Daily Update, October 17, 2023

  I got a series of texts about Val's condition from the veterinarian. On one hand, some things sound promising. On the other, he sounds like a much sicker kitty than I realized. I have spells of feeling terribly guilty for not doing more sooner, though the worst signs developed over the weekend. I learned the next day that he's considered critical. {resigned look}

   On Tuesday, I realized I hadn't gotten an email or phone call from the gal who organizes the once-a-month meetings. So, I emailed and called her, asking about transportation. She emailed back that she hadn't gotten my earlier email, and could I take Uber down? So I contacted Uber, and a nice chatty driver came and took me down. Thankfully, there was no confusion on Uber's part about where it was this time. {Smile}

   The meeting was in full swing when I got there. They were primarily concerned with signing up for alerts with Civil Defense. Apparently Civil Defense is inclined to overdo it, especially with the traffic closures. But you sign up for things individually... so just don't take them all. {smile}

   We then moved to the lunch room, where we had lunch. Then the leader was able to take me home after cleaning up, and after dropping off a fellow who waits in town for a friend to take him home, since they live a fair ways away. 

   On Tuesday I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. I started with scripture and thoughts about it, first yesterday's, then todays, so I have caught up from the day I missed. Then I continued with some from a long family Christmas letter from her niece from 2022. Next, I read the next few pages of _Memories 1950's_. After that, I read her a few poems from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Last, I finished with two stories from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. First, I read "Winter Flowers," the 16th of October's story. It says that people say there are no flowers in winter, then says they will tell how they have them anyway. They tell of collecting violets, primroses, and forget-me-nots in spring, and pressing them between sheets of paper in books. In summer, they collect poppies and a few ears of corn. In autumn, they find dried grasses and pretty colored leaves to press. By winter, the flowers are ready to be made into pictures. Last, I read "Blue Mushrooms!" the 17th of October's story. Sally found an odd group of mushrooms in a field: three were blue- two of them with spots - and the third was purple. She picked one and stared at it. Then she decided it must be poisonous and threw it away. An imp appeared, scolding her furiously for throwing away his best chair. She ran to fetch it, but when she replanted it, the imp had disappeared. {Smile}

   I walked around a bit down at the meeting, and I did both my warm-up salsa dancing and my less structured salsa dancing for over 20 minutes of salsa dancing tonight, but I didn't get any of my other exercises done. I've just been so tired... I suspect that's primarily stress because of Val. {faint smile}

   I read comics when I got home from the meeting. Then, after cleaning myself up, I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. There, I found Perogies, Meroa, qworty, and Azurette. Perogies was eager to team, and Meroa was happy to join us shortly. Qworty wanted to finish what he was doing first, so he joined later. Azurette was too busy working on stuff to join us. I got the character I was working on the previous night. I hope he's close to working through the content I want him to finish before I let him go up in level. We ran several missions, with qworty joining us partway through. That got us up to time to read to Mom. {smile}

   After dinner, I checked some comics, and found one that I'd pretty much given up on has finally started its second season. It's called "Lady Knight," and has been on hiatus for over a year and a half. Then I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming again. I found qworty and Meroa happy to team up with me. We did a few more missions on the same character I played that afternoon. Near the end, Paradox said they wanted to join after doing a bunch of paperwork. I started to accept, then realized the time was late. They dashed in and joined just as the mission we were doing ended, but I thought I had time for one more mission. That was longer than usual and ran us right up to time to salsa dance. I was tired to do a bunch of exercises anyway; I'm just relieved I managed to do all my salsa dancing. I said goodnight to Nox on the chat server... well, we talked a bit earlier on the chat server, but still. I did talk with Paradox and Kitten there. {smile}

Daily Update, October 16, 2023

    Well, today started okay, with me reading comics and articles until I thought to double-check when an appointment for my hearing aids was. I thought after lunch but wanted to double check. {Smile}

   It was 11 am.

