Tag: local

Summer sun…?

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It’s been a rather gloomy and overcast summer here in San Francisco, more so than usual. Our summers are usually cool, but at the same time we’re never this fogged in. Unfortunately this also makes A and I feel rather listless and sleepy most of the time, so we make sure we go for a walk every now and again, just to move around.

I have heard that it’s supposed to be much warmer this weekend, so I am dearly hoping that is true. I’ll be doing my usual Friday-Saturday opening shifts, but hopefully by the time Saturday afternoon rolls around it’ll be a lovely day.

This weekend also starts the first of three major concerts going on in Golden Gate Park, which we now live much closer to. This weekend is an anniversary show for Dead & Company (featuring former members of the Grateful Dead), next weekend is Outside Lands, and the weekend after that is a post-OL show of Zach Bryan and Kings of Leon. We’re not going to any of these, but chances are very high that we’ll be able to hear most of it just by opening the living room window. All I ask is that no one parks in front of our garage!

That, and maybe some blue sky. Blue sky would be nice again!

Slowing down and enjoying life

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Okay, so I refuse to say that I’m slowing down because I’m getting old. I mean, I am, and my joints aren’t as flexible and springy as they used to be, but I refuse to use that as an excuse to be lazy.

On the other hand, I’ve been making a concerted effort, especially at the day job, where I’m trying to break a long-standing and terrible habit of trying to do everything at once as fast as I can. It’s fine every now and again, but trying to speed through a very long line of customers will only serve two things: a) I’ll exhaust myself faster, and b) I’m doing at least twice the work all my other coworkers are doing. Do I really need to go through my shift constantly stuck going 70 mph while everyone else is doing a much more sedate 45? Do I have to do it all myself when I can easily ask a coworker to help? I guess what I’m looking for is a bit of a Zen balance here. Do what needs doing when it needs doing, but realize what I don’t have to do everything else as well.

The same thing goes with my writing. I think I’ve finally grown out of the mindset that I must Write All The Things Before It’s Too Late. For the moment I’m adding a little bit at a time to my writing schedule and searching for a comfortable working level. After several weeks off due to moving, I’m back with the blogging, and I’ve been thinking about returning to the 750Words site again. I’ve even switched the notebook in my jacket pocket with a sketch pad, with the idea of just drawing purely for the fun of it when I have a moment. And interestingly enough, I haven’t done any longhand journaling for a couple of months, and I think that’s partly because I just don’t feel like I need to.

That’s one of the key things right there: do it only if you feel the need. Just like the day job, I don’t need to do any daily journaling, or get any specific word count. I just want to focus on the Trilogy Remaster, finish off Theadia, and possibly restart MU4 for the nth time. But I don’t feel an unhealthy need to do it right this second. It’s healthier this way, mentally and physically. Believe me, I know from burnout, and I’m aiming to avoid it from here on in.

And besides, we now live just a block away from one of the most famous city parks in the world, so there is zero reason why I shouldn’t be going outside and enjoying said park every now and again.

That time of year again…

Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

Y’all know how I feel about autumn, heh.

The teens have returned to the neighborhood schools, which of course means twice a day, five days a week, for about fifteen to twenty minutes, twenty to thirty of them come into our store all at once and cause chaos. Some of them are just fine, some of them are troublesome, and many of them are blissfully unaware of their surroundings or how flipping loud they can get. I don’t mind them myself, but those two short stretches of time can suddenly make an otherwise calm day extremely stressful.

But I digress.

The weather here in San Francisco has definitely started its yearly changes. Our weather patterns are a bit weird compared to other places, even locations a short distance away in the East Bay. It might be humid and hot, or it might be chilly and dry, or it might be overcast, or it might be a rare moment of sunny warmth. Sometimes all of that within the span of twenty-four hours. We don’t get the glorious foliage that New England gets, but we do get the lovely colors of late-blooming flowers and the stunning oranges and reds of sunsets. [We do get the lovely blooming of cherry blossoms in the spring, so I’ll definitely take that as a plus.]

I think I’ve finally adjusted to this sort of thing, to be honest. I love a weekend walk through Golden Gate Park or Crissy Field, or even a trip down the other end of Clement Street to the local farmer’s market. And now that we have our garden plot, I even enjoy getting dirty with the weeding and deadheading and watering.

Autumn Sundays, as always, feel like the winding up of a relaxing weekend, and needing to prepare for the coming Monday. Even now, even when I have the occasional day off (like today), I spend Sundays prepping my blog posts and making vague plans for the week. What should I work on? When should I do the laundry? Do I need to do any local errands? It’s certainly not the frantic last-minute of doing homework I should have done Friday afternoon (I was notorious for that), but some days it comes close.

Still, it’s always been my favorite time of year, and I embrace it each and every time.

Working When It’s Noisy

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Enjoying the show from Spare Oom

It’s Fleet Week here in San Francisco, which means that the Blue Angels have been flying overhead for a few hours over the last couple of days. I’m pretty much used to it by now, having always had a perfect viewing platform away from the public (read: one of our rooms!), so it’s just a few hours’ worth of loud each day. [Back during the Former Day Job, there were plenty of moments when I had to pause a conversation during a client call and say “Sorry about that, the Blue Angels just flew over. As you were saying?”]

Does this sort of thing bother me when I’m writing? Not at all. I spent most of my childhood and adult life in a busy house and I currently live in a major US city, so I’m quite used to it. In fact, it’s part of why I’m constantly listening to music; the tunes give me something to focus on so the erratic white noise of planes and whatnot don’t register all that much. I will let myself occasionally be distracted by the air show, especially when they’re flying close by, because why not? It’s fun and it’s only once a year!

Now, hearing the impossibly loud Recology garbage trucks idling and crunching and compacting and clonking outside our building at six in the morning, on the other hand…

End of year vacation

Jon ChaissonLeave a comment

As A had scheduled a year-end week’s vacation this week, we’ve been spending the time walking all over the place while the weather is still nice. (It’s raining today, so our walk consisted of a quick jaunt to the local post office to mail out one last Christmas package and then a short circuit around a few neighborhood blocks.)

Wednesday’s was a wonderful, if windy, jaunt of almost five miles from the Presidio marching grounds to Crissy Field and up towards the Golden Gate Bridge. There we saw All The Doggos, many birds, and even a few surfers! I’m quite happy with how the above picture came out. We live in a ridiculously photogenic city. I managed to get quite a few lovely pictures from various places this week!

So. Did I actually get any writing done? Or revision, or art for that matter? Well, I did pick up my guitar to noodle around on it for a few moments here and there, but other than that, I really didn’t get much done at all. And I’m okay with that. I thought it would be fun to just spend the week doing some last minute shopping, watching multiple Jane Austen films, and getting our exercise in. Writing this entry is the most I’ve worked on this week. Which means that starting Monday, she’ll be back at work and I’ll be back to my writing projects, year-end lists and all that fun stuff.

See you next week!