386. Back after a long long time - Santa Barbara

 

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So much catch-up 

September & October 2022 including Santa Barbara trip

9/25/22

Finally feeling better after a week of feeling off... and itching. As it happened, this was also my week to take my “holiday” road trip to Santa Barbara so my friend could conduct estate business with her sister. I didn’t feel so bad that I couldn’t do most of what I had planned. It just wasn’t quite as fun as I was hoping for. In particular I was trying to be careful about what I ate. 

Anyway, this is also a weekend off work (I didn’t want, because the event we didn’t get has been one of my favorites) but it turned out to be for the best. Now I have six days to ramp up for HSB. Should be fine.

As so often happens when you rent a car, we asked for a small fuel efficient model and were given a larger model instead. In this case a VW Atlas -- which I was calling the Panzerkampfwagan. Aside from less than ideal forward visibility when you are parking, it was a fine vehicle. Good overall visibility, plenty of power and room and everything else you would want. It probably cost us an extra eight gallons of gas or maybe $50.

I did manage to find the book I’ve been looking for at the bookstore I was staying near in SB. So now I probably will blog “The Old Regime...”

While SB was much nicer than here, didn’t see a single tent, it still had the same problems but at a more manageable scale. The day I walked down to shop and have lunch in their very nice pedestrianized downtown, I saw a steady stream of mentally ill people yelling or talking to themselves. There were “unsheltered” people scattered all around, including at the Peet’s I was frequenting and at the shopping complex that houses the bookstore. I also read a story in the local paper about someone who died in custody while waiting (seven months at the time of death) to be transferred to the State mental facility where they would try to make the person capable of helping with her own defense in a trial. I hadn’t realized that even people who have been found incompetent to stand trial can’t get help. Even worse than I already thought.

SB is lovely, in that SoCal/TMM dream in Snow manner. Striking mountains up behind the town. Stunning weather. And almost everyone enjoying a lifestyle that has landed us in the mess we are currently in. I rode the bus back from downtown, after walking six miles, and was a bit surprised at how ratty it was. I didn’t expect to find anyone but kids and minorities riding, but I thought they would have better equipment. Because of where I was staying, it was very convenient and I could have gone everywhere I needed to go on just the one bus line. 

9/29/22

In SB I walked past this little park with playing fields on five occasions and it more and more reminded me of September days when I lived in the Valley and we had football training camp in Encino. And just now, as I was eating my lunch at CPK, I was watching a football game between Miami and Buffalo that was played in Miami. I have no interest in either team, but what did interest me was the level of exhaustion of the players as the game came to an end. Players on both sides dropped to the grounded rather than returning to their benches.

All of this reminded me so much of those nasty days when we would get in shape for the coming football season. It really paid off for our team, but it was not fun. Now I maintain a year-round exercise routine to stay in shape, and even ramp it up at this time of year as our big events near. But I still remember those days in Encino and am so glad I don’t have to go through them again.

10/28/22 - Day 956 of COVID/144 days since my COVID

It’s been a busy month since my last post. I’ve worked Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, Fleet Week, How Weird, Haight Street Fair, and another Undiscovered. I believe I’m through greening for 2022. In fact, I’ve cut my hair, seen my dermatologist (no problems) and am currently near the end of a week off much of my exercise routine. My arm is bothering me. Perhaps it misses all the push ups. I will be resuming them in two days so we will see then.

I’m in the midst of preparation for the HOA’s pro forma budget and budget approval meeting. Lots of fun with spreadsheets. Our documents will be greatly improved this year though I may be the only one who notices.

Ignoring my forearm, I ended the greening season with no physical complaints. My new boots may have contributed to this. And I have a new, very white, hat that improves my sun protection game. I don’t see any reason I can’t continue doing this until I’m seventy-five. On the other hand, it’s been a hard year for some of the people I know in their mid-seventies. One is still recovering from a fall on ice this past winter combined with skin cancer surgery. Another is recovering from a fractured femur and complications of scoliosis. I know things can start getting dicey around seventy-five, but so far I don’t feel personally at risk. Mostly this affects my scheduling of HOA maintenance work. I’m aware that things I can do now I may not be able to do in ten, or maybe even five, years.

