Tuesday 10/15/2024

The day kind of passed in a blur. There was the writers meeting, to which I contributed nothing. I spent some time tidying up, it’s housekeeper day. Spent some time in guitar practice. Ate a meal or two sometime.

In the afternoon I met with Jerry who showed me how to use MuseScore music editing software, and later I used it to transpose Rocking Around the Christmas Tree (hereinafter RATCT) from G to C. I need to get serious about assembling our little group of performers, me and Craig and Linda at least, to practice that.

Monday 10/14/2024

Started with the monthly resident association meeting. Rhonda announced she is hiring an executive director/COO to manage day-to-day operations while she focuses on long-term strategic goals.

Then off FOPAL for the post-sale cleanup. It looked like I sold quite a few books, a lot of gaps on the shelves. But I didn’t take an actual count. Anyway, two boxes of July books off to the bargain room.

At 3:30 i met with Sally, who is sponsoring the heads of an East Palo Alto youth group to come and talk on Wednesday night. We met with the head to talk about how she wanted to present.

Then at 5:30 I met with Joanne in the lobby and we walked out to Taverna or a nice supper. Afterward I went up to the 11th floor and this time could see the comet nicely. The iPhone 16 got a decent picture, too.

Sunday 10/13/2024

water plants, do crossword. Then decided to walk to the Cal. Ave street market. That’s one of the best markets around, full of people. Bought some plums for my own snacking.

At 3 I went and set up for a Sunday@Home event. These are monthly events where a resident or a resident’s relative, talks about pretty much anything. In this case, the speaker was David Liston, grandson of residents Joanna and Laurie, who just completed F18 training including carrier landing school. He described the various stages of Naval Aviation training, from his ROTC days at Cal, to Pensacola, to Texas, and now to San Diego. He had a video taken by someone else, of him landing an F18 on the deck of a carrier. Also a video of him undergoing 7.5 Gs in a centrifuge. A fun talk.

After supper I noted the western horizon was clear so went up to 11, to the open roof walk, to look for the comet. I finally found it, farther to the right of Venus and higher up than I expected. It’s not bright, but it is quite large, a huge fuzzy Q-tip in the sky. Tomorrow night I will try to take a picture. Using the Nikon? Probably. Well, I’ve got a tripod bracket for the phone, maybe I’ll see if the iPhone 16 can get it.

Took a walk in the morning, over to Gamble gardens, where I was experimenting with the closeup ability of the new iPhone 16. I can definitely do more with it than with the old iPhone, and offhand I can’t think of a good reason I would tote the Nikon around, either. Although the Nikon certainly takes pictures of equal quality. But the phone fits in my pocket.

Walked through the farmers market. There was a woman playing guitar and singing. She played Leonard Cohen’s “Halleluja” which I also sing, so I was harmonizing with her for a verse or two. Then I obviously had to put some bills in her guitar case.

Pretty much did nothing the rest of the day. When I do nothing, I get bored and then I get lonely. In the afternoon I took another walk. And another nap. Tried to play guitar and got mad at the sound quality of my guitar. But I can’t stand the idea of spending $3000 to buy a good one. Oh bitch bitch bitch.

Friday 10/11/2024

Took ye olde standard walk. On return, I checked out a problem with a microphone. Kass had texted me that mic 3 had quit working during the event she was running last night. On checking, the wireless mic itself is working to the extent that, the wireless receiver in the big electronics cabinet backstage, shows that it is receiving the mic. But the sound is not being delivered from there to the sound board on the AV desk by the stage. Other mics are working. Handed the problem to Gerald in IT.

Later in the day I took the car out and bought gas (last time was in August), and took a little drive.

At supper I got to thinking how I had meant to edit the video of the lecture on Fiduciaries, last Tuesday. And I had napped away the day instead. So I sat down and did the editing, between 6:30 and now, 8:30.

