Senior Citizen Solaces

View from the “Old Folks Home” in Waikiki

The weather in Hawai’i has been very warm for over a week. The evenings have also been warm, which necessitated the deployment of the air conditioner in the mausoleum at the “old folks home” in Waikiki.

Even with the favorable temperature, there has been no desire to venture out, even in Waikiki. Well, what is there to do in Waikiki? It’s essentially a shopping mall. There’s no desire to patronize the extremely expensive, albeit mediocre, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. The beach was once a favored evening walking destination, but with all of tourists milling about … no thanks.

Hotel room rates in Waikiki have exceeded $340 per night, according to local sources. That’s a ridiculous amount of money for what is offered. Yet, the fools keep coming here for a cheesy “theme park” experience.

Well, enough of that bullshit. More personal sitrep nonsense is in order. The mind has been very close to snapping frequently as of late. Being sequestered in the mausoleum all evening, every evening, (with the air conditioner running) is the root cause. The experience can be likened to residing in an “old folks home.” Well, this is an “old folks home,” for Molech’s sake!

Another aspect of the onslaught of psychosis is the obsession with “pinching pennies.” For example, coffee had to be purchased at 7-Eleven for 50 cents more this morning because the coffee maker at the fast food joint “conked out.” Immense irritation ensued, along with a significant decrease in patience. Anything stupid could have triggered a homicidal rampage. Of course, dealing with massive incompetence (such as the on-going FOIA inaction) keeps low-level rage simmering in the subconscious.

What to make of the tightwad, miser bullshit? In the old days, the latter was described as being a “mendicant monk.” At nearly 68 years of age, this kind of bullshit needs to end. Well, there’s always the fear of running out of money way before death. Obviously, a justifiable concern. As stated previously in Notes, a rough calculation indicated that funds would be depleted in ten years if $40,000 were spent every year. As of today, the current outlay is about $10,000 per year with the meager retirement benefits supplementing the latter.

Of course, as an old codger, there is no reason to purchase anything unless a justifiable need is evident to replace any existing possessions. Useless possessions need no replacement. Superfluous purchases are unnecessary, as such purchases are either of the “feel good” or “bragging rights” categories. In addition, with so many entities going “woke,” there are far fewer venues to choose from.

By the way, residing in the mausoleum is a really boring experience. There is no widescreen OLED tube and no cable-TV subscription. Why pay good money for a lobotomizing experience? The iPhone 12 is the only source of “entertainment” and knowledge, as it were. Yet, access to anything mainstream (read: propaganda bullhorns) has been mummified. There are no third-party “apps” installed. Only the Web browser is used for Net interactions, and it has aggressive advertising blocking extensions installed. Of course, as many more sites reveal their “woke” undertones, they are immediately removed from the acceptable list. Sadly, that list has dwindled down to nearly nothing. Soon, the only option will be pornographic sites. Baha! Ha! Ha! Haaa!

On a side note, many people have expressed amazement over the personal workout regimen at the gym with no day off. The workouts are not really that strenuous, and include strength (i.e., weights) and cardio sessions daily with an added emphasis on full range of motion. Of course, the current workout plan is nearly identical to that of 15 years ago. The body really doesn’t need a day off, mainly because the modern life-style is so sedentary.

Lots of observations of fellow senior citizens at the gym have ensued. And, there have been many concerns. Are senior citizens only capable of handling about five or ten pounds of resistance? Is a cardio session of five minutes on the recumbent cycle machine at slow speed really all that senior citizens can do? Yes, that’s pretty much what senior citizens in the same age group and up are doing for workouts.

As stated previously in Notes, strong muscles are needed to support the skeletal structure (read: bones). Excess weight, osteoporosis, and weak muscles contribute to hideous skeletal deformations such as bowleg, hunchback, and asymmetric anomalies. Thus every effort must be made to maintain muscle strength and definition. For senior citizens, muscle atrophy will occur in about two or three weeks of inactivity. That was personally proven during the first “lockdown” of the “super-duper corona” plan-demic. All muscle definition and striations shockingly disappeared and maximum strength decreased almost 50 percent.

Again, in observing senior citizens with most being in their seventies, a lot of skeletal deformations were apparent. A few of them have difficulty walking, often accomplishing ambulation by shuffling or waddling. This is definitely not “quality of life,” and there’s just no way that can be personally tolerated. So, what to do? Voluntarily “check out” early? Well, if that’s the case, money worries won’t be an issue.