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2010 4 of 7

MONDAY, 6/14/10: Type dream and pee 4:04AM and 5:32AM and 7:43AM! 3 times! Up 8:40AM. Watch "One Wonderful Sunday," the last of the four Kurasawa films on Spartacus's DVD. Go to the gym 1:30-3. 5:50PM: Still have to catch up with lots of this journal, but I just don't FEEL like it. Indulged in HOURS of brainless (though maybe it IS helping my brain, at some level) Solitaire many days, also watching lots of movies from DVDs supplied by Spartacus, aware that my membership in Netflix is going to be activated tomorrow, AND still looking eagerly forward to the delivery of my 2008 Scott Stamp Catalogs! BUT when I tried reading more of "The Pesthouse" after having egg foo yung from The Great Wall after going to the (very exhausting) gym, my eyes started CLOSING and I just lay down at 4:35, getting up about 5PM to talk with Charles, who feels better now, for a long time, but he can't REALLY predict that he'll be at the slides on Wednesday, but he thinks he will be. Finally get through to John, who said that Susie would contact him IF she were attending, and she hasn't, and then when I checked my e-mail, she SAID she wasn't attending this time but hoped to attend August 18. Carolyn and Piri said they'd be coming, and haven't heard yet from Steve or Bill. Now to Taipei! Play that from 5:55-7:30 and then ACTUALLY START TYPING NJ NOTES! Finish with most of them by 10:30, leaving last two, in red, from earlier, for later. Add the Schwab $62.04 for my 8000 sommes, and come up with a total trip cost of $8717.04, the 9th most expensive trip; calculating $396.23/day, the 7th most expensive. Dinner while finishing a New Yorker, and then read "The Pesthouse" for about an hour, to digest, before going to bed at 12:18AM. Notice, with some horror, my SWOLLEN FEET! Will it NEVER end?

TUESDAY, 6/15/10: Start Actualism 6:57, get out of bed at 7:05 to check my Netflix queue, starting up again today, and at 9:18AM start jerking off in bed with pages of cock, but then up to DVDs, cuming about 10AM, not very effectively. Have oatmeal while watching the last half of "Ghost Town," Greg Kinnear always appealing, until 11:15AM, when I call Marj for about half an hour, with the extraordinary coincidence that I call AS her construction noise starts again next door to her, and AS she's waiting for the mailman to pick up her latest package to me. Make a point of clearing off my desk into discrete piles for tasks to be done, trying to locate the list of four check-numbers for my 2009 quarterly NYS estimated payments, but finally give up and check the HSBC register, phone the 800 number, and get SUCH a long wait to verify that this stupid woman has actually SENT it, that I go to the website, as she suggested and I initially refused, and PRINT the missing quarterly check. Then can't stand productivity, so I play Solitaire 12:35-1:40, then PUSH myself to transcribe more of my notes to fill in the days, now over two weeks, since I returned from the trip, finishing to THIS point at 2:25PM, feeling good about it, and still have to "interlard" with the notes in my calendar and my Taipei recorded times (less than the ACTUAL time I wasted on Taipei, unfortunately); at least I haven't resorted to Spider yet. During my Actualism session this morning, which I only recorded at 2:30PM, I made YET ANOTHER list of things that I really HAD to do today: 1) Send IRS checks [did at 4:30]; 2) Get HSBC check-copy, which I did by 12:30; 3) Shelley, coming tomorrow? She's neuralgic and isn't sure, but at least I talked to her at 10:30AM; 4) Fix apartment for Wednesday visitors [Wednesday morning]; 5) Finish updating NJ [3:38 Tuesday]; 6) Check Five Stans camera shots [did this evening]; 7) Put out old magazines [did at 5:05]; 8) View Wednesday slides [did 9:15-10:10]; 9) De-stain checked shirt, from a red ticket stub left in the pocket during Sunday's rain, laboriously with laundry liquid and my kitchen towel, actually SUCCEEDING by noon, checking it now to see that it looks GOOD! Marj said it was a gloriously NON-humid day outside, so I opened the window and even now continue to enjoy the refreshing breeze, feeling good each step of the way in catching up with these notes: incorporating the gym-day-and-jerk-off note and calendar-page notes are next. Finally finish with THOSE to 3:38PM, noting that they're STILL fiddling with the ropes outside my window, so I'll close my bedroom window while I have lunch of the wonderful egg foo yung I bought yesterday. Fill out the quarterly IRS checks and walk them down to the A-train entrance for a 5PM-pickup-time mailbox at 4:35PM. Put out old magazines by 5:05, just to DO it and get it off the list. Finish Crace: "The Pesthouse," interrupted from 6:55-7:35 by Shelley's "pleading" for me to go to Rite-Aid, where they couldn't fill her pain prescription, and take the paper to CVS, which doesn't have her on file and says they're not sure it's "galangopyknic," or whatever it vaguely looks like, so I return the scrip to her, and she says she can fax it and get it filled, thanking me for my efforts. Then go through to edit the second Five Stans photo disk, keeping 540 of original 726, until 9:15, view the Wednesday slides to 10:10, have dinner, and edit the first Five Stans disk, keeping 561 of the original 666 (keeping a total of 1101 of original 1397), until 12:15AM. Bed at 12:25AM.

WEDNESDAY, 6/16/10: 6:52AM: Cramp in right ankle; pee. Pee at 7:48 and up at 8:52AM, Actualism having been a non-starter today. Breakfast of toast to clear out the last of the Puerto Rican freebie and leave time for oatmeal for a pre-lunch to be hungry for Five Guys with Charles (assuming he'll show up for the slides) before Sharon at 4:45, whom I'd thought, and then re-thought, to cancel. Seem to recollect throwing out the Next magazine that had the Hurles ad [then find it in my calendar with the notation of the Mermaid Parade at Coney Island on Saturday], so I checked with Google to find the address and closing date (6/26) for Charles to share with me. Clean the toilet rim and that's about all the preparation I'll need for this afternoon's visitors, since Carolyn and Charles are the only ones, and I don't care about their reactions to my dirty carpets. Send an e-mail to Chan if he wants to meet, since I don't have pictures. Look up Century Club to find that EVEN a refueling stop qualifies as a visit, so I've VISITED Azerbaijan! Update my Century Club list to 178 with the six new countries so far in 2010. Questionable if I'll EVER reach the DOUBLE Century mark of 200. Catch up with things (including Google for the winner, not Campbell, sadly, of the June 8 California Republican primary, in which I was interested through a current New Yorker article) to 10:40AM, water dripping down outside my window as they test something above my bedroom, so I have to keep my window closed for now. Argue with Spartacus about why my extension cord would smoke, but he agrees to give me one, so I take many DVDs back to him and stop at the library to return "The Pesthouse," check the stacks for two more Crace novels, and pick up three more books, including a humongous "Shahnameh." Have some oatmeal as a pre-lunch and get to 55 Pierrepont at 1PM to find it partly set up. Great large, though not as bright as digital, images on clear wall, and 17 people say they enjoy the program; Sharon there, but only Charles and Carolyn, both arriving late. It's over early at 2:20PM, we come here briefly to look out from my balcony, and then go to 5 Guys for burgers, not that great, though all like the peanuts, and Carolyn gets an enormous added portion of Cajun spices that she takes home. We stop at Housing Works to look at their classy junk, and then Charles leaves and I get home to put things down and go right back out to Sharon. Back at 5:40 feeling tired, so I lay down at 5:42 and rouse when Ken calls to find that I'd like steak rather than lobster at the Doctor's dinner for us, and accept the Chamber Music evening suggestion. Up to do the TV Guide sudoku and type this to 8:25, actually about to get to transcribing Sharon's session ON THE SAME DAY! Finish that at 8:37PM and get to marking up the Thirteen guide for the next month. That's done at 8:58PM and now I start proofing dreams from the trip and after. Proofread and print dreams through page 51, getting THAT done by 9:45PM. Proofread NJ to this point, printing out all pages, by 10:54PM, tiring, planning on a bowl of soup for dinner, then reading a bit and bed around midnight, so I can print this page.

SHARON B. 140 6/16/10

She enjoyed the slides, remarking particularly about the red trees and the colorful birds, saying that she'd forgotten that I sometimes cancel my session with her after the show. She notes in her calendar my Five Stans show on August 18. She said she hopes she looks as good as I did in front of the group when she's my age, saying my voice slipped into hoarseness only once, then recovered. When I described the rest of the day, she said it was a busy one and could understand why I might feel tired. I thanked her for her suggestion that I was fatigued from the trip for two weeks afterward, because it was a better suggestion than that I was just getting old, though more and more people pass me on the sidewalk and I get tired legs after climbing only three flights of subway stairs. Told about my resolving two problems over the weekend: cashing in my Roth IRA to solve my financial problems for the next few months, including my printing my own HSBC check when I got pissed with the clerk, though I DID respond to her, just to be kind, which I was NOT to Shelley who sent me on a wild-prescription chase which I did NOT care for; and deciding NOT to get the pain prescription and wrist splints as recommended by Alla Mesh, whom Sharon has VISITED and likes, and she knows someone at 55 Pierrepont named Alla Mesh who's SYRIAN, and Sharon agrees with my not wanting to over-medicate and letting my wrists go unless they'll get MUCH worse if I don't do anything about them. Told her I was content to know that the finger pains were neural, rather than arthritic, but still it wasn't severe enough to be treated, AND they haven't recurred since Friday. Told her about my IBM-type dream, and she wondered why I'd continue to dream about IBM, suggesting that maybe I felt incomplete about the experience in some way, and I said in some ways I kept being promoted out of my problems, though I DID solve some wonderful ones, but kept "rising above my experience" as was the custom, so that when I was offered management of people and paper when I just wanted to play with computers and problems---and wanted more time for travel---I had no trouble quitting. I remarked that I just realized it had been a LONG time since I'd dreamed about 1221 Dietz, or even of my mother. Talked about my happiness at getting caught up after the trip, even more appreciating the differences when looking at my photos, which I edited down last night. I was quite amazed when I looked at the clock and found it was already after 5:15, so I didn't have very much more to say and said I had only the guests from Atlanta to worry about for this weekend, but hopefully they'd take care of themselves, though I mentioned, more in fun than anything, the possibility of the Mermaid Day Parade at Coney Island---and then thought of Leon's offer of a baseball game with the Cyclones, but the O'Sheas are going to the ballet that night: rather a contrast. Said that my next trip wasn't until Martha's Vineyard at the end of July, and we wished each other a good evening.

THURSDAY, 6/17/10: Actually got to bed at 12:25AM this morning. At 12:30 I got up to check that my $65.99 Visa for the Scott Catalogs was actually billed on 6/10. Note dream at 6:06AM, pee, and note that my lower back has been sore (about level 4) the last 2-3 days when I get out of bed for early pees. Up at 8:35. Accomplishment of the day was the integrating of the two files of FIVESTAN and reprinting all the pages, taking from like 10AM-3:30, stopping for lunch to finish the egg foo yung, finishing Crace: "Being Dead," quite extraordinary, and finish the travel at 5:45PM, leaving only the summary page to be generated and the calendar pages to be filled in. Also talked to various people about my happiness that the NYS Income Tax problem has been CANCELLED; I guess they accepted my check and Mark managed to cancel the interest. Watched "The North Face," surprisingly a tragedy, on Netflix, while eating dinner, until 11:45PM, and then decided to FINALLY look at ZolnerZone and find that the files were entered properly, though I have two questions of Tris's to answer, and get to bed at 12:40AM.