As I wrap up my HOA seasonal tasks, I have to start thinking about what I’m going to do with the bulk of my time until next April. I need to come up with new projects beyond giving my apartment a good cleaning.

385. Summer Doldrums

 

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Coming Soon: de Tocqueville 

7/11/22 - Day 847/35

The Chain just came on here at the Bank Cafe. Now I’m anticipating the bass part, but I don’t think I will be able to hear it the way they have the sound turned down... nope.

I need to return to this blog and get caught up. This week. I’ve pinned my notes. Next I will start copying the text into blogger and posting it day by day. Should be caught up by the end of the week.

I’m now three weeks into the doldrums of July and August where we mostly just work the Sunday Stern Grove Festival concerts. There have been some other events but I’ve dodged them for one reason or another -- mostly because they ran too late or involved back-end table sorting. 

We seem to have the Stern Grove scene down now. Even with large crowds we are mostly done by 8pm. At which point I clock-out and leave whatever remains to the younger workers. One update this season is that I’m now collecting corks and recycling them at Whole Food. I’m thinking about doing a Foster Brooks imitation as I bring in my bag of corks every week.

The music to date has been good -- at least at the end when I show up. And the weather has been a mix of fog and sun, so not too hot and, so far, not too cold. 

7/15/22

For the first time in months I’m caught up with posting this blog. I’m reading The Elegance of the Hedgehog again, but I’ve already said everything I need to say about that. Things may or may not be coming to a head with our huge, long-standing problem at the HOA. Only time will tell. Any real improvement would be a huge surprise. And the pandemic just keeps on keeping on. I finally gave up my fitness center membership as I realized that between all the new COVID variants and the new Monkeypox concern, there was no way I would be returning soon. I did invest in new equipment for doing pull-ups, but I have yet to start using it. Next week probably.

What is new is the widespread conviction that everything is about to go to hell in a hand-basket. Some of this is climate related -- which makes perfect sense, though no one seems to be doing anything that would reduce the likelihood of this fate -- and some of it is political. Again, not unreasonable. And then there’s the economic aspect. I view all this with the perspective of history, so, while I don’t think the conviction is necessarily wrong, I still see these as being “historically” good times. Unusually good times, in fact. 

And I continue to make thirty year plans for my HOA and less-than-thirty year plans for myself. The HOA will almost certainly still be around in thirty years, though the cost of painting at that time is impossible to anticipate. I have no intention of still being around in thirty years. My personal plans get more and more tentative the further into the future I look. In five years I should be relatively unchanged, though I’m not sure about the world. In ten years I can’t expect to be the same person. I see that as the likely time for a major transition, which I have financial plans for -- assuming no huge economic upheaval. There’s good reason to think I should be fine when it comes to money -- unless things get really strange, and you can’t exactly prepare for that. And beyond eighty I don’t see that there is any reason to cling to life. So Plan C at that point would be to bring down the show. Of course that’s what my aunt always said and she clung on until she was a miserable ninety-four. We never really know where our path is leading.

7/25/22

I’m getting near to the end of Hedgehog, I’m to the part where Kakuro dresses Renne. And I’m trying to recall how often I’ve run into this trope. Besides here I’m pretty sure the French Duke did this in one of Nancy Mitford’s novels, but I think there’s at least one more instance. (On the TV show "Castle," Castle sends Kate a spectacular dress to wear for an event. Same trope... I didn't much care for the dress.)

8/13/22 - Day 881/69

Today is the 881st of the pandemic and the 69th since I finally caught COVID. I was reflecting on this as I did my old, simi-steep hill walk today. I left off the stair-master part as it has already been a tough week with three, eight hour greening days. 

On the other hand, my daily exercise routine has recently improved with the return of my three versions of pull up/chin up using a new piece of kit that clamps onto the wall above a door. I’m still trying to catch up to where I was after a break of over two years doing that particular kind of exercise. It will take a few months, but it is going well. I’ve also just recently replaced the larger set of crunches with two different kinds of plank -- normal and side style. That seems to be a big improvement as I was coasting before and now I’m really pressing trying to move above two minutes and one minute respectively. All this because I finally gave up my fitness center membership.

Aside from the complex calculations about when to wear a mask and still not eating inside most places. Life is not too far from normal... at least from our new perspective.

