Brain sun-fried. Cohesiveness - non-existent. Must. stop. talking. like. Captain. Kirk.

Although most of the Bay Area is under a fire-watch, this is not the case in San Francisco.

A balmy 85 degrees.

I paddled my tootsies again in the crispy cold of the Pacific surf.

I saw a bunch of stones, put two and two together (volcanic area, stones and minerals coming together under pressure) and started picking up stones that are of the translucent, semi-precious variety.

I showed them to strangers like I was some five year old, bouncing away happy when they exclaimed "oooh, pretty!".

Within a half-hour, grown folk were also searching for these stones. Heh. Me, trend-setter.

I went up into the dunes, laid out a towel, fell asleep to the sound of the pounding surf, cool breez and warm sun.

I woke up hungry, got me a coupla Jack-in-the-box sourdough burgers and a Fat Tire Red Ale.

A big one.

Sun-burned, loopy, full.. Im headed to bed after a great day.

Yes, Happiness Is.

When they do the movie, I want Denzel to play me. Ok, fine - Forrest Whittaker.

Last year, my friend Poo (who is a spiritualist), told me, hey, my ID saga wasnt *quite* over. There was more to the shit sandwich ahead.

Fine, I thought, it's not so bad - I have a temporary government ID at least, and im gonna go get a state ID. It'll soon be over, no big whoop.

Little did I understand how much NOT over it was. It's now over a year later since Poo told me this, and TWO YEARS since all this crap started when the pickpocket snatched my wallet out of my backpack.

My official government card arrived a YEAR after I applied to have it replaced (which was preceeded my MORE drama and delays). And my Cali card, according to the authorities shouldve been sent.

So, since everything in this state requires a california ID, I decided to stop waiting on them..

JPennant: I gotta go to the DMV, get the last missing piece of my ID saga
JPennant: SHIT, I forgot my receipt for my last one.
McClint: i thought you finished that
JPennant: my gummint card only arrived in June, which is how I was able to spring from Berkeley to SF
McClint: Drivers license, Government Card, SS card
JPennant: SS card, Ive had
McClint: you couldnt leave berk without it?
McClint: it's not an american express card ;-)
JPennant: its ID. the only official one I have right now.
JPennant: the temporary one wasnt official enough
JPennant: and my Cali ID never showed
McClint: daaaamn
JPennant: yup
McClint: maybe you should take up living in the airport like that guy in Paris
McClint: :-)
JPennant: hahah
JPennant: nah, Im good ;-)
McClint: they might make a sequel to the Tom Hanks movie "The Terminal" and they could make it about you!
McClint: The Itinerant
JPennant: *kekeke*

(At the same time..)

JPennant: I want Denzel to play me. :D
McClint: And of course Denzel would play you
McClint: HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA
JPennant: lmao
McClint: that must be the standard black guy dream... to have Denzel play him in a movie
JPennant: damned skippy :-)
McClint: and ever black woman's dream... to DO Denzel
JPennant: natchurally
McClint: hmm actually I'd like to see Samuel L. Jackson play you in a movie like that
McClint: "I want to leave this mutherfuckin airport but you stupid mutherfuckers wont let me!"
JPennant: *squint* Sam? nah
McClint: "And while you're at it give me my goddamn ID card"
JPennant: I dont curse that much, do I? :-)
McClint: hehehehe
McClint: yeah but it would make for good entertainment
JPennant: true
JPennant: of course in the retelling, I'll have a gun in my hand for some reason
JPennant: and a crowd at the end will be cheering me after the climactic scene
McClint: OH! I know...
McClint: a lazy Air Marshal left it in the airport restroom and you found it
JPennant: Am I saving hostages, or maybe my Love interest, who has been kidnapped by a crazed luggage screener?
JPennant: I will have, of course, read about this very thing happening in my morning horoscope
McClint: but of course it will have to be very vague so it can be interpreted in any one of 1000 ways ;-)
JPennant: but then i will remember it just in time to *know* what to do when I see the gun
JPennant: and then Denzel will pause in the middle of the bullets and explosions (of which there will be many - its in the contract) to have an impassioned speech somewheres
McClint: heheehe

And in the continuing ID saga, i found out why I never got the iD.

Somebody at the DMV was clueless and messed up. Natch.

According to them, they didnt know how to classify my temporary government ID, so they put in the wrong code in the system.. changing my legal status. Which made me unqualified to HAVE an ID.

Of course.

*sigh* Is it over yet, Poo?
----
Oh yeah, I still have to get my passport.

*gurgh*

But .. you wouldnt know nuttin' bout that

This morning i started humming a Johnny Mathis and Denise williams joint (I think it was 'Too Much, Too Little, Too Late'), which made me realize that there was some of my coming of age years (70's and 80's) music i was missing out on.

My god, most of them are nearly 30 years old.

So, I started humming a medley, of which Im currently listening to:

Rapper's Delight - Sugarhill Gang
(the extended version, natch)

'I said a hip hop, a hip a hoppity..'

