whoa!
Temperatures took a nosedive out there. Or so it feels. Brr. I was hoping for mild temps for evening plans.
6:00: Critical Mass
8:00: Kenon Chen at Brainwash
9:00: Fish & Chips at Edinburgh Castle (that's to eat, it's not a band)
10:00: Ebb & Flow and Zmirzlina at Hemlock Tavern

I'm checking out Ebb & Flow because they are looking for a bass player and I met up with them on Tuesday. They seem nice enough people, but I realized today I really don't want this or any gig. I could flake and bail, but that's not my style. I set the wheels in motion. I'm just hoping they won't go with me and will pick the other person they said responded to their ad.

As far as countdowns go, this is like watching ice melt on a sidewalk. February 14 is the day the love-affair ends; my last day at work here. Maybe my last day of work ever (dependent upon winning the lottery or becoming a rock star).

I gave my boss four weeks notice in appreciation of her being a good boss. If I had given the standard two week notice, this Friday would be my last day. Now that's a countdown!

Water issues fascinate me. "like oil-short America with its gas-guzzlers, Saudi Arabia wastes plenty of its scarcest resource": Saudis Worry as They Waste Their Scarce Water".

Is it a human trait to waste what we need? To take things for granted until they become a huge problem that could have been avoided? Is that human trait stupidity? We're talking water in the desert, and I'm thinking metaphorically.

And to put a cynical twist on it, I'll add in the politics of water reclamation in the Southwestern U.S.A. The desert is the fabric of life, or just the hardships if you don't believe the First Noble Truth that life is suffering. The water is what you need to survive. And politicians wheel and deal with this substance for their own political gain.

So I guess it's not just water that fascinates me, it's life and what we do with it.

and speaking of Tucson:
Arizona Starts to Feel Impact of Long Drought

You know what impresses me? People who work on the top floor of an elevator bank, and still hold elevator doors open for people running to catch it. I impress me very much, thank you.

The rainy season isn't over yet, I shouldn't wonder, but today's gorgeous weather was portent that the worst is over.

I remember growing up in New Jersey, there would be that one day in March or April, on rare occasion in February, when the temperature would rise to 45 or 50 degrees, and the sun would be shining and the sound of running water from snow melting, and it felt so good to walk outside for the first time in a short sleeve shirt. It didn't mean Winter was over or Spring had arrived or that the last of falling snow had been seen. But it was nature's embodiment of hope.

We don't get that here, where night time lows may be around 45 or 50 degrees, but I guess today was the wet dishrag equivalent. It was nice enough to head out on my bike for my first ride of the season.

But no, the hope was there, in the views of the bay from Aquatic Park, from a jetty near Crissy Field, and from the Legion of Honor in the Presidio. Just in being able to head out without the oppressive rains and clouds of December. In the sky still being light after 5 o'clock, and the sun light coming down at a respectable angle.

It will rain again. Hell, it rained last year in May. This was just to say that December wasn't for forever.

One week after giving notice, people are still coming up to me, telling me they heard the news. I intentionally didn't tell anyone, just to see how the news diffused. Life is my little social experiment.

Eric came over right away, but that made sense since he was the first to know. Zenaida was there just as fast and I have no idea how she got wind. My evil attempt at keeping the news from Barb was in vain from the start. She got back from vacation and the first thing she asked, or so I heard, was on the lines of "Did anyone quit?". It's like living in a nursing home and coming back from a visit with the kids and asking, "Did anyone die?"

Yup.