So, we'll see. Japantown means a bus to BART and then another what is guaranteed to be a very crowded bus from BART out on Geary. The Chronicle often reports on the San Francisco bus situation and, if anything, they don't go far enough in describing the mess. Crowded, dozens boarding through the back doors without paying, everyone squeezed together like dead fish in the hold of a fishing boat. Think bad and then think badder. That or take a ride on the damned thing and know. Still, one bus ride, no big deal. I don't have to commute on it every day as many do. Doodle-dee-do.

Did I mention I'm out of pictures? Whatever will find itself at the top of this page will be shot later this afternoon. Still, I hope I’ll have gotten more than enough to use here this week coming. Many a festival in the month of August around here. Not so many were I to move north, I'm thinkin’.

Hmmm. In looking at my calendar, there's also a Filipino festival at the Yerba Buena gardens, located near the Powell Street BART station, no buses required. Of course, both of these events last through the weekend, I should go to the one and then the other, right? Now that I'm old and tired? No prospect of going to both each day, of course. We're talking one today and one tomorrow. I would most certainly have entertained both in a day on both days when I was younger. Right?

When were you ever younger?

Pretty cold remark for a sunny Saturday morning in Oakland, I'm thinkin’.

Later. A long session in San Francisco. I must have gotten off at the wrong stop as I got tangled up in the tail end of the parade kicking off the Filipino Pistahan festival I mentioned in the Yerba Buena gardens, tangled up in the sense the bus I needed was delayed along Market until the parade had cleared. A bus then to the avenues and a walk around and about the Nihonmachi festival for two hours. Boy howdy but I did some walking.

Back to Oakland on BART, missing my Oakland bus by two minutes, something called a “Strawberry Wild” (I know, I know) at the Jamba Juice across Broadway in the City Center, a comfortable fifteen minutes to sit and sip. I say “sip” as it was (of course) cold and my stomach thinks about cold and sends my brain mixed messages as in “maybe don't do that again for a couple of minutes or I'll send it back faster than it came down”. That’s not really accurate, a bit of a stretch, but it puts it in the right ball park. Best not to tempt fate in a ball park.

So did I get any pictures? Not really, one or two. We'll see, I'm not upset. I got there around noon, leaving at two, the crowds having formed, but not I suspect, as they'll come together later this afternoon. Why do I always have to arrive early? Still, I got out of the apartment, felt pretty good all the day over and back and yes, I complain a bit about the aching back, but nicely you understand, with something resembling truth in the smile.