The fact my remaining package for now is running late. Was shipping to the same address I have...across the county in a different town!

This is not a first time thing.

The way the post office is, they can't read zip codes or town names.

Several ups and downs at work (the ups were fine, but the downs were really annoying), both yesterday and today. Then grocery run with mom (bit of a pain in the behind after the day I had). Then home to two hours of gardening work. 8 hours or so between lunch and dinner, head has already had multiple brain farts between the last few hours at work and now and is overtired, plus my feet hurt.

Two things: first is that fewer and fewer people are writing post codes correctly (e.g. putting the spaces in the wrong place) so there's inconsistencies now and I get the joy of fixing them before the system has a meltdown. Secondly, the place I went to for brunch was really sad considering the price. Like when we booked we specifically said 1 person is vegan and the rest aren't so why are we getting everything fully vegan? Don't even get me started on meat replacements and fake cheese. Either give me the real stuff or provide a nice menu with vegetables and legumes. It's not hard. And then just generally poor service like giving us the wrong drinks, dropping the soup etc.

Yesterday, my boyfriend and I were on our last day in Berlin. We went to see Käärijä perform - it was the opening night to his European tour.

The gig was on Sunday, and we were leaving the country on Tuesday. We knew Tuesday was going to be a long, difficult and PITA day because we still had lots of stuff to see, but our transportation ticket expired so we didn't have as much access to public transportation without paying extra for the additional tickets - we had to walk a lot. And I have been walking a lot already these days - the tours, sightseeing, museums...

I had a bad night's sleep and I was hella groggy. We had to check out by 10 and our flight was scheduled for 8 o'clock in the evening. My boyfriend kept walking faster than me the entire day and that irritated both him and me. We arrived at the airport where I had I think my second chance to sit down that day. The Starbucks only served grande and venti (medium and large), and was of course more expensive than a Starbucks outside the airport.

I went to the bathroom, and by the time I was back, my half-full cup was gone. I left my boyfriend to mind our luggage, and he was sitting next to me, but there were two separate coffee tables. I guess he didn't even notice that the waiter came by and picked the cup up (despite there being luggage all around the coffee table...). Oh well, half of €7 down the drain I guess.

Oh, I forgot - the airline kept pushing back the departure. The flight was over an hour and a half late.

Anyway, the time has come - only one hour until our flight! We went across the airport to our gate.

And then... 10 minutes before the rescheduled departure, the flight disappears from all screens everywhere. "The flight has been canceled. Pick up your luggage and report to the AAS kiosk next to the Starbucks."

All of a sudden, I'm not only tired anymore - I am furious.

We storm to the Starbucks, but there's no AAS anywhere. We talk to the barista who's closing up, "oh, there's another Starbucks, outside of clearance."

A hole begins forming on my over-shoulder bag because it's overstuffed. I hope the bag won't fall apart by the time we get back to Croatia.

We finally found the fucking Starbucks and the AAS, airline assistance. "Sorry, but Croatia Airlines customer support works only until 8, and it's past 9 now. They have two additional numbers listed, but the first one is busy and the second number does not exist when we dial it."

The AAS didn't know anything! When the next flight would be, whether we should find accommodation on our own or from the airline - nothing.

We booked some random room somewhere near downtown Berlin. Of course, we slept through the night because the airline customer service is not there until 8 in the morning.

---

Today's the next day, they told us to keep our receipts for food and accommodation. They scheduled us on a flight to Frankfurt first, with a connection to Croatia. We should be back in our country by 10 in the evening.

I guess I'll never book a flight with bloody Croatia Airlines ever again, unless I plan coming back from a vacation, like, one week before work or something. I missed a day's work now, and I've barely managed to get these two days off for the gig.

I've flown Ryanair and I've NEVER had this much shit and to be left stranded with no info at all. An international airport that closes all services at 9, but serves flights that take off way later than that??? So if a plane crash landed into the ocean, we gotta wait for the representative to wake up, make coffee, sit down and pick up?

The CA representative, once we were finally on a call, confirmed that we'll be reimbursed. She asked, "I hope that the airport at least gave you a place for stay." No they didn't, but the representative was very kind probably because we didn't yell at her (we had just woken up) and expressed concern and kindness.

Currently, we're chilling at a cat cafe. In short, a day wasted because half of it will have to be spent at the airport because the flight was canceled two hours past its scheduled departure.

The weather was nice-to-ok (a warm sunny day with a small rain that happened around 1 in the morning, way past we would've returned back home if it hadn't got canceled).

I ended up disassembling and erasing my homemade video player from phone parts and I have to send it back to Amazon.

My 37th birthday is coming up and I am having my annual sushi feast with a tiramisu cake.

One thing I dread is that video player machine was a step forward, but it quickly went back when I found out how bad the condition of the parts were found to be poorly refurbished

I know it doesn't mar my ability to build, but I started building something.

Also got an email from Amazon saying my package of soda exploded. Not surprised. This is the second time it happened to me. I was ordering Cherry 7UP. Hard to find canned.

