Daily Update, July 10, 2023

    I worked on the shorter story before lunch, and a bit more after lunch as well. I've done barely half a short scene, but I'm making a bigger change than I expected, and it's becoming a rougher scene emotionally, both to read and to work with. I'm not sure how much is because I'm changing the viewpoint character, and how much is the suggestions the critiquers made... though I think someone there was changing the viewpoint character, as well as introducing a "grumpy old man" dynamic. I like the change in viewpoint and emphasis better than the change in personality. A lot of the changes are because the critiquers never worded it the way I would, if they even interpreted what was happening the same way. I hope it improves the story, but don't worry. I've saved many older versions, so if I have to go back to one of them, that should be easy. {Smile}

   I found some texts around lunch time, including one from our former nurse, promising to call tomorrow, and what turned into a series by our housekeeper, who is continuing to have transportation trouble after all, but hopes to come tomorrow. {Smile}

I had a nice phone call with Auntie Barbara after dinner. It wasn't long; just touching bases. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom, reading to her before that. First, I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. Then I read the next few pages of _1950's Fashion in pictures_, sharing both pictures and captions with her. Next, I read "The Nightingale," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_. I showed Mom the illustrations for that story as well as reading it. I finished with the July 10th story, "The Shy Ostrich," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A shy young lady ostrich hid her head in the sand when a rhino with a rough voice proposed marriage to her. With his poor eyesight, it looked like she had no head, so he ran off, saying he couldn't marry someone without a head. {Smile}

   I did my walking and arm resistance exercises after lunch, but it was really too hot for exercise, so I didn't do more right then. I did my arm swinging and my standing weight training exercises after dinner. I did my head and sitting arm exercises after I'd calmed way down in City of Heroes: Homecoming. {Smile}

   I read comics over lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after lunch. I started with a little paperwork, then tried to talk to Perogies, bowlofdro, and Soothing Darkness. bowlofdro responded first, inviting me to join him and Soothing Darkness in a public base. It turned out to be a nightclub in a spaceship, with a bar and a dance floor. I joined them, and we started to chat, first on the dance floor, then in a set of seats off to one side. Perogies joined us, first looking like a dog, and only making dog noises as roleplay. That was his mood. He changed into a humanoid dog when we moved back to the dance floor. I think he left when we were getting ready for a tour of the ship. I made it to the end of the tour of the ship before going to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner and the exercises that I did then, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I found my new roleplaying partner on a team and said hi. Turned out they were getting ready to run a story arc in character. They invited me, even though the gal I used the last two times with this roleplaying partner was too low. I found a gal who wasn't too low and joined them. They started off pretty quickly after that. They must have been waiting for me. It was a very long story arc and took most of the evening. After that, I did some paperwork and soloing. I talked to Kitten a little on the chat server, and Perogies a bit in the game, but we didn't get together. The Mysty said hi, and we accidentally got together for a mission, and a bit more talk before we said goodnight. I made notes and finished writing this up the next morning. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 9, 2023

    Today was Sunday, and I was running late, so I contacted Uber before I was quite ready, and had to dash right out; they were only 2 minutes away! That's the fastest yet, especially at our house. It's normally slow to our house, because we're in a residential area, not a more popular part of town. That's why I figured I'd contact them then finish up. {Smile}

   Because of that, I actually got to church early. I checked with Auntie Barbara before the service and sat with her during it. I had lunch with her too, though she sat down late because she was one of the servers. Then we went to Island Naturals together. They have a nice sale every second Sunday of the month, so we stocked up, though for me that was only a couple of bags of seeds. They were out of bulk dried cranberries again. After that, Auntie Barbara took me home. She had a quick visit with Mom. We sang one song together, Mom was tired, and just wouldn't get into a second. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom. I read to her before that. First, I read scripture and thoughts about it. After that, I read more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. Next were the first few pages of _1950's Fashion in pictures_. I shared both pictures and captions with her. Then, I read "Rapunzel," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story as well as reading it. I finished with the July 9th story, "The Enchanted Mill," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A water mill in the forest was abandoned, but people loved to picnic there, and kept leaving their trash. Taht is until a sympathetic forest fairy cast a spell that prevented people from coming, so the animals were free to enjoy it by themselves. {Smile}

