2009 6 of 7
TUESDAY, 9/15/09: Pee at 8:25AM, do Actualism scantily and VERY absent-mindedly, and pee again at 9:56 and 10:05. Call Mildred about tomorrow from 10:10-10:40, and she's civil MOST of the time; Anita's always taken during the day but appreciates the invitation from 10:40-10:50, having had a great party (to which she didn't invite Ken and me) on her roof on July 4th; and talk with Charles, who's interested in Governor's Island on Saturday or Sunday, which I now find myself to be open to, from 10:50-10:57, since he has to rush off to his lawyer-accountant, on this LAST day of his tax-extension; leave word with Doug at 11AM, and then Spartacus calls 11-11:08, working on Saturday and Sunday, and will leave "Mad Men" (his idea), "Nurse Jackie," and "Hung" in front of my door on his way to Bob's. Have breakfast, finish the Times, and get ready to write the income-tax checks when a messenger leaves the ASME pages downstairs. Write out the checks (SO happy to have the cash to do so!) and take them down with a pile of Styrofoam, drop them in the mailbox, pick up the ASME envelope, and greet Joel, who came from 167 to 101 to vote. Back up to catch up with this at what seems like the VERY late hour of 2:05PM---ALL JUST CATCHING UP! And printing pages. And of course NOW I have to try SPIDER!!! Do that to 3:05 and then leave it because I have to get to the gym, taking the last pile of Styrofoam. Back before 5 and start into lunch when Spartacus comes to leave off FOUR CDs of television! THAT will satisfy my needs for a while! Have lunch while looking through the new New York and New Yorker, then decide I've got to start working toward tomorrow. Go through the St. Petersburg files to pull out five things to look at to supplement the show, and decide my next show will be on November 18 with Egypt/Petra. Dust, and then get out the vacuum cleaner and the belt breaks almost instantly. Replace that and the ROLLER sticks. OIL that and it works! Use the vacuum for the carpets, scrub the bathroom bowls, scrub the floors, vacuum up the scraps, and in great relief get back to finish Spider ABOVE 300 at last! At 10:25PM have the score of 50.78841 at 301 up after 5 wins! Catch up with this, just to satisfy myself, at 10:35PM, ready for dinner. Watch three episodes of "Mad Men," convenient because Spartacus has removed the commercials, but really low-key drama. Bed at 12:42AM.
WEDNESDAY, 9/16/09: Pee at 6 and 6:45AM. Up at 9AM to cancel Blockbuster before two-week free trial ends, without charge I hope, and type dream and this to 9:17AM, ready for day. 11:47: JUST about to type that everything's finished when Suzie calls from the subway station, wanting to know if I want anything from the Sabrett's cart. I tell her I'm ready, come right up. She comes in with a bottle of Blueberry Brandy, only 30 proof, which is surprisingly white when poured. We leave here at 12:35 and get there in time for me to prove that the light-blue wall is OK for the pictures. Charles, Steve, John, Suzie, and Spartacus are evident, and Piri comes in late, stumbles to a seat, and at my third glitch (from not having a good extension cord, it seems) she leaves. Show is finally finished at 2:30, everyone saying they're happy with it. Christina isn't there, so I have to change my reported 11/18 show to 12/16, which I call Leon about after. They insist on picking up munchies at CVS, and I pay for Steve's drink, which satisfies my requirement for five Chase Visa charges THIS month; we go back for good (too good and too many, for me) pretzels, nuts, and crackers with her brandy and a taste of her former Blackberry Brandy and my new Bailey's Caramel Cream. Steve's hungry, so we're across to Iron Chef and I'm persuaded by John's enthusiasm to get the daily special of lobster tail and shrimp on eggplant, which turns out to be much too much food, and not that great. Stagger to the television to watch "Beefcake" twice, the second time with a VERY ineffectual narration by the self-centered writer-director, but the nude Joe Dallasandro clip was the best part of it. Really pig out with nuts and pretzels, my stomach visibly distended and feeling filled-full. Bed at 11:58PM.
THURSDAY, 9/17/09: 3:01AM mympths. Note dream. For some odd reason a SONG comes to mind, with a melody that I notate as well as I can, with the following lyrics:
'Twas HERE, my lov-er he BADE me good bye.
'Twas HERE he told me he never would lie.
And THERE my lover would see me sad cry.
For THERE, my darling, I surely would sigh.
And THEN, to my horror, he sure-ly would DIE.
For my lover, my darling, my pudding and pie. (3:36AM: my hero on HIGH.)
Cast forth on the waters...and sailed to the sky! To 3:15AM.
Repeat, modulated one note higher. Pee, drink water, bed at 3:20, 59F. 3:27AM:
Ah, NO, my noble lord told me that I
Need not FEAR for future fates taking me nigh
To my grave by the side of the far-distant byre
Where my lovely, my hero, he wed me...and tight tied the tie
That bound us together till aeons pass by.
3:32AM: Final sonnet couplet: And that's how my husband, my beautiful GUY
Took his leave of me THERE on the shores of the Wye. Why? 3:34AM.
3:39AM: Sad susurrous sigh
To tear thus our too-tender ties
So sing sorrow slightly, sob softly, SIGH
Long will my lover lie lonely, lack aye. 3:43AM
3:46AM: So stranded, so sorrowful, so shockingly shy
Since seventeen summers slide shamefully by.
3:50AM: Ah, death's dark delusions I deftly defy
And ransom my ray with rice and with rye
For fear my fierce foe will fix me with "Fie!" 3:53AM
3:56AM: Title: "My Ian and I."
Up at 8:42. Have breakfast while watching two more "Mad Men," and then get back to the first pass through the ASME pages from 9:35-12:25, leaving word with Robert about 11AM for questions, which eventually number 27. Talk to Marj 12:35-1PM about how good it feels to WORK!!! Talk to Mildred about the show from 1:22-1:35, leave word with Piri 1:36, talk to Shelley 1:37-1:47, Christina 1:48-1:50, rather coldly postponing my show until 12/16, and leave word with Leon at 1:52. Robert calls at 2, and answers most of the questions to 2:25, so I worked all of 3:15 today, five hours in all so far. Finish watching all four hours of "Mad Men," the two-hour start of "America's First River," and two hours of "The Magic Kingdom" about Disney's empire-building. Have a late lunch and an even later dinner after Spider 8:10-9:15 to a new high of 50.79863 at 305 up after 5 wins, and then Taipei to 10:20. Watch two hours of "Nurse Jackie," sometimes so funny it hurts, but REALLY rather contrived, and get to bed at 12:55AM.
