Protesters holding signs walk down a concrete ramp toward a sidewalk as cars pass along a city street

I got out of the newsroom too slow to make the start outside the government building, but I still saw a few things off at the edges on the way to the next one. You should’ve seen the couple wearing a suit and a dress as they came down the steps of city hall, and they must have passed the sidewalk chalk drawers on their way to their new lives.

The east side railing of the Golden Gate Bridge with a tiny white sailboat from its edge on a blue skies sunny day

I spent most of the day across the bridge by a small bay, talking to houseboat owners and sellers. It’s a pretty corner of the bay I’ve read about before, but never visited, with several different histories spiraling off into the past. Now I just have to find a through line to make something useful.

A small black and white cat peeks its head out a window in a nearby apartment building

We had a couple of workers over to put in some lights in the living room and bedroom. They were thorough and competent, and the place felt completely different after sunset with dimmers at the flick of a switch.

A small black cat stands on a cat tree platform edge and leans its front paws on a window sill to face away and  look outside

Today’s one of those days to stay in, and I’d completely forgotten about a meeting I was supposed to attend, but who can say if I’d’ve enjoyed making it? Signs point to no. Better to emulate the house cat, and peer outside between naps.

A storefront window with words written in a sans serif font and cast by sunlight onto a wide wood panel inside the store

More and more I find no interest in grinding out the homeward drive along the highway. Give me the avenue, even inconsistent and empty in stretches, sometimes salted with non sequitur slogans and signs meant for previous eras with things like foot and vehicle traffic.

Tarps draped over tents taking up parking space next to a few cars underneath an elevated highway onramp

Adaptation to a problem is still a problem. It’s not mine, but I’m having to change things a bit. Other stuff isn’t changing, and that’s another ongoing problem.

A neighborhood town square plaza with brightly colored chairs near and under an umbrella on a sunny day

It looks like I might be spending a little more time away from my desk. It’ll feel weird but mostly good. Standing around outside a restroom: weird. Running into the competition: less weird but still good but also weird. I’m more used to reading them than seeing them in person.

A car odometer showing a vehicle’s range and distance traveled since its last gas tank top-off

I have to park somewhere different now for reasons, which meant birds lit my car up in its for-now spot. Off I go to get gas at the station with the automatic car wash, even though the fill-up is 50 cents a gallon more than I usually pay.

A wide angle view of a red and blue lit theater ballroom with well dressed people dancing and sitting at tables under a large multi bulb chandelier

In the room today, I obviously wasn’t a dad or a daughter and I didn’t dance, but nobody seemed to mind. Maybe I looked like somebody’s suited and booted cool uncle until a young man came up to me and asked if I had an adapter he could use to charge his phone. I did, which isn’t cool so much as convenient. He returned it, which was cooler: tech support uncle for the win.

A small black cat, with its eyes closed and a paw hiding part of its face, lying on its side atop a light gray quilt

I should have spent the day in bed, but I didn’t have to go very far so I had that going for me. The medicines I picked up have kicked in pretty well too so there’s that. The biggest stuff can wait.