Rosey's Diary and Newsy Things: SDMA Winner List | Gloria Submits Revised Budget | Floods Ravage Brazil | New C-19 "FLiRT" Strain Symptoms |

Baby Langur (Taken 5.12.24)

I've been watching the Emily D Baker livestreams of the Karen Read Trial because as we inch closer to November, the news is just hard to watch. My little family has a ritual where every night we watch the monologues or features from the late night shows - Seth Meyers, Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon - and even those are hard to watch sometimes. The coverage of TFG is just too much and the comedians' impressions of him are just as bad as seeing his stupid face and hearing his actual voice. So I've been watching this trial, or listening to the stream while I work, or while I'm walking around the zoo, and I kind of regret it because the prosecution is so bad so the case has ceased to be interesting. All of this to say, I don't really have much to post this week. With Darren on the job hunt and having more time together, I feel stretched a little thin. We did have a great time at the Waxahatchee show on Tuesday, but after I came home to get my listings going and write a work newsletter, so today I felt pretty sluggish, though I still went to visit the apes and then D and I went to a River Days event to see the future site of The River Center at Grant Park. I still feel like I have a million things to do tonight but first things first, I'm posting this, then finishing listings. They'll be up in the morning. 

Stay safe out there. 

Newsy Things & Rosey's Diary: New COVID-19 Boosters Are Here | Point La Jolla To Be Closed Year Round | Waterfront Park Getting New Amenities | Student Loan Repayments Resume | Airbnb Has Ruined Everything |

Point La Jolla (Taken 7.16.23)

I guess I started this post a couple weeks ago and never posted, so I'll put this up before I get to my listings. I'm currently watching "Wilderness" on Prime and am super into it, so hopefully a good binge will help me get some work done. 

Things have been going pretty great these days. I've been working a lot which is good since the Zoo is back to closing at 6pm and I have the time. I'm not on any big fitness kick, but I have turned back on my Samsung Health step counter and have been doing really great if you don't count Tuesday, in which I spent the day recovering from Monday, when SDZWA had their annual Employee Appreciation Party. This year it was at Belmont Park and we had a great time, but after we got home I couldn't resist a little tequila and stayed up way too late. So I never made it to the Zoo on Tuesday, but I did sling merch for Cut Worms which was pretty chill for being a sold out show. 

Besides that, everyone seems to be doing good. Wednesday is my mom's birthday, her first without my dad, so we're going to have a big to-do to try and make it special and fun and steer away from the sadness. My birthday is coming up soon, too, and I'm looking forward to a trip to The Troubadour to see Lauren Mayberry, my gift to myself that I actually bought tickets for. 

Anyway, life is good, I'm gonna get back to this murder show and get some work done. I didn't choose to cover all the news of the past few weeks because, well, yawn, but new COVID boosters are out, so I'll hopefully be getting mine soon, and also the San Diego City Council voted to close Boomer Beach and Point La Jolla year round. I was not a fan when it was proposed because I had a little special cliff spot I loved to shoot photos from, but people are assholes and ruin everything for everyone else, so I completely understand why this is the necessary solution. 

Stay safe out there. 

COVID-19: 3 Years Later | $17 Humane Society Offers Adoptions | Biden Issues Gun Background Check EO | Bank Bailout | Another Atmospheric River Blasts California |

New Male Tiger Dumai at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 3.10.23)

It has been a mostly chill week for me and I'm loving this weather. I'm happy to report my dad is back home as of Sunday night, which I think most people in his circumstances would prefer, but it was also comforting to know he was under the care of medical professionals for a few nights and we were off the hook for driving to Chula Vista. Since he's been reclassified as hospice care, he will once again have more in-home assistance for my mom, and we'll go back to helping at night half the week. There's always an upside correlating with the downside and vice versa.  

Besides my usual zoo trips, on Thursday we went to Nova's Academic League competition and on Friday I went to Safari Park with Darren which was so nice. He recommended I take the Spanish tram and it was interesting to hear how some of the animals names and information translates...not exactly the conversational Spanish we learn in school and in my normal life I don't have much occasion for using Spanish so I would definitely do that again. On Saturday night we went to the EXTC show which was pretty fun to see Darren living in his 20-something dreams and it was nice to see so many old friends at the show. 

