The AJ Chronicles: 12 January 2024
A week in my life; plus my recent Medium and Substack stories
Contents
This week’s events
Medium stories
Substack story
This week’s events
A stressful Tuesday 😩
My aunt’s leg 🦵
My father-in-law collapsed 🚑
New routine 📅
Sniffles and snores 🤧😴
Memories of driving to Leeds 🚗 🧭
Stephanie phoned me twice 📱
T-shirt printing 👕
Chase Bank asked some intrusive questions 😮
Are you on Bluesky? 🦋
My youngest can’t get enough shifts at McDonald’s 💷
What I watched this week 📺
Listening to music while I write 🎧
Writing about Medium earnings and statistics 📊
I hope Pamela Oglesby is alright 💛
1. A stressful Tuesday 😩
Every so often, a lot happens in one day. Perhaps it would not feel overwhelming for most people, but autism and ADHD are additional factors for me.
Stephanie and I planned to visit my aunt on Tuesday, so I phoned her the day before.
My aunt talked about a problem with her leg and how a nurse was due to see her. She was concerned things might be awkward if the nurse turned up while we were there, so I said, “I don’t mind if you don’t!”
A lot happened on that day, so I’ve split it into the following two sections.
2. My aunt’s leg 🦵
Stephanie and I visited my 100-year-old aunt. There was a sore, wet patch of skin on her leg and she had already phoned her GP about it the previous week. That had resulted in a paramedic visiting and getting her some antibiotics.
They said a nurse would come out to apply a new dressing and check up on her. However, it was now four days later and nobody had turned up.
They had prescribed penicillin, despite my aunt having been allergic since 60 years ago.
She decided to risk it! Fortunately, she did not have an adverse reaction. (I am not suggesting people should ignore allergies. But I wonder if I’m still allergic to penicillin after 45 years.)
They thought it might be an ulcer on her leg, but my aunt was concerned it might be skin cancer because she’d had it seventeen years ago. Back then, she ignored it for a year while my uncle was ill, and only got treatment after he died. This time, she acted more quickly.
Stephanie and I were determined to get someone to see my aunt that day. We succeeded in the end, but it took a while!
Many steps
My aunt pays for a care call system and she seemed to think they had something to do with the paramedics visiting her the previous week. Therefore, she suggested I phone them to find out why the nurse had not come.
After I got through, they told me they were only for emergencies and I’d have to phone her GP surgery instead, so that’s what I did.
It took about 25 minutes to speak to someone. After all that waiting, they said I’d have to phone the district nurse instead.
When I phoned the district nurse, all I got was an answering machine. I left a message explaining everything, but I was worried nobody would respond and visit my aunt.
Stephanie and I decided we might have more luck speaking to someone face-to-face, so we drove to the GP surgery. The place was almost deserted, and the receptionist offered to email the district nurse to ensure my aunt got urgent attention.
After she disappeared into the office to send the email, my mobile phone rang. It was the district nurse saying she’d visit my aunt within the hour. I was so relieved!
I phoned my aunt to let her know, but Stephanie had left her reading glasses behind so we ended up nipping back to pick them up. That’s when Stephanie discovered she’d also left her mobile phone there — it had slipped down the side of my aunt’s sofa.
My aunt phoned after the nurse had visited to thank us and say her leg felt much more comfortable. The nurse will be visiting twice a week from now on.
It’s hard to know how long my aunt might have waited if we’d not visited. Maybe the nurse would have turned up anyway. Still, I was glad we didn’t postpone our visit, and that we could speak up for my aunt.
3. My father-in-law collapsed 🚑
Just as I was starting to relax, my mother-in-law phoned me.
My father-in-law had been taken to hospital after collapsing in town!
She needed me to drive his car back home and gave me a phone number to find out where to collect his keys.
(Side note: Things were so confusing! My mother-in-law mentioned a nurse, and I assumed she meant one who’d attended to my father-in-law in town. Later, I realised she meant her regular nurse who happened to be with her when the people phoned with the bad news. The nurse had helped write down the message detailing who to ring about picking up the car.)
When I phoned up about getting the car, I had no idea who I was ringing. It turned out to be the local shopping mall!
My father-in-law never parks in the usual car parks. Instead, he uses his blue badge to park in unusual and difficult-to-access places.
