Shots from the Lip

 For pure curiosity sake, I pressed an AI button on Word.  Based upon my title, the following was generated as an essay.   Interesting but the fact remains that it has absolutely nothing to do with the topic I choose to write about.  Thus, to whoever may be reading this, please note that what follows in italics I had absolutely no part of other than pressing the button after typing my title.    No, I haven't read this yet - I will, now, though.......and then, after reading, I will type what I want to type to go along with the title that AI assumed I wanted to write about.......... Facing Reality: No Hunger for Night Activities A Quiet Surrender to the Evening Hours There comes a time in many lives when the gleam of the city’s nocturne, once an irresistible siren call, loses its shine. The world after sunset—once bursting with invitation, laughter, and a swirling sense of possibility—now stands quietly beyond reach, like distant music you can no lon...

 No, there was absolutely nothing written yesterday (Sunday).  It is now Monday morning at 8:37am.  I was already out to get Katherine a hot breakfast from the St John's cafeteria which she will have as lunch after her volunteer work today at the hospital's infusion center.  She'll bring home a free Starbucks coffee to go with that $4.09 (after discount) breakfast that I picked up for her this morning.  At this price, it makes sense to do St John's cafeteria breakfasts far more frequently - both of us! Me today?  I will go to the Culver City offices of Coinbase to get 'tutoring'.  I fear that I probably will be stuck in having to wire transfer from Chase directly to them for funding - that's why I go today - if I can make small direct deposits, I prefer it......we'll see.........ultimately, I want some stablecoin/ETFs as a 'hedge' against so many, many things........

 Once upon a time I spent a whole lot of time downtown - DTLA.   The was before there was even a section of the city known as DTLA.  In the early 60s, as a student in L.A., I had a part time job for an office equipment leasing company that was located on Spring Street, then, the primary business street of Los Angeles.   I took the E Line to 7th Street and then walked past Grand (and Botega Louie) Avenue to Spring Street.  I passed Clifton's Cafeteria - with that picture showing up on my phone but not the computer - and the jewelry district, getting to what was formerly the legal and financial business centre of LA.  Those buildings are now lofts and some of them look quite interesting for a home conveniently located if one works in that area.  I also passed The Last Book Store - not there when I was there but definitely a place worthy of going back to - best used book store I've seen - in the US!!! Phillipe's has a better french dip than Cole...

 The first three are self-explanatory - our excursion to Cole's a few days ago........and the last picture is the stage at Trip, where I tentatively plan to do an open mic on 4 August..... OK!!  While Cole's is fresh in my mind, I want to go back there on Monday morning......taking the 720 Metro Bus from 26th St and Wilshire Blvd, to 6th and Main.  From there, I'll walk back a block to Spring Street and then go on Spring, passing City Hall, going through Little Tokyo and eventually winding up at Philippe's, which is open as a restaurant all day long.   I'll then compare:  who is better - Philippe's or Cole's.  The former, the favorite of Dick Ellwood and me - probably because there was parking readily available and it was open at 'regular' hours.  The latter, a bar that served sandwiches.......both started in 1908 but 2 August is the last day of Cole's operations at its original location - as a legal bar, a speakeasy and back to being a late afte...

 I went to my local AMC theatre last time as they were well into their national advertising campaign to reduce prices on Wednesday in hope of drawing more people in the afternoons.  Only the promotion would begin two weeks later, after the advertising campaign and I wound up paying ~$15+ for a ticket.  Today  $8;90. I saw Superman.  I should have gone to see something at the arthouse movie theatre......such is life. Thursday evening, O'Brien's will have another stand-up comedy night.  They are two blocks from home.  This time I'll go..... Musings re Cole's.......I passed by the place lots of time although I never went there to eat.  Dick Ellwood and I loved to go to Philippe's for their French dips.   Going by Spring Street, yesterday, was sad.  I do recall being on Spring Street in the 60s and 70s - it was a vibrant section of the city and host to the most prestigious tax a law firms.   Now it is a ghost town and I can se...

