Ms. Cellophane

Got up this morning at 11:00 and had breakfast and coffee. Then I showered and dressed, and went into Flushing to get my three prescriptions filled. Nothing of particular interest happened on the trip, the rain had stopped and it was grey and damp.

I got back and put in a Shipt order. I got an Easter basket and some candy, and Easter grass for the basket for Middle Brother. Easter isn't until April though so I'll hold off on anything else til later.

I looked at HP's page but decided not to do anything at the moment. Yes I know I need to investigate the computer warranty but not yet.

mashfanficchick called me and told me about a situation with her building that lead us to the conclusion that it would be sensible for me to go over to zer place tonight after my D&D game and spend two nights until Friday rather than going over Thursday. So that's what we arranged.

At 7:00 I Teamed the FWiB and we had very serious technical issues, but, amazingly, caused by the Teams app, rather than my computer. We know this because the problems were on both our computers, and persisted even when I switched to my phone. Bah humbug. We never had these issues with Skype, why'd they have to go and eliminate it?

Anyway, at 8:00 I went to my D&D game, and, also amazingly, Discord worked fine, though I did keep my camera off so as to not put any more stress on it. We fought orcs and goblins, and got accused of passing counterfeit gold pieces.

Then I fed the pets and gave Oreo a day extra, and then Ubered here. We had dinner, and hung out for awhile and then I borrowed this laptop and started here.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got my meds.

3. Shipt.

4. My gaming group.

5. The computer worked for the game.

6. Visit with a friend.

No one is quite sure what President's Day is for, but whatever, it was today. I went back to sleep after the alarm went off and slept til 11:30, but then I got up and had breakfast an coffee.

I called mashfanficchick to see if there was anything going on today, no, but we have decided, after the debacle yesterday trying to Zoom on this computer, we're going to Best Buy tomorrow and see what can be done. It's still under warranty, I have ha it less than a year, so...

There is some good news though, I hear from Funko, they are going to send me another Stephen Colbert Pop to replace the one that went missing.

I copied my Valentine's Starsky and Hutch story to the external drive, and a few other things, I don't think there's anything on the computer I can't stand to lose.

And the computer really has to go. I tried Teaming the FWiB tonight, and it was another debacle. We ended up Teaming on my phone, and that was running out of power. It was a mess.

mashfanficchick called me back before that. and we discussed various things.

The Bard Board of Trustees met today to discuss the Leon Botstein situation. The discussion on the Bard in the 80s Facebook group has been intense. It's all very distressing.

That's all. I just fed the pets.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. mashfanficchick

3. Funko is replacing my missing Pop.

4. The information about buying the computer is in my Best Buy account.

5. I can Team on my phone.

6. My days at Bard.

Got up this morning at 9:00 and had breakfast and coffee, showered and dressed, and went to my Al-anon meeting. Got lucky with the bus, there was a 28 that got there almost immediately after I got to the stop, so that was nice, but it's not as cold as it's been, so it wouldn't have been bad waiting anyway.

The meeting was very good. I went to the diner afterward, getting a ride with S as usual. Since it was Valentine's Day I treated myself to a toasted bagel with lox and cream cheese, which was yummy.

Then I took the bus home and went to the Starsky and Hutch chat. Or tried to. The computer was acting horribly with the Zoom, I had to restart the computer once, and got kicked out of the Zoom several times. Very very frustrating. Especially since we were watching vids, and I missed a bunch of them.

After that debacle, I am pleased to say that Teaming the FWiB went fairly well, though there were a few times he had to repeat things because the computer glitched. We talked for an hour and a half.

I called the Kid after that but she didn't pick up. I didn't expect her to really, I'm sure she's busy with her boyfriend. I left a text asking her to call so I can wish her Happy Valentine's Day. I hope she does.

Then I had dinner, and then went to the bedroom and called mashfanficchick to wish zer a Happy Valentine's Day and ask if there was anything going to tomorrow. Probably not but we'll see.

Last night after I poste here, I posted my Valentine's story on fanfiction.net, AO3, and the Starsky and Hutch archive. It's already getting good responses.

For those interested, it's here on ffnet: First Valentine's Day

and here of AO3: First Valentine's Day

Some sad news, I have become aware that someone on my Dreamwidth flist died on Feb 2nd. spikedluv. I enjoyed reading her posts and will miss her. Her obituary is in the comments to her last entry; it doesn't say what the cause of death was.

Anyway, aside from that, all is well here. Christie the Turtle is eating a little better than she was, so I feel better about that.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My meetings and the people there.

3. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

4. My story is doing well.

5. Christie is eating better.

6. Warmer weather.

I got up at 7:00, had breakfast, and went back to bed until 10:00, when I got up and had coffee.

Then I went into my Valentine's Day story and did some additional writing and editing. And now it is done. I have decided to post it Friday since I won't really have time Saturday, and that way it can be read on Valentine's Day.

Then I took a shower and dressed, on the off chance that I'd be seeing mashfanficchick and RK, which was a possibility that didn't happen. But it feels good to be clean and dressed anyway.

By 5:00 I had still not gotten my Stephen Colbert Pop, so I wrote back again... and got precisely the same response, word for word. Obviously a preset response disguised as a real person. I am pissed. Nothing to do but wait a little longer.

