Daily Update, July 1, 2023

    Since physical therapy was cancelled, I had a quiet day. As usual, I didn't have anything else planned, and I didn't do anything notable, either. {Smile}

   I had breakfast and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. I started with scripture and thoughts about it, and continued with a long Christmas letter from her sister's friend. after that, I read a few pages from  _Visions of Scotland_, sharing both pictures and captions. Then I read "French Nun Who Survived Wars Beats Covid Before Turning 117," from _100 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors_. Record keepers call her the oldest living person in Europe, and the second oldest person in the world. I finished with the July 1st story, "The Page Boy," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. He lived in a castle tower, and had things to study, though not formal school. He felt frustrated with his life until a bee pointed out how hard bees work. Then he felt a bit luckier. Mom seemed a little more engaged in pictures and readings today. {Smile}

   I hoped to do my salsa dancing around lunch, since I didn't have physical therapy then, but physical therapy is in an air-conditioned room, and salsa dancing at home is not. I think it was too hot, because I just couldn't get going. I did fine with my walking, arm resistance, arm swinging, and the two standing arm weight training exercises after dinner. I did most of the sitting arm weight training and all my head exercises as I was looking for something to do. I did the last of the arm weight training when there was a lull in the game. Later, after a strike force with Freaky and Mysty, a friend from the chat world, I did over 20 minutes of salsa dancing. I was hoping for at least 25, but the strike force ran late enough, it would have pushed the dancing and its music both closer to bedtime than I like, and later than I like to have when the nurse is sleeping. {Smile}

   I finished yesterday's update after breakfast, then tried to find the motivation to do my salsa dancing and failed. I think it was warmer than it's easy to get going that fast, in part. In the future, I'll try turning on fans. I'll also try doing them the other way around. I read comics and articles over lunch and afterwards, then hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I did some paperwork, then joined the early long, large-group event. Again, I got on my role-playing partner's team, and did a very light role-play of our characters greeting each other. Then we ran the event. Perogies was there, too, along with a few other friends, though it's too big and too busy to interact much. I did some paperwork afterwards. Perogies and I started chatting too. He told me how a less demanding video setting brightened his screen, which he was having trouble within certain missions. I tried it, and it was hard to tell the difference in the place I was, so we started a task force with a lot of the kind of place he had particular trouble with. bowlofdro said hi after we were far enough in, restarting wasn't appealing. Besides, he was working on his own stuff, though he and I still talked on and off. Perogies and I got almost halfway through before he asked how long it was, and admitted he didn't think he could finish. So, we quit, and worked on some badges. He said goodnight and left, and bowlofdro finally got free. We were able to squeeze in one mission together before it was time for me to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner and exercises, I hopped back into City of Heroes. I caught up on some paperwork, and search for something to get into. That wasn't easy; not much was going. I did talk to Mysty, and found out what team she was in, but when I learned, it was full. When i spotted a fellow advertising that, I volunteered, and sure enough, it was the one she was on. So I got to team with her, along with several strangers. We were starting the final mission when Phonso invited me to a strike force. I invited the team, but only Mysty stayed for it. We joined up with Phonso, and it got such a slow start, i got almost all the sitting exercises done while we were waiting for it. We ran it together, and I did enjoy playing with a group with two good friends in it. I started my salsa dancing soon after it let out, and still only had time for 20 minutes, but I'll work on fitting it in much earlier when I can. I visited with them, especially Mysty, around the dancing and feeding Val, then started writing this up, along with doing some paperwork that had developed with play. {Smile}