Shots from the Lip

 Fridays on a monthly basis - 9 of them throughout the year.  11am LA Phil concerts. Sundays too - 5 operas throughout the year - 2pm matinees.   13 days on my own. After my 8am AMD treatment at 2021 Santa Monica Blvd, I walked towards the 26th Street Metro E Line station, stopping at the outdoor tables at Universal Music to have a protein bar for breakfast prior to my DTLA ride.  I anticipated my Grand Ave/Arts exit and a brief walk around the Broad Museum to the Disney.  It wasn't as brief or as simple to do this time:  They are expanding the Broad, closing paths and substituting detours, only one of which was walkable.  One can't walk?  There are busses.......and this will be through the end of the season - such is life.....it could be worse....... Regardless, an out door $3.50 cup of coffee (and a gummy) were consumed before going in and up to my seat (same as all prior this year as a season ticket holder) and experiencing Beethoven unlik...

 Finally, after close to two years of going to Santa Monica College, I visited the main campus this morning.  I regularly go to the Emeritus campus on 2d Street in Santa Monica, just south of Wilshire.  I've gone to the Airport Campus for my comedy workshop and to the theatre arts complex at Santa Monica Blvd and 11th Street.......so it was time to see the main campus. I took the 1 bus to Santa Monica Place and transferred to the 7 which took me directly to the main campus.  I got there early - while Emeritus opens at 8am, nothing really opened at the student center until 9am.  But once open, there was assistance to set me up with a tap card based upon my student data.  Now, at $22.50 a semester, I have access to public transportation throughout Los Angeles County.......even cheaper than my senior card!!!

 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!