Daily Update, October 14, 2023

    Saturday, I had a quiet day at home. I didn't even have any notable phone calls. {Smile}

   On Saturday I ate breakfast and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. I started with scripture and thoughts about it first. Then I continued with three Christmas cards from her nephew one each from two of her cousins. Then, I showed the last several pages of pictures in _A Picture Book of kids and Animals_. She does like the pictures of kids interacting with animals. Next, I read her four short stories from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Last, I finished with "The Giraffe," The 14th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A tall giraffe lived in a zoo, far from the land where she was born, and caught at a young age. Her keeper was kind, and her enclosure was big enough to walk around, and had a tree in it, but she was lonely, and missed the hot countryside she had been used to. One night, a monkey escaped his cage, and got into her enclosure, where she slept in a shelter. the monkey begged her to let him stay, and also to tell him about her homeland, for he'd been born in the zoo, and his parents had come from the giraffe's homeland. They talked long into the night, and then the giraffe helped him find a hollow stump to hide in. She never felt lonely again. {Smile}

   I did my head exercises and my walking exercises before doing my salsa dancing warm-up set. Then, after a rest, I did my less-structured salsa dancing set. That added up to over 20 minutes of salsa dancing tonight. {Smile}

   In the morning, I finished and shared yesterday's daily update after breakfast. Then I read comics, one of two web-novels I'm reading, and more clickbait articles than I like to be honest. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming a while after lunch. I found Kitten on, and learned I'd missed Perogies. Kitten and I teamed up and started doing missions together. Meroa said hi, and I invited them to join us. Azurette started talking next, and I asked if they'd like to join, and they did. Then Perogies came on and said hi, and I added him, too. We kept doing missions the whole time, except for pausing to handle a surprisingly short zombie invasion. We picked up another team member, who I added as a new friend by the end of the afternoon. Next, qworty and I talked a little, and he joined us as well. I actually gained a couple of levels over the course of the afternoon. That had me reach my personal goal. When Kitten and Perogies are both ready to play, we can continue with the next warshade story arc, but I didn't do it today. I was too close to dinner, and Perogies was tired enough to head to bed. He is several hours ahead of me, after all. {Smile}

   After dinner, I read one of the web-novels, and did a few other things, including feeding the cat. Then I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. Perogies was nowhere to be seen, nor was Kitten. qworty and Azurette were both on, as was Meroa, so I started talking to them, or tried to. Qworty was busy, and soon fell quiet. Azurette was willing to talk, as was Meroa. Azurette wanted to show me the changes to her base, and didn't mind if Meroa joined us, so we did that first. Kitten came on and mewed at me, so I asked if they could join us, and they did. I also chatted with Nox on the chat server a bit. Eventually Meroa left, and I asked if we could do some missions, so we did a couple. Qworty finally finished what they were doing and joined us after we'd started the missions. Then we broke so I could do some exercises, though talking slowed me down for a while. I didn't want to leave when Azurette and qworty were distinctly lower level than the zone they were in. While I led, they were near my level, but when i left, they'd change. Finally, I prepared to leave without leaving them in a lurch, and somehow, we finished breaking up. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 13, 2023

    Thursday, I ate lunch as well as dinner with Mom. {Smile}

   Friday, I did call Alan to arrange to take Val to the vet next Wednesday and take me to pick him up the next day. That's the next chance to get an echocardiogram for Val, and they offered to board him when they learned I'd have trouble taking him in that morning, between late rising and a counselling appointment, though my counselor was happy to reschedule if needed. {smile}

   On Friday I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner. I read scripture and thoughts about it first. Next, I read a Christmas card from our friend, and a Thanksgiving card from church. Then, I showed several pages of pictures in _A Picture Book of kids and Animals_. She seems particularly interested in kids interacting with animals. After that, I read her a short story, a poem, and slightly longer story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "Nick and Brownie," The 13th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Nick took his puppy, Brownie for a walk in the woods. They saw a hare. Nick tried to stand still to not scare it, but Brownie ran at it, barking, and the hare bounded away. Then they found a lizard. Brownie wagged his tail and sniffed it, and it hid. Nick consoled Brownie, and suggested looking for horse chestnuts, since they were under a tree. He filled his pocket. Suddenly Brownie gave a yelp, picked something up very carefully, and brought it to Nick. Nick told him that while it looked like a baby hedgehog, it was really a chestnut shell. {Smile}