FRIDAY, 6/18/10: Pee at 7:02AM, think of things still to be done: 1) take old credit card to Martha's Vineyard in case the car rental is wedded to the OLD number, 2) phone Ken to say that Colleen twisted my arm yesterday to sign up for the gay evening at the Beard on Saturday the 26th (for a discount of $85, the abstemious Colleen promising "handsome mixers doing fabulous mocktails," 3) Spartacus may want my old Door Store free-standing shelves! Type this to 8:40AM. Note to check Le Bernardin for a possible O'Shea lunch Saturday-Monday. Even at 8:45AM the workers have risen past my bedroom window on their scaffold, still working on windows and/or air conditioners on this line. Start on Summary Page for FIVESTAN, finding very many errors even the third time through, and stop at 1:30PM to get out to meet Charles on hot 24th Street for Marianne Boesky Gallery show of David Hurles, essentially 25 erections, with a more interesting show in the rear of the gallery. See another show next door that has a better video of the trip to Kunming than the art that resulted from the trip. To Ninth Avenue to find I'd mistyped address of Co., but have two pizza pies that are really unlike others: one meatballed and one bechamel sauced, which Charles eats very little of, so I have two slices to bring back with me. Walk about an hour on the High Line, starting at 20th Street and walking down to Gansevoort, then walking Charles east so I get on the A-train and get home to find my Scott Catalogs, which I open and look through and catalog Greenland and Bhutan stamps, then put them on shelf and get back to finishing Summary Page by 8:05, printing that out, and then finishing this page by 8:13 so I can print IT out, freeing the Summary Page so that I can fill in my 2010 Calendar. Noted that the sexy Toni in "The North Face" was Benno Fürmann, who I look up on Google and he has a number of movies listed. [Also, on 7/1, note that I'd not recorded my Solitaire of 6/17 from 8-9:30; nor my Taipei of 6/17 from 6:40-8.] Watch "Fantastic Mr. Fox" from Netflix, really disappointed at the sketchy animation, the silly "click-click" throwaway by George Clooney, the uncharacteristically uncharacteristic Meryl Streep, and stupid added details, which I verify as ADDED by rapidly reading through my copy of Dahl's "Fantastic Mr. Fox." Bed 11:52PM.

SATURDAY, 6/19/10: Pee at 3:32AM and 6:42AM. Note dream. Take a valium at 7:42 to ease my day, and get up at 8:57AM, noting another brief dream. Go to the gym for the first time in FIVE days, really awful! Go through the final preparations for the O'Sheas' visit, and I had phoned to find that their Delta flight 1886 landing was delayed from 12:59 to 1:28. He leaves a message on my phone about 1:40, saying they've just arrived, so I figure I've got about 40 minutes until they arrive, so I'm still only in shorts when they knock on my door at 2:02PM, having gotten here from LaGuardia in a record 22 minutes! Thus I didn't have time for lunch. They love my suggestion that we visit the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, so they buy a $20 Metrocard and we get there quickly and breeze through my usual itinerary, Hetch and Don naming plants and telling me what they've planted and enjoyed themselves. Give them the choice of circling back through the garden or through the back of the Brooklyn Museum, and they choose the latter, so we're up the avenue past the closed, being-renovated, corner of the gardens, and check that there's nothing really interesting on display in the museum, so we're out to sit and watch the fountain for a bit and get back to the Heights about 5PM, when I suggest we check Teresa's for duck, and my lunch-lacking stomach is delighted when they say we can have dinner this early! Sit in the perfect weather outside, and even the screaming baby who sits next to us cooperates by screaming very little and dropping only two items to reverberate loudly off the steel sidewalk-hole cover on which they're sitting. We're all terrifically pleased with the duck dinners, and they take off in plenty of time to get to the ballet. They rave about Osipova when they return. Bed 12:22AM.

SUNDAY, 6/20/10: Pee at 7:02AM; have dreams that I don't record. We have breakfast at Park Plaza before they leave for their day at the Metropolitan with their daughter, Kathy, and their son-in-law and their grandchild to see the Picasso exhibit. I transfer disk 1 of Five Stans to laptop starting at 9:37, and play Taipei 10:23-11:15. Transfer the second disk 11:20-12:08PM, removing many shots. I watch Domingo in the silly pride-makes-men-stupid opera "Simon Boccanegra" and edit the Five Stans show for them to watch tonight with Spartacus about 7PM, a bit too long at 1:50, and Don suggests a DVI connection to my TV for a BETTER picture: not the individual-pixel-visible display on my big screen. Disk 1 started at 666 and got down to 448; disk 2 started at 726 and got down to 439, so a reduction from 1392 to 887, a reduction of over one-third. By comparison, St. Petersburg was reduced from 997 to 543. Note to look for WORKKAMPING for a job. Bed 11:22PM.

MONDAY, 6/21/10: Pee 4:18AM, up at 8:03AM. Find that both the Frick and the Morgan are closed today, which leaves only the Natural History Museum for the Silk Road exhibit. Don't remember how we handled breakfast, but we taxied to the museum for about $20, paid $16 each for the exhibit (which Spartacus later seemed to say was too much for seniors), looked at the African dioramas until entry to the Silk Road at 11:30AM. I was a bit disappointed, but they said that if someone were being INTRODUCED to the Silk Road, this would be a lot of information to take in. Left at 12:40, me stupidly thinking, somehow, that Le Bernardin was on the EAST side, but we get to it on the WEST side at 12:55, having to wait for a minute or two, and then find that only a LOCAVORE fixed-price menu is $45, and the good lunch, with about 20 appetizer and 10 main-course selections, was $70, so of course we had to have THAT, AND they ordered a $70 bottle of wine for the two of them. The "amuse bouche" of a pot of salmon mash wasn't that great, but our first courses of my shrimp, her raw salmon, and his something else, and our second courses of my sea bass, his tuna, and her something else were wonderful, everything divided into thirds and plates passed around to the amusement of the waiters. Good desserts lasted until 2:30, and then we taxied back up to the museum for me to show them the whale and the other undersea dioramas, and then the gems and minerals. They tired about 4:30 and we exited in the basement to the subway platform and got to my place, where they insisted they didn't need dinner and left for the ballet at 6:30, and I had a snack later and watched TV. Bed 11:06PM.

TUESDAY, 6/22/10: Pee at 6:15AM, up at 7:45AM. They left by car service about 8:30AM. VERY sore back all day; take hydrocodone at 3PM, which lets me feel SOMEWHAT better. Watch "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" on a dark Spartacus DVD, and then "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" twice from Netflix. Bed 11:06PM.

WEDNESDAY, 6/23/10: 6:50AM: CRIPPLING left-leg and lower-back pain. Take two hydrocordone and two aspirin. Dr. Palgon's appointment this morning is noted in detail in MEDICAL. Taipei 12-3:30PM! Change Sharon's appointment from 4:45 today to 4:30 on Friday so that I can join Spartacus at 4:30 to walk down to the Fulton Ferry taxi for a boat-tour of Brooklyn Bridge Park from 5-6, and then to the tent for the 6:10-6:40 Municipal Arts Society Awards presentation, followed by a snack-like buffet, from which I also had a glass of ginger ale. Try reading, but find that I'm NAUSEOUS when my eyes go from the bottom of one page to the top of the next. Try resting for half an hour, but then it happens AGAIN. From note: Bed, sick, 9:07PM; then up for toast and evening pills and read a bit from 11:02PM, getting back to bed at 11:53PM.

THURSDAY, 6/24/10: Pee at 6:18AM. Start j/o at 7:58, and I think this is the time I went through ALL of Porn 3 to see that it took two hours to watch the entire disk. Get to the gym after FIVE days away! Managed to get an appointment with Chin at 2PM which is described in MEDICAL. Shop at Key and pick up two wonderful "Manager's Special" half-pound filet mignons for about $5 each, and have them for a wonderful lunch today and tomorrow. Finish Crese: "Genesis," not that great, about "Lix" (Felix) Dern, a handsome actor with a birthmark on his cheek that makes him stand out, who also fathers a child with each woman with whom he happens to sleep. Solitaire 7-11:35PM!!! Bed 12:05AM.

FRIDAY, 6/25/10: Pee at 2:55AM and 5:35AM and up and 8:25AM. Start 21 days of Mobic today. Finally called Tris and left word to talk about his website memos and my corrections to them. Decide to start cataloging my plate blocks, which takes HOURS of time, but I get up to over $1500 in catalog value with those and with the booklets, which are surprisingly pricey---but again, for SCOTT to sell, not particularly for ME to sell. Get to Sharon at 4:30-5:15. Obey the impulse to get back to Spider from 5:55-9:10PM, getting a poor start to 51.11903 at 477 up after 5 wins. Finish Lloyd: "Programming the Universe," not that great, mentioning Wolfram twice, saying essentially the same thing from a mystico-physics point of view that's not really that convincing. Bed 12:10AM.

SHARON B. 141 6/25/10

Said that I'd been reading about quantum computing, and I feel that my WEEK has been both VERY good and VERY bad, like Schrodinger's Cat, both alive and dead. The O'Sheas' visit went very well, though I WRECKED my back at the Natural History Museum, feeling miserable on Tuesday and Wednesday, but not Wednesday evening, when I took advantage of Spartacus's invitation to the MAS inauguration of Brooklyn Bridge Park, viewed from water and land, and serving ginger ale and cold cuts and cheeses afterwards, but then going home and feeling DIZZY reading, so that I went to bed at 9PM! Got an appointment with Dr. Chin at 2PM on Thursday, who said it could have been due to my first taking the anti-reflux medication, but that my system would adapt to it. Continued with Chin to say that my stool sample showed remnants of Salmonella, so it probably WAS the Caesar salad that gave me diarrhea last week, not the trip two weeks prior to that. And my spinal X-ray showed sciatica, which Mesh seemed to have foretold, since her prescription was NOT for a pain reliever, but for the relief of arthritis swelling (and pain, of course) and manifestations LIKE sciatica, so though I wasn't inclined to take it (having ENTIRELY wasted Thursday night be playing Solitaire, not WANTING to think about my medical condition), I decided Friday morning to do so, and today had been OK so far, though I have to note NOW that my right inner wrist is aching slightly as I bend it to type THIS right here! Annoyed with Chin when he said that I should just STOP TYPING when I said I'd decided NOT to wear the wrist splints that Dr. Mesh suggested, though Sharon mentioned stretching exercises, which Mesh ALSO suggested, and which I haven't started yet, complaining to Sharon that I actually went to the gym TWICE after FIVE days, really much too long away. Told about the positive things of the O'Sheas' visit: the great ballet on Saturday with Osipova, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden followed by an early (making up for my lack of lunch) dinner of duck at Teresa's, and my FINISHING with the Five Stans trip by their request for a slide show Sunday night, which I put together, too long at 1:50, knowing I have to cut out about half an hour when I present it to 55 Pierrepont in August. Which reminded her to say that she's not going to be in next week, observing that TODAY makes a perfect bridge from last week to the week following. I also mentioned Eugenio's visit (he's 27!), for which I managed to get out the laundry from the O'Sheas to get back in time for his visit---as it turn out, on WEDNESDAY, so it's PERFECT that I don't have to see Sharon that day! Also mentioned the relief this morning to find that cash had gotten to my Schwab account when they sent me a check, rather than sending it to the account as I'd intended. AND told of looking at the stamps in a CONTROLLED way, enjoying the catalogs and process, though it DOES use my carpal tunnel quite a bit. Then got to my talk about "empathy" with Marj, the crowning event of the week, making me aware of my LACK of empathy with her (and NOT, as Sharon suggests, my NOT saying when I don't want to hear what Spartacus or Mildred is saying---THAT I'd consider MASOCHISM on my part, not EMPATHY) when she tried to tell me about the record-shattering tennis match she was sure I'd be interested in hearing about, and then I had the non-empathy to say that HER story about tennis was as bad as MY tales about my SLIDES that SHE didn't want to hear, which wasn't the case at all, for which I apologized. Almost mentioned that I'd finally called Tris, apologizing for my "seven doctors" and long delay in getting back to him; and also mentioned giving my number to the Prime Timers guy, who hasn't called yet. So I DON'T like the pain, and that I'm now officially diagnosed (and medicating for) laryngopharyngeal reflux (for which apple juice is NOT too acidic, as it wasn't too sweet for possible diabetes danger) AND sciatica, for which my 21-day medication might offer SOME relief. Also told about the Beard tomorrow, for which I reconfirmed with Colleen after a phone call from Chevy when I got back from Sharon. BUSY, and so HAPPY to be finished with this by 5:53PM Friday, when it HAPPENED---though I note I'm now EXACTLY a week behind in this journal! And THIS took EXACTLY one page!