FRIDAY, 9/18/09: Pee at 5:23 and note dream. Up at 8:56, watch 2.5 hours more of "Nurse Jackie" during the day, talked to Charles yesterday about going to Governor's Island Saturday or Sunday, and also yesterday Mildred said she was going to turn 80 today! Actually sit down and tackle the Schwab Visa statement, getting old Wales-trip receipts to verify amounts, and returning all the Wales-trip receipts to the box of souvenirs, but getting OUT the local slips for the statement BEFORE the trip for filing with the statement. At last left with only the Beard payments to square, and find that I'd MISSED RECORDING #367 on 8/13 for a $75 frequent-diner dinner! So relieved that I don't have to call the Beard and complain AGAIN about a refund, or even a question, that I phone Marj and praise myself for resolving my problem by PROVING THAT I'M FALLIBLE! Then actually look up the websites I'd clipped out to see: theauteurs.com charges $5 for movies; Amazon charges for streaming-video movies; the water-purity sites are so "incident oriented" that I really don't learn anything about Brooklyn's water, and anyway I drink mostly HH BOTTLED waters. Also check Choice Visa to make SURE I have no charges for this month (and in fact on Saturday GET the $0 bill). Hm, didn't think to check Zolnerzone. Do a round of Taipei without recording it. Then work on the ASME index 6:50-9:45, putting files from G: onto C: just to be sure. Again have dinner late while watching nonsense TV. Bed at 12:45AM.
SATURDAY, 9/19/09: Note dream at 6:53AM and pee. Up at 7:50, pee again and get the Times. Do the Saturday puzzle, an easy historical puns and anagrams by Mel Taub, have breakfast, then do two magazine puzzles by 12:05PM. FINISH the ASME indexes from 12:10-2:10, Charles not calling about Governor's Island. Do Taipei 2-4PM, have a late lunch while watching two episodes of"Hung," and Marj calls at 5PM, introducing herself as "Nemesis," which she proves to be, talking about some philosophical points of judgementalism, letting people be, which just BORES THE SHIT out of me. I get off at 5:15 by saying I've got to get to the gym, which turns out to close at 7:30 on Saturday. Finish quite easily, pick up a stack of mail, get a call from Spartacus to leave his CDs on Bob Lambiase's doorknob, and watch the making of "Burn the Floor," which looks exhausting. Set up to record "Georgia O'Keefe" and go to catch up on the journal. Then think to check Zolnerzone: Do that NOW 10:23PM Saturday; Schwab is actually up to $395K+; 10:38PM: Verizon is "kindly" responding by saying I can phone their number. HA!! DO try again AND AGAIN get rebuffed at "login" and THEN they say I don't enter a ten-digit phone number! AGAIN send a note saying THEY must call ME! Tris still hasn't updated five "lepsum" trips in South America, and hasn't added my trip-list, and hasn't added the Adirondacks trips in North America. DISGUSTED at 10:50PM! Finally finish this at 11PM, tired enough for bed, but just to make sure, I'll try some Taipei again, to 12:10AM. Bed at 12:15.
SUNDAY, 9/20/09: 6:22AM pee and type dream. Look out and the sun rises EXACTLY at 6:41AM on my watch (as in the Times), JUST to the south of the new horizon-blocking apartment building. For DAYS before this, actual SUNRISE is hidden BEHIND this building, so the right edge is AT the equinox (which the Times tells me is at 5:18PM Tuesday) line. Up at 8:45 and hassle myself for the next minutes. 9:03AM: ABSOLUTE DISGUST with the number of petty, niggling, time-consuming MAINTENANCE chores that face me, just leaving me feeling like I'd like to stay in BED and IGNORE them: 1) transcribing the tiny dream that I had between dozes after the "big" dream of the night, 2) peeing, 3) putting clotrimazole on my feet for maybe one last time, 4) washing my hands from that before washing my face, and then AGAIN soaping up the faucets so they look CLEAN and not water-spotted, 5) applying deodorant for the first time since the gym yesterday, 6) putting on my T-shirt, 7) combing my hair, 8) dressing in the articles of clothing that include pants with a 40-inch waist that now appear capable of slipping TOTALLY down over my ass when not belted to 36 inches or less, 9) catching up with this journal, 10) glancing through the headlines on the Sunday Times, 11) looking forward to breakfast, 12) THOROUGHLY disgusted with Virgin Mobile, so that I look for documentation to find that I got it around JUNE of 2006, so I've had it for almost three and a half years and have used it TWICE (once to phone Suzie in Jersey when Charles and I took the wrong train to meet her, once during the time my regular phone was out of order) ONLY, and the SECOND use certainly could have been in someone's neighboring apartment (Bill or Bob, or even the distant people on my floor), and was that first use WORTH the $199 I have in my account now and the something like $50 I spent---not to mention the TIME and the HASSLE---on the phone and charger? So if they NEVER phone, and I NEVER top up, the phone will be WORTHLESS---and I DON'T CARE! Grist for Sharon's mill!! ANGER!!! Stop at 9:12AM to butter the last of Suzie-bought TLC crackers and EAT them! Then have breakfast and finish the Times and put everything away and finish this at 10:45AM, having called Charles at 10:15 and announcing that I'm leaving for Governor's Island "in an hour or so." Guess I'll start Taipei, hoping he'll call. He finally does, about 1:05PM, and figures he'll be here in half an hour. I get ready, and stop Taipei at 1:45, he's not buzzed YET. Quickly eat two pieces of buttered toast as a substitute for lunch, and back to Taipei because he doesn't show up until 2:15! Walk down to crowded pier, but the ferries take 149 people, and we might even get on the first one, except I didn't count what I took for local tourists: the bicyclists, who got on first and lined the aisles with their bikes! But the second ferry came in about five minutes, and we were actually on Governor's Island by 3PM. But to our surprise there was NOTHING at the Brooklyn Ferry landing about the Netherlands Festival! Walk over to the Manhattan Ferry and THERE are signs. Down the "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" to look into Castle William, just a run-down ruin, and then to the waterfront to look over at Manhattan. Follow around where the sign points, and we don't pay anything to go in the gate where "guardians" stand with wrist-straps for some reason. We laugh at the earphoned "silent disco" platform, put distance between VERY amateurish street-theater performances, and have $9 glasses of mediocre prosecco. We sit in the shade for a bit, go out the back way to see the hillock full of the folding-screen "artwork" that Charles says is some of the worst stuff he's ever seen. Continue down toward the church and see a lunch wagon that sells a large, commendable cheeseburger with lettuce and tomato and onion for only $5, which is actually a bit TOO big for my enjoyment. Enjoy cones of light in a darkened church, and glance in at a tiny museum, then go to the eastern waterfront to walk along until I see a shuttle bus that offers to drive us back to the Brooklyn Ferry landing while circling through parts we hadn't seen yet, Charles not believing the island is so BIG, coming up with a half dozen fantastic ideas for usage that will, of course, never happen. Out to look at the newly painted Admiral's House, which he admires, and then the Governor's House, which the plaque proclaims was built in 1706, but the placard in from says it's from 1860! Quite a difference. Back to join maybe 80 bicyclists to wait for the ferry, which comes quickly and gets back about 6PM, and then we stand for about fifteen minutes waiting for VERY creamy ice cream sundaes, $4 for his and a not-quite-worth-it $7.50 for mine with hot-fudge topping. Then up to the Promenade to look at the sunset for a bit, me repeating my mystification that, just two days before the "equinox," the sunrise could be at 6:41 but the sun doesn't appear to set before 7PM! He finds the trains are stopping at his stops going uptown (he had to take the A, which made him late getting to my place) and gets on the subway, and I get home to watch the 2009 Emmys, quick-moving from 8-11:05, and then send off "working copies" of the indexes to Robert. Bed at 1AM.
