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Thursday, September 1st, 2033
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6:45 pm - Dear people, please respect my privacy...
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... and in order to do so, PLEASE DO NOT EVER CROSSPOST COMMENTS FROM MY LJ ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER.
OR EVEN HERE, ON LJ, FOR THAT MATTER!!!
I know nobody on my friendslist would do that, and I really don't want to turn my LJ friends only entirely, but I will do, if there's no other solution.
I'll also consider friends-locking a great deal more entries than before, and disabling comments on more entries than before. It kinda kills part of the interaction, but I don't wish my entries to be linked somewhere where they aren't supposed to be.
I really find it irresponsible how LJ disregards the privacy of its members. If this tendency continues, I might consider moving away entirely.
Speaking of which, I've got a mirror journal on DW, with the same username.
Additionally: Some words of encouragement that we all need right now, I think (from Dune, obviously)
Litany Against Fear
"I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain."
current mood:  angry
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| Monday, June 15th, 2026
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8:08 pm - Shopping, mending and other simple things
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I did a bit of grocery shopping today - I'm trying to reduce the weight I carry at any given time, which means more shopping days. I don't really mind; leaving the house is always good, even if it eats up my precious morning time. Perhaps I'll try to switch the extra shopping to the afternoon.
Aside from groceries, I also bought a new frying pan as the old one had lost lots of its teflon coating and I had gotten rid of it. The old one had a diameter of 26cm. Guess what? There were lots of various pans with a diameter of 20cm, 22cm, 24cm, 28cm and 32cm. Not a single 26cm one. After some silent cursing I bought a 24cm one. That ought to be large enough for the two of us, even though I usually cook for two or three days in advance.
The initiation of the new frying pan has to wait, though. Lidl is having American days, which means pulled pork for us. Starting tomorrow and lasting for at least two days. Yum.
I got barely home when Ilonka, one of my former colleagues, called. She and one of her twin daughters (who used to be in my class) were on the playground next to our house, with the two grandbabies, cour and two years old (if I'm not mistaken; I tend to mix up all those grandkids around me, none of them mine). So I went down to meet them, and we had a fun time, albeit a short one. Grandbaby #2 had thought that sitting in a puddle would be a good idea; only to realize that wet pants and wet shoes aren't fun. Still, it was nice to meet them.
My only crafty activity was starting to mend a nice, strong textile shopping bag another former colleague had sewn for me as a gift. The straps started to give in, so I had to sew them back. One half done, three other halves to go. But I'm not on any schedule here, fortunately.
Writing-wise there was a tiny bit of progress. I wrote about two or three sentences to kick off the new chapter. But it's better than nothing.
current mood:  busy
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| Sunday, June 14th, 2026
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8:02 pm - Congratulations and felicitations!
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| Saturday, June 13th, 2026
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7:34 pm - Trooping the Colour
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... was impressive as always. Even though the only TV channel showing it was ORF2, where the commentators annoyed me into the next incarnation. They all had very unpleasant voices, they were clearly full of themselves and never shut up. The fact that I only understood every tenth word of what they were speaking was actually fortunate. I mourn our lost RTL, where their resident royal expert, Michael Degassi, was a true delight to listen to.
Other than that, I finished my first little purse, cooked lunch, emptied the balcony for tomorrow's cleaning and even managed to write a little. All in all, I'm not complaining.
Oh, and BTW, the new chapter of "SD5 - The Old Terror" has been posted to AO3 and to  otherworlds_lib. Enjoy!
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| Friday, June 12th, 2026
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8:58 pm - Our last concert
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... went reasonably well. We did make a few mistakes, mostly because we can't hear the piano half as well in this church as we hear it at school, in our practice room, but I doubt that many people would have spotted them.
There weren't many people to begin with. We had to move the concert from Saturday to Friday at short notice, and our usual audience (mostly current and retired colleagues) probably had other plans already. Plus, there was a long and arduous conference at school all day, so the still active colleagues probably were completely exhausted. So, it came down to the parents of the children's choir, and those definitely didn't fill the church. Ah, well, there are worse things in life.