SATURDAY, 6/26/10: Pee at 7:17AM and up at 8:04AM. Back to cataloging plate blocks and booklets, hands tiring. Spider 11:25-1:10 GREAT to 51.12789 to 481 up, highest, after 7 wins! Then Solitaire 1:20-2:35. Put on dress shirt and meet Fred's friend John on the subway in to the Beard at 5PM, getting a cone from the Gay Ice Cream Truck, and finding they do NOT have a "fantastic selection of mocktails" promised by Colleen, who admits her disappointment, but says "It'll be better next year," which I'm not sure I'll attend, because the food isn't that great, I have to settle for sparkling water after a special glass of ginger beer, following another mix which includes the forbidden grapefruit, and have a total of FOUR trips to the truck: a dulce-de-leche-covered Bea Arthur, a dulce de leche DOUBLED before salt and chocolate added for a Salty Pimp, a must-taste of a don't-bother-to-repeat custard with spiced olive oil, and another must-taste of carmelized bacon in a chocolate cookie-and-cream overdo. Leave after 8:20PM, with everyone forced out of the garden at 8PM for the sake of the neighbors' quiet. Back for FIREWORKS from my balcony, slowly going south to be half invisible at the end, from 9:30-9:49, but, as ever, the finale is just boggling! Bed 12:49AM.

SUNDAY, 6/27/10: Pee at 8:16AM and the Times arrives late at 8:24AM. Note typed: Had checked through the e-mails from Tris on Friday, 6/25, and left word with him to call me. He and I finally talked today from 2:30-4PM. I played Spider around his call from 1:40-2:30 and 4-4:50, ending at 51.13913 at 486 up, again highest, again after 7 wins! As for his question about the St. Petersburg trip, I checked my journals to find that I'd typed Sharon's session on 7/24/08, so I noted that the entry should have been "TRAVEL: ST. PETERSBURG TRIP" and the return from the trip should be to the next journal entry, which would be "RETURN TO JOURNAL 7/26/08". As for his 5/29 memo, the Hawaii with JJ trip proofread in HAWAII.DOC is properly 1983. When I check my printouts from 1993 I can find NO Hawaii trip, so I resort to going back to the calendar-book from 1993 and find that the only trip I took that year, when I was very busy with indexing work, was to Garnet Hill! So at some point I must have MISTYPED 1993 for the 1983 trip, producing a "shadow trip" that I finally told Tris to REMOVE when he phoned me back about my message to him Friday about updating the website. We started talking about photos on the website, with my particular stress on the fact that photos should really go in only when the travel journal is PROOFED, so that, though he HAS a DVD of the St. Petersburg digital photos, Marj hasn't proofed St. Petersburg yet, so those photos will wait. He also has a DVD of my digital photos from Brooklyn starting P4110003. Finish Roach: "Stiff," mostly amusing about what researchers and sickos do with corpses. Watch "The Road" twice, getting more out of the commentary, including the fact that I SLEPT through much of the episode with Robert Duvall. Bed 11:30PM.

MONDAY, 6/28/10: Type dream; pee at 5:54AM. 7:10AM: Just MUST type: too many things preying on my mind: A) THINGS TO DO: 1) Catch up on journal Monday, 2) See Met Tuesday, 3) Show slides Tuesday, 4) Pick up laundry for Eugenio Tuesday, 5) E-mail Galapagos to Tris with a list of slides to include, 6) Re-sort piles on coffee table to see what comes next, 7) Start proofing Marj's batch. 8) Pay Visa. B) THINGS DONE: 1) Beard Saturday, 2) Stamps catalogued, 3) Five Stans finished, 4) Groceries gotten: filet mignon and corn, 5) HH meals ordered, 6) Dreams on Neo, 7) Money into Schwab One. 8) Checked: October trip owed $7000, which I have in Schwab now. Solitaire 7:30-8, probably AM? Spider 8:35-12:05AM, getting to 51.1569 at 494 up after 13 wins! Find that Tris has only EIGHTEEN, not 80, slides scanned from the Galapagos, and I establish that putting the slide number in curly brackets, or braces, in the text next to the words which are to be the tag, becomes an effective way to get the slides onto the website. Sent the new Galapagos proofread file with the 16 slide-spots at 2:46PM. The Verbatim DVD labeled "80 Galapagos slides" is blank, he says. Get to the gym after "only" four days. Bed 1:10AM.

TUESDAY, 6/29/10: Pee 6:31AM. Up at 9AM to note dream. 7:28PM: What a day! Crazily thought that the Picasso, closing on August 1, closed THE DAY AFTER JUNE 30! So I took off for the museum at 9:41 and got back at 1:30, picking up the laundry for Eugenio and Antoine, finding that shirts on a hanger are only $2, while shirts folded are $2.50, and back to put things in order, taking out the screen and focusing the projector for the Five Stans by 5PM, when Mildred and Joy come in, and we start watching right away, knowing that the two guys might arrive as early as 6PM. Joy doesn't have much patience with the sound of the projector, talking over it, but I let Mildred be the interpreter. The phone rings at 6:30 and Eugenio and Antoine enter just as the projector shows Brooklyn Bridge Park! Joy comes to the balcony, which Mildred doesn't, and they leave, and they'll use their own towels, which is great, and they help me make the two beds, saying how much better this is than what they've had in the past. They're to meet their group at Penn Station at 8PM, so Eugenio goes into the bathroom to wash and change while I start on this. They leave at 7:35. I wanted to describe the Picasso exhibit, which almost served to change my overall opinion of him as an artist. It was great to see all the early work: the realistic drawing of Vollard, for example, lots of blue and a few rose period, piles of relatively uninteresting block prints,and then some of the final 347 series, including the highly erotic sexuality of the Rapheal and Fornarina etchings. I took just under two hours to see the show, reading almost everything, and then watched, sitting down, the videos showing the repositioning of limbs and heads revealed by x-rays and other layered examinations of a dozen paintings. Also perfect for my endurance! Antoine will stay one day, leaving on a 6PM flight tomorrow, and Eugenio, with his wonderful blue eyes, will stay a second night. Taipei 7:45-8:45PM. Bed 11:22PM.

WEDNESDAY, 6/30/10: Pee 6:33AM; up at 7:20AM. 7:27AM: Put on Edgardo's gift polo shirt, not quite knowing how to handle the neck buttons at first, and it looks pretty good; and I can tell Eugenio that the chocolate gift is absolutely fabulous: smoothly rich (and soft!) sweet chocolate with a very soft peanut-butter layer. Sit at the computer with the door open; someone just went into the bathroom, so this will say that I'm awake and ready for breakfast whenever they are---and it's cool enough that I can ask if they'd needed the blankets last night that Edgardo and Marina had bought me for their beds! Notice that my rain-spotted windows really need washing. Record the Alzheimer's episode that I thought the Picasso closing on August 1 was the day after June 30! Marj noted that it was only when I SAID THE DATES ALOUD to her that I realized my mistake, the circuits in my ears making up for what my brain had misunderstood for reality. Happy that it's actually COOL as I type: I'd left a note for the guys last night, before I went to bed about 11:15PM and they hadn't come in yet, that if they were warm they could either put on the A/C or open a window. I presume they did neither, though the area outside my bedroom, with the window open, felt quite a bit warmer than the bedroom did when I went to the john at 7:15AM. Tris hasn't called back yet, having received the new Galapagos file with the "braced" notations of the fourteen slides to be included on the website with the journal of the trip. Negotiating with Susie about a trip to gardens in New Jersey, copying John on everything, and mentioning that Steve Hayes might like to go along too, and would there be room for five in her car if Charles wanted to join us. She seems to be willing to plan the trip, saying that our coming to the usuual (Summit?) station is still the most convenient for her AND for us. Bizarrely, my NEW vacation dates, to Martha's Vineyard, is causing as many problems for our New Jersey garden trip as my Five Stans dates caused for my (non-existent) Census work. Smell a scent from the bathroom, and expect to hear a "Good morning, Bob," any second now behind me as I continue to think what to type to give the impression that this is a normal morning for me and I'm ready for breakfast at any time. Pedestrians outside are walking as if the day is warmer than it feels from my position at the breezy window. Antoine has a difficult day before him: he's thinking of taking his luggage into the city this morning and leaving it, maybe at Penn Station (which will take an extra trip anyway), so that he won't have to come back HERE before his plane at 6PM from JFK today---deciding that the $45+ taxi is NOT a choice compared with the subway-airport-bus combination for much less money. I suggested they take a water taxi from Fulton Ferry, around the southern tip of Manhattan, and up to 42nd Street, where they could catch a crosstown bus to see the United Nations, viewing the entire length of 42nd Street as they do so. Then have to figure out what Eugenio would like to do tonight, and before his plane leaves, I assume in the early evening, tomorrow. Mildred and Joy enjoyed the Five Stans, Mildred saying it was my best show yet. Play Taipei 9:10-10:30AM and then Solitaire 10:30AM-12:10PM. 10:40PM: Eugenio hasn't returned yet; I got tired of reading the Shahnamah and turned on his light and came into the bedroom to type this before washing my face and going to bed early, preparing for Eugenio's last day tomorrow, the first day of July. I keep kicking myself for not having caught up on my journal for the end of June, realizing that I'll have to keep both calendar pages up for the time it takes me to catch up. Tris hasn't called back yet---let me look at the website---and nothing's been done with Galapagos yet. Well, I guess I COULD start proofreading Marj's stuff, already here so long that the bill is dated June 14. Just don't have the energy to type anything more now at 10:45PM. Bed at 11PM.

THURSDAY, 7/1/10: 7:48AM: Up at 7:15AM, waiting for the clock to turn so that I'm officially up for the first time after 8:15 hours in bed without an earlier rising. Pee and shit and use a match to get rid of the smell, wash my face and hands, and put on Edgardo's new polo shirt again when I dress and leave the door open for Eugenio to see that I'm awake. I have no idea when he got in last night (or this morning). Check off the items on the latest Visa bill, noting that Sage hasn't been billed yet and wonder if it has anything to do with my card number changing, though the number on the bill through 6/10 is still 6677 rather than the new number. Then transfer dreams from the Neo to the Dell, proofread them, not printing yet to avoid the noise. Meanwhile I sort out the stack of notes from the past two weeks to at last update NJ. Check printed pages and find the last printed NJ page is 74, the last DH is 52, so I have yet to print 53. Note that on the list from 6/11, finally having checked the Tris e-mails on Sunday, 6/27, now able to throw that list away when I finish printing after Eugenio gets up. Shuffle notes ENDLESSLY to 8:53AM, getting out gym-day list, Spider list, and Taipei/Solitaire list to add to missing days. He's finally up and we're out to Clark's Corner for breakfast 9:11-9:57AM. He got in this morning about 1:30AM, having been to a jazz club where people starting talking to him and his friend, and he has a great impression of the busyness and friendliness of NYC. He also asked how Sergio and I met, and I told him we met at MoMA, where he's going today! Mentioned visiting his parents in a few different apartments, but not when they lived in Pavia. I sort of wonder, now, how much Edgardo told him about our past. We come back here for him to print out his boarding passes and get instructions for the subway to JFK from Spartacus. He finds his plane is at 9:30PM, rather than 11PM, as he'd thought, so he has to leave here about 5:30 and will have dinner at the airport and not with me. Bizarrely, Michael Chan calls just at 10:20, in the middle of Eugenio's business at the computer, and I tell him to call back in half an hour. Eugenio leaves at 10:30AM to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and I point out the window to where he'll find instructions on a tree on Cadman Plaza West. Finish transcribing notes and printing out pages by 12:30, Michael Chan not calling back yet! Did I piss him off? Have a bit more of the incredible chocolate, look out at the beautiful clouds framed in my rain-spotted window, and put away the sheets and pillows WITH the bedding still on: good enough for the next guests! He's left his computer on my Time-Warner cable-box, his towel on my chair-back; he's got a lot of checking to do before he takes off for the A-train at 5:30! I'm tired now at 12:45PM, having checked Marj's recommended WORKAMPING site for jobs, but discouraged to find it's $33/year for a subscription. Go to the gym, have lunch, proof Marj's files, and Eugenio returns just after 5PM to pack and leave at 5:20PM. I proof to 8:05, play Spider 8:35-10 to a new high of 51.16823 at 499 up after 6 wins, then catch up with this to 10:07PM, not printing prior page yet, and will have dinner. Have a can of minestrone, not very filling, so I have two slices of toast with butter about 11:45 and get to bed at 12:21AM.

