Fishing and Reminiscing

I fished this afternoon in SF Bay with Greg and Roe and Greg's dog Chach.

Yes, that is Alcatraz in the background.

We caught a bunch of rock cod. Ready to BBQ again!

I am still doing the NYT Crossword (100 day streak!) and spelling bee every day

Listening to music right now. Bakersfield Beats on Sirius. Greg Dutch turned me on  to the Ken Burns Country Music documentary. Loved it. 

Music makes me so damn happy. I think I learned this behavior from my dad. Does anyone out there remember the old days after dinner with Al? When he got out his old records and a glass of single malt scotch. I learned  a lot about the history of Al's tastes in the documentary. Jimmy Rodgers, Hank Williams. Al was passionate about music.

I had a love hate relationship with work. How comfortable I was in my office. Talking to clients and everyone. It was like I was the king of the world. So confident. I loved my clients. I think they loved me back. They knew I would take care of them to the best of my ability. 

The hate part was stress. I worked so hard and held myself to a very high standard. I spent many a sleepless night worrying about how I would resolve an issue in a particular client's case. It almost always worked out in the end. But, I could never let myself rest until I had figured everything out and done my best. I miss the office; not the stress. 

I’m trying hard to bring that confident feeling and my office energy to the rest of my life – outside the office. 

I can't stop thinking about my dad. I learned my office behavior from him when I worked in his office. I still remember his office in Hayward decorated with chicken house wood from Petaluma. It even had a chicken house door. In the early 80s he sat and smoked a big cigar in his office every afternoon. I expect he had had a drink over lunch at "The Ranch". His client's loved him. Everybody loved Al.

I developed a great ability to communicate clearly and honestly what I thought to my clients. Another thing I will try to apply to the rest of my life, including this blog.

I talked to Beth about this. She pointed out, correctly, that I am better at expressing my thoughts than my feelings. We are not big sharers of feelings in my family. There is a lot of love but it is not overtly expressed. 

I almost forgot it is Halloween. Me and Al

This years costume. 

What did you expect?

Making Something out of Nothing

Beth asked what I was going to do today. My reply – nothing.

She wanted to meditate for 15 minutes. 

I am not wild about meditation but I do it for her. I do find it relaxing. You are supposed to think about NOTHING while meditating. Perfect! Or so I believed…Here I was meditating trying to think about nothing and my mind was a burning cauldron of ideas heated by my intense inner flame. I was thinking about writing this blog today. I can’t stop the ideas from pouring out of my brain. Meditation couldn’t stop it. At least I have this outlet in my blog.

I don’t think I am alone. I am sure others reading this feel the same way sometimes - ideas and thoughts streaming out of their mind.

Last week I attended a spin class. The ignorant (my judgement) spin instructor joked that people were lined up for a meditation class; that the people were fools to want to meditate together. He implied that meditation is better alone. I disagree. There is power and togetherness in group meditation. 

My bias: I like community and communities. I am much more comfortable in life in a group setting. 

Much of my life is made up of communities. Biking, fishing, exercising, workers compensation, old and new friends, neighborhood, word games, etc.

After our meditation, we walked to the ferry building for a coffee and a few groceries. Beth was worried about the uneven sidewalk. I told her she needs to have "don’t care mind" (making a bad joke about the Buddhists saying that you need to have "don’t know mind").

Beth and I discussed Peg's humor. I realized that she has a quick wit like my dad. She is also developing his big personality. Capturing the room. 

My life changed after my dad died. I wouldn't say I was very close to him. We did not communicate deeply enough. However, his death affected me deeply. My friend Chuck Numbers says that the death of a parent alters your place in the universe. 

I was supposed to go fishing by myself today but it was too windy. I signed up for a spin class instead. Competitive games that kicked my butt. 

At the ferry building, Halibut was $31.99 per pound. I am going fishing tomorrow to try to catch one (or more).

Lunch at Mixt Greens

I felt so good walking through the financial district of San Francisco today that I worried that I’m like Anne Hathaway's character  on Modern Love in the episode where she is bipolar. 

My favorite skyscraper in SF - 101 California (Philip Johnson architect)

I get that happiness from my mom. She is the most positive person on the planet. 

Enough for today. Thinking about fishing and halloween tomorrow. You know what animal mask I am wearing. 

Home sweet home.

Nothing to Do in San Francisco

Another day with nothing to do. No agenda. No list of tasks. Just free time. Very liberating. 

I forgot to tell you:  I quit my part time job a few weeks ago. Got back from our trip and decided it was too much busywork and bureaucracy. I left on good terms. They understood. I needed to be fully retired. I might work again if the right opportunity comes my way. I am not looking.

Listened to music all day. Ahhh. I can't stop listening to the playlist I made for my mom's 85th birthday. You can find it on spotify: search for the bear or Barry Gorelick. "Phyl's 85th Birthday" playlist. Great for Baby Boomer's and 60s music lovers.

Did a mid day spin class at my new gym Equinox. Swanky place. High energy. Crowded. Much different than Crufit. It is in the old Pacific Coast Stock Exchange building. Huge stone building with columns and steps in front. Like a mini Lincoln Memorial. 

Very nice bikes; just like Crufit. But they don’t take full advantage of the watt recording capabilities in most of the classes. I like it nonetheless. They have 20 spin classes a week. It is a fifteen minute walk from home. I am going to about four classes per week. Happy with my change.

I love living in San Francisco. There is so much to do, places to go, restaurants large and small. After my workout, I stopped, as per my new habit, at Onigilly for two Ume (preserved plum) Onigiri. Nice snack.

Came home. Tired. Rested for a few minutes. Then packed up for a bike trip to Rainbow.  

Rode my Linus three speed (looks like the one in the picture below). Black, heavy, slow, Brooks leather saddle. Big yellow panniers. Perfect for going to the market across town. 

Arrived at Rainbow. Locked up the bike for protection from the many talented thieves. Started shopping. What a great vibe. About as liberal as it gets in San Francisco. Organic. Vegetarian. Egalitarian. I had to shop sparingly because I can only hold so much on the bike. 

Checking out, I picked out a youngish looking Latinx checker (See footnote below). I love Latinx. Especially at Rainbow, because you can’t always tell gender checking out. 

OK something wonderful happened while checking out. I proudly told the latinx checker that I qualified for the “old person’s” discount (age 60). She carded me!  How great that she did not believe that I was actually 60 years old. That made my day. Here's what she saw - I don't look a day over 59.

On home to unpack my Oatly, etc. My favorite non-dairy milk. I guess I need to tell you that I am back to my old diet: vegan plus fish and seafood. It was fun to eat everything while traveling but not sustainable. Not healthy. I have taken off the ten pounds or so I gained on the trip.

Feeling great. Oh shit! I have nothing to do tomorrow!

Footnote:

Latinx is a gender-neutral neologism, sometimes used instead of Latino or Latina to refer to people of Latin American cultural or racial identity in the United States. The ⟨-x⟩ suffix replaces the standard ⟨-o/-a⟩ ending of nouns and adjectives, typical of grammatical gender in Spanish. Its plural is Latinxs.

PS: While I was doing nothing last week - 

Fished on Friday with my new pals: Greg, Earl and Roe

Served up BBQ salmon and rock cod (that I caught off Bolinas) at Amy and Rishi's wedding party Sunday