This week seems to already be spring break for a lot of people so the zoo has been packed which is why I kinda love when it rains...it definitely makes people change their plans, but when it is crowded, I can still duck away into an aviary or a quiet space when I need to. The next few weeks will probably be kinda crazy there, but I'll try and keep the habit - I feel healthier with it in my life than when I skip a day or two. 

This week is going to be a little busier with some work nights at the Casbah and Music Box but hopefully I can offset with the longer zoo and Seaworld hours and lots and lots of sleep. May you all find time for the things you love, too. If you're in the market for a new pet, all adoptions are $17 in honor of St. Patrick's Day for the whole weekend. 

Stay safe & healthy out there.  

CoViD-19: Pfizer Vax Approved For 5-11yo; Shots Can Start Wednesday | Nora Vargas & Chair Fletcher Clap Back At Racists | Covered California Opens Enrollment |

HHS Alumni Rock & Gio Play The Old Globe Dia De Muertos (11.3.21)

I had a rough day. I saw this tweet from someone earlier and it kinda made me feel better, even though it didn't get me through my work any faster and I still have mountains to get to. 

Hi today has been a peel myself off the floor to get anything done kinda day, but tonight I want to say hello to you and also may i remind you to treat yourself with the same kindness, understanding & care that you reserve for your friends. You deserve at least that. - @nataliemorales 

I just couldn't get anything done. I still can't get anything done. Just writing this tonight is excruciating when normally my fingers can't type fast enough for my thoughts. We went to the Old Globe earlier for their Dia de Muertos celebration which was cool, but I wish we'd gotten out at Sherman Heights instead of just doing a drive by. Old Town looked pretty cool, too. I didn't get through my email until very late which super sucks because I didn't know that I had been approved for tickets and a photo pass for Julien Baker until the show was long over. I maybe need a new method for my initial email screenings because it isn't quite working. I also didn't attend Louie's memorial at the Casbah. I guess I wasn't ready for a memorial to be my big foray back into club life. 

So tomorrow is a new day and hopefully I can do better. I'm even backdating this post by 2 hours so I can keep my head straight when I try to do the Wednesday data dump. I obviously didn't do listings, hopefully I can get those up before Wednesday night events start.

No pressure. 

Stay safe out there. 

CoViD-19: Official Global Deaths Surpass 5 Million | Biden at COP26 | 'Skimpflation' Is Real | Overwintering Monarchs Population Increase |

Mei Ling, the Golden Takin (Taken 10.4.21)

Someone posted a super mansplainy comment to me about a post I wrote in 2007. Can you imagine being someone who probably googled a band and somehow found my post from 2007 and you felt the need to put me down about it? What would you do with that much time on your hands? I can't decide if I should publish it and reply or just delete and move on. The internet is so tempting that way. I

 went to bed at 11pm last night, but then Darren got home from work, sprung all the animals to life, and I was wide awake by 3am. After doom-scrolling and reading for a couple hours, I realized sleep wouldn't come back so easy, so I just decided to get to work for a few hours before knocking out a couple more hours of sleep. It was a pretty chill day anyway, maybe everyone was recovering from Halloween. I still have a bunch of work but we visited my dad tonight so I'm gonna have to get to it tomorrow.  

Last week, I read the NPR article where the author coins the word "skimpflation", where goods are shrinking and service is deteriorating in addition to rising costs and I didn't want to give it too much power, but I realized that is another reason we've been eating at home so much. It's nice to get tacos from Pancho Villa or Roberto's or El Panson, and I don't actually mind their prices going up, but when we try to eat other places, prices feel doubled or tripled, service is meh because the poor workers have to deal with assholes all day, and by the time we get it home the thrill is kinda gone and we know we just blew a ton of money on something we not only could make, but make better at home. So naturally I'll be rearranging the freezers so we have room for a fall Costco stock-up. 