The initial challenge for me yesterday was whether I was 'hungry' enough to want to go out last night to an open mic night at a Santa Monica bar.  I was sufficiently hungry/motivated.  I took the #1 bus to Pico on 4th, got off and crossed the street to catch the #3 bus on  Pico off of 4th, one stop to Lincoln and from there, walked to The Trip. I did my one and only stand-up gig at the Improv.  That's major league.  The trip?  Lower level Class A - truly near the bottom after starting out at the top.  There were no comics there last night but a whole bunch of singers/musicians.  There were about 15 at The Trip while I was there.  Were those there 'receptive' to a comedian?  I believe so - if there are 4 or 5 musicians who would appear before me - and a whole bunch after.........my position in the order of appearance obviously will make a difference.   I've started rehearsing and will soon write to replace those portions of my i...

 I went on a Metro hike yesterday, choosing between the A and E Lines - deciding upon the E Line and after getting off, downtown LA for a piece of pizza at Sbarro, I chose the E Line and took the trip - a remaining 7 stations - to Atlantic Blvd.   This short trip was truly an 'eye opener'!  East Los Angeles is Mexican - completely.  I was, perhaps, the only gringo walking the shopping center near the E Line terminus.   There are 18 stations on the A Line from downtown LA to Azusa.  I've ridden by 10 of them.  Next time I hope to go all the way to Azusa and thus complete the A Line as well as having completed the E Line.  After?   The San Fernando Valley! Coles, the originator of the French Dip sandwich, open from 3-midnight on 6th Street, 117 years old, closes on 2 August.  I will try to go there this week. I've eliminated Stormy Weather from my harmonica playlist - too dificult to learn right now.  I'll concentrate o...

Every so often, I write a long essay.   This is the first half of my projected long essay.  Both halves will be on this blog but the first half will also be in an email to the remaining 14:  Once there were hundreds on my email list.  Today that list is down to 14 (including family).....and I anticipate that this number will also decrease over time. Once I thrived on email.  Now I want to minimize it along with eventually eliminating my phone - I rarely use it.  I still have the need to express myself and I do it in this blog, a brief (most of the time) commentary that is close to but not always daily. If you choose, you can occasionally comment on the blog - that would be nice to show me you too are still alive!  Anyway, if you want the second half of the following first half of a rare essay from me, you'll have to go to the blog as I will not email it......Cheers!!  LL  20 July 25  Santa Monica, CA It was during my May, 2019 daddy...

 There are a few times in my life where my back gave out and the pain was severe. I was truly incapacitated during those times - literally and figuratively flat on my ass and one of those times I couldn't even wipe my ass.  Obviously I never want to be in that situation again and while I did not think that carrying around my Amazon Fire in its keyboard case as virtually the only thing in my Japanese back pack was heavy enough to cause a back problem, it looks like I was wrong - two days ago I carried the Fire.  Yesterday I stayed home all day long, applying the ointment Joanna helped me find when I was in Tokyo.  I probably should not have sat in front of my computer as much as I did, yesterday, but I did - such is life - and at least I was able to go out with our suitcase on wheels - going this morning, before 8:30am, to Trader Joe's for a yellow watermelon, the choice pick of 22 by the Trader Joe produce man in front, this morning. I finally heard again from Kraken...

 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/18/business/truemed-fsa-hsa-calley-means-maha.html?unlocked_article_code=1.XU8.bnZX.bwMDjHbJTzGt&smid=url-share Re the above:  editorial comment withheld......how pathetic is it going to get? OK:  I really should not be carrying anything in a back pack for an extended period of time because my back simply cannot handle it.  I had my Amazon Fire, in its keyboard case, in my Japanese back pack on Wednesday.  In essence, something quite light.  Alas, I suffered yesterday and today I will stay indoors - and this will be difficult - I always want to go out - but my problem lies solely within a bad back that I have to start taking better care of......especially if I want to get back to doing a stand-up comic routine........ And that is my short term goal - getting back to doing a stand-up gig!  Today I will do all my 'preliminary' reading.  Tomorrow I will start watching my 17 May gig and will start writing and revis...