   After teaming with Kitten and qworty in the evening, I did my arm resistance exercises, my walking exercises, and my standing arm weight training exercises. Then I did my salsa dancing warm-up set, and noticed my balance seems relatively good today. I did my full less structured set after a rest for over 20 minutes of salsa dancing total. {Smile}

   I read articles and comics in the morning and hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after cleaning myself up after lunch. I quickly found Perogies and Kitten, and we tried to team up on warshades. However, but Kitten faded out. I did team with Perogies on our warshades, and added Meroa, too, though they brought a different kind of character. We did two or three missions, though Perogies was afraid he was too tired for the last one.  The last mission ended just before a costume contest Perogies wanted to catch, and woke him up enough, he did try entering the contest. He didn't place, but there were lots of entries, and only five places. Those who did win got good prizes; it was sponsored by a group that makes a point of that with their contests. This took us up to time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I found notes from Kitten saying they'd fallen asleep again. After my phone call with Alan, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. As I hoped to, I found kitten, and we teamed up on our warshades. We did a few missions, and qworty said hi. I invited him to join us and apologized for not saying hi and inviting them to join us sooner, but he said he was in a task force earlier. Somewhere along the line, I started chatting with Nox on the chat server. I think we had a nice talk this evening. Kitten, qworty, and I ran a few more missions until I had one more mission for the story arc... and just enough time to either do that or do some of my other exercises before my salsa dancing. Qworty excused themselves, saying they were too tired, but assuring us we could continue without him. Kitten said I needed to exercise, so we switched to talking on the chat server, which I did enjoy. I also read some comics, and did some stuff in preparation to read more, since some I read these days require you to do things to "unlock" them. It could be as simple as waiting, but then they lock them back up after a few days, so I do the slightly more complicated stuff to unlock them permanently. I also did some paperwork on City of Heroes: Homecoming. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 12, 2023

    After breakfast, I contacted Uber, and asked them to take me to the Veterinarian. I had a nice chat with the driver on the way down. There, I picked up capsules to replace one of Val's liquid medicines which he doesn't like getting squirted down his throat. Next, I contacted Uber, and they took me to Hilo Shopping Center. He dropped me by the bank, where I did a little banking with Mom's account before walking over to Island naturals, where I got some peanuts, raisins, and currants. I needed peanuts, raisins, and cranberries, but their cranberries were organic, and expensive enough, I ordered regular from Amazon later. I thought I'd try the currants. They're fine, but so similar to the raisins, they don't really give me the greater variety I was hoping for. then I contacted Uber, and walked back to the bank, where they like to have their pickup. If I wasn't concerned about food int eh bank, I'd do this the other way around. Anyway, Alan picked me up, and we had a nice talk all the way home. {Smile}

   I got a nice call from Auntie Barbara in the late afternoon. We've barely talked since she started her trip back home, but we got to talk today. We did so for a while before she got tired enough to head to bed; she's in one of the Carolinas, so several hours ahead of us. 

   Before dinner, I got a call from our former nurse. It was great to hear from his again. I'd missed talking with him. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Next, I continued with Christmas cards from Mom's niece and our friend, and a birthday card from me. After that, I showed her the first several pages of pictures in _A Picture Book of kids and Animals_. She was really interested in them today. She always has loved kids, and likes animals, too. Then I read her several poems and a short story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "three Apples," The 12th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Three ripe apples hung on the tree after all the other fruit had been picked. They were afraid of falling and bruising themselves as the nights grew cooler. Then Jill and her Daddy came, bearing a backet and a step ladder. Daddy climbed the ladder, and picked the apples, admiring how perfect they were. Jill put them carefully in the basket. The apples thought they would be eaten that day, but mummy wanted to wrap them in paper and keep them in the attic for Christmas. The apples were so proud! {Smile}