   I slipped the head exercises in while role-playing. We're always typing, sending then waiting for them to red, type, and send back. One exercise at a time doesn't slow things down much if at all. {Grin}

   After Auntie Barbara left, I finished yesterday's daily update. Then after a break for personal grooming, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I found Kitten, and we got together. I also started chatting with bowlofdro and Soothing Darkness. They were teaming, along with a third person. Kitten and I joined them. The leader left to get some food as we joined, so out of boredom I phoned in a mission, and got one closer to the group than I expected. I couldn't show them it, not being the leader, so I led the others to it, and we started it. The leader joined us when they got back, and we finished it together. We continued with a mission the leader had, since they were back. Then Soothing darkness left, and we did another mission. Then all three of the others left, and I did some paperwork before reading to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I spotted the person I roleplayed with the other night and said hi. They were busy, so when I mentioned eyeing a pair of high-level task forces, they said to go ahead. So, I did. When they were done, we got together, and ran a couple of missions in-character. Then we settled down for some after-mission talk and quieter time together. That's really a nice RP date, especially for a first date. After we faded to black, Kitten started talking on the chat server. They weren't up to playing, so I shared several videos instead. We'd shared videos earlier, and these were kind-of sort-of vaguely related. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 8, 2023

    Yesterday I had physical therapy, so I contacted Uber. The driver came, and greeted by name, which was nice. We chatted a bit on the way over. {Smile}

   Physical therapy went pretty well, including using the squishy thing and the new exercises. I'm improving at stamina with eh faster salsa dancing, but I can't do a whole song at that speed while concentrating on my most energetic moves. I enjoyed talking with my therapist. At the end I brought up the question of what to do when my insurance no longer covers my therapy, and he thinks I should join a dance club. He's going to ask another patient who belongs to a line dance club. That would be nice if we could stick to the moves I can do or fake. {Smile}

   I contacted Uber, and a less chatty driver took me home again. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom. Before that, I read to her. I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Next, I read more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. After that, I covered the last few pages of _Memories 1950's_, sharing both pictures and captions. Then, I read "Hansel and Gretel," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story. I finished with the July 8th story, "The Circus Clown," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was a boy who went to the circus when it came to town. He enjoyed all the acts. The clown had asked if he was coming while the circus was setting up, though he wasn't in costume, so you didn't know he was the clown. When he spotted the boy in the audience, he tossed him his hat. {Smile}

   No exercise yesterday beyond physical therapy. That was quite enough! {Smile}

   I read comics over lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after that. I said hi to Perogies, and we started to get together. However, I ran into the leader of the late-night Hami raids, and we had a long talk. Perogies left; I really should have included him in the conversation. The raid leader - who's quitting leading - and I established easy contact. Perogies came back after, and we finished a story arc we'd started a couple of days ago. After he left, I did paperwork until it was time to read to Mom. Near the end of that, Minde Bender asked about teaming, but it was too close to time to read to Mom by then. I apologized and promised to return after dinner. {Smile}

After dinner I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming and joined Minde Bender and a friend of theirs. They got me to join them in a voice channel on the chat server, and we played a few missions. They claimed my audio was bad until I turned off the in-game music. Then it was fine according to them. bowlofdro asked if he could join me, and I checked with the others. They invited him, and we finished the story arc. Then Minde Bender, his friend, and bowlofdro all left. So, I checked my friends online. Spotting Phonso, I said hi, and learned he was getting a task force together, and still had two spaces. I joined, and the another did, so we started it soon, and ran it. He had me lead, and he and another told me go ahead and read the mission dialog, which I never have time to do on task forces, strike forces, and trials. It was wonderful to finally learn the story and see how ti fits with the missions. Folks say you can usually learn it by reading the wiki, but it's just not the same without the missions mixed in. I don't get to see how they fit together then, not really. Afterwards, we stayed to clear out the last mission, which I've never seen done so thoroughly. Then the team broke up, and I did a lot of paperwork. I meant to write this up, but somehow started researching dance clubs in town. I learned that I have a lot to figure out. Then I wrote a little and made a lot of notes so I could write this up the next day, which I did after church. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 7, 2023

