Defeated by a bowl of salad...

[fajrdrako]

So frustrating.

A few hours ago I was trying to get something in the kitchen - always a challenge - and my crutch fell over and hit a bowl of salad on the counter, which landed on the floor and broke. I was able to pick up some of the bigger pieces of bowl (because I could reach them) but I can't do anything about the salad. I can't even think of any good ideas. A vacuum cleaner won't work on it even if I could move the vacuum. I can't pick it up with hands or tongs or paper towel because I can't reach it. I can't use mop or broom or dustpan because I can't use two hands. I can't think of anything to do except wait till someone with more limbs or dexterity than I currently have comes by, and then beg them to do it.

Meanwhile the salad sits on the floor, looking depressing.

I shouldn't let it get to me but I hate this helplessness.

Comments

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Mia kara, let this be the worst thing that happens to you not only today but for the next three weeks or so.

Sometimes, linear thinking is good. The extreme expression of linear thinking is possibly binary thinking: dualities, the either/or, one or the other thing. Is the light on? No. Do you want it on? Yes. Then turn it on. Next thought. Can I reach the light switch? No. [and so on with next thoughts] You know this, you may not have put it into mathematical pattern like this.

I dropped something. Did it cause a problem? Yes. A problem requiring urgent actions? As in, 911 or stopping the bleeding? No. Then, does it require immediate action? As in, stop the liquid from seeping under the kitchen floor tiles? No. Then, does it require quick action, such as, will the yogurt start to spoil and make a stinky mess before I can get someone to clean it up for me? No. Is it a slippling/tripping hazard? Probably, yes -- but not necessarily. Then, will it be more of a hazard if it isn't cleaned up right now? No. Then, I can wait till someone's available and has the good heart to help me out, and there certainly are such people within call... okay. So. Is it something that I should keep worrying about? Yes. Why? Because it is embarrassing to ask for help in this way. Good point. But... stuff happens.

Love you much. And I wish I oculd pick it up for you. Hang in there....

(Last night, as I was exhausted literally to the point of weeping when the cats took turns repeatedly startling me back from the very edge of sleep (that is a HORRIBLE, the little tiger somehow found a way to climb to the top shelf in my bedroom closet, where I keep all the things that are too dangerous for her to jump on, play with, climb over, and so on. Something fell. As I realized where she was and leapt up to get over there, she jumped down and took off... and a blue glass flower pot, full of dried out potting mixture, teetered on the edge of the top shelf and I caught it. Therefore, it did not fall and shatter. And the stone paperweight (left over from former tenant... put there to get it out of sight, should donate it to the thrift store) teetered right behind it. I was that close to shattered glass all over the bedroom floor and a small cat leaping down off the shelf in fright to land right in the middle of it. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. "Nearly" truly does sometimes only count with horseshoes and hand grenades.]

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I posted this by a slip of the fingers. I meant it to say, "this is a HORRIBLE torture method, by the way" within the parenthetical aside.

Yes, I really am havning that bad a time of it here, right now. Feh. And the keyboard doesn't work very well. Let's get on with tomorrow.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

And why does it say 11:09 PM when it's 7:09 PM? hm

[duncanmac.livejournal.com]

See my note below. It *is* 02:37 am UTC ... er, GMT, right now.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

So why was the time on my entry one hour off reality? Because of Daylight Saving Time?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yeah, horrible torture. Agreed.

Take care, hang in there, and hope things work better tomorrow.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

It thinks you live in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Well, it's tomorrow....

There were no other people on this floor when I came in; I took the "good" computer (of five -- one of which has no working shift keys, another which can't connect to the Internet, and so on), and soon enough, a young man brought is two small children in and put them into the Study Room immediately to my left. They are now playing like mad. Running in and out of the room, too. And my mouse quit working -- move it only so far, then it won't move the last quarter-inch. I swear, the Daleks must be behind this. This is about as grating on me as their voices are!

On the other hand, if I can try to think for a minute past the little chattering voices which basically hold me no grudge so I'm not holding one against them either, only against the parent/caregiver with not a single ounce of common sense and community awareness!!!!... on the other hand, I got birdseed yesterday and today filled all my feeders, with immediate visitors; I got plants at the local nursery and will later put these into my hanging baskets; and I got some quality cuddle-time with the kitties earlier today.

But now they've opened the door and I just can't tolerate this.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I took the "good" computer (of five -- one of which has no working shift keys, another which can't connect to the Internet, and so on)

Don't they ever get things fixed?

my mouse quit working -- move it only so far, then it won't move the last quarter-inch

Oh no!

I got birdseed yesterday and today filled all my feeders, with immediate visitors

Wonderful!

But now they've opened the door and I just can't tolerate this.

Is that when you moved to the basement?

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Well, this keyboard has been broken for a year and a half now. I think no one ever put a note on it saying it was broken. I did, once, but the nexzt week when I went by again the note was gone and the keyboard was still the same. Boggling my mind, it is.

The birds are a joy to my little cats. The Silver kitty likes to sit in the bathroom window and chitter at them. She even tends to doze off there. I need to make the sill wider for her... it's only three inches. She's small, but not that small!

