A few Measly Steps a Day #2

Hi measlers. D, I second the feeling you are enjoying a run of creative output. In a short post you list several talents. Alas, please remove lifting wheelchairs from the list for the sake of your back.

I'm up with spritely energy. Had 2 fab convos yesterday, and got around to some small chores like bottling and labeling some herbs we had drying around the place.

Also, I feel both convos 'advanced' my intentions. In the first, I handed off a thick binder of resources for collaboration to a young recent college graduate who stepped up to begin reclaiming an abandoned hill near the college. I'd paid serious money for just that binder (it wasn't part of a workshop), and to send it out for more adventures felt like passing the baton.

The second convo spun around all the tragedies and wins I've collected by trading. I've been launching trial hints to lots of people and most acted doubtful, afraid, skeptical, or all three. I lack the optics for a serious winning trader [dude, where's your Rolex?], so I'm not annoyed I don't get instant respect. But, surprise, I crossed paths with someone who is supportive, curious and attentive. Balm x 3.

Yet another factor on why I feel so d---m good is that my inner work on bragging and recently, the necessity of failure, are reframing long-forgotten biases I hold about living, goals, and my self respect/esteem. It's thrillingly hyper-linked, as in, one of the essays mentioned in passing has led me to a memoir—The Body of a Dancer—that I'll search out at the library today. I don't need more reading material, but I can always give a book the once over to decide if it's worthy of a deeper look later when I have more time.

I have hours of chores before I sleep, so I've blocked off 3 hours at the open for random stuff in any order that only I care about. Ah, this does approach happiness.

The power of the pen! In previous episodes, we had a leaky laundry device that caused a lot of damage. The invoice for the work went to the insurance company paid most of it, but not all. The drying-out company began muscling me for the rest. Over the phone I'd remind them the ins. co. repped me and they needed to work it out with them, and I wanted to be on the call.

They skirted around me a couple of times trying to get someone else to get me to pay up. I kept saying the same thing to everyone to stepped in.

Me: You're no longer part of this.
Referring company: We are.
Me: I'll add you to the conference call, then.
RefCo: Oh, we're not part of this.

Then last Friday I sent a cert mail letter to the invoicing company's CEO. Monday I got a call and verbally went around the same circles. Today I get a series of emails from my insurance company which settled with a payment to me for me to forward to the invoicing company for about 60% of the disputed balance.

They don't explicitly state this is the final agreement, so I'll clarify that next week and pass through the payment when it comes.

They didn't invite me to the negotiations party. No surprise as "I get no respect."

Highly probable that this is DONE!

Oh I hope you're done! I got stressed out reading about your ordeal!

I hate confrontation, and sometimes it's necessary. Hats off to you, R.

I'm doing annoying medical stuff these days. Nothing life-threatening - just annoying. Teeth feature prominently in my medical stuff.


I signed up for a 50,000 word challenge for October. I couldn't wait for Nanowrimo's November challenge. Meanwhile, I'm loving making pretty things. I'm doing flower arranging, and I'm finding throwaway items to use for vases and flower pots. There's some recycled-paper packing material that reminds me of biblical Jerusalem. I'm not sure if I'm nuts or inventive. Probably both. I'm going to surf the net and look for photos of desert cities.


I have an idea for my next novel - A conservative Christian father and a hippie mother have a crack baby. So many possibilities.


Good stuff to us all.

Ah Nanowrimo! I've never attempted it, although I completed a few blog equivalents -- NoBloPoMo -- which seem to have faded into oblivion.

Well now comes State Farm to jump in with their twist: sending 2 checks! Ha Ha. One is for the settlement, the other for the total disputed, then immediately canceled (per a couple of emails) though they did send it, too.

Ay!

Emailed the claims rep, who said "sorry" "don't know how" and "destroy it."

With Pleasure. Mailing the closing payment out today.

99.44% likely DONE.

Only the USPS has to do their job and deliver the check, the middle man their work of clearing with their client, and the service co. clearing their books. Routine, right?

Right?!?

And perhaps then "whoever" sending a letter stating that the matter is settled?