Thats about where the term 'Hip Hop' first got popular

JPennant: lets see if we have a REAL age difference...
JPennant: do you know who the Sugarhill Gang is?
McClint: yeah. they are considered the first "rappers"
McClint: rappers delight
JPennant: good
McClint: why?
JPennant: now, do you remember their *first* big hit which WASNT Rapper's Delight?
McClint: not off the top of my head
JPennant: Apache (Jump on it!)
JPennant: that was deifnitely a 70's song
McClint: i dunno. i'd have to hear it
JPennant: lets see
JPennant: back in the disco era, was a dance, bigger than 'YMCA' :-D
McClint received C:\My Music\Sugar Hill Gang - Apache (Jump On It!).mp3.
JPennant: now Im on a Salt n' Peppa trip ;-)
JPennant: most of these songs are over 25 years old now
JPennant: damn
McClint: i definitely do not remember this song
JPennant: this was HUGE back in the day
McClint: i honestly didn't really become aware of music until late 70s... like early Blonde & Queen
JPennant: actually, thats just about the same era
McClint: yeah but different style
JPennant: how about kC and the Sunshine Gang?
McClint: oh yeah
McClint: band not gang
McClint: :-)
JPennant: heheh

And then

Funkin for Jamaica - Tom Browne

Hee. People used to tell me that if the FCC people understood the slang, they would NEVER let it on the air. It is THAT dirty.

Personally, I can only guess at it. :-) But New York slang is like that.

Bodonkadonkdonk. ;-D (Hint: listen to the dirty version of Missy Elliot's 'Work It'.)

Then,

Frankie Smith - Double Dutch Bus

Imagine trying to skip double dutch style to the song. :-)

and then

Let's Talk About Sex - Salt-N-Pepa

Salt n' Pepa. Heh. I doubt few people remember the all-girl funk group klymaxx, also kickin it at around the same time.

Shoop ('Yeah, you - the bowlegged one..' Ha!) and What A Man are also playing on the list. Oooh, and Push It. Heh.

Then to a shlow groove with..

Lady Love - Lou Rawls

and close out with

One in a Million You - Larry Graham

One of Oakland's own.

Yeah. Watchu know about that, huh? :-)
-----

Weather report and the sea lions are back

This morn, bright beautiful and gawgeous (ie, the sun is out), and there is the pleasing scent of ocean.

Its odd. even though SF is at the end of the southern peninsula of the Bay, surrounded on three sides by water, its rare that you can easily smell the ocean here unless youre right by the shore. And sometimes depending on the prevailing breeze, not even then.

But this morn, my head out the back window of the Milan streetcar puppydog style, the whiff hit me somewhere after Pier 39, so I hadda jump out by a nearly deserted Fisherman's Wharf.

A rule of thumb in a big city is to NEVER take a deep breath, instead taking exploratory sniffs for air quality. Yer life could depend on it.

However, apart from the faint sourness of pollution and the stinky sea-lions at Pier39 (theyre back!), it was a mild, sweet, briny smell that just had me wandering around taking it in.

Compared to other ocean cities Ive been in, the ocean smell is softer, not as sharp as say New York, Jacksonville or Miami. Dunno why that is.

kind of a nice perfume I first noticed this past sunday on the foggy marin headlands beach.

Very evocative.

well, with the advent of labor day, this is supposed to be the summer of San Francisco, with warm weather and the fog at bay.

Im gonna enjoy it as much as I can.

*breathe*
-------
Speaking of weather, weather is set to roll up Florida big time in a few days. Hurricane Frances doesnt look to be any laughing matter. And this time, it doesnt look like North and North Central Florida is gonna be as lucky as it has the last 20 years...

JPennant: lil!
tigerlil: My favorite buddy!!!!!
JPennant: how are you sweetheart? :-)
tigerlil: Always could be better, dear.
tigerlil: Why is it I rarely find you online .... been signing on the past two wks fairly often.
JPennant: well, I dont have access to online at night where I stay - and i decided to cut back my computer time to a few hours per day.
JPennant: so I can live a fuller life :-P

tigerlil: Hurricane is aiming dead at Jacksonville 140mph should be at us in the next day or so.
JPennant: get out of town hon
JPennant: be safe
tigerlil: Thinking real hard about it. Now go do your thing :-)
tigerlil: See you later.
JPennant: ok my dear. talk to you later


JPennant: get outta town!
McClint: I already am out of town at work
McClint: :-)
JPennant: unless youre surfing, then thats different
McClint: hahaha
McClint: there's nothing here yet
McClint: probably wont feel anything until friday evening
JPennant: yeah, it seems to be parked over the Bahamas
McClint: almost exactly the same as charley... and maybe even Floyd. that was a weekend wonder
JPennant: doesnt seem to be turning
McClint: dammit why can't these hurricanes come by during the week?
JPennant: LoL. slacker
McClint: i could use some days off instead of wasting my weekend with panic and rain