Yes. That is when I got up and left. Ai. The children were quite cute, by the way. But so are budgies!!!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Budgies are certainly cute and the little guys gave a chirp of joy to hear you are thinking of them.

I had a reasonably good day, but sooo tiring...!

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Hee. I smile to think of them chirping thus!

I am on the way home from work; had a not-bad day, apart from two and a half tense hours at the start because the acting-supervisor who'd yelled at me and threatened me with a disciplinary action last Friday was there again today... but he stayed away from me. Hasn't learned anything yet, however, as he was riding some of the other people pretty drastically. He needs to accept that people work best when they are respected and left alone.

That said... "reasonably good day," yes. My hands ache from the unaccustomed machine-feeder work. My right foot hurts badly, I don't know why, maybe from standing on thinner safety mats? Maybe I just need new shoes.

But I felt company most of the day. Good energy. I smile.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good day, and that the supervisor didn't bug you.

I had a pleasant day, with an afternoon nap and a certain amount of Doctor Who watching with maaboroshi and meri_oddities - "Blink" and "Utopia".

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good day, and that the supervisor didn't bug you.

Yes. "Good" only inretrospect, as all the while I was terrified that he'd be walking up to me any minute. Sigh. Sorry to see someone turn into a martinet when placed into a position of minor power... and sorrier still to have lost a friend, as I just did. But glad that others have come forward and said that they saw the same irrational behavior.

I had a pleasant day, with an afternoon nap and a certain amount of Doctor Who watching with maaboroshi and meri_oddities - "Blink" and "Utopia".

Never a bad thing! Whoa, good episodes, too. Next time you watch them both, can I come watch too? Please? ...No. Wait. I lack something, Oh, right, I remember: those little green and white pieces of paper with the images of dead presidents on them! WEll, bummer.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

let this be the worst thing that happens to you not only today but for the next three weeks or so.

Yeah - good thought.

Because it is embarrassing to ask for help in this way. Good point. But... stuff happens.

Yes. I almost phoned up maaboroshi. But before doing that, I got my stool into the kitchen door, and found a way to kneel on it and reach the spilled salad with a paper towel, and after a little effort, grunting, grumbling and stretching - voila! Triumph.

I was that close to shattered glass all over the bedroom floor and a small cat leaping down off the shelf in fright to land right in the middle of it. AND IT DIDN'T HAPPEN. "Nearly" truly does sometimes only count with horseshoes and hand grenades.]

Eeek! Middle of the night emergency! I'm glad you and the cats (and the paperweight - was it the Orb of Thessalus?) ended up all right. From time to time the budgies get frisky at night but the most they can do is wake me up with their noisiness - inside the cage, they can't wreak havok, even though I know they'd enjoy it.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

let this be the worst thing that happens to you not only today but for the next three weeks or so.

Yeah - good thought.

I survive on such thoughts, one at a time.

before doing that, I got my stool into the kitchen door, and found a way to ...

I was wondering if you could have sat on the floor to reach it, then gotten back up again safely. I would have done that. I didn't say so, not seeing any point in it if you couldn't have physically done that. Using a chair or stool close at hand to help you get back upright again, afterwards. Good for you, is all I can say. There is usually more than one alternate way of doing anything. Safely.

Eeek! Middle of the night emergency! I'm glad you and the cats (and the paperweight - was it the Orb of Thessalus?) ended up all right.

Thanks. Yes, it was not a disaster, but it was far too close. The little tiger has no concept of "dangerous." She is clever, intelligent, creative, and full of curiosity and energy, but she can't understand that she could ever get hurt by something. Thus, I am doubly grateful that she does not have opposable thumbs. (Intentional reference to Raul in American Flagg!)

You will laugh out loud, I suspect, to hear that the paperweight was a faux-stone piece about five pounds' worth of resin/stone made in the shape of three off-center piled rectangular pieces. In its top, there is a hollow. In that hollow there rests a spherical candle just about the size and color of the Orb as seen on a Buffy DVD near you... and I'm not kidding. Can I lie?

Your budgies would probably confess that, when they are getting up a racket in the middle of the night, it is actually because they are loudly disagreeing on some details of a plan to take over the apartment. Yep. You're just lucky they can't figure out how to open the cage. As you are already aware!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if you could have sat on the floor to reach it, then gotten back up again safely.

I can't imagine how I would ever get up again. It just... isn't possible. I don't quite have the strength (especially with a sore arm) to lift my entire body weight that far upwards with my arms alone.

Using a chair or stool close at hand to help you get back upright again

I can't move chairs and stools around, though this very little stool could be tossed and kicked till it ended up in the kitchen. Yay!

(Intentional reference to Raul in American Flagg!)

Aaah, one of the greats!

In that hollow there rests a spherical candle just about the size and color of the Orb as seen on a Buffy DVD near you... and I'm not kidding. Can I lie?

I believe you. All Orbs should be like that.

You're just lucky they can't figure out how to open the cage.

The scary thing is: some budgies figured it out in the past. These current little guys so far have not. Whew. Let's hope they never do. Or at least that they wait till I have two feet again to do it.