Advancing age? A mind set that has always focused more on the off the wall than the logical? Not a lot of planning for the future back then when I review my history. No great ambitions to conquer the business world. A lot of reading and listening to music when I was younger. Writing this journal now. Getting up out of bed, taking a bath, shaving, getting dressed, leaving and locking the door behind me before I notice it's dark and the streets are empty? I guess. Evidently. That was certainly true twenty years ago when I was writing full time. Bouncing off the walls. Lucky to remember to wear my mittens when I'm heading out into the cold. Hi, ho. Not a bad way to live, I guess, if you can get away with it. If I can get away with it.

One small milestone over the weekend. I read in the paper that they were holding a series of races on Lake Merritt on Sunday so I went down to the far end of the lake to see what they were up to. As I was leaving I stepped over a plastic fence that had been pushed down almost to grass level and managed to catch my foot, falling forward to the cement sidewalk. There was a short slow motion segment as I was falling, putting out my right arm to break the fall, watching one of my Nikons hit the cement and bounce. Hi, ho. I remembered a comment I'd read in a photographer's discussion group as to how you couldn't really drop one of these things for less than about three thousand dollars. The Nikon bounced. It has a solid cast aluminum frame that's designed for abuse and the three thousand dollars turned into a small spot of scuffed black paint on the bottom. Lens fine. Works fine. Can't tell anything happened. My knee's scuffed, the palm of my left hand is a little sore and I had to sleep on my right hip Saturday night, but otherwise all is well. Bouncing Nikons. I hope I got some good pictures.