Welcome to Glenn's Blog!

Here I will periodically post random thoughts and stories about what's going on in my life and the world around me. As if anyone cared. But seriously, you've found your way here, so hopefully you will enjoy at least some of what I have to say, even if you aren't entirely interested in it. At the least, it should be a good way to waste time.

Saturday, May 23, 2020

Back To My "Home"

I have to say, I'm getting to like this whole showering at night thing, and the ability to sit up in bed and click clack away on my computer. My portable computer. The laptop has grown on me. Anyways.

So yesterday I took one of my pilgrimages to San Francisco. It had been quite awhile since I'd gone, mostly due to this whole Covid-19-stay-at-home-quarantine thing. It was actually early January, the last time I took this road trip. Over 4 months. Wow. So I took a Friday, incidentally the start of a holiday weekend (which I had forgotten about), and made the trek. As most of the free paces I normally park are still closed and physically roped off, I had to improvise a little. Fortunately I'm familiar enough with the Marina District that I know where to go. And it's still with sight and sound and smell of the water. Easy peasy. The length of the day here would ultimately turn out to be a 13 mile, 30,000 step day for me, and the weather was idyllic. Warm and clear - but not hot - with a cool, gentle breeze blowing through the air.

I know, I know. we're supposed to stay at home and so on and so forth. I'm so bad! But hey, I social distanced, which is to say I stayed away from pretty much everyone. Like usual. I did find it funny that there were these professionally printed Stay At Home posters scattered all around the more touristy spots. Like, on the Golden Gate Bridge. I mean really, if you get as far as the edge of the bridge, and there you see a sign, well you're not going to suddenly change your mind, turn around, and go back to where you came from. You've come so far already, you're going to walk across the bridge. It's okay though, 6 feet away from everyone of those signs is another sign saying Stay 6 Feet Apart. So we're good. I only went halfway across and back though, as by that time I had already walked three miles just to get there, and it was getting close to time to turn around and head back for my picnic lunch. Turkey sandwich.

I did walk down what was left of the Embarcadero. They're making use of the down time to do some construction, so a lot of the street was fenced off. Not that it mattered. There's not many people down that way anymore anyway. Pier 39 is completely fenced off, as is most of the seaside boardwalk. But the flowers are all in bloom, and it's still picturesque. I did stop in to one ice cream shop in the Cannery that was open, for a milkshake. The proprietor was relaxing outside, since no one was around to buy anything. But he quickly got to his feet and came into the store to serve me, and he seemed genuinely grateful that I was there. He thanked me profusely for stopping in, and for the 75 cent tip I left in the jar. I feel bad for the businesses that are there. Technically they were allowed to re-open as of May 18, the Monday before, as long as they offered to-go or curbside service. Several restaurants had signs suggesting that they were in fact open. But they looked shuttered and abandoned. And unlike the beach areas of Chrissy Field, there's just no one there.

It would have been nice to have a pleasant sit-down lunch or dinner, as a special treat to myself, if anything were open. I do that sometimes when I'm in San Francisco. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to get a nice meal "to go", and then try and clumsily eat it out of a styrofoam box while perching on a hard sidewalk bench as the breeze steals my napkins and the homeless man on the adjacent bench mutters incoherently to himself while smoking from a homemade bong constructed out of a discarded beer can. And that last part is not made up, I actually did see a homeless man doing this.

So after finishing my milkshake and walking as far as the sadly abandoned cruise terminal at Pier 27, I turned around and headed back to my car near Fort Mason, and returned to home. I'm sure there's folks out there who would say I shouldn't have left home in the first place. But I do consider it an "essential" trip, for me. I had to go. I had to. To feed my soul, which was in need of maintenance. I can't really explain how or why it works, but these trips are one of the few things that repair my soul. It places a band-aid on the small fissure through which my soul tends to leak its essence from. It's a patch job, to be sure, but it does the trick. And now I'm energized again, rebuilt and restored, which will hopefully last until the next time I get to go "home".

Wednesday, May 20, 2020

Rounding Out The Day

So, I try and end out each day a little differently, before succumbing to my nightly routine of showering (yes that's still thing), watching TV, having a small bowl of ice cream, brushing my teeth, and collapsing clumsily in bed. I don't always succeed in variation. But I try, I try.