   I walked around Hilo Shopping Center, first from the bank to Island naturals, then back again for my Uber pickup. Then i did my walking exercises after qworty left for the evening, and I'd done some paperwork and such. Then I did my salsa dancing warmup. However, when I tried a second set, I was just too tired. Maybe the walking at Hilo Shopping center was more than I realized, of maybe I was hypoglycemic. I'm really not certain. {smile}

   I read articles and comics after lunch. Then I finished and shared my daily update. I only hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming when that was done. There, I chatted with Ulty, as I actually had a bit on the chat server earlier. I wished her a good time when I found out she was almost ready to leave. I looked around, and realized qworty was in the group for the later short, large-group event, which would start in a few minutes if it didn't fill early, so I quickly switched to a character to do it. After I ran the event, I finally got qworty's attention. He'd been focused on the event, like you have to be to do it well. Perogies came on and said hi too, and the three of us visited a while, admiring a newly refurbished character Perogies had made. Then we teamed up to do a mission one of my characters had. That took us up to time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I started writing this update and read some articles. I also tried talking to Radio, the friend who brought Nox and me together, but he didn't really get to talking until later in the evening. I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming and started to talk with qworty. Then Perogies came on, and the three of us got together and started talking. Then we did another mission, the direct sequel to the one before dinner. We might have done a second mission before Perogies said goodnight and left. Somewhere in there, Nox and I started talking, and Radio joined us. We continued to talk slowly through the evening. I'm glad the chat server we were using makes slow conversations easy; I think that's what let Radio keep talking to us for as long as he did. In the game, after perogies left, I wanted to switch to another character, so I did. After one mission, qworty switched, too. We ran two or three more missions before qworty admitted he really needed to go to bed. I pointed out that with him being three hours ahead of me, he was going to bed about the time I usually do. Then I did some paperwork, and what exercises I got done. I also finished talking to Radio and Nox, saying goodnight to Nox, and read a bit more of the webnovel. I also finished reading some articles. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 11, 2023

    Today, the housekeeper came, though she was late due to the car trouble she had yesterday continuing into today. The house is definitely better for her attentions, though we both think it needs another catchup day. She's planning to come back for that soon. {smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I started a bit late, so tried not to go too long. I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with the last of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019. Next, I showed her the last few pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_, along with three postcards that came with with the books, adn got slipped into it. She was reasonably awake for them today. Then I read her a a short story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "Alex's Moon Flag," The 10th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Alex's mother called him to get his attention, even though they were together. She complained that he was miles away, and asked what he was dreaming about. Alex declined to say that he was thinking about being an astronaut, and landing on the moon, where he'd plant a flag. His mother called him again before he could quite finish that thought. {Smile} 

   I did my walking exercises, then my salsa dancing warm-up. Then, after a break, I did my less structured set. Partway through the second piece, the music stopped. I'd disconnected from the internet and had to restart my computer. When I go back, the easiest way was to start the second piece over again... so while I had expected to not do quite 20 minutes, I did more than usual, and don't feel too guilty about not getting more other exercises done. {Smile}

   I read comics, a web novel, and articles in the morning. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after lunch. I found the early long, large-group event recruiting, and joined up and ran it. Perogies said hi around the time it was ending. We teamed up. He wanted to work on a particular task force, so we did the first two missions. Then he needed to rest. I just did some paperwork and hunted for rewards by myself until I realized I was slightly late to read to Mom, and hadn't even fed Val. That's why I kept things not-too-long with Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I read the web novel a little more, opening a few chapters. I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming later than usual and teamed up with qworty. We ran one of his missions, then finished a high-level story arc that I'd started. I also started talking with Nox on the chat server. That was nice. Then I showed qworty a character I thought he might like to see, just before we said goodnight. I talked with Nox some more, then said goodnight to them, too. I wrote this a bit, but then got sidetracked looking into web novels some more. I'm wondering if this might be a way to gain readers, especially at first. So, I ended up making notes to finish the next day.