FRIDAY, 7/2/10: Pee at 5:07AM and up at 8:21AM. Find that I'd recorded the "original story" of "Midnight Express," but get caught up watching National Geographic programs on Egyptian curses (of mummies and the ten Biblical plagues) and on the Black Sea, advertised as "The Wuest for Noah's Ark," which refers to some professor from the "Lamon-Doherty" Institute connected with Columbia University, which I know to be LAMONT-Doherty. Then check proofreading with Marj from 11-11:50, when she has to watch some tennis. Michael Chan called and we agreed to meet on the corner of Henry and Clark for lunch at 1PM---my first date in AGES! Marj wishes me good luck. Try to get Chin to change by Avodart prescription from Dr. Mallett to a cheaper generic, as well as authorize more simvastatin, but I'll have to call CVS back to check on both of them. Now at 12:08PM ready to go back to watching the "Midnight Express" truth. Out to meet Michael at 1PM and wait until 1:20, but he doesn't show up. Return to the apartment to find a message from him at 1:20, saying he's delayed, and then the phone rings at 1:22 saying he's waiting on the corner. I say I'll be down in a few minutes. Down to find him looking around rather frantically, and he's young, reminding me of someone else who's young and quite strange---maybe Sadahiro, and I suggest we go to Clark's Corner for lunch. Find a nice seat at the window, but he wants to sit more inside. He starts by saying he only wants coffee, since he's forgotten to bring any money with him. I say I'll pay for it, and he insists he'll pay me back. OK. I order fish and chips, and so does he, drinking about four cups of coffee while looking anywhere but at me, and at one point laughing, I'm SURE at me for some little thing that I do, but he excuses by saying that he'd looked at a woman across the way who was laughing, so he was laughing too. He's going to school for five more years with something I think he calls a Stafford scholarship, or loan, saying, "When I'm a doctor I can make over $100,000 a year, so I'll have no trouble paying back the loan." When I ask him what he likes sexually, he protests that he's shy and refuses to answer. We sit for about an hour, and then I suggest we go to the Promenade, but halfway there he insists we turn back, so in desperation, at the entrance to the subway, I say, "Well, I'll leave you here." We shake hands, he says nothing more, and disappears into the subway entrance. I'm somewhat shaken, though when I talk to Marj she insists that he's just shy and I'm well rid of him: I'd handled it very well, she says. I still feel slightly guilty about abruptly dismissing him, surely not helping his shyness, if it's that which is his primary "problem," and I'll probably take it up again with Sharon on Wednesday. Play Spider 3-4:15, stopping for lunch, then again 4:40-4:50, when I think I get Marj on the phone and talk about Michael and many other things until 6PM, when I restart the Spider and finish at 9PM with finally a good score: 51.18312 at 506 up after 11 wins. Probably watch junk TV while having a very late dinner. End with Solitaire 11:55-1AM. Bed 1:03AM.

SATURDAY, 7/3/10: Pee at 2:10AM AND at 2:12AM! Up at 8:17AM. Watch the very strange "The Lovely Bones," happy that there's not a commentary to take up more of my time. Solitaire 11:45AM-1:30PM. Proofread KENTANZ 2:55-4:30, probably have lunch, and check the corrections with Marj 4:53-5:30, happy to be finished with the files she sent me June 14. Put eight more travel files onto her flashdrive, now seeming to be eager to process INDIARTW and other large files for the website. Bed 12:15AM.

SUNDAY, 7/4/10: Pee 4:37AM and 6:24AM. Up at 6:58AM, impatient to get into the day, starting by watching for the SECOND time (and much of it is STILL very dark, and many of the words are STILL not understood) "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," which never really says what the significance of Snape BEING the half-blood prince IS. Though I "need to remember" that they're probably NOT going back to Hogwarts and need to find Voldemort's seven horcruxes to destroy him. Only on the second viewing did I realize that Ralph Fiennes DID appear, VERY briefly, as one of Potter's battlers. Have a very early breakfast. Write descriptions and send six travel files to Tris by noon, then hungry for lunch, and Charles calls and agrees to meet me at 23rd and 7th Avenue at 7PM to watch the Macy's fireworks on the Hudson. Have an early lunch, then look into TR\INDIARTW, which only covers July 2 - August 24, 1971 (and check that JV\IBMRTW seems to have all of May 16 - June 14, 1964), then JV\TE1 has 90 pages of pre-work (with fabulous Louis L.!) and text to August 25, while JV\TE2 has August 26 - November 8 with two pages missing. Then check AR\TE and find it has 183 pages, again with two pages missing. Go back to the DIARY volume 2001-2500 and find that the two pages are missing there, too. Wonder if they might be in the stack atop the scanner, and go through to find lots of stuff, and AT THE VERY BOTTOM find a triple-folded single sheet that turns out to be SKEW UNIVERSE, which contains IWOKE! Call Marj to get a busy signal, and call her ten minutes later to get her and PRAISE the workings of the universe! Then work on JOHN, making it all "one page," moving the date from a separate line up to the right of the DIARY-page number, and trying to find all the proper names and replacing them with Initial-periods. Finish that just at 6:10PM, have two slices of toast with juice and my evening pills, and get out to the corner of 23rd and 7th JUST at 7PM to find Charles arriving only about 7:06. We wait for the bus until 7:15, which stops at 10th Avenue. Walk up to 24th and 11th and find a barricaded LINE waiting to get to 12th Avenue. Continue up to 26th and find access much easier there, sitting on a curb at Charles's behest until 8:35, when I persuade him to walk north, almost to 29th Street, which is barricaded, and we stand wearily until 9:25 when the fireworks start. They're quite good, with SIX barges, more than I'd ever seen before, and I take a number of minutes of camera-movie. Over at 9:51 and we join the crowds exiting, finding a line at Dallas BBQ, and going down 8th Avenue to find a small gay place Charles knows (and whose name I've forgotten) [The Dish] and have sandwiches to 11:30, when I get down to the A-train to get in the back door just at 11:58PM. Bed at 12:45AM.

MONDAY, 7/5/10: Pee at 8:23AM and up at 8:53AM. Write checks to Tris and Marj (and finish her package) and get them into the morning mail by 9:15AM, Joshua handing me a letter from Cadman demanding copies of documents I'm not even quite sure I have. ALWAYS SOMETHING NEW. Catch up on the journal, send Tris a memo to take John A.'s true name off the Round the World in 1971 description, and sit in front of the air conditioner to 10:30AM trying to clear the way to get to ordering the Dell flashdrive for my $75 card that expires 7/6, but decide that I really must have breakfast first. But FIRST I have to fill the pill box, taking longer and longer, and phoning CVS for a Uroxatral prescription renewal. Huge HH breakfast of pancakes and apples and peameal bacon and walnuts, then talk to Marj from 11:30-12:15 about the New Yorker article on Roger Federer, then Charles calls with the name of the restaurant last night: The Dish. And I get back to Dell after writing this at 12:30PM. Nice fellow from Hyderabad helps me get a 32-gig flashdrive for $90. Play Solitaire 5:50-6, then Taipei 6-7:30. Watch "The Messenger" on my Dell from Netflix, rather depressing, almost pointless movie. Get the names of two MORE free movies that I'd like to see. Bed at 11:42PM.

TUESDAY, 7/6/10: Pee at 6:28AM and up at 7:17AM. Watch "It Came From Kuchar" while eating breakfast, and follow with "Flexing with Monty," finding on Google that the muscled anti-hero, Trevor Goddard, committed suicide in 2006 or so. Monitor the temperature on Verizon and Channel 1 as it goes to 103, record for the day but still short of the all-time NYC high of 106 set back in July, 1936. Go out for lunch at Blaue Gans, even though Charles calls to say he doesn't feel like going out in the heat, for a very good Wiener Schnitzel, with potato-cucumber salad and a first and second portion of lingonberries, and finish with an enormous Kaisarschmarrn, pancake and raisins and apple and cinnamon and powdered sugar, with rhubarb on the side, so large a portion that I take about half home. Home quickly and decide there's nothing better to do than watch TV, so I watch the last three episodes of "The Tudors," more depression. Finish watching my recorded copies of "The Pixar Story," and "AFI Award to Mike Nichols," and catch most of the silly "All About Steve," with a gabby cruciverbalist played by Sandra Bullock pursuing a handsome Bradley Cooper into stupid news situations. Bed at 11:05PM.

WEDNESDAY, 7/7/10: Pee at 5:05, and, bizarrely, at 5:07, and up at 8:15, finally watering the plants which I FORGOT to do on Sunday, both the air conditioner and the fan going to keep me cool, though the temperature rises to "only" 94 by 3:25PM as I type this. Breakfast, locate my Cadman stock certificate and occupation agreement and take them down to the office to have them copied for my files, and then play Spider 9:45-10:50 to another high of 51.19214 at 510 up after 5 wins, moving to Taipei from 11:05-12:05 and then Solitaire from 12:05-12:55, when I decide to take the A-train to Barbuto, first next to a noisy loud-talker at a center table, then a gabby child with a coloring book at the next table, while enjoying the linguini carbonara, probably perfectly done: linguini of perfect texture, good abundant carbonara, and added parmesan for a cool texture against the hot food. Finish with a variegated-textured semifreddo sundae of hazelnut ice cream, crumbled cookies, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream, finishing about 2:20 and getting back to find my HH food arrive. Put on various air conditioners and finish this by 3:32PM, ready to put the food into the fridge and start reading. BUT play Solitaire, then Taipei, put food away, read Shahnameh, back to Taipei for about NINE CONSECUTIVE clearings, and finish at 8:10, legs cold under air conditioner when it's only about 86 out, and catch this up to date before watching the "elements" shows that Spartacus raved about. But it only has two episodes, Water and Earth, which I watch during dinner, and I have to make a note telling him of his lack. Bed at 10:59PM.

THURSDAY, 7/8/10: Type dream and pee at 3:47AM. Up at 7:25AM. Watch an awful "Screamplay" with one of the Kuchars as a maniacal apartment-house super, and then scan for something more to watch free and settle on "30 Rock," watching SIX episodes before I decide I've had enough. Phone Edgardo to wish him a happy birthday. Went to Spartacus's to get a new version of the "elements" shows, and finally teach him how to "send" his Rapidfile program and files (we hope) to a flashdrive; it "only" takes an hour in his hot apartment. Read Shahnameh past the halfway point and find the original library slip behind the TV set. Decide to go out to dinner at Bill's Burger, rather good, with lots of sexy people on 13th and Ninth. Home to watch "Alice in Wonderland," Tim Burton's colorful rendition with a VERY colorful Johnny Depp and a rather wan Alice. Watch all the extras and get to bed at 11:46PM.

