My mom and her memory

I haven't been writing a whole lot here. I don't think it's because I have nothing to write about or that I'm lazy.

I haven't felt the need to write anything just yet.

It's likely because I'm still processing things. Trying to come to grips with my mom's memory loss is one of them.

She often opens and closes the front door. She'll bolt the door with the security chain lock without remembering that either my dad or I are about to return to the house. It's weird.

She will also open and close the washroom door on the main floor. It's a bit difficult to tell whether she needs to use the washroom and forgets to walk through the door, or if it's the same habit that she has with the front door.

Last Monday, she fell down in the washroom. My dad and I had to help get her off the floor. Thankfully, she doesn't fall down often. When she does, it's a bit scary. Luckily, she was fine.

COVID-19 is scary

Last weekend, I placed a food order for pickup this Saturday. I just found out that a supplier that this business works with has team members that got infected with COVID-19. Ugh! I hope that those affected will be okay.

Canada is ramping up its vaccine supply. Every adult is expected to get one shot by the end of June. It's a good sign.

The business has found a new supplier, so I'll be proceeding with my food order. COVID-19 is so scary. I can't wait for the day when we kick it to the curb.

Constipation is not fun!

Recently, I made the mistake of eating not-so-ripe bananas. I tend to eat ripe bananas. Last week, I ran out of them and got a hand of bananas that weren't ripe yet. I then ate one.

I realized that I can't eat bananas that aren't ripe enough. I ended up being constipated. It has been years since I experienced a serious bout of it. Luckily, a combination of fibre, fish, veggies, and exercise got me back to being my regular self in more ways than one.

Weird, huh? I have learned my lesson. Constipation is highly uncomfortable and I felt like I had a larger stomach. It was scary at times, but I'm definitely myself again.

My friend checking into a hospice

My dear friend wrote to me in the wee hours yesterday morning. She was to be air-ambulanced from Houston to a hospice later on that day. She should be there by now.

It is painful that she started her year being able to walk, went for cancer treatment during the summer, and ended up paralyzed a few months later thanks to an aggressive form of Leukemia.

I'm on vacation, but have been reading up on this horrible disease. The thought of losing her is scary and normal. I am trying to be as supportive as I can be.

Hair loss

Years ago, when I was stressed over my mom's stroke, I lost a significant amount of hair on my head. It was scary. Most of my hair grew back, thankfully.

These days, I am losing more hair than I usually do. I am stressed and anxious. I have a feeling that the latter is a vicious cycle. I'm anxious about my hair loss, which has continued because I'm stressed out.

Well, I have concluded that my hair loss isn't due to my anxiety or stress. It's likely a combination of my hair's regular growth cycle and the fact that I have been trying my hair back every day.

When I used to head to the office, I wore my hair down. Since I've been working from home for over three months, I only have my hair down after washing it and when I am asleep.

Lately, I have been letting my hair breathe by wearing it down more. Sure enough, my hair loss has lessened.

A small detail like letting my hair down makes such a huge difference.

Skidding on black ice is scary

On Tuesday, I worked from home for a second day. I had to go out and run a couple of errands, including the grocery store.

Coming home, I saw two accidents. What was scary was that I was driving along black ice and thought that I would end up hitting the car in front of me. It was scary. I stopped in time, thankfully.

Later on today, I am getting my winter tires installed on my car. I have had this appointment for a week. I'll feel at ease once my winter tires are on my vehicle.

Nearly sideswiped by a woman who did not check her blindspot

One of my biggest fears is driving next to someone who does not check her blindspot. It happened to me last night.

I was driving home and a car moved into my lane, almost hitting me. I moved into the middle turn lane and honked at her for a long time. My car has a decent whiny, annoyed tone that she finally moved over. It was scary. It made me angry.

I finally got to take a look at the person as I managed to pass her several minutes later. She was an older woman with silver hair. She looked embarrassed and didn't look at me.

I do wish that folks would take the time to do a shoulder check. It can save lives. It can also make them better drivers.

When I got my car, one of the features that I wanted was as much of a clear view around me while driving. I didn't get that when I tested the C-HR. I love that I do with my Corolla hatchback.

I am a bit rattled, but I'll be okay.

Learning from checking in on apps and broadcasting my location on social media

I had something odd happen to me yesterday. Some may consider it scary. I have a feeling that I have put some of the puzzle pieces together.

After work, I went to Starbucks to get a beverage. The baristas there were nice. I ordered my drink through the app like I usually do, went through the drive-thru, got my drink, and drove home.

I normally check in using my Yelp app. Some people are afraid of having their location shown. For me, I used to be in this camp. My thought is that checking and then leaving is okay. I'm gone that any stacker can't catch up to you.