Daily Update, October 10, 2023

    Today, I stayed home and took it easy. I didn't even have any notable phone calls, though I did leave messages for the vet, and I had a text conversation with our housekeeper, but that's about it beyond the usual. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that.  I read scripture and thoughts about it first. Next, I read more of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019. then I showed her a few pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. She was more awake today, so we did more than sometimes. Then I read her a few short poems, a short story, and one more poem from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Two of the early ones were ones I know as songs, so I sang them. I finished with "Hungry Rusty!" The 10th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Rusty was a brown squirrel who lived int eh middle of a forest. He spent all his time playing in the trees. Right through summer, he practiced climbing and jumping from branch to branch until he was the finest acrobat in the forest. When autumn came, and the other squirrels started collecting nuts, mushrooms, and acorns for winter, Rusty just kept playing and showing off. Winter came and Rusty got very hungry. His friends offered to share this year, but insisted he get his own next year. Rusty offered to get some for them, too, then. {Smile} 

   Today, I did my walking exercises, my arm swinging exercises, and my arm resistance exercises between playing Coity of Heroes and my salsa dancing. Yes, I did salsa dancing, both my usual warmup set, and, after a break, a less structured set, for a bit over 20 minutes of salsa dancing. After too long a break, I squeezed in my head exercises before bed, too. {Smile}

   I read articles and a few comics in the morning and hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after cleaning up after lunch. I found Perogies, and we began to talk. Then we teamed up to run some things, and I invited qworty to join us, which he did. Then Perogies left because he felt a need to, and qworty and I shifted to the characters we've been doing the low-level stuff on. We squeezed in a couple of hunts before time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I found Kitten on, and Perogies, too. We teamed up on the warshades. I asked if I could invite qworty. He didn't have a warshade, so he brought another kind of character. We teamed all evening and finished the warshade themed story arc. Then we tried to find something else and settled on an individual mission after some aborted attempts because that's what I had time for before my exercises. I also talked to Nox, which was great. Then I read articles and comics and checked paperwork in City of heroes around and after my exercises, as well as writing this up. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 9, 2023

    A while after breakfast, I contacted Uber, and they came and took me to my doctor's appointment. They took me fairly quickly, and I told the nurse practitioner my primary concerns. Then my doctor came in, and he discussed my test results with me. Things are moving in the right direction, including my weight, which was the lowest he's ever seen it, and the lowest it's been in decades. When we were done, I took the next test order down to the lab downstairs. I'll go there to get it done. I hope with them already having the order, I'll have no problem, but even if I do, we'll be in the same building, so I can walk up to my doctor's office and see what's going on at the very least, and hopefully get the order from them that way. {Smile}

   When I was done, I contacted Uber, and they took me home. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that.  first, I read scripture and thoughts about it. Then I read more of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019 next. After that, I showed her a couple of pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. Shew as looking tired, though, so I moved on to a few short poems and a short story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "The Lost Ring," The 9th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. One day, Jane too a big basket into the woods to collect hazelnuts. She threw stale bread to squirrels, birds, and rabbits along the way. Suddenly, she realized that she'd lost the silver ring her mother had given her for her birthday. She tried to retrace her steps and search all over the ground. Even the woodland friends she'd made couldn't find it. Then the jackdaw flew down and asked about something shining in her basket. Jane's ring was among the nuts. {Smile} 

   I walked all the way down a ramp that goes around most of a courtyard after seeing my doctor. then I walked back up it, and really felt it when I walked back up the same ramp. Later, I did my walking exercises, and my salsa warmup okay. I started my less structured set and had to stop and treat hypoglycemia. Then I actually managed to get back to it and finish the first piece for almost 15 minutes of salsa dancing. However, I was too tired to continue. I hope that's a sign that the ramp at my doctor's gave me a good workout. {smile}

