Comic-Con is upon us, so I wanted to update the listings but I got a little behind, so for now, here's what we've got. I've also updated the Comic-Con Tab on this site (use the little triangle pull-down on mobile). I am doing my best to just go with the flow for the next 5 days, which I guess is kinda how I always roll anyway. I hope everyone has a fun and safe Con. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Rocket and new baby, born 7.8.2025 |
I'm trying to "clean slate" my inboxes and posts because with Pride this week and Comic-Con next week, my email volume has already tripled. So while I know there's so much news coming at us all the time, I'm just not gonna cover every stupid thing done by this administration. I just can't. It's a lot. And we're all just trying to get by and balance all the terrible things happening. The cruelty is the point and it's just mind-blowing. So let's just move forward.
San Diego is especially beautiful this time of year, even with the occasional heat waves, so let's just enjoy our City and put one foot in front of the other and try to keep finding our personal joy.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Ransisku (Taken 6.24.25) |
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| Me and My Beluga Buddy (6.11.25) |
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| Sunday is World Oceans Day. This is Allua at Seaworld. (Taken 11.19.24) |
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| Casbah Matinee (Taken 3.30.25) |
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| Me & The New Guy, Labu (Taken 5.28.25) |
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| My new niece (L) and nephew (R) were born on Sunday!! |
The kid's procedure went great last week and on Wednesday we had the first post-op check-in and everything was looking good. He's back in school now to close out his senior year. Over the weekend we went to Universal Studios with his symphonic band, and though he couldn't play in their competition or ride any rides at the theme park, it was amazing to share the wins on First Place with a superior rating among the instrumental bands, as well as best overall across all high school categories, which also included chorale and vocal-type groups. Before Universal, I was gifted a ticket to the Ryan Adams show on Friday, which I attended with an open mind and open heart in trying to believe he's a better person. He's likely not and the show had me emotionally all over the place, but that music just penetrates my soul.
On Sunday, my God-sister gave birth to her twins, so I spent most of Monday visiting them in the hospital and I believe they'll be going home today, so I'm gonna give them some space so they can get all situated and recover from the whole process, the C-section, and the flurry of non-stop visitors they had all day, in addition to the nurses and doctors swirling in to check on the new mama as well as each baby, with vaccinations, check ups, feedings, changings, hearing tests, and all the things they had to do before clearing the girl out of NICU to be with her brother, mom and dad on Monday night.
I had fully intended to go to City Council and say my piece about paid parking in Balboa Park, but instead I was at Hoover High School, where seniors were being awarded numerous scholarships, including Toby, who along with his full-ride Chancellor's scholarship at UCSD, got a Lee Mongrue Memoria Scholarship, a Cardinals Interact scholarship, an Advanced Placement medal, a Hoover Alumni Scholarshio, and a Hoover Foundation scholarship, in addition to the PFLAG scholarship and the Tracie Jada O'Brien Student Scholarship he received. We're pretty stoked about all of it.
And I still have quite a rant about San Diego's proposed paid parking changes, but it's Memorial Day week and I'm about to head out on an adventure. I guess this is exactly why the shitfucks in Congress are trying to pass their Budget Reconciliation at 1am...because everyone is too busy trying to survive and focus on their actual lives to fight. I'll get around to it another time. For now, peace out.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Inaugural Wonderfront 2019 |
I'm going to keep this week's diary and newsy stuff post short this week because today's the big day for the kid. Our check-in is at 5:30 in the morning, so I'm just staying up all night and gonna try to get listings done as early as possible; then maybe I can actually get some zoo time this week as Darren and I kinda do our recovery care in shifts. I don't really know what to expect though, so we'll just play it by ear and hope for the very best and the fastest recovery possible.
If you're out in the world and paying attention, tariffs that were postponed by a month might kick in this week, so no joke, stock up on your toilet paper, because they're running out of the Kirkland stuff at Costco (check the app if you don't believe me) because it's Canadian supplied. Even if they don't kick in, the psycho in chief is definitely pissed at Canada and will burn all relations to the ground because he is a small, bitter, spiteful piece of shit. Shop for your imported goods accordingly.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Labu is feeling more than comfortable in his new San Diego home. (taken 4.30.25) |
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| Marcella The Sun Bear at San Diego Zoo (4.17.25) |
This post will just go on forever if I don't wrap it up and start a new one, and there was certainly a lot of news this past week. I won't bother with a recap, because it's Easter Sunday and I had a nice day and I'm just trying to get it off my brain so I can get a more peaceful sleep, but shit is bonkers and I just can't with it all. So, head in the sand, and hopefully I'll be spending my Monday stalking a new red-headed boy called Pumpkin.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. (Also, no Handmaid spoilers. I haven't started the new season yet.)
I was really looking forward to seeing Stereophonics again for the first time in over a decade, but unfortunately the show was postponed to September 27 due to illness of one of the band members. It all worked out because I had some personal stuff I needed to handle and it was the anniversary of losing my Dad, though Blonde Redhead or Hinds both would've been pretty fun shows. There are plenty of rad shows coming this week to fill the gap of losing that one.