Well, here's the odd part. I must have been twenty minutes away. I got a call from this Starbucks location. It was the cafe's phone number on my phone. It was one call after the other for a total of four calls. No message was left.

It then shifted to a completely different number. When the third call came in, I was waiting at yet another drive-thru. I answered the call and stayed silent.

The guy on the other end knew my first name and my phone number. He was wondering why I wasn't answering. Well, I was at a drive-thru deciding on what I wanted to order. He eventually hung up and called back for a fourth time.

I had placed my order. I picked up and said hi. He proceeded to say that I had checked in on Yelp and asked, "Why the f*ck do you check in so many times?" I decided to hang up on him. I didn't like the swearing and I didn't understand why he was so upset.

I have an app on my phone that not only blocks these calls, but I can report them to a database and add my comments. I did just that.

I see a couple of things that contributed to this incident:

• When I checked in on my Yelp app, it also broadcasts that check-in on Twitter. The guy saw my tweet on Twitter. I looked at the interactions and found one hit in my statistics. Only my friends on Yelp know my check-ins and they are decent people who would not harass me.
• As for getting my phone number, my Starbucks app was compromised a few months back. My phone number was likely obtained from that incident.

Put my tweet and my phone number together, and you have someone out there who doesn't have a life.

I also feel that he has a software application where he can change the phone number that ultimately gets displayed on your phone when you receive a call. It seems rather clean that he used the Starbucks number to call me four times, and then used another one with a different area code exactly four times in the same rapid succession.

When he swore at me, it was quiet in the background. He obviously was not at Starbucks. You cannot be in two different cities in the Greater Toronto Area within seconds.

When I was in Dallas, I disabled my check-ins being broadcast to Twitter. I don't know what possessed me to put it back on, but I have decided to permanently stop it.

It's quite the lesson. The good news is that I have set up these precautions and will see if it makes a difference.

Searching for a piece of my contact lens in my eye

I have been wearing contact lenses since my last year of my undergraduate studies. My experience cleaning and wearing them spans a couple of decades.

You would think that I have seen everything (no pun intended). Well, something new happened to me on Friday morning.

I did my usual routine of taking each contact lens out of my case filled with solution. I put my left lens in. I blinked. The lens immediately came out of my eye. It had split.

I was missing a chunk of it. My left eye felt fine. However, I had a feeling that it was still in my eye.

Naturally, I did a quick scan. I didn't see anything. I tried placing my finger over my eyelid and pushing down gently. I got nothing.

I could then feel something when I moved my eyeball left and right. I decided to gently cup water in my hand and dunk my eye in it. I did it several times.

Finally, I blinked my left eye and the remaining contact lens piece came out. Yay!

This experience was unexpected. I'm just glad that the missing contact lens puzzle piece has finally been solved.

Driving home and seeing a pedestrian sprawled on the street

I was driving home at around 20:25 on Thursday night. I was roughly two streets away from my home in a residential area.

I was stopped at the three-way intersection. In front of me was a black pickup truck with its hazard lights blinking. I had to drive around it, on the opposite side of the residential street.

The image in my head still shakes me. In front of the pickup truck was a body of a person. That person was in a starfish position, head up.

The driver of the pickup truck was standing on the southwest corner of the intersection. He was on his cell phone, calling 911.

Part of me wanted to pull over and see how everyone was. I was so shocked that I decided to drive home.

Moments later, I heard the ambulance siren. I hope that the pedestrian is okay. If I am in this state, I can't imagine what the pickup truck driver is going through.

There are a number of problems with both pedestrians and drivers in my neighbourhood:

• At this specific intersection, pedestrians feel that they own it. They will walk diagonally across the intersection. Um, no. You cross one side of the street, and then the next.
• At night, pedestrians often wear dark clothing. For drivers, it's difficult to spot you. The person hit was wearing black pants. However, the person's jacket was red, which should have stood out.
• The speed limit in our residential area is 40 km. I have seen many folks exceed that speed limit. We have speed bumps and I live around the corner from an elementary school. Slow down, drivers!
• I have often seen folks do a left-hand turn in my area and do not see me coming. I have to honk. Drivers need to pay more attention to both pedestrians and cars. Look both ways before you go.
• Pedestrians need to look both ways before they cross the street, too. I deliberately back my car into my driveway. In the morning, I pull out and see everything and everyone. Thursday morning, a woman walked past my car. I waited for her to cross before I pulled out. I was driving and she nearly walked into the side of my car. I don't care if you are wearing a hoodie. Turn your head before you cross the street. Again, as a pedestrian, you don't own the road if you pull a stupid action like this one.
• We are so distracted by our phones, music blasting in the car, and much more. Lose all of it. You're better off doing so.

I just hope that this pedestrian is okay. I keep looking online to see whether there are any reports. So far, I haven't heard a thing.