Thursday, July 10, 2025

     I call the Monterey library to check on a lost book. And A HUMAN BEING ANSWERES, a guy with a friendly voice. I want to cry. A real person. I am so tired of fake human voices and long messages directing me to another fake voice. Yea, for the library. I may have to call them every day, just to hear a real voice on my phone.

     We are both old and have been friends for 50 years. She brings cookies. We talk about losing our mental acuity. The first to go is names and nouns. We have to stop to describe a word that we cannot remember. Later the words pops into our minds unbidden.  But now I notice that I am losing the maps in my mind. The location of familiar streets and towns are being lost. I use Google search to reorient my mental map. My friend nods yes, she is experiencing this also.

     I am reading DREAM COUNT, a new novel by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I don’t know how to pronounce her name or the names of her characters, but the story is good.

     Yes, I do watch TV news every day. I don’t want to miss anything and yet, what is real or important. MSNBC and PBS news shows. I also read the newspapers every day.  Maybe I am living back in the 60’s and 70’s watching the Vietnam war and the massive violent protests.