MONDAY, 9/21/09: Up at 6:08AM, heart POUNDING, and pee and take a valium and back to bed until 8:44AM. Have breakfast, watch "Georgia O'Keeffe," rather nicely done by Joan Allen and Jeremy Irons, and then two hours of "Royal Pains" and the last bit of "Hung." Verizon finally calls ME to let me top up with $21.17 for my new credit card and assures me I'll only be billed $15 automatically on 12/20. What a relief! Explain to Marj that I don't like talking philosophy, which she understands. Get the penultimate answers from Robert at noon, do Spider 1-2:15 to a triumphant 50.80362 at 307 up after 4 wins, and then have lunch, when Robert calls with the LAST answer, so I can send him off the complete indexes about 4:20, just before leaving for town to find the only seats on sale for "A Steady Rain" are $226-376, and get four tickets (for me and Rita and Charles and Steve) for "God of Carnage" for 10/20 for $66.50 apiece, stupidly forgetting to take the checks and laundry ticket with me! Back to get a load of junk mail, Marj leaving a message to say she'll call about ATLANTC between 8-8:15! Call Charles and Steve, who says he wants to be on the train to Newark at 10AM for our 1PM flight on Thursday. Catch up with this by 7PM, deciding to test the Wales slides before Ken arrives for Teresa's at 7PM tomorrow; that takes longer than I would have thought, to 7:20. Print lots of pages, too. Decide to have dinner before Marj calls, and just finish as she calls at 8PM. We go through about three pages of ATLANTC to 8:50, and then I do some unrecorded Taipei, and have dinner while watching TV. Bed 12:35AM.
TUESDAY, 9/22/09: Pee at 5:48AM and take valium. Up at 9:13 and type dream. Have breakfast, probably do Taipei, talk to people on the phone, including Robert Workoff who calls to say that I mistakenly billed him for $150, not $1500, so I have to send off a SECOND bill. Have a relatively early lunch and decide to finish proofing ATLANTC from 3:10-6PM, rather exhausting, but I'm glad I finished with it. Hope Marj and I can finish it tomorrow. Neaten the apartment a bit before Ken arrives downstairs at 6:50 and we go to Teresa's where he has the duck he loves and I have a mediocre Beef Bourguignon, feeling very full afterwards. We pay in cash, as usual, and back about 8:05 for him to go through the Wales photos until 9:30, taking about twenty of them on a CD-R that he brought which was exactly like the CD-R I was prepared to give him. Feel VERY tired afterwards, put out a few packing items in preparation for tomorrow, and go through LOTS of mail: three magazines and a Birch bill that I have to process tomorrow. Get to bed at 10:53PM.
WEDNESDAY, 9/23/09: Pee at 4:24AM, type dream, take valium, and make a list of things to do today. Up at 8:18 still bone-sore after nine hours' sleep. Try to set up a Birch account, but it goes frustratingly nowhere. Try calling them at 8:58AM, but they're only open at 8AM CST; they'll call me back. Start catching up with the journal and Birch calls at 9:05, but can't tell me how to process anything, so they'll send me an e-mail "in a few minutes" with a temporary ID of bobzoln. Check, but it isn't there in at 9:20 yet. Catch up with this at 9:45AM and try them again. They tell me how to do it, but it's still a hassle. Shelley calls to wish me a good trip, and I bitch about Birch. Try Carolyn but her messages are full. Call Marj at 11:05, and we FINISH ATLANTC by 12:30, which makes me momentarily very happy. Print out three pages of dreams for Sharon, Paul McLean calls to talk about Paul C. and asks how I liked Wales, and I tell him I'm leaving for Labrador tomorrow. Start putting things on the table for packing, with the enormous bag of Arctic wear in the bottom, and scarf, gloves, warm socks, beret next to it. Get to the gym about 1:30 and back about 3PM, and heaven knows what happens then, because it's 4PM and I have to quickly have lunch so I can get to Sharon's on time, THINKING I'm leaving early at 4:38 but get there at precisely 4:44
SHARON B. 111 9/23/09
She's sorry she missed the slides on Wednesday because she was sick, but she was glad she didn't have to cancel my appointment. I said it went well. Also said that I was feeling VERY strange: took valium the last two mornings, and felt that I was somehow "missing time," almost as if I'd taken Rohypnol. She asked how that made me feel, and I struggled to say that I felt anxious about not feeling anxious, when I got right down to it. Read her part of the dream about the waters in the dark, and said it reminded me of the awful dream of a few months ago about the second floor with weakened timbers over an unknown dark depth of water. Circled items for her to look at, and just handed the sheets to her at the end. Circled about the topics too: LOTS of things going "wrong:" three people dead in one line in my Atlantic journal of 1996, Carolyn still not recovered from her "brain hemorrhage," my sister coming to visit, not knowing how the trip to Labrador would be (VERIFIED by my conversation with Steve in which he made it clear I SHOULD have gotten some Canadian dollars for taxis and things, and we're staying TWO nights in Ottawa!), problems setting up my Birch account for my telephone, the flop that was the Netherlands Festival on Governor's Island, though I did remark about the goodness of the ice cream after that, AND the glory of finally settling the Virgin Mobile top-up problem. She kept concluding that I wanted things to go the way I wanted them to go, even if they were BADLY, as they had been before previous trips, and I tried to evade by saying I was feeling anxious about not feeling my usual level of anxiety, which caused me anxiety. I felt stupid, called myself stupid, even though she said that this WAS going to be a chancy trip, on a ship in the far north out of any contact with civilization in the case of any major medical problem, which pattern I hoped to, at last, BREAK with this trip. Felt silly about being so concerned about such a MINOR trip. After more circling, primarily about the things I was hoping would "work" with Rita being here, though when we talked on the phone there was HARDLY anything to talk about, and she could NOT fend for herself in the city because she didn't KNOW it, and had hardly any idea what she COULD do, let alone would WANT to do, here. Sharon wished me a good trip and established my next meeting with her was October 14. I left with my watch showing exactly 5:29PM, as I'd gotten in when it was exactly 4:44PM.