Very bad day at the dentist. I mean very bad. The ikebana class was fun and we got some beautiful decorations. The Italian Extravaganza at my church went off well, and I got the singing and karaoke working well. Always ways to improve, but I was happy with the overall evening.

Our church has some old folks (including me) and getting them to doctors' appointments, etc is a problem. Our priest thinks we should help each other, which we should, and we do, but some of the people who need the rides don't want to use Uber or Dial a Ride as a back up. I'm beginning to feel used. The line between help and co-dependency is a thin one.

Hi crew. Yes, D, I'll likely get an email that they got the payment. There's an email on file that this is the final leg.

Meanwhile, this trip has 3 legs, our first is working out fairly well, and the last 2 are shaky! Not to bore with details, yet, just a note we're having fun while bronco riding the "adjustments."

Hi, Steppers,

I've been hitting a long stretch of the lazies. I just don't want to do anything, and as a result I have a long list of to-dos piled up. I did manage to cross off a few things - I got my blood test done, and I got my COVID and flue shots, and I did my bills. Yay, me. Here's the tough stuff:

Drop my Health Net insurance - I need my employee ID number from fifteen years ago, so I'll have to get a hold of a human on the retirement board which won't be easy since open enrollment ends Nov. 1st, and there will be a great demand for humans in H. R.


Figure out why Health Net hasn't billed me in the last several months ??????????? I spent an hour on the phone yesterday, trying to figure this out. Got transferred four times, ????? and finally had to give up because I didn't want to be late for my lab appointment to give blood for blood test.


Apply for a new copyright for Refuge and Warm Tea.


My writing hasn't been happening. It's always hard to start writing after a long hiatus.


Wishing you all good stuff.

I guess I'll give an update, too.

I find myself taking two courses that I hadn't planned on. One is related to high frequency, non-linear electronics -- career-related. The other is a course on mindfulness. Both are online and free.

And I'm a mindfulness mission. I've installed three new apps to help me with it.

Looking to do some home improvement projects. One is that the light switch timer is back on the table. The timer I installed this time last year failed on a hot day in June, so I replaced it with a standard switch. But now I've been coming home in the dark (and daylight savings time ends very soon), so I want the lights to go on automatically before I arrive.

Another is painting over some damaged and neglected spots that were tolerated while the dog was alive.

Cleaning and decluttering.

Plus, I'll need to decide soon on what plants to bring it, and which ones to eliminate. I've already put two in the compost, and three more are more than ready for that. One other is earmarked for the compost, but I want to let it finish flowering for the sake of the pollinators. And last, the geranium that I've over-wintered for years might go this year.

Hello steppers. D, what you call the lazies might only be a needed fallow period. Even then, sad days at the dentist are a serious emotional drawdown. And, you're not being billed by Health Net AND need to leave it? Oy.

SPG, Methinks your classes are poles apart from each other. Or, they are quite similar.

I spend 20 minutes to an hour each morning, or most, let's say, considering my day, my mood, and what I need to wend my way through. It's my way of meditating. Sometimes I lie contentedly and count my breaths. I think for a flash I felt I had to get out of bed to sit in mediation. I realized that wouldn't work for be because sitting in a cold room is my idea of a reason to get in bed. So now, I wake up, and mediate "on the spot."

The vacay to New Mexico was spectacular, despite chronic directional challenges (getting lost or failing to find our way the first time).

Happened to be in Santa Fe for their International Film Festival and had the wits to grab tickets before we left for the world premiere of a new Georgia O'Keeffe documentary. Good move as it sold out both the original screenings plus a third the festival added.

My Medicare Advantage provider is shutting down in my area, so I have to find and new one before 12/31. I have a list of 40 to shift through. I'm hoping to get a good chuck eliminated or promoted this week.

Monday is full for "steps"
> Our friendly utilities company replaced our bin without alerting, and so snatched our combo lock. I'll try to get it back.
> Our elevator vendor has a couple of things to fix that the inspector highlighted. They haven't responded in 30 days. I'll begin calling them.
> Same vendor, owes us something for 2 missed routine service visits. Ditto on the calls.
< Fun stuff 1: I'm ready to be more active reaching out to friends for getting together.
< Fun stuff 2: I'm reading a book on Zen and the Art of Poker and enjoying it. The writer has a followup book, The Tao of Poker, I think. I'll order that for my self, and send both to my poker-playing brother.