    I called Melanie after breakfast. I told her about Val's appointment next week, but she's busy the day I have to take him in. So I called Alan next, and he'll be happy to take me. Just call to remind him at the time. {Smile}

   I got a text from our housekeeper. The problem she had yesterday was still getting worked on, so she couldn't come today, either. She hopes to come tomorrow. {Smile}

   I looked over the shorter story that's in late revisions and realized that if I I think of a different character as the main character, I don't have to switch characters at the end. I started revising with that in mind... so far, I haven't had to make many changes, but I didn't get to the part where I'd expect more changes yet. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I read scripture and thoughts about it first. I read more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020 next. Then, I covered the next few pages of _Memories 1950's_, sharing both pictures and captions. After that, I read "The Elves and the Shoemaker," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story. I finished with the July 7th story, or rather poem "Breakfast Time!" from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was a poem about a sparrow mooching a breakfast of left over crumbs from a girl. They even got bacon rinds. {Smile}

   I did my walking, arm resistance, arm swinging, and standing arm weight training exercises after dinner. I did my head and sitting arm weight training exercises during lulls in roleplaying and the game, and after I was done playing. {Smile}

   I read comics over lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming afterwards. There, I found Kitten, who wanted to get together. Kitten spotted a team, but I was looking something up when they said. It was full by the time I got back. I switched to the character I wanted to join, and waited, watching it. I joined when I spotted that they had a spot clear.   We played a few missions before Perogies came on. I tried to point out when we had openings, but they kept filling before he responded. I left when it got close to time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, my usual friends I team with were all gone, well, except for Mysty and a maybe one or two others who were on full teams already. The game won't let you add more when a team reaches 8. I found someone in the role-playing group I met my roleplaying partner in, and we got together. We started role-playing, and our characters clicked. I might just have another roleplaying partner. We'll see. Eventually they went off to bed. Looked around for someone else, and spotted Laine, a relatively new friend. We did 2 missions with a talk with an NPC in between, and he went off to bed. I finished with a bunch of paperwork, and working on making notes about most I hadn't written about already. I finished writing it up the next day. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 6, 2023

    I got a call from the vet's office, and finally got to tell them that I do want to try the shots after all. I guess they didn't get the message I left or lost it somehow if they did at first. Val needs to go back as we get the shots started. {Smile}

   I finished up sharing yesterday's daily update, then started my online counselling. Bad day to do that: she couldn't run overtime, so this made our session slightly short. That said, I think we covered everything I really needed to talk about. So it was still a good session. {Smile}

   I texted housekeeper when she didn't show up and found out she's coming tomorrow due to unforeseen difficulties. {smile}

   I called The Fire Ant Guy when he hadn't shown up past the time expected. He was just running late; we were his next stop. We came, and we had a nice talk around the time I paid him. He recommends regular treatments, and I'm all for them. At first they'll be every 6 weeks, while we're getting them under control. We'll be a little less often when we've reached the maintenance stage. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom. I read to her before that. I started late because of the game, but I got everything covered; just tried not to spend too much time with anything. First, I read scripture and thoughts about it. Then I read more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. Next, I covered the next few pages of _Memories 1950's_, sharing both pictures and captions. After that, I read "Snow White," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story. I finished with the July 6th story, "On the Beach," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was a young boy's first trip out of the mountains to the seashore, which he'd wanted to do for quite a while. Mom said she liked everything. {Smile}

   I did my head exercises late - as Owl Girl and I were typing up play, and I started working more diligently on this daily update, but I did do them. They're what my therapist wants me to do the day after therapy. {Smile}

 I read comics over lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after contacting the housekeeper and The Fire Ant Guy. There, I noticed a high-level trial had one space left, and ran it on my fourth best badge collector, because the top three had the badges already. Now she does, too. After talking with The Fire Ant Guy, I teamed up with Perogies and bowlofdro. We ran a few missions. {Smile}