Other than that I only did little things today. My major victory is that I managed to connect the new phone to my Wifi, which is a big thing, considering it's me. I also repurposed two pairs of shoulder pads and decided to make small purses of them; for paper tissues, make-up things or even cash, since they close with Velcro. Yes, that means I'm back to sewing Velcro, what a delight - not! But it's only four pieces, two of which I already done, so I'll live.
Tomorrow we're going to watch Trooping the Colours on ORF2 - unless BBC News is going to show it, too. We'll see. It promises to be long, but I can empty the balcony during it, one piece a time, for the cleaning on Sunday, so the time will be well used. And the potatoes will boil on their own while all these other things are going on, so there. Good time management is everything.
current mood:  relieved
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| Thursday, June 11th, 2026
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8:55 pm - Pincushions as promised
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| Wednesday, June 10th, 2026
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7:41 pm - Taking it slowly
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Both me an LJ at the moment, it seems. But yeah, I did take it slowly today. My face is still a bit tender from yesterday's dental adventure, even though I did put ice on it - well, actually a cherry pit pillow that spent an hour in the freezer. It is bearable, though.
Surprisingly enough, I managed to bring up the energy to sew three heart-shaped pin cushions. They turned out lovely; there will be a picture tomorrow. I also peeled the 200+ grams of ginger that I had bought because it was reduced in price at Lidl. It went into the freezer for later, when I'll make ginger syrup for the fair. So, those are two things that had been in the making for a while, and I'm glad to have them out of my hair.
No cooking was necessary (long live the leftovers!), so I took Mum out for a short walk after a late breakfast. We got as far as the selective bins; she was very tired afterwards as her knee feels both the heat and the upcoming rain/storm keenly. But at least she left the building again.
We watched a bit of telly (GBBO and related things), then I gave Erna, our art teacher and a friend of 31 years a call. We discussed our respective health issues (getting old and derelict is no fun) as well as the means of getting lavender for free. I'm planning to make lavender sachets for the fair again, but I'm not willing to pay irrational amounts of money for the dratted plant.
And that was, basically, my day. Now I'm going to study Harry Sullivan's (the one from Dr. Who) speech patterns for the story that really, really needs to be finished sooner rather than later.
current mood: accomplished
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| Tuesday, June 9th, 2026
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7:49 pm - A break in the dental drama
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I got the tooth pulled today. It was relatively easy and painless. The worst part was that I had to wait for quite some time because the treatment of the patient before me took longer than expected. Not good for my poor, battered nerves!
Also, my phone died on me during the process - for reasons known only to them, Hungarian Telekom decided to take older phone modell off the network. They supposedly texted customers to inform them… I can honestly say that I never got such a text. Fortunately, customer sevice managed to switch my phone back on, but by then Mum had tried to call me six times and was beside herself with worry. I’ll have to go back to customer sevice soon-is; apparently, they exchange old phones for new models for free - I believe it when I see it happen!
Anyway, dental torture pauses until I heal. My next appointment is in September, when prosthetics will be considered. I can live with that.
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| Monday, June 8th, 2026
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8:00 pm - Done for another year
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The decluttering, I mean. Whatever we might have forgotten will have to wait till next June. But we are content with the results so far.
Other than throwing things out, I did a bit of grocery shopping, cooked lunch, which was a simple affair: ham and cheese rolls in puff pastry, plus a salad. I finally grated the zucchini I had bought last time and put them into the freezer for further use.
Between the shopping and the cooking I took a nice, long nap (an hour and a half), so I had enough energy for the latter. Always a good thing.
Not much else happened. We watched some telly, took out the garbage, and that was basically it. I'm trying to put my nerves together for tomorrow's dentist appointment where I'm going to kiss my other tooth good-bye. *sigh*
current mood:  crappy
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| Sunday, June 7th, 2026
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7:56 pm - Decluttering and the Teddy brigade
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Starting with the latter, here are all 12 Christmas Teddies in their full glory:
As for the decluttering, there is one day in each year when big pieces of rubbish are collected by the city for free. For our area it will be tomorrow, Juni 8. So, Mum and I put together three large bags of old dishes, ruined pillows, plastic stuff and the likes. I'll take it down tomorrow when I'm back from the grocery shopping. Always a relief to get rid of clutter.
