Daily Success December 15 is “Very Good.” Better control of the Internet Monster would have pushed me into Outstanding, but the truth is that I made too many clicks even though I did not keep track.

Yesterday

Yesterday was excellent for exercise and good for other things. I got some SurveyorBot work done, finished the Christmas Letter several times. I started printing the latest “new and final” version of the Christmas Letter three times, threw away about 50 copies of the “well, it’s not final” version, and cut all (I think) the checks for the kids and grandkids and great grandkids. That was 30 checks when the late December birthdays were included! There may have been a duplicate or other such mistake, but I was weary.

The day started with Monika. She is pleased with my progress, says everything is lining up properly, and agreed I could start a little walking. “A little walking” is five minutes with the grade not more than 2%. I tried that for the first time yesterday, and found it weird as my left leg felt as though it was longer than my right.

A tiny victory: Larry told me that I have to stop drinking if I want to do my share of getting personal stuff straightened out during our private chat yesterday. I managed to do that yesterday, it was not a superhuman effort, but it was difficult at bedtime when a bit of whisky helps me relax at the end of the day and settle in to my Wondrium class.

Today

I have no appointments today, no drive to the doctor, no Zoom awaiting me, no Nabila task, brief though that is when I have to drive.

The Christmas Cards and Birthday Cards for late December await, however. That means I will be signing and stuffing them today, which will take a big chunk of the day. I have SurveyorBot work to do. And, of course, I have exercise to do that will include 5 whole minutes of walking!

I never thought I’d see the day when 5 minutes of walking would be grounds for celebration.

The Future

Damn if I know.

A significant part of the picture Larry painted yesterday is very bleak, indeed. Importantly, my choices, including getting off the sauce, can only affect one side of that bleak picture. One of the things I must do, no matter how much I don’t want to do it, is to understand my own feelings about that picture and how to respond to them.

Part of what I must do is to reestablish myself in the world outside this office. One possible path to that is that I am being named as an author on the various papers that the academic partners are writing on the SurveyorBot and CONOPS. While adding a paper to my list of publications is kind of gilding a dead career Lilly at this point, I could attend one or more of the conferences at which they will be presented. One is in Pittsburgh, another in Miami.

I have plenty of local, purely social things to do if I choose. The Village has a variety of events. The City and County have programs for senior folks that I could attend. My fear of both is simple: they are for “old people,” for “the elderly.” They both serve a real and definable need AND (IMHO) are ageism incarnate. Everybody over (pick an age) is the same and wants to play mahjong for hours each day.

I want to hike 15 miles per day on the Camino.

In the meantime, Monika appears to have me on the path to success for my back. Hopefully Dr. Higgins has me on the path to success for my knee(s).