Reset Forty-Nine, Day Three Hundred Eleven

This sleeping through entire afternoons is getting a bit disturbing. Waking near dusk I'm always filled with a sadness reminiscent of that which plagued me in childhood, when I was made to take naps while the day declined outside and I would grieve its passing so deeply that I couldn't even cry. It was what I then thought death would be like, though I'm now sure death obliterates consciousness, and is thus less unkind. Lately my afternoon naps have been sufficiently unrestful that I usually fall asleep again before midnight. Then I wake again at four or five o'clock in the morning, and, with nothing to do, that makes me feel like a failed farmer whose animals all died of neglect. At some point my memory will likely grow so bad that I'll actually believe something pretty much like that.

I wandered onto J. C. Penney's web site Sunday night and ended up buying something I need and some stuff I don't. What I need are large hoodies, since the mediums I'm still wearing are riding up and irritating me no end. I found four at decent prices. To get the free shipping I needed to buy a bit more, and I found a set of four cast iron skillets for half price and bought that, though it's likely the ten inch one is the only one I'll make good use of. The two smaller ones can gather dust I suppose. Then I needed a steel spatula, so I bought a device with four utensil in it, including a large fork which I also need, and a ladle which will come in handy even though it's not essential. I honestly can't remember the other three items in that set, so I'll be getting a surprise when they arrive. I hope I'm not too disappointed, but I suspect I will be. Shopping never really makes me happy. Which is partly why I did more.

I remembered getting an email about a one-day sale at Best Buy, and I also remembered that I had forgotten two single-use Visa cards I'd gotten as a rebate from Kohl's, and figured I could spend them and the fifty dollar Best Buy gift card I bought a couple of years ago for extra points (equivalent of around eight bucks worth) at Safeway. It would be a good time to get that cordless keyboard and mouse I've been wanting, and maybe and external DVD drive for the computer. I did find those items, and in addition a battery charger and four batteries I'd need if I didn't want huge piles of AAs accumulating. But when I went to spend the Visa cards I discovered that I hadn't activated them, and as time on the sale was running out I just used my debit card for the rest of the price. I think I probably should have bought a cable to connect the DVD drive to the computer, but what the hell. I can probably get a nephew to pick one up for me. But these are examples of how I've turned into a dumb guy in my old age. Once again I must ask myself how did I get so stupid so fast?

The stupid appeared again when I belatedly went to the web site where one activates single-use debit cards, and I spent half an hour futzing about on their user-hostile web site before finding the page where I could actually get it done. Partly my stupid, I'm sure, but their stupid was pretty intense too, and they didn't have the excuse of impending senility. Anyway, the are activated now and I've got thirty-six bucks to spend somewhere before June, when they expire. I might get more useless stuff from Penney's. Gawd, I hate shopping!

Sunny today with a high of 74. Tomorrow about the same, but rain possible again on cool Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. But today there is pollen accumulating in the driveway and I fear the yard guy might come and start blowing it around. It happens. I hope it doesn't today. I'm very tired.