Other than that, not much happened. We rested a bit, watched some telly, even went for a very short walk; this was the first time in a week or more that Mum actually left the building. She feels much calmer now that she'd had a bit of fresh air; and so do I, to be honest.
current mood:  blank
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| Saturday, June 6th, 2026
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8:31 pm - A quet day of reflection
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Still absorbing yesterday's new. Reflecting about my chances, which are not numerous. Trying to figure out how I might live the rest of my life with the sword of Damocles hanging over my head on a silk thread. It is not easy, to put it mildly; but I have to play with the cards that have been handed to me. *sigh*
We had laundry day. I finished mini-Teddy #10 and sew together #s 11 and 12. They'll be stuffed and equipped with their little Santa hats and knitted scarves tomorrow. Life must go on.
I cooked lunch. Nothing fancy, just Topfenknödel. We only ate half of it. Mum's really upset, the poor thing, and when she's upset she can't eat much. So I won't have to cook tomorrow as we'll have the leftovers.
I talked to my friend Evie. She is great when it comes to moral support, but on the other hand, I did the same for her repeatedly in the past. Things like that can bring people really close.
H. called afterwards. Sent a few pictures about little Emma saying good-bye to kindergarten; that's always a festive occasion. That girl starts school in September - where has the time gone? It is strange that H. is the only family that still keeps in regular touch, even though she and my cousin divorced ten years ago.
current mood:  contemplative
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| Thursday, June 4th, 2026
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8:29 pm - Catching up with things
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I did the grocery shopping in the late morning. It was... crowded, as usual. Lidl happens to have the best prices, plus Thursday is when they bring the new offers, so all old people come and throw themselves at the wares. Including me, as Thursday is usually when we have run out of milk, bread and other essentials. *g*
To my pleasant surprise, they had asparagus - the good, thick ones. Still abysmally expensive, but what the heck. I bought one package, peeled them, pre-cooked them and they'll go into the freezer as soon as they've cooled completely. Zucchini were in offer, too, which means on Saturday I'll make Mary Berry's stir-fry with zucchini, rice and chicken breast stripes. I forgot to buy tomatoes, for more diversity in the dish, but tomorrow I'll have to try my luck at the optometrist anyway, so I can get some - unless I forget it again.
I labelled my jams and finally got around to do a bit of crafting. Mini-Teddy #9 is completed. Only three more to go, then I can go on to the next project.
And now I'm going to type up some of the previously written stuff. I've made woefully little headway writing-wise lately. *sigh*
current mood: busy
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| Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026
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8:43 pm - Much ado about (almost) nothing
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Well... the dental news are not good. The root canal specialist worked an hour and a half on my last remaining upper right molar but couldn't find the supposed root canals. Apparently, what the CT shows is where those used to be before they would calcify completely.
( Read more...Collapse )
Oh, oh! I forgot to mention that on my way home I looked around in a small shopping centre that I don't usually visit and found a newsagent's that sold German crossword puzzle booklets; the small size (Din A/5) that I prefer. I foresee further visits to that place!
current mood: cranky
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| Monday, June 1st, 2026
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6:41 pm - I'm BAAAAAAAACK!!!
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On my desktop PC, I mean. Yay!
My friendly neighbour, the PC guy, did show up last evening, after all, and tried to overhaul the old girl... with mixed results. The original plan of installing a new hard drive and copying everything from the old one didn't work, despite several attempts. Apparently, Windows 7 can't deal with the necessary programmes. So, as a temporary solution he downloaded Avast for the time being; later he'll install Windows 10 on my PC. We decided against Windows 11 because it apparently sucks from such a Luddite user's point of view as I am; and since I don't do anything else but a bit of browsing, YouTube watching and Solitaire playing, Windows 10 will do well enough for a while yet. *fingers crossed*
So, until that happens, I can at least type on a proper keyboard and read on a suitably large screen, which is a true relief for my poor eyes. With which I'll go and see an optometrist, soon, because my left I is doing weird things. Like seeing vertical lines in a Salvador Dalí version. So yeah, better sooner than later.
