3:15 PM
Been working on "The Earth..." for most of the day. I did go get my syringes and pills though, before I started my day.
It's been raining for most of the day. It's making me want to head up to the hills, Sonora or Yosemite...either sounds great. Other than all that it is a fairly typical day. Gym tonight?

11:30 PM
Just finished watching "Mermaid in a Manhole" which I haven't watched all the way through in six or seven years. Such a thoroughly disgusting movie, but so entertaining.
Had an okay gym night. Felt winded a bit too soon.
My moorsing arrived today. At first I was disappointed as the tongue is very stiff and it's pretty quiet. But then I figured out how to blow start it and that opened up a whole new world for me. So now it's one of my favorites. I like getting jaw harps as late b-day presents....course, I like to receive them anytime.

9:28 AM
It is a bright and warm morning. I thought that I saw some snow yesterday, but today there isn't a cloud around.
I just finished a tasty coffee cake and I want more, but there isn't any.

10:03 PM
Turned into a fairly typical day. Painted a bit and went to teach. I did find out that my job is safe until at least 2009 and it's being worked on through 2010, so that is very exciting.
Did a surprising amount of texting today.

9:03 AM
I've been up for about an hour but it feels like I'm finally waking up. Was really groggy and out of it.
The fog has rolled back in. It looks like it's pretty cold.
I think that I might paint the painting in the "It's Deja-vu" sketch from Monty Python. I want that in my own collection.

10:37 PM
Stayed in and painted most of the day. Worked on "The Earth..." and began the deja-vu sketch creature. It took me three false starts before I got it to a place I was happy with. But now I enjoy what I have.
Rocked the j-harp for part of the day too. Sounds pretty sexy...until I realize just what instrument I'm talking about.

9:15 AM
It is a beautiful, sunny morning. I hope it lasts.
I have a bit of a stomach ache.

5:57 PM
Started working on the painting with the super-pretentious title "The Earth Confronts it's Shadow".

11:37 PM
Just finished watching a biography of Patty Hearst which was very interesting. I'd like to go to all the places in the city where they were and have my picture taken.
I went downtown to Old Navy where they're having a sale on hoodies for $10, so I got a brown one. The girl at the register couldn't quite figure out what to do with my gift card but we finally got the deal squared away. It wasn't a big deal, it just had the potential to make things a little awkward.
After I finished being downtown I met up with Ploo and her boys and went to Golden Gate Park. Walked around the man-made lake out there.




This inquisitive little squirrel was getting very close to us, and intimidating me...



Ugly duck at the ducky pond...

9:12 AM
The sun is trying to break out.
Had a weird dream about being chased by "primitive spirits". I was in a car and we were trying to get away from them but we could have been easily overrun. It was pretty weird. They looked like they were living, multicolored woodcuts!

9:02 AM
Not feeling well at all. Had a bit of a bad day, walked too far in the rain, ended up in places that made me uncomfortable, etc. Right now I can't breathe that well and I have bad heartburn. Blah.

I plan on buying some new canvases tomorrow.

8:21 AM
It's grey and gross.
Having more naughty dreams.....what the hell?
Off to teach shortly.

11:36 PM
Had a good day at work. I worked overtime so the girls treated me to Subway for lunch.
Here was a crow outside the park I teach at...

The news people came in to film the leaks for a news segment about Proposition A, which I guess has some thing to do with money for parks. I really hope that I wasn't on TV!!!

Had Vietnamese soup for dinner...


Just finished watching"What's New, Pussycat?" and it was very funny. Not to mention weird!

I'm dying to get my clothes off...that sounds kinda funny!

9:01 AM
It's coming down out there.
I slept very good. Was conked out.

9:46 PM
And the rain continues.
Had J-town lunch with Ploo at a sushi boat that we've never tried. It was good but pricey....but the green tea cheese cake was amazing!!!
Not much else.