Tonight, I sat out on my front porch and read a little. It's not the first time I've sone this, to be sure, but it is admittedly a rare occurrence. I have a nice front porch, with nice furniture to sit on and a nice little table to hold my little drink. It's a shame I don't use it more, really. Though maybe infrequent use makes it more special when it's done. I'll go with that.

Oh yeah, I'm supposed to throw in a picture to augment my writing. OK. Here's a picture of me from earlier today, looking all fuzzy because I haven't shaved in weeks. You're welcome. This was taken out on the American River Bike Trail near Sac State, where I also saw three deer this morning.

Anyways, I'm currently at the hind end of reading Vonnegut's "Bluebeard", a quasi-autobiographical work of fiction. Probably more fiction than biography, but it's the best we're going to get from Vonnegut. Anyways, the point being made at the hind end of this slab of paper and ink seems to be this: in life we're tormented by the dichotomy of choosing between doing something we're really good at versus something we think we should be good at. Or wish we were. I suppose truly successful people are those who have it both ways. They lose the dichotomy. Vonnegut's character stresses the reason why he chose not to pursue what he was "good" at. Because it's "too fucking easy". He doesn't swear much, so I suppose this should be a grand gesture of a serious point being made.

Of course, who wants to just do what we're good at? How boring would that be? But I see a lot of people at school pursuing goals that I know most of then will never reach. Should I tell them? Should someone? Nah, I suppose life is about the journey anyways. They'll learn, by and by.

Bluebeard is also an old French folktale, about a wealthy man who murders his wives, and one wife's attempt to avoid this fate. It was made into an opera by Bela Bartok. But the book deals, more or less, with the idea of the creation of meaningful art. Whether anything we do is truly meaningful. It's a good point on life, really. It also talks a lot about the the relationships between men and women in society, as well as trying to find a place where we fit in. Good stuff.

Well anyways, I could ramble on and on, but I've already showered, the TV is on playing old episodes of Family Guy, and somewhere downstairs there's a bowl of ice cream calling my name. It's a good way to round out the day, anyway.

Monday, May 18, 2020

New Work Week

Well, tonight was a lovely evening. I took a walk around the neighborhood fields right around dusk, which is a perfect time to see the melting of colors from daylight into the setting sun. It was augmented tonight by vast fields of lush, fluffy clouds, leftovers from a passing storm front. We've had this welcome change in the weather, a cooling off and a smattering of rain to clean out the air. Fresh. Pretty soon it's going to be hot again, so I'll enjoy it while I can.

Honestly, I wanted to write tonight just to share this picture of the bike trail near the North Natomas Regional Park. It isn't everyday that I have a beautiful picture to go along with my ramblings, so I have to take advantage of it when I can. I was right in the sweet spot of perfect lighting, where light meets dark and the two dance together to bring perfect clarity to shapes and depths and contrasts, before the onset of night downs it all away. And this picture was just shot with my little iPhone 8 Plus. Which, incidentally, is nearly paid off. Just one more month to go. Small victories.

Well today I actually returned to work. I mean, to Sac State. It's the end of the semester now, as finals concluded last week. Who knew? Not me, really. Never before have I been so oblivious to the end of a semester. It seems like it ended back in March. For me it kind of did. But today we re-opened the gates, albeit only briefly, as we've assigned a time window of 10:00am-2:00pm for students to come back and clear out their lockers and return instruments. It's a normal end-of-year rite of passage for students, slightly altered this year due to Covid-19. The game changer. Students now have to sign up for a window to come in, and only 5 can sign up for each window of 15 minutes. And they have to use separate doors for entrances and exits, and avoid contact with each other and with us, and so on. They took it in stride. They're so adaptable, these college students. Not like old farts like me.

Dan and I were the only employees at work today, and there was a steady of trickle of students for much of the four-hour window. But overall it was slow. Quiet. Not like the music building used to be. Now it's more...somber. Still, it was nice to see bodies back in action at Capistrano, if only briefly and only for clearing out the remains of their belongings that were left behind when this storm hit. Tomorrow and Wednesday, more of the same. Though the trickle of people will slow. And after Wednesday, we can crawl back under a rock again and shelter away from the rest of society.

Except, society is starting to re-open. Just a little. A peep through a narrow crack in a door. Hopefully the door opening will continue to widen, and before we know it we'll all be back in business again. More or less. Though as of right now, I'm having to assume that there will really be no work load for me until at least August. And Sac State has already announced that they intend to keep classes mostly online for the fall, so who knows when my "normal" work week will resume.

