Jan 07 2012
My mom, Kimi my niece and I drove over to my sister Beata’s house this afternoon for an hour of fun and frolic, post-Christmas style, with her, Bill and Aidan. We snacked on assorted nuts and orange slices while playing “Apples to Apples” with no real interest in who would win, but more as to just having a good time. The game tends to promote silliness. Only thing missing was the other half of our family. And maybe some cupcakes.
( g a m e p i c s )
Jan 07 2012
My niece, Kimi, came over today for a much belated Christmas lunch/present opening. The midday meal d’jour was spaghetti with garlic bread. Doesn’t that just scream Christmas? This past holiday season has probably been the most disjointed one that I have ever “celebrated.” And it’s not over yet. Tomorrow will be one more lunch with my nephew. Maybe we’ll have rolled tacos! Viva Navidad!
Jan 06 2012
After enjoying lunch at the Burger Lounge, I drove over to the Coronado Ferry Landing to do a bit of solo strolling and picture taking. Even though I’ve taken many shots from here before, I never give a up a chance to take some more. It is hands down the best place to get shots of the San Diego skyline.
Jan 06 2012
Met my friends Sylvia, Mary and her husband Dave at the Burger Lounge in Coronado. Heard good things about the joint. It was quite small and cramped but the food was very good. They did get a little bit of the order wrong, but it wasn’t worth mentioning. The food might be worth going back for but I would say that the shoebox-size ordering and eating areas make it difficult to want to return. And don’t get me started on the parking. Did I mention that the food was good? Afterwards we stopped off at the Dolce Vita Candy Company but only Dave bought some teeth rotters.
Jan 05 2012
Had a sort of belated mini Christmas this evening with my mom and my sister, who brought over Taco Bell for dinner, which made my mom really happy. It’s her favorite Mexican restaurant. After dinner we sat down and opened a few presents. I received a few calendars which almost immediately found places in my room. This coming Saturday we’ll have our final belated Christmas, just with a few more family members. This was just an all around odd holiday season.
( x m a s y p i c s )
Jan 05 2012
Took my mom walking at SeaWorld today for our first of hopefully many visits to come. We ran into some friends, Paul and Shirley, that we made from back in the Terrific Tuesdays days. My mom was hoping to run into them to find out how Shirley’s hip-replacement surgery went. My God, when did my blog become “old person chat?”
A n y w a y . . . we walked around once, stopping at the turtles (seeing some fake baby ones in fake sand) and the sea stars where we got to see a rare, six-pointed star. Also got to see more of the construction going on for the new Manta coaster. Took my mom up the Skytower since she said she’d never been on it before. From the top we got fantastic views of the surrounding area and of the Manta coaster being installed.
Jan 04 2012
Just received word that my friend, Richard Alf, who I went to see yesterday in a care facility, died today. He was one of the original group of comic book fans that Shel Dorf had brought together to create the San Diego Comic Convention. Judging by the outpouring of support from friends around the world, I wish I had spent more time getting to know him better.
Here we are at Shel Dorf’s funeral back on November 4th of 2009.
Jan 04 2012
After doing my citizenry dutieship with the SOPA petition, I gifted myself the opportunity to play the wonderful (and free) Moonlight Mahjong 3D game and came away achieving a new high score with the proud ranking of Gazelle. Tonight I have impressed myself, but it will not last for tomorrow reality, the lion to my gazelle, shall be paying me a predatory return visit.
Jan 04 2012
As much as I hate what politics has turned into, world-wide, not just in the US, I created an account on the White House website to be able to sign one specific petition asking President Obama to veto SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), PIPA (Protect IP Act) or any other Internet censoring laws that Congress might ignorantly try to pass. Plenty of other, more intelligent people than I have already written a plethora of reasons why these are such dangerous and foolhardy bills, so I won’t go into details here. This is a life and death battle between Internet users and ignorant politicians.
Jan 04 2012
Did me some weed-pullin’ today and came across this little critter (and two more just like it) curled up in the dirt under a pot that was sittin’ on the lawn. I’m bettin’ that this is what the skunks and opossums come diggin’ for at night. It’s officially known as a White Curl Grub, Scarab Beetle Larva or Lawn Beetle Larva, but it’s also known as a Cockchafer. Would love to hear the story behind that moniker. Or maybe not.
Jan 03 2012
After visiting Richard, I drove over to University Town Center (where I noticed some major demolition of the old Robinson’s department store going on) to perk up my sullen mood by picking up as many half-price calendars that I could find from my list. It was a good haul, scoring seven of them. Sat down for a decaf caramel macchiato from Starbucks before heading across the street to the Bookstar at Costa Verde Shopping Center where I added one more find to my 2012 collection.
Jan 03 2012
Went to see my friend Richard again today, for his final day at the rehab center. His friends Paul Sammon and Mike Towry were there again as well and Earl, who Richard will be staying with starting tomorrow, also came by to talk to the hospice representatives. I’m fairly certain that this will have been the final time that I see Richard, but at least this time he was occasionally lucent enough so I could actually speak to him even though he had great difficulty with replying.
Jan 02 2012
After visiting my brother and his cats, my mom and I stopped by an actress friend of ours who recently broke her ankle while walking her dog. Luckily her boy friend had just returned from a trip to take care of her while she can’t walk. Bella, her dog, is finally starting to warm up to me and kept coming over to me to be petted. She was a rescued animal from an abused home and is leery of males.
Jan 02 2012
Went over to my brother’s house with my mom tonight so we could deliver some lentil soup that my mom had made. Plus, she really wanted to play with the cats that she has fallen in love with. Unfortunately my nephew is still out of town and my niece was out with friends so we didn’t get to see them.
Jan 02 2012
Went to visit an old friend today who I had heard was quite sick and staying at a rehabilitation home. His condition once I saw him shocked me fairly deeply. It reminded me very much of how my father looked just before he passed away. That was rather uncomfortable, especially since he couldn’t respond to me at all. I did run into two of his old, early Comic Con friends, and that was a nice surprise getting to know them. The three us sat and chatted about Richard and about life stuff. It was definitely both a good and bad experience.