Continuation of WEDNESDAY, 9/23/09: Deposit two checks, get $300 in (American, silly me) cash, and pick up my laundry for $21, getting home at 6PM exactly. Call Steve to find out how little I knew about the up-coming trip, and catch up with this at 7:02PM, getting almost too dark to see outside, though the temperature is still an amazing 77, though Steve said the current temperature in Kuujuuaq was 32, with rain or snow forecast for Saturday, when we'd be transferring to the ship. STILL have to get to packing, and I just don't FEEL like it!!! Tempted to play Taipei, but I don't, getting to packing, and sorting through old stuff, and taking old stuff out of dop kit, and looking AGAIN for the papers Steve said were sent to me about the early stage of the trip, but I just can't seem to find them. Pile things up, weighing my bag for a preliminary 27 pounds, putting two jackets into my shoulder bag to reduce the volume in the black bag, and finally putting spare meals into the freezer while I prepare my dinner at 9:15, and watch almost two hours of "Universe" before deciding to leave the last fifteen minutes for breakfast tomorrow: I just feel TIRED. Phone Spartacus to verify that he knows to water the plants, taking the penultimate task off the list I made for myself this morning: 1) get boarding pass, 2) get $300 cash, 3) Sharon, 4) Pack, 5) Spartacus plants, 6) print dreams for Sharon, and 7) gym. Get to bed at 10:57PM, but then get up to add a few things to the stack on the table, getting back to bed just after 11PM. Fall asleep almost immediately, thank goodness.
THURSDAY, 9/24/09: Pee at 5:05 and 5:31, trying to do Actualism to get back to sleep, but worry about oversleeping, and the number of things still to do, so I'm up at 6:17AM, anxious, but not enough to take a time-deadening valium. Search through all three "spare supplies" bags once more for more pill boxes, but have to resign myself to be limited to only two---had SO many more, even ABOVE the two that were taken in the Mount Royal Hotel in Cardiff(?). Then get to the pills themselves, putting my morning ones in the now-container, leaving the two for tonight and tomorrow morning, relying on getting home to get my return-date evening pills. Lots of stuff still on the table to be stuffed away into the two bags, VERY annoyed at the roach I stepped on in the living room entrance, the one that ran under the closet door in the bedroom, and the little ones on the stove. Guess I've GOT to get a service before Rita gets here. Surprisingly warm and humid out, uncomfortable even only in shorts. Want to delay breakfast as late as possible, so I type this to 7:20AM and hope to finish packing before I get to eat. 9AM: Still rushing. Pack, weigh stuff, eat breakfast and finish chocolate-cherry pudding and pack up stuff to be taken out. Wash dishes, remember phone message at last minute, and take cards out of wallet and put more name cards in. Ready to dress and get out.
LABRADOR TRIP, 9/24-10/9, 2009
SATURDAY, 10/10/09: 5:23AM: Actually woke at 3:58AM with the dream I just transcribed, thinking I was lying awake rehearsing the dream in my head for transcription, but clearly I also napped between my first and second waking. Drink water and pee, feeling tired and sore. 7:03AM: Type three dreams. 7:17AM: Pick up early Times with Obama's Nobel Prize! Up at 9:56AM, still weary. Three phone messages: 1) Poll, 2) Vote, 3) Verizon, not applicable. Have breakfast, phone Charles 11:35AM: memory full. 11:35-11:55 talk to Arnold. 11:55-12:20 Marj. 12:25 LW Mildred. 62 e-mails to 1:45. Go through MAIL to 2:40. Lunch, then magazines to 4:50PM. Bed 11:59PM.
SUNDAY, 10/11/09: Pee 5:10AM. Up about 8AM to get Times in. Start Times and puzzles and magazines. Play Taipei, just to do it, to 12:40PM. Steve calls, Kit calls to invite me to the Met Museum opening on the ONLY night I have a BEARD reservation! SAD! Spider 9:35-10:55PM to 50.80328 to 307 up after 4 wins. Bed at 12:20AM.
MONDAY, 10/12/09: 5:09AM dream. Kill roach on nightstand! Maybe doze a bit, and up at 8:30AM. Offices closed because it's Columbus Day. Computer e-mail fuss, talk to Mildred, and play Taipei to 1:20PM. Check that the Met Opera isn't doing weekend lotteries yet. Then do puzzles, write a note that looks like "9Gynium 2income" [which turns out to be "Abraham Lincoln" by Griffith] and feel that I have a COLD coming on, so I take 8 grams Vitamin C. Spider 5:15-5:50 to new highs of 50.80835 at 309 up after 3 wins. Bed at 12:20AM.
TUESDAY, 10/13/09: Pee at 5:32AM and at 6:51. Up at 9:04AM [this is the last note on Labrador-trip index-card 7]. Call HIP for flu shot and they say they're out now, I should call back on Friday or Monday, when they expect a new shipment. Watch "Paving the Way: Park-to-Park Highway" that I taped while I was away. Spider 4:35-5:55 to a tantalizing 50.80535 at 308 up after 4 wins, and PERSIST THROUGH to 9:45PM to new highs of 50.80956 at 310 up after 5 wins. Get the house egg foo yung from Great Wall and enjoy it greatly. Bed 12:20AM.