The person at the shopping centre explained where his car was located, but I was worried about all the access restrictions and ‘buses only’ lanes in the area. Luckily, my eldest son was home and had been there with his grandad dozens of times before.
Picking up his car involved four family members. Stephanie took me and my son into the town centre. Then we collected the keys, found his car, and I drove it back to my house.
My youngest son was going to pick me up from my in-laws’ house, but my eldest son refuses to be driven anywhere by his brother — hence the need to drop him off at my house on the way there!
My father-in-law’s car was full of betting slips and sweet wrappers.
When I opened his car door, one of the betting slips fell onto the ground, and I ended up in the middle of the road on my hands and knees trying to retrieve it from under his car.
Then I decided to raise the seat height and discovered the plastic handle was missing — so I had to pull on a piece of metal about twelve times, which was not much fun. (I’ve no idea how my father-in-law drives with the seat so low. Maybe it’s because he has short legs and a long body, or maybe it explains why his door mirror is damaged and his car accumulates dents.)
It’s still not clear to me what happened to him. He has type 2 diabetes, and my mother-in-law said he had a hyper at first, then she said it was a hypo.
The morning after
The following day, I was relieved when she phoned and said he was released from hospital around 11 pm, so he didn’t have an overnight stay.
When I spoke to him and asked what happened, I was still confused ten minutes later.
He said they did an MRI scan. But I heard my mother-in-law in the background saying, “It wasn’t an MRI!” Then I asked, “Was it an ECG?” He said, “Yes, it was an EGC.” And I wondered if my mother-in-law thought I was the one who swapped the letters around.
Anyway, his doctor is arranging for more tests.
Apparently, because he did not pass out completely, he is still allowed to drive! That’s a little worrying; I think he needs to be extra careful for a while.
My son usually goes out with his grandad every Saturday. Surely they will cancel it this week. Surely.
[Update: my father-in-law said he’ll pick my son up tomorrow as usual!]
4. New routine 📅
I’m still getting used to the new daily and weekly routines.
With my youngest son driving now, he takes himself to work and college. He also has the ‘fun’ of de-icing and de-misting his car, but I’m sure the novelty has quickly worn off!
It still feels strange that I don’t have to do those runs anymore.
Ironically, he gets up earlier now to be sure of a parking space. When I used to take him, we didn’t have to worry about parking, and he didn’t want to leave the house until the last moment.
5. Sniffles and snores 🤧😴
My eldest son is still not over his cold, and although I’m feeling better after Covid, I still feel sniffly and tired.
It was a relief when my son booked a couple of days off, so I had fewer 11 pm pickups. (Hopefully, he will learn to drive this year.)
On some occasions when Stephanie has stayed over in recent weeks, she has kept me awake by snoring. However, I think I’ve been doing more snoring lately because I’m still a little bit blocked up.
I don’t like being the one to keep someone awake. It’s frustrating to feel helpless to control what happens when you’re asleep.
6. Memories of driving to Leeds 🚗 🧭
In 2017, I took Stephanie to Leeds. We stayed for a couple of nights and went to the theatre.
The last part of the journey was difficult because the sat-nav got confused by there being roads above other roads. It had me driving up and down repeatedly!
In the end, I could see the hotel and I was so annoyed with the sat-nav that I switched it off and used my own judgement. Minutes later, we were there.
A few days ago, Stephanie said her daughter might go to Leeds University in 18 months. Then she said she’d not ask me to drive them there after all the trouble last time!
I was taken aback. Did I really do such a bad job? I checked my journal and the journey was quick and smooth until the last part when the sat-nav got confused. And even then, it didn’t take long after I switched it off.
Stephanie went on to say she might ask her friend’s husband to take them! (Would they stay overnight?)
When I broached the subject again another day, she pointed out that I’d said I never wanted to drive around Leeds ever again, which is why she didn’t want to ask me.
That was just something I said in the heat of the moment, just after the sat-nav made me look foolish.
7. Stephanie phoned me twice 📱
Stephanie often says she does not like speaking on the phone, so I was amazed when she phoned me two days in a row, starting on Tuesday evening after that long day.
We had a long chat on each occasion and it reminded me of the Covid lockdown months when we spoke regularly.