Oh, and unlike the article, I'm not mad about it, because I can work around it. And while pundits are blaming this administration, the reality is that this is a global problem with inequity and slave wages and exploitation by billionaires and corporations and climate destruction and demanding and entitled consumers like me all contributing to this situation. I know I was trivializing the situation by saying we should all just stop buying shit, but the reality is that the Rao's Italian Wedding Soup that I love so much comes in a jar with a lid and those have to come from somewhere. And the schools offering free lunches don't have the luxury of requiring kids to bring their own silverware so all that plastic single-use packaging has to come from somewhere. And you can't get a job without a functioning computer and wifi and all that equipment has to come from somewhere, too. The global supply chain isn't just a train that we can step off of. But we can be conscientious and do our best with the economy we have and the things offered to us as consumers. Ideally our TV and microwave and fridges will last several more years and we won't have to think about their replacement, but that's not the situation everyone is in so excuse me for being so smug about the whole thing.

I can't get into COP26 or the BBB and BIB stuff because it pisses me off too much, but in good news I was happy to see that early counts of western migratory monarch butterflies are looking good this year, and on top of that, that little bomb cyclone that hit California very positively impacted our reservoirs. A long way to go, but good news nonetheless. 

Stay safe out there.  

CoViD-19: Mandates Are Working | US Surpasses 45M Cases | Kids CoVID Carriers After All | Cleanup Hope For the Pacific Garbage Patch |

Kamaria (born August 22, 2021) spent some time at Kilima Point
at San Diego Zoo Safari Park (Taken 10.17.21)

It was such a nice weekend in San Diego. I feel relaxed, rejuvenated, and I think I need to skip the news a little more often because the sight of certain politicians just destroys my mood and it just isn't worth it to freak out about millionaires in office who I have literally no way to influence. 

I was up early on Saturday, made a nice breakfast, sat on the patio and read for awhile and watched a movie (She's In Portland) all before anyone else was up. Once the house creaked awake, my sister called and we met for lunch at Ponce's, and afterward sat in the Kensington Library park to listen to the band that was playing as part of the Adams Avenue A-live. It kinda felt like the old days when I lived in that hood because we ran into friends at Ponce's and then my old neighbor Gregory Page was in the park, too. In the afternoon we took Ficus on a short mini-hike and then the rest of the day was lazy around the house...more reading and TV and not a workday but just a quick look-see over my email, so I limited my internet time. If I'm being honest, all day I was looking forward to margaritas in the speakeasy with Darren, but a consequence of getting up at 6 is that I didn't even make it through the 11 o'clock news. I was out. 

I didn't want to squander my Sunday, so again, up early, watched some TV, read for awhile, and told the family I wanted to go to San Diego Zoo Safari Park between 2 and 3 so I could have a fair amount of time to explore their Autumn Fest and do the tram and chill with the rhinos up on the lookout. Apparently we weren't the only ones with this plan, so it was pretty crowded and there was a big wedding that had some areas close early and the tram was crazy busy but still, we had our quiet moments, Nova took a book and read in a secluded area when she didn't want to be dragged around the park, and I must've watched the rhinos, first Kasey and Mwezi then Kianga and Kamaria, for more than 2 hours. Then we did a little elephant time before the autumn lantern ceremony before the park closed at 7. 

Since I am feeling awake and alert, I'm gonna join my beau in the speakeasy for some cocktails and I'll be back this week with all the usual news and drama. In light of some planned walkouts by anti-vax teachers and parents tomorrow, I've included some studies and writing about kids and COVID that are worth digesting. What those walkout people don't realize is THAT'S WHAT WE WANT. I don't want my kid in a class with unvaxxed teachers or other students who are eligible and just not getting the shot. So how about you do a walkout and don't come back until you suck it up and get the shots or the pandemic is behind us? Say, 2025? 

Stay safe out there. 

CoViD-19: Waning Immunity Demands Boosters | J&J Requests Booster EUA | California Oil Leak Ignored For Hours | DOD Implements "Continuous Vetting" |

Downtown San Diego From Coronado Ferry Landing (Taken 10.6.21)

Yes, it's almost 2 in the morning and I'm barely finishing up my post for the day. My dad's situation hasn't changed and so while my mom has been spending time with him, we've been entertaining my uncle since my cousin had to return to LA for work. And it was my niece's birthday so we got together for some pizza. 

