It was great seeing Karl return.

After about 3 days of LA like 80’s (and upper 70’s), I spotted Karl yesterday, lurking about, during my 5:00 p.m. dog walk. I was so over it this week. We finally hooked up the mobile air conditioning unit purchased after the last round of hot spells.

Garry is actually fine with 80 degrees, 90 and up would be a bit much for him. I run warm. I always prefer cool. I don’t like 75 or above. Don’t ask me how I managed 30 years of seasons in New York City. It seems like a lifetime ago. I guess your body has a weather ‘type’ and mine is cool.

Anyway the AC unit is a dream come true and I used it for a couple of glorious hours until Karl the fog returned. It took us about 20 minutes to set-up. It’s a big standing box with tubes (think Robbie the Robot arms) that go to the window. We preferred this over the box on the window so we can remove it easier. It will stay up until mid to late September.

The unit makes a familiar noise. It sounds like August in New York. I can close my eyes and make believe I’ve come home from a particularly sticky walk and can feel the coolness in the air as I get closer to the AC. I love that first rush of coolness, when your body first feels it. It’s August on a sweltering subway platform and the train comes in and you get in a car (where you notice all the windows are closed) and you feel that onslaught of coolness. I get it, some would call it cold. It’s subjective. 

There was a place I remember on 14th street called Western Beef. They sold meat. I used to enjoy walking in there during the hot NYC months, even if I wasn’t shopping. The entire store was a meat freezer. It was delightful. A quick cold hit on the way somewhere.

That whirring sound was immediately white noise for me as it was so many years ago. I truly only noticed it was there when someone video called me.

“What’s that noise?” 

“An air-conditioner,” I said proudly. 

“An air-conditioner in San Francisco?”

“Damn paparazzi, ” I countered.

Anyway, it was a great excuse to use my noise canceling headphones.

Three weeks later we are settling into our new reality. Homebound (maybe that’s what the new Spider-man movie should be titled) with husband and dog. We are certainly doing our share of Netflix, HBO, and what have you. I’ve also discovered a few London theatres sharing free streaming shows. Thank you.

Like Spidey, I put on my own mask when I’m heading out. Thanks to Governor Newsom my SFSPCA group are considered “essential”, so I do pop out a few days a week making sure furry friends in the two hospitals have their meds. Still there is more time at home, sheltering with family hoping the city can continue to flatten the curve. It seems to be working.

The day in and day out of isolation can be daunting. I try to remain busy. This past weekend I added 5 books to my e collection and I’m going to start reading one of them this week. I’m currently halfway through a couple of books and I want to add a third to the lineup. It doesn’t bother me to have 3 going at once…books I mean.

We continue to have a theater night with the previously mentioned streaming but will also download the occasional movie. At home, we’ve got a 70 inch monitor to watch entertainment and while it can never take the place of sitting in an old west end theatre, it will have to do for now.

I miss so many things about the outside world but I’m also driven to keep my partner safe. It will all be there later in some form or another and we will be back better than ever, in the sequel and there will be an election in the fall. Man do I hope we get that right this time.

September 16, 2019 – It’s a Monday in San Francisco after, for me a busy weekend. One of my dearest friends has been in town and I’ve been taking him out and about. Today was the first day back at the office and sudden responsibility realness; such is life.

The stops around town included; a GIANTS game, as my visitor hadn’t seen anything after Candlestick, drinks at the Fairmont, North Beach, small time theater (we can say that, as we’re both from NYC) a stop at the Castro and a few nostalgic. He lived in this left coast city in the late 70’s and marveled at how everything now is “built up”.

We walked through the Salesforce Tower transit skywalk, not unlike Manhattan’s skyline space, it was a remarkably pleasant green walk, among the giant cement and glass structures. The views were fraught with different flora to fawn over, even if it’s not tall enough to conceal the usual Starbucks intrusion.

On Sunday we visited North Beach, which is a neighborhood that I called home for about 10 years. The sun felt good with Karl around the corner and we he had some tasty slices of pizza at Tony’s (it’s really the best pizza in the city).

It was cool walking around my old hood, the coffee shop I used to hang out in is gone and a couple of restaurants have changed out but it’s still my beach with no beach. It’s as lively, as touristy as ever. Pass me that gelato.