FRIDAY, 7/9/10: Pee and type dream at 5:52AM, and up at 6:57AM. Apartment is VERY muggy as I decide to HANG the plant in the front window, after washing it inside and out for the first time in years, and at length settle on straightening a paper clip to pierce the stalk with enough overhand to wrap the twine around which I hang from picture-hanging clips on the Venetian blind crossbar, having first mistakenly hung the rightmost stalk in a way that PREVENTS lowering the blind. Have to correct that later, if the hanging is successful. Rather late breakfast, reading Shahnameh, and then decide on Pop Burger for lunch at 12:30, quickly done in a rather junky place, a large back room empty for special parties? Back to make a list of medications I'm taking, since there are SO MANY of them. Call Elsie about the bus to the Philharmonic next Friday, call John about Sunday's meeting arrangements, talk to Charles, who still wants to go, and tell Marj to send more stuff for me to proof, though she insists she has other priorities to see to first. Play Spider 2:35-3, when I stop to go to the gym, and finish 4:40-6:30 at 51.2056 at 516 up after 7 wins. Play Taipei to fill in the time to 7PM when I leave for Sharon, having jolted "awake" at 6:15 to remind myself of the appointment. She's got someone before and after me, and I get back home to catch up with this to 8:35PM, hungry for dinner, but determined to type the session, which I do to 8:46PM, straining to think of what to say. Bed 10:28PM.

SHARON B. 142 7/9/10

It's been FOURTEEN DAYS since my last session, so I fill her in on Eugenio's visit, saying what a good guest he was, staying out to 3AM all mornings, enjoying breakfasts with me, asking how I met Edgardo, not really caring if he knows "our story" or not. Told how everyone enjoys my apartment as I do, and how I handled the plants and washed the window, putting the leaves back in the way to block the next building's view of my jerking off in front of the TV. Tell of my blind date and my guilt over refusing to continue seeing the shy Michael, and she asks more about it. Praise myself for going to four restaurants on my own, making a medication list that bothers me, and falter about things to say, acknowledging that she'd tell me if my session wasn't productive, and insisting that she's a night person, started late today, and is seeing someone AFTER me---and I wouldn't want to see her at 9AM. Told her how content I was with sending so many files to Tris for the website, and about Don's e-mail about chronicles being transitory---except on the Internet! Told how I enjoyed the extreme heat and cold of NYC, and that maybe my dream about parking the car is in anticipation of my driving on Martha's Vineyard, my first driving in, I guessed, maybe three years, maybe with Ken in Spain. Said that it was nice and comfortable outside, but got home to put on the air conditioners in both rooms, preparing for an evening in. Mentioned Sunday's early-starting trip. Said that I could stop ten minutes' early, but she said she didn't mind if I stared at the floor and didn't say anything, but she knew that I liked ALL my time to be productive, and that I'd be concerned if I didn't think I was "handling my problems" in every session. But she praised me for being easier on myself with computer games and restaurants, and was happy that I hadn't suffered any more sciatica pains. I talked up to 8PM, nodding to the plump woman waiting to take my place in Sharon's office.

SATURDAY, 7/10/10: Pee at 5:43AM and up at 6:32AM. Rita calls from northern New York State. Wash windows, despite the fact that it's supposed to rain this evening, but it doesn't. Even when it DOES rain later, it doesn't leave marks on the newly cleaned windows. With great energy and sweat I deconstruct the Door Store bookcase forms, hammering out the recalcitrant shelf supports, and throw them away, putting the poles on top of the western mirrored cabinets. Put two shelves on top of the now-nude bookcases, and fill them with souvenirs from the bags that I finally unpack from 167 Hicks Street. Watch "Public Enemies," about Johnny Depp as Dillinger and Christian Bale as his pursuer. Bed 10:33PM, cutting my eight hours' sleep short.

SUNDAY, 7/11/10: Up at 6:11AM. Meet John at 6:45AM at the Clark Street Station after throwing out the last of the oatmeal which I didn't have time to finish. Charles joins us at the bus gate at 7:35AM and we get the 7:45 bus that gets to Ringwood Park and Ride at 8:55AM, earlier than the announced 9:02 arrival, but Susie is waiting for us. Up to Skylands Manor to walk in on the bed-and-breakfasters having breakfast and am told that there's a house tour at noon. Out to the gardens, rather meager plantings in the annual and perennial gardens, but the woodlands are nice with the frog and the "Charles" rock. John and Charles and Susie sit while I go to the farthest end to photo the Four Continents' statues, and a cardinal, and return by way of the waterlily pond to the house tour, which is interesting enough except for the screaming baby. OUt to lunch at Raku Sushi, on John's behest, and I have negamaki, quite filling, and envy John's beer. Then about an hour's drive south to Morristown for the Cross Estate gardens, for great oakleaf hydrangeas and bottlebrush buckeyes, and I, again, go farther to photograph the doll house, a recent addition. Back in the car after talking to the pleasant volunteer gardener, and we all agree that we've had enough. Walk around Morristown to find a place for ice cream, and then catch the 5:30 train, getting into NYC about 6:30, and watch "Speedy" with Harold Lloyd, a half-hour "Coney Island" with Fatty Arbuckle, and "The Devil and Miss Jones," with a cute Jean Arthur and a too-young Robert Cummings. Bed 12:21AM.

MONDAY, 7/12/10: Up 7:55AM. Get to Gothan for lunch with Mildred, pretty good, and back to watch "The Last Station" THREE times with all the commentaries. Try putting away souvenirs from the shoeboxes, but it's not really working. Bed 12:34AM.

TUESDAY, 7/13/10: Pee at 5:33AM and type dreams. Up 8:45AM. Play Taipei 4:15-4:45, mostly successful. The R train is snail-like until I transfer, after a long wait, to the Q train, which takes me to Adour at 5:50PM, twenty minutes late, but Charles and Mildred haven't even looked at the menu: they've been talking. Great! Fabulous meal, with Charles's dessert the best he's ever had, and my short ribs are just luscious, while Charles's salmon is so-so. Mildred, I'm sure, is VERY pleased with her $18 flight of three wines with her meal which I can't participate in. Bed 12:20AM.

WEDNESDAY, 7/14/10: Pee 2:19AM, 6:19AM, and 6:45AM---something's clearly wrong! Up at 8:12 and have breakfast before getting out about 8:55AM to Dr. Mesh, getting to the office at 9:07, filling in the form to 9:10, saying that I've been depressed and exhausted since my last meeting with her. Read New Yorker and feel impatient in my ill-fitting new glasses, waiting until 10:20AM, when she apologizes for keeping me waiting so long, and we have the talk I describe in MEDICAL. Out at 10:27AM, get to Radio Shack to buy a $17 adapter for my DVI connection, and get to the opticians to get my glasses fixed, which work, since I've been wearing them since. Finish Firdawsci's "Shahnameh," all 855 pages, started 6/27, noting on page 390B that Rostam is 600 years old and Zal, his father, is still alive! Pages 390-392 give lineages of Rostam and Esgandyar. Page 396 is crux of lineages. Pages 634-635 is about limp sex, using the terms "awl, pickaxe, door, implement, and felt" to speak of organs. Page 635-636 recommends sex ONLY once a month, for procreation! Page 649: "push on to Nisa, the Parthian city," which I just VISITED. Leon calls to say I'm ON the bus on Friday, but I have to get $3 to Christina to make it official. She says the doors are locked to their office at 3:30, so I have to get it to her before that. Then try the DVI adapter. When I click the FN-F8 "CRT/LCD" button on the Dell I get "No external display is attached" on the Dell screen, when it IS. And on the TV, when I put the VHS on DV, and the wire to DV1 (switching it from the clearly wrong DV2 I'd tried first), with the TV input as DV, I get "No signal detected" on the TV screen. Try and try again---once the adapter wasn't firmly connected---and it still doesn't work. Let the laptop charge completely and take the whole shebang back to Radio Shack about 2PM, when the guy says I should just use the VGA, refunding my money for the adapter. Get change for $20 at the Chinese laundry and give Christina $3 for the bus to the Philharmonic at 6PM Friday. And the VGA WORKS BEAUTIFULLY, the slides showing PERFECTLY. Piri calls about the Games Group on Sunday, and I commit myself to that. Get out to CVS to put in my prescription, waiting exasperatedly for SIX MINUTES for the two people in front of me to submit their scrip. So I get to Sharon at 4:47PM! Ask Bestway where Uganda is in the Visa department, and ask Ken to consider their March 13 trip to Indonesia. Download the rest of my Olympus disk and select nine shots to send to Susia and John just before 7PM, taking a LONG time to transmit them. Do Spider 7-7:55 to a new high (on new card #41) of 51.20766 at 517 up after 2 wins. Then play Solitaire 7:55-10, just because I feel like it and keep hearing Sharon saying "Just relax." Forget to shop at Key Food, so I have to drink water with dinner while watching TV: "30 Rock" episodes 7-10. Bed at 12:55AM.

SHARON B. 143 7/14/10

She's talking with her supervisor when I get in, late, at 4:47PM, and say that this is typical of the last few days, being TWENTY minutes late for dinner at Adour last night, which Mildred and Charles accepted graciously because they were TALKING and hadn't even SEEN the Restaurant Week menu yet! Went through ALL the things I did today: saw Dr. Mesh (and told of BOTH our reliefs that the sciatica hasn't been acting up at ALL, though I have to worry when I stop taking the pills tomorrow, though I take others when I need to and have a refill available), got a DV adapter, got my glasses adjusted, finished "Shahnameh" to return to the library and pick up new books while returning the adapter, getting a refund, paying Christina $3 (which Sharon said SHE could transmit to Christina in the future!), and knowing I have to download my photos from Sunday to send to Susie and John, having been disappointed at how TIRED I was during the trip, though walking more than even JOHN was doing. Fatigued on climbing to the top of SUBWAY stairs now, and MORE people passing me on the sidewalk. All these things are OUT OF MY CONTROL, and I HATE my body for letting me down: not even feeling sexy enough to jerk off before the upcoming trip, which reminds me to say that I won't be seeing her next week. Just bitch and moan through the whole thing, taking a glass of water for my VERY hoarse throat, Sharon suggesting that it MIGHT be largely psychological when I'm addressing emotion-filled thoughts, and I remind myself that I have to call Charles to cancel our possible Friday at Coney Island because I'm going on the bus to the Philharmonic in Prospect Park! AND say that I've got BOTH air conditioners going down to 70 just to get away from the humidity, which SHE says helped make HER sick during the first part of this week! So she concludes that I'm overburdened with things to do and should just RELAX more, and I even mention my new obsession with "30 Rock." End by saying I don't even have any FRIENDS with whom I can unburden my feelings as I can with her, and she practically CONGRATULATES me for letting my feelings out so reasonably with her. Leave on the dot of 5:30, confessing that I DO feel relieved having been able to VENT like this. She wishes me a good trip.

THURSDAY, 7/15/10: Pee at 8:18AM and up at 8:25 to watch episodes 11-17 of "30 Rock," just because I WANT to, having oatmeal with the LAST of the raisins and NO apple juice because I forgot to go to Key Food after Sharon last night. Then call Marj 11:20AM-12:10PM to say that I got her envelope and describe my new "30 Rock" mania. Then GOT to get back to this, now SIX days behind! Catch up with much of it until 1:05PM, aware that I should start preparing for the BMT slow ride into Maialino for Mildred at 2PM! Get there at 1:45, sitting in the luxurious Gramercy Hotel lobby to wait for Mildred. Good lunch with a sexy waiter and LOTS of breads and oil and butter. Home to watch "30 Rock" episodes 11-17 of season 1, then "Where the Wild Things Are," really quite depressing with manic animals and lousy homelives everywhere, and then hooked in to "State of Play," which I'd seen only in 1995, which gets me to bed at 2:40AM!

