1. In which we begin

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New blog

I've published three previous "blogs" but I've always cheated before. These were projects I created and edited over time and then finally published in blog format. This time I want to do something in real time. I may come back later and edit, but I will publish whatever I think of writing on a given day. Spontaneity will be my watchword. (That may be a better name for the blog.) (Reading this years later I'm sorry to say that not only did this "real time" aspect not happen, but I had even forgotten that was the plan. Maybe I will try getting back to this.)

I'm sure I will also alter the format as I proceed.

Starting...

You'd think this would be the place for me to describe what all is on my mind at the moment, but I'm here in part to escape all that, so, no.  I will say that it's a lovely summer in San Francisco -- which means it's been cold to sort-of-warm with our usual mid-day sun book-ended by fog blowing off the Pacific. Yesterday the marine layer was particularly low and dense and when I walked out into our alley, just after 7am, the air smelled of the beach. Quite wonderful. 

I used to think that maybe someday I would move to Seattle or Portland for the even cooler and rainier weather, but whenever I'm up there it is sunny and hot; so now I think of moving out to the west edge of SF bordering the beach. The Outside Lands are like a different city, and it takes forever to get out there by bus or light rail. It still has a beach town vibe -- though one wonders how long that can last the way SF is getting built up.

Martha Grimes & Emma Graham (hint: like Superman & Clark Kent)

I'm also near the end of one of my favorite books, Cold Flat Junction by Martha Grimes. I think this is my third reading. At this point I'm only allowing myself to read one short chapter at a time, so as to draw out the time I have before the book ends. There are two sequels to this, the second book in the series, but I think this is the best of the four so I'm savoring it. 

If I was teaching creative writing, I would assign The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery to teach the concepts of foreshadowing and misdirection. Then I would forbid my students to read Martha Grimes' Emma Graham novels because they so spectacularly violate all the rules of novelistic conservation. (There's probably a good technical term for this, but I can't be bothered to look it up because I'm just so spontaneous.) What I mean are the conventions in novels -- and even more so on screen -- that if you introduce something (a gun, say) you have to use it, and if you introduce a character -- give that character a name and a personality -- they have to play a role in the plot of the story. 

It's like Martha Grimes' books are haunted by characters that sprang up almost against the author's wishes and who then not only refuse to leave but demand additional scenes. My fallback position, since I couldn't really forbid the reading of these novels, would be to use her as an example for characterization. Delbert, the taxi driver, is my favorite example of this. I was surprised to discover this reading of Hotel Paradise, the first novel in this series, that Delbert didn't yet have a personality in the first book. His only role is to transport Emma from place to place in the interest of her investigations, so there's no reason he should have a personality. But, slowly, he has gained one. It seems that with every ride we see him a little more clearly and I know by the end he will be one of my favorite, mostly irritating to Emma, characters while serving no purpose at all (aside from his driving) in furthering the plot.

Really starting...

Well this is not auspicious. I've been so involved in the real world problems I'm trying to avoid, that it's now been a week since I wrote the above. I completed Cold Flat Junction and immediately moved on to Belle Ruin -- for me the equivalent of lighting the next cigarette with the dying embers of the prior one.

But this time I'm really going to do it.

Presidential election

I'm not looking forward to the next three months -- and I'm not referring to the problems facing my HomeOwners Association, but rather the Presidential election. I avoided almost all the coverage of the Republican convention besides what flashed at me on The Onion, YouTube, and Facebook. So far the begging for Democratic contributions is annoying me as much as the Republican oratorical idiocy. 

It's beginning to look like America may need to consider something more like a city manager/mayor form of government. We may need a high visibility office for everyone to see while the actual work of government is done by a more professional federal manager. Mind you, I don't think this is actually possible, I'm just saying it would make sense. This is also a way of saying that we need a legal guardian since we seem no longer capable of making important decisions for ourselves. Historically, this is interesting -- though painful to observe.

To cope with my HOA problems I really ought to be drinking more or abusing drugs -- like a normal person. But that doesn't work very well for me (so far) so I seem to be eating out more instead. Partly this is because there has been an amazing racket coming up from directly below my unit the past several weeks, as concrete and dirt and old walls were removed and then replaced with new ones after studs and joists and posts and beams were all fastened together in a truly impressive way. The racket should be coming to an end next week. 

Unfortunately, three of my neighborhood hangouts -- where I would normally be hanging out more -- are owned by the unit owner I'm attempting to force to vacate his unit so we can complete our seismic work. Normally I never see him, but the day after I sent out an assertive email he walked into the pizzeria where i was eating. Awkward. Since then I've avoided his establishments. 

I'm doing a really bad job of avoiding this topic, aren't I? 

Berkeley Kite Festival

Next weekend is the Berekely Kite Festival, one of my favorite events. Work-wise it's problematic: The event is stretched over a large area (on top of an old landfill on the edge of the Bay) and Berkeley city crews pick up the bags of trash we collect and don't much care where they go. We have to fight to get our sorted compost in the dedicated compost truck. This is even more of a problem at the end of the day as they make their final pass through the event with the trucks picking up all the remaining bags. 

But, the kites are spectacular in the (usually momentarily) blue sky mid-day, with SF and the Bay to the west and the Berkeley Hills rising to the east. As with Berkeley 4th of July (on the other, south, side of the Marina) it isn't easy to get in and out of this event, you end up walking a long way, but it's worth the trouble. The International Dragon Boat Races on Treasure Island is even better (and easier to access), but that's still two months in the future.

Apple Stores

We're still years from the opening of our new (Central) subway, which runs almost underneath my building, but the new Apple Store opened some weeks ago now. 

I much prefer the look of the store in Portland, 

but this location (by Foster + Partners) features massive, multi-story, sliding glass doors that open the store to both the sidewalk and Union Square to the south, and a courtyard, featuring a Ruth Osawa fountain I'm very fond of, on the north. 

I have no reason to be in the store (my only Apple product is my original iPod Nano with a battery so dead I have to leave it plugged in all the time) but I did stroll through once just to see what it was like. 

Every time I pass it's packed with people -- doing what I'm not sure. I wish Google would take over their old store location, down Stockton at Ellis, for Chromebooks. I wouldn't mind having access to a Genius Bar for Chrome and Chromebook questions. Not that I have that many at the moment.

...Now

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