Rosey's Diary and Newsy Things: KITOKO IS HERE!! | LN Downtown: Nuisance or Good Neighbor | El Niño Coming In Hot (literally) | Council Wants Waymo Control | Push To Protect Sea Lions Gains Steam | Kitok

Kitoko at San Diego Zoo (Taken 9.13.26)

Okay, it's been a minute since a diary post. I'm still in the process of posting my travel posts to Instagram, and then there's a whole bunch of madness happening in San Diego, like certain music venues just being allowed to flout noise ordinances and rules about the number of outdoor events per year, and then a whole new slew of people getting on board with better protections for the sea lions at La Jolla Cove and Boomer Beach, and then the City with a too-little-too-late attempt to rein in autonomous vehicles, and then SDZWA went and brought a new silverback to the Safari Park and a 6-year-old to the the Zoo and HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO STAY FOCUSED?!? Not to mention I did Yoga with Belugas at Seaworld on Sunday but still haven't seen Oliver in a few weeks and have no idea if/when the three new belugas will be introduced to the pod. And it's my mom's birthday this weekend, Adams Avenue Street Fair is also this weekend, I'm working my ass off to make back all the money I spent on my California roadtrip, and I'm gonna turn 50 with no actual plan to celebrate except to hit the San Diego Yarn Crawl at Hazpaca. So yeah. I have a lot in my brain at the moment, trying to get it all under control. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.   

Rosey's Diary & Newsy Things: Rescued Belugas Brought To Seaworld SD | SD Zoo To Welcome New Gorilla | SD Music Hall of Fame Inductees Announced | Beach Baño Brings Council Bickering |

View of Golden Gate Bridge from Land's End/USS San Francisco Memorial

I'm still on my roadtrip and have parked myself in Hercules, CA for a few days to take care of some things with Darren's nephew. While I've been here, we hit Oakland Zoo, San Francisco Zoo, Land's End, and our last stop was Pier 39 at Fisherman's Wharf to see the sea lions to see if Chonkers was still around. I was also able to do laundry, get caught up on a lot of work, and catch up on sleep, too. I hear the weather in San Diego has been miserable, so I keep pushing back my return home, but I promise I'm not staying gone forever. I'd still like to see elephant seals at one of the lookout spots up here, and I was considering going to the Sacramento and Fresno Zoos on my way out, but I'll skip those if the weather is still gonna be gnarly all weekend. It's been pretty mellow here, especially close to the bay or beaches, but I also don't wanna drive the van in the middle of the day with extreme heat. 

Anyhow, it's been fun and I wanted to get started on this week's listings while I have strong wi-fi, so I'm gonna post this diary a little earlier than I usually do just to get it off my plate. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Rosey's Diary & Newsy Bits: Port Designates Kumeyaay Beach | Stop Jumping Sunset Cliffs | County Hot Spots Close For Safety | Billionaires Try To Bogart Kit Carson Park | TopGolf Wants Waterfront |

Otter at Moss Landing (10.3.25)

I know it's been a minute since I've done a diary post, but I was trying to maximize the end of my late nights at San Diego Zoo and Seaworld. Darren's job changed hours, so he's up even earlier---now waking up at 4am which is when I'm usually going to sleep, so we try to make time, but sometimes we are two ships in the night. We did a nice little weekend escape to Bates Nut Farm and the Oceanside Harbor, but at least now I'll be home when he's still awake. I think the last time I wrote, I was contemplating a little road trip, and I think it's gonna happen if the wildfires can stay under control in Northern California. With that, I'll be attempting to knock out two weeks of listings before I go. We'll see how I do. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, June 18-Wednesday, June 24, 2026: Neil Hamburger | Metric | Emo Nite | Deceits + Past Self | The Lemon Twigs | Bob Dylan | Heavenly |

Amahle & Guadalupe Pool Party Playing (Taken 6.18.26)

Darren was sick all weekend, so I took the opportunity while I was already going to Murietta to see the twinsie babies in their new home, that I would make it a whole thing. I was gonna camp, but didn't really like the camp facilities, and at that very time, my friends messaged that they were going to LA Zoo on Monday. I reached out to my cousin who gave me her house to crash and so it was. Only thing is I have felt behind all week because of it. So I'm happy to say it's only 2am and I'm done with listings, which means staying up til 6am yesterday was worth it and I don't have to do it again.
I'm hearing from many people that San Diego Zoo will be phasing out Nighttime Zoo, and in 2027 and beyond will only stay open until 7pm (instead of 8pm as it is this year, or 9pm as it had been in the past). Let me tell you that this will be a super bummer because the animals really come alive in that 4-8pm window. Similarly, I heard there was some sort of Grand Jury audit of LA Zoo and they want to shift from being the last City-run zoo in the country to a "public-private partnership". FUCK. I HATE "public-private partnerships". Somehow the Private entity always ends up being the winner and the Public part gets fucked. 

Anyhow, that's neither here nor there for now. What is up is that Friday is Juneteenth, and while I completely expect TFG to do something completely stupid, complain about too many Federal holidays, or some other racist nonsense, I intend to enjoy the shit out of a three day weekend. There's even a Juneteenth Birders walk that seems quite appealing. Whatever the case, there's a shit ton to do this week in San Diego. I saw some Friday event on IG but forgot to save it, so if anyone knows what I'm talking about, feel free to send it over. 

Stay safe out there (the respiratory illnesses are knocking people out right now, and summer World Cup travel is only going to exacerbate the problems.) Nolite te bastardes carborundorum. 