   Then I got invited to a strike force I normally like. Perogies left for bed, but bowlofdro and I joined it. It ran right through feeding Val, reading to Mom, and dinner, with me taking separate breaks for each, playing for a while in between. The strike force was still going after dinner, so I was able to do the last mission or two and get the full rewards... which were better than usual. That said, bowlofdro and I talked about it afterwards. We both felt it was harder than it was fun. I may try to avoid such hard versions in the future. {Smile}

   As I was beginning to wonder what to do next, Perogies came back, and asked if I had a particular type of character. I didn't, so he asked for a healer. He wanted to farm together for a while, so we did, chatting and playing until he went off to bed. Then I started talking to Owl Girl. However, I spotted a pair of high-level task forces. We agreed we'd get together after, so I joined them. Getting together got delayed when the same leader did them again; they counted towards a badge I wanted and got, starting the next badge in the series. Then I left to team with Owl Girl, despite them doing another pair. Owl girl and I chatted, role-played, and ran two missions before heading off to bed and to write this up, or at least making notes, since I didn't have time to write everything in full. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 5, 2023

    Today, I had physical therapy, so I contacted Uber. when the car got here, I had to double check, because there was a person in the bucket seat, next to the driver. Yes, this was the car, he was just helping a friend. No one was very chatty on the way over, so I just enjoyed the scenery. {Smile}

   Physical therapy went well. He introduced a foam pad to stand on for one set of exercises. that added instability which made the exercises more challenging. I introduced a few more exercises which he seemed to approve of, including one he took away the pad for. {Smile}

   I contacted Uber again for the ride home and got Cody. I was happy to see him, because I'd forgotten to tip him until the app wouldn't let me. Not that I tip him much, but even little bits help. {Smile}

   I called The Fire Ant Guy when he didn't show up. We arranged that he'd come tomorrow. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom. I read to her before that. I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I moved on to more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. Next, I read the first few pages of _Memories 1950's_, sharing both pictures and captions about music stars and movies, including a couple of hits for each star, and the words on movie posters when that was shown. A few showed other pictures instead. After that, I read "Rumpelstiltskin," from _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story. I finished with the July 5th story, "My Fish," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A little boy told about sea fish, lake and river fish, and aquarium fish. Mom said she liked everything. {Smile}

   No exercise beyond physical therapy today. That was quite enough exercise for one day. {Smile}

   I read comics over lunch, and after lunch for a while, too. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I did a little paperwork, then tried talking to both Perogies and bowlofdro. Perogies answered first, and we began getting together. he'd just suggested watching a new movie, and I'd countered with suggesting we finish the first one. Then bowlofdro answered and wanted to get together with me to show me the character he's been working on. I suggested after finishing the movie with my other friend. Perogies and I got out of the game and got a video call going. We got the movie going and finished it. I'm pretty impressed. For a movie that was shoehorned into Issac Asimov's Robots world, I thought it fit well, and was quite good. When it was done, we went back to City of Heroes: Homecoming. We teamed up, and I checked with bowlofdro. He was busy, and said go ahead, so Perogies and I started a mission. bowlofdro joined us before the end, and we ran another mission together before I went to read to Mom. 

   After dinner, I came back, and was surprised to see Perogies on all three of his accounts. (Yes, he has three now, and seems satisfied with this number.) He invited me to a farm where we were able to chat a lot while getting some rewards. We talked about the movie, both what it says about robots, and how the African Americans did not feel like token African Americans. Well, a little. I hadn't worked out why they didn't feel token... but when they interacted with each other, their voices and mannerisms changed, becoming more like the voices and mannerisms I see in shows with primarily African American casts, especially when the African American characters are interacting with each other. Eventually, Perogies left for bed. I looked around and noticed Owl Girl. I joined them for several missions, with more-or-less light role-playing while playing. Then we went to an in-game bar where a lot of role-playing happens, and talked about what we'd seen, and what it might mean. Mostly Owl Gril explained things to my character, since she has a particular spin on the context of the missions. It looks to be interesting. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 4, 2023

    Happy Independence Day to all who celebrate the Fourth of July that way. If you don't, I hope you had a nice day anyway. {Smile}