WEDNESDAY, 10/14/09: Pee at 6:09 at 6:43AM. Up at 7:12 for sunrise, and at 7:50 to start list for Rita's visit: check Audience Extras for shows, shopping at Key Food, dinner at Chip Shop. But in rain, nothing much happened. Up at 9:33AM. Think to put a flannel blanket on Rita's bed. Start keeping track of Taipei tiles on note cards to help me win games. Decide to look at Google Earth and label MY house (in Akron) at 4102'54"N, 8130'32"W, elevation 1094 feet, and my NEW house (in Brooklyn) at 4041'51"N, 7350'33"W, elevation 80 feet.
SHARON B. 112 10/14/09
She follows me into the lobby at 4:35 and says "Hello," so she won't frighten me. She calls me in at exactly 4:45; I show her the New Yorker cartoon, which she thinks is funny, and asks how my trip was. I confess to have been disappointed a bit with it, even though the passengers on the ship were interesting, the food was good, I was in the smaller group which was the only group to see the three polar bears, but the Moravian villages were rather sterile, and any time Steve opened his mouth I felt that he was so low-key and pedantic that people found him uninteresting. She probed into my feelings about that, and we finally got into the pattern of my dreams in which I felt I was looking on from a distance, watching a play or movie and even ANALYZING what was going on, further distancing myself. Late in the session I realized it was part of my feeling isolated because I had no family: everyone else on the ship had children and grandchildren in addition to the person with whom he or she was traveling, or even if the person was traveling alone. I said I knew I never wanted a family, but I felt removed from others who were always in the middle of a crowd and could NEVER be alone. I remarked about the anger I felt, which I couldn't express, with Steve when he was "futzing around" when I had SAID that I was hungry for the late lunch which should come soon because we had a major dinner at 6PM. She asked if I felt angry with him for being low-key, and I said it was more embarrassment: they might think that, since I was traveling with this---well, nebbish, that I was somewhat of a nebbish myself. "Which you certainly aren't," Sharon hastened to say, and of course I agreed. But I did feel that I had to rein in my feelings about him; couldn't get angry with him, had to appear nonjudgmental when I was judging CONSTANTLY inside. I remarked again how impressed I was with Jeremy Irons's character in "Brideshead Revisited," when he could just LOOK ON without remarking about the dysfunctional family he was dealing with, not looking to change or "fix" the situations. And lately I've felt that I was doing more and more of the same, which made me feel even MORE distanced. BUT, being judgmental all the time was maybe my way of establishing SOME kind of connection, even if I couldn't express it. Which brought up the typical plaint of the gay man: I couldn't TELL any straight man how attractive I thought he might be because it just would NOT go over well in the current society this conservative Christian country has created for itself. That made me feel sad, and frustrated. Then we got onto the better feelings I had about my sister's visit starting tomorrow: I'd lined up a lot of activities for us and for her, and when I got down to it, maybe, as I so often glumly anticipated the worst that could happen on a trip, I feared that, in growing older, as I had thought of myself as becoming more like my mother, maybe RITA has become more like her, too, and we'll ARGUE through much of her stay here. But then I dismissed that as being VERY unlikely: Rita on the phone showed absolutely no sign of being ANYTHING like Mom was. And I was actually looking forward to it, even though, as Rita reminded me, it was supposed to rain for the first few days of her stay here. I told Sharon about her planned visit to the Metropolitan Museum opening, confident that Rita would behave well enough, though I feared just a bit that I might have to restrain any negative comments about how she'd DRESS for the occasion. Then got into the frustration of getting a COLD when Rita was about to arrive, but Sharon tended to say that, even without my realizing it, the trip was tiring, and so I simply caught a cold while recovering from the exertions of the trip, which only happens to coincide with Rita's visit---though we both laughed AGAIN about how I had to call back to correct my initial wrong instructions on where to board the A train in order to get off at Cadman Plaza. But in the end we both hope it will turn out well, and I looked at the clock and said the session was over and that I'd see her next week, just when Rita was about to LEAVE.
Continuation of WEDNESDAY, 10/14/09: 8:45PM: Picked up my prescription on the way back, having stopped to admire the Halloween setup in the garden east of 55 Pierrepont, which Sharon had also noticed. Back to hear the answering machine talking, and it was Caesar asking about carrying traveler's checks or ATM cards on his ten-day trip to Italy starting Tuesday. He asked if I was going to the Games Group, and I hadn't even realized it was this Sunday. So I called Piri, telling her about my trip and my monomaniacal concern about Rita's visit, and she said she'd further injured an elbow, breaking a pin that had been inserted at an earlier time, and had thought of not having the group because she would surely fly about and injure it even more. So I marked the NEXT, November, date in my calendar so I wouldn't forget. Then, sitting in the bedroom, I immediately went back to the Taipei game I'd shut off after playing from 4:05-4:25 to fill in the time before going to Sharon's, and stopped only at 8:10 when I figured I'd make tuna casserole for tonight, which might serve as a fill-in meal before my HH meals arrive some time Friday. Then came back to start to catch up with all this journal. Had started filling out a schedule for Rita's eight days here, and had started a list of museums with MoMA, "free from Suzie," but of course her passes are for the Bronx Botanical Gardens, and I finally turn over the MoMA pass from Anita and find that it expired in July 2007! Nothing like being current! Start to clear off my desk. Cum FIENDISHLY well 11-11:35PM, to get it out of my system before Rita arrives to start my frustration. Bed 11:58PM.
THURSDAY, 10/15/09: Pee 7:03AM. Up 9:22AM. While waiting for Rita, I decide to transfer photos from the Labrador trip into Olympus Master, creating New Album (6) of 596 photos. Start editing them when she rings the doorbell! We talk, she unpacks, and we go to Key Food for groceries and not much more since it's cold and raining. We finish my tuna casserole for our dinners, I tell her about what I've scheduled for her, we watch "Mummy 3: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," even though she's tired from getting up at 5AM, and we put down the Venetian blinds. I record "Discovering Ardi" from 9:25-11PM. Bed 11:32PM.
FRIDAY, 10/16/09: Up at 7:42AM. Proof Labrador on NI from 9/24 on page 81 to page 86, line 8.83. Watch "Koyanisqatsi" while we have breakfast. Then out to deposit my check, get two torchere bulbs, and she's feeling up to it so we subway (first toward Atlantic Avenue because I got us onto the wrong platform!) to the Morgan Museum which has good Milton and Sendak (quite different!) displays, and when we finish at 2PM she decides she doesn't have to eat expensively here, but we go to Clark's Corner for a great lunch special at 2:50PM of pea soup and wraps with desserts and beverage for under $10! Stop off to visit Spartacus until almost 5PM, back to pick up HH meals, and we eat here while watching the start of "What Dreams May Come." Bed at 11:16PM.
