You Were Reading
Thursday. A drive down West Grand Avenue last night looking for the Fire Arts Festival only to discover West Grand Avenue is interrupted by a tangle of freeways and dead ends in an industrial district. So back to the apartment to look at it again on Google this time, Google suggesting I get on the local 580 Freeway and approach it from the opposite side. The opposite side. OK, it's after nine and I'm not feeling all that great, so I do what I'm good at and crawl into bed for a nap, awakening at ten-thirty to get back out of bed and turn off the lights before crawling back into bed again and sleeping until eight this morning. So much for Fire Arts.
Do you really want to admit to that?
Well, I was entertaining the first symptoms of what I call my “hallucinatory” episode as I was driving down West Grand last night, feeling not right, but then again, feeling not that all that not right. I think I'm abandoning the buying of tickets to things in the evening occurring during the week when they're located in odd places, though. We'll make a little pact on that, deal with new opportunities with that in mind, keep closer to home after dark. Maybe another milepost in this getting old business. I had the cameras primed and ready to go, though, the batteries charged, a notepad and business cards ready for whenever the fire might start.
I'm sure you did.
A larger breakfast this morning; hungry, I guess. Home now, the sky clear, the sun getting ready to roast Oakland and turn the suburbs east of the hills into cinders and ash. One hopes an air conditioned cinders and ash for anyone there. I have no idea what the day may bring, although I noted, as I was walking back from breakfast, they've made quite a bit of progress with the work they're doing down at Lake Merritt near the Lakeshore branch library. I'm still not sure what they're going to do with the area opened up by the road they eliminated but we'll know soon enough.
Let's see, to catch up:
- I talked about buying a bottle of swell “bacteria activated” spot remover for the rugs. I've tried it on a couple of spots using the wash rag with warm water method they recommended, soaking it then with a mixture of cleaner and water to let the bacteria work. I'm not sure of the results. Have the two areas I've covered gotten better? I suspect if you can't say, they haven't. I have to make a run to the store later and I'm thinking of picking up one of those scrub brushes you associate with the nineteenth century, wash buckets and hard kitchen floors. Use it on the rugs, give the areas a proper scrub.
- Weight loss. I've been losing weight without much fuss for the last eighteen months, but the recent stomach operation and some loss associated with it seems to have brought it closer to the forefront. Best to put it back where it was. This started after retirement. Maybe a reduction in stress, maybe I'm walking more, whatever, but I seem to lose a pound or so every month. The months do add up, but whatever's happening needs to be happening in the background as if it weren't happening. It will stop when it's done.
- Emmy the Cat sometimes eats like a horse and sometimes she doesn't. She looks OK and the vet doesn't seem worried, so I'll say all is well with the owner of the apartment.
- I continue to shoot pictures in a haphazard fashion. I continue to spend money (haphazardly) on camera equipment. I usually know when I'm shooting crap, don't always know when I get something good. And that's about that.
- Some time back I started writing longer entries. Much longer entries. One might even say rambling. Which would be fine except longer requires more editing to keep the reader and more editing is something I've not always done. I'm not sure why. Enough time on my hands to write, but not enough time to do it right? Brain cells losing their connection to the core? Sake? I wish it were.
- I ordered an inexpensive wireless router that B & H matches on their web site with the Axis wireless webcams I ordered from them because I'm guessing the two year old router I have isn't fast enough. Which means I continue to futz with these damned things. Continuing to futz I consider a success. Failure is when you put them in the closet and never go back.
- The aching sinus-upper palate-teeth brought on, I'm still guessing, by the jaw operation many years ago continues. It's almost always on, sometimes accompanied by a touch of vertigo, most of the time not. I haven't been willing to try acupuncture, haven't gone back yet to another neurologist. I do mention it from time to time to the medico's during my annual checkups. It's hard to say when acting or not acting makes you an idiot.
- Did I mention I've been writing longer and less well edited entries these last several months?
Later. The walk to breakfast will have to be the walk for the day. No complaints. Took a run to the big Safeway and bought strawberries and cat food. Scrubbed more rug spots with a wash rag (I forgot the scrub brush) and left them to dry. Attached the 2010 tags to the car. Spent more time than I'd like to admit writing this. Missed my morning Korean soap so I'll catch it later this evening when it's repeated. Pretty exciting stuff for a Thursday here in Oakland. I hope you were safely sitting as you were reading.
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