openroadsong: July 2003 Archives

it was hard to stay mad at the Kia driver who tried to commit suicide by bouncing off the buick on the 101 this morning. he didn't succeed, not even the bouncing part, but only because i'm really, really good at not letting stuff run into me. 'twas close, i'd say inches. but when i got up alongside him to him to give him a good gesturing, he was just shaking his head, and i thought, what a good way of conveying that he knew exactly what i would have been attempting to communicate, that is, that he's an idiot and needs to ... stop being such an idiot.

70 mph near-miss: excellent way to start the week out feeling awake and alive.

so i figured, go for it. i mean why not? sure it's been years. and years. seven? something like that. but in all that time i've never found anything like it, so ... ok then.

i walked my mountain. ok, hill. whatever. it's two miles and a sixty story building, is what it is, give or take i have no idea the exact numbers. goes like this: park 1/3 mile away, time to warm up, get blood flowing, 'cause the hill doesn't mess around. first couple hundred yards are like, vertical. i make that and i have to stop. have. to. stop. lean on somebody's fence, take in the view, argue with myself a bit, and finally order myself on up. and up. and ... all in all four stops to the top. ahh. the top. the rush. the wind in my beet red sweaty face. woo.

and down, down is just a different set of muscles. need less wind so can get fancy with the walking weights. swing 'em one way and it works the triceratops, while the hill itself is working the quadraptors and the tyrannosaurus maximus, i mean we are feeling the burn. bottom of the hill's a little further from the car, time to do some different things - extend weights, swing arms straight, which i can feel everywhere from the late triassic all the way to the mesozoic, oh my yes i can.

that's the best looking dirty buick i've ever seen in my whole life, man.

um. woo?

sometimes you nail 'em, sometimes it's nothin' but sky:

and this, well, around here lately it's harder to miss pictures of road construction than to get them.

**(note: click 'em, they get bigger)

* * * * * * later that strange afternoon * * * * * * * * *
In California, adults have always had the right to use the first, middle and last names of their choice. In fact, California adults have the legal right to change their names simply by using their desired new names. You don't have to go to court and you don't have to file any forms or pay any fees. This method for changing your name is called the "Usage" method.

any guesses as to what this means? oh yeah. and don't think i won't. because it would be just silly to think that.

sometimes i wish i lived back when everything was all sepiatoned. but there wouldn't have been bad religion back then, and it would be the thing that made the difference between the smiles:

and, i fear the freeway sign thing has lost its lustre. fish in a barrel, man.

it's become a sport, catch the freeway sign. well, until it gets boring. this one didn't bore me:

march twenty seventh, two thousand two - out and about with the camera, chasing the moon; found myself wandering down to the sand and on the way, there was art at my feet.

as the sun set after the weird mini-hurricane, i nabbed the camera and headed out. the sunset wasn't spectacular, which didn't matter at all, it wasn't the point.

got in the car started out for the store and then i realized she was turning toward downtown. knew exactly what the car had in mind: we were going up to the cross. there were no roses to smell so we did not stop, but we did manage to get a picture of the theatre downtown [correction]: picture is through windshield (kind of obvious now that i look at it):

so turned up the tiny road behind city hall, wound up the windy little teeny little road, through the gate they close at night to prevent people from driving their nice comfy cars up there to have sex in. if people want to have sex up there, well, they have to hike in, in the dark. the park service is a big ole meanie. again, this is taken right handed out of the left-side window, so ...

the view from up top is sweet indeed, this is just a tiny bit of it:

the actual cross is ... well, it's a cross. they light it up at night, to taunt the horny teenagers who would heed its call and cruise up for a little teenage quality time.

when you finish the circuit and return to the bottom of the hill, it's three of the world's most lovely blocks down to the ocean:

so theoretically you could walk from the ocean and right into the mountains (well, foothills) in about fifteen minutes. and if you wanted to keep walking at that point, well, you would get one incredible workout.