Unloading the cargo ship. We essentially finished yesterday, especially after learning about the letters at the bottom. Down there we also found packs of apples, tomatoes, and cottage cheese with strawberries. We thanked them for the products, especially the onion and garlic — those are a deficit here. But regular-cut bread didn’t work out. Doesn’t taste right anymore, and the crumbs are trouble. Better the usual one-bite mini-loaves.

In the morning I got a bit wound up with the comm operator. Fuel transfer is underway, and he’s talking about other things. Now we’ve finished transferring water from the cargo ship to the station’s “Rodnik.” We planted two decorative tulip bulbs and admired the flowers they sent. An interesting moment I hadn’t noticed before: when sitting, if you’re not holding onto something, your arms float up and hang before you as if resting on an invisible table; to lower them you need muscle effort or something to grip.

We listened to the latest news. Watched the video recordings — good ones this time — and off to bed. Tomorrow is an early start; morning observations of our planet, and my planned wake-up time sits in my head like a guard — if I decide to wake at 5 or 6, I always do, though we also back ourselves up with the alarm clock on the instrument panel.

I thought about why there’s so much insincerity. It’s probably a defensive reaction toward a society that can’t guarantee justice. My condition isn’t bad, but apathy is setting in. It has intruded and now stands beside me like an enemy. Only work and more work will provide protection, give purpose and spirits and flight.