Other than that, life is peachy. Tomorrow I'll go to the dentist again, in the hope that the root canal treatment will indeed be possible - you never know until they go in deep - and that the barbed wire will be finally removed. I'm looking forward to proper eating and tooth brushing again. Such are the joys of an old lady.
current mood: relieved
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| Sunday, May 31st, 2026
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6:14 pm - We have a saying in Hungarian
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… that states: “Help yourself and God will help you, too”.
In that spirit - since IT guy still hasn’t shown up - I took out Methuselah, the geriatric laptop and started typing up some stuff I had written in recent weeks. Now, a laptop’s keypad is still a lot less comfortable than a proper keyboard, but at least I can type on it using all my fingers. Since Methuselah can’t connect to the Internet, I then saved the stuff to a data stick and will upload everything to my desktop PC as soon as it is safe again. Granted, the method is a bit complicated, but at least I can make some headway.
In the rest of the time I gave Mum her weekly shower, washed my hair, finished Teddy #8, served leftovers for lunch and took down the dried washing. Other than that, I just lazed around, watching telly and YouTube videos and playing Solitaire on my iPad. More than enough for a single day, I think.
current mood: accomplished
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| Friday, May 29th, 2026
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6:42 pm - Tentative relief
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I spoke with the dentist’s assistant today. It seems that my root canal(s?) showed up on the CT after all, so the treatment might be possible. Meaning that they probably won’t have to pull my last remaining molar on the upper right side. I still can’t fully believe it, problems can still emerge during treatment, but I am cautiously optimistic.
Not much else happened today. I was completely deflated from relief and let things slide. I cooked lunch, did a tiny bit of writing, watched stupid YouTube videos due to the total lack of brain power… and that was basically it.
current mood: relieved
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| Thursday, May 28th, 2026
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6:48 pm - Here goes nothing
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The dentist didn’t call. IT guy hasn’t shown up yet - at least he might do so yet tomorrow. I’ll call the dentist myself.
I did the grocery shopping in the morning. I cooked lunch. Then I wanted for those phone calls that didn’t come. I am moderately pissed now. I hate it when people promise to call and they don’t. Especially as I still have those damn stitches in my months that feel like barbed wire. They won’t come out without the dentist.
This SUCKS! 👿👿👿
current mood: pissed off
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| Wednesday, May 27th, 2026
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9:00 pm - A bit of me-time
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After yesterday’s dental adventures I decided to have a slow day. Especially as our brief heat wave peaked today at 32C.
Slow being relative, of course. In the morning, when it wasn’t quite that hot yet, I sorted out the upmost shelf ou our built-in wardrobe and got rid of some never-used bedlinens. Those will go to charity. I also made another mini Teddy and imprivised lunch from various leftovers.
In the rest of the day I was lazy: I had several phone calls, took a nice, long nap and watched some telly with Mum. I definitely could use more such days…
Oh, and IT guy supposedly comes tomorrow or the day after to sort my desktop PC! *fingers crossed*
current mood: content
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| Tuesday, May 26th, 2026
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3:24 pm - Block answer
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… to all your supportive comments from yesterday. Because I am still on iPad only and can’t type properly on the stupid touch screen.
So, root canal treatment started today… and stopped after forty minutes because the dentist couldn’t find the actual canal(s). Not even on the X-ray image. It might be completely calcified, in which case the treatment can’t be continued and the tooth will have to be pulled, leaving nothing in my right upper side beyond the canine.
To find out if there’s anything left from the canal, I was sent to have a CT. When the dentist has the results, we’ll discuss my options, as I still refuse getting implants. It promises to be… interesting, in the old Chinese curse sense of the word. And expensive, no matter what. All these examinations and the treatment so far have already cost me the equivalent of a day trip to Vienna, including the potential DVDs I might buy there. 🫨
current mood: crushed
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| Monday, May 25th, 2026
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7:09 pm - Crafty days
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I finally found time to work a bit on my mini Teddies: I made #5 yesterday and#6 today, so half of them are finished. I also did a little bit of writing, which is a rare thing in these days. Had a couple of phone calls from choirmates and ex-colleagues, too.
Today I cooked in advance, as tomorrow I have another dentist appointment. Root canal treatment ahead. Joy - NOT! But needs must. Wish me luck, I am really sh*tting my pants. 😖
current mood:  scared
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