12:37 AM
Historical fact...
"Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus

'Little Boots'
Caligula doted on his horse Incitatus most of all. It had a retinue of eighteen servants. Its diet consisted of oats mixed with gold flake, as well as a variety of meats, including mice, squid, mussels, and chicken. Not to mention wine. According to Suetonius, the emperor saw to it that Incitatus lived in perfect luxury: "Besides a stall of marble, a manger of ivory, purple blankets and a collar of precious stones, he even gave this horse a house."

Timeline

31 Aug 12AD Caligula born.
28 Mar 37AD Becomes the third emperor of Rome.
24 Jan 41AD Assassinated by Praetorian Guard."

11:11 PM
I had a good birthday. Work was very good. I signed up two new students in the kids class and one new adult. I now have 12 adults on the list and that's really good. I'm pretty excited about that. The more adults we get the more enjoyable the class is.
Here are some cards that my students made for me.....

Made by Patrick...


Crissy and Graham 1...


2.


After work I hopped on the 9X and went downtown. Bebo was having a night out so there was an open bar. I had Mr. Dorgon come our because I needed someone to talk to. He was in a good mood and that was fun. We had a pretty intense talk about art and music and stuff. But E & E came over and the mood lightened up very fast.

Today first thing in the morning I had a dentist appointment. I suspect they're eventually going to decide to remove my wisdom teeth. Yikes.
After my appointment Ploo invited me to go to lunch so we went out to "King of Thai" which is pretty good. She paid, as always...
No painting but did work on Jew's Harp stuff.
Had a good evening at the gym.

10:19 AM
Happy b-day to me!!!!
Anyway, I just finished reading "Has Modernism Failed?" by Suzi Gablik. I had trouble putting it down from the beginning.
Carrie called at midnight to wish me a happy b-day. We chatted for about an hour and a half; we haven't really done that since we were running around in '96. It was nice.

12:42 PM
"John the Baptist" is signed and on line and I really like it. Now to find a spot on my wall to put it.

9:01 AM
It's very cold in here.
It was misty just a few minutes ago.
I'm starting to feel very hungry.

10:44 PM
Spent a lot of time on the stained glass section of "John the Baptist". Changed the colors to grey.

6:48 PM
Had a delicious Indonesian lunch. I was treated for my b-day. I had Beef in Nutmeg sauce. I'd never heard of that before but I'm glad I got it. After that I was treated to the Cheesecake Factory. I had a slice made with Splenda and it was good. I hated the atmosphere in that place but it was good.
It's rainy and cold.

10:53 PM
Shots from the day...
This morning outside my window...



The ceiling of the Cheesecake Factory from the escalator...


From the Macy's window...



All these photos from the CF patio...

4:47 PM
Just got in from running around town...












Dubuffet sculpture...



Dubuffet and Emma...




8:36 PM
Bill Frisell was, as always, amazing. The show was wonderfully mellow and relaxed. There were the usual jazz snobs that were looking down their noses at me but it's okay. A nice woman named Beverly sat at our table with us. She was a very cool woman. She let me finish her Guinness!!! Afterword Landon and Scott came over and we had some drinks. I had a bad feeling that Landon was going to destroy my Vietnamese Jews Harp. It is playing a little weird....

Fillmore on the way to Yoshi's to see Bill Frisell...

Landon and Scott


9:13 PM
It has been bitingly cold all day. My lips are a bit chapped now.

8:13 AM
Didn't sleep too much but I'm not feeling too bad.
Reading reviews of Cloverfield which I surprisingly want to see.
It's going to be a busy day...

8:10 PM
Bill Frisell in two hours!!!

8:55 AM
The weather this week is incredible.. It's been nothing but sunny and clear...


9:54 AM
Cold War chess genius Bobby Fischer dies in Iceland
America's first and only world chess champion dies at age 64 in Reykjavik after a serious illness
Reuters
Published: 01.18.08, 18:13 / Israel Culture
Bobby Fischer, who became America's first and only world chess champion after defeating the Soviet Union's Boris Spassky at the height of the Cold War, has died at the age of 64.

Gardar Sverrisson, a spokesman for the reclusive Fischer, said the chess genius died at midday on Thursday in Reykjavik, the site of his famous victory over Spassky. Sverrisson said Fischer had died after a serious, but unspecified, illness.