   Before I left for the doctor, I read a few articles. After lunch, I read comics and articles. Then I wrote yesterday's daily update and shared it. Only then did I hop into City of Heroes: Homecoming. Both kitten and Perogies were on, but Kitten disappeared when I was trying to start a conversation. I did talk to Perogies a fair bit. I asked about teaming up, but they wanted to wait until Kitten came back. They'd disappeared when tried to talk to them, too. It took longer than we hoped, so we joined the later short, large-group event. During that Kitten finally showed up. When it was done, we three got together on the new characters. They had both run up the levels but wanted to continue the story arcs with me. I think we ran three missions of the next arc before it was time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After dinner, I found Kitten. they wanted to do something, but Perogies was nowhere to be seen. We waited a bit, but they didn't come back, so I tried talking to Ulty and qworty. They were both happy to talk. Ulty was busy roleplaying, but qworty was available. We ran several Halloween-themed missions they had, which helped both him and us with the rewards you can get from them. Then we switched to the characters qworty and I teamed with for the last of the story arcs last night, while Kitten stayed on the same character and did more of that arc. We stopped earlier than usual because the next mission is really long. We'll do it sometime when we have more time. I also had a nice talk with Nox. We even discussed something I started thinking about with the stories I'm working on... I just hope I can do this idea justice. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 8, 2023

    On Sunday, I contacted Uber after breakfast. They came and took me down to church. I actually arrived a little early. There seem to be more drivers. Their prices dropped, and they're much more likely to be close to our house. {Smile}

   Church went well. I liked the service, and it's nice to have our priest back from maternity leave. After the service, we had lunch on the lanai. I enjoyed talking with some of the folks there. Ed took me home again, this time with BJ. She's his frequent passenger, since she lives near him. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that.  I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with more of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019. After that, I showed her a few pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. She was fairly awake for this, and even said a few times that she liked certain pictures, especially the larger scenic ones. Next, I read a short story and a long poem from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Then I finished with "Morris's House," The 8th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Morris Mouse decided to move house. The corner of the shed was fine for summer, but the nights were getting colder, and he wanted some place warmer. He found a way into the attic and loved looking around at the boxes and old furniture. He found an old box with a dome on top with a handle he could push round and round, and drawer underneath. He thought it was perfect. He could keep his stores under the roof, sleep in the drawer, and even ride the handle round and round when he was bored. He brought his nuts and cheese to store and invited his friend Millie to ride the handle. He found grated nuts and cheese to sleep on when he went to bed. It was Grandma's old coffee mill. {Smile}

   I did my head exercises and two of my four sitting arm weight training exercises while teaming with qworty in the evening; there are slower parts to the game, especially the way we play, which they fit into nicely. Then I did my walking exercises and my other two sitting arm weight training exercises after we finished teaming for the night. I followed that with my salsa dancing warmup. However, when I started the less structured salsa dancing set, I soon got too dizzy and was stumbling too much to continue safely. I had to stop before I'd done 10 minutes including the eight-and-a-half-minute warmup. I treated myself for hypoglycemia when I sat down, but there was no good way to continue salsa dancing in time. At least I should see my doctor tomorrow; I can bring up the frequent dizziness, and how it seems to be hypoglycemia or at least unstable blood sugar then. Maybe he can help. {Smile}

   I finished yesterday's daily update after Ed and BJ brought me home. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I started by joining Trick-or-Treat, which I actually have done very little of so far. I also chatted with Perogies while I triak-or-treated. Then I teamed up with Perogies and qworty, doing a couple of Halloween special missions before Perogies left because he was tired. Qworty and I did one more Halloween special mission, since he'd gotten the character who had it. Then we switched characters, and I slowly shared a low-level story arc I really love with him. That took us up to time to read to Mom, so I left to do that and eat dinner. {Smile}

   After dinner, I hopped back on5o City of Heroes: Home coming and found qworty. We teamed up and ran a tutorial type of story arc together, slowly, I admit. Then we started the story arc that followed the one we did before dinner. We only got a hunt and one regular mission in before I had to stop to do my exercises. I soloed to finish the tutorial arc for my character after stopping my exercises, since the way we did it didn't count for my character. Then I made notes to write this up from the next day. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 7, 2023