FRIDAY, 7/16/10: Pee at 9:10AM and up at 9:33AM to sit at the Netflix freebies while having breakfast and watching "Gods of Football Calendar 2009," and "30 Rock" episodes 18-21 to finish season 1, and start season 2 with episodes 1-4, really wasting a large part of the day. Play Spider 3-3:45 to continue my winning streak to 51.21404 at 520 up after 5 wins. Just don't feel like doing ANYTHING else: maybe I'm worried about the trip, for which Ken calls to insist I make the car reservation from his place to my place to LGA on Monday. I spend an exasperating hour transferring six companies from my old credit card number to my new credit card number. Then get out at 5:50 to board the bus, filled with unpleasant old people with whom I don't speak until "forced" by Elsie Brazel. To Prospect Park at 7PM, good crowd gathering in the humid heat, and the Tchaikovsky "Onegin" polonaise is pleasant, Bernstein's "West Side Story" suite OK, and after a 25-minute intermission a 50-minute Prokofiev "Romeo and Juliet" suite which my having SEEN makes interesting, but others opine that it wasn't very good. Tiny Grucci fireworks for about ten minutes, then a long wait in the bus for a long ride back, when I get off at Pierrepont and walk home, watch part of Spartacus's National Geographic disk, and get to bed at 11:39PM.

SATURDAY, 7/17/10: Pee at 2:59AM after a jab of right big-toe pain. Up at 7:26AM to jerk off with little feeling, just to DO it, do the Sunday puzzles rather easily, and take a valium at 1:55PM because I'm feeling unaccountably antsy, having phoned Ken about my astoundingly low $49 car reservation for Monday. Start to think about packing. Spider 6:05-6:35 to 51.2162 to 521 up after 2 wins, then just MOPE with Solitaire 6:45-10PM, really CURSING myself for being SUCH a slave to it. Watch "Clear and Present Danger" after finishing the five National Geographic episodes and having dinner. Bed at 12:31AM.

SUNDAY, 7/18/10: Pee at 7:28AM and take another valium, just in case. Up at 8:05 and start getting things ready for packing: deciding to take Marj's pages with my Dell for correcting there; Ken demands that I take my cellphone; I dig out the notes for the four shows on my Dell: Brit/Wales and Egypt, which Ken has seen already, St. Petersburg and the Five Stans. My Dell acts strangely, and ALWAYS needs recharging. Take my phone recharger and my battery recharger for my camera, and decide to take the bottle of Pisco as a house gift, which Ken INSISTS that I take! Then decide I MUST catch up with the journal, printing many past pages and finishing this at last at 12:50PM, just right to getting ready for the Games Group at 2PM. Diane has vastly improved, I win the Boggle, Caesar wins the Quiddler, and everyone's happy. Piri has a meeting, so we have to leave at 5:30. I bus and subway home and start looking at packing. Get to bed at 11:25PM but then get up to print MAPS of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket to 12:10AM, and fall asleep quickly.

MONDAY, 7/19/10: Pee at 7:04AM and up at 7:16, eager to get into the day. Pack underwear and pants, taking LOTS of clothes for only a week: TWO extra pair of pants, FOUR shirts, four pairs of socks, three underwear, bathing suit, and lots of books and reading material. Load up BOTH cases and get 24# into the black back at 14# into the shoulder bag, heavy with the Dell, and take out the garbage and have breakfast. The service calls at 8:52 saying MY car is outside, but then she apologizes for calling the wrong person. Then at 8:59 Ken calls to say they quoted him $56, he responded they quoted me $49, and they said they'd charge the lesser if they didn't have to wait for me at 101 Clark. So I type this to 9:01AM, ready to change into my clothes, pack the last stuff into my ever heavier shoulder bag, including my PILL box and my Omega-3 bottle! Now I'm finished here, and ready to REALLY get into the day, teeth still filled with raisin fragments from my oatmeal, which emptied both the juice container and the mild container, which I took out to the trash. The trip begins! Turns out we SHOULD have called to verify flight-departure time, delayed since 8:30AM! But we didn't.

TRAVEL: MARTHA'S VINEYARD - July 19-26, 2010

MONDAY, 7/26/10: Water plants. Go through mail to 7:05PM, leaving stacks on floor for at least two days of TOTAL laziness and delight to be back from the trip. Go through over 39 e-mails to 7:22PM. Play Solitaire until 8:10PM and Taipei to 8:50PM. At some point, I sort through the photos and reduce their number from 220 to 205. Bed at 11:51PM.

TUESDAY, 7/27/10: Pee at 6:11AM and up at 8:50. Watch Netflix "An Education" twice, interesting enough, but not terribly realistic. Then get sucked into watching an extremely violent "12 Rounds," with the sexy body and face of John Cena being the main attraction, who has to solve twelve puzzles before the villain gets killed and he can get his wife back. By comparison, "Terminator: Salvation" is slow and predictable. Feel that I've done absolutely nothing today. Bed at 12:31AM.

WEDNESDAY, 7/28/10: Pee at 8:10AM and start the day. Begin with the Netflix freebie "Born Rich," about poor undirected rich kids MADE by a somewhat directed rich Johnson. Then find that "Pillars of the Earth," which just started on TV, offers its first two episodes free, so I watch those while having breakfast. Then decide I have to do SOMETHING constructive, so after I answer the phone and talk to Shelley 11:05-11:17, I call Spartacus 11:18-11:43, Charles 11:44-12:15, leave word with Mildred and Carolyn to 12:20PM. Then turn to "30 Rock," watching episodes 12-15 of season 2 and episodes 1-4 of season 3, a total of eight episodes that take just about four hours, since I have lunch while watching them. Also get to the gym for the first time since returning from my trip, squeezing it between "30 Rock" episodes. Then it's time to leave for Sharon, whose session I don't record until the FOLLOWING TUESDAY! Back to not be able to resist watching the two movies on Netflix that Charles recommended: "Yossi and Jagger," which I don't find that interesting, though I agree that Jagger is just as cute as can be; and "Walk on Water," which I find VERY good, with great acting, and it never IS clear whether the detective following the Jewish son who ends up killing his genocidal grandfather is sexually attracted to the gay son or not. Bed at 1:02AM, resisting writing up Sharon's session.

SHARON B. 144 7/28/10

Get there early, just to be sure, since I feel so WEAK recently from having done NOTHING for the past three days, although I congratulate myself for having at least gotten to the gym, "bragging about" my hair being still wet as I enter the room. The trip seems better and better in retrospect as I describe it: the quiet appreciation of our being there by our hosts, the planning by Ken that makes all the days full of activity, my being able to keep a journal and proofread Madagasm and Maltam with Marv's mouse---NOT remarking on the quartet of Ms! I sum up the emotional content of the trip by saying that it was like being a member of a VERY supportive family: sharing meals and anecdotes, living in comfortable air-conditioned surroundings, even entertaining the possibility of sharing a common trip to Libya---all circumstances that I am just NOT accustomed to existing among. EVEN SO, I was NOT totally in control of my own time and activities, so when I got back from the---certainly short---eight days, I just felt like TOTALLY indulging myself, doing EXACTLY what I felt like doing, which was primarily merely watching movies and TV. But that was what I wanted to do, though I should have also been catching up with "putting the trip away," but not doing it. Also reported on my INCREDIBLE dream on Sunday, which I wanted to print up and bring to her, even though I suspected I'd find my thoughts afterward rather embarrassing. She assures me I don't HAVE to do anything I don't want to do, but I say that it might help my process here, just as, when she asks, "Why do you think you didn't feel guilty about not doing anything constructive the past few days?," I could answer, truthfully, "Because of what we've done HERE." Leave at the dot of 5:30PM and home to watch more movies.

THURSDAY, 7/29/10: Pee at 5:53AM and up at 8:52AM. Watch "30 Rock" episodes 5-8 of season 3 while having breakfast, then talk to Marj 11:03-12:23 about doing nothing for the past many days, in which she totally supports me. Continue with episodes 9-12 for another two hours while having lunch. Break my TV sitting with reading sitting, finishing Crace: "Arcadia," rather charmed by finding a number of words that my Webster's Dictionary doesn't have, so I have to resort to the OED: p.15: "medlar fruit had bletted long enough": Webster: special rot of soft fruits; p.15: "bananaman, specialises in musaceae": Webster: a species name; p.17: "grapefruit, shaddocks and half-caste pomelos": Webster: like grapefruit; p.18: "scalped the orange at its pig with his teeth": only OED defined, at definition 8, as a SEGMENT of an orange: did Crace get it wrong?; p.23: "marchpane" = marzipan, as in Webster; p.24: "spoonwood" = laurel, not in Webster or OED, but it Googled in some few dictionaries as laurel; p.24: "like a cow with qualsy": not in Webster or OED, and only in Google as a modern slang word for quality, obviously not as Crace intended; p.32: "perch...gauped and putted at his penis end": Webster: gaped, also gawped; p.77: typo: "she would have do do" for "to do"; p.105: "strewn loosely in arcadia," first reference to title; p.194: construction of Arcadia market; p.243: "had wrinkled Victor from his lair," clearly a typo for "winkled." Watch the Netflix "Crazy Heart," not that interesting, gotten only because the industry decided---had to hunt for his name---Jeff Bridges deserved an Oscar for the part. Then started to watch "The Invention of Lying," missing the first part because there was no SOUND, and I phoned Time-Warner to be guided to trying the volume control on the remote, and somehow I'd accidentally turned the Time-Warner-remote volume control down, rather than the Westinghouse-remote volume control! Silly! Bed at 1:23AM.

FRIDAY, 7/30/10: Pee at 8:13AM and 9:30AM and type at 9:50AM: So far behind in EVERYTHING! Have tried to do Actualism each of the last two or three mornings, but just haven't managed to pull it off yet. Have been doing SOME things: 1) Looked up words in the OED that Crace used in "Arcadia," but haven't finished with that yet, with the OED still filling part of my dining-room table. 2) Threw out my old slippers that had finally completely broken away on the right foot; thought to replace them with my second set of furry-topped slippers, but decided it was SUMMER, so my old black, leather, Church's English slippers (of such quality they must have been a gift, possibly from Madge) would be more appropriate. 3) Put my very-long-used jeans into the laundry, with the stained-front T-shirt, and started wearing my not-so-long-used jeans and got out a New York City Ballet Fourth Ring Society T-shirt to wear when I took down the Netflix "Crazy Heart" and my FIA check (why don't I switch to paying it on-line from my Schwab One account?) to the 10AM mailbox pickup. 4) Decided to add the three-week-old stack of souvenirs from 167 Hicks---that I'd kept in a plastic bag for these eight-some years and couldn't find room for on current shelves---also on the dining-room table---to my "put-on-shelf box" with other items from the long-dormant REORGCHR project---but I haven't done it yet. 5) Decided this morning that I can SAVE "30 Rock" viewings for LATER, rather than going through another eight episodes, almost four hours, today---so I can get to higher-priority items, like A) going to Radio Shack to a) change my Virgin Mobile cell-phone battery and b) buy a battery tester so I can definitively manage too-many AA batteries of various ages and power and c) see if a new remote will work better for my slow-motion buttons; B) making a dental appointment; C) making a Chin appointment to see about a) the troubling spot on my right cheek (hoping that the blood spot on my LEFT cheek is only some kind of pimple, with a simple scab, rather than some kind of tick bite from Martha's Vineyard) and b) the troubling spot, whether on the skin or "inside" at or near the spine, on my lower right-side back and c) current blood results, though I haven't yet checked to see when the last ones were; D) start going through Madagasm and Maltam with Marj; E) getting a call from Charles to see whether Coney Island is possible today for a) the new rides, b) a possible Cyclone ride, and c) the 9:30PM fireworks; F) having breakfast; G) checking my July 10 Visa bill; H) finishing unpacking and "catching up" from my Martha's Vineyard trip, which would include a) transferring MVTRIP from my laptop Dell to my desktop Dell and extracting DREAMS from the trip journal itself, b) transferring the trip slides from my Olympus to my Edge box, c) finishing the journal itself from multiple notecards on my desk, d) updating my calendar, and, actually PRIMARILY, e) doing the accounts to see how much I owe Ken for the trip and how much the trip actually cost me; I) making a copy of my "Wednesday dream" from MVTRIP to take to Sharon next Wednesday. So let's do B) now at 10:12AM! Did it for 8/5/10 at 10AM. Checked MEDICAL [for C), above] to find my last blood results were giving on 4/5/10, so it's too soon for more checking. Now to breakfast, checking for whatever I recorded from TV last night, at 10:20AM. Decide I MUST do something useful, so I call Marj at 11:35AM and we go through four-and-a-half pages of Madagasm by 12:55PM. Charles calls to say he can't go to Coney Island tonight. I start a new card for Taipei, playing from 1PM-1:40 with about 7 of 9 wins, and Solitaire, playing, incredibly, from 1:40-4:15PM!! Just SO addictive! And, speaking of addictive, go through another eight episodes of "30 Rock," episodes 13-20 of season 3. Go through a few more porn magazines, tearing out one loaded photo that stirs me for the next two days! Manage to waste the rest of the day, though I MAY have started putting away some of the stuff from the vacation, at least to getting my toothbrush out of my dop kit! Bed at 1:22AM.