I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys the turn in weather and that the allergies don't kick your ass too bad. Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Hamadryas Baboon Lisa Marie and her day-old baby (Taken 4.4.25) |
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| Bob Mould at Music Box (4.1.25) |
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| Sea Lions at La Jolla Cove/Point La Jolla (March 30, 2025) |
One of the many things happening right now is that the administration of TFG and fElon is moving so fast, that nobody can even react to one thing before another thing and another and another happens, but let's be clear: their path of destruction knows no end, greed and power is what drives them, and the cruelty is the point. Whenever I read articles talking about what the consequences of an action could be, they're like "important science won't happen" or "people will lose jobs" or "{discriminated/underserved/poor} will lose XYZ access and benefit." And all of that is EXACTLY THE POINT. You are a number. You don't matter. Your life is an inconvenience to the Uber wealthy after the extent that they can work you to your literal death and steal any prosperity you earned or to which you are entitled. FUCK ALL OF THEM. Tuesday was the first day I've felt political joy in years, as Wisconsin turned out and turned up. And it will be incredible to see and share all of the rallies happening on Saturday. If for ANY reason you're not able to actively attend a rally, you can amplify and share and spread the word of all the great and peaceful actions you witness. Every drop matters.
Besides all of that, I've been super busy. Toby had a school jazz performance on Thursday, perhaps his last of his senior year, I did Sawyer Hill on Friday, CG5 on Saturday, and the Swing Kids/Angonista show on Sunday. Then it was Trans Day of Visibility on Monday, I did Bob Mould & Craig Finn on Tuesday, and two hours of family therapy on Wednesday, getting us all ready for some very big things in Toby's affirmation journey. Thursday I'll be at the Smithereens show and then no set in stone plans besides trying to get my ass to the rally on Saturday and shooting Stereophonics next Wednesday. Exciting and scary and anxiety inducing and gotta-find-the-joy times we are living in.
Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. Stay safe out there. Look out for each other, because the government has officially quit on all of us.
I don't know why my internet was soooo S-L-O-W while I was trying to do these listings, but I'm glad to have restarted and now I can type as fast as I want and it seems to be catching up. This week is kind of a funny one; it's spring break for some (San Diego Unified has next week off and goes back on April 7th), but for those of us not in school, Monday is a California holiday but not a federal one, so some people get it off and most people don't. This week will be busy; I'll be at Toby's jazz concert at Hoover on Thursday, doing the Quartyard show with Sawyer Hill on Friday, and at CG5 on Saturday. I've been asked to help out at Casbah on Sunday for the Swing Kids show, then I'll be working for Bob Mould (again) on Tuesday and The Smithereens on Thursday. I'm exhausted just thinking about it all.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| Sloth Bear Brother and Sister Cubs (Taken by S24 3.26.25) |
If you're coming here for lighthearted reading, skip this post.
After the November election, I knew things would be dreadful, but doesn't every day feel like another year? The news is seriously so depressing that sometimes I just have to hit publish without even getting close to hitting the points. Like I don't really need to talk about or link to stories about Whiskey-Pete and the war by Signal, right? But things also feel pretty fucked up locally; for a time it felt like progressives were taking the reins and San Diego and California at large were safe, but with our housing turned into slot machines for greedy investors and Gavin trying to reach across the aisle with his shitty ass podcasts, it's hard to feel like anyone is looking out for any of us anymore. It's so hard to try and live "normal" when nothing feels normal. The pandemic was easy. This shit is something else entirely.
It's spring break for many, so the zoo has been super crowded on most days, but then everyone leaves by like 4pm and it's mostly empty. I try to get my daily trips, but now even those feel a little bananas since there is so.much.drama with the news that the SDZWA CEO resigned...the day of this big employee-wide pep rally, which was canceled the day of...and three days before the union employees within SDZWA get their votes counted on whether to accept the pathetic negotiated offer or to strike.
And I'm really trying to find joy. But we're still not really okay after losing Ficus, and this time of year for me personally is just full of sad anniversaries; my sister-in-law died from breast cancer two years ago this past Tuesday, and my dad died nine days later, just after my parents' 53rd wedding anniversary. We're preparing for some big life stuff, and Toby has been accepted to some choice schools, but everything just feels so insecure and unsure. So, one foot in front of the other, I guess, I'll keep bingeing shows and court cases to avoid the news as best I can, but pay attention when it counts, and just try to have some faith that this pendulum will swing back before life as we know it is changed irreparably.
This week has been non-stop and I'm so exhausted and I crawled into bed late Wednesday night, or Thursday morning, depending on how you measure a day, and then popped right out, realizing I didn't finish these listings. So here I am, finishing the listings. I'm too drained to say much else. I want to look on the bright side, but shit coming out of TFG every day is really, really fucked up on the daily so brace yourself and find your joy. As for me, I've got family in town, and I'll be slinging merch at Music Box on Friday and Saturday. There are some super great shows this week, so try and get out to see some, and I'll do my best to take my own advice.
Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
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| The Klipspringer duo didn't seem to mind my presence in the rain (3.15.25) |
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| Systems Officer (Taken Oct 2016) |
Whenever I can find time, I try to organize old photos and hard drives. Obviously that was pretty critical around the time my dad died, trying to put together family albums. And recently, looking through pics of Ficus in better times was really important and meaningful, too. But I also use a lot of data, so I'm always putting stuff into folders, then trying not to let my phone get too full, so I have to empty it to my laptop and then the laptop gets full so the external drives have to come back out. Never ending cycle.
Sometimes this can be super hard, super emotional, super time consuming. But sometimes it's fun, like finding this 2016 pic of Systems Officer. The file name even tells me which camera I had back then.
All that to say, I'm starting to feel better. I miss my dog everyday, often many times a day where I expect her to be in a particular place in the house, to hear her come up the stairs, to creak the floorboards as she would move room to room. But I've been getting my zoo time, my kitties have been super lovey and cute, and I've got a lot of work that keeps my mind occupied. This week, I'll be working at Music Box on Thursday and possibly Casbah on Sunday. There are a lot of super duper shows and maybe this dreamy weather will even warrant a trip to the mountains or something of the sort.
Whatever you plan, remember self-care is super important with this whole country going bananas. Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.