 I had a choice and I opted for a bus to West L.A. and the Laemmle Royal Theatre.  Now that AMC has finally started offering the 50% Wednesday discount that they've been advertising for a month (duping people like me to pay full price before they incepted their promotion - shame on them!), I assume that the Man of Steel will be show next week if I don't care for either of the two options I have at the Royal. A Land Unknown - multi-lingual, shows mid-east immigrants stuck in Athens, trying to get to western Europe.  Definitely art house......definitely a worthwhile $7!   Prior to the movie, I went to Nina's, my new, favorite, hole-in-the-wall Mexican cantina for a chili rellano plate that, while showing on my phone, does not show on my computer so you guys are shit out of luck today, insofar as showing it to you on the blog.  One of these days, someone's going to help me (assuming I can find both the person and the time) figure out how to use a bit more tech...

 I returned the grip and assorted items back to Amazon (via Whole Foods) for full refund.  The company assumed I would go to their website first.  I didn't - I went to You Tube initially and started my set up backwards, screwing it all up.  Such is life........back to using just my cameras......... It is now 48 hours and I still have not heard from Kraken.......... I will go to a movie after school this morning!!!! And that's it for me this morning - time to go to school~~!  Me 7:53am  16 July

 Yesterday afternoon we went to Sawtelle for a late lunch.  TianTian drove us and then went to the airport for his return trip home......that trip was not to be as his flight, 7 hours delayed, was cancelled. He rented another car and drove to our place where he parked across the street rather than call and wake us.  Katherine saw his 2:30am email and saw him across the street - he came in and slept here, only to find that the car rental agency screwed up on his rental return and it looks like he'll miss his re-scheduled return flight.......will I drive back with him to SF tomorrow?  Stay tuned for an ultimate report of what's happening! I got blood drawn at St John's today, after class, and await the next step in becoming a volunteer there. Nothing new to report re Kraken.......I do plan to return the Fjorden Grip today - they need to help but have not come through.....such is life......

 So what does transportation cost?  Two weeks ago I started out with my senior tap card holding $23 in prepaid fares.  This morning, prior to adding $20, it was down to $7.50..........and the fare this morning - both ways - was $.50. The clerk at the Emeritus counter is 7 years older than I am.  She was the first to register for Fall Semester Emeritus.  She had the option of applying online, tomorrow - same option as I have......but she is as technophobic..........and I was the second to register at Emeritus for the fall. Then home and a 15 minute recorded telephone call with Astrana Health as I outlined the plight of having to deal with Blue Shield of California vis a vis Katherine's St John's HMO and correct billing records......I politely told Tony H from Astrana that I will no longer try to communicate with Blue Shield and that if Astrana wishes to be paid, then they have to deal with those turkeys!!! And then to answer a Kraken email asking me how I felt ab...

TianTian and I went for dinner and jazz last night at the Catalina Jazz Club, 6725 Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.  This club is 38 years old.  No, it was not around when I had my offices in Hollywood, first in 1973 in the Taft Building at 1680 Vine Street.  Hollywood and Vine......and 18 months later at 6430 Sunset Blvd, two blocks from the Catalina Jazz Club. This place is expensive - first class live entertainment is expensive and sadly, the few artists who are able to make it a career still struggle.  Yet Catalina is like Blue Note-Tokyo:  the atmosphere/ambiance superb - as was the music - a 75 minute set (standard) and the food, while costly, was plentiful and good...........If I had transportation, I would occasionally take in live jazz like this.   True, I started out going to what has to now be considered some of the seediest cellars in the world to listen to music.....I played harmonica in some of them, too.......but how I like a refined, clean set...