Internet problems, again!

Having trouble connecting to things I need, if I am to continue updating my story projects. Although I can get online, connect with MTS, Syms Asylum, Nraas, TSR and other sites I use a lot, nothing else seems to be working. And, crucially, I cannot connect with imgur, which I need in order to upload and access the images I will be using. I'm completely stymied, I can't even connect with Microsoft and get help from there, or with Tech Support Guy which has helped me before.

That means a journey into town to visit the Three Store, and I'm not very hopeful they will be of any help either. They'll just suggest a lot of things I've already tried.

I received my instant noodles, but the beef ones were in non microwavable cups. It was false advertising to sell old stock in the microwavable cup lot!

Panic over. It seems to have fixed itself!

I don't know what was wrong, or what fixed it. All I did was plug my router into my old Windows 7 machine, entered my security code and was back online. Everything worked just fine. So I concluded that the problem must be with my Windows 10 machine - a nasty little virus perhaps - but when I plugged the router back into it I found that everything is now working fine. I can connect with everything I had bookmarked, and browse as normal.

Well, that's a relief. I wasn't looking forward to another, probably fruitless, visit to the Three store.

^ A lot of computer (and technical) issues can be fixed by turning it off and back on again (or unplugging and plugging it back in, or resetting/restarting - whichever fits), so I'm not too surprised. If my computer is having some weird issue, it's the go-to fix when I can't find a solution, and most of the time it fixes itself (I've had a lot of weird ones with Windows 10).

Must be the season for computer issues although I don't think mine will be solved by turning it off and on.

My sims rig has decided to start shutting down with a error that the CPU is overheating and to make sure that it is seated properly.

This system has 6 fans. 3 on the front, 2 on the top and one in the back. I clean this system out regularly to keep the dust from building up on the fans themselves and the mesh or screen that is in front of the fans on the front and top. The fan in the back doesn't have a screen or mesh piece in front of it.

I downloaded a app called Core Temp to see wtf was going on at least temp wise. It isn't hot in the house. I've been having to turn the heat on at night and it's been in the 60s during the day. As far as I can tell, everything is seated properly, so I removed the glass part of the case and have a fan blowing on everything. I've read that people shouldn't boot a PC that throws this error, whatever. I also read that that fans start sounding like a airplane when this happens, but my fans are radio silent. They don't make any noise before the system shuts down. There is also a liquid cooling system. I'm wondering if that is the issue since the fans are not the problem. Every time it shuts down, I instantly think the power went out.

It needs to be looked at which is going to wait as it has been a expensive week. The fence done and paid for, I paid property taxes early. In between those there was a vet visit; Chica has a yeast infection in her left ear. Today Jingle goes to the vet for her yearly physical. Before I pack it up and take it somewhere, I'll have The Boy look at it as he went to school for this stuff.

If the whole thing craps out on me, I backed everything up yesterday to a external drive between shut downs. That was before I got had the idea of removing the glass and using another fan. I'm not playing sims or watching YT on said system as doing either of those will cause more problems heat-wise. Just sitting here typing it is now between 100-105 Fahrenheit with a fan and room temp being 73.

Wheeeee... computers are so much fun.

^ Maybe the CPU needs repasting (if you haven't tried that already)?

The liquid cooling pump needs to be replaced. I'm not surprised they wear out, but this would have been nice to know this when I bought it.

Anyway, my son is not interested in swapping the pump out, so I'll drop it off next Saturday morning and have it back in a couple hours. It will cost around $100.00 to fix.

Ugh. This dude at work makes me want to rip my eyeballs out.

I was on my break reading a book and he comes in "You read books a lot"
Me: Yes?
Him: Do you have much family time?
Me: what?
Him: when you're at home?
Me: yeah? I work 2 days a week... the other 5 are kinda family time...
Him: What I'm asking is, if I came to your house right now, would you be looking after your kids or reading a book?
Me: uh.. I'd be at work. Which is where I am.
Then I went back to my book.

But seriously what I read (and crochet) at work because I don't get time at home! Not the first vaguely misogynistic thing he's said to me.

Turned out my doll hair supplier died during COVID (cause unknown) so they relocated to Long Island and they are under new management.

I had missed a day of kitchen duty, because I had to go to a DMV appointment for a updated Photo ID, this past week, after being out of work for so long, so my pay was docked last Monday...

...and they permanently retired a doll I loved so much and decided to discontinue a number of doll features.

I feel like Milton from Office Space: No weekends, no cake (birthday coming up), no job visible to others, no paycheck and the red stapler? Gone!

I'm sick of being a doormat. No more favors until some are done for me.

I have a party coming up in about a week and I have to come up with a gift suggestion for them.

I don't mind cash. If anything, I am currently working on getting my parents money for a vacation, which they desperately need after sacrificing vacation for work. I am also working on other things. I have some big plans.

