It has been about three months since I last posted one of these columns here just as it had been at the time of the previous posting. At that time this blog had been visited 137,575 times whereas now that number has risen to 168,278. The monthly visitation lingers just above 10,000 hits which is rather high compared to where this place languished for so long. I wish to convey my humble thanks for all of you who take the time to drop in and visit for whatever your reason(s) may be.
Fall 2012 Semester
It seems hard to believe (for me anyway) that the Fall 2012 semester at
Cuesta College is nearly over with just about one month remaining before Winter Break. At last check or as well as I can determine I am nursing A's in all three of my current classes: A- in MATH123 (5 units); A in ENGLISH201A (4 units); A in HISTORY203A.
Last week I turned in my history term paper which I completed by the skin of my teeth given that I waited until the end to do it. That sort of procrastination is still a flaw I need to eliminate. It seems I need the pressure of looming deadlines to motivate me to actually get started on things. Most of the time I can pull it off but one of these days it will turn out poorly if I don't get this flaw removed.
The Tempest That Was My September-October
September 2012 was pretty much absorbed by rock shows for me. I started off the month working the Santa Barbara Gem Faire August 31-September 02. Then the following two weeks were consumed with preparations for the 21st Annual Rockhound Roundup in Paso Robles September 15-16, to which I was overall show chairman. The following weekend I traveled to Salt Lake City with my friend Dave Richter and helped him do the Gem Faire there in his Rocks & Relics booth. Following that I helped my friend Marybeth (widow of Steve Shears) in her Showcase Displays booth at the Monterey Gem & Mineral Show the last weekend of the month. October didn't let up much as the very next weekend (and first one in October) I worked for Kirk Brock in his Rock Solid Jade booth at the
Big Sur Jade Festival. Following that I worked the Autumn Cayucos Gem, Mineral, & Jewelry Show the very next weekend. There I represented Marybeth again as well as worked a little for Dave Richter and helped put on the show as its publicity chairman. Finally, two weeks later on the last weekend of October I traveled to Santa Rosa with my friend Dave Richter once gain and helped work his booth at Gem Faire. In the midst of all of this I was busy with 12 units of coursework at Cuesta College and working minor general labor projects for my client list.
Changing Of The Seasons
I suffer from mild
S.A.D. and in light of that I have been quite mindful of late how light of day is changing. I'm painfully aware of how short are the days and long are the nights now. Also, the weaker sunlight on my skin during the day and the low angle of the sunlight are quite noticeable to me. I used to much more effected by these annual changes to the point that I believe it fed into my overall mental illness during the span 1988 through mid-2000's. However, now that I am aware I suffer from this disorder I can mostly control it by force of will and the rest is resolved by exercise and light therapy and having my life much more filled with meaning than it ever has been.
Winterizing My Man-Cave
Early this year I installed a small swamp-cooler in the window of my living room but was never able to install an effective means of insulating the gaps in the window around it. This Summer that led to much heat getting into my home and my cooled air escaping. I realized his Winter would be another chilly one in this house but more so with the change to the window in my living room. With some of my college financial aid money I was able to afford to get two different insulting features installed in that window. One of those measures (cuttable insulating foam board with aluminum siding) I also installed in my bedroom window around the other and a bit larger swamp-cooler. That swamp-cooler came with the house and the patch-job on the window around it was much better but it nonetheless has bled much warmth in the Winter and much coolness in the Summer ever since I moved in here around this time three years ago. After doing all of that work I then proceeded to clean my house "with a fine tooth comb" as it has not been thoroughly cleaned for most of the year. I also moved furniture around in my bedroom to free up space now that I can have my desk in front of the swamp-cooler now that it will remain unused until late next Spring.
I'm Dating Again... Finally!
I recently went on my first date since I became single in 2009. It has taken me this long for a variety of reasons, not the least of which has been my being in a "once bitten, twice shy" frame of mind. I rushed into the last relationship way too fast and have no intention of repeating that mistake. Also, my last relationship, unbeknownst to me at the time, was a rebound relationship from an emotional affair immediately prior. My desire since then has been to allow enough time and healing to occur since my last relationship before diving in again. The women I took to dinner and with whom I watched movie ("
Prometheus" on DVD) is someone with whom I went to high school. At the time she was two grades behind me and had a crush on me while I did not even know she existed. She married young and had babies fairly early on and is now single following the myriad of moral shortcomings of her ex. We are not a "we" but have merely had the one date and a follow-up hanging out session watching "
Blues Brothers". Another date is tentatively planned for this coming week.
Cliff's 7th Annual Rockhound Tailgater
Yesterday I elected to show up with a small amount of my remaining mineral inventory to Cliff Brewen's rockhound tailgate event north of
Paso Robles near
San Miguel. The rain kept the turnout frustratingly low but I was able to cover my costs, including those for the rock material I bought there to repay a debt for a jug of local homemade wine. Although not a
Santa Lucia Rockhounds event it was affiliated with the club to the degree that only club members could sell there while anybody could visit. This was my first time at this event in three years as I missed it the previous two years as I was helping Dave Richter do the Oxnard Gem & Mineral Show which he did not do this year.
Getting My LEXX Fix
Some years ago I randomly came across the series premier of the all-too-typically all-too-short-lived quirky and unique and irreverent and satirical (and frequently risque) television series
LEXX. I must have seen it on
Syfy Channel earlier in the 2000's back before that channel sucked and became unwatchable as it is now. I was very much taken with it but lost track of it in the course of my life and never saw it on television much again except for an episode here or there from time to time. Recently, I came across the entire series on DVD in two boxed sets at
Target and the price was quite reasonable so I purchased it and have been enjoying it since... including as I compose this.
Post-Election Blahs
He-Whom-Shall-Remain-Unnamed
won reelection to the Presidency of the United States earlier this
month. This came as no surprise given the power of incumbency combined
with the pathetic wretchedness of the Republican ticket (Romney-Ryan)
along with the fact so many people are getting a free hand-out from the
government and they don't want that to end and the degree to which the
Fifth Column Fourth Estate
shepherded the sheep-like masses towards reanointing their imaginary
messiah. Following the first debate I was temporarily tantalized with
the fleeting hope that perhaps we would be saved but such was fated not
to be thus.
California Disasters On Facebook
I own
California Disasters on
Yahoo Groups. It was formed in 2007 and a few years later I formed a
Facebook version of
California Disasters. While I have faithfully kept the Yahoo Groups version up and running since its inception I have usually ignored the Facebook version. I have recently elected to keep it updated regularly after noticing the positive feedback from even limited postings there and the initial feedback has been great. While attempting during the same time period to maintenance the Myspace version of California Disasters I founded in 2007 I noticed that
Myspace deleted all its groups which I feel is a shame.
