Tuesday 11/11/2025

Did something unusual: went to the gym and did the round of the machines. What was different was the time. I had tried going early, 7:30, and ran into too many people. So this time I went at 8:30 and it was better, a couple of people on the walking machines is all. So I will keep doing that now I hope.

Writers group, I had nothing. Couple of good essays by others.

Met with the guy who is going to speak to us on Wednesday night, the former owner of The Milk Pail Market, which was apparently very popular with some people up to a decade ago when it closed. I don’t think Marian and I ever went there although I was aware of it, just off San Antonio Road. Anyway, went over what he wants to do, mainly just show some pics and tell stories.

There’s a jazz concert tonight, local group, going to go listen now.

Monday 11/10/2025

Day starts with the Resident Association meeting. Which wraps up in a remarkably short 29 minutes. I meant to head for FOPAL at once but I bumped into Joanne in the lobby and she said, want to join me and Martha for a walk down to Edgewood? Oh heck yes, so we spent a couple of hours on a walk for coffee.

Then I went on to FOPAL, stopping to buy coffee. Back to CH, now quite tired, at 2pm Sat around browsing the internet. Talked briefly to Dennis. After dinner, more sitting around watching TV.

Sunday 11/09/2025

Read the paper, did the puzzle, watered the plants, then walked to Cafe Zoe for a cup and a cake.

After lunch I edited the video of an event from Wednesday, a surgeon talking about what’s new in knee and hip replacements. Pretty good talk, actually.

Then down to the auditorium to help Sandy set up for an event. This was a Sunday@Home. That series is for residents to show off their travels or their hobbies or whatever. In this case it was that Stew’s wife Kathy had been in the Peninsula Women’s Chorus when they gave a concert in 1984. The concert comprised the music composed by British and Dutch women, held in Japanese prison camps in Sumatra in 1942-45.

That time and the story of how the women recreated classic music pieces with no instruments or equipment, was documented in the video, Song of Survival. The PWC concert was in 1984, and it was recorded by a movie team who included bits of it in the documentary. Stew and Kathy introduced the video; then we ran it. It’s a very well made documentary, mostly narrated by the surviving women from the camps, some of them recorded when they went back to Sumatra in the 1980s.

I thought the title was familiar and I knew the general story so I was pretty sure I had seen the documentary before. But when? I didn’t know until just now, when I went looking for the DVD on Amazon (link above). when it comes up, Amazon tells me “Last purchased in 2008, click here for the order.” Amazon never forgets. It seems Marian bought that same DVD off Amazon in 2008. We must have watched it at home, which is why I remembered the story. It wasn’t around when I was cleaning the house out, so I imagine Marian loaned it on to some friend.

Saturday 11/08/2025

Took a walk alone in the morning. Changed into my red docent shirt and headed off to the museum after lunch, to lead the 2pm tour. Went ok. Picked up some G0 gatorade on the way back. Lazed around the pad and ate supper in my room.

Friday 11/07/2025

In the morning, took a nice walk with Joanne. Middle of the day, rearranged my living room furniture for the first time since I moved in, 2019. Then lazed around doing not much the rest of the afternoon.

After supper met up with J. again and we walked the 1.5 miles to the Congregational Church for a concert, ancient music by Voices of Music. A couple of other CH people were there also and we caught a ride home with one.

Thursday 11/06/2025

Lovely day with few commitments. I decided to try to understand Da Vinci Resolve. I am sort of looking for a better video editor than iMovie. Resolve, remarkably, has a free version that isn’t crippled, and that has definitely got more features than iMovie. Oh my does it have more features. It has a user manual, quite well organized and written, a mere 220GB PDF file of 4000 pages. I got as far as page 805, flipping rapidly from chapter to chapter. In three hours I managed to prove to myself that I could do basic editing with it, but I couldn’t establish whether it could do the one thing I want that iMovie doesn’t do: put scrolling text over a video, for karaoke-style lyrics. It might? But I can’t tell. I got bored.

I got my annual wellness check at 2. Ball, Tree, Flag. 100, 92, 84, 76, 68, 60. I’m as sane as Trump.

After that Joanne and I went for a nice walk down to the Edgewood plaza for an iced tea.

