Okay, so as I post, Christmas Day is still officially about 90 minutes away. But why wait? I used Leica Q2 to capture the Featured Image, along Campus Avenue between Meade and Monroe in San Diego neighborhood University Heights.
Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/320 sec, 28mm; 9:35 a.m. PST, Dec. 17, 2023. Composed as shot.
What a terrible coincidence. Tonight, I planned to share the Featured Image, taken yesterday using Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra. Beforehand, I peeked at my inbox, where there were two random emails about Nextdoor posts. Someone from another San Diego neighborhood also puts out treats for delivery drivers. Last night, there was an, ah, incident.
The poster writes: “Just before 10:30 p.m., these two awful people stole the entire box of treats (bin included) that I had left out for the deliveries. Usually, we bring them in much earlier, but we were out visiting a friend we haven’t seen in ages, so it was left out past 9 p.m.” She includes a 20-second video of the thieves in action.
Wow, we had thunderstorms overnight, as heavy rains pounded San Diego County. I love it, but expected a drab, dreary day today. Oh, no! The clouds parted to blue skies and some sun. Air temp touched 15 degrees Celsius (61 Fahrenheit) but seemed warmer when walking under the yellow rays.
My wife and I stepped out a few times to relish the crisp air and sidewalks refreshed by nature’s hand. Californians are absolutely dog crazy. The mutts pee everywhere, without restraint. Because rain is so infrequent, dry urine pollutes surfaces. You will never see me sit against a tree, as such. Yuck.
I avoid walking through Hillcrest, unless need presses. The neighborhood is atmospherically and physically filthy. Strange how people don’t know that they live in Hell. But the same could be applied to most of California, expanding Dante’s nine circles of Hell to the 21 missions around which major cities were built. San Diego was the first, in 1769.
Franciscans sought to bring Heaven to native populations, rightly or wrongly (you decide which). Centuries later, the fire of Hades burns across the state, by many measures.
San Diego’s relatively dry autumn—eh, late Summer—will give way to rain, perhaps heavy, over the next few days leading into Christmas. That’s the forecast; we shall see if this time it’s accurate.
Quite likely, downpour with wind could easily strip the leaves from the tree in the Featured Image. Even in Southern California, some seasonal change can be seen among the great, green growing things. Cacti, palms, and succulents may dominate the landscape, and in seemingly unchanging fashion year-round, but they do not stand alone.
There is moaning and wailing at the North Pool tonight. Who will drive the sleigh and deliver presents to all the good boys and girls (if there are any) on Christmas Eve? Santa somehow got himself tangled in a sticky web and a spider sucked all the fluids and organs out of his body. Chris Kringle is crumpled.
I used Leica Q2 to capture the tragic Featured Image today. Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 100, 1/640 sec, 28mm; 9:37 a.m. PST. My wife and I came upon Santa’s remains in the Campus-North perpendicular alley that is parallel to Meade in San Diego neighborhood University Heights.
Artisans set up outside Mystic Mocha on Dec. 10, 2023. The boutique breakfast and coffee shop is located in San Diego neighborhood University Heights, where streets Alabama, Mission, and Monroe meet. I happened by, turned about, returned home, and grabbed Leica Q2 Monochrom. I then walked back for some stealth shooting from the hip.
What a mess made. Among the half-dozen photos, the Featured Image is the only one where people are somewhat clear. Next time, I will try zone focusing instead, rather than let the camera choose (wrongly). Vitals, aperture manually set: f/5.6, ISO 200, 1/500 sec, 28mm; 1:41 p.m. PST.
Meet the one-hundred-twentieth furball found behind door or window since this series started in October 2016—and ninety-ninth from Alabama Street between boundaries Adams and Lincoln. Coalette is her real name, and the spelling is correct. Fur color has something to do with the choice. I understand that her coat is absolutely magnificent.
I used Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra‘s 10x zoom to capture the Featured Image, on Nov. 11, 2023. Vitals: f/4.9, ISO 50, 1/1700 sec, 230mm (film equivalent); 9:28 a.m. PST.
Dec. 9, 2023, as I stopped to photograph someone’s life belongings heaped onto four shopping carts, suddenly, and rapidly, riders roared by along University Ave. in Hillcrest. San Diego’s panache for tearing up parking spaces and replacing them with kilometers-upon-kilometers of bike lanes is controversial among businesses and many residents but unapologetic policy public.
On any normal day, bikers are few, and their numbers are next to meaningless compared to the volume of buses, cars, SUVs, and trucks, among other vehicles. So I was rather surprised seeing such mass of riders, who vastly spilled out of the bike lane into traffic.
For Dec. 9, 2023—before encountering the problem delaying new posts—I had planned to share some sightings in Hillcrest that same day. I had ventured there to drop off at FedEx a box containing my wife’s Galaxy Tab S8. For holiday sales, Samsung offered insanely generous $600 trade-in against the S9 Ultra, which I ordered for me and Annie happily inherited my S8 Plus. Expect a future first-impression about the larger tablet.
The homeless are prominent fixtures along University Avenue in, ah, Hellcrest. Used to be that street dwellers had crusty, weathered appearances; many had problems with alcohol, drugs, or mental illness—perhaps all three. But during the past 12 months or so, particularly, more of San Diego’s homeless appear to be new to the streets, older in age, or both. Many of them cart along more belongings—shopping carts carrying real possessions, not the debris collected hunter-gather style by long-time wanderers.
Call me a nasty nitpicker. Go ahead, I won’t be offended. You won’t trigger me. I won’t cower and cry: “You make me feel afraid”, like words are acts of violence. By the way, are you as bothered as I by people who do respond in such a way? The described reaction is the epitome of narcissism—of me first behavior.
Oh, and what is my nitpick? The Halloween sign in the Featured Image, which I captured on Dec. 4, 2023 about an event that occurred more than a month earlier. The poster hangs on the playground fence of Garfield Elementary, which is located in San Diego neighborhood North Park. Maybe the sign should come down, rather than taunt kids with the promise of something that ain’t happening because it already has. Hey, just saying.
On the way to Smart & Final, today, my wife and I detoured to the renovated and reopened Lafayette. The Christmas decorations had always been so festive and inviting. What would the new owners do to celebrate the season? We wondered.
Answer: Absolutely nothing. No lights. No tree. No wreathes. Instead, we beheld the Hotel’s new interior design, which decor is meant to be retro-something but really is garish gay. I know men whose flamboyant clothing would make them fit in nicely with the furniture. Say, any of you guys need a job as a living mannequin?