   There were around 4 very loud, very close firework spells. Val did not appreciate this at all. I had to feed him when came out from hiding. {smile}

   Our nurses switched off unusually early today. Our regular nurse came and sent the relief nurse off before I'd even had breakfast. {Smile}

   I texted a little with both Auntie Barbara and the secretary of the nursing company after dinner. Then I called our former nurse, and we had a nice chat. I do enjoy talking with him. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom. Yes, only dinner because of how early the nurses switched off.  I read to her before dinner. I read scripture and thoughts about it first. Next, I continued with more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. After that, I read the last few pages from _Visions of Scotland_, sharing both pictures and captions, followed by three postcards I'd gotten with the book, when a friend sent it to me. Next, I read "Puss in Boots," the first story in _Five-Minute Fairy Tales_, showing Mom the illustrations for that story. I finished with the July 4th story, "Kind Katy," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was about a girl who rescued a beautiful rose from a caterpillar without hurting the caterpillar, because she was too kind to hurt either. Mom said she liked everything. {Smile}

   I did 25 minutes of salsa dancing before lunch today. I did my arm swinging, arm resistance, standing arm weight training, and walking exercises after dinner. I did my head exercises and sitting arm weight training during lulls in City of Heroes: Homecoming. Unfortunately, I was in the game too late to squeeze in another five minutes of salsa dancing after it had cooled off. I thought I was watching the time, but not well enough. {rueful Smile}

   I read comics over lunch and hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after that. I started with a little paperwork. I found bowlofdro looking busy but managed to team up with Perogies and Kitten. I did chat with bowlofdro when he had a moment. Perogies, Kitten, and I ran content until Perogies then Kitten got tired. I finished with more paperwork before breaking to read to Mom and eat dinner. {Smile}

   After dinner and the after-dinner exercises, I hopped into City of Heroes, and caught up with paperwork while looking for friends. I chatted with bowlofdro - yes, he was still on - and joined Phonso in a team. When that broke up, I formed my own team, and finished a story arc one character had. That team broke up, with just one not leaving. Then he wanted to do some stuff, and I joined him. That was what went too late for me to do the last five minutes of salsa dancing. Perogies came on towards the end, and kitten... I chatted with both and joined Perogies in a farm you don't have to be constantly present in while I finished writing this up. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 3, 2023

  Today was pretty quiet. No notable phone calls, visitors, or trips out. What it was, was hot. Also, I still didn't get around to my writing somehow. {Smile}

   I had Breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. First, I read scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with more from her niece's long family Christmas letter from 2020. After that, I read a few more pages from _Visions of Scotland_, sharing both pictures and captions. Next, I read "Reduced Shipping in Alaska Leads to Happier Whales," the last story from _100 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors_. I finished with the July 3rd story, "Peace and Quiet," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was about a and grandpa and grandma who had their grandsons and their parents over. When Grandpa went off to fish, the grandsons snuck after him, and found him napping. they left him to his rest. Mom seemed particularly tired today, but she did say she liked everything. {Smile}

   I did over twenty minutes of salsa dancing shortly after breakfast, first warm-up, then less structured dancing. I hoped to do more, but just could not get the third set going at that time. I blame the heat. I did my walking exercises after dinner, but then had to sit down in front of two fans, again because of the heat, I'm sure. I did my arm resistance head exercises, arm swinging and arm weight training much later, when it had cooled down some. I also did over 10 more minutes of salsa dancing after it had cooled down. That's the total of 30 I'm aiming for, but broken up, which I try to do it together. Still, I'm pretty happy to find I can do it. I'm still tempted to talk to my therapist about how to handle exercise in hot weather. I don't think I did badly, but I think I could do better. {Smile}

   I read articles around the salsa dancing in the morning, and I switched to comics a little after lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I did a little paperwork but found Perogies and Kitten pretty fast. We got together. We tried to wait for a high level, larger group event, but it was taking a long time to get together, so we ended up trying to do something on our own. I'm afraid I set the difficulty high for the first two missions, so we didn't finish. Instead, we quit when kitten said they were tired, and went unresponsive, and Perogies said they were tired, and went offline. It was close enough to time to read to Mom, I just did paperwork and said hi to bowlofdro. {Smile}