And I’m reading a book that may demand blogging: The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Toqueville. This was prompted by my recent rereading of Pirenne, and I think I’m really going to like it -- only about four chapters in. And I may have to follow this up with Adam Smith. Who knew I would spend my Golden Years finally trying to understand the 18th and 19th centuries? Not me. I have considered trying to contact my old history professor at ASU but I would rather not know if he is dead.

8/15/22

Yesterday I worked the final Stern Grove concert of 2022. It was rather worse than I had even anticipated, but really, it was fine. Thousands of people having a very good time. That their fun interfered with my waste diversion is hardly the end of the world. I adjusted and it all ended well.

One of our “old timers” was not scheduled to work yesterday but some other people flaked out so she stepped in. Somehow, she had never been exposed to the Deadhead culture -- which is as odd as the fact that they had never played at the Stern Grove venue. I warned her that, to our untrained ears, they would be playing the same song all afternoon, which she confirmed at the end. What I had not anticipated (but should have) was that the crowd would be dancing on the paths we use to access our ecostations. Normally we can push carts on those paths and then pull and cart away bags of sorted trash. I tried that once and gave up. Fortunately there is a another path behind the stage so I could get back to the dumpsters with my load. 

Deadhead dancing is reminiscent of sufi dancing. There’s a lot of spinning or slowly spinning while apparently stoned out of your mind. While there were some younger people in attendance, the vast majority were probably older than me. There was one “dancer” on the path in my area who appeared to have been dead for some time.

I’m going to try to find out how much money they raised, as that was the point of this final concert of the season.

8/17/22

I’m trying to replace the battery in my beard trimmer rather than just getting a new trimmer... which would be simple. This involves taking two buses to the closest remaining Batteries Plus store in San Rafael. But then they have to “prime” the new battery which takes six hours. So I’m on 4th street killing time. By chance, it is a delightful day. There are actual clouds in the sky and I was already sprinkled on once -- and that is not a Trump kink reference. I had planned to come yesterday, but I judged it to be too hot, and it got even hotter than forecast, up in the 90s. And today is warm but pleasant.

My friend who lives a couple blocks from where I am currently having tea and a cookie out on the sidewalk, is currently either in surgery or waiting for her surgery to start after having broken her femur (I think) while playing pickleball. This is probably fairly routine (though all surgeries involve a degree of risk) but I can’t help thinking how strange it would be if she died as a result of playing pickleball in the midst of a pandemic.

I just remembered that tomorrow will be the anniversary of my mother’s going into the hospital that final time. That was also a lovely time of year in Minnesota, though much hotter. 

8/22/22

This past weekend I only worked a short shift at a street festival in the Western Addition. Too quiet for my taste -- I mean it wasn’t busy, I had both earbuds in as ear protection. We had to do grounds at the end and so left those four blocks cleaner then they’ve probably been in years. Next up is a convention, the only one I don’t really mind working -- VM Ware. Should be a good chance to continue breaking in the new boots I first wore for the street festival. A little ankle discomfort, but otherwise pretty good. And I re-repaired my old boots so now I have a backup pair.

And our COVID numbers have come down enough that I’ve returned to eating indoors at the two places I’ve been avoiding. Hit my Burmese favorite on the anniversary of my mother’s death and will be at the Pork store tomorrow.

And tomorrow will also be another run to the PO where I have to sign for letters that missed me at home. Still trying to decide what I will do as a reward after. Or while I’m reading the latest crazy letter. If what I’ve heard is at all reliable, the sale of that property should be final by now. I’m not expecting anything, but still hoping this will get interesting.

The Old Regime and the French Revolution

P96 “Thus each of these small groups lived only for itself and, quite literally, minded its own business.” Speaking of the tiny groups the 3rd estate had broken down into. Isn’t this similar to Voltaire’s “Tending their gardens?” Isn’t this the result of everyone doing this? To the advantage of the dynasty but not the nation.

8/26/22

Women’s belts again. In my continuing research on this vital subject I am having a problem answering the follow up question, Are women without foxy figures following the same trend? The reason I can’t tell is that it seems that only the foxes are dressed so that this is obvious. Partly this is because it is cooler here in SF and most people wear some sort of additional layer. Partly this is because the non-foxes are being discrete. It might be easier to go into a store that sells women’s accessories and ask the sales people if these are dark days for the belt trade.