SATURDAY, 10/17/09: Pee at 12:43, 2:40, and 7:33AM. Up at 9:10, Rita sleeping until then. Breakfast in and get out to Brooklyn Botanic Gardens at 11:50PM, expensive on Saturdays, and walk through blooming roses and greenhouses for orchids, and good lunch of clam chowder and tuna half-sandwiches. Rush to get to "After Miss Julie" at 2:30PM to find it started at 2PM! To top balcony seats for a good production and great acting, over at 3:35 and we sit through discussion downstairs until 4:30. Back to dinners of leftovers and end of "What Dreams May Come." Bed 11:45PM, drinking LOTS of water before going to bed.
SUNDAY, 10/18/09: Pee ONLY at 7:09AM! 9:40AM: Got up at 8:27AM to get the Times, read all through it, and still by 9:30 Rita isn't up and moving around. Is anything wrong? I put old clothes into the hamper and start the almost impossible task of catching up with all this journal! She's up at 10. Breakfast or brunch at Park Plaza, then out to the Rubin Museum for a good hour and a half before leaving at 1:50 to get to subways to "Arms and the Man" at 2:30, decent performance with a maid that Rita says looks just like her daughter-in-law. Then to get more free caramel-cheddar popcorn from the Lexington Avenue Street Fair, Rita gets her glasses fixed free, and we get to Mildred's about 5:10PM to chat in her upper room and then out to Table D'Hote for decent dinner until 7:30, and home for "Monty Python: Almost the Truth (The Lawyer's Cut)" followed by "Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl," which we'd both seen before in the 90s but find fun things to re-see. Bed at 11:55PM.
MONDAY, 10/19/09: Pee at 2:33AM. Hear "alarm clocks" at 4:14 and 5:22. Pee at 5:25 and 7:40AM and up at 9:10AM. Leave word with Charles about this afternoon, but he doesn't call back. Check with Steve that we should be there around 3PM. I get a haircut from 11:15-12:05 while Rita washes her hair. I put out Angkor bas-relief book and three Dunhuang books for her to look at. I FINALLY get around to catching up with MOST of this by 1:45PM, ready to leave for Shake Shack. Short line for ordering but long wait until 3:10 for the two Shake Stacks and a Black-and-White milkshake, which we take up to Steve's and eat on his plates set up for dessert. He shows Rita Labrador slides and serves great date-nut bread that he made, with good cream cheese inside, and good cookies from City Bakery, all of which he gives us to take home. Home to watch Monty Python Almost #2 and then "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" to 11:30PM. I have rest of Clark's Corner beef wrap for a late snack. Bed at 12:30AM.
TUESDAY, 10/20/09: Pee and shit at 6:17AM. Up 9:40AM. To Aquarium at noon, paying lots to get in, and I have a tuna wrap from which I discard most of the wrap. We look at walrus, sharks, jellyfish, and other sea creatures until we leave about 3:30 to get to Nathan's to share a hot dog and a large lemonade until taking the subway to meet Charles at 5:30 outside of Dallas BBQ on 42nd Street. Good dinner, and poor "God of Carnage," which everyone else likes. Home to watch Monty Python Almost #3 and "Monty Python and the Life of Brian." Bed at 11:55PM.
WEDNESDAY, 10/21/09: 6:50: Pee. Up at 9AM and note dream. I watch "El Cid" while Rita goes for the free boat-ride to the Statue of Liberty. She's back to start dressing for her meeting with Kit at the Metropolitan Museum while I go to Sharon's at 4:35.
SHARON B. 113 10/21/09
Get there early just to get out of apartment with Rita getting ready to go meet Kit at the Met. Start by describing the slight anxiety attack I had ON THE WAY HERE. I couldn't be "channeling" Rita's anxiety about the end of her trip, but it's like a trip is ENDING for me, as Rita's visit was like a vacation WITH her in NYC. But then, as I think about it, maybe I'm panicking about having NOTHING lined up for me to do: no trips, no work, no visitors---I'll be ALONE, though alone is REALLY what I want to be so that I can do what I want to do when I want to do it. Eventually get into the feeling that I'm ANGRY with Rita for dithering when I got back early from the gym so that we could leave early for the Aquarium, but she wasn't NEARLY ready and I felt ANGRY with the time it took her to GET ready, no appreciating that I gave up my gym session to we could leave early. Sharon goes into my not being able to express my anger, and having talked about the disappointment with "God of Carnage," I said that maybe I was angry at the play for showing people SHOWING their anger and conflicts so OPENLY, which I felt I couldn't do because it wouldn't be FAIR to the person I was angry with: it was MY fault I was angry with them, not that they were doing anything PURPOSELY to make me angry---Rita slow in getting ready to leave, people talking loudly on the subway, stupid cellphone conversations too loud---well, maybe I COULD be angry with THOSE. But I was mostly angry with MYSELF for being angry with people that, by rights, I really shouldn't SHOW anger to. Even said that I didn't feel good getting back from the last few trips, as I usually do, because, before, the next trip was too close, and this time, because Rita was arriving in just a week. However, at the VERY end, I said that playing Taipei as MUCH AS I LIKED (rather than feeling guilty when Rita might catch me doing it: like, why wasn't I talking with HER about HER, rather than just playing a game with myself), or even reading magazines (or the MacLeod book) as much as I'd like. Not to mention jerking off when I wanted to. But I was SO glad that Rita DID get here: check THAT off the list of things that have to be done sometime or other. NEXT week would be different, I promised. Told her of the dream of the stepped on yellow balloon, saying that I wasn't angry with the balloon, but with my bratty response that I DID it, even though someone told me NOT to do it. Also said I hoped I'd enjoy the Beard tonight---though maybe PART of my fear of the future was that things wouldn't be SATISFYING---as the last trip wasn't THAT great, some near-past Beards weren't THAT great, as the play wasn't THAT great, as the Aquarium wasn't THAT great---and I told her about my goofs of going the wrong way on the subway and getting to the 2PM curtain for "After Miss Julie" at 2:30, though insisting we saw the crux of the play. She kept praising my insights into my own feelings: maybe envying that THAT silly play got produced when MINE weren't being produced. My feeling that I was angry at myself for things I couldn't control, though I COULD control how I LOOKED at them so as to be less angry with them. But said the meals worked out OK with Rita, as did the bathroom, and kitchen, and DID say that I could STILL get a kick out of a nice coincidence: finding John at the gym the DAY AFTER he got back from Korea, and then getting a call when I got back from Sharon confirming that we can visit at 11AM tomorrow (after he STARTED by saying that the morning was NO good at all), AND the coincidence that Piri cancelled the Games Group that I wasn't able to attend because I'd not marked it on my calendar because of Rita's being here. Got out at 5:30 and got home to type this out by 5:56PM, ready to look at the Beard's menu for this evening, getting a nice new New Yorker in the mail to look at, having set up the Pythons to record tonight at 9PM.