    Today, I remembered I was to call Alan yesterday to remind him about Val's appointment for an echocardiogram. I called immediately, and he said he was taking someone to a destination right then, and he'd come up and get me when we were done. He came a bit after one and started to take us down. Then I got a call from the vet's office. I assured them I was bringing Val now, but they wanted to know when I last fed him. This morning, as I swore the instructions said. They said we had to reschedule, because this wasn't enough of a fast. I told Alan, and he started to take us home. I thought when they said we'd reschedule, they meant later this afternoon, and when Alan learned this, he turned around because he had another appointment this afternoon and wasn't likely to have time to get me there then. 

   At the vet's office I discovered they were right. It said to not feed him in the morning. I'd managed to miss the "not" several times when I read it earlier. They tried to tell me to bring him in between 7:30 am and 8:30 am, but I protested that was too early. (I'm not even out of bed at 8:30 these days.) So, they said around 9 would be okay... that... doesn't give me enough travel time, never mind getting dressed and eating breakfast. They said they'd call later, and we left it at that. {sigh}

   Then I asked them to teach me how to take blood from Val's ear. they came, asked what I did, and suggested using his paw pad. I talked of trying but mentioned really wanting a monitor like they had before. It only stayed on for one week when they got it to stay on long enough to be used, but that's more time than the doctor asked for. {smile}

   Then I called Alan he was a ways outside of town, but he'd come get me when he could He did and took us home. {smile}

   I ate breakfast and dinner with Mom and read to her before dinner.  First, I read scripture and thoughts about it. Next I read more of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019. Then I showed her a few pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. She wasn't too sleepy, so i showed her a few pages. After that, I read two short stories from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "Hard Work," The 7th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. Anna and Paolo lived in Italy, in a house surrounded by olive trees. When the olives were ready to pick their mother told them to come help with the harvest, since they were big enough that year. She promised them a treat if they were good and worked hard. Each child was given a long stick to beat the branches with. The olives fell on the ground and gathered into baskets. The children worked until they were hot and tired but didn't want to give up before the adults. That evening, their father brought them huge helpings of delicious ice-cream. {Smile}

   I did my head exercises, my arm resistance exercises, one sitting arm weight training exercise, and my standing arm weight training exercises after teaming for the evening, and before my salsa dancing warmup set. Then I did my less structured salsa dancing set after a break. Then, after another break, I did my arm swinging exercises and the other three sitting arm weight training exercises. {Smile}

   I read articles and comics in the morning and hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming after Val and I came back home from the vet's office. There, I found Perogies. We chatted while I worked on paperwork. Then I asked what he wanted to do. I expected him to pick a character to work on, but he said he wanted to watch a movie. He said he'd let me pick. I asked about RWBY, which is a TV show, not technically a movie, but he was happy with that choice. It took some time to figure out where to start, but we watched three episodes before he got too tired and left. Then it was maybe half an hour before I read to Mom, so I tried some solo trick-or-treating. {Smile}

   After dinner, I chatted with Ulty for a fair while. While we chatted, I did paperwork then trick-or-treated, first solo, then joining a large group. Then I finally got qworty's attention; he was trick-or-treating with the large group too, and ready for something different. We chatted, and I asked about teaming up, suggesting we try to finish the story arc we started the previous night. He liked that, and we did it. we did the first mission slowly with just us. The second mission was even slower, but partway through an acquaintance said hi, and I asked if he'd join us. he did, bringing a friend. Perogies said Hi after the others had gotten in, and I invited him, too. The mission we were in was closer to the end than I realized. It ended before Perogies got in, or the others got to us, so we went on to the next mission... which failed when the NPC we were escorting stayed behind to fight enemies and got herself killed. That was only for qworty's version of the mission, so we tried mine next. This time she got ahead of us and got killed instead. Both counted as failures, though the story arc progresses. It even says she's not really killed; she teleported to a hospital, where she is recuperating. Player characters recover by going to a hospital pretty easily, though then you have to travel back to the mission and go through earlier parts to get back to the group, or at least still-active enemies to fight, most of the time. My acquaintance's friend left, then my acquaintance left to deal with work, but Perogies, qworty, and I finished the rest of the story arc with little trouble. I read articles and worked on paperwork around exercises and writing this up, making notes when I needed more time to finish than I had. {Smile}

