Tuesday 09/10/2024

Today as usual was the writers meeting. The cue was “memory”. About 9am I had an idea of what to do with it, and in an hour wrote a nice little piece, which I wall append.

Then it was time to go down and set up the auditorium for the Folk Festival rehearsal. This was not a full rehearsal, but just the songs where residents were actually to perform. I am in two of those. I got through the first one, “City of New Orleans” without screwing anything up. On “You’ve Got a Friend” with Mary, I missed my entrance on the third verse. We did it over and it was ok.

Later I went out and bought more sugar for the hummingbirds. My single feeder need to be filled three times a day, often has all five ports occupied.

At 4 I turned on the 11th floor TV. Anybody could do that, but several different people had asked me over the last couple of days if “the tv will be on for the debate”. Like it took my special magic to turn it on. Anyway, not wanting to watch the debate in a crowd, I ordered my supper for take-out and ate in my room. DIsappointed: Trump didn’t implode, Kamala didn’t hit any home runs. Whatever.

Here’s the thing I wrote for the group.

Memory support

What did old people do before we had internet-connected computers in our pockets? (Which in fact would be 2008 and later.) Or at least, on our desks? (i.e. 1995). Before then what we did is suffer. We stumbled and stammered and sputtered; snapped our fingers and said “You know! That… thing. That you… Oh, you know what I mean.”

The brain is a marvelous and mysterious thing, all the more mysterious for its failures. I have a large vocabulary — or did — multiple tens of thousands of words, all neatly filed and linked in a multi-dimensional semantic network. Of late, the fishnet has developed holes, where threads that once were knotted to words are dangling loose.

The annoying thing is, when you are swinging along from node to node, producing an effortless stream of amusing conversation and you come up to a gap, you know what word you want; you just can’t access the word itself. You know all about the word; you have a sensory memory and descriptive connections, but each of theses strands of your semantic net dangle loose, where they used to be tied to a noun.

“In our guest room we had a nice… shit.” Piece of furniture. Against the wall. Used it as a couch. Had a handmade crocheted throw on it most of the time? Cushions were brown, you folded it out to make a guest bed. All those strings are there, but the word has gone AWOL. Until a person, or your web browser, produces it, and then, of course! FUTON.

Yesterday at lunch we were talking about the last time any of us had attended A.C.T. in San Francisco. I had a clear memory of the last play I saw there. Not its title, of course! I can see the stage from our upper loge seats at the Geary Theater. I can remember the play had something to do with an imaginary horse, and a boy, and the name “Peter” is associated with it.

I got out my phone and keyed “play horse boy peter” into the address bar of the browser. And immediately got a link to the Wikipedia entry for Peter Shaffer’s play Equus.

Thank you, my pocket supercomputer, for re-weaving another tatter in my semantic web.

Monday 09/09/2024

Huh, I went to bed last night without posting a blog entry. Sunday I did a docent tour and not much else.

Today started early with going to the auditorium at 8am to back up David G as he was recovering from a round of maybe-Covid-relapse. Or something. So the Resident Association meeting went fine, except for some annoying feedback which I still can’t figure out.

Then at 11 I met with Mary and John to rehearse our song. Then down to FOPAL to complete setting up my section for the sale this coming weekend. That was about that.

Saturday 09/07/2024

For breakfast I walked to Town and Country center, the Douce France coffee shop. Bumped into Joanne and walked back with her. Practiced some guitar. Afternoon, I went down and went out for more coffee with Dennis. Had a good chat, got some good advice.

Went for the standard walk. Practiced some music. Went to the grocery store to stock up on TP and laundry detergent. Then, since that involved putting stuff away in the bathroom cabinets, I decided to try to fix the fact that my bathroom sink drains very slowly. I carefully removed the P-trap and washed it out under the shower. It had a little crud in it but not much, so the blockage is further along. I shall report it to Facilities, but not until Monday.

We were discussing Covid shots at lunch, and I heard that Safeway had them and accepted walk-ins. Thinking I would go get one, I checked my file of medical history and realized that I got a Covid shot just recently, along with my wellness exam, in June. So I don’t think I’ll bother getting another. Everybody is talking about flu shots now, which seems early to me.