At 7:00 I Teamed the FWiB. We talked til 8:00 when I got off to go to my game night.

The Discord worked pretty well. I close out everything but Discord and don't turn my camera on and it works pretty well most of the time. The game was quite fun. We're playing an early version of D&D, The caves of Chaos module. I got bitten by a giant centipede and will be poisoned for 10 game days.

After the game ended at 10:00 I fed the pets. I am quite worried about Christie the Turtle. She is not eating again. And not being very active. I would think about taking her to a vet if it wasn't so cold out.

Anyway I had dinner and then called mashfanficchick about tomorrow. I'll be going over in the afternoon and we'll watch The Lincoln Lawyer. Probably Will Trent too.

The controversy over Leon Botstein rages on the Bard in the 80s Facebook page, where I'm a member. Leon put out a letter through the Alumni association to explain his side of things. I thought it was fairly reasonable but others did not. I don't know. It's just so upsetting and demoralizing.

Anyway, that's the day.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. My gaming group.

3. Improved and finished the story.

4. Warm apartment.

5. Getting out tomorrow.

6. The Discord worked pretty well.

Though I started by once again sleeping til 12:00. But then I got up and had breakfast and coffee.

Then I did what I am very proud of. I got the printer working again. Before I went to Arisia I tried printing out my to do list and discovered the computer wasn't recognizing the (wireless) printer. I had no time then to play with it so I let it be, and I hadn't done anything about it since.

But today I fiddled with it and discovered that somehow something called the MP driver had gotten uninstalled or something. Then I had to find the MP driver (not the printer driver, mind you!) and install it. Allow me to say the Canon website was only marginally helpful. Yes the drivers were there to download... but difficult to locate that MP driver. I did though and got the printer working.

Then I added water to the turtle tank. And then I cleaned the cat pan.

Then I tossed on some clothes (sweat pants and my thermal shirt) and took the dirty kitty litter and the two Valentines for Middle Brother and the Kid, and ventured out into the cold. It's actually warmed up a bit but still was below freezing.

Anyway, I took the litter to the garbage, and walked around the block, and to the mailbox and mailed the Valentines. So they should arrive before Saturday I hope.

Then I had something to eat. And I went to the bedroom and lay down for awhile and played solitaire on my phone.

Meanwhile my limited edition Stephen Colbert Funko Pop has not yet been delivered, although the tracking said it was out for delivery yesterday. So I looked up how to contact Funko and I sent them a message.

Then I Teamed the FWiB. We were going along fine, over an hour, when the Teams crashed and kicked me out. We got back on, but it was annoying. Don't know if it was Teams, or my wretched computer.

The Funko people answered! They said it was normal to have a delivery delay and I should wait a few days before panicking. So I will wait.

Then I had dinner, a Lean Cuisine frozen pizza for World Pizza Day. Tasty. Then I went to the bedroom again, and played on the phone til pet feeding time.

And so I got some stuff done today.

Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Got the printer working without too much trouble.

3. Got the Valentines out.

4. Heard back from Funko.

5. Have Samsung Health working on my phone now to count steps.

6. Pizza.

I got up this morning at 9:00 and had breakfast and coffee. Then I showered and dressed, in one of my thermal shirts with my warm sweater, instead of my usual tee shirt with sweater. Because it is cold out! Very, very cold.

So I headed toward my meeting, and got lucky that a bus was there almost immediately so I didn't have to wait in the chill.

The meeting was very good, and afterward we went to the diner as usual. I got a ride from S as usual.

Going home, again I got lucky and didn't have to wait long for a bus. I got off at Northern Blvd to transfer to the 12, an noticed that there's a CVS where the Party City used to be, across the street. So I went over and bought Valentines for the Kid, and Middle Brother. There was such a small section of Valentines that I was startled. I'm used to huge sections of Valentines, with cards for every member of your family. But there were precious few daughter cards, and none for brother, so I had to make do with a generic one. At least I found a reasonable one for the Kid.

Anyway, I paid and went to the bus top, just missed a 12, but one came in about 8 minutes after so I was OK.

Got off at Parsons and had to walk from there as usual, it was unpleasant. Very windy. Very, very cold.

Got home safely, and put in a Shipt order from my phone while logging in to the computer to go to the Starsky and Hutch chat. The chat was, as always, lots of fun. The Shipt order this time was complete.

We talked until a little after 7:00. Then I Teamed the FWiB. Fun as always.

*sigh* I learned today about Leon Botstein's involvement with Epstein. it was a horrible shock to me, I felt heart sick. As the president of my alma mater, he was an integral part of my college years, which were, arguably the best years of my life. I could go on for pages about what Bard meant to me, but I won't. Suffice it to say, I feel like I've been poisoned. And worried about the future of Bard now this has come out. Leon couldn't go on being president too much longer anyway, it's been 50 years, and he's old now, but what will happen to Bard when he's gone?

Enough of that. I just finished dinner, made out the Valentines, addressed and stamped them, and fed the pets. I called mashfanficchick to see if ze was doing anything for the Superbowl tomorrow, ze's not. And after I finish here I shall go to bed.


Gratitude List:

1. The FWiB.

2. Stayed warm most of the day.

3. Four years at Bard.

4. My meetings and the people there.

5. The Starsky and Hutch fandom.

6. Valentines Day stuff.