It was so much nicer than exchanging text messages.
8. T-shirt printing 👕
Around 2012, I created some images related to vintage computers and sold T-shirts and mugs.
Initially, I started with Spreadshirt.co.uk and Spreadshirt.com. Then I added Zazzle and other sites such as TeePublic.
The sales figures were never tremendous, but it was fun to imagine people wearing images I created.
I still get the odd sale now and then, and it is nice to get a few extra dollars.
I was thinking about sharing the details in a paid member post on Substack. That prompted me to check what personal information was visible on each site.
When I checked the sales figures, one site in particular surprised me.
I’d sold several designs on Zazzle in the last few years, but they’d not paid me a penny!
When I looked more closely, I saw they’d started charging a “Non-Contributing Account Fee” that counteracted my earnings for many months.
I was so annoyed that I deleted every image and product I’d posted there!
Eventually, I found they owed me just over $60. (It would have been over $100 if they’d not charged those fees.)
I clicked a button to request payment, and it said I’d get the money by 2025! After more digging, lowering the payout threshold enabled me to get the money within the next few weeks.
9. Chase Bank asked some intrusive questions 😮
For two years, I’ve had a second current account with Chase because they offered cashback on debit card purchases.
Yesterday, they demanded answers to questions about my employment, income, and outgoings. And how much I expect to pay in and out of my account. If I didn’t answer, the banking app would stop working.
No other bank has ever bullied me into providing so much detail!
I was annoyed, but I answered as best I could.
Given that I only use that account for debit card purchases, I keep it topped up with just enough to cover my spending for the next week or two. And given that the average balance remains the same, it’s clear that the IN and OUT amounts must be about the same.
It crossed my mind that they might think I’m in danger of overspending if I set the numbers the same — but that’s how I’ve always used the account.
Hopefully, they will be satisfied with my answers.
10. Are you on Bluesky? 🦋
After considering simplifying my social media usage, I signed up with yet another site!
My friend Kerry Purvis kindly sent an invite code for Bluesky, and I like the look of it.
It looks like the nicest Twitter replacement I’ve seen so far. The only trouble is, I hardly know anyone there.
If you are on Bluesky, I’d be happy to connect with you. This is where you can find me:
11. My youngest can’t get enough shifts at McDonald’s 💷
Now that my son is driving himself to college and work, he relies on his part-time job to run his car.
During the busy Christmas period, more people were employed at the McDonald’s where he works. Unfortunately, that new larger workforce means he gets fewer shifts now that it’s not as busy.
He is considering alternative jobs, and potentially longer hours, which leads me to an awkward problem.
I currently receive Widowed Parent’s Allowance (WPA), but that will stop forever once I no longer qualify for Child Benefit (CB).
CB stops if he works 24+ hours a week or leaves full-time education because he is no longer classed as a dependent. If that happens, I will have to ask him to contribute his share of the utility bills, like his older brother does.
He wants to earn as much as possible, so it’s annoying that three 8-hour days would put him over the threshold by one hour.
I’m trying to let him make his own decision about it and not restrict his choices, but at the same time, I’ve had to explain that he’ll have to help pay his way if he chooses to work more and earn more.
Once I lose WPA, I can never receive it again. That means he’d better be sure about working more hours because there will be no going back.
12. What I watched this week 📺
On YouTube, I have been watching Scotty Kilmer. Most of his recent car repair videos have clickbait titles, but they are still entertaining and interesting.
Also on YouTube, I’ve watched a video on The Coding Train about Elementary Cellular Automata. I like Daniel Shiffman’s enthusiastic style, and although the videos are aimed at new programmers, I find them fun and relaxing to watch.
I finally finished watching the rest of the second Oppenheimer DVD, with all the extras. I’ve enjoyed it all, but I should not have watched it late at night because I had bad dreams about people testing nuclear weapons in a relatively small area. In my dreams, I was the only one who thought it was highly dangerous!
We’re working our way through Frasier reruns, and I’ve even got Stephanie interested in some of them — especially the frustrating episodes that leave the viewer wondering if Niles and Daphne will ever get together.
Stephanie likes the series Rich Kids Go Homeless at the moment. Most of them don’t turn out as you’d expect, and the rich kid usually ends up changing their opinions of the homeless for the better.
