Shots from the Lip

 The temperature shown on my watch might have been 25 at 11am....it was not!  It was windy and chilly and I only rolled up my long sleeves upon getting off the E Line at 7th Street where I went to 5 Guys for a hot dog lunch prior to walking to 5th Street and the old Crocker Bank Building for The Last Book Store's 'pop-up' flea market covering all 12 floors of the facility. My oh my did it sound like a fantastic thing.......if they only know how to coordinate something like this - which they sadly did not.......had they put it on 3 floors, packing those floors, there'd have been crowds getting to all the sellers.  As it was, I only made it to 4 floors and probably missed things on those floors as there was virtually no sense of marketing or getting people into a more receptive mood. Yesterday, going to meet Paul in DTLA, the E Line car was packed with those going to the Coliseum for a US World Cup game.  Today, going home from Spring Street and DTLA, the E Line car wa...

 It looked like there was an error made (mine or theirs?) with Schwab and our account there.  I took a BBB#1 at St John's Hospital downtown, getting off at Lincoln for a short walk to Schwab where the three, pretty kids working there assured me that the check I brought for deposit at the end of last week,  will clear today (why hasn't it, earlier)............ Anyhow, from there I had a task in Beverly Hills - I caught the Metro #720 at Wilshire and 14th in Santa Monica and went to Rodeo Drive.  From there, I walked to Santa Monica Blvd in Beverly Hills and took the Metro #4, which runs along Santa Monica Blvd, directly home. It is now close to 3pm and I am taking it easy the rest of the day as I do Sweet Dreams volunteer work at the hospital tonight......

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).