Shots from the Lip

 Remember the Monday following the Dodgers World Series victory and the parade in DTLA?   want.  I'm glad I did.   It is raining now.   Will it be raining tomorrow morning? According to my iPhone at 3:16pm, there's an 80% chance of rain all through the night and into tomorrow morning.   What if it turns to be a measly light drizzle? The Pantry re-opens tonight!  No rain or measly drizzle tomorrow?  Perhaps.......Friday, 2 January?  Perhaps, too........life is far to short not to take advantage of frivolously wonderful opportunities to make things interesting!   What will happen?  Tune in tomorrow those of you looking at this blog......just perhaps, I might write about this a bit more......!!?

 It was sunny but cold out yesterday.  It was sunny but warmer, Sunday, the day before.  Around 3pm yesterday I looked at the weather report for today - it was going to be sunny according to my trusty iPhone Pro Max 14. There was no sun out as I got up late this morning.  It was warmer than anticipated but it was also drizzling and the forecast from yesterday was replaced by a projected light rain today, preliminary to a far bigger rain tomorrow - with more projected through the balance of this week. I've spent the past couple of days catching up with email that I planned to write.   My emails were without a flowing verbosity as it was not natural writing - I'm in a very procrastinating mode.....this is something I really do have to work upon as doldrums like this can just as easily become a routine - a bad one...... And yet, I am up to date in both my book reading (praise be e-books!) and the New Yorker. ...........and since I am in those doldrums........n...

I am not quite sure what it is like in Europe - I assume it would be more 'traditional', as with the US where virtually everything was closed Christmas Day.  In China, Christmas eve and day were among the busiest and most profitable for restaurants throughout the country - this was a winter fun time - nothing to do with religion! It is now Monday morning, 29 December at 11:37am.  What happened the past couple of days?  Not quite certain - TianTian was here with us over the Xmas holiday.....we were out.....we ate....we saw MickeySupreme....and we ate some more.....and walked and ate........and now the New Year's week starts - more will probably be open on New Year's Day than was open here on Xmas Day.......yeah, it is a cultural thing..... I am in a funk with the visual arts:  I procrastinate using a camera.  I procrastinate drawing or watercoloring.  I procrastinate as well with music - I really have to get back to playing music......how do I overcome this ...

TianTian got to Santa Monica last night close to midnight.  I was sleeping solidly and got up aft3r 1am to 'sip' with him.  He's still in bed and likely - since he was up past 5am - that he'll be sleeping for a while......no problem. Neither is an overpriced Courvoivier XO bottle from Ralph's Supermarket - unopened and likely that we're simply going to have to eat the over price we paid yesterday afternoon, as Katherine and I got soaked, going to Ralphs......but still continued after the rain, going to Din Tai Fung yesterday for food for last night - which I slept through.......such is life...... I was out by 9:15am as most of Santa Monica was still sleeping.....but the undecided management of our McDonalds decided to open today - I walked past the place on my morning walk.....will we go to a movie today ?  That's still open to conjecture.  We do have tickets for a 10:30am tomorrow showing of Mickey Supreme.  After?  It all depends upon the rain.............

 Yesterday I accomplished a couple of important tasks -  I walked over to Tower Imaging at Wilshire and 22d Street and made an 8am appointment this morning for Katherine......and we confirmed that TianTian will be driving down from Santa Clara, today, to be with us for a few days over this Xmas holiday weekend.   He, like both Katherine and me, values solitude - being on one's own  - something quite different from the concept of loneliness.......and if you are one who loves solitude but has neither work nor activities in an empty dwelling........... over the Xmas holiday time........yeah, he's driving down and we'll do dinner tonight and movies over the next few days........ Katherine's scan re calcium build up by the heart was a perfect score - o% calcium......we then went to NY Bagel for breakfast and got soaked on the way back home.....we're drying out and we'll do some additional shopping this afternoon when, if forecasts are to be believed, it will stop rai...