I hit the dining room when it opened at 5, so I could have time to set up the auditorium before 6. That’s when the four members of The Rounder Circle were to arrive, to set up for their concert at 7:30. This was the group I discovered by chance by overhearing their lead singer, Hillary, talking to the clerks at Gryphon instruments. They showed up, and set up, and I was able to bring their sound into our system, all very smooth. I took video of their performance and their tech lead guy had his laptop and so he went away with the nice video. Their music was well received, several people told me afterward how much they enjoyed them.

And that is about the last performance related thing I need to worry about for a month. Until the December musicale at which I am supposed to sing and play something.

Wednesday 11/05/2025

Started the day with a brisk walk up to PAMF for a blood draw. This was a standard metabolic panel as a follow-up to draining the kidney cyst. Results came late in the day, no real change as a result of the drainage. My BUN and creatinine numbers are marginally high but basically flat for the past year plus.

Back from that by 9 and I set to work editing the video of my talk. I continue to get people who encounter me in the lobby saying, “great talk!” so it really went well. You want to watch it? Here’s your link!

After lunch I edited yet another video, an interesting talk by a retired teacher on the history of how California finances its schools, which has gone through many changes since the 1970s. (No, the California Lottery only pays about 4% of the total costs of education.) Heck, here’s that link.

In between those I was rehearsing my music. Then it was approaching 3pm so I took the guitar and went across to the assisted living center where I was due to perform at 3:30. I would not rate my performance very high, C-minus at best, but fortunately that is the world’s most forgiving audience. Half of them are asleep in their chairs, but the half who are awake are just so supportive. “You did that reeeeel good!” one lady would say after each song.

Anyway, that is almost all my pending jobs this week. Tomorrow is mostly clear, oh what will I ever do with myself? In the evening, the band that I sponsored is coming to perform. That will be a challenge, getting them set up, but they are quite professional and I will probably just say, there’s the sound board, have fun.

Tuesday 11/04/2025

I needed to finish up at FOPAL and my only free time was this morning. So at 7:30 I headed out for that. Got all the computer donations processed and the shelves are nice and tidy for the sale. Back by 10:30. Then tidied up for the cleaning lady, and started my laundry. Had lunch while the laundry was running. Got all foldd nd put away by 1:25, just in time to join the new Line Dance class at 1:30. This teacher is quite different from our prior one but nice enough and didn’t give us anything too complicated.

Time for a short nap before I went to the 11th floor to set up the zoom for the “Reimagining Democracy” webinar from Stanford. About 6 people showed up to watch. I don’t have to this for the next Tuesday, the final in the series. It is going to feature Condoleeza Rice and a different group are going to set it up in the auditorium, figuring to get a bigger audience. (I won’t be part of it; I regard Condy as a war criminal in the same bucket as Henry Kissinger.)

This episode was very insular to Stanford, it was all about what faculty and students are doing to improve political dialog at Stanford which sounded all very nice, but having very little relevance to the world outside the Stanford bubble. Grump.

Monday 11/03/2025

Spent an hour going over my talk again, then at 10 went down and set up the auditorium. Sandy ran the AV with a bit of advice from me. So I gave my talk, “1975: the year everything changed” and it was very well received. About 75 people showed up, they listened, they laughed at all the right places, and afterward an embarrassing number of people congratulated me on a “great” talk, “superb”. So I done good. When I have edited the video i’ll put a link here.

After lunch I had time to go down to FOPAL but could only spend 2 hours. I will have to go back, I think probably tomorrow morning, to finish up and get my section sale-ready.

Back in time for Poetry Out Loud at 4. After 5pm I felt tired, so I skipped going down to dinner. I practiced music in my room and ate a sandwich.

Sunday 11/02/2025

Completely clear on the calendar, but when I started thinking about what I needed to do and wanted to do the day filled up. Main activities were, one, to take a good walk, which I did by walking to California ave. to walk around the market. Busy market, but all the good summer fruit has disappeared, just apples now, and pomegranates. 4.4 miles total for the day. Back to CH I read through my talk for tomorrow again. Then lunch. Then a meeting of the good times group to review our last show and plan the next one. Then I took a tech squad call to a lady with a printer problem.

Before supper I put in an hour in the music practice room. After supper I spent an hour trying to find a poem to read for Poetry Out Loud tomorrow. I may end up not going, although Joanne runs it and I want to support. Found one marginally readable poem. But not pleased with the state of modern poetry.