Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, October 19, 2021, or: Excedrin Headache #2021

It’s almost midafternoon here in my corner of west central Florida on Tuesday, October 19, 2021. It is a warm day; the current temperature is 83˚F (28˚C) under mostly cloudy skies. With the wind blowing from the east at 11 MPH (17 KM/H) and humidity at 34%, the feels-like temperature is also 83˚F (28˚C). Today’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 86˚F (30˚C). Tonight, skies will be clear, and the low will be 64˚F (18˚C). The Air Quality Index (AQI) is 36 or Good.

I’m off to an uncharacteristically slow start today; I usually begin writing these blog posts in the morning and publish them before noon. Sometimes I do post later, but most of the time I get these “musings and thoughts” pieces on A Certain Point of View, Too by 1 PM my time.

Today, though, I find it exceedingly difficult to write for several reasons, including the fact that the Caregiver took the day off from her county courthouse job to do some paperwork that she needs to do for a relative’s upcoming retirement. Apparently, the person in question is exhibiting the first signs of dementia compounded with the long-term effects of alcohol abuse and COPD caused by a lifelong addiction to cigarettes.

Now, usually, the house is almost as quiet as the proverbial graveyard because the Caregiver still works from home despite having gotten her “Fauci Ouchie” a few months ago – she is assigned to the courthouse’s Phone Center, so the Clerk of the Court provided her a special laptop and two monitors that let her work remotely. And because she has to take hundreds of calls between 8 AM and 5 PM, the rest of us have to be mindful and not make noise.

But since today she is not on duty, her boyfriend – who has been living here for almost a year – is watching the HDTV in the common room with the home theater sound system on. (When the Caregiver works, he can watch TV but only if he uses the set’s speakers and at minimum volume settings.) And boy, does he have the volume cranked up! I closed – and locked – my bedroom door to muffle the noise so I could listen to some tunes on Amazon Music while I write, and I can still hear the bass notes from that TV and its 5.1 surround-sound system.

On top of that, I have a headache, even though I had a decent breakfast between 10:30 and 11:00 AM; the Caregiver served grits and two hard-boiled eggs, as well as three cups of coffee. I also drank a bottle of strawberry-flavored Ensure not that long ago. So lack of food is not an issue.  

I think a year and a half of COVID-related confinement, a lack of excitement, stress, and the emotional ups and downs that come with the decline and fall of a romantic relationship have all taken a toll on my psyche. I’m constantly tired, and as of late I feel homesick for my old neighborhood, even though I know – intellectually – that I could not afford to keep the house I inherited from my mother after she died in July of 2015.

If I were the napping type, I would go lie down on my futon and take an hour-long siesta. Alas, unlike my late mom, I have almost never been able to sleep during the day; on the few occasions that I’ve done so, I was either sick or was exhausted after the passage of a hurricane. (When Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida 29 summers ago, I was up for 36 hours helping Mom get the townhouse ready for its arrival in the Miami area and only fell asleep after it left the vicinity sometime after 6 AM on August 24, 1992.)

I could sit on the futon with a book and read for a while, cos I don’t think I can stare at a screen and write for much longer. Even gaming is not an option; it is one of my favorite pastimes, sure. But it still requires sitting at my desk and staring at a screen.

Today is not a good day for it, though, so I’ll close this post here. Until next time, Dear Reader, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.