I've kind of gotten used to being at home. Though I'm not nearly as productive as when I'm in the office, where I can focus. It will be quite a system shock when and if I resume a normal 40-hour work week again, back in the old tired building which I've spent the better part of the last 25 years of my life. I'm bleeding out vacation hours now, and also some Paid Administrative Leave offered by the State for those who's work lives were upended by this unassuming little virus. Well, whose life wasn't upended? But the Leave is welcome, and will help keep me from bankrupting the hoard of vacation hours I've amassed over the last 20 years. You never know when you might need a whole lot of time off.

But hey. I was AT work today! Been a long time. It is definitely a "new" work week. Looking forward to tomorrow, actually.

Sunday, May 10, 2020

Old Town Roads

Well it's Sunday evening of Mother's Day, a new week is blossoming on the horizon under a cool breeze reminiscent of the fall. I brought Connor home to begin his week with me, and at his request we listened to the song "Old Town Road" featuring Billy Ray Cyrus. On repeat. Again and again. All the way home. It's a catchy song, I have to admit, even if it doesn't seem to know whether it's a country song, or a rap song, or something somewhere in between. Connor declared that it's his favorite song. I wonder what his next favorite song will be next week.

Well, while I'm contemplating on that, I'll reminisce on my Saturday. I took a Sunday drive on Saturday morning, all the way south 7 miles to Old Town Sacramento. It had been awhile since I walked around Old Town. It's not the same as San Francisco, for me. I mean, it's nice and all. Waterfront, old-timey boardwalk, touristy shops, bridges, and so on. It's like a little San Francisco in many ways, when you think about it. But it doesn't quite speak to me. The sea lions did. Oh yeah, we have sea lions downtown now. At least two sitting on the docks near the marooned Hornblower cruise boats, and more having intimate discussions from somewhere under the pylons of the Tower Bridge. It's getting even closer to San Francisco down there, apparently. But San Francisco is my soul place, it just speaks to me on a whole other level. Old Town Sacramento works in a pinch though.

I expected it to be quite barren down there, what with the Covid-19 crisis still in full effect and people supposedly sheltering in place. Which...I clearly was not doing either. In some ways it was pretty barren, with the non-food stores shuttered up and looking abandoned and lonely. Like a ghost town. But I was surprised to see several dozen people milling about down there. Biking, jogging, enjoying a leisurely walk. Living. Like a normal Saturday morning. Go figure.

I stopped at Danny's Mini Donuts after they opened at 10:00am. I should say after "he" opened - not "they". The place epitomizes the small business model. It's a classic mom-and-pop shop, except it's just a Pop running it. In the past he's had various other family members helping out. But as he said, though he himself is doing okay, business is way down. So now it's just Danny there. I bought an 8-pack of of minis (4 chocolate and 4 cinnamon-sugar), and then followed up with a chocolate milkshake chaser for the walk back to my car. I don't usually double down like that. But I guess I felt kind of bad for him. His location is not ideal to begin with, being in the far corner of Old Town away from the central hub where most of the foot traffic tends to linger. And with less people out and about than normal, well it must be difficult to sustain a small independent business. Hopefully my small contribution to his daily sales volume helped, at least a little. Well I can pretend I made a difference, anyway. And he seemed happy to see me, and even seemed to recognize me from previous visits. (I swear I don't go there that often).

So that was my big outing of the week. The weekend was filled with Old Town and Old Town Road. A themed weekend I guess. And now onto the "work" week. Like before. Rinse and repeat. But first, I think it's just about bed time. Wait...yes, it's 10:30pm. Guess which song is now stuck in my head as I drift off to slumberland? Well, it's my own fault. Zzzz...

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

It's Hump Day!

Hey, it's Hump Day! Well, not that it really has a lot of meaning these days. I mean, the weekdays all seem to blur together into the weekends. It's often hard to remember what day it is. Not because I'm becoming old and senile, although there's probably a bit of that going on too. I'm not exactly a spring chicken. But the scenery stays the same. Day after day after day. And so on. I mean I know I can't, or rather shouldn't complain, I still have it better than a lot of people who without work, without paychecks, trying to figure out how to make ends meet. I'm just not used to this new lifestyle. it feels a little bit like detention. Not that I've been in detention since...1987 or so. But that's a story for another time.