Continuation of WEDNESDAY, 10/21/09: Back to play some Taipei to pass the time, then get dressed in my good blue suit (which Rita will never see) to get to the disappointing Beard with Ken with too many red wines and not enough good table conversation. Bed at 10:21PM, squonked!
THURSDAY, 10/22/09: Pee at 12:XX, 1:XX, and 2:28. Up at 9:46AM after lots of aspirin. Print out Rita's boarding pass and she leaves about 12:15. I play Taipei in relief 12:40-3PM, watch the end of "Stay," and see the Monty Python Almost #4 and #5. Bed at 10:36PM.
FRIDAY, 10/23/09: Pee at 3:54 and 7:08. Up 8:31AM. Watch "Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)" and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" for one of the saddest seconds of male nudity in films, and Monty Python Almost #6. Bed at 10:25PM.
SATURDAY, 10/24/09: Pee at 3:41 and record dream. Sleepless to 7:47AM and pee. Up at 7:50 to record dream about roach spray, and the guy comes at 8:45AM. Talk to Ken and he's INTERESTED in the "Journey to Diversity" by Bestway! I watch SIX episodes of "Lost, Season 1," almost killing the entire day, but that's what I want to do, aside from doing all three Sunday Times puzzles and getting to the gym. Bed 11:45.
SUNDAY, 10/25/09: Pee 3:45AM. Up 7:56AM and get the Times. Made a do-list, which I accomplish: write a check for Schwab Visa, make a do-list to finish with the Labrador trip, trim my toenails, have breakfast while watching "Miss Julie (1999 film)" and taking the Book Review down to Bill Petersen, then at 1PM decide to catch up with the two long-time-on-desk HSBC statements, decide on CIT no-action plan, throw away old HIP stuff to store the new stuff, and catch up with this journal to 2:05PM, feeling GOOD about all that, having sorted out stuff yet to do NEATLY on the table: trip-finale, Netflix, Schwab Visa bill, and CIT stuff to check on Monday! Get to M.A.N. at 2:55 in a too-sunny Sugarland in Brooklyn, and the food's not very good either. Leave right after eating at 4:10PM. Back to gorge on TV: "Separate Lives," last three hours of "Wild China," and three more episodes of "List I." Bed at 11:20PM.
MONDAY, 10/26/09: Pee at 4:15, 5:10, and 6:40. Up at 8:45. Update dreams, mail Netflix, take in insurance proof (long form kept) and start "Lost I" at 9:35AM. Interrupt to talk to Marj about my new mania (free movies on Netflix!) 12:15-12:45. Watch eight episodes to 4:35PM, having breakfast and lunch, and maybe getting caught up on the weekend's Times. Maybe zone out on TV while having dinner, and get to bed at 12:40AM. Realize with some regret that I did absolutely nothing to celebrate Zolnerzone's 4th birthday today.
TUESDAY, 10/27/09: 5:09AM: Type dream and pee. Up at 9:20. Breakfast and take care of small items, and when I call HIP for the FOURTH OR FIFTH time about the flu vaccine, and they tell me to call back AGAIN, I get PISSED and say their system ISN'T working. "Would you like to register a complaint?" "No, I think YOU should complain!" And then she actually reads the complaint that she composes! I commend her for her customer relations. Then a half hour later I get a call, saying that I'm on their to-be called list! GREAT! [I actually call AGAIN on 11/5, not believing it STILL couldn't be in, and they say it's NOT in yet.] Watch the last eight episodes of "Lost I" during the day, interrupted by meeting Steve at 4PM on the first car of the uptown express at 42nd Street to ride up to Dinosaur BBQ, stopping off at the Oldsmobile Dining Room to see if they've put up Steve's photos, which they haven't. Spectacularly good ribs and service, though I shouldn't have gotten a pomegranate drink and their sangria to "pep up" the meal. Bed at 8:20PM, still stuffed! Pee at 11:15PM and can't get back to sleep, so I read MacLeod 11:53-12:49, impressed with the beautiful simplicity of his sentences and sentence fragments. Finally get to sleep.
WEDNESDAY, 10/28/09: Pee at 3:45 and 6:40AM and get up at 9:05AM, truly indulging myself! Watch the first nine episodes of "Lost II" during most of the day, going to Sharon's, and taking time off to call Carolyn to wish her a happy 76th birthday, and I get her just as she's going out to have dinner ALONE, making me feel awfully sad for her situation. Have my own meals, probably playing a lot of Taipei, which I don't record, to pass the time NOT watching movies---at least I'm not indulging in Spider these days! Bed at 11:30PM.
