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Here In Oakland

Art & Life


   



October 18, 2013

Go To Bed
Friday. I'd forgotten last night it was Thursday and Elementary would be playing at ten. Nothing on between eight and ten, so to bed to read more of Mr. Eggers novel to see if I was still awake and willing when ten arrived. I was.

Another impossible but entertaining plot, Mr. Sherlock and Ms. Watson bouncing like pool balls from suspect to suspect (in between ads), Mr. Sherlock solving the case (of course) just in time to sell us a better brand of toothpaste.

You were not amused?

Oh, I watched it, I didn't consider breaking off in the middle for bed. I'll no doubt watch the next one in a week, but I suspect this doesn't say much for my taste. A compromise would be to watch it when it's posted the next day online. Checking just now it's up on the web and I could gain a good hour's sleep on Thursday nights for the short delay. A sign of maturity if I did. Sensibility. Senility.

Anyway, no problem getting up with the alarm to head off to breakfast and back on a sunny morning. The BART trains aren't running, so our local world is a bit dislocated, but there's an annual Autumn Lights event at the local Gardens By The Lake later this evening and I'm planning to take camera and tripod and attend. Along with other stuff coming up later over the weekend. So things not to complain about (other than packing that tripod). Hup.

Took a fair amount of time this morning attempting to rescue yesterday's entry: close, but no cigar. Write less, edit more. A reoccurring theme. Not a good sign after all these years of scribbling.

Screw it?

Screw it. It's is our time and energy. At least we now know the NSA is watching, taking notes, running algorithms to detect meaning in the babble. Good luck. Let me know if it turns out there really is a “here” here, unbeknownst to us all.

Later. Managed to talk ourself onto the bus downtown, getting off at Latham Square to walk through Frank Ogawa Plaza and then on to the City Center to (what else?) have coffee and a bun out at a table while watching the noon hour crowd walk and waddle by. Gotta give myself a little slap in the face when I say things like “waddle”, but today, for some reason, it struck me that way.

What to do? A walk then to Washington Street and the Friday farmers market to take but a single picture before heading on to the Asian Cultural Center to stand for a while by the fountain and take another picture. No ice cream this time, no lagging longer by the pool, a walk then to the bus stop to just catch the bus just as it arrived. Late, fortunately, or I'd have had another half hour to while away on a day when while aways were in short supply.

More of this feeling “flat” crap?

Not really. A good day out there, plenty of sun, warm to the edge of being too warm, but no complaints. We're heading for the rainy season, might as well enjoy what's left of the summer and the traditionally warmer fall. We'll be bitching soon enough about the dark (and the pictures and the boredom and whatever else we can think up).

Just kidding. A good day. Might even go to this Autumn Lights in the Garden thing later. It would surprise me, but I just might.

Evening. Another repeated episode of a French series at six, so we'll probably get to bed early, continue with Mr. Eggers book. I'd pulled together the camera, tripod and shutter cable for tonight's Autumn Lights adventure earlier this afternoon, but haven't followed through. Felt crappy earlier, although that's pretty much evaporated with a second dose of pain meds, but still don't feel much like heading out in the car (it's not very far) in the dark to do the shoot.

It runs again tomorrow evening, so there's another chance to get it done. But I wonder. A year ago I had no problem getting it together and going, shooting it hand held without a tripod (and learning a lesson). So we'll see. Adventuresome me. Deedle-dee-dee.

A thought occurred: hadn't I posted the photographs I took at last year's Autumn Lights Festival to the web? I seem to remember referring someone to HereInOakland when asked about them, but they're not there. Nor can I find them on the mirrored computer drives. Was it last year? Or the year before? We'll continue the search tomorrow, but for now we'll go to bed.

The photo up top was taken yesterday at the AC Transit building on Grand near Webster with a Nikon D4 mounted with a 24-70mm f/2.8 G Nikkor lens.


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