 Here it is, another year, another end of year and holiday season.  Happiness is being alive and looking forward to the coming year.   And yet, I'm also thinking back - I'm an old fart now but a decade ago I was also an old fart - what was that holiday season like - as best as I can remember it......?  2015 going into 2016? As best I can recall, it is definitely the year before that stands out because I was diagnosed with bladder cancer in December 2014 and 2015 was a year of treatment.  Twice during the first half of the year, I had re-growth of those nasty cells.  Thus, BCG Treatment and things were quiet towards the end of 2015. As there was not that much changed between this year and the prior year vis a vis US taxation for those outside of the country but still liable for filing, I did those minor updates while doing a massive spell and grammar check and that 2016 tax stuff was the best I'd written/edited......but added to that was the 60 plus pag...

 Coincidence??  Three people who know me but not one another have asked me this past week if I am writing, after having seen or heard of my baseball piece as well as my books....... No, not really.  That'd be my answer.....but I've been seriously thinking about it as I have been thinking about open mics and doing stand-up.  Hey, that's going to involve some serious writing as I have several 'themes' that I'd like to work out - writing and then, hopefully, sharing with some kindred spirits who would let me know their thoughts - not the thoughts they'd think I'd want to hear.......I can write funny for myself.  I can rehearse it daily during my afternoon walks.  But then I need the open mics to see if there is any reaction to my 'presentation' and whether I have to perfect the timing or the wording....or abandon that tag as hopeless and add something else. The Trip, a Thursday night open mic is there for me to get some practice.  I was there once. ...

I think I probably used a caulk gun while living in Petaluma.  I know I used one while living on Cumpston in the 70s.  Learning - or re-learning is easy - especially now with video instructions readily available on You Tube. Today I caulked the Kitchen sink area.  Excess caulk?  Finger removal is far more efficient than the tools coming with the caulk gun......only cleaning one's hands after is one hell of a problem.  The ultimate answer is an initial use of baking soda and after, alcohol wipes. Will today's caulk solve a problematic - only sometimes - leak under the kitchen sink?  Today we'll keep things dry for the rest of the day but tomorrow should tell....... And if successful, the bathroom sink will be next!!!  If not, then we're still looking for a handyman....... And since the sink will be dry, we'll go to Maragume for lunch today........

 There were only five of us in the classroom this morning.....with another 50 more or less on Zoom for the final class of the semester at the Emeritus Building this morning.  I seriously debated whether to actually get out of bed to attend instead of staying in pajamas and doing the class by Zoom.  Yet knowing that I have to take out the green bin for the garbage collectors late this afternoon, I got up and got dressed.....but what shitty weather we are having.....no rain but moist.....no sun but we are caught in a wet cloud every morning this week........ In 1969 Dick Van Dyke did a film, The Comic, which is a tribute film to the comics of the silent film era.  I never heard of it before......I enjoyed it. I have been a procrastinating, lazy, not keen to do anything mood......and it continues......I have a half day ahead and nothing I really want to do.........such is life.....

 I remember way back when I used to get the current issue of Next Magazine in Hong Kong, prior to leaving Hong Kong, weekly, and returning home to China.....how I carefully packed it so it would not be found if China Customs decided to look at my stuff prior to re-entering the PRC at the Shenzhen border. Jimmy Lai is a true hero to me.  He deserves the Nobel Peace Prize - he's legitimately earned it for the sacrifices he's made.

 Lousy weather this morning - and my choice, rather than rushing bike riding to get ready to go to the opera today, was to go for a morning walk, putting off using my Grip until tomorrow morning, mid-morning, and verifying that the McDonalds website is wrong - 'our' 27xx block of Santa Monica Blvd McDonalds has not in fact re-opened.....and I doubt they'll make it before Xmas...... Regardless, I will have my day off, a day at the opera - La Boheme.....Forget the story - it is fucking stupid!   But then, almost all operatic stories border upon stupidity........ Lunch at a northern China restaurant on 7th Street,  Chicken dumplings in a chicken broth.....and white rice.......nice!