Anyway, this evening I broke out of my box and ordered food to-go from a restaurant. Chili's, to be exact. It was the first time I've been to a former sit-down restaurant since this whole fiasco began. But the only sitting down was in my car. I had actually ordered through their app, which seemed to suggest they had curbside, to-go, and delivery options. But there's no "to-go" per se. I found that out by trying the front door, which was locked tight. So, it's all curbside now. But they don't bring the food to your car; they put it on a tray in front of where you're parked, and after they take your payment and leave you have to get out and pick it up. So, that's weird. But, it was pretty much the same taste I remembered, for what I had. Though lacking in ambience. And with packaging reminiscent of a fast food drive-thru. Sign of the times I suppose.

So I'm sitting up in bed click-clacking away on the laptop as the TV drones on in the background. It's the third night since I shook up my shower routine. Fourth night? 17th? Well it's hard to say, but Im still keeping it up in any case. It's a silly thing for me to babble on about, but sometimes even a small change in the mundane routine of daly life can be refreshing. Especially in this day and age. And again, I'm not one for new things. I worship routines as intangible gods, usually. But I suppose I needed a little bit of a change, just enough to keep things interesting. I can say that my hair is a bit of a bear in the morning after sleeping on it, and without the benefit of a morning shower to drown it into compliance. But in its defense, I really do need a haircut. Like, seriously.

But in any case, it's Hump Day! Two more days of the "work week" before the weekend is upon us again. And the routine rolls on.

Sunday, May 3, 2020

I Must Be Going Crazy.

So I've made a drastic change to my daly routine, or at least I'm trying one out anyway. I took a shower. In the EVENING. Shocking, right? As far back as I can remember, I've always been a morning shower person. You know how you get in routines, from early on in life, that just stick with you? And they stick to the point that it just seems obvious to do it that way? It really never occurred to me to try taking showers in the evening, because starting my day with a nice warm shower is so ingrained into my being that it just seems that's how it's done. It's like breathing the air, or walking upright on two legs. You don't think about it. You just do it. Because you always have, or so it seems. Of course every now and then I'll talk to someone and they mention taking their shower at night. And it always seemed so...foreign to me. I mean really, what planet are THEY from? Well, most often, it is after all women that I'm talking to...

But it kind of makes sense, I suppose. I mean, after a long hard day of toiling away out in the world, you don't want to put your sweaty, dirty body on your nice clean (presumably) bed. Right? I mean the more I think about it the more it seems almost...logical. So I'm giving it a try. Live dangerously!

What else did I do today that was dangerous? I went for a *gasp* drive. A drive! A ROAD TRIP. Take that, you shelter-in-place order. I mean yeah, I was by myself and avoided other people, like I normally do as a fully functioning introvert. But today I drove east and north, ending up around Bodega Bay and the town of Bodega, before heading south on HWY 1 along the coast to HWY 101, near San Francisco. Bodega, incidentally, is mildly famous for its association with the Alfred Hitchcock movie, "The Birds", which came out a dozen years before I was born. I snapped a photo of the Saint Teresa of Avila church, just to prove that "I was here", as it's perhaps the most famous and recognizable landmark, even though it only appears briefly in the film.

But really I found the 1869 Calvary Cemetery even more interesting. This is a picture of some brilliantly blooming poppies with some gravestone markers in the background. A juxtaposition of life and death, if you will. Interesting note: the first two residents of this graveyard were a 7-year old and 5-year old boy. True story. They had a nice little sheet of history there, available to people who have morbid fascinations with old graveyards. I didn't spend too much time in Bodega though; I was really going to spend more time in Bodega Bay, or so I thought, but there's not too much there to begin with, and the nice little picnic area near the marina was - you guessed it - closed. Also I had to pee, and there didn't seem to be any public facilities near to where I was.

Since most of the beach parking lots in California are closed off thanks to the COVID-19 scare, leaving beachgoers to fight for what little parking still remains on the side of the roads (or rather the side of the highway), I didn't get to see much in the way of beaches today. In fact, I didn't even step foot one one. I mean, I was hoping to do some hiking along the beach, maybe sit and read a book for a bit (currently I'm halfway through Vonnegut's "Bluebeard"), and use the restroom facilities that are conveniently placed at many state parks. But those were closed as well. Fortunately, being a man, I can still pee on a tree. Or bush. I did see some nice vista views of Stinson beach, which still had quite a few determined people using it. And I did just a little bit of hiking off of the Olema Valley Trailhead, which to be honest, I didn't know existed before today. Sometimes it pays to take a chance and park on the side of the highway where other cars are parked, just to see what they find so interesting.

