Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 29-Wednesday July 5, 2023: 4th Of July Weekend: Little Hurrcane | Cracker | Seth Meyers | The Color Forty Nine | Lyle Lovett | Boogie Wonderland |

Gahhhh! See! This is what happens when I go out. I started the listings yesterday and Nova and I were supposed to go to Sea World for the afternoon, but then she canceled on me so I took my van in to our mechanic in La Mesa and did my zoo thing after. Then I had to catch the bus home and since I was close, decided to go to Soda Bar for Fools & Fables (which was amazing, y'all!!) and then stumbled into Space after and then got home super late and passed out and then I had to finish these dumb listings and now I have to race off to La Mesa via bus all over again because my van is ready. (take a breath). 

So, I think these are complete listings for the week ahead but I may add stuff if things come up and I'm not entirely sure they're in the best order, but I gotta go. 

ohhhh. If you plan on going to the County Fair at all, parking has been reaching capacity by like 1 or 2 in the afternoon, so you'll have to park off site and take a shuttle in. Plan accordingly. 

Have a great week. Stay safe out there. 

Newsy Things: New Vaccines Formulas Move Forward For Fall Boosters | Long COVID Link To Mental Health | County Budget Approved | Live Music Saves The Economy! (J/K) |

Bat Eared Fox Winter and 2 of her 3 kits, as taken through a fence and a plant (6.27.23)

We're about to move into 4th of July weekend so I'm gonna unleash the stuff I've been reading over the past couple weeks. Nothing super exciting but I need to work on listings and get these drafts out of my queue or I get anxiety and can't do anything. Indecision paralysis, I think it's called. 

Anyway, it's been a pretty good couple of weeks. I'm still waiting for my new transmission but my van seems to be holding up in the meantime. I know I'm always back and forth on whether or not to renew my Sea World pass but right now is their best offer of the year for Silver and Gold passes, even if they took away the up-front parking, so if it's something you're thinking about, I would go for it. I think there are probably better times to buy the Fun Pass, like "Blue Friday" (their version of Black Friday) because you get the rest of the current year and the full next year, but I might have to bite the bullet and get it for Nova anyway because a few of her friends have passes and we're always to keep her occupied for summer while keeping on a budget. 

Besides all that, I hung out with my mom at the Safari Park on Tuesday and am happy to report she's doing as well as can be expected after losing my dad, who was in her 24 hour around the clock care for a very long time. She's doing stuff, making friends in her neighborhood, hanging out with us kids and her grandkids, has become a doggy day care for my sisters' dogs, is gardening and doing things she'd never been able to do because she could never leave my dad for any amount of time, even just to hang out in the backyard. So I'm proud of her and will keep on bugging her to hang out. 

I hope everyone has a super great week. Off to start my listings. Ugh. But at least I have a couple Law Nerd broadcasts that will occupy the space to get me through them. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 22- Wednesday, June 28, 2023: Delicate Steve | FACS | Semisonic | OB Street Fair | Glass Spells | Louise Post (Veruca Salt) | Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam | Pedro The Lion | SCOTS | Fools & Fables |

This happens to me at least once a year...I start doing listings and then while I'm working on them, hit the wrong key or something and delete all my work. Thankfully I only did part on Tuesday before deleting it all on Wednesday morning, which was enough for me to put the laptop away and go enjoy the Summer Solstice and all the crepuscular animals at the zoo. Then I came home and everyone went to bed early so I was able to focus and get them done while watching old 48 Hours murder shows. I'm sorry for last week, apparently I missed a whole bunch of stuff because I failed to check my calendar, where I make note of events that aren't in the usual listings, like the Bro-Am. Whoopsie. Looks like turnout wasn't lacking because I failed to post, but I double and triple-checked this time and hopefully got everything. 

We're officially in summer 2023 and all you who were wishing away May Gray and June Gloom are gonna get your wish and we haven't had a chance to fix our air conditioner yet, so that will be fun to navigate. My plan is to just not be home as much as possible and leave the air on in the bedroom for the pets. Hopefully it's not too bad too soon, but I guess I won't be making a trip back to The Living Desert any time soon. 