McClint: you should go to weather.com and click on the Tropical update page and read the very flowery language they use
McClint: it's almost like they are bucking for an award or soemthing
JPennant: lessee
McClint: ohhhhhh they changed it
JPennant: ha! Its VERY nautical. ;-)
McClint: oh man i shoulda saved it. it was full of shit before
JPennant: heheh
McClint: "As we enter the end of summer and our thoughts turn toward the autumn leaves and football games..."
JPennant: LOL
McClint: he even called it "Fierce Frances"
JPennant: heheh
JPennant: could expect no less from 'Buzz Bernard'
McClint: hehehe

JPennant: damn, surfers around the world must be salivating
McClint: oh yeah

And a friend in Orlando, where its slated to roll through answered my query as to why she doesnt plan to evacuate:

From: lisa b
To: Joe Pennant

Everyone I know is, but I am a volunteer for the county Emergency Team, and have to help with the phones and clean up. Schools are closed again and most businesses are letting people go early Fri to get prepared. Although, they should already be prepared.
Well, we'll see eh? I'll be offline obviously throughout the weekend.

Wow. That's tall.

I hope they all get through it safely.

Happiness is..

On rotation

Meshell Ndegeocello - Pocketbook

------
misterB: so are you happy?
JPennant: yup. but, as always .. dissatisfied. :-)
misterB: hmmm
JPennant: could i be doing a lot more of what I want if I have more money? absolutely
JPennant: would i be any happier? doubt it
misterB: nod
JPennant: the dissastisfication is what keeps me going.

JPennant: personally, anyone trying to make me something im not makes me ever so slightly cranky. :-)
JPennant: I yam what I am.
misterB: kekeke
JPennant: would you ride a motorcycle to check it out? sure.
JPennant: would you become a motorcyclist. prolly not.
misterB: i once had aspirations to get a motorcycle, and sometimes think about it... but i'm like that guy in the harley ad who chose the "killer" dinette set
JPennant: LOL
JPennant: I see visions of me dying on a motorcycle
JPennant: so, nuh-uh
misterB: hahaha
JPennant: a scooter, sure
JPennant: thats practical
JPennant: gets me around
misterB: so, the sports car was the next best thing ;-)
JPennant: well there ya go
JPennant: if you wanted to surf, you would already have boards in yer garage
JPennant: but for no particular reason? nah.
misterB: yep
JPennant: well, congratulations.. you are dissasisfied. :-)
JPennant: dissatisfied
JPennant: (sic) :-)
JPennant: this is a good thing, I think
misterB: hehe, i liked "dissasisfied" better ;-)
JPennant: heheh

misterB: i know there's something more to this happiness shite
JPennant: I dont believe happiness is the point.
misterB: everyone has a different definition of it tho
JPennant: happiness is a byproduct of following your dreams and apreciating it
JPennant: well, .. hmmm
JPennant: thats way too narrow
JPennant: happiness is appreciating and accepting, for me.

Well, appreciation and acceptance, in addition to appreciating and accepting. ;)

-----
Hrm. Im craving popcorn. Weird. Its not one of my favorite of foods either..
------

Gravitas longaevus perveteris senilis *(The solemn demeanor of a senile old fart)

Ive been all calm an shit. walking around with grace and serious demeanor.

Cool. Forty.

So, this is what its like. Hm.

Although Im starting to suspect the gravitas of old age is simple shell-shock.

Heh. Iam *so* matchure now.

Right Poo? :)
----------------
As anyone whove known me for awhile know that I try to downplay celebrating my birthday.

I try to not to make the day a big deal, preferring to be alone with my thoughts on that day.

But, dont be fooled. Just because I dont make a big fuss about it, and frown upon others making a big fuss either, I regard it as a very *very* big deal if folk *remember*.

For that, they earn Very Big Ups from me for simple loyalty and regard.

Must be the Dragon in me.

Which is why this and like-wise from other folk:

happy birthday mr. miyagi! i know it was yesterday, but i was not online.

hope it is a great year for you!!! :)

~gg

.. causes warm fuzzies in me even as I look outwardly stoic. :)

Must be the sap in me.

Now excuse me as I continue with this Year 40 gravitas crapp..

If today is...

It's a year of transformation.

Goals become clear and you move from the old to the new you. Positive results are reflected in your finances later in the year. The pressure is off and you see your position in a more optimistic light.
-----

Your way with words will open many doors this year, but not all of them are worth going through, so be selective and make sure you don't spread your energy too thin.

Being a Virgo, you of all people should know how important it is to plan ahead and move toward your goal one step at a time.

Focus only on what is important to you - the rest of the world can take care of itself.

------
You are about to begin a new cycle, and what is closest to your heart is clear.

Relationship issues that have simmered in the background may finally come to a head, and should resolve in your favor.
Although recent changes seem permanent, further adjustments could be necessary before next spring.

Consider transplanting yourself to a new environment -- you should thrive!

Irie, brah.

:-)