It's Rex Manning Day!

If you know, you know. ;-P

It's been a rough morning. I went to bed feeling good, I was prepared to get up and walk and take an everything shower and get dressed and make my bed. But then I got up feeling like crap. This crazy weather has given me a cold. My throat hurts, my head is stuffy, and I'm coughing and sneezing.

I had ordered some meringue cookies off TikTok shop and they arrived yesterday. And of course, the delivery guy couldn't find my apartment. I got the notice they had been delivered but they weren't on my doorstep so I went looking for them. I ran into the guy in the parking lot behind my building so it's all good. But I was prepared to walk around all three buildings until I found them.

The flavors I got are vanilla (don't really taste like much), cookies & cream (there's a hint of chocolate sandwich cookie), key lime pie (very strong lime flavor), and caramel (my favorite of the four).

I had some of the cookies as late as 7 last night and that's what I blame for my glucose being over 100. As for my blood pressure, I didn't sit entirely still for several minutes before taking it and I'm currently not taking the diuretic or the one blood pressure med my doctor took me off of. Just a few more days I'll be taking the diuretic again.

I saw a TikTok recently that talked about the struggle of fantasy writers to come up with names of their characters. She said that she takes names of towns and rivers and streams and uses those.

I've always wondered why fantasy writers don't just use a baby name site and look for unique names. That's what I do, not that I write fantasy. When I need a name for a new character, I go to a baby name site and look for names that mean a specific thing, but only if a name doesn't come to me while I'm plotting the story.

How do you come up with names for your characters?

I forgot to mention something that happened last week.

Back in 2023, I had to move out of my old apartment quickly. The old apartment wanted to raise my rent ~$300. I felt this wasn't right since I had lived there since 2015 and my unit was not updated and roach invested.

Because I refused to pay for even one more month there, I had to move on 2/25. I work in accounting so we are not allowed to take off the first ten days and the last day of each month. I have lived in a total of three apartments since I left my ex and this is the first one that doesn't take section 8.

As a result, I am used to my lease running through the end of the month regardless of when I actually moved in. For example, I moved into my old apartment in the middle of March 2015 but my lease ended on the last day of February.

I expected that here but I guess it doesn't? I honestly don't remember what the dates of my lease were when I signed it last year. I did notice it this year, that's why I'm mentioning it.

Anyway, Thursday, I received a note on my door. I always get nervous when the office leaves a note on my door. This time it wasn't anything bad; it was the notice about my lease renewal. It said that my lease ends on 5/24. I fully expected it to end on 5/31.

I cannot remember when I received it last year, I'm guessing in late December because when I moved in I signed a twelve month lease. And they require a 60 day notice to vacate.

The lease options are for one month up to fifteen months. I will never understand why someone would rent an apartment for less than six months. I get that some people do it while they're having their house renovated but I would rent a furnished apartment for that so I don't have to unpack and then pack again so soon. But that's just me.

Anyway, I chose the fifteen month option because it only increased my rent $6. The new option list shows the same amount for the fifteen month lease. So naturally I chose that one. I'm just waiting for the office to approve it.

As y'all know I was on vacation last week. And per usual, I did fuck all. With the exception of a haircut on Tuesday and a doctor's appointment Thursday.

After my haircut, I spent the day with my parents and finally got some Chinese food. It was good enough that I'm still craving it. The place was a dive (can a restaurant be called a dive?) but the food was good.

Mom said it was dirty. The floors need to be swept and moped but other than that, I think it was fine. I mean, I didn't see any evidence of bugs, so. But Mom said the lady that helped us was wearing rumpled and stained clothes. I didn't actually see her clothes but I did see that she was wearing orthotic flip-flops which I'm sure is a health code violation.

Thursday, I had a follow up visit with my doctor. She set the appointment for six weeks after my last one because she had put me on a diuretic and wanted to check how it was helping with my blood pressure. She also resubmitted the request for Eliquis and this time my insurance is covering it 100%!

I finally got myself a sleep bonnet. I haven't been able to wear it much because I have this thing about things touching my face. It's why it was so difficult for me to get used to wearing a mask during the early days of the pandemic.

When I put it on, my face just starts twitching which has it moving and before long, it has slipped off the back of my head and I have to either retie it or take it off. The reason I got it is because I'm tired of the hair on the back of my head being dry, brittle, and massively tangled from rubbing against the back of the couch.

So, I've decided that I will only wear it when I'm sitting with my feet up because that is when my head rubs against the head rest on the couch. I did try to sleep in the bed with it last night, but it slipped off as soon as I laid down. I might not have had it tied tight enough but it doesn't matter. I don't think I'll try that again. Mostly because I like to play with my hair while I fall asleep. And, yes, it is a security thing as in my version of a stuffie or blanket.

I had planned to spend one day working on one of my stories but just couldn't find the motivation. I also planned to clean over the weekend because I went to the store Thursday.

