O.K. Let's try this. Yesterday was a disaster. I'll recount it for you. I know you can't wait. Oy! But it is all I have unless I make something up. . . and that would take too long. So let's dive right in. . . shall we?
I woke up feeling badly. Poorly? I didn't feel too well. I made the coffee, did my ablutions, and sat down to read the news. No news. Nothing. I had no internet. I tried futzing around with it for awhile. When I unplugged it all and waited to plug it back in, it would work. For a few minutes. Then the modem/router went dead. I did this a few times before I called the internet provider. We went through a bunch of things and it was working. Good. Within seconds of hanging up, it quit. I decided to use my phone as a hot spot so I could read and write on my computer. I used to be able to do that. No more. No m'am, no sir. AT&T has decided to charge for that service now. I was told I would need to sign up for it on another plan. WTF? I hate corporations. It's time for a revolution.
I made an appointment to exchange my modem/router. I had two hours to wait. I felt like poop and went back to bed.
The replacement is bigger. It is in two parts. No more modem/router. They are separate now, uglier, and take up more space. Whatever. I moved furniture, pulled cables, and got it hooked up sweating like a sick patient. It took me awhile. And then. . .
Nothing.
I called the internet provider. What they had not told me at the cable store was that it had to be turned on remotely. It took awhile. I had to unhook it so I could read numbers off the back of the modem. They were tiny. Flashlights were involved.
From start to finish, it was a six hour ordeal.
My body ached. I had chills but no fever. My belly was not good at all.
I ate some chicken soup.
I called my mother mid-afternoon. No answer. I left a message.
"I think I caught something from you and your crew. I feel like poop. I don't think I'll make it over today."
My mother had been feeling badly, had a fever, etc. She's been running around with my cousin to every store and cheap restaurant in town. She's been to socials and luncheons. I thought she may have Covid, but she never tested. Her neighbors have come around. They've been sick, too. I suspected they all had it and had passed it around and had given it to me. Nobody tests for Covid anymore. It is just a thing that goes around now like the flu.
I sat at the computer and worked at organizing photo files. I had cleared a portable hard drive so that I could put all my travel photos in one spot. It was only 1TB, but I figured that would be enough. I went through other drives finding multiples of folders with the same name but not the same number of photos, so I would have to open both files on different drives, then import the images from one to the other. Laborious and time consuming. New York, last century. New York, early century. Many, many NYC trips. So many photos. San Fran, both centuries. Peru, Argentina, Ecuador, Bolivia, Cuba. Three Cubas. Many Yosemites trips. L.A. just before I got run over. Then Cali with Ili, Detroit, Miami (multiples), Paris. I still have all the old trips to Europe to find. . . Paris, London, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria. China.
1TB will not be enough. Transferring all of this is taking hours and hours. When that is done, I will make selections to put on the website I am building. Oh, don't you worry. These will not look like your father's slide show. Maybe some, if he was good.
Around five, I was feeling worse as one always does near sunset. I needed to make a grocery store run. I had only consumed coffee and chicken soup. It would be a very simple dinner.
The cats were waiting on me when I got back. That is my life.
And YouTube. While I ate, I watched vids on Dark Matter, and Dark Energy. They make up 95% of the universe. So "they" say. "We know it exists. We just don't know what it is. But we can measure it, just as we could measure time and make accurate calendars before we knew the earth rotated around the sun."
Makes sense. We can measure what we don't know. I am fascinated. It is good to think of things beyond identity politics, beyond the puny self.
"But what about me?"
We are not important. It is good to remember that. I needed distraction. A lot of it.
Then. . . I searched for "The Russian Revolution." Good lectures. The Czar was a shit. So were Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin. They were elitist thugs. It all intertwined with WWI. And the aftermath that brought Hitler and Mussolini to power. I watched that, too. There is a constant theme in much of history.
I watched an interview with a new photographer. She is schooled in color theory and design. Her photographs are pastels. It makes me think that I should take some art theory classes at the university. I'll look into that.
By ten, I'm done. A Tylenol and an Aleve P.M. I sleep nine hours, and when I get up. . . it is Easter.
I am groggy and don't know how I feel yet. When I finish this, I will think about trying a walk. I have gotten nothing for my mother and cousin. We are going to my mother's across the street neighbors' house for Easter dinner. I do it for my mom. Same people as Thanksgiving and Christmas. I'll need to get champagne. I bought some wonderful chocolate covered cherries at Whole Foods the other day on a whim. They are decadent. I will go and get some for my mother and cousin. They won't like them in all likelihood, palates addicted to cheap waxy candy and soft serve ice cream from Cracker Barrel.
Selavy.
There's the dull report. But I'll have Easter dinner to write about tomorrow, another scintillating tale.
I have been having terrible dreams. I could tell you about those. Ho! I'll just say that I am in a panic. Tomorrow I have my doctor's appointment. All my nightmares could come true.
But let's not end like that. I hope you have egg hunts and Easter baskets full of chocolate eggs and Peeps and that your Easter dinner is wholesome and happy.
The images, by the way, are by Maggie Taylor who was married to my old photo prof, Jerry Uelsmann. She has a new exhibit at the PhotoEye gallery in Santa Fe right now. I'll see you there.
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