SHARON B. 114 10/28/09
Get there to find her talking to her supervisor in the doorway, and she finishes and calls me in about 4:48PM. I go in smiling, saying that it's been a wonderful week, and start by describing the early morning, lying in bed feeling that everything is just about perfect, when I'd gotten up to pee and transcribed a dream with great satisfaction and lay in bed waiting to go back to sleep feeling totally content. I described Rita's independence on her last full day in town, then her trouble getting to the airport when taking the wrong train, or missing her stop at the airport. Then told Sharon about my getting the "Journey in Diversity" trip description and Ken's "definite maybe" about taking the trip with me, and Spartacus's encouraging me to spend the money because I had it. Mentioned my handling my investment decisions by studying the papers as much as I thought I had to and actively deciding to do nothing, which would cost me nothing with Schwab. And scheduling dinners with Steve (even to the fantasized-as-a-lover, then-cancelling, dining partner) and MoMA with Ken; and even handling Mildred nicely. Described my getting hooked on "Lost," which was something that I'd thought about doing when I was about 95 years of age and no longer able to travel at all. SHE had watched lots of episodes on Netflix also, saying it was her only source of TV these days. I complained about how there was almost nothing to watch on commercial TV these days, even on PBS stations. She agreed with enthusiasm. I said that watching "Lost" for hours in a day was like taking a vacation while staying at home to be able to answer the phone for future appointments and to get the mail and handle whatever comes up day by day, rather than after two or three weeks. Then I described my channeling my anger with HIP not wanting to phone me when they got the flu shots in, and my success, and she congratulated me, not even asking me how I felt when I did it. She mentioned the word "free" which I hadn't thought of in that exact term, but it was precisely how I felt, and how I reveled in it. Even said that I wasn't even needing to play Spider or Taipei during my "Lost" mania, and my talks with Marj and Carolyn---and how I'd have to phone Carolyn for her birthday after I got home this evening. Ended with praising my ability to recognize the beauty in the fallen leaves on the wet pavement on the way to the session, and she smiled, saying that she'd noticed the very same thing, and we felt united in our simple pleasures. About 5:23 I said something like, "And I can leave now and get back to "Lost," and then added the leaf-beauty and actually left on the dot of 5:30PM, saying goodbye to the pleasant-faced Spanish woman who's taken over the desk at 55 Pierrepont recently. And went back to "Lost," now feeling free enough to SKIM three final Season Two episodes, getting enough information to feel content with missing twelve installments. And postpone typing this until finishing now at 7:28AM Thursday.
THURSDAY, 10/29/09: Pee at 2:38 and up at 6:48AM, typing Sharon's session yesterday to finish at 7:28AM. Watch "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," not really that good, in time to get it into the mailbox before 10AM. Then get back to the Netflix instant-movie list to watch "Love is the Devil," with an astounding photo of Daniel Craig frontally nude in the bathtub as George Dyer, Francis Bacon's robber-lover. Follow that with "Brideshead Revisited (2008)," not that good, but at least I could identify it with my recent visit to Castle Howard. Can't resist getting back to Spider, now that I've given myself permission to skip through "Lost," and from 7:20-8:10 I get to a new high of 50.81196 at 311 up after 2 wins. Probably have dinner while watching two middle episodes of "Lost II" and get to bed at 11:08PM.
FRIDAY, 10/30/09: Pee at 2AM and 4:31AM and up at 8:30. Spider 8:35-9:45 to a new high of 50/82472 at 316 up after SIX wins! Watch the last two episodes of "Lost II" while having breakfast, and then, since it's a nice day and there's a lot of fall color on the trees, I decide to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens for about two hours around 1-3PM, taking pictures (but wondering how I can download them without DUPLICATING the Labrador pictures on the same disk that I ALREADY downloaded!), avoiding eating anything, and feeling that if I don't get home quick it's going to rain, having clouded up and cooled off considerably while I was there. Home to watch the first and middle episode of "Lost III," and phone Carolyn, who says I should come to her place at 6:30 and I can take her to dinner at a Japanese place called Koto down the block. She looks even older with her short hair and slow walk with a cane. But she enjoys her sake, I have plum wine with my kushikatsu, very filling, and we walk up a few Italian streets to look at the decaying Halloween decorations in front of many fewer (than in the past) houses. I thought, from the costumes on the street, that tonight was Beggar's Night, but it turned out to be tomorrow. Bed at 11:45PM.
SATURDAY, 10/31/09: Pee at 5AM. Note a dream. Up at 8:43AM. Note a second dream. During the day spent solving Times puzzles, I watched the last two episodes of "Lost III" with a somewhat confusing flash-FORWARD to Jack wanting to go BACK to island after he got OFF, somehow. Also watched episode 5 of "Lost IV" that doesn't help much. Probably played a LOT of Taipei, since it started getting boring around now. Actually got to the gym after THREE days, since the last two intervals were FOUR days apiece---but not as long as the NEXT interval, a possibly record-breaking FIVE days stretching to 11/5. Ended the evening watching a very spectacular "Hellboy II: The Golden Army," with "Star Wars" delusions of scenic grandeur and spacey-ornate detail. Bed 11:35PM.
SUNDAY, 11/1/09: Type dream at 5:35AM and pee. Glance out and see that the TV and the Witness's clocks have been successfully "fallen back" an hour. Up at 8:33AM and meticulously make a list of the THIRTEEN CLOCKS that I change [later having to change the Dell desktop when it changed AGAIN this evening]. Watch a disappointing Seann William Scott in "Mr. Woodcock," and maybe he's losing his marvelous body, but his smile is still wonderfully infectious. Back to Netflix to watch "THX 1138: Special Edition," not that good. Play an incredible Spider 3:05-6:15 to an astounding 50.85532 at 328 up after FOURTEEN wins, which is the now-recorded HIGHEST consecutive number of wins. Watch the last three episodes of "Lost IV," the last available on Netflix, so I put "Lost V" on my wanted list for the future, happy to be OVER my "Lost" mania! At last print out all the pages of the Labrador trip, putting the summary on the last page, and catch up with many of the dream-page printings. Watch the last half of a hokey "Ghost Rider" with an almost-invisible Nicholas Cage and get to bed at 11:37PM.
MONDAY, 11/2/09: Pee 4:30 and 8:15 and up at 9AM. Have early meals in preparation for an early dinner with Spartacus at Dinosaur BBQ before the City Center Gala for Dancers at 7PM. Seem to remember doing endless Taipei to pass the time before meeting him at the subway at 4PM. We sat at an interior table, rather than hanging near the window as I'd done twice before, and it didn't seem quite as great as before: certainly the macaroni and cheese was not warm enough to be tasty, and the chicken wings didn't have a vinegary taste enough for Spartacus to use the sugar he asked to cut their tang. I settled for a tasty root beer rather than anything alcoholic, and he had coffee. The cherry-cranberry cobbler was a hit for dessert, making me glad I hadn't stuffed myself with the dinner itself. The Gala had some interesting pieces, but many of the annouced acts didn't show up. It went longer than before, from 7:10-8:50PM. On the way back, he wanted to stop at Key Food, so I got my prescription from CVS just as the pharmacy was closing at 9:25PM, and remembered all five items from my shopping list, adding two (one free) boxes of Sugar Frosted Flakes, I guess in commemoration of my Labrador breakfasts. Then got home, looked through the mail, had some Sugar Frosted Flakes with room-temperature milk, and got to bed at 10:25PM.