Feted as a national hero for beating Spassky, the eccentric Fischer fell foul of US authorities in his later years. Fischer also stirred controversy for numerous anti-Semitic remarks and tirades against his former homeland.

Rumors that Fischer, once dubbed the "Mozart of Chess", was ill had circulated in recent weeks on chess-related websites.

A friend of the chess master told Reuters Fischer was taken to a hospital in October of last year. But, not trusting doctors, he later went home and received treatment there, where he was looked after by friends.

A child prodigy who once said he liked to watch his opponents squirm, Fischer became an Icelandic citizen, coming to Iceland in March 2005. He could have faced jail in the United States for violating sanctions on former Yugoslavia by playing a chess match there against Spassky.

Former world chess champion Garry Kasparov hailed Fischer as a pioneer of professional chess. "We have lost a great individual," Kasparov told reporters in Moscow.

"He was always alone ... But while alone he demonstrated that a human being is capable of reaching new heights. We have lost a great warrior, we have lost a great mind."

Spassky, who now lives in Paris, was less eloquent on the subject of Fischer. Asked by Reuters for his reaction, he said:

"It's bad luck for you. Bobby Fischer is dead," then hung up.

The brilliant and unpredictable American abandoned his world title without moving a pawn by failing to defend his crown in Manila in 1975. World chess authorities reluctantly awarded it to challenger Anatoly Karpov of the Soviet Union, who was to hold it for the next decade.

Fischer then all but disappeared from the public view for much of the next two decades.

'A period of introspection'
He made headlines when he came out of seclusion to play Spassky in Yugoslavia in 1992, at a time when the country was under sanctions during Belgrade's war with breakaway republics.

He vanished after the match, for which he won $3 million, and resurfaced after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on America. In an interview with a Philippine radio station, Fischer praised the strikes and said he wanted to see America "wiped out".

Fischer, who also stirred controversy with anti-Semitic remarks, was allowed into Iceland in March 2005 after eight months in detention in Japan fighting a US deportation order.

Einar Einarsson, president of a campaign group that fought to bring Fischer to Iceland from Japan, said Fischer liked living in Iceland but at times felt frustrated and trapped because he could not travel.

While debate has always raged in chess circles about who is the greatest, Fischer himself was in no doubt. He once said: "It's nice to be modest, but it would be stupid if I did not tell the truth. It is Fischer."

He was called the "Mozart of Chess" when he began winning at the age of six.

Fischer gained a reputation for being cocky. He told interviewers his favorite moment was when opponents began to feel they would lose. "I like to see 'em squirm," he said.

He was US junior champion at 13 and US Open champion at 14, retaining the title whenever he chose to defend it.

He became an international grandmaster at 15, gaining the rating at his first international tournament in Yugoslavia. He once defeated 21 grandmasters in succession—no US player had beaten more than seven in a row.

As Fischer's fame grew, his temperament became more unpredictable. He walked out of tournaments because of what he considered to be bad lighting or bad air conditioning.

In the mid-1960s, he opted out of two world championship qualifying series because he thought the tournament system favored the Russians. In 1967, when officials would not meet his demands for better conditions, Fischer angrily withdrew from international competition "for a period of introspection".

He took his collection of chess books to California, where he later said he had "plotted my revenge if I ever came back".

When the rules were changed in 1972 to include an eight-player eliminator to find the challenger to world champion Spassky, Fischer had the chance to prove he was as good as he always said he was. He became a national hero.

But by the 1990s, he was said to be living under assumed names in cheap hotels in Pasadena on the outskirts of Los Angeles, surviving on occasional royalties from his books.

One commentator said there was one constant through his life -- his "running battle with the rest of the human race".

5:32 PM
Just got in from running around. Started in J-town and ended at Baker Beach.

Bikini top on the J-town bridge???


Looking towards Fillmore from the bridge...


Peace Pagoda with other buildings...














10:16 PM
David Kesting is in from NY...going to spend some time with him tomorrow after work.
Couldn't find the noise show tonight. Oh well.