Things To Do In San Diego: Thursday, February 12-Wednesday, February 18, 2026: Blackwater Holylight | ALO | Los Yesterdays | The Loons | Squirrel Nut Zippers | DENM | Heartbreaker's Ball | Valentine's Day | Mardi Gras | Cat Power |

Another edition of Rosey gets a wild hair. I spent the rainy morning of Wednesday driving to LA to spend the day at the zoo, and now find myself writing this from The Moroccan Lounge to see Dan Mangan and Israel Nebeker again. Their show on Sunday at Soda Bar was incredible and I knew there was a good chance I could just grab a ticket at the door. I don't exactly have a plan after... drive home, grab a hotel, sleep in the van and maybe return to the Zoo on Thursday... all up in the air. 

It was a good week... Darren and I made a rare appearance out for Shame at the Casbah (thanks to sddi reader Bill for the drinks!) I got to spend plenty of time between Seaworld and San Diego Zoo... in fact we watched the Bad Bunny Bowl at High Tide Brewery at Seaworld among an international representation of  Bad Bunny fans, which was pretty incredible. Then like I said, I went to Soda Bar to round out the weekend.  Not gonna lie, my body wanted to quit on me until I refreshed with more sleep in a day than I usually clock in a whole week. And so here we are. I hope everyone has a really great week... lots of fun shows to catch along with Mardi Gras and Lunar New Year events. 

Stay safe out there. Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.

I'll reformat in the morning. (As I reformat, I'll tell you I opted for sleeping in my van and then hitting Griffith Observatory as soon as the road and bathrooms opened at 5am in the morning. Super cool. I can't believe I've never been up here before. But now I'm gonna get a little more sleep before the sun makes that impossible in my van. It's kind of insane how fast people drive on the road to get up here!)

Rosey's Diary & Newsy Things: Merry Christmas. The headlines are mostly depressing, so maybe save them for another day.

Me & Darren Took A Hike at Silverwood Bird Preserve

Judging by the dates on this post, I've been holding onto it all month, so what better time than Christmas to post, while everyone in the house is asleep and I binge watch a new series on Peacock. I really wish that I could've gone to Exile on Kettner tonight, but even with the offer of a safe and sober ride, I've been feeling like crap since Thanksgiving, so while I'm out doing hikes and the Zoo and Seaworld and shopping and living life by day, when I've opted for cocktails or a night out, it just feels like the cold/bronchitis/pneumonia whatever I have relapses all over again and I'm sick of feeling like shit. i don't know how my sinuses can be all clear all day long and the second I get home just completely stuff up and my lungs get back to wheezy. So I feel like I made the responsible and wise decision to stay home even though I know I would've had a blast and seen so many friends. 

But it is Christmas and part of the feeling-like-shit-since-Thanksgiving means this holiday season just blew past me. While I do get all in the spirit when I'm at the Zoo or Seaworld or cruising neighborhood decorations, this year we skipped all the things. We didn't get a tree. I didn't even put out my tinsel and snowmen. I didn't do any Christmas shopping. My mom and my sister are getting small gifts from me, but only because they happened to be a product that I loved from Costco and thought I'd pick up for them because they were on sale. Darren, Toby, my nieces, my Godsister's incubating twins -- gifts just aren't my love language. But I do look forward to Christmas. I'm not sure if we're doing Christmas pajamas or Ugly Sweaters, but spending time with everyone while we pig out on snacks and charcuterie and desserts and skip the traditional dinner seems like a pretty perfect day to me. 

Merry Christmas to those who celebrate. And happy all the other holidays that are celebrated this time of year, too.  
Stay safe out there. 

COVID-19: CDC You're On Your Own! Good Luck! | Killer Whale Nakai Dies Of Infection At Sea World | TFG Proves Once Again To Be A Fucking Loose Canon Criminal Of The Highest Order |

 

Orca at Sea World (Taken 2.20.22)

Everytime I think I'm going to post, I get caught up with something else or some new big news drops and I just never get around to it. Over the past couple weeks, the CDC has loosened COVID-19 guidance so pretty much everyone interpreted it to mean that COVID is over and you can just resume life, when in reality, you still need to isolate if you're sick or testing positive. The end. This shouldn't be this hard. We also learned of TFG's house/resort being searched by the FBI and goddamn if he isn't the most corrupt fucking human on the planet and it is so embarrassing that I have family who are MAGA nutjobs. Whatever happens, charges need to be brought on this fucking crook so that he is never allowed to run for office in this country again. 

But what I wanted to talk about was Sea World. They lost another orca, 20 year old Nakai, apparently due to an infection. I am going to defend Sea World here. I'm not an animal expert, but some mom posted video after the death showing a couple orcas "fighting". Sea World veterinarians said this behavior is normal and called raking. If we're going to argue about the value or harm of animals in captivity altogether, then what are you even doing here? But if we can look at this is how it is and all we can do is do better for the animals, you'll notice almost all animals exhibit this behavior-- gorilla brothers Frank and Monroe wrestle and "fight" all the time and one of them recently had an enormous gash on the shoulder, from the other's teeth while roughhousing. Just yesterday, the elephant brothers were tusk in tusk and trunk to trunk "fighting" for dominance while they waited for dinner. My sibling cats wrestle all the time over balls, beds, and just to terrorize the entire household while everyone is asleep. In a perfect world, animals would live abundantly in their natural habitats, but this isn't that world. Northern White Rhinos are functionally extinct. Far too many animals in captivity have counterparts in the single or triple digits in the wild - leopards and Somali wild ass immediately come to mind -- and I support accredited wildlife facilities that are part of the AZA (Association of Zoos & Aquariums) whose goals are "promoting species conservation and animal welfare" as well as educate the public and learn from the animals in their care to help their counterparts in the wild. 

I was heartbroken when I heard another young orca died in Sea World's care, but even in captivity, animal care specialists can't 100% control conditions and outright prevent animal incidents, nor should we expect them to do so. 

Stay safe out there.