Thursday 09/05/2024

At 10am I met with Tom and Ellen, residents who had scheduled a meet the candidate event for monday, but none of the av people signed up to take it. My committee, well 2 of them, had vociferously told me I was not to jump in and fill every hole, sometimes we just don’t have the volunteer manpower, etc. So instead I got the couple to agree to be trained in how to set up the auditorium for a simple event: open the doors, turn on the lights, set up three microphones, and put everything away afterwards. Tom is a retired engineer, or I guess engineering manager? and took a very methodical approach. I had prepared a one-page checklist, and he insisted on working the whole thing through twice. I think they’ll do fine.

At 3pm the Good Times committee met. Progressing nicely; first rehearsal is on the 10th. Nervous? Me?

Afterward I met with Lou on the 11th floor and we went over how to set up microphones there, for an event he has on the 13th. I have plans for the evening of the 13th, so he had to be trained to do it himself. He’s smart; jeez the guy was big in the World Bank and has sat on the board of the California high speed rail.

I had supper at 5 and at 5:45 met with Kandis to go to a concert. This was the first of several concerts at SFJazz for which I had bought pairs of seats. I offered the spare seat to several people who couldn’t accept, then I put out a general announcement, and Kandis was first to reply. Minor problem: Kandis uses a walker. So my normal SFJazz itinerary — drive down Franklin to Grove, turn into the Performing Arts Garage, walk 5 blocks back to SFJazz — wouldn’t work. I determined that there was a passenger drop off zone outside SFJazz on Fell street (thank you Google Street View), so the plan was to drop Kandis off with her walker, drive around a big circle (one-way streets) to the garage, walk back, probably 12-15 minutes to rejoin her and go in to the concert.

All went smoothly up to the point where I got in a slow-moving line at the garage entrance, and finally reached it to see a sign, FULL Monthly rentals and pre-paid only. Well, shit. Now what?

The only alternate I knew was the Civic Center Plaza garage, on the other side of City Hall, a quarter mile walk from SFJazz. And I realized we are so old-school that we hadn’t exchanged phone numbers, so I couldn’t tell her. Also, I had both tickets.

So I drove around another one-way circle, back to the drop-off zone outside SFJazz, ran into the front door, handed Kandis her ticket, said go on in, I’ll be late. It was now 7:20 with the concert starting at 7:30.

Back to the car, around through the one-way streets over to Civic Center, park, take the elevator back to street level, walk fast back to SFJazz, and find my seat at 7:40, which was not bad going. Only missed part of the first number.

The concert was superb, two master musicians at the top of their game, and so in tune with each other. It was just a joy to hear. This (Three Wrong Notes) was the first number, which I missed part of.Apparently they had put out an album together some time ago, which won a Grammy. Well-earned.

Concert over; leave Kandis with her walker in the lobby, fast-walk across Van Ness to the Plaza, get the car, come around more one-way loops, back to SFJazz. Twenty minutes again. Kandis had apparently been shmoozing with the security people because as I pulled up, one guy in a da-glo vest came running out to say, “Are you picking up Kandis?”

And drive home. phew.

Wednesday 09/04/2024

Laundry day. Got that done in good time, all wrapped up by 10.

The technical report on my ultrasound came through. The nice tech Jennifer cautioned me about trying to read the official report, wait for my doctor to message me. But she hasn’t so I read it anyway and it all sounds normal, cysts are the same size as in 2022, no anomalies.

Practiced “City of New Orleans” with Craig. He said “we sound about as good as we’re going to get,” which I agree with, and we won’t rehearse again until the official rehearsal day which isn’t that far off, the 10th.

Back in 2019 this was a journal of my thoughts and feelings during bereavement. In the four (four! can you believe it?) years since, it has become more of a line-a-day diary, much less self-examination.

Partly that is because I haven’t had a lot of strong feelings, or self-realizations, to talk about. But partly it’s because at least a few CH people have heard the codgerville.net URL, and I can’t say when one might drop by. Per the wordpress stats, the typical post has 3 visitors, and I’m pretty sure I know who they are; but a few posts get 4 or even 5 visitors. And I can’t be sure who they are. So I don’t want to write anything here that might embarrass or annoy or hurt a neighbor who might drop by.

From which you might guess that I’ve been having feelings or realizations that I might talk about, except for the above considerations. Maybe I’ll start a new, secret blog where I can dump the things that rattle around in my aging brain.

Tuesday 09/03/2024

Left a bit after 9 for the clinic for an ultrasound. In the hour prior to that, I ingested 24 floz. of liquid. This was because the ultrasound was looking at my kidneys, bladder, and renal cysts. The tech was a very nice person named Jennifer. Always nice when your medical person is cute.

