Well, it’s stupid to have this site, that I pay for, and not put anything on it, right? So here’s some stuff.
August is nearly over, thank god. It’s never been my favorite month. In Miami it wasn’t that it was the hottest, but maybe it was because it was the last month of summer and not having to go to school. Depending on the whims of school board politics, sometimes we started school after Labor Day, sometimes the week before — whatever, August just seemed sort of tired and threatening at the same time. Even when I was well out of school I just didn’t like it. No official work holidays, it was hot, of course, hurricanes liked August the most for visiting Florida. Up here in the Shenandoah Valley it’s no different, we even had rain from a hurricane, though it wasn’t a big deal–no Camille, fortunately. It’s been terribly hot, but actually July was worse, we reached temps near 100F. I went to Miami in June–and they were having hot weather down there even for them. The minute I left it poured down rain and nearly flooded my sister’s neighborhood. More on that visit later maybe…
I’m still slowly recovering from whatever made me such a mess last year and the year before (I suspect post-covid depression and I think I may have some lingering physical issues). I got really rocky earlier this year, exhaustion, constant diarrhea… I didn’t know what was going on. The doctor at the clinic said I was suffering from dehydration and allergies (they were REALLY bad this year, everyone I knew had a problem) and also possibly developing full-blown IBS. He put me on Allegra and Flonase and sports drinks and suggested I try the FODMAP diet. I had to eliminate things like apples and related fruits, mushrooms, onions, garlic, wheat, barley, rye (all the gluten grains) and milk products except certain cheeses. And you know what… it worked? I keep falling off it because low-FODMAP bread is expensive in the store (I really should try making my own) but when I stick to it my guts calm down like 75% at least. My main grain is now rice. I have adapted to not putting chunks of onions and garlic in everything. I found, via a friend’s suggestion, a brand of soy milk that has a consistency in coffee almost like half-and-half. I mostly don’t miss the (bad) old foods, though the diet isn’t supposed to be a forever one and I’m to test and figure out what foods I can permit in my diet again.
Then I went and sprained something in my back somehow. It’s healing slowly. I’ll feel almost fine, and then have to do something like sit in my torture chair at work, or do dishes, and it will flair up again. It was very bad yesterday. Icing it seems to help more than anything. I also wonder if I’m low on vitamin D, since I am trapped at work all day like a mole in a mine.
I also think my car was a big part of my physical strain. I’d had the Nissan for six years. It had started needing lots of work, and right before I went off to Miami the mechanic told me I needed to get that catalytic converter replaced. So I removed a kidney and gave them lots of money, and they replaced it. And the car was never the same after that. Oh it started and ran reliably, but it was LOUD, and there was this motherfucking vibration that was like a giant version of that dentist’s drill that has that low, grinding note that you can feel through your whole skull? But it was too late to arrange a rental. I was still a day late leaving. And I was quite depressed. Their explanation: parts on it were worn and old, something something… I had to go. So I drove all the way to Florida and back, and tried to get used to it.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized I was just tired of the car. In a way it had never really seemed to feel comfortable, The seat was shaped oddly, I could never get quite comfortable in it. It had this way of “jumping” or “kicking” when it was cold that they finally ascertained at the garage was an engine mount that needed replacing. FFS I’d driven the car like that since 2018 (also with the engine light on until I got the catalytic converter replaced). And there were other things… I saw myself looking down a barrel of spending the rest of my retirement dough on fixing this car that never seemed to feel like mine and I started researching new(er) cars. I settled on the Chevrolet Spark model, a small “city car” they built in South Korea for the US market up until 2022. I found several models here and there, and finally decided to take a chance and arranged a test drive at the Harrisonburg Carmax. I went up there with no particular intentions to buy, I wasn’t even sure my terrible credit would support financing. And reader: it did. I bought it. Here it is:
(Hasty photo taken with my new-ish phone, which I also got after getting back from Miami and deciding I’d had enough of the old model.) Now yellow is not my color, and at first I entertained getting it wrapped or repainted, but it’s sort of growing on me. And it’s a delight to drive so far. The seat feels pretty good. It’s smooth, not like being inside a cement mixer at all. It has a few things that need fixing, so I’m taking advantage of the dealer’s 90-day warranty: they ordered a new windshield washer pump and hood support. It’s got no CD player, but it came with one of those satellite radio players and I got a free trial of Sirius XM. I’ve already heard several songs that I haven’t heard in almost 40 years.
It’s been a dry, hot summer, as I’ve said. The Rose of Sharon bush that is being slowly strangled by a bindweed and competing with a forsythia for the same space has actually been doing well and producing lots of blooms, but just the pink one — there was another bush that put out white flowers but none have appeared so far. But I see at least one of these every day:
I also finally made the decision to buy one of those suitcase record players. And also found I actually like some Grateful Dead songs.
It sounds pretty good for such a tiny thing. Much better than the plastic record player I had when I was a kid, that I’d listen to my Elton John albums on real loud until my parents would pound on my bedroom door and yell at me to turn it down. Then I’d put my Led Zeppelin album on the hifi with the good speakers and the dead vacuum tube black and white tv and get yelled at more! I miss that thing, the speakers sounded so good.
So that’s a few snippets of my life so far. Upcoming: my latest trip to Florida.