Ready to throw the work computers out the window (the one that normally works is all of a sudden broken, and the one that normally doesn't work still doesn't work but has pretended to work to the point where I almost thought it would work this time, but alas, it's just a pile of dogsh** as always). I had things to do that I need to get done ASAP, stupid thing!

And my eyebrow is twitching (second day in a row, though not continuously throughout the day). Eyelid twitching is annoying enough, but eyebrow twitching is if anything almost more annoying.

Was hoping for a calm morning before going to work (been working a lot this week, needed some time to relax), but you can bet something comes along and ruins the peace and quiet.

Suddenly I hear a lot of noise and a howl. I hurry upstairs, and find mom has literally taken a nose-dive on the floor, stumbling in the top step of the stairs, where I nearly step into a large pool of blood. She was naturally quite upset.

We got things sorted, she got an emergency trip to the doctor (fortunately someone else could follow her - I had to go to work), and hopefully her nose isn't broken, but she's going for another check next week. When I came home the swelling and bruises had started showing, and she looks like she's been in a bad fight.

Broke her arm not all that long ago, too. She's been really unlucky lately (and perhaps not as careful as she should be - I keep telling her to watch her step. Accidents happen of course, but she has a tendency to stumble when stressed or having her mind elsewhere).

At work I tried (and for the most part failed miserably) to motivate a person to do any other activity than just sitting doing nothing, for most of 7 hours (must admit I wasn't extremely motivated either, with my mind partly on what happened earlier in the day, and being exhausted from the week).

Yikes! I hope your mother feels better soon.

^ She's doing alright after the circumstances, although the bruising/swelling has set in, so it looks quite bad. We're supposed to go to an event later this week (family-related, so it's mostly people we know), so now that's what she's most worried about, which is quite understandable. If she decides not to go, I'm also kinda in the mood not to go (I wasn't particularly eager about this event earlier, either)...

Anyway, been enduring yet another 3+ hour Windows update, somewhat ruining my day off. Those updates take freakin' forever these days... (partly my fault - I set the thing to do one major update every month or so, instead of a trickle of smaller updates whenever Windows "feels like it", so there's always a list of stuff. The "look for updates" cycle used to slow down my laptop to a crawl, and Windows normally likes to do this several times a day, meaning at times my laptop was completely useless...).

EDIT: Apparently our family/relatives are quite accident-prone this week (or the wedding is cursed ). Someone else in the family(ish) had a stroke which lead to a small accident, and they're now in the hospital. Another has a bad back, and a third is struggling with an infection. All were supposed to be guests in the wedding. EDIT again: Yet another, who was a bit ill, got worse and had to go to the hospital at the end of the wedding*. One came with an arm in a sling (not sure what they'd done, or it happened this week, but nobody wears an arm sling for fun in a wedding). This whole week was cursed.
Thankfully, the majority of the wedding went (mostly*) without incidents.

Realizing the insanity of the real life world makes me want to escape to my dream worlds like The Crushosphere.

I had been dealing with arguments and shouting matches lately. The friction of the real world is making me worn out.

Right now, I think an escape to a video game is recommended. (I have been extremely busy lately. Also paranoid of the idea of video games under the threat of being banned from the USA, as a scapegoat for the mass shooting epidemic. It's another Jack Thompson brouhaha all over again. I remember it like when I first joined MTS.)

Did a push up yesterday. My back is still hurting. I am way out of shape and too old for this lol

Missed the bus, had to walk home. Cold, rain on and off, windy, pitch-dark... Not particularly fun

---

And the unlucky streak of October continued with another ambulance ride (niece), pneumonia (nephew), and ended in a death (the stroke from previous), so I hope November brings some better health for the family.

Pretty sure the weather is conspiring against us, too. It's not as it's been any good in October, but today it was extra stormy plus hailing on and off all day.

After 4 cycles of chemotherapy, they changed the drug. I don't know if I'm suffering its side effect, but after discharging, I don't feel well. I spent most of time at bed and vomited twice. Gosh, it feels like my stomach is rejecting when I've just eaten!

Mum said a thing to me about me and I don't think I've ever been this offended in my life obviously I've been offended by things in life but they were never directly about me, you know?
Right up till then (about an hour ago now) I'd been having a perfectly normal day and then boom day ruined. Week too probably.

Got a call yesterday if I could take an extra shift, but I said no. I'd just come from a day shift, and the day before I attended a funeral + went straight to work after. After the shift yesterday my head was hurting, and I could barely keep my eyes open (I'd had a couple nights with very little sleep - ended up being completely knocked out most of the evening). For large parts of August and October I've worked a lot more than I probably should have (at one point I worked 8 out of 9 days in a row, and the one day off barely helped). "Unlucky October" hasn't helped, either...

I was exhausted, and I felt it deep in my bones. Still feel it. I need to take care of myself, or I'm going to run straight at a wall again (been there, done that, too many times to count). I'm okay with helping out at work, but not at the expense of my own health.

I did really need my day off today.