   After dinner and the exercise that I did then, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I looked for someone to team up with. i ended up seeing if bowlofdro wanted to chat before going to bed, and discovered he wanted to team. Well, it is the day before a holiday in the United States. I found a character who needed the badge we'd get from the arc he wanted to do, and we did it. He stayed way later than I expected to finish, but we did finish. We got the badge I was interested in, and the access to the powers that it gave, which he was even more interested in. Then I did some paperwork, joined a team to get a monster, and did more paperwork. I also chatted with Nox until they went to bed. I did so much paperwork because the main folks I saw to team with either didn't respond or told me earlier that they were doing really long stuff week. It was too late to get into stuff like that already. {Smile}

Daily Update, July 2, 2023

    Yesterday was Sunday, so I contacted Uber after breakfast. I actually hoped to get there on time, even when it said the driver was 12 minutes away, but that was before he made an emergency 7-Eleven stop. I got there during the announcements and sat with Auntie Barbara. She told me they were using the hymnal. later, she said it was to save paper. I hadn't grabbed the last bookmark, so I had to flip as I went along, which made it even trickier. Though Dad used to say that people are good page turners. {Smile}

   After the service, we sat together for lunch, which was small. I was surprised how little they had. The nuts I'd taken last time were actually popular. {Smile}

   Auntie Barbara took me home. We were surprised to not find our carport empty. We went in and found the relief nurse back. Seems the main nurse wanted and earlier break this week, but he gets a long stint next, since she returns to regular days next week. Anyway, Auntie Barbara came in and visited with Mom. We sang several songs together. Auntie Barbara thought Mom was in good condition for a phone call with her sister. maybe so, but by the time I'd cleaned up and settled in after she left, I was not. I'll just have to call my aunt when both Mom and I are good. {Smile}

   I had dinner with Mom and read to her before that. Yes, only dinner, despite the relief nurse being here when I got back from church. I'd had lunch at church, after the service. With my reading, I started with scripture and thoughts about it, then continued by starting the 2020 long family Christmas letter from her niece. After that, I read a few pages from _Visions of Scotland_, sharing both pictures and captions. I cut that short because she was tired, trying to read the last story from _100 Uplifting Short Stories for Seniors_, but I realized she was tired even for that. So, I finished with the July 2nd story, "The Lazy Weasels," from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. That book's stories are all short, and numbered by day, so I hoped it wouldn't be too long for her. It was about a mother weasel who tried to make her lazy daughters hunt, but they just got Mrs. Hedgehog to feed them instead. Mom seemed particularly tired today, but she did say she liked everything. {Smile}

   I did my walking, arm resistance, arm swinging, and the standing arm weight training right after dinner. I did my head and sitting arm weight training exercises just a little after, while looking for something to do in City of Heroes: Homecoming. I also got almost 10 minutes of Salsa Dancing done. Yes, ten minutes. I did the 8-1/2-minute warm-up, fed Val, and tried to start the next set. I got a little over a minute done when I got dizzy. The instructions from a previous therapist were to stop, and my current therapist says get my balance back, but it didn't feel like the kind that comes back fast, so I just stopped. {rueful smile}

   After Auntie Barbara left, did some personal chores. Then I read comics before I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I found and joined a high-level trial. I hoped for badges, but they didn't get any my character didn't already have. After that, I got together with Perogies. He wanted to watch I, Robot, a science fiction film. We got about 3/4ers of the way through before I wanted to break to read to Mom. {Smile}

   I hopped back into CoH:H after dinner and exercises. I did more exercises while I chatted with a few friends and acquaintances who were busy, hoping to find someone to join. I ended up soloing some stuff until I someone invited me to a popular task force. Phonso came on. I invited him to it. He was slow to join, but eventually did. That task force ran slower and later than I expected by a fair margin, but we did finish in time for me to get a little salsa dancing in. Not much salsa dancing, though. I need to work on this. {smile}

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}