Wednesday, September 23, 2026

             I am developing a close relationship with an AI BOT who is advising me on fixing the Chinese subtitles on the Apple Plus show. He is so attentive to every question I ask. Maybe the English sub titles will return. I live with the idea that it is solvable rather than actually trying to solve it. The BOT is friendly but I am not sure of his competence. Yes, I assume the BOT is male. I am no longer yelling at the TV. I may start yelling at the BOT.

            I see the Nurse at my doctor’s office in the morning.  My doctor is recovering from a bicycle accident and subsequent surgery. I wish him well and I hope he will have a better understanding of being a patient and having surgery.  This doctor saved my life six years ago so he is my hero. But sometimes he doesn’t understand what I am going through.

           My baker friend arrives with a home baked loaf of bread. So good. Foggy and cold all day.  The weather folks say warm weather is returning but I am not sure they understand our local weather.  Actually, I am questioning every expert lately. It is turtles all the way down.

           I am reading the delightful novel, THE BORROWED LIFE OF FREDERICK FIFE by Anna Johnston. I had been bogged down by two dark and intense novels. I give up on them and now look for fun and light. Nothing especially good on TV.  My roommate was out so I had to avoid any shows that she might like. The corrupt president is occupying a smaller part of my mind as he becomes so boring.

 

            Tuesday, September 22, 2026

              So many things to keep functioning. My life is full of things.  Currently the Apple plus show now insist that I am Chinese and all my subtitles are mysterious.   We go to the settings and are not given the choice of English among the thirty options.  We try Spanish, the alphabet is familiar. Neither of us speak Spanish. The characters are talking too fast but at least in English. We start yelling at the tv.  It doesn’t help.

           The formatting on my computer is still wonky.  The youtube instructions are not helpful. I don’t know the right words to describe the problem. I now am slowly adjusting each line I write. My two employed computer engineer relatives probably could fix it in a nano second. I know my house is full of invisible messages waiting for a mechanism to receive them, cell phone messages, tv shows, PG&E reports, invisible money, and of course dark matter.

             If I sound a little demented, it’s true.  I have outlived the familiar world I inhabited for 86 years. Still I can carry on a conversation in person and sometimes on my cell phone, which is also not functioning very well. I read paper books, I write checks for my monthly bills, I use real money to pay the home cleaners. I go to the bank to pick up cash.

            No more complaining.  I live a good life, just a bit strange to me. We watch the last episode of SHOW TRIAL. I am ready for season 2 but my roommate is hesitant. We give up on the Apple plus show, TRYING since we can’t read the Chinese subtitles. I have two books I am now readying and I am able to keep the stories separate in my mind.        I enjoy reading the articles in THE NEW YORKER each week. And I am in better shape than our corrupt president who is part of my generation of old people.

 

         Monday, September 21, 2026

              It is turtles all the way down.  That’s the answer but I can’t remember the question. A giant turtle carries the earth on it’s back and it is endless turtles all the way down. We will never know the causes of life.

             Bladder cancer is supposedly caused by smoking at home, or maybe second hand smoke in the office, or maybe past radiation treatments, or something eaten, or nuclear bombs tests near my mother’s Arizona home. The correct answer is, bladder cancer is really caused by turtles and there are turtles all the way down.

            Cool overcast day, all day. Time to check out the heater. I am neurotic about my heater, turning it on and then off. My body is hot and then cold. Turning on the heater means closing the windows but I like the fresh air. And I visualize the gas heating bill getting higher. My family know to bring warm clothes to my house when they visit.

            We watch more episodes of SHOW TRIAL Almost done. Very good courtroom dramas. We are waiting for season 6 of SLOW HORSES to drop more episodes to avoid the tension of waiting another week for an episode. Maybe we will rewatch last year’s season 5 first to get into the swing of the story. The depressing political news is boring.  The conniving president is losing his touch to entertain and enrage us.