[tg] my status

[William Ackerman <wbackerman gmail com>]

It has come to my attention that my huge message about my status didn't 
go out to all the recipients it should have gone to.  My apologies.

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This is my long-delayed mail in answer to all the questions of the form 
"How are you doing?"  It is being sent to my various friends, mostly in 
the bridge-playing and square-dancing worlds.

Since those worlds don't necessarily know each other, here is a very 
quick summary.  I am a duplicate bridge player of very little note--I 
play in the "bridge base online" tournaments, and I used to play in 
face-to-face duplicate clubs.  I am also a high-level square dancer of 
world-class note, though I've been largely retired from actual square 
dancing for a couple of years.  I am perhaps best known as the author of 
arguably the most well-known software program for writing high-level 
square dance choreography, used by elite callers around the world.

ACT 1

A few years ago my sense of balance started deteriorating, and then, in 
mid-2022, I had a catastrophic failure of my vestibular system.  It has 
been diagnosed as a Lacunar Infarct of the Cerebellum, that is, a 
micro-stroke.  People use three sources of information to move their 
bodies safely---the eyes, the proprioception in the feet, and the 
vestibular system in the brain.  In my case the all-important vestibular 
system doesn't work.  I can't take two steps with my eyes closed.

ACT 2

In June 2022 I was taken to Lahey Hospital in Burlington, Massachusetts, 
and then spent a few weeks at the Palm Canter rehab facility in 
Chelmsford, mostly learning how to use a walker and how to move around.  
It became clear that I would never again live in my apartment in 
Billerica.  An internet search found the Billerica Crossings assisted 
living facility a short distance from my apartment.  (In fact, I used to 
drive past it frequently.)  I signed the papers, and arranged the move 
of my furniture and belongings to Billerica Crossings, in absentia, from 
my hospital bed at the rehab center.

ACT 3

Living in an assisted living facility was a dreary and depressing 
situation.  On the plus side, meals and laundry are taken care of.  And 
I have a reasonable one-bedroom apartment with decent closet space, 
about 10 bookcases, a table, desk, chairs, computers, good internet 
connection, reasonable transportation to shopping, etc.  A reasonable 
situation as far as that goes.  On the minus side, aside from being 
profoundly depressing, assisted living facilities constantly try to 
entice the residents into wasting their time with utterly mindless "make 
work" activities aimed at people of low intellect.  Time passes more 
slowly, for various reasons, which is maddening for an impatient "type 
A" person such as myself.  The intellectual level of the other residents 
was appalling.  Attempts to find any bridge players at Billerica 
Crossings, or anyone interested in learning it, were unsuccessful.

On the plus side, I haven't needed my walker for quite some time.  I can 
get around passably well, holding on to the railing when going up or 
down stairs.

I knew essentially nothing about the various types of facilities for 
elderly people, other than the fact that such places have dedicated 
"memory care" facilities for people with dementia.

I had not yet begun to ponder the question "Where do smart people go 
when they retire?" but this oversight was beginning to enter my 
consciousness.

ACT 4

In October 2023 there was a major fire at Billerica Crossings, and we 
(about 65 of us) all had to move to other facilities.  We spent the 
whole night confined to the dining hall (not affected by the fire) while 
the powers that be scrambled to find other places that we could move to, 
and others went upstairs and ransacked our apartments, gathering what 
essential things they could find.  Our minimal belongings were stuffed 
into leaf bags, that we took with us on the bus in the middle of the 
night.  My apartment had been at the South end of the building, 
undamaged by fire or water.  The North end of the building suffered 
serious water damage.  We have still not been back there.

After a few days in a hotel I and several others (we were the "Billerica 
12") were moved to the Ashland Farm assisted living facility in North 
Andover.  As bad as Billerica Crossings was, Ashland Farm is vastly 
worse in just about every respect.  It is horrible, abominable, and 
abhorrent.  There are the expected and unavoidable problems---I am 
without my furniture, books, and belongings.  But in addition to that, 
the intellectual and physical abilities of the other residents are 
noticeably lower.  I don't mean to sound unsympathetic; I'm willing to 
help people less well off than myself, but I don't like being treated 
like a hospital patient.

The corridors are narrow, making it difficult to pass a wheelchair, and 
people just stop in the hallway in their wheelchairs, apparently waiting 
for an employee to push them.

Most of the people here are morons!  They spend an inordinate amount of 
time talking about when the next bingo game is.  The powers that be try 
to fill our days with mindless activities; it requires constant 
vigilance to avoid being caught up in this.  The activities often 
involve the kinds of puzzles that I remember from children's magazines, 
or that one might find on placemats in child-friendly restaurants.  Some 
are attached below.  And there are "Feel good sing-alongs" where we can 
all sing things like "Red River Valley" or "Take Me Out to the Ball Game".

Residents of assisted living facilities normally provide their own 
furniture.  In the case of the "Billerica 12", nearly all our belongings 
were left behind, so they had to scrounge up what they could.  I have a 
studio apartment with a kitchenette, micro-fridge, microwave, bed, 
bureau, nightstand, and lounge chair.  I have no desk or desk chair.  My 
"desk" is a cardboard carton next to the lounge chair, with my laptop on 
my lap.  My printer is not here, and I have no access to any other 
printer. My cable setup is not here, and I have to use the building-wide 
public wifi, which is overloaded and unreliable.  I sometimes can't get 
to my internet bridge games.

ACT 5

But there's a light at the end of the tunnel!  More options are 
available to me than I was aware of in 2022.  The landscape of places 
where seniors can live is actually quite varied.  There is an answer to 
the question "Where do smart people go for their 'golden years'"?  I 
have been investigating various "senior living" or "independent living" 
communities.  One of them has 15 residents with a Ph.D. from MIT.

The investigation is continuing.  But I have to get back to Billerica 
Crossings first, to get my belongings.  This probably won't be until 
August.  That's 10 months!