 It is 10:23am on an awfully cold Saturday morning and the sun has finally come out.  There were the hoards out this morning for a run along the beach.  No one was running as I rode past them all this morning.....were they there solely to get the T shirt that went with entry to the race? We got a package from Amazon of Danish butter cookies - 4 tins worth.  One tin was damaged - time to return the package and get a refund. I've decided to give Faulkner another try.  The Bear, which I read for class, required the reader to work at what he/she was reading.  That is simply not my thing - I read for relaxation - not to work at it........so after having purchased a whole slew of Faulkner's writings all packaged neatly into a public domain book compiled by an Indian publisher at an unbelievably low price on Kindle, I will start reading The Sound and the Fury.  The other two books I am also currently reading:  Buckeye and Flesh.  The latter is this ...

 Today was a good day! True, I was ready with a fully charged e-bike for three mornings riding.  Day one, regardless of a great morning out (too bad it started turning bad after lunch) was not to be when Katherine's iPhone 15 fell again....fatally, alas, this time......and prior to going to Spectrum to get a new phone and tie it into our Spectrum system, we went to NY Bagel & Deli & Bakery for breakfast:  toasted onion bagels smeared overboard with soft cream cheese.....and one bialy with butter that we shared along with their brewed coffee that both of is think is the best we've tasted here in Santa Monica. Spectrum didn't have accessories so we went to the Apple Store where Katherine purchased her new phone and tied it into the family system I already set up...then back to Spectrum for internet.......and then to The Mix for lunch followed by Baco de Latte for ice cream....then to the new Vons where we got 2 Nathan's hot dogs (take away) for $5.....then a visit...

 Here it is, 17 degrees C at 9:05am and I have already walked 2,700 steps+, shopped at Trader Joe's, started charging my bike and setting up for Sweet Dreams tonight. True, my computer is also on, as is the Fire from Amazon (via Best Buy) that I am trying to use as a portable device for What's Ap and email and newspapers and streaming.....if this is a replacement for travel, then I can extend the life of my old Surface Pro even longer! AND....let us not forget the ease of enlarging font for reading purposes as my vision deteriorates.  I no longer fear going blind - I won't lose my sight - I'll see but it will be visual impairment because of AMD, not blindness.......and if that means the ability to continue reading the New Yorker but with enlarged font, then so be it!!

 What's different today compared to the prior couple of Mondays?  An ordinary week lies ahead this time - how fucking nice to be able to return to a week where, more or less, routines are already set and I can work off a schedule....or can I????? Katherine goes to the hospital in less than an hour for her weekly participation in their volunteers program.  I've already been out for my early morning walk, shopping at Trader Joe's before returning home.  I am charging my Lux Grip as I write this.....later, perhaps, I'll also charge my bike for the upcoming weekend. But while my Grip may be fully charged and I do plan to carry it with me in my back pack, I won't use it initially - it is time to really learn the Lux software, first.  Then, I won't fumble around trying to get the Grip to work with a system that I do not know......LEARN FIRST!!

I took the Metro #4 bus to LaPeer in West Hollywood.  Then I walked to Robertson and down two long main blocks - Melrose Avenue and after, Beverly Blvd where, a brief right turn got me to the one Leica Store in Los Angeles County.  I got there around 12:20pm and found I was the first customer/client at the store (which opened at noon) today. Yesterday I found a great 'how to' video for the Leica Lux Grip, made by Leica Australia.  Alas, they omitted one absolutely essential instruction:  charge the unit before anything else, otherwise you will never get the flashing blue light on the bottom of the unit when you press the top buttons as per instructions.  All one would get is a flashing red light and inability to first, pair; and after, the inability to do anything else. Do I remember much from the hour+ I spent at the Leica Store today?  Sadly, no.  But I now (I think) have a program to work towards this coming week:  I will carry the unit with me...

