Just Another Day in the Life of Daniel Nardini

By Daniel Nardini

[The following pretty much describes how my days might go. It certainly is better than another angry political diatribe]

11:00 a.m. Would have gotten up sooner, but had to go to the emergency room of the hospital yesterday because I thought I was having a heart issue. It turned out that I had a mild form of food poisoning which drove my heart rate way up. Won’t be eating at that restaurant anymore! The restaurant did say that they were having supply chain issues, and apparently they got in a bad batch of food ingredients. After staggering out of bed, I got ready to take my wife to work. Her job totally exhausts her, and I simply do not want her to drive because she might fall asleep at the wheel.

2:30 p.m. Dropped off my wife at work. She seemed more awake than usual which is good because she has to take care of people with mental disabilities which keeps her on her toes. She loves to care for them. I head to the hospital cafeteria to get something to eat. Their food is good, cheap and safe, and yes they are happy to see me again pretty much alive since I was discharged from the hospital.

3:30 p.m.After eating I went to my favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner later tonight. At least I know they cook the food to death so I will not get food poisoning. Then I headed to the Dollar Tree. Just as I entered the door handle fell off. Fortunately it missed me and fell to the floor. When I got in, I told Marcus, one of the store employees I know, that the door handle had fallen off and he should remove it before anyone else comes in and trips on it. Even though Dollar Tree had to raise their prices, the store does not always have the money to do repairs such as fix the leaks in the ceiling or the doors. I bought some frozen and packaged food for my wife and me, and as I got to the check-out counter, a former Iraq War veteran whom I had seen many times before did not have enough money to pay for everything he needed. He was short one dollar. I paid the dollar. It was better than him going all the way back home just to get one dollar.

5:00 p.m. Went to the CVS Pharmacy to order insulin I will need in about two weeks. Last time, they did not get my insulin, and I had to suffer for five days without it. I just barely managed to get it at another pharmacy. I count myself lucky because I was told there was a waiting list for at least ten other people who badly needed the same insulin. Like everything else, it was a supply chain issue. There was a partially disabled old lady waiting in line for her medications. I let her go ahead of me; I have been in pain many a times before and really hated to wait in line when I felt I could not stand. Bought myself some sugar free candy and left.

6:00-10:30 p.m. Rested at home. Deleted all e-mails from the Republican Party asking for money. I am not a member and I want to have nothing to do with them. Saw the most recent Yahoo News bit on U.S. President Joe Biden calling former president Donald Trump and his followers “the greatest threat to democracy.” That’s rich coming from him! It was just a little over a half-year ago that Biden tried to force companies to have all of their employees vaccinated regardless of their religious convictions, regardless of what the U.S. Constitution says he could and could not do, and whether people may have had special conditions to why they could not get vaccinated. This stopped only because the U.S. Supreme Court said no to his forced mandates. As I was eating my Chinese food I was working on commentary and my upcoming books. As I wrote my commentary, I asked myself why can’t the politicians stop fighting each other along party lines and put their differences aside and do something for the good of the country?

11:00-11:30 p.m. Drove to pick up my wife. I had to be careful of some neighborhoods because they were not safe especially at night. She was as expected exhausted. She slept in the mini-van as I drove her home. She showered, had something to eat, and then went to bed. She will be off for two days starting tomorrow.

12:00 midnight to ???? I wrote a long e-mail to my close friend Russ. He has lived in Taiwan for 33 years with his Taiwanese wife, and they have built a life for themselves there. Recently, his wife had inherited her father’s tea farm, and Russ told me they spend a lot of them time working on it. During the Chinese military maneuvers around Taiwan’s waters, he and his wife saw the Chinese missiles flying over Taiwan. Scary stuff. I lived in Taiwan with Russ and two other close friends back in the 1990’s, and we still keep in touch through zoom meetings. The last time I saw Russ in person was in 2015. I hope and pray that China never touches Taiwan just as I hope Ukraine eventually wins the war against Russia. I just watched youtube videos until the wee hours of the morning……………….

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Overall, I count myself lucky. I have a nice home, a loving and devoted wife, and we have despite the inflation problem enough money so we are not going hungry. We are able to pay our bills, and on rare occasions I am able to take my wife out for a nice lunch or dinner. I receive my Social Security, however small an amount that is. Despite what the government has promised, I have received no adjustment on the monthly amount I get due to inflation. But like everything else in my life, I have learned to turn a disadvantage into an advantage. Because my wife’s income is good, I am able to save all of my Social Security. Every now and then, I go to see officer John, one of the local policemen in the town I live in. He was a veteran stationed in Germany during the Cold War, and financially he and his wife are doing well. He feels bad for those vets who fought in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars because many of them where we live barely have enough money to rent cheap housing and barely eat at all. They are the lucky ones however as there are many vets who are homeless. We have both seen how much people where we live are suffering, and struggle in an almost hopeless situation. We both ask ourselves why those in power are too busy fighting among each other while not doing anything for ordinary people?! At this point in time, all I am asking for is having a good day, or at least not a bad day.

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