And before heading back home I was able to stop at the Muir Beach Overlook, which again was closed-but-not-closed if you could find somewhere to park and walk in a little bit. And despite being incredibly windy, it was sunny and more than nice enough for a little stroll. They've actually built up the Overlook quite a bit since I first discovered this little treasure around 25 years ago. Back then I referred to it as the "end of the world". And if you ever get a chance to take the easy little walk out onto the cliff to the viewing platform, you'll see why. But the spot now has a paved parking lot and a permanent bathroom structure. Which was, of course, closed. Sigh. I know, I know, it's to persuade us not to use these recreational areas in this time of human crisis. But come on, you can't expect reasonable people to just stay at home and stop living, can you? I've stayed home a lot in the last 6 weeks, but even I have limits as to how much of life I'm willing to let fritter away. And we can still social distance and wash our hands more frequently and avoid touching our face and so on. Surely it must be far safer to be walking out alone in nature than, say, going to the supermarket. Well, suffice it to say, I certainly was not the only "crazy" person out there today trying to enjoy a little bit of nature.

And now I see it's past my bed time, so I must start winding down. We'll see if I go even more crazy tomorrow, though it's the start of a new "work" week, so it will probably be an uneventful week at home from here on out. But seriously, what can top the Evening Shower? I mean, that's a serious, mind-blowing routine change. And I don't like change. Yeah, I must be going crazy.

Saturday, May 2, 2020

A New Month. Same Old Thing.

Well here we are into May already, and I'd like to report that the world has returned to its normal level of insanity. I'd like to report that, but I'd be lying. We're still under a stay at home order, although different towns and states are talking about cautiously re-opening businesses. About re-opening life. I guess we'll never know if the original social distancing and enhanced cleaning procedures would have had any effect, as we basically shut down the world right after we started trying them. Oh well. Lives were saved, presumably. Though many have been lost, over 60,000 nationwide at last count. Someone posted a meme on Facebook that this virus has killed more Americans than the Vietnam War. So it goes. Anyways. Back to my reality.

It's Saturday now, after a "work week" which mostly involved me entertaining Connor. With no school, no BASE, and no grandparents to watch him, I'm his sole caretaker on the weeks I have him. So I'm technically on Paid Administrative Leave on the weeks I have him. I'm one of the lucky ones; I still have an income through all this. Connor is, at the moment, on a video chat with his "girlfriend". He's not much of boyfriend material, frankly. But of course he's 6. He's more interested in playing games than interacting with a live person - at least a girl anyway. And she just wants to...talk. Heh. Women. Well, he'll get there.

But I'm taking advantage of the interruption to blather away on this blog, again typing from my new laptop while sitting on the couch. I wish I had more to say. We've gotten into a routine, or at least I have, much like I had a routine when the world was sane. It's just a different routine now, that's all. We fill the days with bike rides and school assignments on the iPad, and playing legos and doing puzzles and playing Minecraft. And watching TV. And well, eating of course. There's always that. I try and get outside as much as possible, because it's beautiful right now. The perfect time of year, and not too hot to boot. But even in these days of self-isolation, it's good to keep a routine. To keep busy. When will things change? When will we be allowed to go back to work, to play outside with other kids, to go get a haircut? Who know, who knows. I say that a lot, I think. I did before, too. Life is nothing if not uncertain.

I need some beach time. And a really good walk.

Anyways, life is trudging on, with more and more protests popping up against the stay at home order. I don't think it will last too much longer, personally. I don't think it CAN. People are getting too restless. And maybe it's okay. I think we can open up things and still social distance. And still use enhanced cleaning procedures. And still avoid passing viruses around. It can't be any worse than being in the grocery stores and at gas stations and so on, as we are now. Am I wrong? Or just overly optimistic? Who knows, who knows.

And oh yeah - I started growing out my facial hair again. Or at least, I stopped shaving. Let's see how long it last this time. It's May now, and the days are floating by effortlessly now. At least from the planet's perspective I suppose. Has it really been over 6 weeks since this all began? A new month. And, well, the same old thing.