No follow-up phone call on the movie last night, so in that sense it all dovetailed together, and I slept in this morning until seven. A little more knowledge about when to expect one of these things, what it may have been that brought it on. Which is good. We're into “good” this month, no need to fret over an overcast morning.

Up then at seven to head off to breakfast, a good breakfast (I was hungry) and then back to the apartment. It's overcast, looks like rain, but not yet. I'm sure it will arrive by the time the game starts at three-thirty, but maybe (I've no confidence in this) I'll be able to visit the Chinese New Year Bazaar once again and buckle down to get some needed pictures. None of this will happen, but if it does we'll be ready. Hup!

Later. It's good to come into a warm apartment out of the rain and the cold, although not too rainy and cold, and to settle into a Sunday afternoon. It's raining, yes, but drizzling would be a better description, and it's cold, but not too cold. A nice, not too severe, introduction for a Californian to other kinds of weather, this an introduction to winter months. January and February being the winter months. Some include December, but I think that's in deference to the holidays, for me it's January and February, January the main culprit. Rain, cold; coats and sweaters.

Anyway, out the door with the camera to find it had started raining a little harder. Not too hard, but raining. OK, back to the apartment to trade the big Nikon for the small V1 Nikon that will fit fairly comfortably under the jacket hanging with the strap around the neck. It and a pair of gloves to head out again into the (light weight) storm along the lake, taking the occasional picture, and then on to a crowded morning café where I had coffee and a scone. A brief look through the book store and then on to have an ice cream cone before heading home. To a warm apartment. Best not to forget the end game here: ice cream and a warm apartment.

I'm still coming to an opinion on this small Nikon V1. It seems to take a decent picture, I like what little I've done, but the camera controls aren't at all that intuitive after using the larger DSLR's and it has “features” I'm not yet comfortable with. I'm going to have to look up how to set the ISO's, for example, as there was nothing I could find in the menus as I was heading out the door.

Now I've set the ISO on this camera before, but somehow forgotten now in the interim. Still, having to look it up? On the DSLR there's a button you press, clearly marked, and a dial to turn. Easy. One of those things you do routinely with a camera, shouldn't be all that hard, even on a camera that's designed for people with no interest in making these settings and want everything to be done in the background.

What happens if you dig out the manual now and discover the setting is obvious to anyone with any sense?

Well then I'll erase all that up there and say not a word. We are not (when we can help it) a complete idiot.

So onward. I'll watch some of the game coming up later, can't really not do that, and see what I can do to get ready for the coming week. I've cleaned up some of my act, we'll see if I can't do more by Friday, the calendar clear except for the guitar lesson. A New Year here folks, we're getting older and slower, but one small step at a time. There are still things to be done, here on the left coast edge of Oz.

You didn't make it to the Chinese New Year Bazaar?

Heading down to the morning breakfast place was more than enough, the Chinese New Year Bazaar will have to wait on another year.

Later still. I have to admit I listened more than watched the Forty-Niner's lose the game, all the while copying another three sections from artandlife to hereinoakland. For some reason I just started and didn't stop until they were done, so a good afternoon. Plenty of time on the guitar, watched another police procedural (in German, but set in Venice with English subtitles if you can believe it) that ended at ten-thirty. Time to get to bed. Lots of sleep last night, no good reason to screw it up tonight.