Shots from the Lip

 It's cold again - It might be in the mid-60s(F) but it sure as hell feels lower than that - at least my hands tell me I'm cold, cold enough to even think of not playing piano today.......I played but my hands are still cold. Yesterday, before class, I walked past the street musician on the south side of the street, in back of the street market.  Then, prior to class, I sat in the sun, at the end of our cliffside view of the Pacific.......if you enlarge that view, you'll also see a squirrel, sunning him/herself. Lunch was at my old 'standby', Barney's Beanery, where, if you know how they work it, you can get a whole lot more by actually reading the menu and choosing what is included and what they'll tag on an additional charge.   Good double burger with hash browns for a very reasonable price......and the seating on a day that few really want to come out as it started out sunny but got worse, is comfortable and conducive to  a long lunch over food with an eb...

 9 brief sessions x 3 repetitions:  that's the Valeda program.  $6,500 for a program approved by the FDA but not eligible for government payments........hope for dry AMD that I seem to have genetically inherited.   I started last year......today the second 9 session cycle began.  8am at 2021 Santa Monica Blvd, 7th floor.  I started with eye sight testing:  20-25 for each eye......quite acceptable for an old fart!  Then, right eye first with a 30 second, eye open, flashing lights followed by 90 seconds, 'infrared heat' and eye closed......one repetition and then the same with the left eye.......three times this week and then, two more weeks before months off prior to the last 3 week session. After 5 days of summer-like weather, with temperatures reaching 29C, it is currently warmer in the mornings than it has been but also projections show that the high's - at least early this week - will be 20C......not yet time to have my Dodger jacket clean...

The front entry clothes rack:  3 bike shirts to the wash......I'll keep with three shirts to use during the 2 or 3 days during the week that I get out on my bike. Not as hot out as yesterday.....more runners out to slow things down....but nice as most of the path I travel has now been cleared of the rain damage from last week.  Today was nice......and hopefully, there'll be summer weather instead of winter cold. Today I hope to finally get some use out of my Rollei 35AF........I now know what I want to do with my Leitz Phone 2........in essence, replicated from the Sharp Android phone manufactured for sales in Japan in 2022 to Xiaomi's Leica phone - that looks and has the specs of my white, shiney bodied phone, only in black matte 

 It was 15C at 8am when I rode this Saturday morning.  It is 27C at 11:58am.  I walked to Ralphs after breakfast and had to shed both the black thermal long sleeved shirt and the Dodgers short sleeved Hawaiian style shirt (which is too large for me, anyway). Lunch soon......and after, a nap and a walk, ending by 3:30pm, in anticipation of my monthly weed delivery.  The cost savings this way is phenomenal......and the system is reliable - it works quite conveniently.   Only additional needs:  some gummies for Friday's Disney LA Phil........ I am re-reading Fahrenheit 451.  Ray Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 in 1953.  I read it 66 years ago and am re-reading it for my literature class.  It is far,far,far,far more than science fiction.....and so fucking allegorical.......If you've never read it or have previously read it over a decade ago, I recommend it if you have time........ Have a great day!

 I was out this morning (Thursday - no school) with the temperature at 13C.  It is projected to reach 25C today.....and there is no rain in sight....summer seems to have arrived! It is 11:18am on an amazing Friday morning:  it is already 28 C outside and it'll likely hit 30 today! The sections of the bike paths along the beach that I ride have been (more or less) cleared of the debris and sand that, because of the strong rain, screwed up the paths completely last week.  Riding, late for me today, was an absolute delight as there were a few runners and a few bike riders but no more than a few and it was truly a relaxing ride today. I closed out credit cards set to Apple Pay this morning - There are small billings I cannot trace and the sad fact is that this company does not even really want to speak with their customer base - one there's a bill, it will be there in perpetuity - or until one closes the account (impossible without any clue from Apple how to do so..........

 43 pages for a simple, Federal return - that is the death knell of the IRS - a simple return ain't simple.  Given a 'similar' set of circumstance in any other major western country, the return - in that country's language - will be fewer pages and the individual would likely be able to complete it all his or herself - I guarantee it! Class today at (as Katherine calls it, The Diaper Brigade) SMC  65 online, 10 of us in class:  9 women and me.  What will attendance be like for the two classes tomorrow? I had so much I anticipated writing on the blog today......no motivation.....such is life.....that's all for today, anyone out there reading this.....