Onward all.

Some folks are adamant that meditation requires sitting and stillness.
But there are others that think meditation can be practiced during any activity, including shifting through Medicare Providers.

Most folks look forward to sleeping an hour later this weekend here in USA (except AZ). But from my perspective, I'm dreading forcing myself to stay up until 8 pm on Sunday night. I'll be turning into a zombie at work on Monday afternoon.

Speaking of work, I was indignant at the prospect of designing non-metallic drawer slides for an oven. Why reinvent the wheel when we can buy something made of metal that will suffice.

But then a shift in attitude prevailed, and I approached it as a creative challenge. If that's what I have to do, that's what I'll do. I even made it into a meditation.

Hi Crew, SPG, fully agree that anything with the right mind is a meditation.

Changed my Med. Adv. plan today. Pretty easy, overall. Will have an extra premium to have peace of mind about prescription drugs. Insurance, I like the idea, just hate paying for it because I never want to need or use it.

Along the way, learned how critical the star ratings are for the plan, the higher the rating the more they get some type of kickback from Medicare. My plan is rated 3 stars. I don't know what that means in practice.

I know I'll have to find out more about this in a few years.

Hi measlies. Big step today, on my self-acceptance chart. I wrote to my dear bridge partner to confess my silence & withdraw from our partnership. Odd, 20 months ago I was ablaze with desire to play more and having a steady partner to scheme with had been a big step. Now, 10.5 months into this retirement thing, I haven’t played a live game all year and my desires to do so have dwindled to nearly nil.

A big part of this is that I’ve shifted to things where I get to talk and listen without a lot of rules and etiquettes. Plus, I’m doing stuff I can talk about with just about anyone. Like, with my film group we’re talking about The Odd Couple this week. For the Jung Cafe I’m leading a convo on forgiveness. Just about everyone can connect with those things, whether they attend the groups or not.

I have a terrific night, or a sad one, at bridge, and I have nothing to engage with anyone with. So, I got top board, or just managed to come in 4th out of 5 teams.

Yeah, so.

[Crickets.]

See?

Good for you, R!

I've got all the remaining Fridays off from work for the rest of the year. I'm halfway through painting a small hallway ("halfway through the hallway" -- sounds likes a good name for a 90's pop band), which we've neglected for too long. It was one of the projects for "when the dog was gone." Well, sadly, he is gone, and the time has come.

As I was washing the walls with TSP, I said goodbye to the oily marks he left on the walls. I took a picture of it before starting. The nose prints he made on a lower window are still there, though.

I'm so sorry. Shadow was such a great dog. I know he didn't really play for the Red Sox and help them win the 2013 World Series, but there's a piece of me that sees him running for home plate in a blaze of glory.


Me - I've been in shock anger, and depression for the past few days. I'm okay, and then it hits me. Writing makes me feel better, but somehow, I end up playing solitaire and feeling horrible instead.


Teeth are better, but I still don't trust my dentist and think I made a big mistake. Other minor health issues still a problem.


I love the church I go to. I volunteered for some tasks, a couple which I love (flower arranging, a creativity group - we all need the socialization; COVID took that away from us) and some which I don't like so much, but someone has to do them - vestry, disaster planning, lead intercessors, and a couple of others. Now I've been asked to take on Senior Warden. This task involves management, meetings, and making decisions that I'm uncomfortable with. I don't want to do it. I said "No" at first, and then agreed to do it. Believe it or not, there really isn't anyone else. We're a really small group, and Sr. Warden has to be on the vestry. (It's really Bishop's Committee because we're so small, but I figured if I called it that, you wouldn't know what I was talking about.) Additionally, my friend is losing her eyesight, and needs a lot of rides. Her family is useless, and she can't use Uber or Dial-a-Ride. I'm feeling taken advantage of. I do have the time to do all these things. I just don't want to do a lot of them.


I also don't want to do a lot of the chores at home that need to get done.


I'll post happier stuff in the future.