Previous - 45. HOA & Greening
Mortality
A friend posted a memorial email for her cousin who had just died. What struck me, more than the year of the cousin's birth, was that she had been born the month after me. And she died of, or as a result of, Alzheimer's. It does make a person reflect.Then I was reflecting on the year, 1999, when my dad died and I drove my mother to her new "independent living" complex in Minnesota. It doesn't seem like that long ago, and yet the world -- and my world -- has changed so completely in the intervening 17 years.
9/11 should be the first thing I thought of in this respect, but it wasn't even close. We don't live, day to day, with "big" history. 1999 was prior to the first Green Festival in San Francisco, it would be around six years before I would start easing into my current Greening career. At that time I don't think I had even set foot in the Concourse Exhibition Center where I was to spend so very many hours. While Buffy the Vampire Slayer was on TV, I wasn't aware of it. It would be years, around the same number of years, I think, or maybe a few more, before I would begin to connect with the people who form the global online forum where I still socialize. I didn't even own a laptop in 1999. I had both Mac and PC desktop machines for testing my code as I was still in the software coding business. I had just started my tenure as HOA President and Treasurer -- now that's a daunting realization -- and had yet to start the process of getting our building and business in shape. I have no idea what my favorite restaurant was back then, possibly Park Chow.
If I started this runaway train of thought with "Seize the Day," I end up more amazed by how totally one's life can change between 47 and 64. I suppose this would count as a mid-life crisis... though I've never previously thought about it like that. Possibly since, as usual for me, I didn't make any conscious breaks but merely slipped gradually into new interests. Being in the best physical shape I've ever been in for my mid-60s was never a goal of mine, I just needed to help my back and then stay in condition for HSB. (And there's something else that hadn't yet started -- the first HSB was still two years in the future.)
Just as I wouldn't trade places with my mid-20s self, I wouldn't trade places with my late 40s self. (My 37-38 year-old self is a special case.)
In the end, I have to come back to "Seize the Day" as it is very unlikely that I will prefer my reality at 81 to my current reality. It isn't impossible, but it is very hard to visualize.
Singapore Day
What a trip. Singapore interests me from an economic perspective as the best contemporary example of a true city state -- which I think should be the norm. But the mix of Chinese, Indian, and Malay/Islamic culture is even more curious.I got a good dose of some of this from listening to the songs, speeches, and chatter on the PA while I worked on Saturday, but what had the most effect on us Greeners was the total disregard (or lack of understanding) of our rules regarding waste.
They were very concerned with everything being neat and tidy -- consistent with what I've heard about Singapore -- but they made it almost impossible to do what we do, by using bioplastic plates and bowls. Aside from some paper cups and soup bowls, the vast majority of what the food was served in was made of plastic that can't be composted, can't be recycled, and produces methane when put in a landfill. It's the worst of all the possible options.
What I like about our crew chief at this event is that when I made my initial pass through the food area, and discovered what a mess it was, and suggested doing something we've never done before -- treating the landfill and compost containers both as landfill -- she didn't hesitate to accept the idea. Only a few of our people completely grasped the new idea, so they continued to sort the landfill out of the compost containers, but over-all it worked well. And, yes, this leads me to draw an analogy with military history.
The tendency in any "institution" is very strong to do things the same way they've done them before even when the situation suddenly changes dramatically. In my just short of 10 years doing of Greening, I can only recall one other event where we were so slammed by landfill (in that case it was Styrofoam clam-shells from San Jose food trucks). Fortunately, I was doing that event all by myself and could quickly switch from my usual compost gathering routine to a new Styrofoam gathering and stacking (to reduce the volume of landfill) without consulting with anyone or having to bother with getting others to do something different.
I run off to war, again
This is also the advantage (I believe) that elite, special forces teams like Delta and Navy Seals have over ordinary troops who need to do everything precisely the way they've been trained and instructed.
Pier 70
Back to Pier 70, the main shed of the event venue there is unchanged -- a perfect example of extreme Wabi Sabi -- but some neighboring structures are being gutted. At least I hope they are going to leave some of the outside structure and merely tart up the interior.There are many places and objects in San Francisco that can bring you back to the 19th century, and even a few that can take you back even further. But the old shipyard around pier 70 feels like it is still in the past. I want to see these buildings brought back to life and would even like to see some shockingly contemporary additions, in between the buildings that can be saved, but I know I'm going to miss the feeling of this being a corner of SF that time has forgotten.
HSB
If the weather forecast is accurate, I've dodged a bullet. The past two Sundays the tempurature has been in the 90s F, but the forecast for the weekend of HSB predicts temps in the 60s. That would be so great.
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