SATURDAY, 7/31/10: Pee at 6:45AM and get up at 8:17, thinking to jerk off, but looking through the magazines turns out to be a turn-off, so I watch Renee Fleming and Susan Graham make out in "Der Rosenkavalier," with a not-so-stirring final trio, and THEN jerk off, watch more TV, and then jerk off AGAIN, surprising even myself! Watch a three-hour National Geographic "Galapagos" that I'm sure I watched before, and then, after lunch---and after glancing at my calendar and discovering I was supposed to meet Carolyn at Henry Public at 1PM!---phone Marj at 4:20PM on the off chance she'd want to work a bit, and we do a page and a half of Madagasm to 4:55PM. Phone Carolyn to abjectly apologize, and she very graciously forgives me. The Sunday puzzles are easy, though I had to Google Ichiro for the final sports name. I'd started Crace: "All That Follows" yesterday, and decided to finish it just before midnight. It's not his best: a musician's friend (musician plays saxophone, another of Crace's "set pieces" that he's obviously done research in: in this case he thanks a quartet of musicians after the last page of the book) holds hostages; musician meets friend's wife and daughter, interacts, and regains his run-away step-daughter in the end. Bed at 12:18AM.

SUNDAY, 8/1/10: Finish typing 6:04AM dream, and shitting, at 6:31AM. Up at 8:05AM. Jerk off AGAIN this morning, feeling good about it. Have breakfast and phone Marj at 11:08AM to finish Madagasm at 11:31, and even finish Maltam by 12:44PM, feeling VERY virtuous. Get to the gym before lunch about 3:15, and have to get to Minetta Lane Theater at 4:30 for the "Four Flying Karamazov Brothers," which Spartacus says isn't very good, and it isn't. Back to watch "The Lost (Fourth) Egyptian Pyramid," which, AGAIN, I'd watched before, and turn to episodes 20-21 of season 3 of "30 Rock," and find to my great relief that seasons 4 and 5 are ONLY available (at this time) on DVD, not for instant watching. Play Taipei 8:15-9PM, and probably follow it with unrecorded minutes of Solitaire. Watch a free Netflix "Pandorum," not really worth the time in a murky spaceship with a haggard Dennis Quaid. Bed 1AM.

MONDAY, 8/2/10: Pee at 8:25AM and up at 8:55AM. Watch the end of a creepy "Bug" that I recorded from last night. 11:05AM: Woke this morning determined to have a useful day: making a list of things that I've done. What did I start with? Breakfast while watching a silly "Planet 51" simply because it had the voice of Seann William Scott. Then I e-mailed "Libya" to Sandi and Ken, and "Malaysia" to Ken. NOW I can start the day? Also left word with Spartacus to see what he knows about the shooting here yesterday, since Google couldn't help me with it. Just a thief shooting a passer-by who didn't want to give up his wallet: no one from the buildings. Tris called back and I said I'd reword "labels" for each of the Jewel Box items, and send him a list about 5:30PM. Finally figured out trip expenses and phoned Ken that he owes me $202, but he wants to wait until he gets his bill for phoning Martha's Vineyard from LGA when he knew how much we were going to be delayed. Hooked up my Dell and proofread MVTRIP and sent Tris Madagascar and Malta (both replacements) about 7:30PM. Probably watched junk TV while eating dinner and went to bed at 12:53AM.

TUESDAY, 8/3/10: Pee at 7:51AM and type dreams. 8:35AM: Re-sent my e-mail to Poonja asking how to authorize my final $8000 payment, due tomorrow, on my credit card. Brooklyn Public Library, no longer holding my request for the Abbott book "What a Way to Go," couldn't display the pages I needed to replace the request. Got this page by mistake when I really wanted to bring up MVTRIP. Watch "A Single Man" twice and get it into the mail at 2:30, having NO mail in my mailbox. A few minutes later Ron calls that my HH box has arrived. Finally get to finishing the notes from the MVTRIP, extracting the dreams for the DREAMS file, and printing out many pages, including the Sunday dream for Sharon tomorrow. Still not, I think, typed the Saturday dream, but it's 10:52PM and I've GOT to get some DINNER before bed tonight. Watch "The Ruins," which I'd said, when I read the book, that it'd make a great movie, but I think they're planning for a sequel, because instead of everyone dying, as in the book, one of the woman makes her escape in a Jeep. Bed at 12:55AM.

WEDNESDAY, 8/4/10: Pee at 2:56AM. 7:45AM: Wake in misery: have a dream to record, need to pee, and have FOUR (don't I WISH, had to later change it to SIX when I started enumerating them) main areas of pain: 1) my left pointer-finger's end-joint hurts fiercely when I flex it, 2) my LOWER left teeth ache (maybe referred pain from my UPPER left loose tooth, furiously brushed last night in preparation for my visit to DiMatteo tomorrow?), 3) my right-hand middle finger has that usual "arthritis" pain when it's flexed, 4) my throat is sore, 5) my feet, ankles, and halfway up the shin has that "sunburnt" feeling of skin tightness, particularly my toes when I flex them: they feel like they have pads pressing against them from the front of the fleshy part of my foot itself, before "it becomes" toes, and 6) my lower-back discomfort when I got out of bed to type this, before typing the dream. 8:05AM: Type the dream, but keep reminding myself there were facets of "doing" that I wanted to record: 1) e-mailing Bestway again on Tuesday about my final payment and getting a reply that they'd had a long weekend (I check and Monday was noted as a Civic Holiday in Canada on my calendar), attaching the usual credit-card authorization form that requires a copy of both sides of the card itself, and I think, smartly, to cut out the copies of the card from my prior $2500 authorization and tape it to my printed new form, AFTER which I notice that it's my OLD credit card, so I put in the NEW credit card to see where the copy turn up on the sheet when I put the card in the near-right corner of the upper platform, but then forget which end of the COPY paper I put in, and try again, but can't tell WHICH IS WHICH of the two mirror images on the sheet, and of course when I figure I KNOW how to orient it, the copy turns out on the TOP of the printed form, which then inspires me to copy the credit card images FIRST at the bottom, and then carefully reprint the attached form at the TOP of the sheet, and fax it---to realize in the next second that I hadn't put in the $8000 figure for the authorization AMOUNT itself, necessitating a SECOND fax, hoping they wouldn't use the BLANK authorization amount for some OTHER, maybe even LARGER, figure; and in fact I get a call from Schwab about half an hour later to make SURE I authorized such a large charge. He started by saying he was from checking on my security measures for my credit card with Schwab, and how was I today?, and I warily responded, "I'll know in the next few minutes," fearing that he was calling about another glitch which would necessitate changing my credit-card number AGAIN, when I had, almost within the WEEK, finished changing eight or nine recurrent billing accounts to the new number for the third or fourth time in two or three years! No, he just wanted to make sure this $8000 to Canada was something that I authorized. Yes it was, and later in the LONG conversation thought to ask if he had any record of REFUSING to give $35 to Sage in the period between May 12 and June 1, since they sent me a letter on June 1 thanking me for my donation, yet I'd never gotten a $35 charge on my STATEMENT, leading me to think they GOT the form from me, credited my account, and was then REFUSED PAYMENT, for some reason, from Schwab, which they hadn't yet taken into account. The guy on the phone checked, could find no record of anything being refused, and sensibly asked, "Are you sure you credited it to THIS credit card, and not another one?" to which I could only respond, "Well, about 90% sure, but then I can't be REALLY sure about much of ANYTHING recently." He sounded at the end of his patience when the call finally ended with thanking him much for his surveillance of my account (eschewing the bastardized form of "surveilling," which isn't found by my spell checker) and apologizing for being so curt when I'd just GONE THROUGH the agony of changing many recurring accounts and momentarily feared I'd have to do it AGAIN; 2) laughing loudly at Susie's "Close Calls" e-mail; 3) recording that I'd watched the end of "Bug" on Monday night; 4) finishing with the OED last night by looking up the last definitions from Crace's "Arcadia;" 5) ignoring the various hour-long programs about "Clashes of the Gods" featuring J.R.R. Tolkien and "Clashes of the Continents" about an astronaut returning to Earth after 250 million years (and missing the second hour because I wasn't aware of it until after recording the last time it seemed to appear on National Geographic) that I'd watched; 6) and probably other things. Now 8:25AM, I've got to pee, and I'm still tired from getting up so early to type. Actually reveled in the HH breakfast: six ounces of good fruit salad, and FIFTEEN OUNCES (which I finished the next day!) of cottage cheese, which I perked up by adding the last of the VERY old maple syrup from John that I'd stored in the Orville Redenbacker popcorn bottle. 11:32AM: AMONG the other things, 7) I called HH this morning to SADLY complain that "everything in the past two weeks: the salmon on bun in 7/28 lunch, the turkey on bread in 7/30 lunch, and the egg, tomato, and feta on ENGLISH MUFFIN in 8/5 breakfast---the WORST is a soggy English muffin, which is SO EASILY separately packed," and Janice TOTALLY AGREES with me, saying that she'd JUST talked to the "people at the factory" about it, and will call again, thanking me for my patience, awarding me more free days of meals, thanking me for calling, ENCOURAGING me to keep calling, and I feel VERY vindicated for thinking AGAIN to make the call when all seems to be going WORSE, rather than better; 8) piling up boxes to take downstairs when I go, to clear out the area behind the sofa to see what can be thrown out, or stored in, that long-denied last mirrored cabinet at the far corner of the living room; 9) FINALLY doing a THOROUGH Actualism, for the first time since a single time in July, for OVER AN HOUR, feeling vivified by it---and probably deluding myself enormously---NOT! STILL not put the "shoe-box stuff" into the "onto-shelf-stuff box," and have the Martha's Vineyard summary sheet on my desk to transcribe to my calendar, AND 10) at last, this morning, changed my calendar sheet to August, having caught up sufficiently with July to indulge my compulsivities. Now to breakfast at 11:38AM! Then wash dishes, and the microwave, and the surrounding sinks, and the butter dish, and the bathroom glass, and other things, until 1PM. Eventually go to the gym, have lunch, return the two library books due today, and get to Sharon at 4:45, back at 5:30 to do other things and then talk to Rita about Bullet Shih until 6:45, when I do the first Spider in about a month, getting to a new high of 51.2252 at 525 up after 5 wins from 6:45-8PM, and then write up Sharon's session to 8:10PM and retire to the living room to look at all the good magazines from today's mail, including the Channel 13 guide I asked for---yesterday? Watch "None But the Lonely Heart" with a criminal Cary Grant and a motherly Ethel Barrymore. Brush teeth thoroughly and rinse with hydrogen peroxide about FOUR times, leaving teeth VERY sensitive the next morning! Take valium at 11PM, feeling antsy about checkup with DiMatteo tomorrow. Bed at 12:24AM, and then up to powder crotch and back to bed at 12:27AM.

