I woke up with a swollen cheek. The crumbing tooth, upper right 4, seems to have problems with its root. Doesn't hurt, though. Applying DMSO a couple of times helped a bit.
We took the girls to Springfield for some play and a plate of soup in the afternoon (after their and my nap - I had to take one to just sleep off the swell, which worked, it flattened some). The place, BTW, is getting worse - the new lights in the trampoline area are nice, but the ballpit etc are crammed more to the middle of the big room and the new gaming machines were inserted in the corner. No translated instructions anywhere, it's all in english; two of the machines play their own music incessantly, which mixes badly with the PA, which is running the same old playlist of Branko Kockica (who should be shot for ever trying to sing with such a voice, no leniency for being from our city) and then some kitsch live-aid-like song and then a couple by the "Kolibri" kids choir, always the same. Maybe the girl (who's a hostess to the children and a waitress at the same time - must be Vesna) is the prettiest one around, but the other one (2nd nicest) has better music - regardless, the cacophony, augmented by echo and the yelling and shouts of two overgrown brats who shouldn't really play with toddlers, for safety resons, was overwhelming. And the cook is not as good anymore. Stopped chopping the lemon into bits, now it's just one slice - I loved to eat those bits. Last time the lemon, when I nicked a wedge of it with a spoon, tasted of something moldy, like a shoe, so didn't even try it this time.
Tomorrow's Nina's last day at work. Ralph is acting the jerk he's always been, it's just now a matter of cause that's left unclear. Is it the way he understands capitalism should be done, rough and haughty, or is it that he doesn't even understand how many toes he treads every day. The last was that he's demanding that she writes full documentation of what she was last doing, "with a ball on top" (what happened to the cherry?). Meanwhile, he forgot to pay her for september - he's got a baby born, so he was busy and overlooked the message. I guess the rule is - when she has a baby, she doesn't get paid for the month; when he has a baby, she doesn't get paid for the month. She emailed him about that, and he said "well just send me the invoice and it will be paid, of course". So she forwarded him the message in which she sent the invoice a couple of weeks ago. Just as some relief, the whole correspondence (plus some other stuff) was also addressed to David, Bruce and at least one more guy, so his usual tactic of tackling his shit in private didn't quite work.
While we were waiting for his response, I had this chat with Bruce
me: If Mellowood is running thin on cash, I can loan Ralph a few grand with reasonable interest... We aren't monsters, there must be some magnanimity and understanding.
Bruce, 18.47 - :)
How are you doing?me: 18.49 - Fine... almost 200l of rakija this year. Bicycling with the twins almost every afternoon, this october feels like summer.just pissed of at having to listen to bursts of anger every time I ask Ivana "how's mellowood"
Bruce, 18.53 - hopefully none of it is directed at me!! :) Pretty good fall here too. Just starting to get cold at night now 6-8 degress, still nice during the days...wish I had more time to do stuff like that. I am starting to get senior's discounts now though so....... Glad you are taking advantage of your freer time.
me: 18.56 - I have at least six projects ongoing, mostly involving power tools or simple shoveling. Did even a few bits on my pet project apps... but whenever something looks like it may get complicated, I take time to think it over until it becomes simple.Did Ralph see the email? No eruption yet? I assume you all sit in the same room.
Bruce 18.58 - I saw the email, no idea if he did, I'm working from home.
me: 19.03 - good for you. I guess his little lieutenant didn't even ask about working from home, or let you fight for the privilege so he can enojy it too.
Bruce, 19.03 - who's that, Jevgenij? pretty sure my head will be on the chopping block at some point
me: 19.11 - Karl... Jevgenij is more of a drill sergeant. Or a slave runner.
Bruce, 19.12 - single room, lot's of talking. Can't get anything done there
While this was going on, Nina got pissed off sufficiently to call for a drink of apricot rakija. Which we did, but slowly and without really sitting all together around the table for more than five minutes at a time, because the children, specially Sanda and Linda had their demands.
Later, we two retreated to the smoking room upstairs - the unfinished big one facing the street, where we have the two old armchairs, and an improvised ashtray. The ashtray is a 6l water bottle, and instead of a cork there's an 1,5l bottle, plastic likewise, upturned and with the bottom cut out, so it acts like a funnel. In the beginning we tried the cockta bottle, but it wasn't tapering properly and some butt would be stuck sidewise and would burn a hole in the plastic. For most of the year we made funnels out of coke bottles, which worked better, they would last a month or two before sprouting holes around the neck. Presently, it's one made from the bottle of Mivela mineral water, which is perfectly conical and for at least a month now no butts got stuck - it's still in pristine condition for the purpose. The reason I started buying that brand is that its main ingredient is magnesium, which allegedly works great against cramps, and for the last nine years I had that problem in my calves, sometimes even feet. And voila, after drinking half a liter of it, the cramps stopped. Not all the symptoms are gone, but it's soooo much better now.
Now drinking three more shots of cherry rakija made the swell mostly go away; in the morning I was looking quite normal.
17-X-2019 - 17-IV-2026