Wednesday. Another good number of hours sleep last night, getting up at seven-thirty instead of six, getting to bed before ten. The upper-palate and to some degree the sinuses still feel like a train wreck, but an old train wreck with but a small column of steam coming off the bend metal and broken glass here and there. And, I think, the sinuses are better. So the outlook is positive. Overcast, but they're saying the high sixties later when the sun comes out. So good. A Wednesday, two-thirds of the way through October, Halloween coming from the feel of it. A Day of the Dead celebration or two on the offing. Good. All this is good.

UPS is due later today. They call with a recorded message saying a package is arriving requiring a signature, but they can't tell you when today other than it will be between eight in the morning and seven in the evening. Nice to see they have their act together. Let's hope it's before noon or soon thereafter. Sometimes they in fact do show up at seven. But we'll see. It's overcast, as I said, no great urge yet to get outside and leave this apartment behind for an hour or so. The usual urge, the usual practice, the usual bus, the usual, well, today perhaps an unusual trip on BART to someplace a little different. Test that Clipper card for the second time. Their web site says nothing about having added any money to my card.

Later. It's now after noon and, of course, no package from the camera company. Such is life. One shouldn't be surprised. I did send an email to an ad on craigslist for guitar instruction. I think that's necessary. Hard to say if it works if you haven't tried it. I am practicing, but I am drifting and I am in need of direction. A head's up. A pile of playable familiar songs would be nice. I suspect they're out there. Simple songs. As many as possible.

The sun is out, I'm thinking of leaving a note for the UPS guy to contact the manager if he arrives while I'm gone. This urge to get outside seems to be genetic. Endemic. Something to do when you're finished a short guitar session. The odd thing is, even when you've missed a day, you can see progress, playing something much more easily than it was even the last time you tried. Mixed signals. Nothing for nothing.

Later still. Three-thirty and the lens has arrived. They take their time, they do, but no complaints. It could have been seven. It could have been whenever. The reality is it's here in hand and it's still light enough to take it outside and try some shots. No special shooting trips, but there's always tomorrow. Tomorrow and tomorrow.

So, we try a shot in the living room at 24mm and then one at 120mm. As you can I didn't have to go far to make the comparison. Then a walk down and about Lake Merritt. A shot here, a shot there, the sun starting to sink and the colors warming. A bird to two, a shot at the columns, a shot down the way at the fenced in sanctuary. A walk then back to the apartment.

It seems a decent lens, a decent size, not too heavy, not too light. I suspect I'll use this a lot in the coming months. Worth a two month wait? Oh, sure? Worth the price? Who knows if any of it is worth the price. We struggle on, here in Oakland.