At home, weight was 125.6 for a loss of 3.2 (I don't believe it!); at T.O.P.S., 126.2 for a loss of 1.2. Okay, that's more likely, I think, but who knows?
Just the usual suspects at the meeting, Lennie, Bobbi, Julie, and me. Sharon again missed, due to medical problems. I'll call her and see how she is. We talked about this and that, with Lennie holding forth on why she gained--because she had a chicken salad croissant last week. (Oh, sure, even though she stuck religiously to her diet the rest of the time😛.) She asked me to take home the book of "inspirational" sayings and come up with the two "thoughts for the week" for the next six or seven meetings. AAGH! Most of what's called "inspirational" is at the third-grade level and the meaning of "inspiration" itself is so vague as to be meaningless. Well, I'll make a few up and try to find reasonably
Went over to Von's and stocked up on stuff to the tune of fifty-two bucks. I was pleased to run into Cheryl L. there, a fellow pacifist who used to be in T.O.P.S. (her husband is in Veterans for Peace). We had a good talk and, incidentally, were two of the few who weren't wearing masks. (California has lifted that requirement, at least to an extent.)
After I put my goods away, I had lunch, then walked to the park. As I passed a bench there, I glanced over and saw a cell phone. Nobody else was nearby, so I assumed it had been accidently left. It was an Apple i-phone, like mine, but probably an earlier model. What to do? It finally occurred to me to look at the Messenger section and I Messaged a few people who had been in touch with the owner. Then the third person, Michael K., called. I answered, and he was taken aback to hear my voice . It turned out it was his wife's phone and she was running there. We decided I'd go to the office (although I'm not sure anybody was there) to see if I could leave it there to be picked up. I was walking to it when a young woman came jogging toward me. I had asked Michael to describe his wife (Gisselle) and this looked like her. I asked if that was her name, yes, and I gave her the phone, for which she was very grateful.
From there, I bused to the mall and Target to get yogurt and heavy cream. I made a chocolate cream pie, assuming Jim will be here today. (As I believe my friend, Pat, does, I write most of these entries the night before and just top them off in the morning, if need be.) Got home at 5:00.
I had found a peppermint nut pie shell at Wal-Mart the other day, bought two, and decided to make a chocolate cream pie. Got pudding mix (the kind you cook, of course, not the instant stuff, which is vile), cooked it up after dinner and poured it into the pie shell. Also bought heavy cream and, after breakfast, I'll whip that up to put on the pie.
Called Jim after my shower and we talked for a bit. He said his technical advisor, or whatever he is, was supposed to get to him at 8:00 am and he'll call me after their session is over, by 10:00 or so, then, I hope, come for lunch.
💥💥💥💥💥
Okay, this thing is called "Mimi's Musings," so now I'm going to muse on my relationship with Jim. Clearly, it relies heavily on a considerable amount of time and effort on my part and very little on his. I think I would be resentful under other circumstances or if it concerned somebody else. Yet I'm not, and for complicated reasons. For one, I feel sorry for him because he's so entirely alone in the world. To someone like me, who not only has a number of immediate decedents and siblings, but also a huge extended family, he seems to lead such a solitary life. Also, he has very little money and only those who have plenty of it would think that's not of great importance. His teaching career has been interrupted by COVID, but of even greater magnitude is the impact of technology. I'm sometimes amazed by what he doesn't know and I'm hardly the Steve Jobs of Ventura. Maybe what says it all is that he doesn't have a cell phone, but a landline only--I actually don't know anyone else who doesn't have a mobile phone. I asked if he wanted my old Cricket, which, at least, is serviceable as a portable phone. He seemed to be interested, but I honestly don't know if he'll be able to handle it. The Cricket is primitive compared to my new I-phone, but as with anything else in the electronics world, there is a learning curve. Jim's memory is not good, especially for names; Yesterday, when I mentioned my visit to Santa Barbara the other day, he asked, "Who's Betty?" I've known Jim almost as long as I've lived in California--six years--and we've often talked about Betty.
So-o-o, with all that and more, why don't I simply ease out of our friendship? Well, I feel sorry for him for one thing, but also, I get lonely. I like to have people over for lunch or dinner and, it seems, except for Suzanne and Vickie--and there are conversational limitations with religious people--all my other friends here are still cowering in their homes, for the most part.
I could go on and on, but I won't. Unfortunately, I again had trouble sleeping and have been awake since 3:30. Got up at 5:00 and may take a nap.
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