We have started watching James May: Our Man In Japan, having watched it (and the one about Italy) a while ago.
I nearly forgot: I also watched The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross, and I nearly watched an episode of Columbo. (I recorded it for another time.)
13. Listening to music while I write 🎧
I did not continue with my Tidal trial, I don’t have a Spotify subscription, and I even cancelled Amazon Prime after having it for years.
Yes, I’m trying to cut my outgoings where possible!
I now use Plex to listen to my own music collection, and I’ve discovered something I never thought would happen:
I can now read and write with music playing in the background!
The last time I tried that, I simply couldn’t concentrate unless it was silent.
Years ago, I wrote software and designed electronic circuits with the radio on. It made me feel more relaxed, and I only had to switch it off when doing something exceptionally complex.
(It’s almost three years since I wrote Listening to the Radio at Work Calmed My Autistic / ADHD Mind on Medium.)
The fact that (until recently) I could not write articles unless the room was silent implied I found writing more difficult than technical work. Perhaps my mind is finally adapting from programming to writing!
So, what sort of stuff have I listened to?
I copied and pasted this out of my ‘recently played’ list: Adriana Evans, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Taylor Dayne, Boney M., Imagination, Eddy Grant, The Dooleys, Cameo, The Police, Sade, Jellybean, Laura Branigan, Innocence, Glenn Frey, Donna Gardier, Chaka Khan, Bobby Womack, Anna Krantz, Barry Manilow, Voyage, Rosie Gaines, Sweetback, Stephanie Mills, and Dr. Hook.
I listened to a few 80s Groove and 80s Soul Weekender albums, too. But they haven’t shown up in the list for some reason.
Oh, and I’ve been exercising to a special episode of Top of the Pops, with ‘big hits’ from 1979.
14. Writing about Medium earnings and statistics 📊
My Medium statistics have been all over the place in December and January, with 55 times more earnings and 26 times more reads on the best vs worst days.
I’m not sure whether to write about it in detail. I have seen remarks from some Medium writers who think such articles are rather crass. On the other hand, others find them insightful.
Something unusual has happened recently.
Since the start of January, I have had 607 new followers! That’s way more than usual! Many have no profile photo or bio, and I get the feeling very few of them have read a single one of my stories, so I’m not sure what is going on.
At the same time, my daily reads and earnings numbers have crashed. I can only blame myself for that; I’m slow to get back into Medium this month, after the Christmas break.
This super-long article isn’t going to help my statistics, either! 😆
15. I hope Pamela Oglesby is alright 💛
Pamela has not posted any stories on Medium since 21 December 2023. Trisha Faye posted in a Facebook group about this, and nobody seems to have heard from her.
Pamela, we’re all thinking about you and your husband, and sending our best wishes.
Medium Stories
(Click the titles below to read them on Medium.)
This or That Questions and Answers About the Five Senses
Do my answers make sense? (I couldn’t resist! 😆)
If this is question 1, I dread to think what question 10 will be like! 😂
Perhaps it’s the Christmas break, or perhaps I’m still sleepy after Covid, but I’ve found it hard to get back into writing this month.
This time last year, I was publishing daily in response to writing prompts. It’s been a while since I did a This or That piece, so I jumped at this one. It felt good to write without overthinking!
(Hopefully, I’ll not regret it!)
Weird Workplace Stories 33: Employing Random People
I was one of the random people, and I ended up impacting the life of another
A thousand thoughts flashed through my mind. After all my years of working for John, and all the weird things that had happened, would I want to subject someone else to any of that?
It’s hard to believe that I did not publish any stories in my Weird Workplace series during 2023.
In my newer articles, I have been using sentence case for subheadings, but in my old Weird Workplace stories, I used title case. I chose to be consistent within the series by continuing to use title case.
Substack Story
I decided to start publishing stories on Substack for paid subscribers; maybe around one a week to start with. Given that it’s a very small audience right now, I plan to republish them on Medium about 4 weeks later. Here is the first one:
That’s all for this week.
As always, thank you for reading, and see you next time!
Alan 💛
(I know… I hear you saying, “What do you mean, ‘That’s all’?! I don’t think it could have been any longer if you tried!)
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