New Bot Day! ASP-704 was a 1997 digital insertion into”Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope.” He’s one of many additions many regard as unnecessary. Star Wars was rich with texture and realistically dirty already in 1977. I’m happy to have lived into an era where vivid Star Wars stories are being told again. Welcome ASP-704! You are superfluous but all Star Wars droids are dear to my heart.
I spy with my little eye: an ultralight! Add it to the list of surprising things seen while bodysurfing at Jetty.
“Garbage Beach” there is the name of the beach below.
Exquisite, bouncy bodysurfing session. And it’s Friday.
It was a real good morning.
Big swell 8am saw dolphins took some on the head. Excellent morning. #stoke
Morning session on this latest swell damn good.
“the waiting is the hardest part”
New Bot Day! Sparks is from 2010’s Toy Story 3 and voiced by Jan Rabson, who also appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson! Sparks was initially a goon for Lotso’ Huggin’ Bear but reformed in the end. He’s here with my last and current notebook. Have a great week!
Concert tonight! Outdoor! @rodrigoygabriela
Floating
1993. The attacks on WTC and Pentagon were terrible and traumatic. Decades of occupation and killing innocents was an incredible unjust waste. The US must change how it interacts with the world. And the word “terrorism” is crap. Through that lens any action can be justified. Be skeptical of that word.
The water this morning was clear and perfect. It was my first time to bodysurf at the Jetty in the early morning since the Stingray Incident on the early morning of July 19. I’ve been cautious and have tended to go to the beach in the late afternoon and evening sessions. And shuffling my feet more diligently. Getting stabbed in the foot definitely affected my responses—how I carry myself in the water. I have felt myself relearning the ocean. For many weeks nearly everything in the water set off a fight-or-flight response which I had to manage and learn to process anew. “That’s not a stingray, that’s a bunch of kelp. That’s not a stingray that’s a rock. That’s not a stingray, that’s some trash. And even, that’s not a stingray I’m looking at, that’s my own shadow.” The fear didn’t keep me from swimming, but it reminds me that as a kid I saw Jaws at age 6 and I remember imagining sharks in the water then. I had moments in the water where I worked up a fear based on imagined threats. It’s been an incredible opportunity to experience that again, and learn to manage those feelings and emotions in a way that’s proportionate to the threat. There are definitely critters and currents that demand respect and attention in the water, but like learning to walk in a city or drive in traffic, it can be learned. I consider this all in the category of “know thyself.”
My cousin @jonnysnow16 gets his #stoke with a snowboard on his feet, I get mine with fins. Same difference! He got me this keychain and I love it. Thanks Cuz!
7:04. Shut it down for the night.
This butterfly was face down in the water on the glassy tide. I scooped it up. Let it dry on my finger. It batted its wings and and was back in the drink. Scooped it again and held it in my cupped hands. I blew on it. We hung out. It made a break for the shore. It flew toward shore beyond my aging vision. I like to think critter made it safely somewhere good.
New Bot Day! Elektro is my first bot from the 1930s. “Elektro the Moto-Man” was 7 feet tall and could walk and talk, differentiate colors, and “smoke” cigarettes. He appeared at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. This is a giveaway pin from the fair, to my knowledge no actual toys were made of this bot. Westinghouse Electric & Manufacturing Company was by then a 50 year old industrial concern. They were there showing off several technologies, among them the new tech of television. Surprisingly, Elektro was not their first promotional robot: that was 1928’s “Herbert Televox.” “Robot as sales and public relations tool” is yet another use of the idea of “robot.” It seems to me we put a face and body on technologies to make them more palatable, more understandable, less threatening.
The swell has brought both shorebirds and surfers to the water.
I did not buy Marvelous Mike but I wanted to. Mike is another reason my robot rules exist. This is the budget rule. Oceanside, yesterday.
The two shells I brought from Orange County yesterday.
They’re not shooting the pier this morning but it’s prettier than any music lyric anyway. Huntington Beach.
Playing at @ink_and_drink_lb tonight. Feels good but I’m out of practice.
Guards
lunchwaves
New Bot Day! Vegan Bot is a beautiful product of @chompton_ stoodios and I’m pleased as punch to have this artful robotic vinyl creation join my collection!
Even the birds are chilly tonight.
Home beach. Water getting colder each day, feels like.
I met this critter in my parking garage! Golden lizard! Salamander? Gecko? Dinosaur? No idea but beautiful.
Saturday
Sunset sand castle spied while walking.
My shoulder hurts so no bodysurfing today. Make due with this sunrise from this morning looking east from the Jetty parking lot before my walk. Gonna get myself some naproxen now.
Walking back to shore tonight I saw a stingray in the shallow water scurrying away from me. My shuffling habits are more diligent. Safety first.
Sun sets earlier every day now.
Weekend session with @hellokellykuhl
bird foot overcast
Looking toward PB Point
I make Mom’s salsa. The pickled onions are mine.
Flat tar cakes like this can form from oil that’s spilled and congeals over time on the ocean. Here some small mollusks made it their home. I’m going to keep voting against people who think more drilling is a good idea.
Del Mar today
My favorite of the Italian surrealist comedies.
New Bot Day! Perserverence is a semiautonomous robotic rover! Launched by NASA July 2020; landed February 2021. “Percy” is a scientific explorer, testing the environment of Mars, seeking evidence of former microbial life, collecting rock and soil samples, and testing oxygen production to prep for potential future crewed missions. Go Percy Go!