Several years back, Intuit Corp, in upgrading its records system, created a new account number to alleviate the problems that the old number, dating back to 1992, was causing. The only problem was that they were double billing me, duplicating billings to both numbers. It was clearly their screw up but no one wanted to recognize their problem and it took me over a half a year (with much aggravation) to get this fixed. Fjorden is a Norwegian company from whom I purchased a Leica application attachment for my iPhone. I ordered this through Amazon (to whom I plan to return it with full refund). They sent it without any hint of what to do - no instructions whatsoever. I went to You Tube and watched a 17+ minute video that was quite helpful but for the fact they wanted me to go to their website first - and I screwed things up because I did it incorrectly. I wrote them.......heard one quick response and answered their additional questions. I have hearad nothing since.......I will go ...

Friday morning - overcast, cold, miserable way (unless it is raining - that would be worse) to start the day but a wonderful way to start biking because fewer people were out!! Fjorden of Norway wrote back regarding the grip I purchased through Amazon. They asked some questions, I answered and await the chance to talk with them and see if we can get the grip to work with my iPhone. If it doesn't, no big deal (other than the time spent on this project) because I still have my Leicas to play with......and I can get a 100% refund through Amazon. I proved my colorblindness once again! The paperwork I submitted to the St John's Volunteer program never made it through: those pages that could not be saved were erased with the whole batch as no one bothered to look at it all when I requested this because I was in limbo.......so we had to do it all over again at St John's where they confirmed that I am indeed quite color blind and now have to determnine whether this will precl...

For the past week+, AMC has been advertising 50% admission on Tuesdays and Wednesdays......so I assumed that as a senior, going to a 11:30am first show screening, I'd get an even better discount at half price.......how about AMC charging full price with no discount at all because their new program does not go into effect until the end of the month. Full price and $9+ for small popcorn............. True, the seating is great, the projection is magnificent as is the sound......but not at the prices they charge....... The Jurassic film was OK - nothing to rave about......but as there was nothing worthwhile (at least to me) from either of the two art house cinemas I could go to, I opted for AMC yesterday............while I cannot categorically state I will never go to AMC again, I will, only if I have to...........$7 art house matinees for seniors works for me!!

Cole's French Dip, quite possibly the oldest continuously operating restaurant in Los Angeles has just announced that it is closing on 3 August. I've already been through the agonizing experience of watching The Pantry colse.........Coles is next......... True, they are not restaurants but Rite Aid, Santa Monica's remaining $2.79 Thrifty ice cream cone had its demise on 28 July and the Nordstrom - Santa Monica has announced its termination day as 26 August............that'll put Santa Monica without a department store - joining down town L.A. as a community without a department store with Macy's closing a couple of months ago........ What's next to disappear from the local scene??? We've completed 5 of the 9 Raymond Carver short stories for the American Novel summer session class that ends at the end of July. Frankly, I do not care for Carver but will not say anything in class as everyone else seems to 'adore' this writing........hey, I read for...

I left home yesterday morning shortly before 11am and took the E Line train to Expo Western and then the 207 Metro bus to Koreatown. Nothing unexpected - lots of signs - in Korean.......but I was not really in the mood for either bar b que or kimchi so I refersed the trip but at Expo western, I continued eastward to downtown Los Angeles and went to 5 Guys for a patty melt with ketchup, mustard, pickles, relish, tomatoes, mushrooms. Cost: $9.99 - and that, to me, at least, is the best 5 Guys buy!!!!! Approximately an hour away by A Line train to Long Beach was my next destination. We live in a pocket of prosperity: Santa Monica. We are connected to other pockets through various 'corridors', one of which was the A Line that took me through what most of Los Angeles County consists of - lower socio-economic communities that service the affluent of the county........ A few days prior, we traveled along Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills. The high percentage of vacancies is pain...

