Shots from the Lip

A national chicken chain has just entered Santa Monica:  Raising Cane, a place that specializes in tender, juicy but firm chicken inside a crispy crust......this is true finger licking stuff.....but not at those prices......or the crowds of kids, wanting to be the first on their block to experience a national chain's debut....... Today was the final day of classes for the spring semester.....I wonder how long my student Tap card will be active until I have to renew it??? 

There were 6 of us in class today for the final session of the semester - 5 women and me.  We went over the final sections of Catch 22. I got out of it something that none of the other attendees got out of it:  how to rationally survive the bureaucratic lunacy of the military, where self-serving/seeking officers stumbled through to such an extent that the folly one might have thought Heller's Catch 22 was, was not folly - it was sadly, damned true! Want to survive Army basic training?  Volunteer for KP!  They'll leave you alone in this task as it is by far the most vital there is- feeding all the others! Class over.......Heller' sequel, Closing Time, 33 years later, is a book I do want to read! 

Libby, the Library App and my Santa Monica Public Library card were all I need, along with a re-charged iPad Mini 4, purchased in September, 2015:  I can now download and read-expanding font size as necessary-The New Yorker on a weekly basis!! I have a phone call scheduled with Joanna later this afternoon.  After, I will go -either to Barney's Beanery or the pub at 23d and Wilshire- to watch the Knicks-Spurs game 3 of the NBA finals...... .......and we have not yet heard from the City of Santa Monica regarding the trees for which we are in violation,.......I sure hope they are having fun, figuring out to do with my 4 page letter......! 

 I took a morning walk, first, going to Trader Joe's for a pineapple....then I shirted up for a morning ride, a degree (C) warmer because of the delay in getting out but also, because it was overcast, there were fewer out and about half way through the bike paths I no longer had anyone blocking the path and I rode faster, solo, the rest of the ride......I loved it!! I have more reading prior to  the final Novel class on Tuesday.  Today is a perfect day to binge read!  It is 12:10pm and while the watch shows 21C outside, it definitely feels colder.  I am listening to - and occasionally watching a Paris National Opera performance of Magic Flute.  I am seeing it at the Music Center on the 21st of this month (7 June today) and while I've seen it before (last time was at Covent Garden with Joanna - 2009???  2010???), it is always good to do a refresher, first.....no sub-titles here.....but the second act is better (to me) than act 1).

We've got a 12:30pm lunch at Gilbert's for a party of 7.  Only Gilbert's doesn't take reservations.....so I will leave home around 11:15am to get there early and sit at our empty table there, holding it until every one of the 7 arrives......but will there only be six????? Guess who will not show.....  OK - there were 7 of us.....turned out to be a very pleasant afternoon!

37 years ago, today I was in Chengdu, across the street from the Jin Jiang Hotel, hoping that the student protesters, wanting to set the hotel on fire, were successful.   They were not....... Regardless, here it is, close to 4 decades later and the living is easy here in Santa Monica, California.  Did I ever anticipate returning to live back in the States?  Not really.  But we have adapted to life here quite well!  This morning I had a bank appointment to re-invest one of our CDs.  After, I walked to Schwab to fund our investment account.  Then, at home, I did some other necessary activities and now, after an afternoon nap (post lunch), I am ready to read and sketch and play some music!