docs as well. 

Tom had a full panel of labs done and everything came back
OK except that he’s pre-diabetic. He’s been that way for a few years now. He’s
been more active, but like me, he’s not willing to make dietary changes. We’re
more active, but we don’t want to give up treats forever, and I certainly don’t
want to half-starve myself to get to a healthier weight. 

According to Margaret, Dixie has been moved to a care
facility for “unruly” patients that are constantly under lockdown. She also has
seven figures in her account and said something about her leaving her money to
a couple she was friends with for years that would take Diane in sometimes for
a few days at a time. I remember them and that the friendship ended in one of
my last visits with Dixie. She said they were saying bad things about Diane or
something like that. Who knows? Dixie was/is so far out of her mind now that
you can’t understand or trust anything she says.  

I don’t know enough about the daughter who supposedly
married a wealthy man, but I feel bad for the son. I don’t know him either, but
I know I would be pissed if my mother was leaving millions to her friends and
not me. That’s got to hurt a lot worse than my parents leaving more to her
bratty grandkids.  

I can totally see Dixie as being unruly too, and I
doubt she’ll ever be going back home. It’s sad, but not surprising. Old or not,
Dixie did bring on a lot of her own problems with her stubbornness, selfishness,
and stupidity. 

This shit with Russia is a reminder that some people make
their own haters, and it isn’t always that people are racist or hateful or
anything like that. What’s scary is that it’s not just Putin (he has such ugly
Mona Lisa eyes) that is ordering this shit against Ukraine, but the thousands
and thousands of troops that are going along with his orders. How do you just
blow up and shoot innocent people like that and sleep at night?  

I know humanity – or most of it - will end because of a
nuclear war. I just don’t think it will happen while I’m still alive. However,
now I’m not so sure it will be the T-heads or North Korea to start it. Maybe it
will be Russia instead. They obviously don’t give a shit about the sanctions
being put on them by various countries, otherwise they wouldn’t be doing this.
I just don’t get it though. How much fucking space do you need when you’re
already the biggest country in the world space-wise? And is what they’re doing
going to encourage them to take over and invade other countries as well? 

I’ve been working on this entry on and off for hours. I
think it’s time to finish and post it. First, I was hearing the thumping of
bass earlier and it went on for more than just a minute. It wasn’t across the
street, though, but so much for not hearing that shit here. Doubt it was in the
park. I sure hope not anyway. More than likely it was a very loud car stereo
outside the park. The things people do for attention! 

We still play miniature golf on and off, sometimes by
ourselves and sometimes with each other. It’s not only fun playing, but it’s
also fun flying around the course and collecting lost balls even if most of
them are dull looking.  

Unruly patients

Since when Daksh started playing Chess. I also started playing, and I got so addicted to it that I play 20-40 games a day. That too, after so much control. These are live games, and take lot of time.

My ranking got all time high in 5 minutes Blitz.

Chess Ranking Update for 5 minute Blitz Rounds - My Addiction

 I got the art print that I won but didn’t win. The one where
I got a winning notification congratulating me just to open it and find it was
someone else that actually won the print that I complained about. It’s a lovely
panoramic view of Adobe-style homes. It looks like either Arizona or Southern
California. The only thing I don’t like about it is how orange the sky looks.
What is it with artists painting orangey skies and photographers making their
skies orangey, too? That’s just not natural. Especially when it’s a solid, even
color. I like everything else about it. The woman that painted it is definitely
talented, and I sent her a picture of it on my office wall. I taped it to the
wall. Oh, the artist just told me it was in Palm Springs. 

The project junkies across the street got rocks delivered
today. The bad news is that they didn’t get a pile dumped in the street for
them to spread out. They got them in large metal containers and it’s no doubt
going to make quite a racket when they dump batches into their wheelbarrow.
Then the truck has to return to pick up the containers. Ted said they were home
most of the morning, but since I got up at 11:30, the truck hasn’t been there.
Carly is, though, because she waved and said hello to me when we were on our
way out. 

The question is why are they doing this? Do they really care
about appearance? Is it just to have something to do? Or did the park get on
them about that area being so patchy? I still can’t believe they’re doing it to
sell the place although that would make me as happy as it would make me
worried. 

It’s too late in the day now for them to work, but I just
caught a glimpse of the white SUV pulling out that visits often. Looks like she
might have been in the passenger seat. I heard one bark from the big dog and a
few from what I’m guessing is the smaller one unless it was someone else’s dog
I was hearing. This was before I saw the SUV, though. 

I got to try another Chinese place earlier. I got $18 worth
of beef fried rice, beef and mushrooms, and fried wontons. It’ll last two or
three days. This place is better than the last place. 

We also stopped at CVS as well. I like how they’re selling
individual pieces of candy if you don’t want a whole candy bar. 

