The charm of the season...

Today it's supposed to be 34C with the occasional thunderstorm. It will feel like it is 98F. That's more than hot enough for me because it will be humid too. Tomorrow the temperatures will be normal again and it will rain. I'm kind of happy about that because I like cool weather. 

I have to go see my SPN at 1 pm today and I will have to ride my bike in the hot sun. I'm not looking forward to that and am expecting exercise induced asthma which I often get when the weather is hot. It's really not a disaster. More of an inconvenience. It makes riding my bike uphill more difficult. 

I haven't seen my SPN for 4 weeks and have done fine without her. That goes to show you that I manage quite well on my own. I'm not as dependent as I thought I was some time ago. It will be good to see her, but I don't have much to discuss. My life has been very uneventful. I choose to have it that way. 

Yesterday the Exfactor was here a day early to do the groceries. I had asked him to because I was out of milk and vanilla pudding and cat food. He was here at the same time my personal helper was and it created some diversion which was good. I don't always know what to do with my personal helper so it was good that someone else was here for a while. 

The domestic help was here in the afternoon and did a thorough job of cleaning the apartment. I laid down for my afternoon nap when she was almost finished, thus avoiding a long drawn out session with cups of coffee and cigarettes. But I was really tired too and needed to lie down. I was emotionally tired. Sometimes I think it takes a lot of effort to keep everything as normal as possible. 

The early birds have started to sing. It means I have to go back to bed for a while. 

Have a good day.

Ciao,

Nora

Another day again...

It must be possible to shut off your feelings so you don't have to be aware of your emotions and how you react to the events in your life. To be immune against your own inner turmoil and the words and deeds of other people. I'll leave it undetermined if I find myself in such a position now, but if not, I come very close to it. The fact that I'm writing this post casts some doubt on it because obviously I care enough to discuss it and I really shouldn't give a darn.

I'm attempting not to give a darn and to go about my day wrapped in a bubble of indifference. I'm succeeding to some extent because I notice that I care less about the little things, such as how I look and what people are going to think of me. Or how the apartment looks and what someone would say if they were to walk in right now. I don't give a hoot.

Of course, I try to care less about the bigger issues too and let them be water off a ducks back. I want to say to everybody, "I simply don't give a sh*t." That's how I feel and that's how I want to act. It's harder to act out your indifference if you're used to being a kind and polite person. It's tougher to be a tough cookie. 

I didn't take the new sleeping pills along with the old ones last night. I just took the old ones and slept four hours. I wasted my time behind the computer and didn't write a blog post. I wasn't in the proper mood. At that time I still cared too much and I was angry about not being able to sleep. I spent the time being upset and bitter and accomplishing nothing.

Since then, I've had this change of attitude, after I first felt like I had been a victim in an accident and that I was in a state of shock. I realized that that was a subconscious attempt to protect my feelings and then this turned to indifference. Or at least the huge attempt at it. I'm a bit wobbly on it, but still this sentence keeps playing through my head and I want to say it to everybody, "I don't give a sh*t."

Of course, underneath it all there's a huge amount of anger. It doesn't take very much to get in touch with that. It's a seething, boiling vat. The only person it hurts is me. I don't achieve anything with it. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. There's nothing I can do about the sleeping pill situation. It's not in my hands, but it does change the relationship between my psychiatrist and me. There's an inevitable break in it now and I don't know if it can be repaired. 

I'm tired. I think I need to take a nap. Much as I dislike taking naps. 

Have a great day.

Nora

Company...

The day is unfolding little by little. Between each scene I take a time out. I do that with a cup of coffee and a cigarette and some time spent pondering about what's happened and what's coming up next. Mostly I feel very pleased, because the day is unfolding pleasantly, although I am only halfway there yet. I know the rest of it will be fine too. I feel it in my wind swept bones.

Before my personal helper got here this morning, I did the chores and I did them with good humor and not at all frustrated because I had to do them, like I sometimes do. I owe this to the fact that I have stopped taking a tranquilizer in the morning that always made me feel so tired and like going back to bed. Now I have energy and I'm not dragging myself from room to room trying to get things done hopelessly. It really does make a difference. 

I put clean sheets on the bed and put the dirty sheets in the washing machine immediately. They will have to stay in there for a while, though, because I have a load of laundry drying on the rack in the bathroom. I can only handle one load at the time, or I would have to get another rack that I could hang over one of the doors and dry more laundry on it. It would work, but it isn't all that necessary that all the laundry gets dried at once. I'm not running an orphanage, after all.  It is just a one person household.

I got the whole apartment straightened out and ready for the domestic help, so she would be able to clean it without there being any stuff lying around  that was useless and in the way.  Cleaning up Tyke's toys is the biggest challenge, because as soon as I do, he drags them all out again and distributes them across the living room floor. He's just like a little kid that way. And to think that I ordered more toys for him.

I made a fresh pot of coffee when my personal helper got here and took a shower and put on a new set of double layered clothes. She had warned me that it was cold outside, but I had already noticed that when I stood by the back door to let Tyke out.

I had to wait for my psychiatrist to call me before we were able to go for a walk and he called promptly at noon. He asked me how the decreasing of the tranquilizers was going and I told him that I had it down to one pill during the day, but that it had not been as easy as I had thought it was going to be. I had missed them. We made an appointment for next week at which time we're going to discuss decreasing my dose of anti-psychotics, which is going to be scary and I'm honestly going to tell him that. I'm a hero on socks, as we say here. The implication should be clear.

We took Tyke for a walk in the cold wind, therefor our walk was not very long, but long enough for Tyke to take care of all of his needs. It's not only time for thick winter coats, but for gloves and hats as well. I worry about my hair and the scrunched up state it gets in from wearing a hat. Vanity does prevent me from doing it yet. I'll have to suffer from a cold head. It's tough trying to be a fashionable woman at my age. I don't look good in hat hair.

The domestic help has been here in the meantime and we had ourselves a good old chat while she did her work. We also drank coffee and smoked cigarettes even though she's not supposed to, but I'm not going to tell. She's got two little boys and she tells me stories about them that bring tears to my eyes from pure emotion, either from laughter or compassion or a mixture of both. I'm easily moved. Of course, I'm in a much better state of mind to be moved too, now that my emotions are not dulled by the tranquilizers.

I've got a lovely clean apartment and I'm going to keep it that way. I do feel incredibly spoiled. The quality of my life has improved so much since these people have come into it.  I never want to go back to how it used to be. I pray to Allah/God/Buddha/Wotan that I will always be this lucky. Everybody deserves a break and I was certainly ready for mine.

I've got to walk Tyke if he's ready to go. I think he's sound asleep, but we'll see. One movement from me can mean the end of that. He does have his alert ears on, even when he's taking a nap.

Have a good evening, everyone.

Ciao,
Nora