I hope everyone is doing well. I haven't done my usual diary posts because Nova's out for the summer and you know where I'm at pretty much all the time, so maybe no news is good news? After my shitty spring of loss and travel and funerals and memorials -- though lots of good family time was had in the midst of all that -- I'm just happy to be low key and doing my thing. It was nice to get some merch gigs, and even though one of them was pretty much the worst I've ever worked, it still got me back in the groove and I'll hopefully get back out into the music world at some point, but I'm loving Nighttime Zoo and late night Sea World hours and I've realized my tolerance for long shows has been hindered dramatically. Like 20 minute sets are just fine in my book. Watch, shoot, leave, sleep. 

Like I said, I'll get back into it eventually. Especially with so many great shows coming up. 

All the listings after the jump.     

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 15-Wednesday, June 21, 2023: Joshua Ray Walker | Samantha Bee | Erykah Badu | Trevor Hall | John Legend | Slothrust | Surfer Blood | Blink-182 | Earth, Wind, And Fire | Parker Milsap |

I'm certainly glad that I woke up early on Wednesday and started these listings because after spending the day at the zoo, I got called to work for Julian Markey at the Music Box. Of course, a day at the zoo meant I had my laptop on me for any work anyway, but I didn't wanna do these there on top of my usual work. On Thursday I'll be working for Samantha Bee and I'm pretty excited about that because she is one of my faves and I'm still sorting out a possible gig on Friday, too. So that will pretty much be my "going out" for the week. I'm certain we'll do a family thing to honor our first Father's Day without my Daddy, and then Juneteenth is on Monday so don't forget lots of stuff will be closed and the things that aren't will be more crowded than usual, especially since most schools are wrapping up their school years this week. I'll try and update with the SD Mag, Pacific, and kpbs lists in case I missed anything but those don't usually publish until later in the day. 

If you're at a show, please don't ask the merch person if they have a thing that isn't on display. I assure you we don't hide a secret stash of hats and tank tops and baby sizes and onesies and coffee mugs and visors that we're just not showing you. 

Stay safe out there. 

Newsy Things: SD Mag Guide To Pride | TFG Indicted | Inflation Cools | California Is "Most Fun State" | More Avian Flu In Mammals | The Year In Hate |

Fruit Bats at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 6.13.23)

It's been a minute since I've shared a newsy post. I have a lot of started-but-not-published posts at the moment, in fact, but what happened was that I went to work with Darren on Tuesday and by the time we got home, I was so wiped out that I passed out for nearly seven hours, which I guess stops being a nap somewhere beyond two hours and just becomes, well, sleep. But then I woke up at 1:30 and realized that I should probably get out of bed and catch up on work and email and start listings because when else will I find the quiet time? Nova finishes 10th grade on Wednesday and since I turned my Samsung Health back on my phone, I've been trying to make myself hit the goals more often, which takes a lot of intention when you mostly work from home and can sometimes get by entire days without leaving the house, as I did over the weekend. So I'll focus when I can and write when I can and walk when I can. My brother and the kids came back to town, so we did a big family dinner at Miguel's again on Monday, and besides that have nothing super excited to share. I'm just doing my zoo thing and sleep thing and work has been a little crazy but I'm doing my best to keep on top of that, too. 

Obviously there's been a lot of news lately and I'm waiting for someone smarter and more well informed than I to draw the connections between OPEC continually screwing us with the PGA and LIV golf merger, with TFG mishandling classified documents, and the billions that the SIL got from that disgusting criminal kingdom, but until I find something worth sharing, I'll just stew about how gross it all is. 

San Diego, for it's part, City and County, have been working on annual budgets and homelessness and why they keep allowing new housing units that then rent for $3000 a unit without forcing the return of SRO's, the actual control of STROs, and building *ACTUAL* affordable housing makes me just kinda bury my head and ignore it all. It's too much and like everyone, I'm so sick of it all. Plus we've got a special election coming up after Fletch couldn't keep it in his pants and it's all just very frustrating. So yeah, I'll just keep zoning out as I spend my days with the animals. 

Stay safe out there. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 8-Wednesday, June 14, 2023: San Diego Freak Out | Vincent Neil Emerson | Garbage | Fortune Feimster | Elf Power | Ours | Janet Jackson | Diana Ross | Shawn Colvin | Night Swims |

Okay, I finished. I went to the Zoo and was trying to walk as much as possible because once I stop I'm so exhausted, I have hope that I'll actually sleep when I get home instead of stirring all night long. But I promised that I would finish this week's listings, so here ya go. I don't have anything exciting going on at the moment which is just fine by me. Have a great weekend and I'm sure you'll be hearing from me soon. 

