Doggie Paddling in Deep Water

THEY say the way to keep your mind young is to learn new things. THEY may be right but some new things are more fun than others. No jury duty today so I thought I'd go in to my job and get a head start on a big job awaiting me. I was greeted with disproportionate surprised delight -- a bad sign. A new job had come in and it was in "a little different format." Yeah! Instead of being in Word for Windows it was in Excel [ I am so unfamiliar I'm probably spelling ir wrong].
Well, Sonya was as kind and helpful as possible but I felt like the kid who's sadistic father has said, "Come'on, Kiddo, I'll teach you how to swim. We'll just go out in the boat to the middle of the lake ..." SPLASH! Throws the kid in without a life vest. "Swim!" Dad says and paddles off. I have ZERO technical knowledge about any computer program. I don't even WANT more knowledge than I need to do the work I want to do. But here I was faced with a moderately complex job that, in the program I use, would have been interesting. Excel was a nightmare. Glub-glub-glub ...

I admit that I am not one to suffer in silence at work. Boring jobs get loud groans, funny stuff has to be shared and frustrating stuff brings for serious calls for help and complaint. It was not an easy day for anyone around me -- I should apologize but if I were drowning in that lake, you can bet I'd holler my head off for the lifeguard.
Well, I began to get the hang of it, but the computer itself was not cooperating very well. I plugged on until I was too wrung out to continue. By then it was raining -- appropriately! I was so generally zonked that I blanked and missed the 96th Street stop on the subway, found myself at 103rd Street and had to walk 10 blocks ... by which time it was not only pouring hard but the street corners were all two- to three-inch deep rushing torrents.
As THEY say, into every life a little rain ... So I had a dinner of Midwestern comfort food -- ham, butter beans ... etc. and a Weight Watchers eclair!! That helped A LOT. But I've activated a bunch of brain cells that might have been on the verge of atrophy. I wonder if I've decreased the days of dementia my eventual nursing home caretakers will have to endure.
By the way -- the pictures herewith: They are, at the top, a summer lightening storm, and the second is a steady rain {in lazy daisy stitch]. These are from the Daily Diary of my lovely 65th year ... which I'll write about one of these days.