Daily Update, October 6, 2023

    This morning, I called my doctor's office, and actually got a response on the second try. I asked them to phone in the tests to the lab. They said they would, so I contacted Uber, and a fellow came and took me down. I signed in, assuring them I had an appointment. They said to sit down, and they'd be with me shortly. About an hour later, they had me move so I'd be ready when they called. I thought it would be soon. A while later, they called me over. They still hadn't gotten the order from my doctor's office. I called my doctor's office, which was surprised they hadn't gotten it. I handed my phone to a secretary so they could sort things out. They had me wait some more, then said they could draw my blood, but they might have to throw it out if the order didn't come through. I wasn't happy with that, but I'd waited well over an hour, so okay... but when they finally did call me, they'd gotten the order, so no worries about not getting the test after everything. I left two hours later, contacting Uber, and getting a ride home.

   After two hours of waiting on two different days before getting this test, I think I'll try the office in the same building as my doctor's office. At least I'll have the option of walking up the ramp to talk to my doctor's office, and maybe get a paper to carry back. {SIGH} I didn't want to because the lower floor drop-off has a very steep ramp, but I think I'll try it. I can always have them drop on the upper side and walk down or something. That may be easier. {worn smile}

   After lunch, I got a call from our deacon. She wanted to come over and give Mom home communion. I said okay and warned our nurse. Unfortunately, when our deacon got here, Mom was napping, and not waking for gentle speech. So, our deacon lead us in prayer, which Mom might have heard, and we said goodbye. {smile}

   I ate part of lunch and all of dinner with Mom The nurse was feeding Mom as I was ready to start my own lunch, and needed the chair I normally use, so I started by my computer, and moved by Mom when the nurse said she was done. Anyway, I read to Mom before dinner.  I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I read some more of Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019. After that, I showed her a few pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. She was even less sleepy today than yesterday, so I felt comfortable showing her several pictures. Next, I read a story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "The Kind Frog," The 6th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. One year, there was a drought in autumn, and the sun shone for two weeks straight without any rain. A snail lay under a hedge, too weak from thirst to crawl the short distance to the nearest stream. A small green frog hopped by, and took pity on the snail, telling it to climb on his back. He took the snail the four great leaps to the edge of the stream, where it slipped down onto the cool, damp moss, its life saved {Smile}

   I did my head and arm swinging exercises while waiting for Uber to pick me up and take me to the lab. After I was done teaming with qworty and Perogies, I did my arm resistance exercises and my standing arm weight training exercises. Next, I did my salsa dancing warmup. Then, after a break, I did my less structured salsa dancing, for a total of over 20 minutes of salsa dancing. After another break, I did one of my four sitting arm weight training exercises. That took more out of me than I expected, but I finished it; I just didn't have the energy I hoped for the rest of them yet. {Smile}

   I read articles and comics in the morning. After lunch, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I thought I was in time for the early short, large group event, but I got confused about eh time. When I hopped over to the early long, large-group event, they were settling into the last part of the event. I ran it, and discovered Perogies was there, too. When it was over, we teamed up. Perogies wanted to get a particular reward for collecting other rewards, because it permanently improves the character. He needed two badges that a character of mine who didn't have them was high enough to get so we paired up for that. Then I switched to a higher-level character so we could do the last two badges the way he wanted to, which was fine. The other character was too young to get full benefits for a few more levels anyway. We ran the first two missions of a task force we like for this together before it was time for me to go read to Mom, and for Perogies to go to bed. {Smile}

