June 16, 2018

Huge and gratifying progress on Tub.

Appointment with the glasses maker. Refused–against the doctor’s oft-repeated advice-- the dilation exam, only because I had not prepared for it and had no way to get home with pixilated vision. Refused to reschedule because there is really no one I wanted to bother to drive me around for that time. And because, after the 10th or 11th admonition, my jaw became set. I remember the same thing happening last visit five years ago– was it? In the end I had to say “No is no” to ease the conversation into something else. My eyes are well, no more cataract presence than can be expected at my age. The glasses and all are $800, about $300 less than the last time at the same place, to which I returned, inexplicably, after a frustrating first encounter. But, all flows on.

Grueling and largely useless rehearsal last night. Maybe frustrating rather than useless. We were flatly terrible, though the small ensemble was lively and charming. Through one whole song I simply could not find my note. The man to my right does not sing until the last note, which he lands on if he likes it (he’s pretty accurate too, for that one note) while the one to my left simply makes up what he wants to sing, while Barry has nothing below an A, so I am still essentially alone on my part.

Happy wind-down time at the Wayside, where I was reminded that I am very loud. Would never have known this on my own.

Woke this AM with gout, an interesting development on a day which will be mostly standing and walking and, at the insistence of our punctilious assistant director, the wearing of formal shoes. The pill I took moments ago is effective, but also makes me feel like a sleepwalker underwater.

The main tasks of the foreseeable future will be the pulling of weeds and the watering of gardens. Fortunately, I enjoy both.