Tim has to go to the lab early tomorrow morning. He’s having
a full panel done.

2/23

Today, I got news that one more guy is leaving Adobe. Adhunik Gupta.

He was one of the guy with whom I'm impressed the most. When I first met him, he was almost 1 year experience. But, the way he talked, the way he solved problems, the way he explained something was something to learn from him. 

Over the years, he proved himself as one of the most reliable and most important team member. He is also one of stylish person. I liked the way he talks.

He is joining Google-london. Which suits his skill set and style. Anything lesser than Google will not suit him. I wish him all the best in life.

Adhunik Resigned - Google London

This year 2022, we have to get her admission finally to a school. As, she is turning 4 this year, and this is high time. Daksh is also studying in the same school.

The disadvantage in her case was that she has never went to some play-school. Due to Covid times, the schools were closed for full 2 years. We recently get her admitted to an online play-school footprints. Thanks to her mother, brother and youtube. She knew many things. She speaks english well. Sometimes, I even surprised how well she composed her sentences.

Let me tell you the story of her admission:

Bhavika is very very shy kid. Recently, I visited my maternal home. We stayed there for 5 days. But, she did not speak a single word to my brothers/bhabhi etc. Even, we did not get a chance to hear her clear voice. She spoke so slow there. Due to covid times as well, she never visited any physical school or any neighbours or parks. So, she has negligible social presence.

We filled her admission form online, and she got a call almost immediately for an interaction.

It was a google meet call. Where teacher asked so many things like drawing, name of animals, etc and etc. She responded so well. Maa'm gave a clean chit.

Second Interaction with the Principal Maam

So, first interaction was not enough. We had a second call and this time we parents, also had to sit with her. It was a call on mobile. Bhavika was excited. But, when the time came for her to speak. She did not speak a single word. The problem was that the principal madam was not speaking well according to kids. And, Bhavika got scared. I was so pissed-off with Bhavika that she did not speak anything. I tried to cover up for her. But her principal maam, said that there will be another round of interaction in school.

We were kind of angry to school that how many rounds you want from a 3 year old kid!

So, I took 2 hours off from office and we went to school. This time, we we made a plan. We took Daksh with us. And, I asked Daksh to let her engage in some activity and make her speak. We tried some combinations of tricks that Bhavika loves. 

Anyway, we reached school. There was rush of parents. Our turn came up fast. We all went in a room with a senior madam. She was very sweet, and the way she interacted with her was so cool. But, Bhavika was shy as usual. But, this time she was replying her. She learned some rhymes. But she did not sing that after so many requests. She interacted with Daksh as well. As he is from the same school. So, it was an advantage with us. She opened up an animal book, and asked names of many animals. Bhavika responded pretty well. She answered with the names which I was not even aware of, like Star-Fish, Crab :)

Anyway, she gave us a hint that its all ok. Her coordinator maam, Ritu told us to go back as principal madam was having a meeting. And, she straight away gave us the amount that we need to deposit if principal maam agrees. She said, 99.99% is done, but wait for principal maam.

We were sured of the admission. We had a Pizza Party that night. Daksh enjoyed it.

I got a call today (22 Feb 2022) that her admission is confirmed, and deposit the fee. She gave us a discount of 20% in the admission fee. 10% for sibling and 10% as girl child.

We had to deposit total of 119,500 Rs which includes one quarter fee. Its pretty expensive. I hate this about Noida.

But, I was very happy. Bhavika cleared her life's first exam. And, she joined the club of students.

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Bhavika finally got admission to Gyanshree School - Not an easy one!

 What a rude, inconsiderate little bastard across the street.
I loved yesterday and the day before because he was gone all day. They leave
the lanai windows open for the dogs, which miraculously don’t bark at
everything they see going by. They did squeal with delight, though, when they
returned because they were out for so long. They let them run around loose too,
but do stay confined to his property. Well, his and next door’s. He’s on the
corner. 

So after he washed and waxed both the car and the motorcycle,
he ran the motorcycle for about 20 seconds, maneuvering it up the driveway and
into place. Like he really couldn’t walk the damn thing into place? Tom says he
was checking the charger. Unfortunately, it’s not covered yet and I doubt it’s
because it’s still wet but more like that he plans to use it more often. Fucker
looks like a biker too. Stocky build, tats up the arms, etc. 

Anyway, I napped for a bit before this started because I again
woke up hot flashing two or three times in my sleep. 

No energy for going out for a walk today. We went out
yesterday morning and it was a very misty but pleasant walk. If I didn’t know
any better, I would think it just rained because there was so much dew all over
the place. 

I’m 4% through my trip and heading for the Nevada border. If
I can get the energy for at least that much, I’ll make it today. 