SHARON B. 145 8/4/10

Bitch about the heat, and about not having caught up yet with the trip, and then read parts of my dream, giving her the entire page. I conclude that I really WANT company, having extended invitations to about four people and getting none back, including getting no response to Avi's birthday card, I mope. Complained about my pain this morning, and my Actualism session which I hoped would give me more energy, which it did for a bit, but then I poop out easily. Talked about my sister's calling about Walter Vallish [which came to Bullet Shih; i.e. nothing], my complaining about the HH bread-included entrees, my temptation to treat myself to a hot fudge sundae---and Sharon responds with her wish for red-velvet cake. Compare the dream to my LSD session in which I WAS the most important person, equivalent to God, able to control anything, and now disappointed that I can't even control my invitations to lunch and dinner, including the lunch with Carolyn that I FORGOT last Saturday, for which she forgave me. We talked about how good I thought the movie "A Simple Man" was, and other trivia, and hope to have a better session next time, though she said this was a good one too. I'm just too bored with it to say any more about it. Made a note to add the comment, touched on above, that I had four "bids" for companionship out, none of whom responded, and I'm AFRAID to make MORE, since I fear THEY wouldn't reply. Also told her about contemplating dropping my membership in EFA, since I've gotten NOTHING from it, but thinking again about joining ASI.

THURSDAY, 8/5/10: Pee at 3:35AM. AWFUL sore throat at 5:30. Up at 8:32AM. TEETH are sore from too much hydrogen peroxide for DiMatteo today. Breakfast of oatmeal, brush teeth as little as possible, and get to DiMatteo just before 10AM. When I complain about my teeth being sensitive, she does a MANUAL cleaning rather than using the abrasive water-pik that makes that awful noise. She says "Mr. Squishy," the permanently loose tooth, will have to come out soon, and starts talking about alternative upper-jaw management, ending by saying she'll write up three possible courses of action and mail them to me. At least there's nothing wrong with my LOWER teeth. Back to watch "Rasputin and the Empress," last seen fifty years ago, and then "Kind Lady." Spider 4:50-8:50 just to struggle back to a new high of 51.24521 at 534 up after TWELVE wins. Intended to watch the third Ethel Barrymore film I recorded, but something else came up. Bed at midnight, adding a note for me to add to Sharon's session.

FRIDAY, 8/6/10: Pee at 4:46AM. Type dream at 4:55AM. Up at 9:28AM. Watch "Black Rain" with all its additional documentaries, and do whatever I do for the rest of the day, including buying a battery tester at Radio Shack and finding they can't check if my cell phone is OK or not (and then Spartacus says I can have his old one, which turns out to be the same as mine, which [in the end] turns out to seem to work), until Charles arrives at 4:50PM and we leave at 4:55, I intending to get to Jay Street for the F-train, but find myself in the Clark Street Station, happy to have the subway map so I see we can switch to the B or Q at Atlantic Avenue. I think the Q is the express, but two B-trains pass, and then when the crowded Q arrives it's the LOCAL, and the Bs are the express! Phone Carolyn at 5:25 saying we'll be a half-hour late. Get to Nathan's at 5:55 to find Carolyn crossing from the fast-food shop across the street. I insist on having a chili dog from Nathan's, with MUCH too much chili, and a huge lemonade we all share. Walk out on the pier, watching the fishermen fishing, and kids diving where they're not supposed to, and they leave without seeing me, thinking I've left, so when I look for them on the pier they're gone! I decide to leave it to Fate and think to go to the Cyclone, where they might be waiting for me, but detour into the new Luna Park, deciding ALL the rides are too dizzying for me, and they FIND me there, then go across to wait while I ride the Cyclone, not as high as I remember, but still thrillingly fast and gripping through all the last fifteen hills. Then they say they're hungry, so we walk the long way to Arbat, finding three party tables leaving only a tiny table for us three on one side of the entrance. My chicken Kiev is VERY buttery, soaking into my French fries, while Charles's is rather dry, so he doesn't care for it. Nor does he like his cranberry juice, which I finish for him, while Carolyn polishes off 100 grams of vodka! I treat Carolyn and Charles pays me the next week. Back to wait for the fireworks, scheduled for 9:30, but Charles leaves at 10:02 and they start at 10:03, pretty good for twelve minutes, and then I ride the Wonder Wheel in a non-swinging car for the first time, taking Olympus movies of a lot of it, and we're to the F-train at 11:05PM, Carolyn getting off at Carroll Street, me riding to Jay and transferring to the A, which puts me at the still-open back door of 101 Clark at 12:03AM. Bed 12:21AM.

SATURDAY, 8/7/10: 8:50AM: Get Times, pee, and type dream. Read the Times, have breakfast, and finish the puzzles. Spider gives me my first flop in ages from 1:40-5, when I can't get any higher than 51.24178 at 533 up after 3 wins. Watch "Johnny Trouble," who ISN'T Ethel Barrymore's grandson at the end, and a tacky "Lion Hunters" with a puffy Johnny Sheffield, and "Day of Disaster," about D.C. being nuked, more of a fear-documentary for two hours than a movie. Bed 12:49AM.

SUNDAY, 8/8/10: Pee 6:35AM and type dream. Up at 8:01AM. Played Solitaire 1:15-2:25. Played Taipei 4:05-5:10. 7:44PM: Maybe this is the only way I SHOULD (that forbidden word!) keep my journal up-to-date: just write what I want to write when I want to write it---after checking to see there's a program on Channel 13 that I want to watch at 8PM, having just come back from the gym for the first time in four days (it's becoming a pattern: Wednesdays and Sundays) and remembering to water the plants before it got TOTALLY dark outside, sunset today seeming to be MUCH earlier than the 8:04PM (or whatever it was) on Friday at Coney Island. As for today, today: today was a TOTAL waste: got up at 8:06, before the Times was plopped in front of my door, and started going through Porn-tape P for more exerpts on my Porn 6 DVD, not finding much of interest in the poor-quality recordings from 1985, though I did re-copy Paul Taylor's "Mercurial Tidings" onto my Ballet DVD, picking up the Times at 8:16, and jerking off until well after 10:30, at which time I had breakfast while trying to find something interesting to read in the Sunday Times. Then decided to call Marj about getting her envelope on Saturday (which may actually have been delivered on Friday, since she mailed it on Wednesday and there was no entry in the book downstairs to show when it DID arrive---and I had ANOTHER block by my name on the board when I came back from the gym today, but the temp at the desk couldn't find anything, thinking maybe someone left an envelope at the desk for me, but he couldn't locate it), and we talked about NOTHING from 11 to 12:18PM! Then I play Spider from 12:20-1:15, regaining my series of highs at 51.24621 at 535 up after 3 wins, continuing to Solitaire from 1:15-2:25, then having lunch of really rather tasty HH "homemade" chili with a good spicy cold bean salad that I pepped up even more with Mrs. Dash, reading more of the New Yorker, and then, irresistably, back to Taipei from 4:05-5:10, completing about half the about-a-dozen patterns I went through, and I think I wasted MORE time on computer games, because I suddenly realized at 6:05PM that I'd not yet gone to the gym, nor watered the plants, which I then did until finishing with this note at 7:57PM, ready to go into the living room with a HH snack bar to watch the program about the snow leopard. Watch other junk and end up writing "Wasted day" in my calendar. Did another Spider from 11:15-11:45 to 51.24831 at 536 up after 2 wins, another high. Ended the day with Solitaire 12:15AM-1:15AM. Bed at 1:30AM; then up because I FORGOT to choose HH meals! Thus I got to find out what the cupcakes, which I never ordered, tasted like, proving I should ALWAYS ask for the granola bars.

MONDAY, 8/9/10: Pee at 5:19AM. Up about 8:15AM. 10:13AM: Should have waited until 11:12AM so I could have typed 8/9/10: 11:12!! Have to phone Marj then. Got up early, this morning, having gotten to bed after 1:40AM after getting up after 1:30AM to check that I'd seen "Mysterious Skin" in 2006. Went to check "Mysterious Skin" in Netflix and got "directed" to "Skin," a BBC series with Hoult from "A Single Man," and watched the first episode for 48 minutes. Then looked up ASI to find they have a Science/Medicine sub-group, with only four people in it in New York, and only one in the city itself: Elliot Linzer. Had only an area-code-lacking phone number, so I tried both 718, getting no answer, and 212, getting a busy signal, so I e-mailed him for his number to AGAIN talk about indexing, EFA, and ASI (as in, would it be worth it for me to join ASI again). Also left word with Robert Workoff, who at least still has his voice on his answering machine. Now it's time for breakfast. Spider 2:30-5:40 to a new high of 51.25901 at 541 up after 9 wins, at last. Phoned Vinegar Hill House to find that they don't take reservations for parties fewer than six. Watch "A Prophet" twice, each time over two-and-a-half-hours long, getting more from the commentary than from the ineptly-made film. Bed 12:23AM.

TUESDAY, 8/10/10: 12:40PM: Got up at 9:06AM with a brilliant idea: use old saved "book racks" in entrance hall for SOUVENIRS. I washed and dressed to take down two more large empty boxes and the Netflix "A Prophet." Saw the sign for the 10AM voting-form intro at 10AM, came back upstairs for breakfast, and went down for the intro, getting introduced by Joan Millman to Jesse Strauss, running for some local political office, and put in a request for the exterminator on Saturday, starting at 8:30AM. Back up to look through more porn magazines after binding two bundles and taking them out to the hall as one of the foreign-looking staff began vacuuming, and then Robert Workoff called to say all was fine; he'd send last year's catalog and this year's had to be at the printers by October 4th, so my vacation is fine. Sorted the remaining porn into "Playgirl" 2002-2005, "Instinct" 2004-2008, "Men" 2008-2009, and "Unzipped" 2003-2010, not nearly in complete runs; then started a new stack of pored-over magazines to be thrown out. Called Marj at 11AM to crow over my new discovery: maybe I procrastinate as long as possible so as to increase my feeling of JOY when I finally get to handling the jobs that I'd procrastinated on! She has to call me back because she's waiting for a grocery delivery. Left word with Spartacus, who'd been at Dr. Conn's, the cardiologist, and he now wakes at 10:30AM to life-check Bob, no longer needing to get up at 10AM to check on now-dead Kit. HE may join Charles and me (and maybe Mildred, who can't talk because she's helping the roofers on her windows) tomorrow at 7PM at Vinegar Hill House. Things do expand! Now to get to---Spider! Did that from 12:5-2PM, ending with a new high of 51.26331 at 543 up after 3 wins. Then continued with Solitaire 2-2:30. Recorded the start of Taipei at 5:55PM and didn't even have the wit to record when I stopped! Maybe it was 6:15 when I went to Spartacus's to pick up "Mysterious Skin" and come back to watch it, to certainly remember I SAW it, but when the ending WAS CUT OFF TEN MINUTES EARLY, and I checked that I probably saw it BEFORE on this DVD, no WONDER I didn't remember how it ended. Call Spartacus to bitch about it. Bed 12:48AM. Can't sleep. Pee at 2:50AM and take ambien.