   I checked the clock. It was 10:50 am. I called and let them know I'd just realized I should have started out a while back. They assured me that I should just come, and they'd take me when I go there. I love how flexible they are. {Smile}

   I contacted Uber. The driver was nominally 11 minutes away. I did my head and arm swinging exercises while waiting. When he got here, he said the directions were wrong. I looked, and they were trying to send him to O'ahu, a few islands up the chain from the Big Island of Hawai'i, where I live. I finally thought to tell him it was the little blue house at the base of the extra steep hill. He immediately knew exactly where I meant and took a route that got us on the right side of the street and everything. {Smile}

   There, they took me fairly promptly. He had something new to dry out my hearing aids. There was a fair bit of moisture in there for something their size, so it took a while. I remembered to get batteries this time, and deliberately took more than I hope I'll need, so that if some don't last as long, I should still make it to my next appointment without an extra trip. {cross fingers hopefully, Smile}

   I contacted Uber, and they took me home. Then I fed Val... Had to pull him out from under the desk and take him to the food. He wasn't moving well, and didn't eat immediately, but he did throw up after I gave him some liquid medicine. It came up yellow, even though the medicine and the water he's been drinking were clear. The vet was closed for lunch, so I ate my own lunch. He eventually ate a little, but I was worried, so I called the vet, and they said if I could get a ride, they would take him as an urgent care patient for a higher fee. I called Alan, and he said he'd come on over when he was done with what he was doing. I got Val into his carrier... he was awfully sluggish, and not moving well, though he was moving a bit better than earlier. Alan got us down there. We had quite a talk on the way, partly about being concerned about Val.

   I waited most of the afternoon for them to squeeze us in between other appointments. They took a blood sample, which was smaller than they wanted for all the tests, because he was weak and dehydrated... {bite lips} When they brought the results they could get back, he was hyperglycemic, with his blood sugar up in the 500's, when they want it below 300 for a diabetic cat, and in the 100's for a normal cat. She said I could try to treat him at home, but I ended up checking him in. I'm not sure my nursing skills are up to helping him as much as they can when he's this weak. {worried look}

   I called Alan, and he took me home. We talked about Val and other things on the way back, including my time int eh hospital when my blood sugar got even higher than Val's, despite human blood sugar normally being lower than cat blood sugar. I made it through - that was the five-inch boil driving it up, and an artificial sweetener not letting it drop as fast as expected. It took me months if not a year or more to recover, and a fair bit of physical therapy, too. {resigned look}

   I got back too late to read to Mom: it was already time to eat dinner. The nurse said I could catch up tomorrow. {bite lips}

   I didn't get into City of Heroes: Homecoming until after dinner, and a short text conversation with Nox on the chat server. I found Perogies and Meroa eager to run a farm - a player-made mission with minimal story run for the stuff you collect doing it. They wanted to each run all three of their accounts. We me on my one account, that left one space. Qworty was on, so I asked if he'd like to join, and he did part way through the first farm. Then we ran a second farm. After that, Perogies wanted some story. Meroa dropped to one account, and soon Perogies did, too. They asked if I had a story arc. The character I was on had one open. I noticed that Paradox said on the chat server that they'd hopped into CoH hoping to play but found me on a full team. I told them they could come now, because it wasn't full anymore, and they did. Then I invited Soothing Darkness to join, but she was busy role-playing. We ran the rest of the arc and finished shortly before I meant to finish. Perogies said they had to go, and left, but I said I had on more mission in me. We did one, and qworty and Paradox left, so we broke up. {Smile}

   I did my walking exercises next, then got to talking to Meroa on the chat server until it was time to start my salsa dancing. I did my warmup despite being a bit tired and was glad I could just sit until the next set. Usually, I'm up feeding Val and giving him his medicine for at least half my break. Then I did my less structured set for over 20 minutes of salsa dancing. I really wanted to do more, but I was drained after the long afternoon sitting and trying not to worry about Val at the veterinarian. {worn smile}

   I read comics between and after the salsa dancing, as well as writing this up and reading one of the web novels I'm trying. I find them interesting. I haven't read much serial fiction that isn't comic books, but these are just that. {Smile} 

Daily Update, October 15, 2023

    Well, time to face it: Val is sick again. First, I noticed he started hiding under the desk near mine. Then I noticed some loose movements late last week, but he was still eating well, so I didn't worry. Then yesterday he started eating poorly, and today he's hardly eating at all, and may have stopped eating entirely; it's hard to tell. I'm getting concerned... okay, worried about him now. He'll have to turn around awfully fast to keep me from calling the veterinarian about this tomorrow. {small smile}