 One degree C in the morning make a big.....very bit....difference.  It was that much warmer this morning and wow, how much nicer it was to pedal by the beach.  It was sunny out by the beah this morning and 'my bench' by the ocean was wondrously vacant today so I rode along the beach walk, sat, toked and enjoyed my morning of solitude, continuing along the bike path to Washington Blvd where I circled back along Pacific Ave to Windward, making a right and going through the Circle to Main Street where I rode back into downtown Santa Monica, making a right on Arizona, heading home. The true technophobe that I am - I could not pair my Leica Lux Grip with my iPhone.  I called the one Leica Store in L.A., located in West Hollywood, a #4 Metro ride for me - it is now 10:45am and within the next half hour, I will depart for West Hollywood for the Leica Store and 'one-on-one' instruction for the Grip......and I will inquire about selling my M-10, a wonderful piece of equipmen...

 Around 8am this morning, the temperature outside, as per my iPhone, was sunny and 8 degrees C.  Too fucking cold for most but like the cheerful idiot I may very well be, I was out on my bicycle, wearing 2 short sleeve bike shirts - one to start out immediately after my white, thermal, long sleeve undershirt and one after 3 long sleeve bike shirts.......and amazingly, 5 was enough - it was nice from here to the beach where there was virtually no one else out to ride. Including1000 mg of calcium and fish oil (4 pills), I am taking a total of 13 pills a day at 8 different times during the day.......and I finally know which pills are which and when I have to take them......it could be a whole lot worse. What prompted me to check spam today is beyond me - I very rarely do look at spam or trash. But I looked and I found the authorization for me to return the defective Rollei35AF.  I look forward to Mint-HK sending me a replacement film camera - one that works!!  True, I l...

 How nice to get an 8:30am call from Terminix, confirming that they will be here today for maintenance......and that they will be here around 10:15am.  At least we have an opportunity to plan our day far more efficiently, knowing approximately when they will come. Last night I started watching The Great Dictator, the Chaplin film currently on You Tube that in 1940, prior to the War, audaciously mocked Hitler.  What a gutsy film!  There is a whole list of films currently playing on You Tube that I would love to have the time to watch.  Two that I will 'concentrate' upon:  Buster Keaton's the General and Stagecoach (1939). And tonight I will call Mint-HK.  They have 'separated' the Rollei35af from the rest of their line and while there is no address or telephone number for the latter, I will call Mint in HK tonight around 9pm and ask for my warranty to be honored. While I still have not had the motivation to paint, I recognize that this (and the harmonic...

 Medical:  I am now up-to-date with both my primary care and cardiology at UCLAHealth .  After 3 short term lead physicians, it looks like Jeff Fujimoto , my latest, newest GP , is going to be around for a while.  UCLA has had a whole lot of turmoil, recently but it looks like it is all 'settling'.....regardless, my next visits with both physicians have already been set and I will do another round of blood samples early into next year. Vision:  Two doctors - one for the retina problems, one for all else, vision-wise.  Yeah, I know I have vision loss.  Yeah, I now I have a program that offers non-invasive hope.  What will be, will be..... School:  Happiness is my two mid-week classes (literature and comedy) with some painting thrown in.  Will I expand this in the future?  Possibly....... And if you add both photography and my harmonica, I have, pretty much, an active life.......

I was the penultimate slacker all of last week.  Penultimate because there must be someone out there who was essentially lazier than I was all week long as I postponed and postponed and postponed.... Today is the day I pay the Los Angeles County Tax Collector the first property tax bills for our new rental unit......and also I will send out a second check for the IRS 2023 balance due. And I will get soup from the St John's Cafeteria for a late lunch this afternoon. That is about it for today - nothing much to write - basically, it is time to get off my ass and be a bit more productive!