Friday, I wasn't feeling it so I said I'd do it Saturday. But I wasn't feeling it then either. I did end up doing the laundry. Everything has been washed and other than the sheets and the shirts I don't put in the dryer, everything has also been folded and put away.

I know one of my goals was to clean on a regular basis but I find it difficult to do so. Although, I do take the trash out every Friday, so at least I've developed a routine for something. Right?

I went to bed planning on walking, getting dressed, and making my bed. But I didn't. It started with realizing my scale needed batteries as I was getting ready for bed and ended with leg cramps this morning.

I did take a shower and wash my hair this morning. I plan to make my bed in a bit and fold the last of the laundry.

I finished the original Daredevil series yesterday and am now caught up on the new one. Let me just say that the writers are EVIL. I won't spoil it for anyone but something happens in the first episode that had me so shocked, I forgot to breathe. And then I became irrationally angry at Kevin Feige (although he probably had very little to do with what happened).

I also started watching Jessica Jones on my phone. I can't remember how much of that series I watched because I remember very little of it. I don't really like it so it will be a chore to finish it. And, yes, that is why I didn't finish it before. This has nothing to do with Krysten Ritter because I have enjoyed her in other things. I think it's because I know next to nothing about the character.

And it's the same for Luke Cage. I don't know the actor but I don't think I was impressed with the series.

I never watched Iron Fist, The Punisher, or The Defenders so I might do a review of them.

I just saw a TikTok that I agree with.

If you don't know (if you don't, do you live under a rock?), Beyonce won Album of the Year and Best Country Album for 'Cowboy Carter'. There is a lot of outrage over this (which I agree with) and Chris Stapleton has filed an official objection to her win. I will stop watching any video that uses 'Texas Hold 'Em' as well as turn the channel on the radio whenever it comes on.

I do think Beyonce is that good of a singer and her voice is not right for country. I know I'm probably going to get a lot of flack for this but it is my opinion.

Can someone explain to me what it is about her that everyone seems to love?

I managed to stay in bed for almost four hours last night.

My parents gave me a wall clock for my birthday last year (I asked for one) and when it is silent in my apartment, like after I've fallen asleep with the TV on and it has shut itself off, I can hear it ticking. Only thing is, it does not have a second hand or pendulum. So, how is it ticking? Yes, it's analog and runs on a battery.

I sat for five minutes this morning instead of twenty before taking my blood pressure.

The strangest thing happened last night.

I have had issues with leaking in this apartment.

Just months after I first moved in, the ceiling over the shower started leaking. The first time it was just for a few minutes and was difficult to see where it was coming from. The second time, there is a crack on the ceiling where the water was coming from. Both times, maintenance did nothing about it despite my having video of the second leak.

Then, in late October/early November of 2023 a leak started in the laundry closet over my BRAND NEW washer/dryer. It took me calling daily for three weeks, and threatening to call the health department, before maintenance was able to get the tenant in the third floor apartment to let them in to locate the leak. There was not a tenant in the second floor unit at the time so they were able to quickly determine the leak was from the third floor unit.

I am now super triggered by the sound of dripping water which makes freezing temperatures a nightmare for me because I leave the faucets I don't use often dripping all the time when it's below 40* outside.

Because of this, I am super aware of dripping and will go and look for the source if I even THINK I heard water dripping.

So, last night as I was getting ready for bed, I heard water dripping in the shower. I immediately looked up at the ceiling but couldn't see anything. As I was lowering my gaze, I saw water dripping from the shower head. Now, as y'all might recall, I did not take a full shower yesterday. Not to mention, I had been in the bathroom several times during the day. There was no reason for the shower to be dripping at 9:30 at night. I made sure the tap was off but it was still dripping. I swiped the water drop off the shower head and that was that.

I'm still confused as to how/why that happened.

Another weird thing that happened was that my Discovery+ app on my FireStick upgraded last night and now I have to manually turn off the closed captioning every time I watch a show. I do not watch my Discover+ shows with CC on because those shows are reality TV (more or less) and the CC tends to lag.

Also, under 'continue watching' are a bunch of shows I have never watched. Now, my mother and I share this app and it used to not allow you to make more than one profile, so it is possible that some of these shows were watched by her.

I only managed to sleep in the bed for about two and a half hours because I was unable to find a comfortable position to sleep in.

Almost forgot. While we were at the bank, my parents closed out their safe deposit box. And in that box was my divorce decree! So happy I don't have to go to Denton to get a copy. I'm one step closer to getting my name changed.

Update to this post.

I think I was watching Daredevil on Disney+. Because while it will play the next episode automatically, if you let it auto play long enough, it will ask if you're still watching and if, after a few minutes, you don't respond it will kick you out.

The reason I think I was watching Daredevil Monday night is because I know I started watching season 1 episode 7 and when I go to my Disney+ app, it shows that the next episode is season 1 episode 10.