Stay safe out there. 

Things To Do in San DIego: Thursday, June 8: Tanner Usrey | Cherubs | EELS | Saint Luna |

On Wednesday, I was minding my business, doing the big lap of the San Diego Zoo, when I got called to work at the Casbah. Fortunately I was dressed appropriately and not in my zoo-mama uniform of leggings, but since I went straight to the Casbah and I hadn't been there all day, I didn't have my laptop so I didn't get to do listings, and then I didn't get home until almost midnight and I was pretty beat, so still put them off. Now I've started them, but am running out of time for my afternoon zoo walk, so I decided to just post Thursday and then I'll finish the rest of the week later tonight. It's a whole thing...if I don't go get some sunshine, I'll be depressed and anxious, and if I'm depressed and anxious I just will go into a spiral of doing nothing, including the rest of these listings. So here's tonight. I'll do the rest later. 

Stay safe out there. 

| COVID Misinfo Continues | SPLC Impact Report | Paxlovid Gets Full FDA Approval | Bastards of Blackstone | Greedflation | Debt Limit Agreement |

 

Amur Leopard Cubs have names!! Ulybka (L) and Zorinka (R). Taken 6.1.23

The female cub with the darker fur and smiley face marking on her forehead is Ulybka, pronounced (Oooh - lyb - kah), which means “smile” in Russian. The other female cub with the lighter fur and blurred markings is Zorinka which means “little star” in Russian. - @sandiegozoo (I hate the fence in the background of this photo, but it was the clearest shot I've had of their two faces together in awhile)

I have too many drafts started at the moment, but I kinda feel this impulse to write and then get too lost in the weeds so I just kinda stop. So for now I'll just say that I'm glad to be home and all my relatives have all gone home, too, and I can get back to some semblance of normal, albeit without my dad. We returned from New Mexico on Monday morning but my sleep is still all messed up and I gave myself road trip trauma, I guess, because all my dreams lately are me endlessly driving in the night. I couldn't be happier that San Diego Zoo hours are in effect and the park is open until 9pm, though I actually felt bad leaving today because it was so empty and they were still a half hour away from doing the Jambo Dunia performance. It definitely won't be like that as we get into summer, so I didn't mind having the Amur leopard cubs mostly to myself for the greater part of an hour. 

Anyhow, per usual, I clip newsy things and haven't posted in awhile, so these are the things that caught my attention (besides, of course, the first two parts of the Vanderpump Rules Reunion and the many YouTubers who talk about it.) 

Stay safe out there.  

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 1-Wednesday, June 7, 2023: Cub Sport | GBH | ReSET: BoyGenius + Clairo; LCD Soundsystem + Idles; Steve Lacy + James Blake | Rock N Roll Marathon | Night Moves | lovelytheband |

I haven't quite recovered from my trip and the physical and emotional exhaustion of the last several weeks, so I'm staying under the radar for a bit. There is a lot going on this weekend, including the Re:SET Series which I think will be the first time I'll be missing a show that Phoebe, Lucy, or Julian have played either together or alone, ever. So that's a bummer. But so it goes. 

Don't forget this weekend is also the Rock N Roll Marathon which usually doesn't mean much to someone with my sleeping habits except that our van was towed once and we were FURIOUS because the little "No Parking" signs get put up like a week before the event, but then so many are vandalized, removed, or kicked over, that you're really fucked if you park in the wrong place. That was a $300 lesson for us. 

I hope everyone has a nice weekend, sorry these are posting later than usual, I just haven't adjusted to sleep and what normal life looks like these days. 

6/3 Update: I sat in a parking lot to listen to BoyGenius, and while I don't recommend it because security was cool but I don't think they'd let it fly a second night, The Loft at UCSD posted a promo code of UNIVERSITY to get single day tickets for half price ($50 instead of $94.50) This is the link for SATURDAY tickets and this is for SUNDAY tickets. Not sure how long that will work or if tickets are still available, but it's worth a shot if you're interested. I'll be working at My LIfe With The Thrill Kill Cult at Music Box on Saturday and going to see Jacqueline Novak at the Casbah on Sunday, so my Re:SET adventure was one and done. 

Stay safe out there.