At 5:45am I got up and peed.......went back to sleep and had another pee break 90 minutes later.  I then, slowly but surely, woke myself up and dressed for a morning cycle at the beach.  As with the past two days, the beach was overcast....BUT.....the sun started coming through the haze and by the time I got off the bike path at Washington Blvd on the Venice/Marina Del Rey border, it was indeed a sunny day with a ride back home in enough additional warmth from the sun to make it a very pleasurable ride back home. Next Saturday night, TianTian and I will go to the Catalina Jazz Club.....I think.......I cannot create an account at TicketWeb and will not do one on Facebook.......I have to call them and find a way to secure a reservation in advance for next week......... In about a half hour:  I will take the E Line to Western and then a bus for seven stops to get to Koreatown for a photoshoot today. Because this blog is Google and is tied into all things Google, I can get pi...

 If I were not such a pathetic technophobe, I'd have transferred the picture I took with my iPhone of a Whole Food stack of Deadfish Ale with the Grateful Dead logo prominently featured.......at a sale price for a 4-pack which we purchased - how could I refuse??  First 12 oz can:  wasn't good/wasn't bad - tasted 'flatter' than US beer (lager).  Second can ; first poured 6 oz of tomato juice, then the ale......and BRAVO!!!  This tastes better than tomato beer (which I discovered at Hardy's Ham House in Glendale, Arizona in 1964 and re-discovered at Bremen in Tokyo in 2025!!!!!!!   see two pictures above - these I was able to transfer........ and on the 4th of July I ate a chili-cheese dog, fries and a vanilla shake......how patriotic!!  From Big Tomy's........and after, I walked a block to the WLA ERBA dispensary where not only was there 30% off today but they were giving out bowls of cut, fresh fruit.....which I brought to Katherine, a block north...

 It was overcast outside.  Still, I went out for an hour this morning, dodging traffic roadblocks set up on the routes and immediate alternatives I would take because of this morning's holiday parade, 90 minutes hence.  But it was a good ride and I 'qvell' at being able to do what I am doing at my age. Later on we will go to Sawtelle and Nijiya Market.  Before that, though, I have to decide which restaurant to go to:  Nina's for Mexican food or Big Tomy's for a hamburger (or hot dog), fries and a shake - I'm leaning towards this as it is Americana on America's birthday........ Not much to write about now - will try the toilet plunger on the clogged second toilet now......happy holiday!

It is Thursday morning at 11:13am. We slept in late this morning with my getting up and going for a Thursday morning beach bike ride - and it was nice!   Yesterday's History of Comedy class (11 of us in class, 50+ on Zoom) covered vaudeville and burlesque in the development of American laughter. After, I dropped off a pound bar of Belgian dark chocolate at Chase Bank, ordered a cake at Whole Food for the birthday party we were going to, had my weekly bowl of soup and rice from the Chinese-Thai take-away (with tables), got some ink drawing pens from Blick and then went next door to the Laemmle Royal art house four-screen movie theatre (with a museum-quality wall of Laemmle memorabilia!!!!) for a French comedy starring John Malkovich (as Mr. Blake) - who spoke his role entirely in French! Would I have normally gone out of my way to see this movie? Probably not but hey, with a $7 senior citizen's first showing of the day price combined with ease of getting to the movie by bus...

I cant read this either.......and I can't figure out how to delete this....but here is the unreadable summary..... sizing: inherit; font-size-adjust: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: text-size-adjust: 100%; vertical-align: baseline;">Foreign-derived intangible income and global intangible low-taxed income deductions Permanently expand deductions $14 bil. Reporting threshold for payments Increase thresholds for reporting payments to independent contractors and other payees $13 bil. Employer payments of student loans Make the exclusion from gross income permanent and index for inflation $11 bil. Charitable contribution deduction Permanently allow deduction up to $1,000 ($2,000 for married couples) for those who do not itemize, but require a minimum contribution based on income level $11 bil. Farmland sales Allow capital gains taxes to be paid in installments $7.3 bil. New markets tax credit Permanently extend credit to increase investment in...