   After dinner, I read some more comics, and hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. I found qworty, who'd been trick or treating again. He was thoroughly bored with it, so I suggested we try the Halloween trial, which you can only do during the Halloween event, which is running most of this month, and maybe slightly into November. We needed four, no more, no less. I tried recruiting friends first, but few responded, and only one joined, so I tried publicly, and got a fourth quite quickly. Fortunately, the others knew it better than I did, and we got all four possible badges fairly easily. Then the others left, and qworty suggested doing a story arc. I was totally in favor, but it did remind me of a shortcut that I wanted to show him. He said he didn't know how he felt about it afterwards, and I agree, and told him it's not that it's a desirable way to join unless you're in a hurry, or someone you're talking to is, and you can tell them about it. So, I found a character who hadn't joined, and we started the story arc anyway. The first mission wasn't too bad, but the second mission was really beyond us. I was about ready to switch characters to help him when Perogies came on and said hi. I invited him, and he brought a character who made this so much more doble, it was amazing. Then I hated to say goodnight, but I needed to start exercising. qworty needed to head to bed anyway, so we said goodnight. We'll continue another day, I suspect... with help again. {SMILE}

Daily Update, October 5, 2023

    Today, I had my counselling appointment by video on my insurance's website after breakfast. We talked a lot, and I think it went quite well. {Smile}

   I got a call from my financial adviser at lunch time. They were primarily concerned with getting the accountant some authorization for tax purposes. I also asked something I've been thinking about a lot, and yes, the prospects they worked up earlier this year let me breathe a little easier than I initially thought. {Smile}

   I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I read scripture and thoughts about it first. Then I continued reading Mom's niece's long family Christmas letter from 2019 next. After that, I showed her a pages of pictures in _Visions of Scotland_. She wasn't quite as sleepy today, so I felt comfortable showing her several pictures. Next, I read two poems and a story from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. I finished with "Half' 'n Half," The 5th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. A black and white kitten was unhappy with his unusual coloring: black from his nose to his middle, and white from his middle to the tip of his tail. Even his mother thought he was one of her black kittens from the front, and one of her white kittens from behind. he was teased for this and decided to run away. He left on a cold day. Then it started to snow. He struggled on for an hour, then stopped on a doorstep to meow pitifully. A boy answered the door, admiring the white kitten. The kitten tried to hide in the towel they dried him with, but they noticed his coloring. The boy asked him to stay, saying they'd call him Half 'n Half. So, he did stay. {Smile}

   After teaming with Kitten and qworty for the evening, I did my head, arm swinging, and arm resistance exercises, then did my salsa warmup. After a break, I did a full set of less structured dancing, too: two pieces, for a total of over 20 minutes between the warmup set and the less structured set. {Smile}

   I read articles after my counselling session, and a little after lunch. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming long enough to find Div and Kitten and let them both know I'd be a little late, but I'd be on after cleaning myself up. When I got back into City of Heroes: Homecoming after cleaning myself up. Kitten was not there, but Div was. We teamed up and did two of the high-level missions with good rewards before Div felt that he needed a rest. We said goodnight. Then Perogies came on and said hi. He wanted to team up, and didn't mind if I invited qworty, who was on, and willing to join me, so I felt good about doing the next story arc from the second contact we did a story arc from last night. We didn't finish before it was time to read to Mom, so we said goodbye, and spoke of getting together later if we were on. Perogies said I could continue the arc without him if he wasn't on, too. {Smile}

   After dinner, I hopped back into City of Heroes: Homecoming. Perogies wasn't around, but Kitten came on not long after I said hi on the chat server. We got together, and I invited qworty, too, and we finished the story arc I'd started with Perogies and qworty before dinner. Then the three of us did the third and last-for-now story arc from that contact. That took the evening, right up to time to exercise, so we said goodnight on the game, though Kitten and I talked a little more on the chat server later. I also read comics, and finished a couple of articles I hadn't finished earlier. I also did a little paperwork and soloing on City of Heroes: Homecoming, but not a lot of either. {Smile}