Beach visit 2 of 2. OB.
Morning haul; minus the vape pens, cigarette butts, food packaging, congealed tar and miscellaneous plastic. Oh and the car keys. A great morning but we have to do more to protect the ocean: support @surfrider @surfridersandiego!
Evening session at two spots. Exhausting currents at high tide. Part of ocean swimming is pushing your limits and recognizing your limits. I’ll sleep well tonight.
A lot of squawking overhead while I was in the water today, dozen or so birds chasing an avian colleague with what I think was a grilled cheese clutched in its beak. Pandemonium!
California: vote “NO” on the recall.
Picture perfection
New Bot Day! Hello Bertie is a customized “World War Robot” bot designed by illustrator/creator Ashley Wood. It’s beautifully customized by Jason Chalker @manlyart ! This was a lovely surprise gift from @hellokellykuhl!
Gwen @gwenthegoblin is highly expressive.
I spy with my little eye: no leopard sharks today.
Supervision is here.
a fine morning to ham it up
Little wind; few, but great waves.
I can feel summer starting to end and it’s not my favorite thing. Summer is the best.
Playing with filters in the hot tub while taking it easy
New Bot Day! ASIMO (Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility) is a real robot built by Honda in 2000. Honda continued building ASIMO bots (the name inspired by Isaac Asimov) until 2018. My robot collection is fanciful, but robotics is real. Factual and fictional robots inspire me to ponder our past and our possible futures.
“Eyes on the Prize” is on HBO MAX. I got confused about why John Lewis in the mid 1980s was credited as “Seminary Student”—but it’s meant to describe him when he was working toward integrating lunch counters in 1960. His political career was in motion at the time of the making of the excellent documentary series.
Good afternoon.
Post sunscreen reapplication, earlier
Silver Strand Aunts & Uncles Gathering Summer 2021
Dinner and electronic music with my pal from the days of my listserv WebSanDiego 20 years ago. Still paying me dividends years after it was obsoleted by our glorious modern age. I am so lucky! (Not pictured: his pop)!
At Whistle Stop for Open Oscillator and seeing my pal Charles who I haven’t seen in 20 years. #openoscillator
Squinty lunch beach visit
Morning constitutional for a waterman. Was advised by my counselor to watch “My Octopus Friend”—I think I shall.
SOUTH MISSION JETTY 19 JULY 2021 0740 OW! #journal #stingray
OB lifeguard told me temp hovering at 59 / 60F.
Two rules of the exquisite expressive art of bodysurfing: Kick like hell; come out of the water smiling. #bodysurfing #stoke
New Bot Day! Are droids free? D-O’s story in 2019’s Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker forces us to ponder. D-O escapes service with a murderous Sith and joins the Rebel Alliance and is happy! It’s a better lot in life, but is the little robot free? What is freedom? Interrogating the ethics of a story is worthwhile.
This frogger with a swim hat some swimmer put on top of the Cove quarter mile buoy is still in my thoughts.
I got to see @paulgiret present his documentary on circuit bending at @verbatim.books tonight and it was inspiring—science/art/engineering/electronic music wondrousness! Thanks Paul for sharing your work!
try try again
Bonus of Wednesday’s sunset at Scripps
Old timer
end the day at a different spot sometimes it’s fun
Can I take a meaningful photo of myself while bodysurfing a wave? All signs point to no.
Fine sunset despite the overcast day
New Bot Day! Chromedome was built by Shredder to defeat the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From 1987 tv, he’s a powerful robot ninja and a boss to human ninjas. He was pulverized by the Turtles but his remains were not recovered. Will he return? I don’t know, but I’m gonna enjoy this cafe au lait in the meantime.
Finished my antibiotic prescriptions for my stingray encounter Monday. Maybe overkill, but better safe than sorry. It’s striking how absolutely nonsensical that not everyone has free and easy health care in the USA.
HTwoOh
The message on Chalcedony: “you are so loved!”
New Bot Day! Happy Mini Tin Robot by Schylling was presented to me last week by my nephews and he fits in great with my bot collection. Here he’s hanging out with toy animal molds I scavenged from the sand at the beach!
“While the internet might tell you that the refractive index of water is 1.33, it is actually a function of the wavelength of the light, as well as the salinity, temperature, and pressure of the water.” Also I look psychedelic underwater.
My return to the Jetty today was punctuated by the appearance of two dolphins cruising by. Once again I have no photographic proof. Getting my sea legs back after Monday’s stingray barb.
Sea creatures.
“No boats, no kayaks“/La Jolla
“Welcome to Urgent Care!” Stingray adventure update: no fever, no elevated blood pressure. Still hurts a lot.
Morning bodysurfing session at South Mission Jetty interrupted by the need for my brand new Stingray Emergency Response Kit. Inadequate foot shuffling. Calling my doctor, I think I need to go in. Got some of the lil’ ray’s barb out but I’m no surgeon. HURTS! My first time. And how’s your Monday going?
Back to the Mighty Pacific
6 years on nephew’s chronometer. More on mine.
Return trip. Thank you, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware. And to whatever higher power that bestowed a loving family on me.
The adult traveler can judge how many days are left on their vacation by how many of their pills are left to take.
Sumi is happy to have people home, even me, a visitor.
Indian River Inlet Bridge/southbound
Trying for some Atlantic stoke/Delaware.
An east coast sunrise. Sunset in San Diego will be in 16 hours.
Sisterfrolick