We kind of have a circuit of restaurants that everyone can agree on when we have visitors, though not really places we would frequent on our own. Tuesday was Village Pizzeria at the Coronado Ferry Landing. The food is good, but prices are kinda premium because of the location and view, or at least more than I'd spend on a good pie elsewhere. Still, if we're going to keep eating out, it was nice to once again sit outside on an patio that was mostly empty. 

Dinner was fun but talk got political which is a terrible idea. My uncle lives in Indiana so he's in a different world when it comes to politics, so my eyes were bulging out of my face at some of the nonsense he was spewing while talking to my brother in law. It was like listening to Peter Doocy right at my very own dinner table and just as ill-informed. He makes fun of me for masking when I interact with staff and was boasting that in Indiana there's "no mask requirement nonsense," blatantly oblivious to the irony that he's the only person in my entire extended family who has had COVID-19. Later he was trying to get us to go to a casino. Um, no thanks. Naturally when I got home I watched the unhinged nutjobs at the County Board of Supervisors meeting on YouTube. You know, I think I know some stuff about stuff, but I wish I was so sure of myself as some of the public speakers are so sure of the nonsense they spew. 

I didn't follow the news super close today but the oil leak off our coast was ignored for hours by the Coast Guard and the oil company itself, which made the impact far greater than it would've been otherwise and it's disgusting. The Catholic Church of France revealed 70 years of child sexual abuse and the numbers are staggering: estimated 330,000 victims by over 3000 priests. That is 110 victims per priest. I cannot even wrap my head around that number. One bright spot in the news was that the Dept of Defense announced implementation of what they're calling "continuous vetting" which basically surveils members of the military and contractors, especially with security clearances, for criminal or questionable activity. THIS is how you drain a swamp. COVID-19 is still here, it's still with us, and we're still over 70,000 cases a day, so maybe we can all rein in the victory dances. I'll be making my appointment for a booster and flu shot this week. 

Stay safe out there. 

CoVid-19: CDC Verifies Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccinations On Seniors | Biden "America Is On The Move Again" | SD City Council: With Dems Like These... | A Travel Warning |

This was my first of many pandemic banana breads. (Taken 4.27.20)

It should've been obvious that when the CDC, and subsequently the State and the County updated their mask guidelines, that everyone was going to get it wrong. By emphasizing the "crowd" and focusing on trying to define what exactly is a "small or medium" gathering is, they once again completely blew it. KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. If you're outdoors and may engage or be around non-household people, just wear the goddamn mask. And if you've got kids, set an example and wear a goddamn mask. If you're walking down your block at 10pm and nobody is on the street, you're definitely fine not to wear a mask (vaccinated or not, really). They really blew if for places like the San Diego Zoo or other private spaces that will continue to require masks even though you now think you're exempt because you're not necessarily ever in what anyone would call a "crowd" at a Zoo or Aquarium. 

I said I would watch and comment on Biden's speech, but it was pretty much as expected, especially if you watch the daily media briefings. Hopefully he can push through his major infrastructure, jobs, and families plans through reconciliation because Mitch is a fucking dick and his party will do everything they can to stall shit until midterms. 2022 elections are going to be a really big deal. Maybe some of those old farts will just cease to exist by then. I kinda started taking notes, but instead I'm just putting through the links because it gets a little too nerdy for anyone who doesn't really care or who doesn't think he can get anything done with all these roadblock assholes around. 

CoViD-19 US Surpasses 225,000 Known COVID-19 Deaths | California Fracking | Voter Guide

Mandrills (Taken 3.9.2020)

Today was a day where I went from pajamas I slept in, to showering, and putting back on new pajama lounger pants. It's so nice to experience feeling chilly and cozy after our aggressively hot summer. We're finally going through our ballots and stumbled upon this discussion about the School Board District A which is interesting but makes Sabrina Bazzo the far superior candidate in my book. 
Besides that, it was a low key day. We watched some baseball, watched some football. Last night I stayed up and binged The Queen's Gambit on Netflix which I thoroughly enjoyed, even though I'm not really a chess player at all. It's very watchable even if you know nothing about the game; it's more about an eccentric orphan's journey through excellence and addiction. 
The news cycle is going to be insane for the next couple weeks and there's a lot of big stuff happening, but you know where to find all of that and I'm just gonna keep it to the stuff I find relevant and doesn't mention those people by name as much as possible.