   {later} Okay, Val is eating. Stopping eating may have been a bad can of cat food. He's still not finishing what I serve him, even when it's a modest amount, but he's eating some, and might be eating more than he was for a while. I'm still planning to call the vet, but I'll be sleeping more easily tonight than I feared. {smile}

   Today was Sunday, so I contacted Uber after church, and a nice fellow came and got me. We had a nice talk most of the way down. It's continuing to be quicker at the house, and I'm glad. {Smile}

   I got there before the service again, which was nice, since I had a little time to settle in. It was a nice service, though I missed the music. We didn't have an organist or other keyboard player, so the only music we had was the doxology, which we sang acapella. {smile}

   After the service, I stayed for lunch, and tried to hold back on the desserts. I suspect that too many desserts might have been why I suddenly had trouble with hypoglycemia after a few weeks without it. I didn't have dessert when I was sick, since I stayed home, and the next Sunday, there wasn't much by the time I got to it. I had a nice chat with a few of my table mates, tough honestly, a lot was me listening. One of them offered to take me home afterwards, though we had to wait a fair while. The driver of the car had a presentation to give to the vestry, which was meeting afterwards, and why Ed and some of my other frequent rides couldn't take me home. {Smile}

   On Sunday I ate dinner with Mom and read to her before that. First, I started with scripture and thoughts about it. Then I continued with the start of a long family Christmas letter from her niece from last year. Next, I showed the front and back covers and the first few pages of _Memories 1950's_. After that, I read her a story and a long poem from _365 Bedtime Stories and Rhymes_. Last, I finished with "Hazelnuts," The 15th of October's story from _366 Stories for Bedtime: A Tale for Every Day of the Year_. It was cold and grey, and Corinna didn't want to put on a coat and go out. Instead, she asked Mummy if they could make chocolate buns with chopped nuts, saying she hadn't cooked in ages. Mummy checked the ingredients, and found they were out of nuts. the stores were all closed that day, so they couldn't buy more. Corinna told her to wait, adn dashed into the garden without putting on her coat. She was back in a few minutes with her hands full of hazel nuts. She remembered seeing them on their hazel tree the other day. Corinna cracked them open, and her mother chopped them. They had the best chocolate buns they'd ever tasted. {Smile}

   I did my arm resistance exercises, my walking exercises, and my standing arm weight training exercises after we stopped teaming for the evening. Then I did my salsa dancing warmup, and after a break, my less structured set, for over 20 minutes of salsa dancing in all. I was relieved that I seem pretty steady tonight, at least so far. Maybe holding back on the desserts helped, though I think I could do better, especially with practice. {Smile}

   After I got home, I hopped onto my computer and found a note from Kitten. however, they weren't in the game when I hopped into City of Heroes: Homecoming. However, Meroa was, and Soothign Darkness, and soon qworty. I talked to all three, and tried to find a character to join the task force that qworty was planning to join, but it filled about the time I found someone, despite them asking the leader to save me a place. So I teamed up with Meroa, Soothing Darkness and ran most of a story arc one character who I'd like to see reach 50 soon had. Perogies came in, said hi, and joined us after a few missions, and qworty joined when his task force was done. I'm not sure if Azurette joined us at some point, too. I thought I was almost done, but twice the next mission turned out not to be the last. This took me up to time to read to Mom. {Smile}

   After supper, I found a note from Kitten. They'd slept longer than they meant to - a few hours straight. I'd figured as much. I hopped into the game and found them trick-or-treating. I talked to them, and qworty, and Meroa, and then Azurette, and we all teamed up. The story arc took several more mission, but we finished it, and did a hunt, which got interrupted by a zombie apocalypse - this whole month is the season for extra zombie apocalypses. Then we did a door mission from that contact, which turned out to be the start of a "mini-story-arc," since that mission was followed by another. It has to wait for another day, though, because I had to start my exercises. Oh! I also talked with Owl Girl and Nox on the chat server. I did some paperwork and talking with Paradox on the chat server around the exercises and salsa dance, and I also wrote this up. {Smile}

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}