Then had coffee at Peets. Messed about with music. Dealt with various emails, scheduling things. Two different groups want to have events needing AV and there’s nobody to cover. I made the same offer to both: I’ll be happy to train you in how to turn the mics on. And they bit, so I had to schedule those meetings.

My stalwart AV guy Ian is in England visiting his relatives (he’s a retired theoretical physicist from Cambridge) so there was nobody to screen the twice-monthly Tuesday night movie. So I did that. The movie was Norma Rae, from 1979, Sally Field being all southern. I did not like it; I don’t know why, it just made me uncomfortable, so I sat in the lobby where I could hear if something went wrong, and played games on my phone.

Monday 09/02/2024

First thing was a 9am rehearsal with Mary and John of “You’ve Got a Friend,” or YGAF as I abbreviate it in my calendar. Then down to the dining room to pick up my sandwich bag supper.

At 10 I warmed up the auditorium for the First Monday Book Talk. The speaker was Prof. Darwin Patnode, who has been giving literature lectures at Channing House for a long time. He spoke on Mark Twain in California, actually a recap of Twain’s whole career, and at the end said he had given this exact talk here at CH just 15 years ago.

Labor Day lunch was a barbecue. The dining staff had their barbecue roaster going on the patio and we filed by loading our plates. Actually their BBQ sauce was rather lacking IMO but it was a nice change and the ribs were well cooked.

Then down to FOPAL because I’m a nerd with no imagination, and back for a nap, and then the sixth floor picnic in our dining room. My fruit compote was well-received.

In 2005 on our trip to Japan, in Narita airport on the way back, I bought a tiny Tetris game, a Tetris Junior, a hand-held game with a key chain. It has lived in my bathroom ever since, going on 20 years. And I play it most times I’m on the toilet. It’s getting rather old, and the buttons are kind of insensitive. Every few years I take it apart and clean it and change its batteries, but I worry about it dying. I might be permanently constipated.

So tonight I thought, huh, eBay has everything, I think I’ll just look. Searched on eBay for “Tetris Junior” which is the actual name printed on it, and of course there were several. Also of course it is now a retro vintage thing, so one that is original sealed in plastic is nearly $200. But there were some used ones cheaper, so I bought two. Or maybe three. Shipping from Japan, and from Spain. Will report when they arrive.

Sunday 09/01/2024

Did my usual Sunday things — does it count as a ritual? I wrote about having your own private rituals in To Thrive, and no, my unvarying Sunday routine isn’t a ritual. The difference between a ritual and a habit or custom, I said, is that the ritual is done at least as much for a symbolic meaning as for its practical effect. (I remember being rather proud of myself for figuring that out.) I don’t do the NYT puzzle, or water the plants, to represent something other than puzzling or watering. But I digress.

Next, still on the hunt for decent fruit, I walked to California avenue for the market. Found some acceptable pluots and some yellow raspberries. Took a Lyft back, so only 3 miles for the day.

Peeled and chopped up the fruit I had collected in a nice metal bowl borrowed from the 6th floor kitchen, and put it in the kitchen refrigerator for Monday afternoon. Did some music practice.

Looked ahead at pending events, I have an SFJazz concert on Thursday, and a play a week from Friday, and an extra ticket for each. I see the concert on Thursday, Hiromi, is sold out. I emailed my neighbor Joanne to join me for the play on the 13th. I need to find somebody who appreciates jazz to join me for the concert.

Saturday 08/31/2024

Another day with no appointments. Walked to the nearby farmers market. On Monday afternoon, as usual on a holiday there’s no evening meal service. Also as usual the 6th floor will gather in our dining room to picnic on our sack suppers. I have the notion that I’ll make a fruit compote, a big bowl of cut-up ripe fruit. So I walked around the market sniffing the fruit and being disappointed. Maybe my nose is shot, but I didn’t smell ripe fruit. Bought one basket of raspberries and some nice red seedless grapes. Later in the day I found some decent pluots at the grocery store.

Spent an hour collecting the audio for some folk songs to play in the half hour before the actual folk fest. Spent some time practicing my two numbers.

Dropped down to FOPAL to take care of a task that’s been pending for two weeks. Somebody donated a box of 20 identical books, manuals for how to build projects based on a commercial hobby chip. Useless without the kit of electronics, and anyway available free as a PDF online. But they were bound with spiral plastic rod. In order to recycle them I had to separate the plastic from the paper. I took my wire-cutter and did that job, getting several nicks in my hands.

Stopped at Town and Country and had a Kirk’s burger for supper.