After a muni ride up the hill, we were having Manhattans at the Fairmont Hotel. This was pricey and pleasant endeavor, good bartenders and a casual feel that will make you wonder why you go anywhere else. It’s fun up that hill and outside, it’s a buena vista on every side. Naturally, the view from the hill is iconic, giving you those side water views that the city enjoys fame for…they put it on their greeting cards here.

Anyway the workweek for me begins and my friend will make his way to Sausalito for a day trip. Back to reality after a nice timeout.

Today was a grind. I awoke briefly at 3 a.m and was up for the next hour and a half. My mind was racing like a rat on a wheel, facing some uncertain cheese.

This naturally carried into my Monday at Pacific Heights. I do all the ordering for the dogs and cats for the hospital out there. I can always hear some of the pooches whining from their individual cages, as I’m walking in: “I know how you feel…but they’ll fix you up in no time.”

This hospital is the 24 hour one. I toyed with the idea of coming right in (when I got up at 3), but when I finally started to doze, that concept won out over any crazy idea of getting my work done earlier.

While I was no doubt happy to get 3 more hours of Zzzz’s it still made the day punchy. The two cups of coffee were of great importance. I stayed wired and focused long enough to get it all in. And what is it about those kind of days that cause other people to stop and ask you all kinds of questions about x and y, when you’re working on z. That said, it still a major life upgrade from working the graveyard shift for the government.

Back at home, I can kick my feet up, pet on my own dog and take it easy. Yay!

We’ve got our planning underway for a bit of a quick theater jaunt in the fall. London and New York are the easy targets and mid-October is the earliest and most reasonable $$ flight wise to go.

I mean a guy can’t live on only sports forever, there is a UK adaption of Falsettos and they’ve turned that old sci-fi flick Solaris into a stage drama. Additionally, they are making the show: There’s something about Jamie, into a film. It might be time to finally catch it live.

In NYC we will work the TKTS booth to get reasonable seats to shows. Tootsie is definitely on my list. My friend Joel will also be there. It should be great fun.

I’ll also visit my mom on the trip. It’s been a year. It’s time. And Garry gets to see his sister, who lives on the upper east side. I will insist to take the 2nd Avenue line (subway). I like taking it to commemorate all those folks who lived their entire life in the city, having been told they’re going to do it one day and then it was: on again, off again. There are city people, that didn’t live long enough to see it happen (like my dad).

It almost makes you want to turn into a Rhinoceros and trample city hall but enough about Ionesco and may ACT (American Conservatory Theater) never walk down that path again. As a young man who was impressed with the playwright, I had never seen a live production of his work…until Thursday. It was the wrong venue.

The backdrop was a curtain painted like where they were in the particular scene. Anytime an actor passed through it, it swayed and you couldn’t help but pay attention to that. The actors on stage were decent but they each were in their own little show. Did they know they were onstage with each other? Maybe, they were mesmerized by that curtain, which was bigger than any rhino.

With ACT, we will try once in a blue moon. We had a subscription at SF Playhouse but didn’t renew because there wasn’t enough to interest us, in the new season. Locally, we got a subscription with New Conservatory Theater. Their list of shows for 2019/2020 looks good.

It’s a quiet weekend in Glen Park. I went to a chilly softball pratice this morning. We were playing misty for me with the fog, a real switch from the hot temps last weekend. We went from shorts to hoodies. I’ll take the hoodies everytime.

Actually it’s hard to believe the ball season is almost over. At posting a 13-2 record, with one game left we’ve clinched both 2nd place and a World Series berth. It will be our 2nd trip and I’m really excited to be going. How excited? Well, as soon as it was announced I got online and got my tickets in a matter of minutes. Before last season I had about a 13 year gap before the last trip to the big game.

It’s nice that the ballclub can play well with the changes to the roster this season. Anytime a team changes out several players, it can time for the unit to gel but these folks hit the ground running.

This season I’ve been slowed a bit with an old left knee that sustained a player collision back in February, during the Palm Springs tournament. It’s getting better and now I’m also healing from a jammed finger that I got in a practice two weeks ago. There are times when you play you pay and it’s an older body I’m running around the field.