So, what the hell, I got on a bus around five (they'd announced the verdict at four, the various fliers announcing the demonstration said come at six) arriving about five-fifteen, a large crowd already formed. My, my. Television news organizations, video photographers and newspaper photographers all over the place, not to mention people with cameras like me. Deedle-dee-dee.

So I stayed for a little over an hour shooting pictures. The crowd blocked off Broadway soon after I arrived, the swat team showed up forming lines on Broadway to keep the crowd contained (and show they were there, so don't do anything stupid); a band began playing off to the back in front of City Hall, planned in advance and put there, no doubt, to draw the crowd away from mischief; “bread and circuses” came to mind, keep their minds on something else, good idea, except it didn't work. Through all this various people were giving speeches in the middle of the crowd on Broadway, the microphone handed to anyone who thought they had something to say.

There were two themes that made sense to me: “no violence, violence here is both counter productive and stupid” and “don't keep under funding the schools, give the kids a chance to get a decent education and opportunity in life”. There were other comments of worth, the crowd relatively calm, no one was worried about getting hurt (there were one or two women pushing baby carriages, pushing the envelope a bit further than was sensible given what happen the last time was my thought) and the damage that was eventually done to store windows and such occurred two hours after I'd left when it got dark.

So, was I tired? Yes, I was tired. I walked the length to Broadway to Grand and sat at the first bus stop figuring the bus, detoured by the crowd, would rejoin the route on Grand. The crowd came later down Broadway to Grand as I had done and trashed windows at the intersection it said in the press, but again, that was later. Last night, waiting on the bus, it was close to deserted.

So, the bus came, I got on feeling hungry, why not have sushi at my local sushi shop (I haven't been there in months)? So I did. The kinds of Maki rolls, a piece of frozen Green Tea cheesecake for desert and a large flask of sake of which I drank less than half. The sake was on the house as I was an early customer who helped support them when they first opened so the owner always buys me a large flask. Once I was happy he did, now I wish he'd stop. Strange? I'd guess.

So, a long day. A session at the computer when I got home to run the images I thought reasonably good through Photoshop. Took some three hours, it did, ending up with enough images for two full Here in Oakland sections. I'd wondered if I had even one. Whether they're good enough, who knows. I don't and won't know for a few weeks. For a week, anyway. Days. The head does come together, the eye becomes properly distant, the photographs fall into place.

And then, of course, one of the ocular migraines hit. Things went into hallucination land and I staggered into bed around ten, leaving the computer and lights on, sleeping without waking, getting up before eight.

What had I done to bring it on? I haven't had one now in almost two months. No sleep Tuesday night before the EEG, the equivalent of a glass of sake last night, although I thought I'd eaten enough to satisfy their warning about uneven eating during the day. I was hungry, yes, but I had had lunch and I did have the Maki rolls and the cheesecake. Hmm. Cheesecake. They warn you about cheese. And alcohol. And, well, I'll look at the list. How much cheese in a sliver of Green Tea cheesecake? And I mean a sliver. Not a lot.

So, as I said, the rest of the day proved interesting. Exciting, even. I spent this morning finishing the Here in Oakland pages and plan to take a walk later before practicing some guitar. Keep it simple. Keep it low key. Save any additional idiocy for the weekend like a good little scout.

Later. The day started a bit later than normal, as described, although I felt better getting up than I did the day before. Tired, but manageably tired, so naturally I went out for a walk, took the bus, got off opposite the City Center and looked around. OK, a broken window here, now boarded up, a broken window there, also boarded up. Were some of these boarded up before the demonstration last night and they're covering intact glass? Some, maybe, but others not. So a walk down Broadway to take a dog leg down one street to photograph another broken window, but covering, essentially, the route I took last night.

I caught a bus at the same stop I caught one last night and then got off and had a sandwich at the local Coffee With a Beat cafe. An ice cream cone for desert at the local Seven-Eleven look alike around the corner eaten on the short walk home. The sky's been clear since noon, the temperature fine. We'll take it easy for the rest of the day, we will, and see what tomorrow may bring.