Thursday 10/10/2024

Had a list of little things to do this morning, and did them. Nothing of real note. Spent some time reading Nexus by Yuval Harari. Finding things to disagree with in the first chapter.

In hummingbird news, for lack of any other news, I note that the hummers have slowed down their consumption rate. For 2 or 3 weeks I was having to refill the feeder 4 times a day, now it’s down to 2 a day.

Wednesday 10/09/2024

Started the day with a full walk. After that I set out for two errands. One, to get more Neem Oil. Those vile little white flys have come back to my begonias. I thought the jug at Westwinds nursery was too expensive, but I found it cheaper at Ace hardware.

I also went by Gryphon Instruments and played several guitars, from cheap to expensive. None of them really jumped at me, but I came home and played mine, and it definitely has a quality I do not like. Must shop more.

Then I booked my flight and rental car for a trip to the Greater Seattle area at Christmas. This was a struggle — I felt a real reluctance, just want to stay here and do nothing. But I gotta do it. So I ‘m doing it.

It was time for the monthly 6th floor meeting and supper. Nice time with my neighbors.

At 9pm I had my first session with a therapist. What? Well, I have been wrestling with an issue, a psychological conflict, for some weeks. I don’t care to put any details here just yet. But it turns out that 82-year-olds can still have emotional issues, go figure. So I signed up with betterhelp.com, got a discount code from a blogger so it’s only $75/week, cancel any time, for a weekly video session with an experienced therapist. Her name is Cynthia, and she was quite helpful. Listened to my story, anticipated some of what I was going to say, and gave me some useful insights and pointed out things that had not occurred to me. So, I guess worth $75.

Tuesday 10/08/2024

Went early to the auditorium to set up for a lecture event. Two people from Prime Fiduciary were here to talk about what a fiduciary is and does. They’d come last Tuesday to rehearse, and as a result the event went smoothly. Kass came along and watched the process and so tid Tom, so that was good. Training future AV techs.

As soon as that was over I headed down to FOPAL to process two boxes of donations and to groom my shelves for the sale this weekend. Back to CH and had a nice nap in the lounge while my room was cleaned.

At 7:30 there was a concert, nominally a jazz trio but they brought some extra people so it was a bigger group. They were playing well but somehow the music seemed — and I hate to admit this as a one-tme rock and roller — too loud. Something about our auditorium acoustics and the drum kit. It just seemed harsh and loud and I left after two numbers, although nobody else seemed bothered.

Monday 10/07/2024

I had two hours before running an event, the monthly book talk, at 10, and I took care of a bunch of little shit. Made out the check for the annual staff appreciation fund and put it in the contribution box. Paid my comcast bill. Wrote another check for an excursion next week. Stuff.

The speaker for book talk was Dylan Penningroth, who gave an interesting talk. New AV team member Richard shadowed me watching how a zoom meeting was done.

From lunchtime until 4 I edited the video of the event of last Friday, the presentation on ballot propositions for this election.

At 3:55 I broke off to attend, for the first time, the Poetry Out Loud group, who meet to read their favorite poems out loud. I read one by Byron. I learned about some other poets I had not heard of.

At 5 it was time for the monthly mixer dinner. You go to the dining room right at 5:15 and as you come in, you pick a numbered tag from a hat, and that is the table you sit at. As usual, I ended up eating with people I knew, but one of them, Judy, was someone I had never eaten a meal with, so there’s that.

Back upstairs to finish editing and uploading the video.

Sunday 10/06/2024

Usual Sunday morning. After lunch, put on my red docent shirt and went to the museum to lead a tour. Had a big group, 25 or so, and they all stuck with me, so nice.

At 7:30 Stew, who organized the Folk Fest of a couple weeks ago, invited everyone who performed to the 4th floor lounge where he showed the 2003 movie, A Mighty Wind, a spoof of the folk singing days. I think I saw it when it was new, but didn’t really remember any of it. It’s really pretty funny, recommend it.