The doctor got me fresh pills. Hah. Last time I went I waited over an hour behind a line of as many patients as could possibly fit into that space without standing. Expecting such a crowd again I sauntered over expecting to be there a while. The place was empty of waiting patients. I was actually out of there a few minutes before the time of my actual appointment. He remarked that I was using the pills “sparingly”, which is true enough. I don’t know if he believed me when I said that I lost 5 or 6 of the pills after they turned to dust in the overhead luggage bin on the flights to/from Tampa. I can only be reasonably certain that’s what happened, of course, but what else would have caused that?

I slept rock-concert well last night, surprisingly. I was only intruded upon when the woman who lives upstairs DROPPED A CHAIR onto the floor at maybe 3:30am. She has always been like that but I’m usually out drunk enough that I don’t notice it or don’t care.

…

Something strange I overheard at the bar a couple of nights ago… There is a guy I’ve seen there who I’ve thought about saying hi to. He reminds me of myself: a lonely, depressed alcoholic. I say that with no judgment either way.

I overheard that he had some kind of encounter with L. That is not my problem or concern. What I gathered from the overheard conversation is that whatever encounter he had with her (it was entirely at the bar) left him in tears. If true this confirms something that had stayed in the back of my mind since L. and I last parted ways. I think she was actually trying her hardest to be nice to me. Nice, it seems, is not who she is, at least not toward men. That is where I got her completely wrong. I thought she was nice. She is not. But hey, at least she was trying.

We went out maybe 10 times. Every time she appeared I would smile. She would not. She looked at me skeptically, as if I had much to prove to earn from her something as simple as a smile. We always ended up having a good time but I felt like I was drowning in her baggage.

I am not interested in learning more about this other fellow’s encounter with L. any more than I am interested in talking to him or anyone else about mine. But I am kind of relieved to remind myself just how wrong I was about her. I don’t need meanness in my life any more than I need bullets through the head. I knew of her tendencies toward publicly humiliating men at the bar. But I had also heard on what I thought was good authority that she had been dealing with her anger issues, getting therapy and and taking pills … or something. Either that source who told me that was not so reliable — or even lying — or she just stopped working on those things. Don’t know, don’t plan to find out. Tonight I plan to feel safe at home, sober and away from any of that bullshit.
…

I am at the library when I should really be at home, waiting for Amazon to deliver a microphone BOOM so I can have a mic in my face while playing at the piano. I had a little of that going on the last couple of days but it was a clumsily improvised setup involving a tall tripod and the mic hanging from it like a horse’s cock.

Going home, then.

Tralalala.

…

Missed the BOOM delivery. But wanted to report on a possibly scary thing that happened after I got back. Sitting here about an hour ago the floor box fan shut off and I smelled burning plastic, the smell of electrical wire burning. I unplugged the fan. The smell was only coming from the inside of the fan, not from the extension cord or power strip. I take this to mean that other things will not crap out next. It was on the same power strip as the piano and the big tablet. Those are fine, though I unplugged the tablet anyway. I’m guessing the problem was solely with the fan. Went to DII and got a piece of crap box fan for $22. Had some scary electrical problems here a bunch of years ago. The owner fixed it but the wiring inside one wall was all black, burned to a crisp.

Another weird electric-spirited thing happened a few days ago. I found an old Bluetooth mouse in the closet, contained in a nylon or vinyl carrying bag. I took the mouse out of the bag and found there was gunk on it. Thinking it had just somehow accumulated gunk I took Windex to it. That just seemed to make it worse. The gunk increased, and did not abate no matter how much Windex I sprayed on it. I was wondering what kind of shit gets all over a device like this while it is contained in a protective case.

Eventually had that eureka moment. The batteries had leaked. I was getting battery juice all over my hands. Tasty.

Time for dinner, and maybe a late-night Stroll of Sobriety around AsLIC.